Issue 27-07-2018
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Radiation in Meeting
Few Friends may be aware that when we are sitting in Meeting on a Sunday we are in the midst of a sea of radiation. With suitable instruments, radioactivity is easily detectable in the walls, floor and ceiling of the rooms where we live and worship. It is in the...
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Quakers and the Holy Spirit
The keynote speech at a recent ecumenical conference at Ampleforth Abbey that I attended was entitled ‘Come Holy Spirit’. It was given by Graham Cray, a former bishop of Maidstone. His inspiring talk and clear message spoke of the real abiding presence of the Holy Spirit as a partner in...
Welcoming all Friends
When I moved to South East London I was pleased to discover that my Local Meeting was wheelchair accessible. I have been a member for most of my life, joining as a pre-teen, and have been in a wheelchair for six years. Prior to this I worshipped at both accessible...
Reflections on service
If my Local Meeting is my immediate family, my Area Meeting my extended family, then Meeting for Sufferings has comprised my more distant cousins whom I meet occasionally. This is due partly to my attendance at Meeting for Sufferings being almost continuous: over twenty ‘appearances’ with just one gap. That...
Peacebuilding in Kenya
A young Kenyan Quaker, Hanningtone Mucherah, was one of the two Quaker World Relations Committee (QWRC) guests who attended Britain Yearly Meeting at Friends House earlier this year. After Yearly Meeting he spent a few days in our home and visited different Meetings around the country. During his stay he...
From the archive: The ways of love
As the first world war approached the end of its fourth year, and with the German advance in France reaching its greatest extent, there was a sense of weariness and frustration. The following appeared in the Friend on 5 July 1918: Though the crown of the year is come and the glory...
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Friends in Ireland agree to hold same-sex marriages
Quakers in Ireland made a major decision at Ireland Yearly Meeting in Limerick at the weekend. A statement released on 21 July said: ‘The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Ireland has agreed to the holding of same-sex marriages in Quaker Meetings for Worship, currently legal in the Republic of Ireland.’
Paul Parker speaks at first church eco-conference
The first ever ecumenical eco-conference took place this month, featuring a speech by Paul Parker, recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting. ‘A Future for All… Implementing the Christian imperative to care for our World’ on 14 July was organised by the Birmingham Anglican Climate Action Group and Central England Quaker Low...
Quaker MP hosts London Cycling Campaign launch
Ruth Cadbury, the Quaker MP, recently hosted the launch of a campaign aimed at making London roads safer for cyclists.
New peace and disarmament minister talks to Roundhay Friends
Roundhay Meeting House in Yorkshire hosted a talk this month by the shadow minister for peace and disarmament. Fabian Hamilton, Leeds North East MP, gave the talk on 13 July.
Woodbridge Friends’ ‘Tree for Peace’ at first world war centenary event
Woodbridge Meeting took part in a world war one centenary event this month, with its newly adopted ‘Tree for Peace’ playing a key role.
Artwork from Art the Arms Fair on display
A small exhibition of artworks devised as a response to the arms trade and first shown at the Art the Arms Fair in September 2017 was opened this month.
Quaker play airs
An attender at Lewes Meeting in Sussex has cited Quakers as the inspiration behind her new play set in a Quaker community during the Napoleanic wars. Charlotte Jones, writer of The Meeting, has said that in her five years attending the Meeting house, she has found Friends to be ‘incredibly...
Norwegian pilgrimage to ‘1652’ country
Friends in England welcomed six Norwegian Young Quakers last month on a trip to visit George Fox ‘1652’ country.
Meeting for Sufferings: Role for Young Friends in revision
Meeting for Sufferings, on 7 July at Friends House in London, agreed to appoint and oversee a Book of Discipline Revision Committee.
Meeting for Sufferings: Israel/Palestine letter
A minute from Devon Area Meeting regarding Israel/Palestine was heard by Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) on 7 July. Sufferings was asked to consider sending a letter to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) urging a follow-up visit to the one made in 2012.
Quaker journeys
If pushed, I would probably describe myself as a Christian Buddhist. But recent encounters with Quakerism have already made me a big fan. Living in the middle of the North York Moors National Park, I have to get in the car to reach a Meeting and am spoilt for choice.
Letters - 27 July 2018
Predict and plan Walter Storey (22 June) assumes that our consumption of electricity will rise and asks where this will come from. Electricity currently represents a small proportion of our energy use. The ‘energy hierarchy’ has as its top priority ‘energy saving’ (don’t use it). This is followed by ‘energy...