SOUTH BELFAST QUAKERS

That of God in everyone

Musings From A Quaker Bonnet

Musings From A Quaker Bonnet

musings logo-1

Testimonies are not imposed on members of the Society of Friends but they are re-affirmed corporately and re-expressed sufficiently often to be both a challenge and a way of living for most Friends. They are part of our distinctive witness. They do not make it any easier to live a life of faithfulness to God’s leadings, for they give rise to many dilemmas and compromises as we live in a society which is often based on other presuppositions. We cannot help being immersed in it even whilst trying to change its norms. Finding ways of expressing the testimonies that are relevant to present times is a continuing challenge. Such expressions will not necessarily seem practical, tactful, sensible, expedient or in line with some current vogue of thinking, for they are based on what seems right in an absolute sense of inner conviction.

Chris Lawson 1987 QF&P 20.17

Musings From A Quaker Bonnet

musings logo-1

“Almost everything about the resurrection of Jesus is beyond me. I don’t understand it. Like the women at the end of Mark’s gospel, I am amazed and more than a little afraid. But the bit of the resurrection that I do understand is the removal of the stone. The women come as darkness gives way to daylight to discover that the stone has been moved for them. What Christianity teaches us is that in spite of ourselves, our fears, our failures, our insufficiencies, our woundedness, the stone has been moved for us. What stone remains for you? Will you allow God to move it? You probably can’t move it yourself. The crucial question is like the one John’s Jesus put to the paralytic “Do you want it to be moved?”

Here we are, the recipients of a message from a heavenly messenger. He tells us not to be afraid. He tells us that the risen Jesus goes before us - is not in our known past, but in the uncertainty and insecurity of our unknown future. There we will see him as he promised. And so we, too, leave the Garden or Resurrection. To do what?”


“The Spiritual Landscape of Mark” by Bonnie Thurston

February - Musings From A Quaker Bonnet

musings logo-1

In silence which is active, the Inner Light begins to glow - a tiny spark. For the flame to be kindled and to grow, subtle argument and the clamour of our emotions must be stilled. It is by an attention full of love that we enable the Inner Light to blaze and illuminate our dwelling and to make of our whole being a source from which this Light may shine out.

Words must be purified in a redemptive silence if they are to bear the message of peace. The right to speak is a call to the duty of listening. Speech has no meaning unless there are attentive minds and silent hearts. Silence is the welcoming acceptance of the other. The word born of silence must be received in silence.


BYM Quaker Faith & Practice Pierre Lacout, 1969

In Memory of Joan Huddleston

IMG_2520


Today would have been Joan Huddleston's 80th birthday. Joan was one of the original co-founders of this website and worked tirelessly to produce material for it and provide guidance and support to the rest of the website team. One of the aspects of the site that Joan took full responsibility for was sourcing materials for the Musings from a Quaker Bonnet section. The series ran for 77 months, so there is a wealth of material from the old version of the site that we plan to gradually move to the new site, and no better time to start that than on Joan's Birthday. Joan would have often ministered in Meeting for Worship on the subject of peace, which was a testimony very close to her heart. If feels appropriate for this reason to start with the following Musing.

Peace begins within ourselves. It is to be implemented within the family, in our meetings, in our work and leisure, in our localities and internationally. The task will never be done. Peace is a progress to be engaged in, not a goal to be reached.

Sydney Bailey