December 2021 | Oxford Quaker Forty-Three Newsletter

SV Tenacious. Photo by Patrick Wernhardt under the Wikipedia Creative Commons License.

In the summer of 2003, I put myself into a situation where total concentration was essential. In fact, my life depended on it.

Monthly Appeal – December 2021
Quaker Children’s Collection: Asylum Welcome
Virginia Allport

The new arrivals, including many children and families, have lived through unimaginable stress and trauma. Asylum Welcome is working closely with the County Council to help the families settle, to have access to clothing and other needs, and mobile phones and connectivity to stay in touch with their homes and communities, both abroad and here.

Death Sonnets
Brighid Schroer

A Six-Sonnet Sequence

Making Spiritual Compost
Deb Arrowsmith

There’s a lovely Quaker phrase used when we are about to contemplate and discern something: “the matter is before you Friends”. Well, here we are sitting around a pile of compost – and this dark matter before us is, for me, the ultimate in where the human and divine meet.

Quaker Autumn Retreat October 2021
Ellen Bassani

My blindness has allowed me to catch glimpses of the deep joy in surrendering to the promptings of the spirit, and I have arrived there through learning to place my complete trust into the hands of God and the kindness of strangers.

Retreat Sketches
Anthea Richards

Quaker Legacy at the Autumn Retreat
Carol Saker

I felt we should ground our day in tracing our roots and their evolution through the centuries by way of the wise sayings and writings of our forebears, from our 17th century beginnings to the present.

The Glovemaker’s Daughter by Leah Fleming.

Review of Leah Fleming’s The Glovemaker’s Daughter
Jean Moir

This is the fascinating and exciting story of a rebellious young 17th century Friend, Rejoice (Joy) Moorside.

Photo from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.

Peace at a Price?
Richard Seebohm

Under the auspices of the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre, I went to a lecture by a defence insider.

White Poppy Reflections
Ali Smith

Poppies on screen are heavy with symbolism and meaning. Does this decision mean that white poppies are to be accepted for what they represent and remember – ALL who have been killed in any war or conflict, both civilian and soldier?

Reflections on Retirement
Linet Arthur

Retirement is probably different for everyone, but there are inevitably some common features to the shift from a relatively predictable work pattern to a lengthy expanse of unstructured time.

Young Adult Friends
Tas Cooper

Young Adult Friends are going to officially restart the tradition of the first Monday evening of every month being an all-ages-welcome meeting!

COVID has Thrown us into a Liminal Space
Trio Watson

“COVID has thrown us into a liminal space,” I read in a music review, “and that is why I have called my new album ‘Liminality’.” I was fascinated to read this, because although I didn’t know what the word ‘liminal’ meant, somehow this cri de coeur spoke to me. I googled it.

Gretchen Castle General Secretary Friends World Committee for Consultation

How Many Quakers Are There in the World? (And Where Are They?)
Gretchen Castle

FWCC publishes a map of Quakers worldwide. So how many Quakers are there in the world? The answers might surprise you.

Tom Hoopes
Valley Friends Meeting Wayne, PA

White Quakers Confronting White Privilege
Tom Hoopes

As a Quaker in the early 21st century I am acutely aware that I have inherited and am an active participant in a tradition that has benefitted from centuries of exploitation and domination. That is not something that we usually advertise and talk about openly, but I think that we need to.