8 June 2018 £1.90 thediscover the contemporaryFriend quaker way
A diversity of gifts the Friend Independent Quaker Journalism Since 1843
Contents VOL 176 NO 23
3 Thought for the Week: Ways of seeking Love and truth I should like to change the name Elaine Miles ‘seekers’ to ‘explorers’. There is 4-5 News a considerable difference there: we do not seek the Atlantic, we 6 Other matters? explore it. The whole field of Simon Risley religious experience has to be explored, and has to be described 7 ‘It’s a bit more complicated than that’ in a language understandable to Paul Parker modern men and women. 8-9 Letters Ole Olden, 1955 10-11 A diversity of gifts Quaker faith & practice 26.17 Edward Dommen 12 Words killeth John Senior 13 Without masks Abigail Maxwell Correction 14-15 Mary Elmes Dale Andrew In the article by the Quaker Disability Equality Group (25 May), reference to 2017 should have been omitted. 16 Enlightenment now The Group had recommended, before the 2017 Yearly Reg Naulty Meeting (YM) Gathering, having speech-to-text on a large screen, and again before YM 2018. This was not taken up on 17 Friends & Meetings either occasion. This year Friends were still limited in the choice of where to sit at YM. While putting speech-to-text Cover image: on phones and tablets was welcome, ‘clearer speech-to-text Photo: Maëlick / flickr CC. on the [main] screen would benefit a much greater number See page 10-11 of people than those who consider themselves disabled’.
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2 the Friend, 8 June 2018 Thought for the Week
Love and truth
Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts. Trust them as the leadings of God whose Light shows us our darkness and brings us to new life.
Advices & queries 1.02
e all treasure the words of our first Advice, and in fact they seem to me to be much nearer the Greek of John 14:15-18 than either the authorised (King WJames) version of the Bible or the New English Bible. The King James version tells us that Jesus said to his disciples (John 14) that he would pray to the Father ‘and he shall send you another Comforter’, and the New English Bible says that he would ask the Father ‘and he will give you another to be your Advocate’. However, there is no capital letter in the Greek, and both translations seem to fail to express the sense of the original.
The Greek word paracletos meant a legal assistant who would help you to get it right on a point of law. That does not seem to be the same thing as a comforter, which we nowadays think of as someone who consoles you; originally, however, ‘comfort’ had the legal sense of strengthening your legal case, valid when the authorised version was written, but now out of date.
The word ‘Advocate’ is ambiguous, because although it can mean ‘one who gives you the legal information you need’, it can, alternatively, mean ‘one who speaks for you’ – besides being a rather ugly and unfamiliar English word. The word ‘prompt’, however, seems to give just the right sense; moreover, the ‘prompter’ turns out to be the Spirit of truth, which sounds very Quakerly, and John goes on in 14:17: ‘but you know him, because he dwells with you and [shall be] in you’.
Of course, early Friends knew their Bible so well that the wording they used constantly echoes Biblical language.
Elaine Miles Chilterns Area Meeting
the Friend, 8 June 2018 3 News Boost for ‘greener’ financial markets
A report to align EU financial divestments from unsustainable markets to long-term sustainable energies and phasing out subsidies goals has been adopted by the to fossil fuels. Economic and Monetary Affairs Molly Scott Cato said: ‘Today’s Committee of the European vote is a signal of the positive shift Parliament. taking place towards investment in The report on Sustainable sustainable sectors of the economy.’ Finance stresses the need to She added: ‘There is a growing establish a policy framework realisation, across the political
that guides investments towards spectrum, that if we are to Photo courtesy of Molly Cato. Scott ‘decarbonised, disaster-resilient safeguard future generations Molly Scott Cato. and resource-efficient economic from climate chaos and meet that transition and a common activities’. The rapporteur of the our obligations under the Paris understanding of what constitutes report for the European Parliament Agreement, we must rapidly sustainable finance will help was Quaker MEP Molly Scott Cato. decarbonise. Finance offers guide investment towards such a Proposals include encouraging a powerful tool to accelerate transition.’ Quaker scientist and writer at the Hay Festival Two Quakers spoke at the Hay Festival last month: towards the award of a Nobel Prize for her supervisor, leading scientist Jocelyn Bell Burnell and novelist Antony Hewish, and the astronomer Martin Ryle. As Sally Nicholls described how their Quaker faith has a research student, she was not included in the prize, informed their lives and work. despite being the first to precisely record and analyse Jocelyn Bell Burnell, professor of astrophysics at the pulsars. the University of Oxford, talked to journalist Rosie The festival also featured talks by Sally Nicholls, Boycott on 28 May about how her scientific discoveries whose book Things a Bright Girl Can Do tells the story sit with her Quakerism. of three young women’s fight for women’s suffrage. The Northern Irish scientist, who discovered pulsars Sally Nicholls, who grew up in a Quaker background in 1967, said that as a child her Quaker community was in Stockton-on-Tees, spoke on 30 May with authors ‘very scared of science because it threatened the Bible’ M A Bennett and Will Hill to Chelsey Pippin. She was but since ‘has changed shape to fit around the science’. also part of a pre-award panel of authors featuring on Jocelyn Bell Burnell studied at the University of the Young Adult Book Prize 2018 shortlist. Glasgow and then at the University of Cambridge, Sally Nicholls previously told the Friend that she on her PhD, where her work on pulsars contributed ‘took the decision’ to be a writer ‘to a Quaker Meeting’. Universal credit is a ‘huge concern’
A computer drop-in to switch to Universal Credit. after a Quaker concern about the centre set up and run by Claimants are facing big problems problem of homelessness in the Cornwall Friends has reported changing to the new system. We Penzance area. ‘huge concern’ about the switch to are having extra training from The group runs for two-and- Universal Credit. Cornwall council on how to switch a-half hours every week, and Alison Meaton, from Penzance over, and we have also applied is staffed by nine volunteers, Meeting, who set up the ‘Computer for funding from the Co-op including five Quakers. Drop-In’ in Penzance with Mike Community Fund and Marazion Alison Meaton said that Berris, from Marazion Meeting, Town Council. We need more claimants need to show they have told the Friend that the new system computers. We bought two new accessed the online ‘government of Universal Credit is causing laptops, but the others are very gateway’ or may face sanctions. stress among claimants and putting s l ow.’ She explained: ‘These days being increased pressure on volunteers. The service, based at ‘Breadline’, able to access computers is so She said: ‘We are one of the the homeless ‘hub’ run by St important to claim benefits and last areas for people on benefits Petroc’s Society, was established stay in touch with families.’
