Carol Saker
I was one of the 60 Friends attending the blended meeting at Jordans Meeting House on 25th March, organised as a regional day gathering.
The theme for the day was “Acknowledging the impact of the slave trade, colonialism and economic exploitation on the lives of many today; what should and can, we do?” Several from Oxford attended.
The topic built on the ongoing concern of Friends at Yearly Meeting 2022 and the work of the Quaker Africa Interest Group (QAIG) regarding this subject, which was also considered within Oxford meeting and Area Meeting earlier in 2021 – all emanating out of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.
Taking our cue from the QAIG and the African Quaker leaders who addressed us on March 25th, a few Oxford Meeting Friends are proposing to look at some of the issues arising from the Jordans regional day.
One of these speakers was the Swarthmore lecturer of 2016, Esther Mombo, who gave us a fine text as a starting point: “…and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6, 8).
Please contact me as soon as you can if you wish to join in, even if you were not at the Jordans day. There is already a small group which was set up at the April Business meeting. During May we will try to meet and see how to proceed – as an action group partnering with our Kenyan fellow Quakers over practical education or climate change work, or as a study and worship group – or both. The emphasis will be Restorative Justice not Reparations.
This Month’s Forty-Three Newsletter Contents
- May 2023
- Narrated Newsletter
- Friends’ Fellowship of Healing
- Artweeks Exhibition at the Meeting House
- Redressing Inequalities
- Book Review: Passengers: True Stories of the Underground Railroad by William Still
- Hope’s Work
- Report on St Hilda’s College Chaplaincy
- Monthly Appeal May 2023 – Refugee Resource
- Lately
- Epistle – Junior Yearly Meeting 2023
- Connecting to Quaker Faith Through Film
- Quaker Question and Answer – Charles Worth
- From Quaker Faith & Practice 12.03
- Meetings for Worship – May 2023
Back to May 2023 Newsletter Main Page
Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 529 • May 2023
Oxford Friends Meeting
43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW
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