Issue 07-12-2018
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Meeting for what?
We make our way through wind, rain, sun and snow to an unadorned room where we sit facing inwards. Slowly, calmly, we become aware of other presences as the light falls on faces and hands around us. For each of us the Meeting settles into stillness. As the atmosphere deepens,...
Top stories
Letter from Brussels
Quaker House Brussels is home to the Brussels Meeting of the Belgium and Luxembourg Yearly Meeting; the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA)’ and a host of Quaker and other faith communities, and international nongovernmental peace organisation activities. Quakers first arrived on the continent of Europe in 1656, but it was...
There’s a bear out there!
Algy met a bear The bear met Algy The bear grew bulgy The bulge was Algy Have you ever opened your door to find a bear outside? No, neither have I, but that doesn’t stop me worrying about something scary and unexpected happening, and sometimes feeling very anxious. I...
Sharing sustainability stories
Britain Yearly Meeting 2011: over 1,000 Quakers embrace a commitment to becoming a low-carbon community. This is a joyful decision, taken after many years of hard work to come to a place where we feel we can do this. Many of us are not clear exactly what that means but we have...
A therapeutic space
‘Working as part of a multi-faith team’ was the theme at this year’s conference at Woodbrooke for Quaker prison chaplains. I found it interesting and enjoyable, with a good blend of learning, sharing, challenge and support. The first plenary speaker was Ahtsham Ali, Muslim adviser for the Prison and...
Meeting for Sufferings: Mixed reception for the review of the Committee on Clerks
ON Sunday 25 November Meeting for Sufferings, which was held at Woodbrooke in Birmingham, received a report from the review group it appointed to look at the work of the Committee on Clerks (ConC) earlier this year. ConC is responsible for nominating names for the clerk and assistant clerk roles for...
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QSA hails ‘big breakthrough’ in funeral costs
Quaker Social Action (QSA) is celebrating what it hailed as a ‘big breakthrough for those struggling with funeral costs’ after a major investigation into the funeral sector was announced.
Benjamin Lay ‘undisowned’ by four Meetings
Southern East Anglian Friends have expressed unity with the formerly disowned radical Quaker abolitionist Benjamin Lay. The Area Meeting (AM) is the final of the four Meetings whose predecessors disowned him in the eighteenth century to reconsider. The others are Abington Monthly Meeting and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in the United...
Quaker Congo Partnership UK event
Kingston upon Thames Friends hosted an open event for the Quaker Congo Partnership UK on 25 November.
Meeting for Sufferings: Gender diversity statement from Quaker Life Central Committee
Jocelyn Burnell, co-clerk of Quaker Life Central Committee (QLCC), drew Friends’ attention to an initial statement on gender diversity at Meeting for Sufferings.
Meeting for Sufferings: BYM considers UK post-Brexit divisions
Quakers could be doing more to help heal divisions in post-Brexit Britain, suggested one Friend at Meeting for Sufferings. The comment came on 24 November after Jeff Beatty, clerk of Quaker Peace & Social Witness Central Committee (QPSWCC) spoke to the QPSWCC report.
Meeting for Sufferings: Friends tell of how much their world family matters
Meeting for Sufferings on 24 November was asked if ‘the world family of Friends matter – to you and your Meeting?’ The question was posed by Ann Floyd, clerk of Quaker World Relations Committee (QWRC), who spoke about the work the committee does strengthening bonds with the global Quaker community, particularly with...
Meeting for Sufferings: Questions and considerations for QLCC
Having started as a ‘rather self-contained part’ of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) – ‘doing great work, but it didn’t work a lot with other parts of the organisation’ – Quaker Life Central Committee (QLCC) has been on ‘a huge journey,’ Jocelyn Burnell said. The clerk of QLCC told Meeting for Sufferings...
Meeting for Sufferings: ‘Lots and lots of challenges lie ahead’ for QCCIR
The Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR) regards its biggest achievement as The Changing Face of Faith in Britain, Stephanie Grant, a member of the body, told Meeting for Sufferings on 24 November. This report was a legacy project produced in partnership with Woodbrooke.
Letters - 7 December 2018
‘A simple Christmas’? I am angered by the urging to eat, drink and consume in gross quantities to which we are subjected this and every Christmas. Please, Friends, would you make suggestions for some principles for ‘a simple Christmas’. For example:A simple menu for a ‘good’ Christmas dinner. A...