Issue 02-03-2018
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Quaker cheer
Heavy clouds pushed gently back by a pale heatless sun Garden birds singing louder signals to me that change is here
Top stories
Living with change
We live our lives within the three dimensions of Space and the one of Time. If our interests are those of astronomy or geology, the aeons of time involved are so immense as to be mind-blowing. When it comes to evolution – the evolution of life on our planet, or even...
Gender and identity
At Yearly Meeting Gathering 2017 I participated in a workshop led by North East Thames Area Meeting where we discussed how to welcome and nurture transgender Friends and attenders in our Meetings. I was moved by the testimonies of individuals who identify as transgender and who ministered to their deeply felt...
The examined spiritual life
The Jesuit Philip Endean began the talk, which I referred to last week, with the words: ‘I feel a fraud coming to talk about the spirituality of Ignatius. I can’t. What I can do is talk about aspects of his life, hoping something of his spirituality creeps out.’ It...
People of peace
At a recent board meeting of Church and Peace, the ecumenical peace movement, I was asked to lead an epilogue/evening prayer. I hesitated, though having been involved in the ecumenical (peace) movement (Council of Churches in the Netherlands, Conference of European Churches, World Council of Churches) for years now,...
The dancing Quakers
In memory of Mr Dove and Miss Carman c. 1880 Friends, and nothing more, despite the gossip, rampant, when you share a dressing room and put a sign up, DO NOT KNOCK, WE ARE AT WORSHIP. That’s the nicest word I’ve seen for it! Dan Leno quipped, prompting Miss...
All articles
Green Party co-leader calls for prison reform
Jonathan Bartley, the co-leader of the Green Party and a descendent of Quaker prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, has spoken out about the need for prison reform, citing the influence of his Quaker roots.
Huddersfield Friend directs two anti-fracking films
The interfaith group No Faith in Fracking, which includes many Quakers, has made two short films to encourage people to join the anti-fracking movement.
Quaker Life pilots youth-worker project
The Quaker Life Children and Young People’s Team has announced a legacy-funded project to provide two regional youth workers to develop opportunities for eleven- to eighteen-year-olds.
Quakers join university chaplaincy team
Two Friends have been appointed to St Andrews University Chaplaincy team after their Local Meeting decided it would be ‘valuable outreach’.
QUNO warns on cuts risk to UN
The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) has criticised the US administration and Congress, saying that plans to reduce US engagement with the United Nations (UN) could damage its ability to carry out its life-saving work.
Peace plaque given to Hitchin Peace Garden
Hitchin Friends have had a peace plaque donated to their developing Peace Garden from the local Roman Catholic parish.
Young Friends produce ‘silent podcast’
A ‘silent podcast’ consisting of the sounds of a quiet and contemplative Quaker Meeting for Worship has been released by a group of young Quakers in Britain. The thirty-minute episode of the Young Quaker Podcast, recorded at the Friends Meeting House in Nottingham, was the idea of London-based Quaker and...
Use prayers to act, say US Friends
The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) has called on people to ‘use prayer to find the power to act’, in the face of the shooting in Florida on Wednesday 21 February.
‘Waging Peace’ exhibition
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has organised an exhibition to demonstrate the effectiveness of nonviolence to build justice and overcome oppression.
CND book launch at Friends House
Kate Hudson, the general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), will be talking about the book CND at 60 at its launch in Friends House in London on Thursday 8 March.
Letters - 02 March 2018
New name for ‘overseer’? I was glad to read Eric Walker’s letter (2 February) questioning the word overseer, and the following letters welcoming it. A couple of years ago I posed the question ‘should we begin searching for a new name?’ to my Local Meeting, but at Area Meeting the...