QUAKER UNIVERSALIST GROUP NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2023
Dear QUG supporter
QUG Annual Conference 2024 – April 19th – 21st 2024 at High Leigh Conference Centre, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire and online.
The future of religion worldwide.
- Why is this so important for us all?
- What is actually happening?
- What can we, as universalist Quakers, do about the future of religion?
Our 2024 conference will be at High Leigh – see https://www.cct.org.uk/high-leigh/high-leigh-conference-centre. It is north of London, 25 minutes on the train from Liverpool Street Station. It is set in beautiful grounds.
High Leigh is a large conference centre, usually with several conferences on at the same time, but each conference using separate facilities. There will be talks, breakout groups, a Saturday evening sharing session, and free time.
Several QUG members have stayed there and speak highly of the venue. It will be a blended conference to enable those who cannot come in person to join in by Zoom.
We will send out full details of costs, how to apply, etc. in late November. Do keep the dates – April 19th-21st 2024 – free in your diary.
Speakers
Jan Arriens is a well-known Quaker who last spoke to us at our conference in 2017 under the title ‘Mysticism – Between Head and Heart’. He has many interests, most recently being a co-founder of QTIG, the Quaker Truth and Integrity Group. He recently gave a talk on the future of Quakerism, so we look forward to his insights on this important topic.
Robert Wafula has been the Principal of Friends Theological College (FTC) in Kaimosi, Kenya, since October, 2014. Robert was educated in Africa and the USA and taught comparative religions, anthropology, cultural diversity and comparative literature at Columbus State College and at Central Ohio Technical College in Ohio. He will talk to us about the future of religion in Africa.
Peter Varney is a member of the QUG Committee and has spoken at several recent conferences, most recently last year on ‘An Overview of Creativity and Spirituality across the world’. He is a Quaker Elder and a retired, but active, Anglican priest. He will speak to us about what is happening with religion in the world today.
Tony Philpott is presently the Clerk of the QUG Committee and has spoken at several of our conferences, for example on ‘Truth – An Introduction’ in 2018. His book, From Christian to Quaker, was sent to all the local meetings in Great Britain. He will introduce the conference and explain why ‘the future of religion’ is so important to us as universalists.
Our recent conference in 2023 at Woodbrooke – Universalism and Creativity – how creativity expresses and enhances spirituality across the world.
We have now completed the pamphlet (No. 46) for the conference. It has been sent to all QUG members (in hard copy or e-copy form) and all who went to the conference. If anyone else would like to buy it (price £4) please send an email to contact@qug.org.uk.
Monthly meeting for worship and sharing
Our meetings for worship and sharing continue by Zoom on the third Wednesday of each month.
The talk at the next one on Wednesday November 15th will be by Jennifer Kavanagh, well-known Quaker and author. See https://www.jenniferkavanagh.co.uk/ She will speak under the title My Spiritual Journey.
The meetings start at 7.00 p.m. The Zoom will open at 6.45 p.m.
We send out reminders two or three days beforehand to everyone who has registered.
If you do not have the joining instructions and would like them please send an email to contact@qug.org.uk
Howard Grace and Letlapa Mphahlele
Many of you heard Howard Grace’s talk about his spiritual journey at the July Wednesday evening meetings for worship and sharing.
Howard is delighted to announce that his friend, Letlapa Mphahlele is visiting our country and will be speaking at a number of Quaker venues. These are:
- 1st November at Newbury (evening)
- 10th November at Oxford (evening)
- 19th November at Reading (afternoon)
- 23rd November at Milton Keynes (evening)
- 25th November at Westminster (evening)
ALSO – the Quaker Africa Interest Group are holding an open Zoom with Letlapa and Howard on 2nd November from 12.00 to 1.00 p.m.
For further details of any of these events please email Howard at howardgrace40@gmail.com
Here are some notes about Letlapa:
Letlapa Mphahlele was born and grew up in rural South Africa during the height of apartheid. In 1978, at the age of seventeen he went into exile to join the liberation struggle. Rising through the ranks of the Azania People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), he became its director of operations. In 1993, following the killing of black school children, he ordered several high-profile retaliatory massacres, including at the Heidelberg Tavern in Cape Town. Lyndi Fourie, a student, was amongst those killed. Her mother Ginn later forgave Letlapa. This was pivotal in both their transforming journeys.
In 2003 Howard Grace, an Initiatives of Change volunteer, met Letlapa and Ginn. He invited Letlapa to the UK and took him to 36 school Sixth Forms in six weeks to share his story. This later led to the making of the award-winning film Beyond Forgiving which documents what has developed from this profound experience with Ginn Fourie.
Letlapa was later elected leader of the PAC in September 2006, a post which he held for six years. His life journey has led him to a passion to foster a shared humanity.
Young Quaker Universalists
At our August meeting for worship and sharing we heard from Rachel Krishnaswami about the nurture of young Quaker universalists. We had a fascinating discussion about the younger generation and Rachel is grateful for the many ideas she picked up.
She mentioned that she is involved in a related project and she would welcome anyone who has not already done so to fill in the survey. Here are the details:
Take the Quaker Parent / Grandparent Survey!
Do you live with those aged 0-18, or link them to Quaker events / communities? Help support all Quaker families by sharing your experiences of family faith practices and useful resources.
Take the survey:
Enquiries: rachel.krishnaswami@cambridgeshire-quakers.org.uk
This project is supported by a scholarship from the Sheila J Gatiss Legacy. Please share with all parents, grandparents and similar persons you know.
Universalist
Our journal, Universalist, is sent to all members. The most recent one (October 2023) has just come back from the printers and will be sent to all members as hard copy or e-copy.
We would like to receive more articles for the February 2024 Universalist, so if you would like to write a prose piece, a poem or a review of a book, film, play etc. please get writing!
We welcome a wide range of articles, as long as they have a universalist theme, welcoming the statement that ‘spiritual awareness is accessible to everyone of any religion or none’.
Articles should be sent to contact@qug.org.uk by December 31st 2024 at the latest.
QUG Membership
We continue to recruit new members and we would love to have some more, so we do encourage you to join QUG if you have not already done so. Our journal Universalist is well worth a read, as is the pamphlet we produce in the summer following our conference. E-copies cost £12.00 per year and hard copies £18.00 per year.
Renewals for QUG membership for 2023 are due on the anniversary of when you last paid.
Full details of membership (including our bank details and a standing order form) are on our website https://qug.org.uk
Book reviews
We are looking for more people to help us to review books to be published in our journal Universalist. If you would be interested in doing this please email contact@qug.org.uk. We will then send you details of books we have been offered for review. If you volunteer we will then ask the publisher to send you a copy – some are only sent as pdfs. Peter Varney is the reviews editor; he asks that reviews reflect a universalist approach, whether as found in the book or in your review of it.
Contacting us, questions and unsubscribing
If you have any questions or wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter please reply directly or send an email to contact@qug.org.uk