Issue 20-09-2019
Featured story
Thought for the week: Retired psychiatrist Bob Johnson’s peace testimony
Twenty years ago I worked as a doctor in The Retreat, in York. Every Monday, patients with anorexia were weighed. Later in life, in my own clinic, an anorexic who had nearly died told me how she and her fellow sufferers used to put bags of water in their shoes,...
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‘We must discard each mask, one after another, until finally nothing remains.’
In the figurative sacred arts of the western world nothing comes close. Aldous Huxley said of it: ‘We have nothing in the west that approaches the symbolism of this work of art, which is both cosmic and psychological.’ Perhaps the crucifix comes closest, depicting the intersection of the divine and...
Three bereavement poems
August 7th 2017 Today is not the day, but even in the early dawn I knew it as a day of change, of certainty of things to come. That day was close. Nurses worked with kindliness while visitors inhaled the tension and departed. But mostly I remember a day of whispering...
‘What would our Yearly Meeting feel like if we were no longer able to sustain this work?’
Recent activities at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair showed Quaker commitment at its best, with consequences ranging from inconvenience and discomfort to loss of liberty. But we don’t so often hear about other kinds of commitment – in particular the steady behind-the-scenes work that has traditionally...
‘Whose responsibility is it to draw up a school’s ethos statement?’
True godliness don’t turn [people] out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavours to mend it. (William Penn, 1682) It would be easy to get a picture of education in our state schools as one of gloom and disillusion. Rapid change, under-funding,...
Eye - 20 September 2019
Never mind the bullocks! A surprise addition to a gathering of Quaker campers coined a new phrase this summer. The Quaker campers meet every year at varying locations around Britain and welcome all ages. This year eighty-three Friends, including thirty-two children, pitched their tents at Bank House Farm, near Buxton,...
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‘Martha, Martha…’ (Luke 10:41)
In the ancient world it was expected that reading would be done out loud. Private silent reading was rare, though it was noted of Alexander the Great that not only did he read silently but he didn’t even move his lips! So the function of text was to act...
Young Friends need more support for climate justice action
Quakers have called for Meetings to give more support to young Friends involved in youth climate strikes. As campaigners get ready for the global climate action on 20 and 27 September, some Quakers have expressed concern about attitudes towards young climate activists.
Manchester holds outdoor XR worship
Manchester Quakers held an outdoor Meeting for Worship (MfW) in support of the four-day ‘Northern Rebellion’ that occupied part of the city.
QCEA raises €2,000 for refugee charity
Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) and a Green MEP joined forces this month to raise €2,000 for a refugee charity.
‘People power’ in Kingston open days
Kingston Meeting celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Heritage Open Days (HOD) scheme last week with an exhibition of Quaker involvement in grassroots movements. The theme of ‘People Power’ celebrates how grassroots movements have influenced change in society.
East Cheshire Friends support DSEI protests
Quakers from East Cheshire supported the witness against the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair in London by holding a protest on the main street in Wilmslow. Quaker Andrew Backhouse told the Friend: ‘Seventeen Quakers joined in from the area, supporting the fourteen from the Area Meeting who...
Letters - 20 September 2019
‘Primitive Quakers’ Friends in Christ, the small body often called ‘Primitive Quakers’, recently held their Yearly Meeting. A concern was raised, about a Friend’s feelings of identity as a Christian and a Quaker, since she resigned from her local Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) group. ‘Am I still a Quaker?’...