Issue 15-02-2019
Featured story
Thought for the week: Close and personal
A member of our Meeting holds a regular poetry group, where Friends and their friends offer either favourite poems or their own work. Last time, I read ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ by Thomas Gray.
Top stories
‘We will bring about environmental change by making people feel joyful and excited.’
One of my most inspiring moments came while walking along the heavily polluted Green Lanes in North London towards Wood Green, and spotting a large heron on the bank of the adjacent New River. These sudden unexpected glimpses of wildlife in urban settings are something that Bob Gilbert, an author...
‘Working together will not mean creating a mishmashed, one-world religion.’
Being part of a Sufi Muslim community in Kendal, at the threshold of the Lake District, I deeply appreciate the mysticism and spiritual nonconformity that this part of the country has nurtured over the centuries. Wanting to meet like-minded souls from other faiths, I have been drawn in particular to...
Version control
When I’m marking essays that quote the Bible, I have a standard comment that I use a lot: ‘NRSV Please.’ I’m asking students to use the New Revised Standard Version. It’s the preferred English translation for academic purposes, a precise translation that sticks close to the original...
Quakers celebrate Stansted Fifteen news
Quakers flocked to Chelmsford Crown Court last week to hear news that the Stansted Fifteen group of protestors, including one Quaker, had received suspended sentences or community orders and not prison sentences.
Meeting for Sufferings: Record of all Friends who died in the first world war
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has committed itself to creating a record of Quakers who died in the first world war, after rousing ministry at Meeting for Sufferings on 2 February. The record of the, at least, 265 Friends who died in the war will be kept at Friends House, London. It will...
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Southern Marches’ anti slavery donation
Canon Noel Beattie, founder of the Lifting the Stone Coalition/Anti-Slavery Network in the Marches, has thanked Southern Marches Area Meeting for what he describes as their ‘generous donation’ to the group’s work against slavery. He said: ‘This donation has now allowed us to run the first tranche of...
QCEA launches peace education report
The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) has launched a new report on peace education arguing for the EU to adopt a ‘multi-layered’ approach. It calls for a ‘cohesive, coordinated strategy for peace education as a peacebuilding and conflict prevention tool’ to be built into policies and programmes.
New Quaker Meeting in Florence
A forty-one-year-old Friend has started a Quaker group in Florence, Italy after ‘craving’ the silence of a Meeting.
Quaker Centre Gathering in Sheffield
Thirty-three Friends gathered at Sheffield Meeting House last month for the annual two-day Quaker Centre Gathering.
BYM urges action on immigration bill
Britain Yearly Meeting is urging action against proposed bills around immigration and climate change. Suki Ferguson, Quaker Peace & Social Witness communications coordinator, said: ‘We are working hard to influence government decision makers as they shape key post-Brexit policies around immigration and climate change.
Meeting for Sufferings: Court and Prison Register
Meeting for Sufferings made an entry about three Friends on the Court and Prison Register, which records Friends appearing before the courts or imprisoned for matters of conscience.
Meeting for Sufferings: Terms of Reference for two new groups approved
Two new Meeting for Sufferings groups had their Terms of Reference approved by representatives at Sufferings.
Eye - 15 February 2019
‘Look Inside’ Meeting for Worship has inspired Cath Minchin, of Ipswich Meeting, to create a free verse reflecting on stepping aside and looking inside: At times we feel overjoyed with work, family, health and faith. At other times we feel overwhelmed in work, family, poor health and faith. But step...
Letters - 15 February 2019
Becoming Quaker I am grateful to Antonia Swinson for her article on how a Catholic mass made her a Quaker (25 January 2019). I write as an ex-Salvationist, ex-Anglican who rejoiced the first time she received communion from a female vicar. I came into membership last year after some seven or eight...