Issue 12-02-2021
Featured story
Thought for the week: Noël Staples’ prompt copy
A search of Quaker faith & practice for the word ‘belonging’ finds only forty-five matches, and none of them is linked to the 500 references to ‘love’ or ‘loving’. All the references are either to Quakers or to community.
Top stories
Death and dying: Rosie Adamson-Clark says it’s time we all faced our mortality
A friend emailed me two days ago to say she was placing her will in an accessible place, alongside her last wishes, documents relating to her house, plus other financial information. I said how sensible this was. She replied that, though she was seventy-five, many of her friends and family...
A maze in grace: Friends from Luton and Leighton Area Meeting follow a thread
What is the difference between a maze and a labyrinth, and why should that matter to Quakers?
Close Quarters: Gill Sewell and Olivia Sewell-Risley seek contributors
Have you wandered into the new year wondering what you might do with your spare time, or indeed how you might have your voice heard? If your answer to either of these questions is ‘yes’ then Friends Quarterly would like to hear from you.
Protest on Friends House
HS2 protesters climbed up scaffolding surrounding Friends House last week to unfurl a large banner from the roof.
Animal Prayers, by Randel McCraw Helms
This little book will delight Friends of all stripes and is calculated to appeal especially to those who care about the relationship between humans and other animals. The poems radiate a sense of kinship with other species, along with sorrow for our trespasses against them. Some have an autobiographical flavour,...
All articles
Stop fossil fuel finance, says BYM
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has joined sixteen faith bodies to call on the UK government to immediately ban the use of public money to fund fossil fuel projects overseas.
London Friends propose ‘pan charity’
London Quakers are proposing to form a pan-London charity encompassing all London Area Meetings (AMs), in a bid to simplify structures as the number of members of the Society diminishes.
Birmingham climate declaration moves ahead
Quaker discernment has helped Birmingham move a step closer to achieving its aim of being one of the first UK cities to become net-zero-carbon by 2030.
BYM trustee on BBC
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) trustee Danielle Walker Palmour was a panelist on the BBC One programme The BIG Questions this month.
Meeting for Sufferings: Opening and agenda
Some find it difficult, while others are grateful for it, but Friends are accustomed to meeting via Zoom videoconferencing now. ‘I can only see twenty-five of you, but know there are 104 of you out there,’ said Margaret Bryan, Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) clerk, in her welcome. ‘Nurture is a continuing...
Meeting for Sufferings: Arrangements group
Introducing the report on Arrangements Group, one of its authors, Jane Mace, reminded Friends that the task had not been to review MfS itself, but its arrangements. The recent ‘interesting’ year had been a chance to reflect on how MfS manages its work. Arrangement Group members were the ‘servants of...
Meeting for Sufferings: Membership data
BYM’s recording clerk, Paul Parker, tgave a graphical presentation of some statistics on membership (data on attenders was not included, but showed similar patterns, he said). Presenting a graph with figures dating back to 1860, he noted that although the Society has seen a decline in members since its peak...
Meeting for Sufferings: Trustees report
The first main item of business in the afternoon was the report from trustees. Clerk Caroline Nursey, said it is ‘impressive what staff in Britain Yearly Meeting are delivering’ during the pandemic. BYM ‘is no longer operating in emergency mode,’ she said, but Friends House being closed affects income. Most...
Meeting for Sufferings: Committee composition
MfS considered a minute from Central Nominations Committee, asking for a review of the prohibition on attenders serving on central committees. Co-clerk Hannah Brock Womack said the committee wants ‘to be able to draw upon the richness and gifts of everybody that is part of a Quaker Meeting’.
Meeting for Sufferings: Pandemic reflections
Last June, MfS reflected on the pandemic and how Friends’ communities were responding. At this meeting, MfS held an open worship session to share what has been learned. Representatives reflected on the effect of the pandemic on worship, on community and on outreach. How might our Meetings be in the...
Covid Life
The shed of shielding The igloo of isolation The desert of distance The street of space The sea of sorrow The lagoon of loneliness The world of worry The bubble of belonging The hill of hope The field of friendship
Eye - 12 February 2021
Bernie and the banner A Friend in Exeter was inspired by recent news stories to display a banner outside their home starting on 22 January. The ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the continuing child food poverty campaign by footballer Marcus Rashford motivated Laura Conyngham to...
Letters - 12 February 2021
Prescient programmes After listening to the online launch of Jeremy Corbyn’s Project for Peace and Justice on Sunday 18 January, two BBC World Service radio programmes within twenty-four hours resonated with me. In The Climate Question episode ‘Does Africa have a voice on climate?’ young woman activist Vanessa Nakate...