Sunday 21 December 2014

Ö is for Överraskningar

Överraskningar – surprises – can be pleasant or unpleasant. In this final letter of the Swedish alphabet, and being an optimist, I’ll focus on the former.

Yesterday was a day of pleasant surprises. One was being invited by a 5-year-old to sit next to him at lunch following Meeting for Worship. He had also climbed onto my lap during Meeting – which was quite a new experience for both of us. Another surprise came during lunch. All of a sudden I heard myself chink my glass with a fork, to attract attention. Out of my mouth came words of welcome to a brand new member of the Religious Society of Friends in Sweden. He was surprised too – pleasantly so I believe!

2014 has brought all kinds of surprises. These include being reunited with cousins in the UK, being approached for international Quaker service, being asked to serve again on the town’s education committee as an alternate, meetings with friends and family, a trip to Bangladesh on behalf of Quaker Service Sweden and a deepening of friendships with people there, not to mention beautiful walks in nature with poodle Irma and oohing and aahing at the stunning colours of a long mild autumn.

I wonder what surprises 2015 will bring? 

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Ä is for (De) äldste (The Elders)

In Sweden we have Yearly Meeting äldste (Elders). At present four people serve in this capacity with a view to supporting and nurturing the spiritual life of the Yearly Meeting (YM) and its constituent meetings and worship groups. The YM äldste are also responsible for ensuring that those who seek membership of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Sweden are visited according to our tradition. This always takes place in cooperation with the local meeting or group to which the applicant belongs. De äldste also have special responsibility for the arrangement of Quaker weddings, funerals and memorial meetings for worship.

We have chosen this way of working in Sweden after years of experimentation. It works well, and is still being developed. The development includes a broadening of the oversight function (what we in Sweden call medlemsvård) and a deepening of the eldership function (in Sweden known as andaktsvård).

At its Annual Meeting in 2010, the Europe and Middle East Section (EMES) of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) focused on the theme ‘Elders as Midwives of the Spirit’. During the Annual Meeting I was one of six Elders appointed to uphold the clerks during the meetings for worship for business, meet with them in worship before and after sessions, welcome Friends into the worshipping space with a formal handshake and a smile at the door, begin meeting by being the first person in the worshipping space, try to be a channel for the spirit during meetings for worship and for business, take responsibility for closing meetings for worship, lead the silent grace at mealtimes and be available for consultation or discussion on matters relating to Eldership during our time together.

At the Annual Meeting I learned more about the role and experience of an “accompanying Elder” and realised that we all – not only those travelling in the ministry – need to be accompanied and nurtured in order to birth and shepherd the Spirit that is within us. It became clear to me that Eldership is something other than Oversight. Eldership involves a faithful nurturing of the Spirit so that it can grow, strengthen and be heard and felt in our meetings and in our wider communities and circles. In other words, spiritual growth requires the skills and tenderness of a midwife, a shepherd, a gardener.

What struck me most during our time at the Annual Meeting was the tangible sense of harmony, gatheredness and discipline. These aspects have also reminded me of the original Quaker meaning and significance of Gospel Order, which in a nutshell refers to the radical transformation and re-ordering of lives and relationships that stems from a covenant relationship between the Quaker faith community and God (or whatever name we wish to use for the Divine or ‘spiritual Other’).

Many Quaker meetings and groups in Europe feel that they are too small for formal Eldership and Oversight and ‘take care of each other’. In the coming year these groups will be offered the possibility of learning more about these functions in an online study circle, run by EMES. That initiative is an adventure. So is the work of De älste.

Saturday 22 November 2014

Å is for Årsmötet (pronounced Ohrsmoetet)

The English for Årsmötet is Yearly Meeting – an important annual event in a Quaker’s diary. In Sweden, Årsmötet is usually held around Ascension Day, which is on a Thursday, is a public holiday, and therefore easy to extend to a long weekend.  It  also usually takes place at the Quaker Retreat Centre, located some 60 km north of Stockholm, with easy access to Arlanda airport and rail and ferry centres for our international guests.

This pattern sometimes varies, though. About once every four years we hold a Nordic Quaker Gathering, at a conference centre in Sweden or Norway, for Quakers of all ages from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. During this 3-day gathering we have a common theme to guide us in study and worship and each country holds its own Årsmötet. These are rich occasions, where we can be serious and also have fun.

