Spiritual Practice the Friend Independent Quaker Journalism Since 1843

5 February 2016 £1.90 the discover the contemporaryFriend quaker way

William Penn: Spiritual practice the Friend Independent Quaker Journalism Since 1843

Contents VOL 174 NO 06

3 Thought for the Week: As a teenager I looked for proof of the The discipleship deal existence of God, but soon realised that Christopher Stokes there would be none. I chose to adopt as a working hypothesis a belief in God, 4-5 News and to go on from there. I have not felt the need to revise that hypothesis – yet. 6 Sanctions rather than war I believe in a powerful, all-knowing Elaine Miles God, but a caring and a forgiving God. 7 In the name of God? I believe he says to us: ‘All right, you’ve got life, get on with it, live it! I am there William Bingham behind to guide you, to help you live it; 8-9 Letters but don’t expect me to interfere to make life smooth for you – you are old enough 10-11 William Penn: Spiritual practice to stand on your own two feet.’ … Alex Thomson I believe that we are God’s agents 12-13 Area Meetings: in this world and that he may require things of us. A lot of my effort goes into what is the future? trying to understand what God expects Gillian Blunden Grant of me. I do this by trying to maintain an orientation towards God – to live my 14 What lies beyond life in the spirit – to bring my whole life Roger Seal under the ordering of the spirit of Christ 15 Meaning and life – to acknowledge my discipleship. Don Mason S Jocelyn Burnell, 1976 16 Friends & Meetings Quaker faith & practice 26.25

Cover image: Winter sunset Correction: The standfirst on page 14 last week misspelled Elizabeth M Angas’s name Photo: Oliver Schmidt as Angus. It was correct in the table of contents and at the end of the article.

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2 the Friend, 5 February 2016 Thought for the Week

The discipleship deal

am working my way through the Sermon on the Mount. Whenever I’ve thought about my relationship with Jesus in the past I’ve always turned to the Sermon on the Mount, regarding it as the best blueprint for living Ithat I’ve ever encountered and deciding that I should try to follow its advice. But sooner or later I’ve given up, regretting that my established patterns of behaviour have proved too hard to break.

The Sermon on the Mount is an extraordinarily tough call: abandoning anger and judgement, loving my enemies, banishing adultery as Jesus inconveniently defines it, releasing the hold that material things have on me (does this really include my iPhone?), letting go of anxiety. Surely not!

Until now I’ve thought that, if this is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, it’s not the life for me. It sounds more demanding than anything I’ve ever done in my life, including being married, bringing up a family, buying a house, becoming a Quaker, running a newspaper office and everything else. Certainly, the discipleship deal was tempting, because it promised me everything that I need in this world and beyond, but the promises required of me in return were simply beyond me.

Now, I think I’m starting to realise where I’ve been going wrong. Jesus isn’t offering me advice in the Sermon on the Mount, nor does he wish me to interpret it as I please, or to discuss it as an ideal. He requires my unqualified surrender and obedience, which means getting on with it, doing it and obeying it. And he assures me that I won’t have to surrender and obey in my own strength, so my excuse that I’ve been too weak-willed in the past doesn’t cut the mustard. I’m minded to try again.

Christopher Stokes Norfolk & Waveney Area Meeting

the Friend, 5 February 2016 3 News Friends mark major centenary The work by Quakers to ensure to judge individual cases, and recognition of the right to refuse the different categories that they to kill was marked at Westminster fell into. There were some 1,300 last week on the centenary of the ‘absolutists’. He also described the passing of the Military Service Act terrible treatment suffered by many in 1916. conscientious objectors (COs). An event was held in the Atlee Rachel Brett, formerly Quaker Suite at Portcullis House beside the representative to the United House of Commons on Wednesday Nations, spoke about the 27 January and featured readings importance of the legislation in and talks by MPs and Friends. the context of universal rights. The The Military Service Act recognition of an individual’s right introduced conscription and was to ‘freedom of thought, conscience passed on 27 January 1916. and religion’ was, she explained, The centenary of the Act was also a very significant element of the marked at the Scottish parliament Military Service Act of 1916. in Edinburgh with a similar event She stressed the importance on Thursday 28 January. of establishing the right as an Paul Parker, recording clerk ‘individual right’ and not a right of Britain Yearly Meeting, who given to ‘groups’. also attended the gathering She also spoke about those in Edinburgh, chaired the countries in the world today, such Westminster event. as Israel and South Korea, which Helen Goodman, MP, talked of still had forms of conscription. the importance of the Act in the In praising the campaigners of context of individual rights and 1916, she highlighted the fact that freedom of conscience. Britain was the only country in The historian and journalist the first world war to introduce David Boulton, author of Objection a ‘conscience clause’ and that the Overruled, then gave an extended legislation, which was of historic talk about the Act. He stressed importance, was implemented in how Quaker MPs, such as Arnold the middle of a European conflict. Rowntree, worked with others to Author and broadcaster Geoffrey ensure that the Act contained a Durham then read movingly

‘conscience clause’ that would give from the diaries of conscientious Staveran. Anne van Photos: men the right to conscientiously objectors and brought to light Top: Rachel Brett at Westminster. object to combat service. the personal plight of Quakers Cente: Tommy Sheppard MP, Peter David explained the widespread imprisoned for their conscience. Grant MP and Juliet Prager, deputy opposition there had been to the Liz Saville Roberts, MP for recording clerk, at Westminster. inclusion of a ‘conscience clause’ in Dwyfor Meirronniydd, said that Bottom: Elizabeth Allen at Holyrood. the Act. He described how a Quaker she was ‘proud’ to be at the event dominated ‘joint action committee’ and reflected on ‘how many Peace and Justice Centre held had been the ‘powerhouse of the variations of truth there are’ a similar event on Thursday 28 campaign’ and praised their work when it comes to history. She January in the Burns Room at the and that of the No Conscription welcomed the fact that people had Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Fellowship in ensuring that a challenged the ‘official history’ Trevor Royle, author of The conscience clause was part of the of the first world war by putting Flowers of the Forest, and final Act. on an event that she described as Edinburgh University historian He talked about the numbers of ‘extraordinarily important’. Lesley Orr talked about the Act people who applied for exemption Patrick Harvie, a member of the and there were presentations from under the conscience clause, the Scottish parliament, with Quakers conscientious objectors and the working of the tribunals set up in Scotland, and the Edinburgh families of world war one COs.