4 the Friend, 8 June 2018 reported by Rebecca Hardy [email protected]
COs’ sculpture on display in London
An artist in Haringey, London, has created a sculpture to reflect the experience of the conscientious objectors (COs) in world war one. The sculpture, The Lost Files, is inspired by the 350 conscientious objectors and their families who lived in Hornsey, Tottenham and Wood Green. Artist Al Johnson told the Friend: ‘I wanted to give information about those particular men, and also Photo courtesy of Al Johnson. explore the whole issue of COs, while also having an ‘Tortured’, a detail from Al Johnson’s sculpture The Lost Files emotional impact. The ‘office’ consists of twelve wooden filing cabinet ‘Most people don’t realise how badly they were drawers, each titled to reflect how the COs were treated. treated – worse than murderers. I also wanted to reflect The titles include words such as ‘love’, ‘support’, ‘torture’ the experiences of their partners, who would have been and ‘punishment’. The drawers also contain visual vilified by their communities.’ material, including 16,000 white feathers to represent The sculpture at the Bruce Castle Museum in the number of COs. Tottenham depicts a ‘desecrated office’ to reflect the fact The exhibition is part of ‘Conscientious Objection that so much information on COs has been destroyed. Remembered’, developed by the Haringey First World Al Johnson explained: ‘There’s this sense that they War Peace Forum. The sculpture will be on display didn’t want people to know about these people.’ until 23 September. Activism for peace Solidarity with Gaza quakers were among pacifists and anti-militarists Friends joined a demonstration in London to from around Britain who attended the annual mark on 15 May to show solidarity with people in conference of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU). Gaza. Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) has also ‘Remember & Resist: Grassroots action for peace’ urged Friends to contact their MPs or MEPs, asking took place at Friends House on 12 May and followed them to encourage the Israeli government to ‘stop its the PPU’s annual general meeting earlier that day. illegal use of live gunfire on unarmed civilians’, and to Topics included the growth of military visits to call for an end to arms sales to Israel. schools, and the ongoing allegations of abuse of The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme teenage recruits by army instructors. Leicester-based in Palestine and Isreal (EAPPI) team has prepared poet Ambrose Muisiyiwa gave a speech on the impact a template letter that Friends can sign and send to of militarism on local communities. politicians. Friends’ memorial for FAU orderly Kendal Quakers have paid Meeting stood in silence for ten tribute to Hugo Jackson, a Friends minutes and laid a wreath of white Ambulance Unit (FAU) orderly, poppies during a reading about who died 100 years ago on the Hugo Jackson. Western Front. He added: ‘He is remembered Friends at the Meeting house on the Kendal War Memorial. His held a 100-year commemoration death, and that of his fellow FAU at the Kendal War Memorial on driver Norman Gripper, a Quaker 27 May to remember the Quaker from Blackburn, are recorded in an Conscientious objector (CO). article headed “The Peace Service
Hugo Jackson was killed by a of the Society of Friends” in the Photo courtesy of Chris Bullard. shell at Aisle on 27 May 1918 as he Friend of 7 June 1918.’ He resigned his position at the was transporting wounded soldiers Hugo Jackson was born in 1890 school to join the FAU. Chris to Mont-Notre-Dame Military and educated at the Quaker School Bullard said: ‘The [Friend} article Hospital. in Stramongate, Kendal. wrongly states he was educated at Chris Bullard, from Kendal He was a science teacher at Sidcot Quaker School. Too late for Meeting, told the Friend that the Sidcot Quaker School, Somerset. a correction, I suppose!’
the Friend, 8 June 2018 5 Britain Yearly Meeting 2018
Other matters?
Simon Risley reflects on what wasn’t considered at Yearly Meeting
do not think I was the only person to have found to set up effective mechanisms to address sustainability the Yearly Meeting agenda a trifle surprising. Apart over the last seven years, she added: ‘It’s shocking that from the necessary business of Yearly Meeting the staff and structures seem unable to get beyond I(appointments, trustee and committee reports, Epistles preliminary exploration of what is a commitment of and so forth), there was really only one item under Britain Yearly Meeting and the whole Society.’ consideration: the revision of our Book of Discipline. She then explained: ‘Many of the problems that This is a ‘once in a generation’ job and one could we have are in our structures – and we need to reasonably expect it to go relatively smoothly. Granted, review them. If over seven years we cannot meet our it wasn’t just the usual patching but a much more commitments due to our structures, then we need to full-scale matter. However, why did this subject have a very good look at those structures. If you try occupy almost the whole of Yearly Meeting? A Friend something five times and fail, then there’s something whom I greatly respect told me that she thought profoundly wrong with the structure!’ that it was considered ‘very deeply and prayerfully’. The fact that it was a former Yearly Meeting clerk It was. Nonetheless, my question still stands: does it who said all of the above might, in itself, give us pause take almost the entire duration of Yearly Meeting to for thought that the real elephant in the room is the consider such a matter deeply and prayerfully to the viability of our current ways of working. So, why was exclusion of other pressing business? this not addressed at all at Yearly Meeting? No talk of And what could that other pressing business sustainability. Not a whisper as to whether the way our possibly be? Let me take you back to the longest item committees work is any longer fit for purpose. It could on the agenda at Meeting for Sufferings held on 7 be argued that this matter was too recent to include April at Friends House in London: the report from the in BYM documentation; or that the agenda had been Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) Sustainability Group prepared long before Meeting for Sufferings in April; – involving some of the most impassioned language or that such a serious matter merits more lengthy that I have ever heard at Sufferings. There was a consideration. recommendation, not taken up, that the Sustainability But I don’t buy it. Apart from an entirely nominal Group appointed by Sufferings be laid down. sliver of ‘as led’ at the tail end of the last session, there Laurie Michaelis, a member of the BYM was no opportunity for this matter to be raised at Sustainability Group, told us that, following from all. Moreover, given the flexibility to alter the agenda ‘Minute 36 Our Canterbury commitment’, made at during session, I believe – had the will been there – Yearly Meeting Gathering at Canterbury in 2011, that time could perfectly well have been made to do climate change is ‘…the biggest thing that we’ve ever so: even if only for this whole matter to be laid down had to deal with – and why are we recommending that as a marker for next Yearly Meeting; or for Sufferings the Group be laid down?’ to consider in the interim. But nothing happened. The Group’s clerk, Lis Burch, who was clerk of Not so much as a peep. Such subjects are difficult and Yearly Meeting at Canterbury in 2011, castigated the sometimes extremely painful, but we should at least lack of staff and financial support for such groups, steel ourselves to raise them. explaining: ‘Our main problem is that we sit outside Though, perhaps, I shouldn’t worry. There are the central structures – and this is outrageous! Our Friends who certainly will. organisation and its structures outrank working groups!’ Then, referring to the several failed attempts Simon is a member of Hammersmith Meeting.