In 2015 Sweden's Årsmötet will experiment a little. Instead of being held at the Retreat Centre near Stockholm we will gather at a conference centre near Gothenburg. We hope that by meeting in larger premises more Friends and friends of Friends will be able to come. The proposed theme (translated into English) is “Equality: Disposition and Application with Martin Wilkinson from London as speaker. According to the proposal the theme may include aspects such as our attitudes to people (those with no power and the powerful), whether Quakers should try to counteract the tendency to judge people in economic terms and instead emphasise other kinds of driving forces, and should we Quakers, with our tradition of equality, talk more about scientific results, such as those presented in the book “The Spirit Level”.

In Sweden, as in other countries, Årsmötet is a time for getting together – for business, study, walking, talking, worship and fun. As our Årsmötet is small, it is more like a family gathering. Here we have a chance to catch up with each others’ lives and meet both new and potential members. But whatever we do, and wherever we meet, it is always an enriching experience.


Sunday 2 November 2014

Z is for Zlatan

In Sweden, Zlatan Ibrahimović is a footballer who has become an idol and an icon the world over. His every move and his every word is followed and reported. I wondered what the name Zlatan meant and looked it up on the Internet.

Zlatan is a male name of South-Slavic origin and means ‘golden’. It is especially common in Bosnia due to its ethnical neutrality among the three dominant Bosnian ethnicities of Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. It derives from the South-Slavic word zlato, from the Old-Slavic root ‘zolto’ (gold). Its ancient form is Zoltan. The qualities behind the name are tenderness, sensitivity, idealism, harmony and balance. Zlatan is reserved and needs a favourable environment in order to communicate effectively.

To football fans across the world Zlatan Ibrahimović is indeed a golden boy. However, what struck me most was the neutrality of the name in a once troubled region, and the qualities that are required in such an environment if peace is to reign.

There is more to our names than meets the eye. Mine means lily. What does yours mean?

Saturday 1 November 2014

Y is for Yule

Although it is only November and not yet the Yuletide season, I have reached the letter Y. As a Yorkshire woman with Viking roots living in Sweden, it is nevertheless appropriate to consider the word and what it symbolises.

Besides being associated with Christmas (Jul in Swedish), Yule is also connected to the winter solstice (the summer solstice for those living south of the Equator). According to the Celtic tradition, on Solstice Night (the longest night of the year) bonfires were lit in fields and trees and crops were toasted with spiced cider. Children visited houses carrying baskets made from evergreen boughs (symbolising immortality) and what stalks dusted with flour (the former symbolising the harvest and the latter triumph, light and life) and filled with oranges and apples spiked with cloves– both of which represented the sun. Holly and ivy was used to decorate the exteriors and interiors of houses to entice Nature Sprites to come and join the celebrations. Holly was hung near the door all the year round as a constant invitation of good fortune and mistletoe was hung as a decoration to represent the seed of the Divine.

The Yule log, usually of Ash, was the highlight of the festival of the Solstice and by tradition must either have been harvested from the householder’s land or received as a gift (but never bought). Inside the house it was decorated with greenery, splashed with cider or beer and dusted with flour before being set alight using a piece of the previous year’s log. The log then burned throughout the night and left to smoulder for 12 days before being ceremonially extinguished. (Reference source: https://wicca.com/celtic/akasha/yule.htm)

In recent years I have begun to write ‘Yuletide greetings’, rather than ‘Happy Christmas’ during the Yuletide season.  Somehow it seems more authentic in this secular and materialistic age, when Christmas is increasingly associated with tinsel and tat, spending up and stocking up, and begins already in October.  It may also be connected to my inner desire to reconnect with the earth, and cherish it.

Thursday 23 October 2014

X is for …… Xempel!

Xempel is not a word, but in this context stands for the Swedish exempel, or in English, example.
Here I am reminded of George Fox’s words from 1656: “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 everyone; whereby in them you may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you.”

In today’s world, xtremism (another made up x!) seems to reign – extreme weather, extreme beliefs, extreme views, extreme behaviour, and so on. How, I wonder, can we best be patterns and examples and a blessing in such a climate?

Sydney Carter’s text is an example of how we might be examples. It is quoted in full on the Netherlands Yearly Meeting website (http://quakers.nu/George), and entitled “The Ballad of George Fox”:

1. There's a Light that was shining
when the world began,
and a Light that is shining in the heart of man:
There's a Light that is shining
in the Turk and the Jew,
and a Light that is shining, friend,
in me and in you.

(Chorus) Walk in the Light, wherever you may be,
Walk in the Light, wherever you may be!
In my old leather breeches and
my shaggy, shaggy locks,
I am walking in the glory of the Light, said Fox.

