Issue 22-09-2017

Featured story

Thought for the Week: Building on rock, not sand

FREE 21 Sep 2017 | by Michael Wright

Hurricanes, rain and floods have been very much in the news recently, whether in the Caribbean or in Asia. Jesus is reported to have said: ‘Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain...

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Top stories

You see me; I see you

21 Sep 2017 | by Roswitha Jarman

L to R: Walking under panels of the European Roadmap; audience on cardboard seats at Frank-Walter Steinmeier's talk; and walking to the Brandenburg Gate. | Photo: Roswitha Jarman.

I was amongst over 130,000 participants at the ecumenical interfaith and interpolitical event ‘The Kirchentag’, in Berlin, which was organised by the Protestant Churches of Germany and ran between 24-28 May earlier this year. The Kirchentag has taken place every two years since 1949, alternating with the German Catholic Congress (Katholikentag). These...

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A day at war with the arms trade

21 Sep 2017 | by Mark Meatcher

Participants in the production ‘Britannia’. | Photo: Paul Stygal.

I believe the Spirit of God is stirring deep inside me at the moment. On Tuesday 5 September I attended my first ‘proper’ demonstration when I participated in the No Faith in War day at the ExCeL Centre in London where the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair was...

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Mental health: the challenge

21 Sep 2017 | by John Myhill

Does tackling mental health needs more imagination? | Photo: Chris Fort / flickr CC.

I would like all Friends to consider whether we should separate off something that has an effect on all our lives: mental health.

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Divine love

21 Sep 2017 | by Maureen Anderson

'How do I square God’s love with the horror and distress we see?' | Photo: Robert Sullivan / flickr CC.

It all started with an appeal for families in East Africa – where the harvests have failed for two consecutive years due to drought, and cholera is rife. The appeal featured a woman who had witnessed the death of three of her children from cholera.

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Marcus Borg and God

21 Sep 2017 | by Jacqui Poole

Borg, Marcus Borg. I met him about six years ago. He was introduced to me by a Friend from another Meeting when we were on a course at Woodbrooke – and it was love at first sight! Well, not quite ‘sight’ as he wasn’t there in person. The Friend recommended...

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All articles

Friends gather for UN Peace Day

FREE 21 Sep 2017 | by The Friend Newsdesk

A Meeting for Worship to mark the United Nations International Day of Peace was held on the afternoon of Thursday 21 September at the Quaker Service Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

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Grandmothers at fracking frontline

FREE 21 Sep 2017 | by The Friend Newsdesk

Three Quakers from Cheltenham Meeting recently travelled four hours to support an anti-fracking group of grandmothers and parents protesting at Preston New Road in Lancashire.

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Preparations for Quaker Week

21 Sep 2017 | by The Friend Newsdesk

Friends throughout Britain are preparing for Quaker Week 2017 and completing arrangements for events they are holding.

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‘Overwhelming’ public opposition to the arms trade

21 Sep 2017 | by Harry Albright

Three-quarters of UK adults oppose the promotion of military exports to human rights abusers, a survey coinciding with the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2017 arms fair has found.

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Banksy makes donation to anti-arms group

21 Sep 2017 | by The Friend Newsdesk

The artist Banksy has donated £205,000 from the sale of an artwork produced for the Art the Arms Fair exhibition last week to Campaign Against Arms Trade and human rights group Reprieve.

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Quakers around the world

21 Sep 2017 | by Harry Albright

The Friends world committee for Consultation (FWCC) has released the 2017 version of the Finding Quakers Around the World map.

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Friend arrested after protest

21 Sep 2017 | by Harry Albright

More than 100 further arrests were made last week as the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair took place in East London.

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From the archive: The relief of suffering

21 Sep 2017 | by Janet Scott

On 6 July 1917 the Friend published a list of the workers with the Friends’ War Victims’ Relief Committee. Some 250 women and men were named, including those who worked in the London office and warehouse. In Holland, where towns such as Amersfoort provided shelter for refugees, Friends were running workshops, teaching trades,...

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Eye - 22 September 2017

21 Sep 2017 | by Eye

Flourishing flowers Friendly blossoms can be found on the table of Rochester Meeting. Jill K Bruford Clarke, of West Kent Area Meeting, shared: ‘In the small garden of Rochester Meeting house we have a Peace rose, a new white Quaker Light rose and a large, prolifically flowering, Quaker Star rose. â€...

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Letters - 22 September 2017

21 Sep 2017 | by The Friend

Quaker membership I do not think that those who decide to apply for membership of the Society do so because of any doctrine or political views on equality (15 September). They have, I believe, found peace in the stillness of a gathered Meeting where they can sort themselves out away from...

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