6 the Friend, 8 June 2018 Faith and practice
‘It’s a bit more complicated than that’
Paul Parker discusses the decision to revise the Book of Discipline
ust before Yearly Meeting, a colleague made me, as climate justice; the internet and social media. The a joke, a badge which says: ‘I think you’ll find it’s a truth may be ‘one and the same always’, but the world bit more complicated than that.’ I’d wanted one for around us is not the same and ever changes. Jages; it’s a phrase I use a lot. I’m encouraged, rather than dismayed, by the The periodic revision of our Book of Discipline is media coverage our decision has attracted. Whilst we something which distinguishes the Religious Society certainly didn’t ‘cut out God in faith update’, as The of Friends. It marks us out as a community open Times’ headline had it, we’re committed to a more to new light and continuing revelation; God still exciting and nuanced challenge. Out came the badge. speaks to us today. The revision process recognises It’s a precious moment for us to speak out, to invite the fundamental uncertainty we find in articulating seekers in to our Meetings to reach out to their inner our relationship with the divine. What is it to be guide and experience the Spirit for themselves. faithful today? What words can describe our inward So, what happens next? First of all, Yearly Meeting’s spiritual experience? How can we connect that inward minute will go to Meeting for Sufferings, which will experience with the outward expressions of witness appoint a Revision Committee, decide how big it that mark a faithful life? should be, how it will work and report, and what ‘You can no more show me your works apart from authority it has. Meeting for Sufferings will instruct your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my Central Nominations Committee (CNC) to search for works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together names. It will be a large committee; Yearly Meeting hand in glove’ (The Message: MSG Bible). Our Quaker has asked for a diverse membership. Friends can experience, and our Books of Discipline from quite suggest names to help CNC discern who to bring early on, are about not just the inner life but also its forward for appointment. That will probably take outward manifestation in our organisation and the until the end of the year. That means it’s likely a world: faith and practice. Revision Committee will be in place and ready to So, this year, a particularly gathered Yearly Meeting start work by early 2019. It’s best not to rush these has taken the ever-bold step of commissioning a things. revision: our once-a-generation opportunity for a long Only then can the real work begin. It’s exciting and hard look at our faith, who we are, what it all means. daunting. There will be joy and pain, listening and Another thing that marks us out is the genuine learning, creativity alongside care for our heritage. The participation of all in our decision-making. Few words of the present will meld with the insights of the faith groups’ structures allow this. The minutes and past. I’m looking forward to it. But we would be wrong contributions of our young people and children (some to think it will be straightforward, quick or obvious of them with the paint still wet!) played a crucial part how to go about it. in helping us reach unity. They showed us that the I think we’ll find it’s a bit more complicated than world is a different place from the 1990s, when Quaker that. faith & practice was last revised. We have new things to say about sexuality and gender; sustainability and Paul is recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting.
the Friend, 8 June 2018 7 Letters All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Friend
Understanding and articulating wisdom that describes our core beliefs and practices in I enjoyed Richard Seebohm’s article (25 May) but was a way that is open to new light and grounded in tested stopped in my tracks by a comment about the afterlife experience and beliefs. We are not asked to agree with in relation to Alzheimer’s. The assumption is that since it all; simply to find what speaks to us in that moment. people with the condition seem to have no sentient life Its purpose is to reflect our leadings and discoveries, they illustrate the possibility that there is no eternity with all our differences, struggles and insights. It for any of us in the sense of an afterlife. defines who we are and why we are with many A common premise is that because people at an different words. Let us be enriched by diversity! advanced stage of dementia cannot communicate Ruth Tod with us on our terms they effectively cease to exist Mid Thames Area Meeting as sentient beings. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, when I worked with adults with dementia, John Dennithorne and Doreen Robb we understood that they gradually withdraw into In 1952 a Friend called Doreen Robb wrote and their own interior mindscape. Even before the illustrated (with lithographs) A Promise of Rain: an terminal stages of the illness, when communication is impression of a Welsh mining valley. A small number of increasingly difficult, the utterances of the ill person copies had been published by Hornsea School of Art can be seen to have their own rationale which, by Press. She gave one copy to the Quaker and sculptor careful response and validation, make perfect sense John Dennithorne, who for decades had worked in terms of the life lived, and earlier experiences of among the unemployed around Merthyr Tydfil, an attachment and loss. area which she also knew. People with Alzheimer’s might not be sentient on I am researching Quaker work in the region from our terms but they are intensely feeling beings, their the 1920s onwards and the life of John Dennithorne. I lives dominated by primitive feelings of frustration, would like to reproduce some pages with illustrations fear and anxiety (sometimes expressed as anger) in from this 1952 publication. I would welcome a world they cannot control or understand. We used information about the writer and to know from whom a technique called validation therapy and, drawing I might get permission to use the work. on attachment theory, made physical and emotional I would also be glad to hear from any Friends who contact through therapeutic circle dance. knew John Dennithorne, who died in 1984. If we try to understand all people on their own Christine Trevett terms, our hopes for ourselves become easier to see Bridgend Meeting, Wales and articulate, and we don’t consign anyone to the [email protected] margins of our particular heaven. Dorothy Jerrome Kneeling ministry Canterbury Meeting, Kent I was interested to read John Myhill’s letter (25 May) about this rare phenomenon – kneeling ministry. He is Worship and wisdom the first person I have heard speak of it. I agree that we need to find words that speak to a My first visit to a Quaker Meeting for Worship wider audience. We also need to communicate the was in Birmingham in 1949 or 1950. I think it was richness and depth of our collective and individual in the Handsworth area, held in a hall. Not knowing understanding and experience. I want to use the word anything about worship, but having been brought ‘worship’ because for me it is about connecting to up in a pacifist family during the second world war, deep wisdom. I am opening myself to a presence that I was interested to learn more of the Quaker Peace is always there when I remember to tap into it. Being Testimony. guided by that wisdom is a spiritual practice that helps I persuaded a friend to accompany me to Meeting me find my direction. Meeting one another in worship one Sunday. At the time we were both sixteen or is a sacred act. seventeen. We entered the building at the start of the This discussion is part of a wider issue about Meeting. Everybody was settled, so we sat down on inclusivity and how we share our knowledge with the two remaining empty chairs in the front row of a others without over-simplifying. We need to engage semi-circle and waited for it to begin – and waited and creatively with this issue, so we can pass on our waited. gifts and learn from others. Being open-hearted At least half an hour into the Meeting the person and welcoming is to invite people to join us in our beside us knelt down to pray, so, ‘naturally’, we journey, to be part of our faith community and make followed suit. It was only on rising that we saw that a home with us, if they wish. Quaker faith & practice everyone else had been standing! is invaluable because it is an evolving anthology of our On leaving the Meeting my friend said: ‘Never, never