2. With a book and a steeple and a bell and a key
they would bind it for ever but
they can't, said he.
O, the book, it will perish, and the steeple will fall,
but the Light will be shining at the end of it all.

(Chorus)

3."Will you swear on the Bible?"
I will not," said he,
"For the truth is as holy as the Book to me."
"If we give you a pistol,
will you fight for the Lord?"
"You can't kill the devil with a gun or a sword."

(Chorus)

4. There's an ocean of darkness
and I drowned in the night
till I came through the darkness
to the ocean of Light;
You can lock me in prison
but the Light will be free.

(Chorus)


Friday 10 October 2014

W is for Wilfrid and Waldemar

Not many words begin with w in the Swedish alphabet, because this letter is often replaced by v. However, as the only children in our Worship Group are called Wilfrid and Waldemar it seems appropriate to write about them in this Quaker-related space.

Waldemar is now six and his brother Wilfrid four.  They come to our once-a-month Meeting for Worship with their parents and are an integral part of our group. Both boys stay in Meeting for as long as they feel able. During that time they draw or crayon in their sketch books or read one of the books from their reading bags. When they come to Meeting they are always well equipped with materials and each boy has his own bag of books from which to choose. When they get restless one of their parents takes them to another room in the house for other activities, while the other remains in Meeting.

This has also posed a challenge to the rest of us in the group. Do we always expect their parents to take care of them and keep them occupied, or can another of us take responsibility for them? In Advices and Queries we are encouraged to “Rejoice in the presence of children and young people in your meeting and recognise the gifts they bring. Remember that the meeting as a whole shares a responsibility for every child in its care. Seek for them as for yourself a full development of God’s gifts and the abundant life Jesus tells us can be ours. How do you share your deepest beliefs with them, while leaving them free to develop as the spirit of God may lead them? Do you invite them to share their insights with you? Are you ready both to learn from them and to accept your responsibilities towards them?”(Advice 19, Britain Yearly Meeting)

Despite attempts to address the issue, it has proved difficult to come to any real solution, given that the group only meets once a month for Meeting, in our homes, and regards it as a precious opportunity to worship together. No-one has really been keen to leave the Meeting for Worship and do something with the children, although one or two have tried to set an example.

A more fertile discussion ground may be prepared when we meet in December, because this autumn we have included a ‘study’ session – in worship-sharing mode – before our Meeting for Worship in order to address topics that concern us. In December we will meet at the home of the children and the ‘study session’ will revolve around them. Might this be the beginning of a more inclusive taking of responsibility? I hope so.


Monday 29 September 2014

V is for Vänner

Vänner – Friends – are what Quakers call each other. In John, chapter 15 verses 14-15, we read: “You are my friends if you will do all that I command you. No longer do I call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master does, but I have called you my friends, because all that I have heard from my Father, I have taught you” (from the Aramaic Bible in plain English).

In England, those who attend Quaker meetings but are not members are called Attenders. In Sweden we call them Vänners vänner, friends of Friends. 

Saturday 27 September 2014

U is for Utvecklingsland

The English translation of utvecklingsland, or U-land, is developing country (also referred to as a less-developed country), and is defined by Wikipedia as “a nation with a lower living standard, underdeveloped industrial base, and low Human Development Index relative to other countries”. The term has been criticised for its implied inferiority and assumption that every country should develop according to Western economic development patterns.

In this Alphabet blog post the focus is on Bangladesh, regarded by many as an ‘utvecklingsland’ and certainly one of the world’s poorest countries. My concern here is not with the country’s economic development, but with how an NGO (non-governmental organisation) is working to improve the conditions for the ultra-poor, and especially women, adolescents and the disabled, in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh. Here, Quaker Service Sweden (Kväkarhjälpen) supports Sabalamby Unnayan Samity (SUS) in its work to deconstruct patriarchal ideas and traditions and help people claim their human rights.

Quaker Service Sweden has been supporting the various activities of Sabalamby Unnayan Samity (Self-reliance Development Group) since 1994. SUS was founded in 1985 by a local teacher, Begun Rokeya, who, together with ten other like-minded people, was determined to create a better future for the country’s women and children. SUS is based in north-east Bangladesh, in the Netrakona district, a rural area with some 2.4 million inhabitants. To date SUS been able to establish self-help projects in about half its working area.

