Quakers

I recently attended Ashlands Primary School to speak to their Year 4 class (8 and 9 year olds) on Quakerism,…

I was overwhelmed by their eagerness, their interest, the thoughtfulness of their questions and their response to my answers…

Is anyone listening? Sometimes I feel everyone is talking, but no one is listening. I sort my friends into those that I find myself talking to; who listen to me, and those to whom I tend to listen. Who talk happily, stop for a moment to ask “Oh, and what about you?” and as I draw breath to answer, leap back into the next chapter of their dramatic life…

…it felt that in joining this group, I was bringing together nearly every strand of my life – my background and passions for international development and justice, fundraising, Quaker faith and practice…

Poem, after Wordsworth’s, “Lines written in early spring”

There was so much to enjoy and to reflect upon over the weekend. But after a few days I realise that my mind goes back, with pleasure, to the conversations, however short, that I had with the young people in Meeting, hearing their hopes and plans.

I sent the email expecting a short reply, a ‘will see what I can do’ or an ‘I’ll look into it’…. The response was quick and real, ‘We will bring Meeting to you’…

There, sitting within green, a stone mass of four walls and slanted roof. It is new to the landscape, yet old to our eyes, the walls appearing to stand unchallenged, the stones uneven and pockmarked by the wear of time and the elements…

Outside the trees move happily, the wind fresh and lively. Yews, Chestnuts, Sycamore and Birch. Most too young and supple to remember the time before there were walls to house the Silence…