Editorial

At our Yearly Meeting held in Hobart in July, our main concern was climate heating and the associated species extinctions.  Yearly Meeting issued a statement outlining the scale of the problem, things we can do personally to alleviate the problem, and the need to maintain our spiritual resources for the task.  The statement is to be found on our website.

This concern dovetailed with the Backhouse Lecture in which Jason McLeod looked at ways of assisting and learning from indigenous people, based on his association with the indigenous people of West Papua.  We include a review of the lecture by David Purnell.

Another important issue was the challenge to find the best ways of incorporating our children and younger Friends into the life of Yearly Meeting.  We resolved to find ways to assist Brisbane to cater for all ages despite their limited resources of Friend-power and time.

The Australian Friend committee is delighted to welcome Peter Jones who has taken on the role of producing the Know Thy Friend section.  Not knowing that he would hit the ground running, we had already sourced an article for this edition.  As a result we are pleased to offer articles about two Friends this time, highlighting how Friends come to us by different paths and bring with them different gifts.

We thank all the Friends who have shared their spiritual reflections and lives of service with us.  We hope that many of you are planning to share with us in the next edition which will come out in December.