Issue 04-04-2025

The Friend

The Friend is a weekly magazine in which Friends speak to each other and to the wider world, offering their insight, ideas, news, nurture and inspiration.

Nurturing Quaker community, each issue offers a space for Friends to share their concerns, and to support each other in faith and witness.

The Friend: enriching, inspiring and connecting the Quaker community since 1843.


Issue 04-04-2025

Thought for the week

Thought for the Week: Chris Lord wonders what we’re playing at

by Chris Lord

When our yoga teacher tells us to put our left feet over here, I’m suddenly back to being a kid, playing Twister. And I’ve started to see some other connections between various games I have played and other things I do.

Features

On song: Tim Gee says singing is, and always has been, part of the full Quaker experience

by Tim Gee

After my daughter was born, I couldn’t keep from singing. Sure, there weren’t many other ways to entertain her, as our hands were literally full, and it seemed to be one of the better ways to get her to sleep. But that wasn’t really why. In truth I felt a deep need inside, to express the joy I felt. That came out as singing. 

Features

How peace grows: Anne M Jones visits a vegetable project in Western Sahara

by Anne M Jones

Flying four thousand miles to visit a vegetable project in the Western Sahara might seem like a compromise of one’s eco credentials. Maybe so. But I am a gardening fanatic, and when I was offered a unique opportunity to live among the Sahrawi people for a week, and it coincided with the annual  marathon there, I found it difficult to turn down. 

Features

Living Fire: Epistle from Oxford young adult Friends

by Oxford young adult Friends

Oxford young adult Friends gathered at Wallingford Meeting House in March to listen together to our Guide. In times of worship, conversation, rest, and discernment, we felt a new willingness to be led, to name and exercise our gifts, and to support each other to live faithfully. Our hearts were softened, our ears were opened to our Teacher, and our eyes were made more able to see God’s loving hand.

Features

On bard terms? John Lampen on Shaw and Shakespeare

by John Lampen

George Bernard Shaw once wrote: ‘There is no eminent writer… whom I can despise so entirely as I despise Shakespeare.’ He wanted to tease and provoke, of course, as well as make a justified attack on what he called ‘bardolatry’. He believed plays should challenge and disquiet their audiences with unfamiliar ideas, and give a clear point of view on social questions. He found Shakespeare conservative and conventional.

Features

Health, care: Barrie Mahoney on Friends and healing

by Barrie Mahoney

The Quaker understanding of healing is rooted in the belief that God’s love is available to all, and that this love brings restoration. For Friends, healing is understood spiritually, emotionally and socially, as well as physically. From the earliest days, Friends have experienced and witnessed this healing.

News

Quakers’ shock over Meeting house raid

by Rebecca Hardy Quakers have been holding in the Light six activists arrested after a Quaker Meeting house…
News

Action on child poverty

by Rebecca Hardy Quakers joined calls for the government to be ‘bold and ambitious’ in its child…
News

Friends share ‘sustainability journey’

by Rebecca Hardy Cotteridge Friends are taking part in a national webinar about making faith buildings more…
News

BYM joins calls against welfare cuts

by Rebecca Hardy Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has criticised the government’s Spring Statement for…
News

Friends gather for spring equinox

by Rebecca Hardy Twenty-three Friends across East Anglia gathered together in the sunshine to reflect on…
Q-eye

Eye - 04 April 2025

by Elinor Smallman Advices & queries Eye invites you to consider select words from Advices & queries…
Letters

Letters - 04 April 2025

by The Friend More soul music I really appreciated Alastair McIntosh’s Thought for the Week (‘On…

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