One of Quaker Service Sweden’s first initiatives was to help SUS establish a Model Farm to provide local training in organic fruit and vegetable cultivation, compost-making etc. A heritage seed bank has also been created for the collection of hardy rice varieties and other crops for demonstration and distribution purposes. The project has now been expanded to include training in aquaculture (a combination of rice and fish farming). Quaker Service Sweden has also supported the expansion of SUS work in the different villages around Netrakona. This work takes the form of an integrated approach that includes the provision of basic education, micro-finance and micro-enterprise opportunities, training courses designed to prevent violence against women and to create better relations between the sexes, health-related education such as pre-natal and post-natal care, informing about diseases like HIV/AIDS etc., and human rights groups. SUS has also built a hospital so that poor people have better access to health care. At present we are supporting SUS development work in the slum areas of the largest city in the area, Mymensingh, and a rural programme in the villages of Kendua. SUS is also active in helping local people to form Stop Violence Against Women groups. Domestic violence is common in Bangladesh, and acid-throwing extremely prevalent.

Apart from donations from individuals, Quaker Service Sweden also receives development aid funding from the Swedish Government (via Sida) for the projects in Bangladesh, which is an enormous help for the people involved – Bangladeshi people at grassroots level who are trying to improve their living and working conditions and live meaningful lives.

Members of the Quaker Service Committee take it in turns to visit SUS and see the projects on the ground. As a recipient of government aid funds, QSS is obliged to do this, and receives a special administrative grant from Sida for this very purpose. I have been to Netrakona twice and am booked to go again later this year. This time, two members of the umbrella organisation that processes our finding application will also be accompanying us to conduct a Learning Review on Gender Equality and Religion with SUS staff.

You can read more about SUS and its work at http://sabalamby.org/
An interview with Begum Rokeya, the founder, can be accessed on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIAiOynmt9A





Sunday 21 September 2014

T is for Tillsammans (Together)

My sister-in-law visited us the other week and during a walk with standard poodle Irma we talked about Quakers and politics. She is not a Quaker, but her mother was and her brother is. I was talking about collective witness, and she said that she had always understood Quakers as a bunch of individuals all doing their own thing, and not as a collective. I was somewhat taken aback, but when I thought more about it, was not all that surprised by her words. We do come across as a bunch of individuals and this is something that we need to address.

After her visit I listened to Ben Pink Dandelion’s Swarthmore lecture on the Woodbrooke website: https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/pages/swarthmore-2014.html

In the Lecture, delivered during the Britain YM Gathering in Bath, Ben talks about Quakerism as a Do-It-Together religion, rather than a Do-It-Yourself one.  His message is that we are not individuals in our individual meetings and yearly meetings, but a collective body of Friends worldwide that is gathered and caught, as in a net (as Francis Howgill said way back in 1663).

Ben highlights 4 insights into what it means to be a Quaker, which he regards as inherently collective:

  • We have a direct encounter with the divine
  • We have developed ways of interpreting this experience – discernment
  • We have developed forms of worship that nurture the direct encounter with the divine
  • We feel called to live a particular kind of life due to this encounter.
He goes on to say that we can’t encounter the divine without being changed – transformed. This transformation makes us see and feel the world in a new way. This can be uncomfortable, but leads us into a more spiritually authentic place. Our lives are transformed both individually and collectively in order to become agents of transformation in the world. That is what it means to be a Quaker.

In his lecture Ben points to areas where we have become fuzzy, more individualistic, more secular and much more permissive – and have been affected by wider societal trends. Our sense of belonging to our Meetings has changed. He suggests that we are no longer accountable to the group as we were earlier, that we can decide what is and is not Quaker and that we have a huge amount of freedom and permissiveness in terms of faith. We present ourselves as an option in the option of faith – attendance at Meetings for Worship is optional, service is optional (we are now more likely to say no to nominations committee) and supporting  the Meeting financially is optional. We thus have an optional sense of belonging, which leads to a diffuse, rather than gathered, community.

According to Ben, in developing our own individual versions of Quakerism we have lost our Collective Voice.

What can we do? What Ben suggests is not new. He encourages us to resist the individual, resist the secular and reclaim the spiritual and the joy and passion that go with this. He thinks that we need to inhabit the Quaker tradition, be bold, think radically and live adventurously. And we need to do this together. Tillsammans.





Sunday 24 August 2014

S for Solidaritet (Solidarity)

In addition to being a Quaker, I’m a member of the Religious Social Democrats of Sweden. In Swedish the movement is called Socialdemokraterna för tro och solidaritet.  We are radical believers (of all faiths) with a passion for peace, solidarity and justice, a progressive voice for a just, open and responsible society. We are a bit redder and a bit greener than the Social Democratic Party. The movement has its origins in the Labour movement and in the Christian ecumenical movement. For me, being involved helps me to unite prayer with action and to live my faith.

