Just discovered that we’re two days into the sixth
national Quaker
Week (28 September to 7 October).
Alistair Fuller, Head of Outreach Development for
Quakers in Britain says: “Every year we hold Quaker Week to encourage Quakers
to talk about how their faith shapes their daily life and witness in the
world.”
Throughout England this week, Quakers are wearing badges stating “I’m a
Quaker – Ask Me Why.” The Quaker
Week website explains people wearing the buttons “…will be keen to share their
personal faith journey and will be ready to say how they put their faith into
action to work for social and political change.”
British Friends have a theme for the week, too—Looking for a Spiritual Home—focusing on their meetings as
“communities where individuals can connect deeply with one another and with the
Divine and are free to become most fully themselves and can explore together
what it means to be a Quaker today.”
I don’t have one of these badges, but this seems like a good week to
wear a T-shirt made by folks at Salmon Bay (Seattle, WA) Monthly Meeting. It’s
my way to celebrate the spiritual home I’ve found among Quakers.
In the old days people knew who Quakers were by the way we dressed -- our Plain gray style.
ReplyDeleteNow they sometimes know us by the way we dress -- our clever T-shirts.
Which reminds me, it's time for the new generation of children in my Meeting to design the latest Dover Friends T-shirt. It's a recent tradition.
On a more serious note, I'm glad to hear Friends pitching the community we offer. Too often we're seen as protesters or philanthropists, neither of which is truly welcoming.