Issue 04-11-2016
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Sunday morning
In Meeting for Worship this morning a question occurred to me: when there are so many other religious and spiritual groups, why does the world need Quakers? I came up with four reasons. First, Quakers see that of God in everyone.
Top stories
The value of fuzziness
‘There came a time when we realised we were saying: “When we go…” rather than “If we go…” The decision had made itself. Doubt and uncertainty gave way to anticipation, exhilaration, gratitude. We were going to South Africa. We didn’t have a clue about what our life there would...
Simplicity: Has Quakerism lost its radical edge?
Simplicity is not an easy testimony. For a start, the roots and meaning of the word are unclear. Early Friends urged plainness of dress and speech, printing and distributing testimonies against ‘excess in these things’, and in The Priests Fruits Made Manifest George Fox asked of the wealthy clergy ‘are...
Quaker renewal: The Simplified Meeting
In too many Quaker Meetings spiritual vitality is being stifled by the excessive demands of church government. Struggling to meet the ever-growing requirements of administration can take up so much of Friends’ time and energy that there is little left over to devote to the practice of the Quaker way...
Reflections on community
There is a yearning to belong that almost all of us feel from time to time. Perhaps it begins when we first get that sense of being a separate person. I still remember curling up against my mother in my parents’ bed and trying to match my breathing to hers....
Hospitality among Quakers
Try to make your home a place of loving friendship and enjoyment… Advices & queries 26 When did you last invite someone new for a meal in your home? When did you last have an overnight guest you had never met before? Offering hospitality, both a bed and food, is a...
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Yorkshire Friends inspired
Quakers in Yorkshire met at The Mount School in York on 15 October for what one described as ‘an inspiring and challenging day’.
New faces among Young Friends
Almost a third of those who gathered in Lancaster for a Young Friends General Meeting (YFGM) from 21-23 October were new to the event.
Woking Friend wins peace prize
A Quaker community activist has been awarded the Wilson/Hinkes Peace Award for 2016 for his role in setting up and running a series of debates in Woking.
Interfaith support for animals
Members of Quaker Concern for Animals (QCA) attended the thirteenth annual Interfaith Celebration for Animals at Golders Green Unitarian Church in London on 22 October.
Legacy of William Penn celebrated at Irish symposium
One of the most important figures in early Quaker history was the subject of a major conference in Ireland recently. A symposium entitled The World of William Penn: Toleration and Migration took place at University College Cork on 23-24 September.
CO exhibition opens in York
A display on conscription and conscientious objection in the first world war organised by Quakers in York opened at the York Castle Museum on 1 November.
ELA announces next steps
The Ethical Landlords Association (ELA), which was launched at Yearly Meeting in May, has revealed its next steps.
Embodying Equality in Business
Satish Kumar, the editor of Resurgence magazine and an internationally renowned figure in the fields of ecology and spirituality, will be speaking at Friends House next week.
Living out the truth
I entered the Meeting house a few minutes late to find that my ‘usual’ chair was taken – so I chose to sit opposite the glass doors to the garden. I settled into the silence and after a time found myself opening my eyes to discover that I was looking at...
Eye - 04 November 2016
Friendly floral festivities Quakers in North Wales have been stretching their creative muscles in a recent community festival. St John’s Church invites various bodies in Porthmadog to take part in their Flower and Craft Festival, held at the end of July. Frances Voelcker, of Porthmadog Meeting, told Eye that ...
Letters - 04 November 2016
A spiritual home Thank you Chris Tortise (28 October) for expressing what I have always felt since the first Meeting for Worship I attended, aged twelve, at Great Ayton Friends’ School in 1944. There was silence and no sermon or hymn-singing, as there was at my mother’s Methodist church, where I...