In my English dictionary the word solidarity means unity based on shared interests, objectives and standards. On the Catholic Social Teaching website, solidarity is defined as being “about valuing our fellow human beings and respecting who they are as individuals”. In other sources it is linked with kinship, bonding, standing alongside, drawing attention to injustices, and calling for change.

We can stand in solidarity. W can live in solidarity. We can speak and think about solidarity. We can practise solidarity. Solidarity has also been described as a moral value.

Whatever our expression of it is, it has to be permeated by love. It means caring. It requires time and commitment. It is ongoing.

Friday 8 August 2014

R is for Retreater

Retreater – Retreats in English – are an important part of Sweden Yearly Meeting’s (YM) inreach and outreach. The YM has its own Retreat Centre called Svartbäcken (Black Beck) in Rimbo, some 60 km to the north of Stockholm and an easy bus ride from Arlanda Airport. Three or four Quaker retreats are held per term (spring and autumn) and are either led by Julia Ryberg or by other Swedish Friends. Sometimes there is a theme to focus reflectively on, and sometimes not. Opportunities for mid-week and private retreats are available for those who want to withdraw and reflect in their own ways. Other churches and groups also use the Centre for their own short courses or retreats. As the Retreat Centre is situated in woods by a lake, the environment is very conducive to reflection in stillness. Day retreats are also held at the Quaker Centre in Stockholm (Kväkargården) on a variety of themes. You can read more about the retreat programmes at Svartbäcken and Kväkargården on the YM’s website: http://www.kvakare.se/  

I have attended retreats at Svartbäcken as a participant, as a co-leader and as a prayer partner (supporting the leader and the participants in a prayerful way). I have also served as an accompanying Elder in online retreats, for example those offered by the Woodbrooke Study Centre in the UK (see https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/ for their programme of on-site and distance courses).

All these experiences have been rewarding and enriching. Offering people opportunities to step back from their busy, daily lives to sink down into the still small centre within is an important ministry.

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Q is for Q-värde

Q is not an easy letter in Swedish and there aren’t many words to choose from. The easiest would have been Quaker – but in Swedish the word Quaker doesn’t begin with a Q, but a K – for Kväkare! I could have chosen a Latin word, but that felt like cheating. So I’ve chosen Q-värde, which in English means Quality factor.

Over the years I have met people who have put more emphasis on the quality of life than the quantity of money or prestige that life can amass. A man I translate for has chosen to work three-quarter time rather than full time, for ‘quality of life’ reasons. The quality factor can mean different things to different people.
As I was born and brought up in Yorkshire I was encouraged to be thrifty. That can mean choosing cheap, rather than quality, although experience has taught me that choosing quality often turns out to be cheaper – and more sustainable – in the end.

In terms of my spiritual life, the quality factor is being able to worship and live out my unique ministry in a way that enhances me, my life, my family, my work, my surroundings and the people and creatures around me. This is not always easy, but for me, being a Quaker enables me to express my faith in a way that is challenging, sustainable, nourishing, enriching and meaningful. In my book this boils down to quality.

In terms of my work, it means being able to run my own business and do work that I enjoy and that helps others to further their ideas and publish their research results to an English-speaking audience. Quality also means eating and living healthily – and having a lovely husband who cooks all my meals! Above all, it means having time to just be.

What does the Quality factor mean for you, I wonder?

Wednesday 23 July 2014

P is for Politiken

Politiken – Politics – is the last thing I imagined myself getting involved with. For years I thought that – had been steered into thinking – religion and politics didn’t really jive together. How misguided! In later years I am now discovering that they are extensions of each other. How do you talk about peace and justice and put your values into practice in abstract terms? Don’t you have to use your skills and gifts to help bring peace and justice and what you believe in about?

When I was invited to get involved in local politics in a practical way last autumn I decided to walk that path to see what it looked and felt like. Sure, as a politician you get a lot of stick from various quarters and you sometimes wonder whether anyone actually wants change for the better; or even change at all …. However, for me the path is leading in the right direction, and helping me to see that religion and politics – prayer and action – are totally intertwined. 

Saturday 3 May 2014

O is for Omgivning

In my Swedish-English dictionary the word ‘omgivning’ has different meanings. It can be translated as surroundings, environs, neighbourhood, district, environment, those closest to someone, those around someone, entourage, immediate entourage. It is a very useful word. It is a very encompassing word. It is a very challenging word.

