Issue 03-05-2019
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Thought for the week: ‘A kingdom that is a present reality, not a future possibility.’
The setting was an ecumenical discussion group. The topic was the kingdom of God. The question was ‘Where can we see signs of the kingdom today despite the horrors of wars and the ideologies of hate?’
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‘There has been nowhere I would rather be, spiritually and physically.’
I am officially a rebel – so much so that I was arrested on Thursday 18 April for the first time in my sixty-two years. When a Friend asked me why this was my answer: Everything that makes me an activist is deeply connected: peace and the arms trade, justice for refugees,...
‘It can be informative, educative – and perhaps even inspiring – to see how other institutions work’
According to the Government Equalities Office, there are approximately 200,000 to 500,000 transgender people living in the UK – a considerable number. Inevitably, Quakers are involved. Stonewall’s 2018 Trans Report showed that two in five trans people had experienced hate crime in the previous year, which emphasises the need to create a safe...
Steven Crisp and Gertrude: Quaker Travelling Ministers by Rosalind Thomas
The stories we inherit about the genesis of new religious movements tend to focus on the role of one or two dominant characters. These become regarded as founding figures. But for every George Fox and Margaret Fell, there are always many other influential individuals whose faithful ministry and steadfast witness...
Friends set out the future of London Quaker structures
London Quakers (LQ) and the London Quaker Property Trust (LQPT) met last week to discuss proposals to form a single charity to govern Meetings in the capital.
Quaker MP calls for end to criminalising homeless
Quaker Homeless Action (QHA) has welcomed a Quaker MP’s call for an end to what she describes as ‘the criminalisation of homeless people’.
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Quaker publishes book on interspecies bond
A Friend from Clun Valley Meeting and member of Quaker Concern for Animals (QCA) has written an illustrated book that touches on the deep human-animal bond that can be accessed through stillness.
Lecture on Quaker testimonies in ‘turbulent times’
A former Friends House employee suggested two more Quaker testimonies in a far-ranging lecture she gave to Southern Africa Yearly Meeting. Helen Vale, of the Namibia Quaker Community, delivered the Richard Gush Memorial Lecture on 21 April entitled ‘Re-envisioning the Quaker Testimonies in turbulent times: seeking from the silence’.
Peacebuilding playlist on YouTube
A Britain Yearly Meeting employee has put together a playlist of over seventy YouTube videos that focus on the themes of peacebuilding and nonviolence.
QSA celebrates money project for struggling families
Quaker Social Action (QSA) presented the findings from its financial wellbeing project ‘Get Set’ at the end of March, which was set up for Islington families. The event on 28 March also included presentations from social enterprises Rocket Science, The Parent House and Talk for Health.
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to ‘significantly increase grant spending’
The Quaker Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has announced plans to significantly increase its grant spending by over £3 million per year in a drive to step up its work and widen its geographical spread. The move will take the Trust’s annual grant spending from around £7 million per year to over £10...
Quaker in London Stock Exchange action
Friends continued their support of the Extinction Rebellion (XR) demonstrations across London last week with a range of protests that included blockading roads and targeting the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Eye - 3 May 2019
Making Friends in the Metro Crossword enthusiasts tackling the clues in the Metro newspaper on 25 April spotted a quirky piece of inadvertent outreach. ‘Get on good terms and enrol people in the Quakers? (4,7)’ which, as Jane Laxton, of Birkenhead Meeting, correctly pointed out to Eye, is ‘Make Friends’.
Letters - 3 May 2019
Israel/Palestine David Keating (15 March) writes about the apparent singling out of Israel for criticism, while the wrongs committed by other countries seem to escape the attention of Quakers. Other correspondents have already disputed this claim and have pointed out that we, as a small organisation, cannot give our attention...