4 the Friend, 5 February 2016 reported by Ian Kirk-Smith [email protected]

Skipton Friends celebrate centenary of peace congress A special event took place at the Friends Meeting House in Skipton, North Yorkshire, on 27 January to remember the International Congress of Women that was held in The Hague in 1915 as a response to the carnage of world war one. The aim of the conference was to urge the governments of the warring nations to reach a peaceful settlement. Six months ago it was decided to commemorate the courage and determination shown by these women by making a Peace Quilt. Barbara Kipling, of Skipton Meeting, explained: ‘The project was instigated by local

Quakers and Grassington Peace Group, in Kipling. Photo: Trevor which twenty-six people from two generations Barbara Worthington, Cath Riley and Barbara Kipling with the quilt. collaborated to create the quilt. Most of the individual squares were made locally but several Barbara said: ‘The audience was then treated to came from New Zealand and America.’ some wonderful, uplifting singing of peace songs The film These Dangerous Women, produced by the from around the world by Sheeptown Songsters – a Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom, local community choir.’ Afterwards people enjoyed was shown at the event. Barbara said: ‘It was moving homemde cakes and refreshments and viewed the quilt. and insightful to hear what motivated the women who She added: ‘It was also appropriate to take a moment went to that conference a century ago. They had to to remember a female peace campaigner, Concepcion travel through war-torn Europe and overcome many Picciotto, who maintained a vigil outside the White bureaucratic obstacles in their endeavours.’ House for more than three decades. She died this week An important legacy of the conference was the at the age of eighty. It was widely considered to be the creation of an influential women’s peace group. longest act of political protest in the history of the US. Barbara explained that the United Nations was ‘The quilt was created with love in the hope that it founded largely on the precepts and ordinances of the will act as an inspiration and is available to borrow 1915 conference, which marked the blueprint for inter- for display and educational and historical purposes: state collaboration. [email protected] for more information.’ Friends in Hastings: 150 years of worship Quakers in Hastings in examined a special display. This was only in 1865 that a plot of land Sussex recently marked the one showed Victorian-era photographs was purchased for a purpose-built hundred and fiftieth anniversary of of the architect who had designed Meeting house. This was opened the opening of their Meeting house the building and images of Quakers for its first Meeting for Worship on with a celebration on 25 January. who worshipped there at the time. 12 January 1866. Among invited guests was the Local Quaker historian Paula mayor of Hastings, councillor Radice introduced her new Bruce Dowling, who gave an book Quakers in Hastings: address in which he acknowledged The Making of a Community, the significant contribution 1673-1920, which was being Quakers had made to the wellbeing launched at this event. She gave of Hastings society. an engrossing account of the Local ‘cake artist’ Sylvia Tippett history of the building itself and had been commissioned to prepare also of its originators and some a special cake for the occasion. (see of its visitors. photo.) Guests enjoyed this and Quakers had met and a light buffet. They also walked worshipped in Hastings since around the Meeting house and the seventeenth century, but it Photo courtesy of Peter Bolwell. Photo courtesy of Peter

the Friend, 5 February 2016 5 Opinion Sanctions rather than war

Elaine Miles welcomes a new chapter in the history of Iran

t was splendid news that the agreement reached then from Afghanistan, where we were persuaded to last year with Iran (for international inspections make war by the Americans, but we have little good to to check that the country’s nuclear capability was show for our involvement. Inot being used to produce nuclear weapons) was confirmed. What is even better, it was achieved by Britain has played a part in creating the tragic the use of sanctions rather than warfare. Now a new situation in Libya, another Muslim country, which chapter has opened. has led thousands of North Africans to cross the Mediterranean for a better life in Europe. They would Once the Americans are convinced that they have not have left in such numbers had their countries not nothing to fear from Iran they may feel less need to been ruined by European attacks. supply heavy weapons to Israel as a possible base against that country. The pictures sent back from Teheran when We must convince our fellow Britons that war always the news of the lifting of sanctions was announced costs more lives and misery than the situation for were not the old scary ones of women in burkas, but of which we undertook it. I recommend Diana Francis’s young people dancing for joy in the streets. book from her Swarthmore lecture – Faith, Power and Peace – especially the first chapter. ‘Just War theory’, Some of the weapons sent to Israel by the Americans she says, only made war easier to justify, rather than for defence against Iran are, instead, being used against limiting it. In the Iraq war, more than a million Iraqis the Palestinians, both in the occupied territories and died, their country was devastated and women’s rights in Gaza. A BBC programme last year, The Children of were less observed. The Afghan war was a ‘war on Gaza, told us that some 500 Palestinian children have terror’ that led to countless Afghan deaths and much been killed by Israeli attacks there, compared with loss of life among US, British and other forces. The one Israeli child from a rocket attack by Hamas. The second world war did not prevent the Holocaust. Palestinian homes were in ruins. Israeli houses had It also produced atrocities such as Dresden and pockmarks in the walls and smashed windscreens on Hiroshima and about sixty million people died. cars. This was very alarming for the Israeli children, but it was not total destruction. Diana Francis also produces similar facts about so-called ‘Liberation’ and ‘Humanitarian’ wars. There In the Ukraine sanctions have again been chosen is material there that we can use to dissuade those who against Russia, and they seem, so far, to be restraining are still prepared to go to war. that country from swallowing up all Ukraine and then, perhaps, threatening other countries that It is strange that we have abandoned capital were once in the Soviet empire. Lives have been lost punishment, partly because it can lead to the execution in the Ukraine, but the danger was not seen early of someone who is innocent of the crime, for there is enough by the European Union, despite the earlier little evidence that it acts as a deterrent, and because Russian annexation of part of Georgia and the total one might reform the perpetrator – and yet we do not annihilation of Chechnya. Nevertheless, we are see that the same argument applies to the ‘execution’ beginning to learn, internationally, to choose sanctions of huge numbers of people in war. Imprisonment instead of war. and sanctions alike cause hardship, but they do give opportunities for dialogue. This is not so with our own country. Our government has withdrawn steadily from Iraq, and Elaine is a member of Jordans Meeting.

6 the Friend, 5 February 2016 Talking point In the name of God?

