Letters - 31 March 2017
From prayer to industrial strategy
Prayer and the kingfisher
Prayer is satisfying for some, yet frustratingly elusive for others. Is there anyone out there?
We were recently out walking the dog on quiet suburban paths alongside water channels linking balancing ponds. I was alert to the possibility of a kingfisher, a pleasure bestowed only a few times in the nineteen years we have lived here. Even so, we were startled by the flash of brilliant blue and watched as it rested, revealing its rusty chest and piratical face. Then it was gone, leaving a sense of joy and wonder.
I pray sometimes, usually quiet reflection, and any words in my head are mostly to give thanks. If I’m in beseeching mode then it is for strength and insight to cope – for me or others – or to make choices that speak to God’s condition.
I rarely sense a response except, occasionally, I feel a warm flow of love refuelling my strength and wellbeing. Even more rarely, but wonderfully, I have a sense of affirmation of the right path to choose. At these times my heart leaps with joy.
So yes, my prayer is like walking. It gives me pleasure, renews my soul and invigorates my body. If God or the kingfisher only turn up once in a while I still know they are there, watching and listening. They are not just there for me, but every so often they give a jolt and remind me of bounty unbound.
Brian Ashley
We are all Quakers
Michael Wright says in his excellent and reassuring article (24 March) ‘my imagination will no longer stretch to the concept that any creative intelligence responsible for the billions of stars… is going to be guiding the discernment of my small Local Meeting’.
However, if the same sentence is rendered in the passive: ‘…that the discernment of my small Local Meeting is going to be guided by [some] creative intelligence responsible for the billions of stars’, I wondered whether Michael might find that his imagination could stretch to the concept? It takes away the more unpalatable concept of intent on the part of ‘some creative intelligence’.
I, too, find my mind boggled more than somewhat by the notion that an intelligence, which might have created something as vast as the universe we currently perceive, might also focus its will on such a tiny aspect of its creation as Michael’s small Local Meeting – let alone one particular individual human being! However, one can only ponder the proclivities of such an intelligence.
Noël Staples
Quakers and youth hostels
I found it interesting to be reminded of the involvement of Quakers (10 and 18 March) in the setting up of the British Youth Hostels Association (YHA).
Unfortunately, the management and the undoubtedly enthusiastic volunteers did not always serve well the staff who ran the hostels.
My parents, Eric and Jean Booth, started working as wardens at Penrith Youth Hostel in 1947 (alongside Leslie and Jean Laycock, latterly of Ilkley Meeting). They moved to Hawkshead Youth Hostel in 1954, where they stayed until their retirement in 1985.
Eric, with Jean’s support, together with the other committee officers struggled long and hard to gain decent living conditions, working conditions, pay and pensions for hostel staff. Eric worked firstly at a regional level, then at a national level, and, finally, also internationally, representing hostel staff. This often involved prolonged and bitter disputes with the YHA management and volunteer councils.
Similar difficulties applied to the upgrading of hostels. Too many thought that thin flock mattresses, heavy old blankets, cold water and no heating were as appropriate in the 1970s as they were in the 1940s.
Yes, those who set up the YHA deserve applause for their vision. But so, too, do the staff who run the hostels, supported and protected by their union representatives.
Jill Booth
The Green Belt
I was so grateful for Paul Honigmann’s article about building on the Green Belt (3 March). When I read letters saying the Green Belt should be left to the ‘farmers’ I was quite uncomfortable. My experience in the village I live in has made me very aware how people feel about the housing of young families, particularly those struggling on low wages.
The site most favoured by the well-off, retired inhabitants was a flooded field at the very far end of the village. I suggested a field the opposite side of the village on a gentle slope with beautiful views. I was not popular. (By the way, that sloping field was quite close to where I live). Thus I agree with Paul, let us look for lovely places to put those in need of housing.
The late professor Hans Rosling was a statistician and a brilliant communicator. He has a YouTube video about population growth that surprised me. There will be a growing age difference across the world population. So, the most sensible thing to do is have immigration and allow people to come here and help our aging population live.
Personally, I am looking into ways of not living past the time I have quality of life. I have made it known to doctors and family to let me die if I get dementia. That is to say, do not keep me alive with antibiotics. If I am still competent, I can refuse them myself.
Barbara Mark
The power of positive thinking?
I feel moved to share a ministry from our Meeting for Worship on 19 March in Congenies, France.
I have become more aware of the ‘power of positive thinking’ in recent days. I (supposedly) have Parkinson’s disease added to my stroke of four years ago. Without what I’m calling my ‘power of positive thinking’ I might very well not still be alive and kicking – and have followed my mum’s entry into an early grave at the age of fifty-seven. I am now approaching my seventy-ninth year.
I wonder if it might not be ‘the power of negative thinking’ that we need to become aware of?
If we allow ourselves to go with the great majority of people who, for example, accept without questioning that ‘Parkinson’s is incurable and destined to get steadily worse’, then it surely will!
Thus, before we embark on ‘the power of positive thinking’ journey, we need to become aware of the effects of our ‘negative’ thinking.
How does this all relate to Quaker experience?
Is there an element of prayer or ‘holding in the Light’ or other Quaker approaches in this?
I believe, from my experience, that there is.
Ali Reid
Quaker Business Method
I am writing in response to Stephen Allen’s article on spreading the Quaker Business Method to other areas (10 March).
When I was the engineer in charge of a project it was my responsibility to chair meetings and write the minutes. The minutes were normally done after the meeting. However, I introduced the practice of writing the minutes within the meeting. It took slightly longer but at least everyone had agreed to them and no later amendments needed to be discussed.
Daphne Wassermann
‘Religion, evil and children’
In my article last week (24 March) there was a reference to a defining statement of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON).
A word was omitted that I feel significantly changed the meaning of my message. The GAFCON definition of itself uses the term ‘unchanging’ Bible:
‘The GAFCON movement is a global family of authentic Anglicans standing together to retain and restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion. Our mission is to guard the unchanging, transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ and to proclaim Him to the world.’
Bob Rogers
Industrial strategy
The government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy released in February a green paper, Building our Industrial Strategy. It is a vision of utopia for conventional growth-based economics, with a nod at the need for renewable energy, so there is much for us all to take issue with, by the deadline of 17 April.
Top of my list is the statement that the Ministry of Defence is ‘ensuring [that]… exportability is considered when taking decisions on future equipment’ and has created a ‘Defence Solutions Centre to encourage collaborative responses to export opportunities’.
My response will be to suggest that the government do ‘horizon scanning’ (a phrase used in another context in the document) to identify risks of exported defence equipment being misused, and rebalance the economic model so that the costs of such misuse can be balanced clearly against the immediately obvious costs of losing a defence sale.
Sheila Peacock