8 the Friend, 8 June 2018 [email protected]
ask me to go a Quaker Meeting again. I’ve never been terminating unwanted pregnancies. Many people so embarrassed in my life!’ will argue that such a concept is impractical. Sixty- Thank goodness that today we have someone on five years ago, when I was in Northern Nigeria, I was the door welcoming everyone, especially first-time approached by women asking for sterilisation, with visitors, and handing them written material describing words like: ‘I have ten children, it is enough.’ I have how a Meeting for Worship operates. seen Irish women make a similar plea. That first experience did not prevent me from Today there are several hopeful changes to our becoming a Quaker, but I have never experienced social thinking. Some churches are more tolerant of kneeling ministry since. termination. The ‘facts of life’ should be taught in all Mary Stone schools. Yealand Meeting, Lancashire Edwin J Wrigley [email protected] John Myhill asks if praying on one’s knees has been part of any Friends’ experience. Disunited nations I attended Hitchen Meeting in Hertfordshire in In the 1930s the League of Nations failed to intervene the 1940s and 1950s when Edith Grubb (daughter of to prevent or punish Nazi Germany’s expansion and its Edmund Grubb, the Quaker theologian), although no occupation of other countries. Its involvement in the longer young, would sink to her knees to offer vocal Spanish civil war, which became a proxy war, was an prayer. She knelt on a hassock. Hassocks used, in example of where an aggressor practiced for a future times past, to be provided in Meeting houses. I do not world war. remember whether we stood up at the same time. The League was discredited and disbanded. Perhaps In addition, the contributions to ministry of another it is time for its successor, the United Nations, to member, George Parker, who was a professional singer be replaced, as it cannot deal with an imperialist and teacher, were sung. superpower that is taking a dominant role in a proxy The prayers and singing added much to the depth of war in Syria. the Meeting. Neil Simmons E Mary Andrews Cambridgeshire Area Meeting Tavistock Meeting, Devon Population control Speaking ‘truth to power’, we should be involved in all those activities controlling our population increase. Is it time we took a public stance in favour of termination of unwanted pregnancies? Those who watched David Attenborough’s programme The Blue Planet II, are well aware of his recurrent theme that the ever-increasing number of our own species is the primary cause of the universal degradation of the planet. In essentials unity, In those countries where population control has been established benefits have followed: a rise in in non-essentials liberty, economic standards, education, women’s suffrage and in all things charity. better nutrition. The traditional controlling factors of world population were flood, famine, war, and diseases such The Friend welcomes your views. as plague, TB, smallpox, yellow fever, malaria, measles and diphtheria. Nowadays appropriate vaccination Do keep letters short (maximum 250 words). programmes are continuously updated. In my latter years as a GP, in my maternity booking Please include your full postal address, even clinic when a patient said she was pregnant my when sending emails, and specify whether you immediate response was: ‘Do you want to be?’ Every wish for your postal or email address or Meeting child should be wanted by its mother. Otherwise its name to be used with your name. future is bleak. Letters are published at the editor’s discretion I believe it is time for Friends to support any and may be edited. campaign for all women to have the option of
the Friend, 8 June 2018 9 Quaker history
A diversity of gifts
Edward Dommen writes about the origins of Quaker committees in the Reformation
he original designer of the committee structure pastoral responsibilities fall on every member of the adopted by the Reformed Churches and, I community. believe, in due course by the Quakers was Ta figure from the early sixteenth century: Martin The Spirit Bucer, who was born in Sélestat in 1491 and died in Cambridge in 1551. He toyed endlessly with ideas on Experience had been quick to show that although the subject. the Spirit confers the ministry on the community as The fountainhead was the concept of the universal a whole, people have different gifts. It is sensible to ministry of all believers, which Martin Bucer absorbed distribute different functions among them accordingly, from the general atmosphere of popular revolt against albeit under the guidance of the entire community. the Catholic Church as an institution. John Woolman Martin Bucer thus evolved the idea of specific captures its theological essence from a Quaker point of ministries under the universal one. Each ministry is an view and stresses that it extends to everyone regardless expression at once of the ministry of the community of belief: and of a personal vocation. These different forms should both stimulate and correct each other: There is a principle, which is pure, placed in the human mind, which in different places and ages There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. hath had different names; it is, however, pure, and There are differences of ministries, but the same proceeds from God. It is deep, and inward, confined Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but to no forms of religion, nor excluded from any, where it is the same God who works all in all. But the the heart stands in perfect sincerity. In whomsoever manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for this takes root, and grows, of what nation soever, the [good] of all. they become brethren. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 From A Journal of the Life, Gospel Labours, New King James Version, adjusted and Christian Experiences of that Faithful Minister of Jesus Christ, John Woolman, 1774 Martin Bucer produced various lists of particular ministries. Indeed, he considered it proper that their For Martin Bucer the key point was that ministry is number and nature depend on the conditions of time above all a community matter, collective rather than and place. He gave various job descriptions to elders. being personalised in individuals. Here is one which will sound familiar to Quakers: to The Holy Spirit is given to the whole community; ‘warn, recall, exhort, correct, exclude’. it is therefore the community that receives the gift of the variety of talents that provide the opportunity John Calvin for particular ministries. In so far as they exist and if the Holy Spirit inspires them (through vocation) The rabble-rousing preacher Guillaume Farel it is because the community needs them; that is prevailed upon John Calvin to interrupt a journey what justifies them. It follows that the obligations of to Strasbourg and stay in Geneva because he was a
10 the Friend, 8 June 2018 There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit… Photo: Maëlick / flickr CC. / flickr Photo: Maëlick lawyer and therefore better equipped to establish a its etymology, the Greek word means ‘servant’. Since new ecclesiastical institution. Calvin was twenty-seven in Geneva, as in Strasbourg, the social services had when he arrived. He threw himself into the task with been taken over by civic institutions and were being the enthusiasm, impatience and the intolerance of competently run, little was said about deacons – or youth. As a result Geneva expelled him a couple of Helfer (‘helpers’) as Martin Bucer classified them. years later. Martin Bucer encouraged him to complete If one takes a deeper definition of the function as his interrupted journey and come to Strasbourg. a ministry of compassion there remains, however, an There he applied his lawyer’s mind to codifying essential role for a humane ministry in that vein. Martin Bucer’s fertile ideas on the variety of ministries. When he was called back to Geneva he presented The Quaker version a list of four ministries in his Geneva Ecclesiastical Ordinances of 1541: pastors, teachers, elders and The Quaker committee structure broadly fits Martin deacons: Bucer’s model, including its pragmatism. Since Quakers take the universal priesthood of all believers literally, • Pastors preach and distribute the sacraments. the pastors correspond to a committee of the whole: Pastors may not accept civic responsibilities. every member