{"id":2097,"date":"2021-11-28T16:15:55","date_gmt":"2021-11-28T16:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/?page_id=2097"},"modified":"2022-01-09T09:27:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T09:27:01","slug":"december-2021","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/december-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"December 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

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SV Tenacious. Photo by Patrick Wernhardt under the Wikipedia Creative Commons License.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Statement of Unity<\/a>
\nEllen Bassani<\/b><\/p>\n

In the summer of 2003, I put myself into a situation where total concentration was essential. In fact, my life depended on it.<\/p>\n

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Little Amal – Wikimedia Commons License<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Monthly Appeal – December 2021<\/a>
\nQuaker Children’s Collection: Asylum Welcome<\/a>
\nVirginia Allport<\/b><\/p>\n

The new arrivals, including many children and families, have lived through unimaginable stress and trauma. Asylum Welcome is working closely with the County Council to help the families settle, to have access to clothing and other needs, and mobile phones and connectivity to stay in touch with their homes and communities, both abroad and here.<\/p>\n

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Photo by SL Granum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Death Sonnets<\/a>
\nBrighid Schroer<\/b><\/p>\n

A Six-Sonnet Sequence<\/p>\n

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Compost Photo by SL Granum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Making Spiritual Compost<\/a>
\nDeb Arrowsmith<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lovely Quaker phrase used when we are about to contemplate and discern something: \u201cthe matter is before you Friends\u201d. Well, here we are sitting around a pile of compost \u2013 and this dark matter before us is, for me, the ultimate in where the human and divine meet.<\/p>\n

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Photo by SL Granum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Quaker Autumn Retreat October 2021<\/a>
\nEllen Bassani<\/b><\/p>\n

My blindness has allowed me to catch glimpses of the deep joy in surrendering to the promptings of the spirit, and I have arrived there through learning to place my complete trust into the hands of God and the kindness of strangers.<\/p>\n

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Sketch and photo by A Richards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Retreat Sketches<\/a>
\nAnthea Richards<\/b><\/p>\n

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Photo by SL Granum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Quaker Legacy at the Autumn Retreat<\/a>
\nCarol Saker<\/b><\/p>\n

I felt we should ground our day in tracing our roots and their evolution through the centuries by way of the wise sayings and writings of our forebears, from our 17th century beginnings to the present.<\/p>\n

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The Glovemaker’s Daughter by Leah Fleming.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Review of Leah Fleming’s The Glovemaker\u2019s Daughter<\/a>
\nJean Moir<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the fascinating and exciting story of a rebellious young 17th century Friend, Rejoice (Joy) Moorside.<\/p>\n

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Photo from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Peace at a Price?<\/a>
\nRichard Seebohm
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Under the auspices of the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre, I went to a lecture by a defence insider.<\/p>\n

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Photo from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

White Poppy Reflections<\/a>
\nAli Smith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poppies on screen are heavy with symbolism and meaning. Does this decision mean that white poppies are to be accepted for what they represent and remember \u2013 ALL who have been killed in any war or conflict, both civilian and soldier?<\/p>\n

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Photo by SL Granum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reflections on Retirement <\/strong><\/a>
\nLinet Arthur<\/strong><\/p>\n

Retirement is probably different for everyone, but there are inevitably some common features to the shift from a relatively predictable work pattern to a lengthy expanse of unstructured time.<\/p>\n

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Photo by S.L. Granum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Young Adult Friends <\/strong><\/a>
\nTas Cooper<\/strong><\/p>\n

Young Adult Friends are going to officially restart the tradition of the first Monday evening of every month being an all-ages-welcome meeting!<\/p>\n

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Photo by SL Granum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

COVID has Thrown us into a Liminal Space<\/a>
\nTrio Watson
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID has thrown us into a liminal space,\u201d I read in a music review, \u201cand that is why I have called my new album ‘Liminality’.\u201d I was fascinated to read this, because although I didn\u2019t know what the word \u2018liminal\u2019 meant, somehow this cri de coeur spoke to me. I googled it.<\/p>\n

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Gretchen Castle General Secretary Friends World Committee for Consultation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How Many Quakers Are There in the World? (And Where Are They?) <\/strong><\/a>
\nGretchen Castle<\/strong><\/p>\n

FWCC publishes a map of Quakers worldwide. So how many Quakers are there in the world? The answers might surprise you.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Tom Hoopes
Valley Friends Meeting Wayne, PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

White Quakers Confronting White Privilege <\/strong><\/a>
\nTom Hoopes<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a Quaker in the early 21st century I am acutely aware that I have inherited and am an active participant in a tradition that has benefitted from centuries of exploitation and domination. That is not something that we usually advertise and talk about openly, but I think that we need to. <\/em><\/p>\n

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Chris Stern
Middletown Friends Meeting Lima, PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Understanding Quaker Faith Through the Journal of George Fox <\/strong><\/a>
\nChris Stern<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought that to be a good Quaker I had to be A, B, C, D, and if I couldn’t do those things maybe I wasn’t a good Quaker. <\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>43 St Giles Community Noticeboard Online, December 2021<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From the Office<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>From Quaker Faith and Practice<\/strong><\/a>
\n27.43<\/strong><\/p>\n

We need to guard against under-valuing the material expressions of spiritual things.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Meetings for Worship<\/b><\/a>
\nDecember 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Back to December 2021 Newsletter Main Page<\/a><\/p>\n

Forty-Three<\/em> Newsletter \u2022 Number 512 \u2022 December 2021
\n<\/strong>Oxford Friends Meeting
\n43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW<\/p>\n

newsletter@oxfordquakers.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Statement of Unity Ellen Bassani In the summer of 2003, I put myself into a situation where total concentration was essential. In fact, my life depended on it.     Monthly Appeal – December 2021 Quaker Children’s Collection: Asylum Welcome Virginia Allport The new arrivals, including many children and families, have lived through unimaginable … Continue reading December 2021<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2097","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2097"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2222,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2097\/revisions\/2222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}