William Bingham reflects on why religious men are so violent

n the year 1600 the Medieval church hammered suffering, and death upon their fellow men. They miss a spike through the tongue of the Franciscan the point entirely! We even celebrate violence in our astronomer Giordano Bruno before burning him to ‘entertainments’. The ancient Romans, of course, did Ideath at the stake. exactly the same thing, and in their own cruel ignorance So, what was Giordano’s ‘crime’? He simply said: saw to it that very few of the ‘performers’ survived. ‘There are many more worlds other than this one.’ The The children of today are being exposed daily to Hubble telescope has recently discovered 10,000 new violence in films and on television and this violence galaxies. Each of these galaxies contains a billion stars. is being inculcated! Our teenage kids carry knives The Quaker, James Nayler, had a red-hot poker for ‘protection’. Adults in America carry guns for thrust through his tongue in 1659 and had a ‘B’ ‘protection’. Children copy adult behaviours, and thus (blasphemer) branded on his forehead by the Puritans. we teach our kids to kill. We do this with our eyes wide What was James Nayler’s ‘crime’? He simply re-enacted, shut. by entering Bristol on a donkey in 1656, Christ’s entry A misreading of the Bible and the Koran, of course, into Jerusalem. seems to grant religious men ‘permission’ to vent their Today, actors perform the ‘Passion Play’ at Oberam- own cruelty. There are many outrageous stories in the mergau without serious incident. Sadly, poor James Bible that, quite frankly, give God a bad name: the Nayler’s ‘performance’ was not so well received, and first ever-recorded religious suicide killer was Samson; the Puritans treated our Friend almost as cruelly as David beheaded Goliath and paraded his head through the churchmen who tortured their very own Giordano the streets of Jerusalem; the barbarity of movements Bruno. such as Isis is not a recent phenomenon! Why are religious men so violent? It seems clear However, there is a very distinct difference between to me from all of this that many people who claim religion and spirituality. God did not send the ‘angel to be religious have a very disturbing habit of failing of death’ to murder the first-born babies of Egypt as to understand the very essence of the faith that they the Bible claims. Yeshua himself spoke very tenderly profess – and this worries me a lot. We are now in concerning all children. We are further told that God the year 2016, yet we are still killing each other in the was so annoyed on the same occasion that he also name of God. chose to kill ‘every animal in the land’. Would any of us We are told very clearly, however, that there is one consider celebrating king Herod’s murder of the infants sin that will never be forgiven, and that particular of Bethlehem? Herod at least spared the animals! sin is described as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit! Contemporary Quakers, of course, read their Bibles The Holy Spirit is clearly symbolised by a dove. Do very carefully today. Early Friends put away the we seriously think, therefore, that God rejoices in our sword, as Yeshua had directed. America’s gun lobby murderous brutality? Do we think for a single moment is today in focus, and we can thank Barack Obama that He intervenes in human affairs by murdering (whose children attend a Quaker school) for this. I am curious women such as Lot’s wife? Becoming ‘the salt greatly encouraged when I witness a tearful American of the earth’ was never really intended to be a violent president on television. Obama promises ‘meaningful experience! Yeshua’s (Christ’s) ‘salt’ teaching was change’ but will, of course, be opposed. The men of intended to improve the human condition! violence will oppose him, and some of them will be Today, man’s fascination with the tools of violence former presidents who will still claim that ‘God’ is is revealed for what it is. Homo sapiens now have illuminating their paths. an atavistic love affair with explosives, and some ‘religious sapiens’ take great pleasure in inflicting pain, Bill is a member of Glasgow Meeting.

the Friend, 5 February 2016 7 Letters All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Friend

Ex-offenders and Meetings Ways of worship If our Meetings are open to all, but then we say ‘… With reference to Philip and Jill Allum’s letter (22 except ex-offenders’, I wonder what our testimony to January), I have also experienced worship at a Hindu equality really means? When we assert that ‘Every Cavadee. This was in London in the late 1980s. human being is unique, precious, a child of God’, in The Cavadee was held in a three-storey building. honesty should we be adding ‘but some are more On the ground floor devotees pierced their cheeks, human than others’? tongues and body with pins, before making a slow A Friend recently (18 & 25 December 2015) wrote procession to the second floor, where they prayed. of a bad experience with one individual ex-offender They continued the procession to the third floor. Here who was, quite rightly, debarred from attending that the god Ganpati was an imposing idol in the centre of Meeting. But I know of a number of Meetings that have the room. Everyone made an offering of milk to the experienced disruptive, even destructive, behaviour by elephant god. The milk was poured into the mouth individuals – not one of whom had a criminal record of Ganpati and came out into a tray at the bottom of as far as I know. To say that because of one problematic the statue. The milk was considered to be blessed and person we should debar all ex-offenders seems to me was given back to the congregation, who dabbed some akin to saying all Muslims should be refused entry to milk on their foreheads and drank the rest. During the the country because some are terrorists. whole Cavadee everyone had the greatest respect and As always, Jesus had things to say that might guide it was a very moving occasion for me. us. He reminded his followers that loving your friends A prisoner is easy – he challenged them – and us – to love those HMP Albany, Isle of Wight who are difficult to love. He warned: ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged.’ And what about: ‘Let him who is without Yeowhihafo sin cast the first stone’? Jesus insisted on befriending Eye last year (15 November) had a story about a lowlifes and undesirables, to the dismay of his recipe for ‘Yeowhihafo’! I remember the names of associates. Perhaps he was just naive. the persons commemorated in this dish – Jessie All over the world communities are being torn apart Yeoman, ? Whiteman, Hilda Harris and Hetty Ford. by prejudice and fear. Is love something we can preach My parents, John and Gladys Andrews, were members to others without practising it in our own Quaker of New Barnet Meeting from circa 1938 to 1945 and I communities? Or are we now going to start asking: remember Lyn Harris Wright and her family well. The ‘What does fear require of us?’ names of the above were all members of New Barnet Stevie Krayer Meeting, so the Yeowhihafo must have originated there. Southern Marches Area Meeting Interestingly, a very similar recipe has found a home in my own Meeting, Tavistock. The Stein sisters, On balance Maggi Squire and Jane Osborne, make it. Here it is Gillian Metheringham’s thoughts (8 January) were known as ‘Golden Slices’. Jane ran a catering company, beautifully put and echo my ongoing journey to greater and the slices were much sought after on her market spiritual understanding – plus a desire to avoid black stall, providing delicious fast food on the days when and white automatic responses to the challenges of life. the Farmers’ Market was held here. I know the stall The quote from Advices & queries, however, did not was much missed when she gave up. seem quite to fit. Interestingly, my mother made a similar dish, with I thought that my ‘bottom line’ was to say that I the addition of tomatoes, a spoonful of chutney and a am happy to live a simple lifestyle. But I felt that my dash of curry powder, and the oats replaced with rice. current level of ‘simplicity’ is not ‘freely chosen’ as This dish was known as Spanish rice and is, to this it results from a reduced income and, consequently, day, made by various members of my family. reduces, as I see it, my ability to help redress the huge E May Andrews imbalances that exist in our world today. Tavistock Meeting, Devon Then, after more pondering, I realised that my circumstances are gently pushing me to use my What’s in a name? resources in a very considered way (to live simply!) It is said it that if you ask someone whether they and to make sure that they are well used in my live in Brighton the vehement answer is likely to be community and for my family. ‘No! Hove actually’! Newcomers begin to think that And then I remembered why I became a Quaker by ‘Hoveactually’ is the real place name. convincement! Rumour has it that the origin of this name came Tissie Roberts from the actor Laurence Olivier, who lived locally. Alderney Meeting, Channel Islands Over the years, it seems the name was used with