of the community is a member of it. • Teachers teach. The committees that Quakers have traditionally • Elders, a sort of morality police, keep a watchful called elders and overseers form the core of the eye on the morals of the faithful, including the selective committee structure. Quaker faith & practice pastors. Somewhat to John Calvin’s regret, but contains a paragraph in the spirit of Martin Bucer’s in line with the Strasbourg model, elders were recommendations: appointed by the civil authorities. They thus have a dialectical role with respect to the pastors. If a Local Meeting wishes to adopt an alternative • Deacons look after the poor and the sick. method of providing pastoral care, it should take time to work out how the responsibilities would be Incidentally, these ordinances display an early instance shared… Meetings need to give careful consideration of the separation of powers so important to democracy, to the best way of attending to pastoral care without both between the Church and the civil authorities and neglecting any of the responsibilities of eldership or within the Church. oversight. Some trace the origins of the function of deacon to Acts 6:1-3, where it is described rather disparagingly. Quaker faith & practice 12.15, Indeed, the word has a Greek root, diakonos, which sentence order rearranged some see as associated with stirring up the dust and thus related to the busy-ness side of the function. Whatever Edward is a member of Geneva Meeting.
the Friend, 8 June 2018 11 Reflection
Words killeth
…we have drifted away from our mystical, experiential roots.
John Senior considers guidance and spiritual practice hen during my membership application visit Ironically, nowhere in Quaker faith & practice is I was asked what I understood by the word there guidance for the practice of silence specifically ‘God’ I replied without hesitation, quoting related to these words or on other early Quaker texts Wfrom my Buddhist vocabulary the paragraph that that attempt to define the Light and our relationship refers to the unborn, uncreated and unmanifest. to it.
My words as a Buddhist are very different from what A number of Meetings arrange Holding in the Light a Christian may quote from the Bible, as the words and Healing sessions, but, again, there is no guidance given to Moses that ‘I am that I am’. Undoubtedly, whatsoever in Quaker faith & practice. there are many other descriptions from amongst today’s Friends. These are, in my opinion, different The inclusion in Quaker faith & practice of guidance ways of saying the same thing. Words may differ, but on these three key spiritual practices would do much we must look not at the words and – as the Buddhists to restore us to our experiential roots, where words are say – not at the fingers but at the moon to which all left behind. fingers point. From this I see that all the discussion about words, and their meaning in Quaker faith & If we need words to help us on our way then related practice, is a total distraction from the central issue, texts by George Fox published in Rex Ambler’s which is that we have drifted away from our mystical, anthology Truth of the Heart make essential reading experiential roots. At the very beginning of Quaker and William Penn in No Cross, No Crown gives almost faith & practice there are, however, three clear pointers identical guidance to that of George Fox twenty-four in Advices & queries: years earlier. George Fox, in his 1658 letter to Lady Claypole, advises: Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts. Trust them as the leadings What the light exposes and discovers, as temptations, of God whose Light shows us our darkness and brings distractions, confusions; do not look at the us to new life. temptations, confusions, corruptions; but at the light Advices & Queries 1 which discovers them and exposes them...For looking down at sin, corruption, and distraction, you are All of us need to find a way into silence which allows us to swallowed up in it; but looking at the light, which deepen our awareness of the divine and to find the inward discovers them, you will see over them. That will give source of our strength. Seek to know an inward stillness… victory, and you will find grace and strength; there is the first step to peace. …Hold yourself and others in the Light, knowing that all are cherished by God. Advices & Queries 3 John is from Mid Wales Area Meeting.
12 the Friend, 8 June 2018 Report
Without masks
Abigail Maxwell reports on a weekend gathering of QGSDC
he Quaker Lesbian and Gay Fellowship became if I could understand why another had walked out QLGF, with a strapline saying it supported the as I was speaking. Perhaps, though it took me a LGBT+ community. Then it became the Quaker while: possibly she saw my celebration of myself as TGender and Sexual Diversity Community (QGSDC), derogatory of others. If I want reconciliation, I reach and I rejoiced: no longer putting us into discrete out, saying: ‘We are gender diverse! We have so much boxes with initials – bisexual, trans, intersex, asexual in common!’ Another might deny this, seeing the very – it could celebrate our common humanity and our idea as meaningless and oppressive. similarities with people outside those boxes. Someone I sought reconciliation, explaining the different might be part of QGSDC who did not identify as positions, then reached the point where I could no LGBT. longer bear putting the arguments against myself. That For that to work, we need to see ‘gender diversity’ as view needs to beheard, and perhaps not from me. So, a positive thing, though that idea might vary. For me, I put it baldly, without explanation: ‘Trans inclusion gender diversity is about escaping expectations and supports patriarchal oppression.’ I began to see loyalty becoming more fully myself, and transition from male to my own kind as more important for me: trans men to female is an essential part of that, which I date from and women should be seen as capable of making the last day I went into work presenting male. Since decisions for ourselves, and understanding who we are. then, I have always expressed myself female. The allegation that someone might have been tempted Anyone with agency will make changes in their lives, to call herself a trans man in her teens, before coming so that they more fully express their gifts and qualities out as lesbian, erases the trans man, turning him from and shake off oppressive expectations. We are all in a person with understanding and agency to a victim of transition, creating or relinquishing the worlds we impersonal forces. Those who deny the meaning and desire. The QGSDC weekend at Woodbrooke was our value of transgender encourage trans surgery even as first weekend gathering for years. We are no longer they proclaim their horror of it: surgery is a way we the Friends Homosexual Fellowship, with weekend can prove we are really trans. Though trans people gatherings sleeping on a Meeting house floor. may also choose surgery freely. Things can always get I grope towards understanding other positions. worse: seeing and hearing each other can drive people Gender, for some, is a social construct, the tool of apart, though I pray it will not, or not permanently. patriarchy, particularly oppressing women with servile There were tensions between lesbians and gay men expectations, such as caring for others’ physical needs before trans people showed up. So, I do not seek and feelings, preventing them from fulfilling their gifts reconciliation. Instead, I want us to see and hear each and qualities. Then gender diversity is trite, as no one other, from which may emerge truth, unity and right fits supposed gender, and characteristics thought of action, which might be different from a consensus I as ‘feminine’ do not correlate well with each other. Do can live with. It needs courage. We are doing our best women who appear happy with feminine roles and under difficult circumstances. I saw another repeatedly symbols simply need their consciousness raised? reach out for understanding, and we did not connect. A Friend says something I do not understand, which We were seventeen Quakers including one recent makes me consider letting go of my stereotypes: the attender, being ourselves without masks, carrying judgments I make of a person based on hair, clothes traumas in our own lives. We did not reach unity. I and accent. How can I know fully, as I am fully hope we moved towards it. known? The weekend was difficult. A Friend asked me Abigail is a member of Northamptonshire Area Meeting.
