Recent News & Views
Every
quarter a newsletter is published by the Hampshire and Islands Area
Meeting. The front cover of the latest number is shown
here on the
right.
Numerous
copies of the News & Views are
circulated free to all Local Meetings. Hard copies are available there.
If
you would like
to submit material for publication - such as news, views, articles,
poetry, drawings, photographs - please send them to the Editors
here
or post them to: News & Views Editors, c/o Friends Meeting House,
1a Ordnance Road, Southampton, SO15 2AZ
From
recent issues (below)
Photographs: Sundial Mill Celandine
Articles: Morning thoughts (Radio Solent,
Autumn 2007)
Valuing the beliefs of our children
(Summer
2007)
The Old Cemetery, Alton (poem,
Spring 2007)
You
have made God small (poem,
Winter 2007-8)
An
ordinary poem (Spring 2008,
from Death Row in
Livingston, Texas)
Through my window (poem,
Summer 2008)
Autumn 2007 Issue
Morning
Thoughts – BBC Radio Solent
25th-28th September 2007 - National Quaker Week
presented by Hazel Inskip,
Southampton
A recent poll found that most people thought that Quakers had died out
years ago. So, this week, Quakers are holding National Quaker Week to
let people know that we still exist and that we don’t all eat Quaker
oats, nor do we wear funny hats. Quakers have four testimonies that
they try to live up to. Today I’m going to talk about our Testimony to
Peace. Living up to this is far from easy. It’s not just about
pacifism; it’s about building Peace on a daily basis. It’s about
working at relationships to minimise the threat of conflict. It’s about
learning to understand others, a bit like actors understanding the
characters they play. There are a number of famous actors who are
Quakers, such as Sheila Hancock, Judi Dench and the late Paul
Eddington. Actors are required to get inside the skin of the character
they are playing. They need to think, feel and act as their character
would, not as they themselves would do in real life. It’s a tough thing
to do well. In a situation of conflict, seeing the problem from our
enemy’s view can lead to understanding and peace building. So, thinking
ourselves inside our opponent’s skin can be a good way to begin
reconciliation. We can take the skill of the acting profession as a
model for this and try to work towards peace.
....................
This week is National Quaker Week and I’m talking about each of the
four Quaker Testimonies in turn. Today it’s Equality. I enjoy singing,
though I don’t do it at all well. For a number of years I – along with
a few other Quakers – have been part of an amateur choir, the Conchord
Singers, that puts on concerts in aid of various charities. We have
very mixed abilities in singing, some are extremely talented, others
like me really struggle to hit the right note. But everyone is a valued
member of the choir, independent of their ability. Importantly though,
no one of us could do the work of the choir on our own. We need to work
together. It’s a wonderful feeling when it comes off and we do a good
performance. Everything seems to come together. The good singers help
the poorer ones, and the poorer ones lend volume to the general sound.
Each person matters. We stand or fall together. We come from different
backgrounds and have different skills, yet we all get equal credit for
the performance. Equality is not about making everyone the same. It’s
about valuing everyone for who they are, and not for their wealth,
colour of skin, sex, age etc. The choir does this well in a very small
way, but it would be great if we could take that much further and value
everyone in society.
....................
“Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics” is commonly quoted at me when
I tell people I’m a statistician. I don’t like it – in fact it’s rather
offensive as I do try to do my job honestly. But we live in a Society
where bending the truth and spinning politics is all too common.
Quakers have a testimony to Truth and Integrity. It’s a hard discipline
but requires us to work at developing our honesty in all that we do. It
sometimes seems so easy to tell little lies to make our lives easier
and to protect ourselves, but working at telling the truth on the small
details will help us face up to the truth when it really matters. My
great-grandfather was a church minister and often had to conduct
christenings. He thought that generally new-born babies were rather
ugly but of course he couldn’t say that to the proud new parents. His
line was ‘My, that is a baby’. He’d found a way of telling the truth
and he worked at it. Many early Quaker firms did well due to their
honesty, and now, although mostly no longer Quaker run, they are
household names: Cadbury, Barclays and Clarks for example. Honesty paid
in their case and we need more of it in today’s world.
....................
When I was a teenager I did a lot of dress-making. It was the
cheapest
way to get clothes then and I enjoyed doing it. Commonly I used
dress-making patterns made by a company called Simplicity. They had
many patterns that didn’t have too much complicating detail and were
straightforward to make. So the name Simplicity was apt. Quakers have
Testimony to Simplicity. This is about trying to live our lives simply
in order to focus on what is most important, and ignore or play down
unnecessary detail – like the dress making patterns. It’s not easy in a
consumer society with the pressure to buy and the temptation to live
beyond our means. The American philosopher Thoreau said ‘Our life is
frittered away by detail – simplify, simplify’. He had a point. How
much time do we waste thinking about the next thing we wish to buy,
wondering whether we can get another loan, and worrying what others
think of us? Quakers have long felt that our footprint on the earth
should be light. We shouldn’t use more of the world’s resources than we
need and we should put whatever we save to good use for others. It’s a
worthy objective but one that I do extremely badly. But as we get more
concerned about the dwindling resources on this earth and the need to
live more simply, this Quaker testimony takes on greater urgency.