8 the Friend, 5 February 2016 [email protected]

humour by most (and a certain amount of snobbery crisis and showing practical compassion in doing all by others) as the people of Hove distanced themselves we can to save lives, rather than taking actions that from the hoi polloi in Brighton. will inevitably cause so many more deaths and further Quaker literature and correspondence nowadays conflict and lasting bitterness to an already suffering leads me to believe that there is a deity called people? ‘Godorwhateveryouwanttocallit’. Feargus O’Connor Since the first ‘S’ in our Quaker STEPS stands for Unitarian Peace Fellowship and World Congress ‘Simplicity’, I think I’ll just stick with ‘God’. of Faiths, minister to Golders Green and St Albans John Russell Unitarians. Salisbury Meeting, Wiltshire Tercentenary memories needed Words and silence Our small Quaker Meeting here in Long Sutton, I thought Patricia Gosling’s ‘Thought for the Week’ Somerset, is to celebrate its tercentenary over the (22 January) an admirable account of Quakerism. Our weekend of 8/9 July 2017. great challenge is to convey this message to the general We aim to hold various events, such as a display of public, many of whom, I believe, would find the memorabilia, and to produce a commemorative book. Quaker approach just what they are looking for. We are looking at Quakerism in Somerset and Long Martin Hartog Sutton in particular. Thornbury Meeting, Bristol What we need to start collecting soon are any memories: letters, photos, pictures, accounts of events Leila Ward concludes one of her essays (‘Light’) in the and so on. If you have anything along these lines, we book Here and Now with the words: ‘Eternity, with all would be most grateful if you could share them with its radiance, is here and now.’ us. We will take great care of what you send and return Surely, a very Quakerly claim? items to you. However, if some things are precious, As always – carry on the excellent work! perhaps they could be scanned or photocopied? Alan Russell Please note that articles for inclusion in the [email protected] commemorative book need to be received by the beginning of July 2016 at the latest. Please send to the Syria address below. In Syria some twelve million people have fled their Looking forward to hearing from you. homes. There are some four million refugees outside Maggie Davies, convenor the country. Organisations such as the Red Cross, who Tercentenary Planning Committee have launched an appeal to help, are at the forefront of 6 Cherry Tree Court, Crewkerne TA18 7DH an international response to the crisis. Or email: [email protected] Supporting humanitarian action in Syria across faiths, rather than bombing and further bloodshed, is surely a way to show the wisdom of John Greenleaf Whittier’s words: In essentials unity, Fold to thy heart thy sister and thy brother; in non-essentials liberty, Where pity dwells the peace of God is there; To worship rightly is to love each other: in all things charity. Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer… Then shall all shackles fall; the stormy clangour Of wild war music o’er the Earth shall cease; The Friend welcomes your views. Love shall tread out the baleful fire of anger And in its ashes plant the tree of peace. Do keep letters short (maximum 250 words).

These words of Whittier have been adapted as a Please include your full postal address, even Unitarian hymn. Quakers and Unitarians rightly pride when sending emails, and specify whether you wish for your postal or email address or Meeting themselves on their autonomy at national and local name to be used with your name. level but worked closely and successfully on marriage equality. Letters are published at the editor’s discretion Would it not be inspiring if we could do so now and may be edited. by responding to this unprecedented humanitarian

the Friend, 5 February 2016 9 Spirituality William Penn: Spiritual practice

Alex Thomson appreciates the writings of early Friends

here is something in the writings of the early that Jesus was the Son of God. I am saying I don’t know, Friends that speaks to my condition. It is a joy to and I am happy to live in a state of not knowing. To not feel that connection to those first Quakers. know something is to be intimate with it, I believe, for T it to be fully alive and not just a label for something we From the Pendle Hill pamphlet 167 about William think we know, and then ignore its reality. Penn: mystic Elizabeth Gray Vining offers the following quote from A Tender Visitation in the Love of God: Jesus requires us to look deeply and sit with the mystery and wonder of who Jesus was/is. Jesus asked Do you sit down in true silence, resting from us to follow him, which being both human and divine your own will and workings, and waiting upon we can do. We can experience what Jesus experienced, the Lord, with your minds fixed in that Light that intimate relationship with that which is God, wherewith Christ has enlightened you, until the Lord, or whatever word you may wish to use. The most Lord breathes life in you, refresheth you and important thing is to experience it. Again, William prepares your spirits and souls, to make you fit for Penn points us in the right direction: His service, that you may offer unto Him a pure and spiritual sacrifice? Look not out but within. Remember it is a still voice that speaks to us in this day and that it is not to be Our language and our beliefs may have changed in heard in the noises and hurries of the mind, but the three hundred or so years since this was written, but it is distinctly understood in a retired frame. Jesus the divine is just the same, it is ‘us’ who are changing. loved and chose solitudes, often going to mountains, Some people, including me at one time, might struggle gardens and seashores to avoid crowds and hurries, with the word Christ. Jesus was both human and to show his disciples it was good to be solitary and divine – not human pretending to be divine, not divine sit loose to the world. pretending to be human. In the silence I have realised a presence where there A wonderful teacher is no separation between my true self and whatever you may chose to call that presence, Christ, God, Buddha Some people can accept Jesus as human, a wonderful nature, whatever …it is beyond words and names, teacher; others can accept him as divine, someone to be God beyond God. It is that of God within me, my true worshipped who is separate from us. Yet, Jesus told us self. I am also this body and mind, and this body and only God is good. He was/is both human and divine. If, mind are not a false self, but a manifestation of that of as Quakers, we say there is that of God in everyone, then God, which was born and will one day pass away – the each one of us is also both human and divine. I am not equipment though which I am aware of the world and saying Jesus was not the Son of God, and I am not saying all that is to be experienced.

10 the Friend, 5 February 2016 Photo: Andrew Dallos / flickr CC. Dallos / flickr Andrew Photo:

In the still silence As soon as you wake, retire your mind into a pure silence from all thoughts and ideas of worldly All of us are both human and divine. The false self is things, and in that frame wait upon God, to feel the self that only sees from a limited point of view. His good presence, to lift up your hearts to Him This is a selfish point of view, where I am just one of and commit your whole self into his blessed care many others who are not me, who I need to compete and protection. Then rise, read a chapter in the with and put down. It is a point of view that sees Scriptures, ever remembering that God is present.’ only the goal of the survival of the fittest. It is a very materialistic point of view. Unfortunately, at this time, During the day he invites us: it is a point of view that dominates the world. to step home, within yourselves, commune with It is in the still silence, when I let go of all the your own hearts and be still; One like the Son of thoughts and emotions arising from this limited point God you shall find and enjoy with you and in you.. of view, that I become aware of my true self. In this The evening come, read again the Holy Scriptures state, I believe, there is no separation between what and have your times of retirement before you close William Penn calls Lord or Christ and me. It is also your eyes, as in the morning; that so the Lord may a state where there is no separation between me be the alpha and omega of everyday of your lives. and everyone else, and everything else. It is a feeling of unconditional love, for in this love there is no Can we, today, set ourselves such a routine? Before separation. Everything and everyone is a manifestation the day begins, let us be aware of this moment of being of the divine. awake to a brand-new fresh day and, in that stillness, become aware of the divine presence that is not separate The Light of Christ from ourselves – letting loving healing spirit flow through us and out to the world. I see the suffering that the limited point of view causes, and I realise that this limited point of view is the Take the time to read some inspiring words from sacrifice that needs to be made. Yet, it is not really a whatever source speaks to our condition. During the sacrifice – it is an awakening, an enlightenment of the day have moments of stillness when we pause from our Light of Christ, an awareness that breathes life into daily activities and reconnect to our true self; again, in me and prepares my spirit and soul to be fit for the the evening, take some time to be still, at peace, and yet service to my true self, our true self, for we are all one fully aware of that which is forever present. life. William Penn offers us a daily spiritual routine to follow: Alex is a member of Stoke Meeting.

the Friend, 5 February 2016 11 Talking point

Area Meetings: what is the future?