the Friend, 8 June 2018 13 Quaker history
Mary Elmes Portrait from the Danjou family archives. archives. from the Danjou family Portrait Wilson. Courtesy of Bernard
Dale Andrew describes the life and witness of an Irish heroine
ary Elmes was a remarkable woman who Saved from deportation was responsible, mainly through her work with Quaker bodies, for saving the lives of From August through October 1942, nine convoys Mhundreds of children and protecting them from the deported Jews from Rivesaltes to the Nazi conentration evils of Nazism. After the second world war she was camps and Mary Elmes worked tirelessly to evacuate awarded the Legion of Honour (Légion d’honneur), the children from the camps into the colonies in the hills the highest civilian award in France at the time, which and other hiding places. A colleague estimated that 427 she refused to accept on the grounds that she felt it children were saved from deportation that autumn. was unwanted for what she did. The publication of two recent biographies has drawn attention to this little- Arrested by the Gestapo in February 1943, she known heroine who had such a close association with was imprisoned for six months. When released, she Quakers. laconically replied: ‘Oh, we all suffered inconveniences in those days, didn’t we.’ She returned to Perpignan, Mary Elmes was born in Cork, in Ireland, in 1908 turning down the offer of a rest in Geneva or Lisbon and after her studies at Trinity College Dublin, the and refusing her six months accrued salary. London School of Economics and then in Geneva, she was recruited in 1937, early in the Spanish civil war, Mary Elmes was like that – quiet and unassuming, to serve in the London University Ambulance Unit. preferring to remain in the shadows. It was a serendipitous First helping out at the feeding station in Almeria, she coincidence that allowed her, much later, to be brought later managed the children’s hospital in Alicante. When out of the shadows to share the same honour as her Franco defeated the Republicans in early 1939 and half colleagues, Helga Holbeck and Alice Resch of the a million Spaniards fled in la Retirada over the Pyrenees Toulouse délégation, who in 1982 were honoured as into France, Mary followed them. ‘righteous among the nations’ by Yad Vashem.
She organised cultural activities for the idle Spanish On Christmas Day 2010, Ronald Friend read Bernard refugees stuck in the barbed wire enclosed camp at Wilson’s blog on the Toulouse Friends Meeting website Argelès-sur-Mer. After Germany invaded France in with a summary about Quaker relief work in southwest June 1940, the American Friends Service Committee France. Ronald Friend wrote to Bernard Wilson (AFSC) put her in charge of the Perpignan office. She explaining that he had learnt that he and his brother made the twenty minute drive nearly every day to the had been whisked from the Rivesaltes internment camp camp of Rivesaltes to succour the Spanish refugees, in late September 1942, after the convoys had begun Jews and other indésirables interned under horrific transporting Jews to Auschwitz. But he didn’t know conditions on the windswept coastal plain. who had saved them.
14 the Friend, 8 June 2018 In ploughing through thousands of documents from seen as legitimate targets and… rebel bombers chased the AFSC archives, he uncovered a letter from Mary ambulances as if they were hunting animals; it was one Elmes written to the headquarters in Marseille: she had of their favourite sports.’ the release papers from the Friend parents and would be taking the two brothers out of Rivesaltes ‘that evening’ ‘Luminous example of love’ (25 September 1942). Ronald Friend submitted the evidence in an application to Yad Vashem. On 25 Clodagh Finn, on the other hand, emphasises the January 2013, two years after the AFSC archives had personal relationships with her colleagues in the revealed the proof that the Friend brothers’ saviour Quaker délégations and other relief offices – and her was Mary Elmes, she joined her colleagues from the kindness. Examples include her locating books for the Quaker office in Toulouse and became the first Irish Spanish refugees about which the Catalan poet Augustí national to be honoured as ‘righteous among the Bartra extolled her generosity: ‘Mary Elmes did not nations’. Her name is inscribed in the Yad Vashem send me a dictionary; she did infinitely more, she sent garden in Jerusalem and also on the wall of the Shoah me her own. This dictionary, which has travelled with Museum in Paris. me during all my exile, is for me a luminous example of love.’ The AFSC’s Marjorie McClelland, in a report ‘Irish Oskar Schindler’ back to Philadelphia following a visit to Rivesaltes, wrote: ‘Everywhere Mary went she was greeted with It was Paddy Butler, a journalist with the The Irish great warmth and affection and we could not walk very Times, who first ran the story of Mary Elmes being far without being stopped by someone who wished to honoured by Yad Vashem. His ongoing research about talk with her.’ her past service with the Quakers, including the rescue of the Friend brothers, led to The Extraordinary Story Both biographers also report correspondence of Mary Elmes: The Irish Oskar Schindler, released in documenting the at times rocky relations with the late September 2017. A week later A Time to Risk All: Quaker hierarchy in Philadelphia or London; or the The incredible untold story of Mary Elmes, the Irish disagreements with Howard Kershner, head of AFSC woman who saved children from Nazi concentration operations in Europe. On the disappointing side, camps, written by Clodagh Finn, another Irish Paddy Butler’s book is not carefully footnoted, nor uses journalist, rolled off the presses. The two journalists citations; he only refers at the end of each chapter to were researching in parallel the untold story of the the books he drew on, or generally to ‘AFSC archives’. ‘Irish Oskar Schindler’. Clodagh Finn on the other hand meticulously cites the page number of each source and to the precise folder Mary Elmes never kept a diary during the years of and box number in the AFSC archives. the Spanish civil war, nor later as head of the Perpignan délégation. Neither did she write regular letters back to On a substantive point, neither biographer explains her mother in Cork. Finn and Butler had to find other the significance of the change from AFSC to Secours means to develop their storyline. They relied on indirect quaker, the French Quaker service committee, sources, such as the letters of Dorothy Morris, with in November 1942. After the Germans invaded whom Mary worked in Spain and later in Perpignan; or the southern ‘unoccupied’ zone in France all assets the journal of Lois Gunden, the Mennonite director of and responsibilities for the Quaker operations in the colonie near Perpignan; and family archives shared Montauban, Toulouse, Perpignan – where Mary was by Mary’s two children. But by far the richest source head – and Marseille, were formally turned over to for both authors were the AFSC archives. Hundreds of Secours quaker. At that time the nine American staff thousands of pages covering Quaker relief activities in working at the Marseille headquarters were detained by France from 1933 to 1950 had been digitised and were the Germans and interned for fifteen months in a hotel available. in Baden-Baden.