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Summer 2007 issue
Valuing the
beliefs of our children
by Ruth Cole, Southampton
In our children’s class a few weeks before Easter we acted out the
story of the resurrection with the children dressing up as the
characters of the guards, Jesus, Mary, Martha and Magdalene. This made
the children familiar with the exciting parts of the story ready for a
deeper discussion about its meaning on Easter Sunday itself. The five
children who took part were from 4 to 11 years old.
There were four adults present so first we told the children our own
beliefs about what happens when we die and what we think happens
afterwards. Then we asked them, “What do you believe?” We used a
microphone and the results were recorded onto a tape. This is the
transcript from when the children started talking.
Adult
What do you know about something that has died?
Have you seen anything that has died?
ES
aged 5 A fish. Two fish.
Adult
A fish. Tell me about the fish.
ES
The fish jumped out of the fish bowl.
Adult
Why did he die? What was wrong with that?
ES
He couldn’t breathe. It normally happens at night.
The first one jumped into a little pot. The second one, he jumped into
the kitchen.
LH
aged 11 I don’t know many people who have
died. I
believe they don’t leave until the people who are really close to them
have mourned for them properly. They are around until their people have
mourned for them and their friends are moving on and then they leave to
go somewhere else.
IS
aged 9 I believe that once you die you go
into an
everlasting sleep which makes you feel like you are an angel because
you never wake up until the morning.
SB
aged 4 I’ll remember great grandma when
she
dies.
LB
aged 6 I think when you die you haven’t
finished
your life. You have another life in heaven and then when you die in
that life you’re re-born out of somebody else’s tummy but you look
different.
I was fascinated to hear the children’s fledgling beliefs. The tape
shows that children of this young age can come up with their own ideas
and beliefs on such topics. By recording them for the meeting, I was
saying “Your views are important. Your beliefs matter to us.”
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Spring 2007 issue
The Old
Cemetery, Alton
by Joyce Preddle, Alton Meeting
No slow processing mourners, faithful families
Tending loved ones’ graves;
No grateful lovers, finding an escape
From nosey families.
The gate stays shut against the vandals;
Elderly ladies steer reluctant dogs
Between the yews, grossly overgrown;
Graves untended, bearing mundane messages
Extolling worthy merchants, or a mother
‘Now at rest’ from years of drudgery and wifely duties;
Toppled tombstones, long since fallen angels
‘Midst ghastly, rain-stained artificial flowers;
All as dead as those who lie beneath
Its close cropped grass – duty of the Council.
And yet – just once a year its life returns;
Under the hedges, round the sombre yews
Carpets of vibrant colour – daffodils
Sporting among late snowdrops
In a sea of crocus, blue and white,
All conscious of their so short time to stay
To leave their message with all sleeping here
‘In hope of the resurrection’.
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Winter 2007-8 issue
You have made
God small (after R S Thomas)
by Judy Mantle (Jersey Meeting)
You have made God small,
So small I cannot see Him;
Even the tiniest glimpse
Of His shirt-tails eludes me.
You have made Him so small
I cannot feel the warm breeze
Fanned up by His feet as
He hurries past along the road.
You have made God so small
And He has been shrinking daily
Since His huge frame filled my house
Pretending He would protect me.
I have made Him so small
So small I do not miss Him
Like that other father, full of promises
He did not intend to keep.
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Spring 2008 issue
An Ordinary Poem, #451
© Karl Chamberlain
[Karl has been a member of Hampshire
Quakers for about 2 years; this
poem was sent to the Editors of News & Views with an accompanying
letter of greetings dated
March 18th 2008, from Livingston, Texas (Death Row)]
Yesterday I awoke
to the curious dance of shadows
along the ceiling of my cell.
It seemed as if two birds
were upside down, walking
along the ledge outside –
I rose quickly, excited –
imagine my surprise to find
instead, two ordinary convicts,
walking, talking, taking our trash
to the edge of the parking lot.
The glorious Sun shone down, and
reflected its Light, and shadows
up onto the ceiling.
I thought of how the eye works,
mysteriously turning life upside down
and how the mind sets things aright.
But I shouldn't be so surprised
to find men walking on my ceiling,
held up by blue radiance, wondering,
"What happened to our wings???"
With man this may seem impossible,
but God does all sorts of wild things,
surprises and schemes
designed just to get our
ATTENTION, PLEASE!!!
God turns the world upside down
and right side up again
in the most ordinary way.
Won't you join me
for just another day
in paradise? Every day
is the best day of our life.
Glory be to God.
Summer 2008 issue
Through My Window
by a Nonagenarian from Alton
My window is the mirror to my world,
The world of which I too was once a part.
At seven twenty Mr X will leave his house,
Returning shortly with the morning paper
From Raj’s wonder store just round the corner.
He’ll pass the furious peddling paper boy
Earning some coppers for the next ‘must have’.
Now those who drive to work begin to surface,
Casually dressed for comfortable driving,
The suit and tie on hanger in the back;
Scraping ice from windscreens in the winter.
I know the drill, I’ve done it all before;
The girl who jogs, accompanied by her dogs,
The man who had one, but now walks alone;
The small, white cat, sedately stepping
Across the wall; two days I did not see him, felt concern,
Had accident cut short his feline frolics?
Today he reappeared, so all is well.
I’ll now complete my toilet, start my day.
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