Gillian Blunden Grant urges Friends to ‘think outside the box’ about Area Meetings

ur Friend, Ian Beeson speaks to my condition the Spirit giveth life’. What is necessary for all Friends’ (1 January) and the thoughts I have been spiritual growth is regular attendance at a Meeting for having since reading the report of Meeting for Worship. OSufferings 11 December 2015. No organisation will be attractive or even successful This is what the Religious Society of Friends in remaining in existence if it holds to administrative (Quakers) says about itself: ‘The principal activity of and governance structures that do not meet members’ [an] Area Quaker Meeting is the arrangement and needs, and indeed appears to berate those who cannot/ holding of public Meetings for Worship [after the do not wish to participate in those structures. No manner of Friends] at its constituent Local Meetings.’ amount of education about the role of AM will increase (AM Annual Trustees Report, 2015). The Society is a attendance and participation from those who do not find charity ‘established for the advancement of religion’. it satisfying or practically possible to attend. Ian Beeson Worshippers fortunate enough to be able to travel to has started to outline how the necessary functions of our one of our Local Meetings (LM) on a Sunday morning Society might be fulfilled without AMs, which so often tend, in my lifelong sixty-three years of association as drain resources, spiritual and otherwise, away from our child attender and then adult member of the Society of worship and witness as Friends in the world. Friends, primarily to identify with, and are nurtured by, that Local Meeting. For some Friends, the geographically No amount of education about the larger Area Meeting (AM) is a lovely opportunity to enjoy ‘fellowship’ with other Friends, as well as transact role of AM will increase church affairs. However, for most listed members and attenders of any AM it is not. They don’t attend, or take attendance and participation… on AM roles, even despite some rejigging of the activities in our area so that we now hold only four full AMs on For many inhabitants of the UK it is simply not four Sundays each year (attendance between thirty- possible to worship at a local Quaker Meeting, even if five and sixty-five, usually the same people) and Area they wished to do so. Practical issues such as lack of a Meeting Working Group in the intervening months, Local Meeting for Worship, availability of transport, second Tuesdays 6.30pm (attendance approximately ten distance, timing, work schedules and so on, prevent to fifteen, pretty well always the same people). this, never mind the kind of welcome they might/might My research on my PM/LM within its Monthly Meeting not receive at our ‘local’, predominantly homogeneous, (MM)/AM shows the proportion of Friends attending white, middle class, ‘elderly’, super-educated Meetings. MM/AM to be the same now as in 1910, the year our The logical answer to this question of accessibility is Preparative Meeting (PM)/LM opened, which is ten per that, to meet what we believe to be the unmet need for cent, and the same concern existed then as now: ‘How can people to worship after the manner of Friends, we should we get more Friends to attend Monthly Meeting/AM?’ have many more, possibly smaller, Local Meetings than at Personally, I don’t think it is a necessary part of all present, in localities where people live or can easily reach. worshippers’ spiritual journeys to attend AM or sit on It would then be easier for these truly Local Meetings some committee or other, but some Friends might find it to reflect the demographics of their local communities. to be so for themselves. Remember, ‘the letter killeth, but Meetings for Worship might possibly be held at varied

12 the Friend, 5 February 2016 times more appropriate for the worshippers, either in If current trends continue, in thirty our own Meeting houses where these exist, or hired community halls/shared ecumenical premises. Holding years there will be no Religious public Meetings for Worship in Friends’ private homes can be very off putting for enquirers, less well off Society of Friends in the UK unless Friends, and others. If we held Meetings nationally in the ratios of Quaker population to geographic population, we do something radical… as in my current Local Meeting, then theoretically the Society would have a UK membership of about this is not a valid objection to giving the idea some 90,000 plus attenders and children. What would not genuine consideration. I’d like to create an opportunity help access is closing small, sometimes vibrant, Local to use our energies to greater advantage. Fellowship and Meetings to focus on less accessible Meetings attempting special activities could be achieved through regional to serve even larger geographic populations and areas. gatherings and ‘task and finish’ groups, set up to achieve The square mileage that my AM covers is vast, with specific ends. Intervisitation between Local Meetings, no coherent focus of interest and no suitable public where practical, could continue to enrich our spiritual transport on a Sunday, from one extremity to another. lives. AMs are not necessary to facilitate these things. My Local Meeting is over 100 years old, situated in Likewise, our charitable trustees could be Yearly, an even older converted building, on a High Street, not Area, Meeting appointees operating in regional with peaks and troughs in numbers attending on any groupings such as ‘Scotland’, ‘Wales’, ‘England’ and one Sunday and an equilibrium point of fourteen- ‘London’, say, and in accordance with standardised eighteen worshippers, at times with, and at other times policies on issues such as finance, ownership and care without, a children’s meeting. It has nearly closed twice of Meeting houses, investments and so on. Britain during its history. All our worshippers are able to (but Yearly Meeting, especially the gatherings, attracts a don’t necessarily) access Meeting on foot, push bike or goodly percentage of Friends, at colossal financial and public transport. We are genuinely a ‘local meeting’ in a administrative cost. Let’s use this positively, rather than suburban area, with a fairly wide age and occupational hold over-choreographed events that don’t offer much range, and I think there is scope for many more Meetings opportunity for the Spirit to lead us. like ours in the UK population centres not yet served by Surveys of our membership and our Meetings Quakerism. indicate, as they have done since the 1890s in my area, that we are getting older, hold higher levels of academic I think it is timely to consider qualifications than ever before, and are declining rapidly in number. In my AM in 2015 there were no whether we should continue with convincements, and numbers are declining through death and resignation. This is a serious problem for a the present structures of Area ‘membership organisation’. If current trends continue, in thirty years there will be no Religious Society of Meetings and Local Meetings. Friends in the UK unless we do something radical about it, and certainly no four hundredth anniversary I think it is timely to consider whether we should celebrations in 2052. continue with the present structures of Area Meetings The laying down of the Society would only be a and Local Meetings. At present our membership is with problem if there were left some rump of people who our Area Meeting. There is not necessarily a sound actually wished to worship in silence, waiting on reason for this: it might be more sensible if we joined the Spirit and who couldn’t find anyone else to do it Britain Yearly Meeting, with visitors appointed by the with. All our other activities, good works, campaigns, Local Meeting we attend and from a neighbouring one. education about Quaker history and stewardship of We would (and do) worship, offer pastoral support, buildings of historic interest can be achieved through and bear Quaker witness at our Local Meeting and other non-Quaker outlets. in our local community, participating in regional and However, even that rump would be important. ‘When national Quaker and ecumenical ‘concerns’ as we two or three are gathered together in my name…’ wished. We could then use the spiritual and practical Not so long ago we took the bold step of abandoning energy that some Friends currently put into trying to Quarterly/General Meetings. Let’s think outside the box make AM ‘work’, into our LMs, or national activities, about Area Meetings now. strengthening our witness and outreach. Of course, much detail would need to be worked Gillian Blunden Grant is an elder/overseer with out if we made the bold decision to abolish AMs, but Northumbria Area Meeting and Monkseaton Meeting.

