Issue 03-05-2024
Featured story
Saying his peace: Bob Johnson’s Thought for the Week
I was born into a Quaker family, so Quaker tenets have always been part of the furniture. There was never a time when I didn’t know Quakerism existed. For me, the question has always been: does it matter? Or, does it make sense? Is it any use? To my...
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Soul food: Helen Ledger & Kate Mackrell on how Brighton Friends are welcoming asylum seekers
In early 2022, when Brighton Quaker Sanctuary group realised that there were many asylum-seekers being housed in hotels in Brighton, with very little support, we wanted to get involved. After contacting local groups (Sanctuary on Sea, Care for Calais, Brighton Migrant Solidarity, and the Network of International Women), we decided that,...
Trudi Warner will not face prison
Quakers welcomed the news last week that Trudi Warner will not face prison for her climate witness. The retired social worker faced two years in prison for holding up a sign outside a climate trial last March saying: ‘Jurors, you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to...
A pilgrim’s progress: Huw Morris takes it in his stride
Last month, I went on a walk – the second stage of a longer walk, from Winchester to Canterbury. In December I had hiked from Winchester to Box Hill, along the Pilgrim’s Way. On Wednesday 17 April, the 637th anniversary of the beginning of the pilgrimage in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,...
Youth hostelling in Normandy
The Paris gendarme whimsically dropped round David’s neck a garland he’d found, and waved us on. We pedalled stoically over Normandy as wind plucked cuffs and panniers, barns hosted us. Till one night, sleeping in a ruined chateau guarded by a ghostly widow, who led us down dark...
Good & ready: Adwoa Burnley prepares for Yearly Meeting
Dear Friends, as we move closer to Yearly Meeting (YM), I find myself reflecting on what it means to meet and discern together. YM is a time when we collectively listen to, and seek guidance from, ‘that which is eternal’. I am clear that the journey we embark on is...
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Rwanda Act ‘performatively cruel’, says BYM
More than 115,000 asylum seekers will be trapped in ‘permanent limbo’ by the end of the year, due to the recently-passed Rwanda Act, the Refugee Council said.
Quakers campaign against military spending
The Northern Friends Peace Board (NFPB) has highlighted the Global Days of Action on Military Spending.
North Wales becomes first official online Meeting
Quakers in North Wales have officially recognised their online worship group as a Local Meeting (LM). The North Wales Online Meeting is the first online Local Meeting in Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM).
Friends fast for Gaza in Holy Week
Quakers from around the world took part in a day of fasting this month, in solidarity with people in Gaza.
Schools of thought: Jeff Beatty recounts a student conference and its vision for the future
‘Every person is precious’ was the headline of a Quaker Values in Education (QVinE) threshing conference held at Woodbrooke in 2014. Since then, QVinE has attempted – through conferences, publications, online events and Meetings for Worship – to show that Friends care about the education of young people. Mostly, these efforts have engaged...
Eye - 03 May 2024
Monster on the path! ‘As we went I spied a great high hill called Pendle Hill, and I went on the top of it with much ado, it was so steep; but I was moved of the Lord to go atop of it; and when I came atop of it...
Letters - 03 May 2024
Anger and mercy Elizabeth Coleman’s article of 12 April traced the development of the Israelites’ understanding of YHWH’s identity, and their purpose as his chosen people, commissioned to be ‘as a light to the world’. Walter Bruggemann (theologian) suggests that the early focus on YHWH as a God of...