Issue 13-01-2017
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Hopes for a brighter year
It is 16 December 2016, the time when we sing and pray about peace on earth and goodwill to all people. Bashar al-Assad’s forces have gained ‘victory’ in what is left of Aleppo and its people. A riot is taking place at Birmingham Prison. The government is selling billons of pounds...
Top stories
Being human and priest
The image of a divine seed within every human being is a central one for Quakers. Seeds need nourishment in order to grow. Lack of nourishment leads the seedling to wither. The divine seed needs nourishing through seeking the best for others, especially the vulnerable. Quakers believe that the divine...
The welfare state
We have the best welfare state in the world; or perhaps we did, but surely if that were so, what follows can’t be us? Education performance has dropped to twenty-third out of the twenty-six most developed countries, our health service is failing to meet the most basic targets of...
Religion and the media
Inverness interfaith group was set up to promote dialogue, understanding and cooperation between different faiths and to develop bonds and trust. The group meets regularly. We organise religious, social and educational events, annual picnics, faith sharing, music, dance and poetry, and are involved in social action initiatives, such as helping...
Contemplative love
Over the centuries and, indeed, millennia of our recent history, I believe mankind has inherited an intuitive awareness of ‘that of God’ (or Spirit, or Source) as our origin and destiny, and to which we belong. This has led to the development of religions, many of which portray certain charismatic...
Vision is just the start
God visits Abraham. He has come to tell Abraham that Sodom is to be destroyed and to arrange for the rescue of Abraham’s relatives, who are living there. Abraham argues with God and, as the cost of not destroying Sodom, bargains him down from fifty to five good people.
All articles
Francis speaks out on nonviolence
Pope Francis, in a statement released on 1 January for the Catholic Church’s fiftieth World Day of Peace, urged Roman Catholics throughout the world to make nonviolence a ‘way of life’.
Quaker photographer given national recognition
The distinctive photography of Quaker and lecturer John Arnison has been recognised by the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Change at Church and Peace
Davorka Lovreković, of German Yearly Meeting, finished her four-year appointment as general secretary of Church and Peace in December 2016.
National Day of Healing planned
The Friends Fellowship of Healing is planning a National Quaker Day of Healing.
Daily worship
Holding a thirty minute Meeting for Worship in the Quaker Centre at Friends House from 12.30pm each weekday will continue in 2017.
Alexander von Humboldt
Friends who are concerned about environmental issues, and the impact we humans are having upon our planet, might be interested in a book by Andrea Wulf – The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science.
Aleppo
Aleppo will never mean beauty again. Never mean rivers and mosques, hanging gardens, shaded courtyards, where old men rest, where women laugh and children play under trees, where young girls sing and writers dream of yesterday and tomorrow and artists paint their dreams. Green turned to grey, gold to dust,...
Eye - 13 January 2017
A Meeting’s makeover Nestled in the Lancashire countryside, Garstang Meeting House has been a home for local Friends since it opened for worship in October 1829. As it enters its 188th year the trusty structure now gleams with recently completed renovations as Friends finish a major upgrade. It will be...
Letters - 13 January 2017
Syria Simon Fisher’s article (23 & 30 December 2016) enables us better to discern how the sufferings of the peoples of Syria might have been avoided. Regime change was desired but, as with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, it is probably better to tolerate the intolerable until nonviolent change can...