the Friend, 5 February 2016 13 Reflection

What lies beyond Photo: Matt Zimmerman / flickr CC. Zimmerman / flickr Photo: Matt

Roger Seal reflects on a poem by George Herbert

riends might be excused for being somewhat the true wonder that any man can access God’s loving quizzical about Derek Guiton’s choice of title kingdom in which the apparently base is restored to its for his recent book A Man that Looks on Glass, proper splendour by God’s indwelling. Fwhich was reviewed in The Friend on 27 November, as ‘A man that looks on glass’ is the first line of one its meaning is not immediately obvious. The reviewer stanza of that poem. Each stanza sheds a precious mentions that the wording is taken from a poem by insight into the idea of transformation. The whole George Herbert, while the website associated with piece is well worth searching for. Suffice it to consider the book states simply that it is by a seventeenth just this stanza: ‘A man that looks on glass/ on it may century poet. Neither sheds light on the meaning and stay his eye/ or, if he pleaseth, through it pass, and significance of the choice. It calls for curiosity to look then the heaven espie.’ We always have a choice. further. We may content ourselves with what shows on the The effort entailed is well rewarded. George Herbert surface, with its easy gloss and glamour amusing and was indeed a poet, but he was much more than that. distracting us, or we may look intently enough to Above all, he walked with God, and he saw it as his discern that there are deeper truths that lie behind, life’s work to tell of that walk and to commend it to perhaps darker but more intense, that command others. The fact that he wrote sometimes in verse our attention. The analogy with an orthodox icon makes it all the more delightfully accessible and is unmistakable: however bright and accessible the memorable. A gifted writer is one who can convey in frame, what really matters about an icon is the actual words truths and insights that would elude another, image that is barely discernible through the window and the wonder of poetry is that by it things can be at the centre. A more up-to-date metaphor are those expressed that would be otherwise ineffable. images of seemingly chaotic tessellations which, if seen George Herbert chose verse as a medium to share aright, with the eye as it were refocused, give way to an what he knew as the great mystery of transformation altogether different, three-dimensional, image. through a poem he entitled ‘The Elixir’. His readers I dare to suggest that Derek Guiton would have will probably have been familiar with the occult idea Friends similarly ‘pass through the glass’ and discover that certain substances, solid or liquid, had the power what lies beyond. It is not given to everyone to get to transform others or to prolong life; such a substance it – as Jesus said of some in his audience. They would was called ‘an elixir’. Probably the example best known hear, and hear yet not understand, and ‘unless you nowadays is the mythical philosopher’s stone that, become as a little child you cannot enter the kingdom in the hands of an adept, could transmute dross into of heaven’; but, please God, Friends do have an gold. This tale could, of course, stray close to heresy. opportunity, with less distraction than many, to break The wonder of Herbert’s poesy is that by it he is able through and find what is real and enduring. It is the to transform what might itself otherwise be dangerous treasure in the field; it is the pearl of great price. and deluding into a wondrous insight into the nature and power of God. Out goes the alchemist conjuring with incantations to work strange magic, giving way to Roger is a member of Lincolnshire Area Meeting.

14 the Friend, 5 February 2016 Reflection

Meaning and life

Don Mason prompts us to discern light in what appears to be darkness

ecently a friend of mine made the observation Can we find sense in a world whose material aspects that ‘Life is hard’. I did not ask why she had are coherent and accessible to logical interpretation said what she did, but it was hardly necessary. while our lives are not? RWhether we look at the world around us or within our own personal experiences we find an abundance of I do not accept the idea that our lives are evidence to support her conclusion. meaningless. There are two features of it that challenge that conclusion. First, the world, for all its pain, has In his letter to the Friend, of 30 January 2015, much of beauty in it. By some unfathomable reason Frank Boulton wrote: ‘we are all called to address, as we are blessed with an awareness of that beauty and it best we can, the challenges of this current life. As far comes to us unbidden and uncontrived. Second, we are as possible we should try to alleviate the suffering, aware that we love others and that they love us. It is in injustices, poverty, ill health and deprivation that this love that our true wealth lies and it is that which afflict so many…’ draws us all to Meeting for Worship each Sunday.

While agreeing wholeheartedly with this view, we However, this love carries a price with it. If we are should also recognise that not all suffering is caused deprived of love in our childhood we may bear the by the actions of mankind and not all can be relieved psychological scars for life, and if those who we love or avoided by benevolent actions. My own first-born suffer, we share their pain. It is the appreciation of son died of leukaemia almost fifty years ago, and such beauty and the empathy that we have for those in pain events challenge us to seek meaning in what appears to that makes us human. be tragedy. These blessings are not a manifestation of the world Of course, some will argue that however unfortunate of matter and do not come to an end with the death these events may be, that is just the way it is – some of the body. If this were not so, what comfort can we are just unlucky. Such a view seems to imply that our offer a mother whose eagerly awaited child is born lives are simply a lottery, not subject to any law. This fatally deformed, or is heir to a lethal genetic mutation. is a view that stands in stark contrast to the natural However, if, as I believe, a human lifespan is only a world, where the laws of nature ensure the existence chapter in a book of innumerable chapters, then we of the many fantastic manifestations of the universe can believe that our existence, taken in the large, is not and the life within it. In developing theories about the a meaningless lottery. physical world, science makes the assumption that it is dealing with a self-consistent, coherent whole. Indeed, it is recognised that were this not so the existence of the physical world as we know it would be impossible. Don is a member of Witney Meeting.

