Participants of German Yearly Meeting Gathering at Bonn gathered in the sunrise, singing morning praise songs. We heard birds and welcomed the light. Sun will travel on, bringing our greetings to other meetings! There was rain, too... but we hugged in the end to warm each other. Picture and soundfile to follow, now we are off to our meeting for worship for business. Greetings from 170 participants of German Yearly Meeting.

Esther Köhring

Lee Taylor

Children in Rugby, England say hello to Friends around the world

1. How is the life of your meeting or church enriched by the awareness of Friends in other countries?
As an isolated Friend, it is very important to me to know that Friends are found in many places. I often worship alone. I can only attend a meeting every four to six weeks. Therefore, being aware that sitting by myself in worship does not mean being alone in this world and in the Quaker tradition gives me a sense of community.

I had the opportunity to visit Friends in different countries and from various cultural backgrounds. It is a delight to see the diversity within our faith tradition. When it comes to seek God’s grace and guidance for participating in a just, sustainable, and peaceful world, many ways are open and no one should claim to be the keepers of the “right” form.

2.  How can we bring the essence of the Kabarak Call into our worshiping community?

3.  How does the Kabarak Call affect your sense of our Quaker voice for change in the world and its spiritual imperative?
We need to go beyond reading statements and appeals, like the Kabarak Call, in our Meeting Houses, just to feel good about the words that ring true. We need to discern the price we are willing to pay, as individual as well as congregations, and to transform our intentions into action.

It is a never-ending effort to refrain from falling into complacency driven by the temptations, possibilities, and comforts of a privileged life in today's consumerist society. This requires a constant critical questioning of the taken-for-granted. And we need a vision of what the ‘peaceable kingdom’ will look like in contemporary times and how to get there in the foreseeable future. For me it is neither sufficient nor satisfactory to derive good intentions from my faith, but to acknowledge that - due to my human nature or circumstances - I have to constantly fall short of these intentions. This seems no more than an excuse for a complacent lifestyle or resignation.

We may be flawed vessels; nonetheless we should strive for perfection: “Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.”— George Fox

4.  As someone encounters you, what could they learn about Quakerism by the choices you make and the things you do?
In a direct encounter with me, a person would learn about Quakerism, that faith in action is a sequence of unspectacular events in daily life. It is about the right relationship with everyone, including the stranger and the difficult person. No matter how much I feel under pressure, I do recognize each human being as unique and as the bearer of “that of God”. I refrain from generalizing, stereotyping, speaking for others, and knowing better from a position of perceived superiority or righteousness.

I am aware of my assigned privileges from living in a Western society. I know, for example, that I exploit the cashier in the supermarket because I, too, have a habit of looking for “the best price”. I will avoid it in my best practices, because it is a form of structural violence. When asked, I will debate and speak out against the use of violence in its various forms.

I choose to live in a place where I can produce things of daily need instead of fully relying on the consumption of goods. And I choose not to choose everything that is available to me. Strawberries in winter, fashion to be fashionable, gadgets to belong to the in-crowd are all not internally consistent with human needs.

I choose to be relaxed about my personal “health” and “well being”. I recognize ageing and illness as integral part of me. I refuse to live in fear and avoid all insurance, if legally possible, because I have confidence. Thus, I recognize the limited significance of me being a unique part of the universe.
I choose to be employed part-time in order to have time to nurse relationships, to volunteer, and for being of compassionate service. I choose to live in a one-room accommodation, regardless of my professional and societal status and my financial ability to live in a nice house. For personal use, I choose to travel by public transit from this remote place despite the fact that it limits my opportunities, and despite the fact that I am the owner of a highly efficient vehicle that I use for work.

In all, many people that I encounter will at first receive a vague impression that there is something different about me. It is in these small differences where they could learn about the tenets of Quakerism.