Issue 08-11-2013
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Friends
Unless one has knocked about the Quaker world a bit, it comes as rather a surprise to meet the Programmed Quaker Meeting for the first time, complete with hymns, a pastor, a sermon and, if you are lucky, a bit of silence thrown in. It might be easy, as a...
Top stories
Let slip the doves of war
At Meeting in Hexham on 13 October many Friends were moved to speak about the questions and paradoxes of pacifism. Ministry and ‘Afterthoughts’ ranged widely over the subject, recognising how easy it can be to talk of pacifism in the abstract but how important it is to ask whether one brings...
British Quakers: Mission and message - A spiritual imperative
In my first article I wondered whether the message of liberal Friends today might be to give everyone an experience of a faith community in which they are accepted. If this is the case then we must examine our communities and consider what will make them robust, attractive and successful...
Friends House energy switch
Good Energy has taken over as the new energy supplier to Friends House from 1 November. The decision to switch was made by Friends House Hospitality Board. In 2009 there was some controversy when the contract for 100 per cent renewable energy was awarded to E.ON. Many Friends had been involved...
UN climate talks to begin in Warsaw
Climate change is on the international agenda next week in Warsaw when negotiators meet for a new round of talks under the UN Climate Convention. The Polish capital will host thousands of representatives from governments, industry and NGOs.
Cambridge Peace Trail
A new booklet has been launched guiding tourists around a peace trail in Cambridge. Pictured above is the Holy Trinity War Memorial Shelter which urges us to ‘Remember’, while inviting tired tourists and shoppers to rest.
All articles
Letter from Busan
Everything in Busan is on a large scale. Even my hotel room is a suite into which my home flat would fit comfortably. The accommodation needs to be spacious. There are more than three thousand at the assembly. The theme – ‘God of life, lead us to justice and peace’ – has...
Jargon and illusion
Remembrance Day comes less than two months after the Defence and Security Equipment International (DESI) exhibition was held in London. It was attended by delegates from 121 countries, with almost 1,500 companies exhibiting, and was hailed by secretary of state for defence Philip Hammond as ‘a fabulous show’ selling ‘fantastic kit’.
Never again
When I was about seven, my dad took me to the local Remembrance Day memorial. Neatly turned-out elderly men were stood in equally neat rows while ‘The Last Post’ was played. I wondered why everyone looked so sad. Dad said it was because their friends had been killed in the...
Epistle: Yorkshire Friends Holiday School 2013
Is Quakerism about to go ‘Whoosh!’? This was our theme for the week, and based on the discussions we have had, the answer may just possibly be ‘yes’. It was fitting that for Holiday School’s eightieth anniversary year we gathered in a Quaker school to explore Quakerism,...
Summer time
In 1932 the Annual Report of Yorkshire Friends’ Service Committee (YFSC) contained the following paragraph: In our last year’s report we made mention of our unsuccessful attempt for the past two years to organise a Children’s Summer School in Yorkshire for the advantage of the children who do...
Eye - 08 November 2013
Star light, star bright Jean Marenghi, of Stone Meeting, contacted Eye to share this moving story of a star: ‘This is a story with no beginning, middle or end. Perhaps it is not a real story at all – just a collection of drops and small pools, linking and spreading to...
Letters - 08 November 2013
Poppies With regards to the letter from our Friend David Boulton (18 October), I hope that many wearing poppies will do so in remembrance of all the people in the world who lost their lives due to conflicts. This must surely include the overwhelming number of civilians who have been killed...