the Friend, 5 February 2016 15 5 Feb 2/2/16 14:57 Page 6

Friends&Meetings Deaths Invitations Diary

Audrey HOLDING 16 January, Richard SUMMERS is retiring as LAURENCE FREEMAN OSB peacefully at the Woodlands, General Secretary of Quaker Life. Sensing God – the start of a 6 week Wolverhampton. Mother of There will be a Meeting for Worship introductory course on Christian Maureen Jones (née Pearson). and tea party in Friends House to Meditation, Wednesday 10 February Member of Stourbridge Meeting. mark the occasion at 3pm, Friday 6.30 - 9pm. The Meditatio Centre, Aged 92. Funeral: Stourbridge 19 February, to which Friends and London EC1R 1XX. 020 7278 2070. Crematorium 11am Wednesday colleagues are warmly invited. [email protected] 17 February, refreshments after- RSVP by 17 February to: wards Stourbridge FMH. Enquiries: [email protected] or call QUAKER AFRICA INTEREST Clerk 01384 375348. 020 7663 1143. GROUP 20 February 2016. Priory Rooms, QMH, 40 Bull Street, Birmingham. 9.30 for 10am to 4pm. Refreshments/lunch bookable. All ARE YOU PLANNING TO RUN QUAKER welcome, to network and learn about Quaker witness in Africa. QUEST IN YOUR AREA THIS YEAR? Contact: [email protected] Quaker Quest Network can offer help and support including half day and full day workshops to motivate QUAKER TAPESTRY IN NEW- CASTLE UPON TYNE 7-21 May and inspire you and train your Quaker Quest team. at the Literary & Philosophical “How-to-do-it” manual and pack of posters provided. Society Library (the 'Lit & Phil'). Easy access by train. Have a city Contact the Training Co-ordinators on 01372 454363 break and/or visit the castles and email: [email protected] coast. Come to Meeting, too! www.quakerquest.org QUAKERS AT IONA ABBEY From Saturday 9 April. An ecumenical week led by Quakers from Quaker Peace & Social Witness Britain and Kenya looking at how different worship traditions are held in Unity, and are there lessons for Objections to war: the wider church? Enquiries to 01681 700404 or http://iona.org.uk/ a Quaker approach island-centres/bookings/ SPEAKERS AVAILABLE FOR MEETINGS TO BOOK SORT THAT DIFFICULT To mark 100 years since conscientious objection to military CONVERSATION: How to cope service was enshrined in British law in early 2016, QPSW when difficult conversation threatens now has a group of speakers for meetings to book. your sense of identity. Practice/ Each speaker will be able to offer a 1.5-hour learning session feedback in a safe environment. 7-11 March, Glenthorne - great on ‘Objections to war: a Quaker approach.’ location, food and company. £395. This will be a learning session exploring: Booking/Enquiries tel: 01684 892566. [email protected] • the context and realities of conscription in World War 1 • the pressures and dilemmas facing those who lay claim to a conscientious objection to all warfare. Meeting up The session will draw on visual and written archive material RECENTLY RETIRED LADY and present-day reports. It will include a presentation and TEACHER in Cambridgeshire reflective activity on Quaker objections to war, would love to meet a kind gentle- past and present. man to share the next steps of the journey. Replies please Box 974 c/o To request a speaker, please contact The Friend, 54a Main Street, Helen Bradford: [email protected] Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL. or telephone 020 7663 1071.

16 the Friend, 5 February 2016 5 Feb 2/2/16 14:57 Page 7

Friends & Meetings Personal entries (births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, changes of address, etc.) charged at £25 incl. vat for up to 35 words and includes a copy of the magazine. ACKWORTH SCHOOL Meeting and charity notices Ackworth, Pontefract, West Yorkshire WF7 7LT (changes of clerk, new wardens, changes to meeting, diary, etc.) Tel: 01977 611401 E-mail: [email protected] £21.15 zero rated for vat. Max. 35 words. 3 Diary or Meeting up entries £50 (£42.30 if zero GENERAL MEETING rated); 6 entries £87.50 (£72.90 will be held at the School on zero rated). Notices should Saturday 14 May 2016 preferably be prepaid. Cheques payable to ‘The Friend’. Deadline • The Meeting is an opportunity for all members of Britain Yearly Meeting usually Monday. to see the School and we hope that as many as possible will attend. Entries are accepted at the editor’s • All Area Meetings are asked to appoint a Representative. discretion in a standard house style. • Members wishing to attend on a personal basis may do so, but are A gentle discipline will be exerted asked to make their intention known to the School. to maintain a simplicity of style and 10.30am Coffee wording that excludes terms of endearment and words of tribute. 11.00am Meeting for Worship followed by the Business sessions Guidelines on request. 12.15pm Lunch Special Topic: PE (tours of the School to see improvements). The Friend, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL 3.45pm Tea and dispersal T. 01535 630230 Jane Wheatley E. [email protected] Clerk of Ackworth General Meeting Harbour House Residential Care Home “The house of smiles” Harbour House is a residential care home for the independent elderly focusing on encouragement, confidence, support and laughter. A recent respite visitor referred to us as ‘The house of smiles.’ We have 31 en-suite bedrooms including 1 en suite respite room and 2 flats, which can accommodate up to 29 individuals and 3 couples. Created and built by a local Quaker, Eileen Morland, over 50 years ago, we continue to work to her philosophy of creating a community promoting inclusion and independence. The support team consists of over 55 staff who are all based locally. The team provide quality care, menu planning, catering, domestic and maintenance support. Our dining experience is something both residents and staff pride themselves on. All our food is fresh, local and cooked to the highest standard with a three course lunch every day. We can cater for any diet and ensure our menus are varied and interesting. Our homemade cakes and cream teas are delicious! To learn more about living at Harbour House or coming for a respite stay please call us on 01308 423277 You’re welcome to pop in for a chat and a cup of tea at any time, no appointment needed. www.westbayhousing.co.uk [email protected] West Bay Housing Society Ltd, Harbour House, George Street, Bridport, Dorset DT6 4EY

the Friend, 5 February 2016 17 5 Feb 2/2/16 14:57 Page 8

Classified advertisements George Penaluna, Advertisement Manager, 54a Main St, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL T&F: 01535 630230 E: [email protected]