My immediate surroundings are a mixture of the urban with the rural. We live a stones-throw away from a lake with a popular beach and are close to the woods. Opposite us is the former cigarette factory – now a health centre and home to many small businesses. At the end of our road is the former Windsor chair factory, which since its closure has served a number of functions. The mainline railway from Stockholm to Malmö (and Copenhagen) runs through the town. If we talk about class – which is not as common here as it is in England – my immediate neighbourhood could be regarded as working class aspiring towards middle class.

Those closest to me are my immediate family – husband and dog – with whom I live. Extended family includes those relative-based circles to which I belong. Those around me include the people with whom I worship (Quakers and Attenders in the Småland Worship Group and in Sweden Yearly Meeting as a whole), friends and comrades with whom I share a political interest, dog owners that I meet on the regular rounds, the neighbours.

All this means that I am connected: to my surroundings and to other people. They are also connected to me. There is a responsibility to care and to share. As Håkan Juholt said in his Labour Day (1st May) speech here in Nässjö, we need to change from being individualistic, being suspicious of our neighbours, being careless with the environment. Rather, we need to think community, help each other to build a worthwhile future, share what we have, care for each other, care for our environment.

We cannot buy omgivning – although in many respects the prevailing system has led us to believe that we are customers; customers who pay up and shut up.  Omgivning is bigger and beyond that, and worth building up. Omgivning is indeed a word to ponder over.



Saturday 19 April 2014

M is for Mångkulturell (Multicultural); N is for Nässjö

[Two letters in one, here described in reverse order for historical reasons!]

In 1914 Nässjö was recognised as a Swedish stad (the Swedish word stad can mean town or city) and granted the accompanying privileges and charter. Nässjö’s Town Hall was formally opened in the same year. One hundred years on, in 2014, Nässjö is celebrating its centenary.

At that time Nässjö belonged to a new urban generation known as a ‘stationsamhället’ – a bridge between the old and the new, a merging of town and country. Its identity as a town was therefore not entirely clear.  

Nässjö is a railway town – an important railway junction for trains heading north, south, east and west. When the railway was first established, in the mid-1800s, Nässjö’s inhabitants numbered 43. Fifty years on, when the town received its charter, the population had grown to 5,949. With the railway as its mainstay and the explosion of various industries (cigarette factory, clothing mill, furniture factory) the town blossomed.

Today, Nässjö has a population of around 17,000, and in the municipality as a whole (including the surrounding communities) the population numbers 30,000.

The present population is mångkulturell – multicultural. The town works towards integration – the integration of native Swedes and new Swedes. The concept ‘new Swedes’ has been adopted in Sweden as a whole to include ‘immigrants’ from various corners of the world. Just as in 1914, the town is a bridge between the old and the new, this time in a merging of cultures. Similar to 1914, its identity is unclear and still emerging.

Multicultural Nässjö is a town in formation. Following its progress will be fascinating.

Thursday 3 April 2014

L is for Ljus

Here in Scandinavia ljus – light – is an important part of people’s everyday lives. In the depth of winter, when light is scarce, we long for it. We light candles in our homes to remind us that the light is always there. As the darkness lightens we rejoice at it, stand in it, sit in it, work in it and enjoy being ‘in the light’.

The light is important for Quakers too. In our Meetings for Worship in Scandinavia we always have a lighted candle at the centre of the circle. Early Friends were called ‘Children of the Light’. We talk about the inner light, the light within, the inward light and about being enlightened. We hold people in the light. We encourage people to let their lights shine. We wait in the light. We mind the light. We let the light guide us.

In his Journal, George Fox wrote: “I saw, also, that there was an ocean of darkness and death; but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness. In that also I saw the infinite love of God, and I had great openings.” Much later, in 1904, Rufus Jones wrote: “The Inner Light is the doctrine that there is something Divine, ‘Something of God’ in the human soul.”

Let us walk in the light. Let it illuminate the darkness. Let it reveal our innermost truths.

Tuesday 1 April 2014

K is for Kvalitet and Kvantitet

We often talk about kvalitet – the quality – of life, and the importance of it. In a just world quality would pervade the whole of life. It would be an unquestionable right. For every living creature.

Kvantitet – quantity – lies elsewhere on the scale. How often do we, in our Quaker meetings, bemoan the fact that we are not sufficient in number?

Why do we put quantity before quality? Quality is to do with whether truth is prospering amongst us – not how many bums warm the Meeting House benches. 