In addition to the archives, Paddy Butler relied to a In an interview she gave later in life, quoted by Paddy large extent on secondary accounts of the times. His Butler, Mary Elmes says: ‘War is a terrible thing, which book presents a distinctly more macro overview, one is never won. It’s always lost. Everybody loses.’ As in that privileges the political and military context of the refugee crises today, the civilian populations, and the critical decade of Mary Elmes’ activities, 1937-46. overwhelmingly women and children, are the principal Accounts of the Spanish and Italian fascist coalition victims. are excruciatingly vivid as the backdrop for her work in Almeria, Murcia and Alicante: ‘Hospitals were Dale is clerk of Paris Meeting.
the Friend, 8 June 2018 15 Review
Enlightenment now
Reg Naulty responds to the latest book by philosopher Steven Pinker teven Pinker’s latest book, Enlightenment Now: – voter support falls with year of birth. Steven Pinker The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and can justifiably conclude: Progress, is an amiable, good-natured book. SReasonable optimism breaks out everywhere. The …more than two centuries [after the title, though, is a little misleading. It brings to mind Enlightenment] we can say that it has worked: we someone like Buddha and his kind of enlightenment. It have seen six dozen graphs that have vindicated isn’t about that, it’s about the historical Enlightenment the hope of progress by charting ways in which the and its values: reason, science, humanism and world has been getting better. progress. ‘The Enlightenment, after all,’ writes Steven Pinker, was ‘humankind’s emergence from its self- Nevertheless, Steven Pinker is open to challenge incurred immaturity’. If anyone suspects a hint of anti- on a number of points, especially in his account of religious polemic in that, they are right. humanism, in which he holds that the mind is the The book is about how Enlightenment values are brain. That invites the following objection. Once faring now. Stephen Pinker proves beyond reasonable I dreamed that I was close to a bushfire and was doubt that they continue to deliver the goods. Prophets impressed by the vivid orange of the flames. No one of doom are buried beneath mountains of data. The looking into my brain at the time would have seen following is a sample of how the argument proceeds: them. They were not in physical space; they were, as we say, in my mind. Steven Pinker acknowledges that Since the Enlightenment unfolded in the late 18th there is a problem here, but he contends that it is a century, life expectancy across the world has risen conceptual problem. It is not. It is a problem about from 30 to 71, and in the more fortunate countries what is real. The orange flame was an appearance, but to 81. When the Enlightenment began, a third born it was real, and it was beyond physical space. in the richest parts of the world died before their Steven Pinker is a scientific triumphalist in that fifth birthday; today that fate befalls 6% of the he expects scientific explanations to prevail. They children in the poorest parts… may, but they may do so with entities that are not material. There is a trend in that direction already: The parade of Enlightenment successes goes on: gravitational and magnetic fields are not material, photons have zero rest mass, and space-time is not Not only are richer people in a given country made of wood or steel or any other material. It is happier, but people in richer countries are happier, not that kind of thing. He insists that the universe is and as countries get richer over time, their people indifferent to humanity. He is denying that there is a get happier. power directing the universe for our good. In his great novel, The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Steven Pinker has the data to prove it. Nor is there Bulgakov asserts that everything will be as it should be; anything crude about his analyses. For example, he that is how the world is made. There is a huge amount makes an important distinction between happy people of human experience behind that view. who live in the present, and those with meaningful lives who have a narrative about their past and a plan Reg is from Canberra Meeting in Australia. for their future. And his figures are right up to date. He writes that populism is an old man’s movement, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, shown by the fact that in all three of its recrudescences Humanism and Progress by Steven Pinker is published – Donald Trump, Brexit and European populist parties by Allen Lane.