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DUNDRUM, COUNTY DOWN. Village books DO YOU FEEL ABLE TO SHARE YOUR centre, bayside, listed gate lodge family spiritual/psychic experiences and questions home: two double bedrooms ensuite, with Friends in your Meeting? If not, secure garden, wonderful views. Available INNER LIGHT BOOKS Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studies 23 July to 20 August: £2000 for four could be for you. Contact Angela Howard weeks. Non-smokers only. Contact 02843 Editions concerning traditional Quaker Faith & Practice (clerk), Webb’s Cottage, Woolpits Road, 750902, [email protected] Saling, Braintree, Essex, CM7 5DZ. Email For a list of publications or for more [email protected] or www. SWALEDALE, YORKSHIRE. Superb information on particular titles visit quakerfellowshipforafterlifestudies.co.uk selection of gorgeous cottages amid www.innerlightbooks.com Free magazine “Reaching Out”. stunning scenery. Details, photos, virtual or write: Editor, Inner Light Books tours. www.catholecottages.com 54 Lapidge Street DYSLEXIA, DYSPRAXIA AND ADHD 01748 886366. San Francisco CA 94110, USA in adulthood. Comprehensive information, including books, at www.sylviamoody.com THE DELL HOUSE, MALVERN. New free e-book! Self-catering apartments. Two acres garden. OPEN WING TRUST. Reg. charity 1149773. Dogs welcome. Ideal for couples, families A LETTER FROM JAMES We encourage individuals who need and groups of 6-20. Also B&B. Essays in Quaker History by John Lampen: financial support while they take steps to- www.thedellhouse.co.uk 01684 564448. on George Fox, James Nayler, John wards working with and for those in need. Woolman, Job Scott, the Grimké sisters, To apply for funding or make a donation speaking Truth to Power, Tolstoy’s last please visit www.openwing.org.uk OVERSEAS HOLIDAYS novel, and 20th century Quaker education. This book can be downloaded free of ACHILL ISLAND, CO. MAYO, IRELAND. charge in Mobi, Epub and PDF formats. PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANCY Traditional 2-bedroom cottage with mod- Go to &TAXATION SERVICE ern facilities. Sleeps 4/5. Peaceful setting www.hopeproject.co.uk Quaker Accountant offers friendly in own grounds with beautiful sea views. click “Recent publications” for details. Available April - October. €350-550pw. service countrywide. Details from [email protected] Self-assessment & small businesses. 01494 722486. Richard Platt, Grainger & Platt miscellaneous Chartered Certified Accountants SOUTHERN FRANCE Centre Quaker 3 Fisher Street, Carlisle CA3 8RR Congénies. Walk, cycle, lovely valley. Share ALL YOUR PIANO REQUIREMENTS Telephone 01228 521286 camaraderie/worship with Friends. Relax Restoration/nationwide removals/modern [email protected] in our pleasant garden. S/C Kitchen. secondhand sales. [email protected] www.grainger-platt.co.uk www.centre-quaker-congenies.org or call www.cambridgepianolacompany.co.uk +33 466 71 46 41, +33 466 35 27 16. Tom Poole 01223 861507. QUAKER FRIENDLY Homeopathy and Hypnotherapy in Sussex, flexible fees, Please mention The Friend when you reply to any advertisement. please visit www.chantryhealth.com

18 the Friend, 5 February 2016 5 Feb 2/2/16 14:57 Page 9

Quaker Peace & Social Witness Sustainability & Peace Programme Manager Salary: £19,001 per annum (£38,002 pro rata). Contract: Permanent Hours: Part Time – 17.5 hours per week. Location: Friends House, Euston Road, London NW1

We’re seeking a committed and passionate person to co-manage QPSW’s Sustainability and Peace programme. You’ll join a small team dedicated to supporting Quakers to take action to tackle climate, energy and economic injustice and to make real our vision of a just, sustainable and peaceful world. • Can you demonstrate your sympathy with Quaker values and approaches to environmental sustainability and economic justice? • Do you have experience of social change activism? • Do you believe that organised active citizens can bring about change? • Do you see climate change as a symptom of wider economic injustice and that we need to tackle the power of the fossil fuel industry and radically transform the economy? • Can you support people to live more sustainably and to take action in their own lives? • Can you facilitate groups and manage projects? Closing date: Friday 19 February 2016 – 12pm. Interviews: Monday 29 February 2016. For further details and information on how to apply visit: www.quaker.org.uk/jobs To find out more about the work of QPSW visit: www.quaker.org.uk/our-work Registered charity no: 1127633.

the Friend - the right to Conscientious Objection Bumper 32-page, special issue to mark the 100th Anniversary of the implementation of the Military Service Act, 2 March 1916, which contained the ‘conscience clause’. Buy copies for your Meeting and networks - just 50p a copy UK post paid! Guest-edited by David Boulton, author of Objection Overruled, this commemorative issue will explore how the Act, with its Quaker-sponsored conscience clause, came about; how the clause prepared the way for wider human rights; the speeches in Parliament of Arnold Rowntree and Philip Snowden supporting the conscience clause; the No-Conscription Fellowship Manifesto; and debates among Quakers in the letters column of the Friend, and much more. This special issue will be published on 26 February. Minimum order 20 copies. Don’t miss out. Order your copies at this special pre-publication price by Friday 19 February 2016! 100th Anniversary of the legal right to Conscientious Objection Number of copies you require: 20 30 40 50 60 80 100 200 Cheque payable to The Friend for: £10 £15 £20 £25 £30 £40 £50 £100 Or email your details to [email protected] and send payment to 08 92 99, a/c 65114889 ref ‘your meeting name.’ Any query please call: 01535 630230. Your name...... Meeting/Group...... Address for delivery...... Postcode...... Day tel...... Return to: George Penaluna, The Friend, 54a Main St, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL by Friday 19 February 2016.

the Friend, 5 February 2016 19 5 Feb 2/2/16 14:57 Page 10 V AD. DEPT EDITORIAL ol 54a Main St 173 Euston Road 174 Objections to war Cononley London NW1 2BJ Keighley BD20 8LL T 020 7663 1010 No speakers availableT 01535 630230 F 020 7663 11-82 See page 16 6 E [email protected] the Friend E [email protected] The Kindlers Quaker Peace Studies Trust in the South All-day Saturday workshop: 2 Creativity and Eva Pinthus Awards Spirituality In recognition of the many contributions for peace made by Eva Sat 20 Feb Embodied Worship Pinthus, awards are offered of up to £5,000 to Quaker students Led by Jenny Moy and friends Not words only but also our bodies studying peace at the University of Bradford in 2016-17. Come to move: Dance for joy. Details from Christy Bischoff: [email protected] Friends House, 173 Euston Rd, or tel. 01274 921379. London, 10 for 10.30am - 4.30pm. No booking £10 at door, bring Closing date for applications: 1 April 2016. Reg. charity no. 529095. picnic lunch. All welcome.

Oxford Quaker Meeting Assistant Manager Part-time (20hrs); £12-£15,000pa Experienced administrator needed, with excellent communication and organisation skills, to help with all aspects of the day-to-day running of a busy and forward- looking Meeting House in the centre of Oxford. This role is part-time, working alongside the full-time Manager. It involves the management of an extensive programme of lettings. Some experience of finance and accounting, and an awareness of Quaker values is desirable. Closing date 19 February 2016. Contact: [email protected] or see www.oxfordquakers.org for more information and full job description.