Tuesday 18 March 2014

J is for Ja

In James 5:12 (Contemporary English Version) we read: My friends, above all else, don’t take an oath. You must not swear by heaven or by earth or by anything else. “Yes” or “No” is all you need to say.

Ja is Swedish for Yes. Plain and simple Quaker speech.

Monday 3 March 2014

I is for Irma

Frihamras Irma La Douce and I have known each other since the summer of 2008. She was three years old at the time. I overcame my fear of dogs and stepped into Irma’s home for the first time to help her breeder with email correspondence in English. This is when I first became aware of a brown standard poodle – among the many others living in the breeder’s home – who constantly sought me out and indicated that for her I was someone special.

It was, in fact, the beginning of a ‘love affair’ that has continued and deepened. In December 2012 Irma became my dog. I bought her from the breeder and she and I have been joined at the hip ever since.

To backtrack, when I was four years old I had a traumatic experience with an Alsatian dog that continued to haunt me for years. Every time I saw a dog I froze, terrified to the core that it would attack me. It didn’t matter how often a dog owner told me that their dog would never hurt a fly. I simply could not believe them.

When we moved into the house next door to the kennel where Irma was born and raised, I told the breeder that I was afraid of dogs. She respected this and kept her dogs inside whenever I was went to the end of the path to collect our post. However, one day, she asked me if I could help her with email correspondence in English, because she had received a request from someone in Australia who was interested in buying one of her dog’s new born pups. Before I realised what I was letting myself in for I said yes, I would gladly help.

Into the house I went. I was met by a sea of brown doggy faces and bodies and didn’t quite know where to put myself. They didn’t seem unfriendly, although I hurried upstairs to the computer and busied myself with the task in hand. One dog followed me and lay at my feet while I was typing. The correspondence was intense and I found myself summoned to the house quite regularly. Each time, the same dog followed me and lay under the table, beside my feet. This was Irma.

A week or two later the breeder told me that her husband was to have a knee operation and would not be able to help her to walk the dogs as usual. I heard myself volunteering to help! Punctually each day I presented myself at the appointed time and was assigned to walk with Aida, Irma’s mum. She was the leader of the pack and the most docile. In fact Aida was a doddle, and I began to enjoy the daily walks. It did not escape my notice, or that of the breeder, that every time I walked up the path to the house, Irma raced to the door to be the first to greet me. As soon as the door opened to let me in, Irma was there to twirl around my legs and let me know that I was ‘hers’. The breeder was flabbergasted at this behaviour, because it was the first time that Irma had showed her feelings to any living person. I later learned that Irma was stressed in the pack and was a bit of a lone wolf. When I left the dogs after the daily walk Irma would gaze soulfully at me, and linger outside the door with her tail between her legs.

After a while the breeder asked me if I would like to take Irma home with me for an hour or two after the walk. I was reluctant at first, but soon came round to the idea. Just before Irma’s first visit I cleaned the whole house in her honour! To me she was an Important Guest, and everything had to be spick and span. The two hour visits soon turned into a whole evening and overnight stay. When Irma saw her doggy basket being handed over to me her eyes nearly popped out of her head! I can remember it clearly. She wagged her tail all the way down to what the breeder called ‘the hotel’ (i.e. our house).

I guess that Irma and I were meant to be a pair. When my husband and I moved to Nässjö in December 2010 Irma came with us, ‘on loan’. As the breeder wanted to take another litter from her (she had already had 10 pups in one fell swoop) I was obliged to take her back to the kennels for a 4-month stay so that she could meet her mate and have her pups. During those 4 months I thought that my world had come to an end. Life was so empty without her and I could hardly walk the tracks we had walked together without tears rolling down my face. When I could at last have her back, the breeder let me buy Irma out, so that she and I could live life together in peace.

Irma loves Meeting for Worship and is part of the Småland Worship Group. She has also been accepted as an Extra-ordinary member of Sweden Yearly Meeting. She comes with us to some of the meetings of the local Social Democrats too – especially if these meetings are one-day affairs. As long as she is with me she is happy.

I never in a month of Sundays thought that I would ever have a dog of my own. But Irma is not just an ordinary dog. To me she is very special, and it would seem that I am very special to her. She chose me, and we are inseparable. 

Sunday 2 March 2014

H is for Huset

In “The Prophet”, Kahlil Gibran writes that huset (the house), or to be more specific, ditt hus – your house –

“shall be not an anchor but a mast. 
It shall not be a glistening film that covers a wound, but an eyelid that guards the eye.
You shall not fold your wings that you may pass through doors, not bend your heads that they strike not against a ceiling, nor fear to breathe lest walls should crack and fall down.
You shall not dwell in tombs made by the dead for the living.
And though of magnificence and splendour, your house shall not hold your secret nor shelter your longing.
For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion of the sky, whose door is the morning mist, and whose windows are the songs and the silences of night.”