16 the Friend, 8 June 2018 8 Jun 4/6/18 16:45 Page 7
Friends&Meetings Notices 31 Marsham Lane US FRIEND IN SERVICE (ministry) Gerrards Cross seeks visitation with Meetings and Bucks artists, also hospitality, 24 August - 30 October among British Isles, SL9 8HB Belgium and France. Topics: Arts, Sustainability, Community. Swarthmore Care Home is set in Travelling minute available. Contact beautiful landscaped gardens in the Mey Hasbrook (Kalamazoo): village of Gerrards Cross, where [email protected] there are many opportunities for residents to enjoy a variety of Meeting up cultural and leisure pursuits. We offer high quality care within QUAKER WOMAN IN SOUTH a homely atmosphere, promoting WEST, 60s, would like to meet independence and dignity. There is a busy and varied activities programme Quaker man of similar age; preferably and opportunities for residents to maintain their hobbies and interests. Bristol/Bath area. Interests: STEPS Swarthmore also offers 4 self-contained flats for the active elderly who (work it out!), culture, countryside, wish to remain independent, bit with the reassurance of knowing help is spirituality, dogs. Sense of humour available when required. We offer a permanent home to 36 residents and appreciated! Please reply to: Box 990 can also offer respite on occasion. c/o The Friend, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL. For further details please call our home on 01753 885663 or email: [email protected] Diary web: www.swarthmorecarehome.org.uk Swarthmore Housing Society Ltd is managed under Quaker auspices and has charitable status. A FUTURE FOR ALL Eco Church Quaker/Anglican day of worship, speakers, workshops and conversa- tions. Saturday 14 July, 10am - 4pm. Friends & Meetings Priory Rooms, Birmingham. Free (£10 donation suggested). Lunch/ notices refreshments provided. Come and be inspired! Information/registration: Personal entries (births, marriages, centralenglandquakers.org.uk/ deaths, anniversaries, changes of address, etc.) charged at £30 incl. futureforall vat for up to 35 words and includes a copy of the magazine. Please consider QUAKER SERVICE EXHIBITION Meeting and charity notices, leaving a legacy AT LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL (Changes of clerk, new wardens, 14 June-1 July, with Memorial new Members, changes to meeting, to the Friend in tapestry panel stitched by Diary, etc.) £25 zero rated for vat. your Will. Staffordshire Friends. Also Max. 35 words. Three entries Consequence of War – major art £60 (£50 if zero rated); six entries £97.50 (£81.25 zero rated). exhibition, 16 April-26 June, A QUAKER BASE IN www.lichfield-cathedral.org/peace Entries accepted at the editor’s CENTRAL LONDON Visit both this summer. Enquiries: discretion in a standard house [email protected] Central, quiet location, style. A gentle discipline will be convenient for Friends House, exerted to maintain a simplicity British Museum and transport. QUAKERS AND LEADERSHIP of style and wording that Comfortable rooms tastefully Q&B Gathering/AGM 2018. excludes terms of endearment furnished, many en-suite. Provocative and creative opportunity and words of tribute. Guidelines Full English breakfast. on request. Discount for Sufferings and exploring the links between leader- Club members. ship of organisations/people, and Quaker experience and values. The Friend, 54a Main Street, 21 Bedford Place Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL London WC1B 5JJ Quakers and Business Group. Tel. 01535 630230 Tel. 020 7636 4718 Saturday 30 June, Friargate QMH, Email [email protected] [email protected] York.Info/booking: qandb.org The Penn Club www.pennclub.co.uk
the Friend, 8 June 2018 17 8 Jun 4/6/18 16:45 Page 8
Classified advertisements George Penaluna, Ad Manager, The Friend, 54a Main St, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL T: 01535 630230 E: [email protected]
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Work for peace! Board members required for Peace News Trustees Peace News Trustees Ltd was set up to act as trustees for the property owned by the company, the building (5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DY), the financial assets of the company and the subsidiary companies, and the name and goodwill. The subsidiary companies consist of: Peace News Ltd - https://peacenews.info/ Housmans Bookshop Ltd - http://www.housmans.com It is essential that Board members have a commitment to pacifism and nonviolence. We are especially looking for someone with basic financial expertise and someone with experience of employment law and practice. The Board meets four times a year (currently on Saturdays) at 5 Caledonian Road. Trustee positions are non-executive and remunerated on an expenses only basis. Please consider putting your skills and experience to work for peace as a Board member. To apply: please send a letter expressing your interest and experience with contact details to: [email protected]
18 the Friend, 8 June 2018 8 Jun 4/6/18 16:45 Page 9
events Leicester Meeting BANBURY & EVESHAM QUAKERS Adderbury Gathering RESIDENT FRIEND(S) 3pm Sunday 17 June A large busy meeting with many lettings throughout the week. To "Experts by Experience? Changing how create a welcoming presence, keep the building secure and help we do Health and Social Care." with the smooth running. To work as a volunteer in support of the Speaker: Tom Shakespeare. office manager. Rent free two bedroom flat, partially furnished. Free event and afternoon tea. Adderbury Meeting House, OX17 3EW For details contact Anthony Gimpel, 01509 265277 Details [email protected] or Roger Partis, 0116 236 2899. Maria: 07717 698214. Closing Date for applications: Monday 2 July 2018. THE RELEVANCE OF POPULATION TO THE 2012 CANTERBURY COMMITMENT (MINUTE 36) Saturday 23 June 2018 1-4pm at Friends Meeting House 12 Jesus Lane, Cambridge CB5 8BA Discuss with Friends concerned about global population issues and address “The relevance of population to the 2012 Canterbury Commitment (minute 36)" 1-2pm Bring packed lunch. Tea, coffee provided. Quaker Peace & Social Witness 2-4pm Film and discussion Enquiries: June New at Economics & Sustainability [email protected] or via the website www.qcop.org.uk Network Coordinator Please let us know if you hope to attend. Salary: £32,872 per annum – London Scale. Quaker Concern Over Population. Contract: Fixed term – 1 year maternity cover. Hours: 35 per week. Location: Friends House, Euston Road, London NW1 miscellaneous Quakers in Britain are a faith group with a deep commitment to sustainability and equality. We are seeking a capable, flexible and enthusiastic Network Coordinator who has a genuine commitment PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANCY &TAXATION SERVICE to social change. Quaker Accountant offers friendly Can you help Quakers in Britain be effective agents on economic service countrywide. Self-assessment & small businesses. justice and sustainability? Can you develop and implement cam- paigns on a range of these issues? We need someone to provide Richard Platt, Grainger & Platt Chartered Certified Accountants advice, support and tools to local Quakers as they seek to build a 3 Fisher Street, Carlisle CA3 8RR more just and sustainable world. Telephone 01228 521286 [email protected] If you’re an experienced campaigner, this is an excellent opportunity www.grainger-platt.co.uk to help build a movement for economic and environmental change. In return we offer a friendly, supportive and vibrant working QUAKER MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES environment, as well as an excellent salary and benefits package. and other bespoke calligraphy. Liz Barrow 01223 369776, [email protected] www.lizbarrow.co.uk You don’t need to be a Quaker but you should have sympathy with Quaker values of peace, equality, integrity and sustainability. WRITING YOUR BOOK? Biography, family history, novel or non-fiction, let me Closing date: Thursday 14 June 2018 (12pm) help with layout, typesetting, printing. Interviews: Tuesday 26 June 2018 Photographs/images can be included. Free quotes. Leaflets/brochures also For details of how to apply, go to www.quaker.org.uk/jobs prepared. Trish: 01223 363435, [email protected] Britain Yearly Meeting is committed to equality in all its employment practices. Always mention the Friend when you reply to an advertisement. Registered charity 1127633.
the Friend, 8 June 2018 19 8 Jun 4/6/18 16:45 Page 10 vol
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