Issue 20-and-27-12-2019
Featured story
‘The improvisations in that stable were more significant than anyone could have imagined.’
Whatever else it is, the story of the nativity is an insight into the human consciousness – our self-understanding. A stable, wise men, a star, a couple needing shelter. It is remembered, retold, celebrated on every continent, every year. Its place in the human mind, its influence in history, is complex....
Top stories
‘Now the birth of Jesus the anointed was like this…’ (Matthew 1:18)
We hear the stories of Jesus’ birth so often that we forget they were written long before Christians celebrated Christmas. They are not just ‘Christmas stories’. They have other purposes. Matthew’s gospel tells a story that foreshadows the account of how Jesus was rejected by the authorities of his...
‘I have no idea why we were led to go on that journey, but we had to go.’
It was the worst time of year for a journey. Any journey. But especially a journey like that. And such a long journey, through such hostile and inhospitable country. Everyone said it was madness to go, but we didn’t listen. We went anyway, I can’t really say why....
‘Radical change never comes from people who are comfortable.’
How were you first introduced to Quakers? By a friend. Basically, [it was through] someone we knew from antenatal class. I didn’t start going immediately, but it kind of slowly happened. I’ve always liked to experiment, so I went and it just clicked. I pretty much decided it...
The Christmas ghosts
In the keenest of winter-black air I hear them march up East and Manor Streets: Basil with his barrow cock-eyed over sliced up tree stumps; Megan, a gin glass tipped across her breast; balding Bertrand haughty in his black hat tilted to the sweep  ...
‘I could hear waves of singing – happy people, old and young.’
I knew a Quaker Christmas in Kenya would be different, but not by how much. We were leaving at first light. We woke early and shared Christmas greetings over a bowl of fruit and toast. We collected our gifts, wrapped in colourful fabric, and were on our way.
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‘Father Christmas and the Gift of Light,’ by Stephen Sayers (illustrated by Swea Sayers)
Dressed in cola red with a plastic face, Santa Claus offers commercial joy. The white-bearded old man of legend bestows gifts from teddy bears to computer fantasy worlds. This old tale – a fiction masquerading as fact for small children to believe – encourages parents to buy and buy, and already rich...
Quakers join call for politicians to promote ‘social cohesion’
Quakers are among a group of faith, belief and community organisations who have signed a statement calling on politicians to heal societal divides. The statement from The Faith and Belief Forum calls on politicians ‘to put social cohesion at the heart of their policies’ and says: ‘Challenging the growing polarisation...
Friends raise over £5,000 for homelessness
A Quaker from Blackheath Meeting in London raised over £2,500 for homeless people this month. Jo Keogh raised the amount (including Gift Aid) when she took part in the Big Sleep Out event in Trafalgar Square on 7 December as part of the World’s Big Sleep Out campaign. The team of...
Paul Parker explores extreme poverty and food banks
Paul Parker, recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), took part in a Trussell Trust event for church leaders this month. The gathering explored the role of faith communities in addressing the effects and root causes of the extreme poverty which drives food bank use.
Art the Arms Fair donates work to the Peace Museum
The partly Quaker-founded Art the Arms Fair, which was formed as ‘creative resistance’ to the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair in London, has donated some of its work to the Peace Museum.
FWCC launches second sustainability webinar
Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) has released a video of its second webinar on the theme of sustainability and climate justice. The project follows the success of the first webinar ‘Quakers Coming Together to Care for the Earth’ in July 2019 and was launched on FWCC’s YouTube channel this...
Chichester Meeting draws closer links in LGBTQ communities
The Chichester Quaker Sexual Orientation Gender Identity Inclusion (SOGII) group is growing closer links with the Quaker Gender and Sexual Diversity Community (QGSDC) as a result of Chichester Meeting’s LGBTQ sessions. Maria Martin, from SOGII, told the Friend that she was very excited to link up with the group...
Meeting for Sufferings: Appropriate oversight
Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) received a minute from Central Yorkshire Area Meeting (AM) regarding the suitability of the term ‘overseer’ to describe Friends who have oversight responsibilities in Meetings. The AM minuted: ‘We recognise this concern, but there are differing views on the issue. We feel that the continuing use...
Meeting for Sufferings: Yearly Meeting reviewed
Recording clerk Paul Parker said that, in 2019, Yearly Meeting asked MfS to carry out a review of Yearly Meeting (YM) and Yearly Meeting Gatherings. He had been asked to provide a process for that. Such a review was last carried out in 2006.
Meeting for Sufferings: Nominations
MfS returned to the issue of nominations processes, which it had considered in November 2018. Recording clerk Paul Parker presented a draft terms of reference for a new committee, with the provisional name of ‘Gifts for Service Committee’, which would combine the work of the Central Nominations Committee (CNC) and the...
Meeting for Sufferings: Trustees report
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) treasurer Linda Batten introduced the budget for 2020. ‘Quakers matter, and the work that Quakers do matter,’ but membership is decreasing and so income is falling. ‘There is no magic money tree,’ she said, so it is important to both manage the work that is done and...
Meeting for Sufferings: Other business
Meeting for Sufferings agreed to register the Quaker Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse as a Quaker Recognised Body.
Meeting for Sufferings: Clerk retires
Assistant clerk Margaret Bryan reminded Friends that ‘this Meeting marks the end of Anne [Ullathorne]’s service as clerk of Meeting for Sufferings (MfS), having been the assistant clerk for three years beforehand and having had service on the committee as a rep’.
Letters - 20 & 27 December 2019
What can we do? Roger Seal (6 December) is right to describe us as a ‘distracted and broken nation’. It feels as if we are in a civil war. Whatever the outcome of the general election, the country will remain divided, probably beyond Brexit or non-Brexit. What can Quakers do, individually...