Of late, I have been thinking about what a house made with bricks and mortar means to me. The house in which we live now is large and spacious. I work in it and have my office here, eat in it, relax in it, sleep in it and share it with my husband and my dog and with other people when they come to visit or stay. We worship in the house when the Småland Worship group gathers here. We have Quaker Service Sweden committee meetings here. It is a functional space, to which I find that I have no hard and fast attachment. It is a pleasant place to be, and I like to make it look nice, but I am not emotionally and physically bound to it. When the time comes, and it gets to be beyond our capabilities, I could move from it into something that better suits our needs.

Thoughts like these surfaced after Mum went into a residential care home and I sold her house on her behalf. That house had been our family home since 1958, and memories of my childhood were sewn into its walls. Selling it was not emotionally difficult. It had to be sold so that we could pay the care home’s fees, and in that sense was a practical necessity. Mum, on the other hand, felt bereft and homeless. It had been her home for almost 56 years and for her it was a place of refuge and safety and was full of different memories.

These ruminations made me wonder about the house that is my body. Is it an anchor or a mast? Do I dare to breathe to the full, and to hold my head high? Is it a tomb, or a temple? What secrets does it shelter? What longings does it contain? Does what is boundless in me abide in the mansion of the sky? Is it open, or closed?

There is much to ponder.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

G is for Gemenskap

In my Swedish-English dictionary ’gemenskap’ is defined as ‘spirit of community’, ‘solidarity’, ‘communion’, ‘intellectual fellowship’, ‘partnership, ‘connection’, ‘affinity’ and ‘community’.

There are different levels of gemenskap. We can connect with someone without having any deep friendship with or knowledge of them. I was reminded about this yesterday, when I met someone in the street who I haven’t seen for at least a year. The only connection then was that like me they also had a dog. Her dog has since died. Yesterday our paths crossed unexpectedly and, in the drizzle, we had a conversation about the mystery of death, the continued closeness of those (people and animals) who have died, the ‘supernatural’ things that can happen around death, and the thin veil between death and life. After sharing our own experiences of this, we parted. Although we may not see each other again for a while, and we have no reason to form any deeper kind of friendship, I later reflected that our meeting and our sharing encapsulated ‘solidarity’, ‘affinity’ and ‘communion’ – and in some way have may changed us both.

In our Quaker meetings we encounter different kinds of gemenskap, and often joke that we know each other inside out, rather than outside in. However, within our Quaker communities we often have the greatest of difficulty in fully living out gemenskap, and in realising what the long-term implications of this are. If we feel communion, fellowship, partnership, connection, affinity and community with someone or a group of people, why do we then leave them feeling unaided, unloved, or even threatened? What is it that prevents us from going the whole hog?

In my political encounters I am also finding gemenskap. In a small town like ours, party affinities often only become obvious in newspaper debates, in larger council gatherings or during elections. In small committees my experience is that the individuals that make up that committee community are willing to listen and to share, and in that way work towards the common good. 

Saturday 8 February 2014

F is for Förändring, Förankring, Framtiden

These three words – change, anchoring and the future – are significant for me in this particular phase of my life. I have had strange dreams recently – of people, possessions and opportunities being snatched away from me, and of being led to strange places and then abandoned. It is seldom that I remember my dreams, but of late these instances have been regular and frequent, and I have woken feeling disorientated and fundersam – puzzled (ah, yet another ‘f’!).

If I look at the words one by one and reflect on them, I can see a pattern and identify reasons. The dreams may also be a prompt to stop and reflect on what has happened over the past year. Until now I have neglected to do just that.

There have been a lot of förändringar – changes – in my life of late. After suffering numerous falls in her home, my elderly mother moved into a residential care home last April (in England) and is frail. My brother cut off all contact with us last summer. I turned 60 last August. Opportunities for service were dangled in front of my nose, and just as quickly and mysteriously snatched away. Shortly afterwards I was plunged into local politics – at least until the end of 2014, when my temporary mandate terminates. As Mum’s Attorney I have recently sold the family home and handed over the keys. A firm was hired to remove the contents.

There is a change too in my relationship with Mum. It has become more mutually loving.

Amidst all these changes I feel förankrad – anchored – in the town in which I live. It has family connections. My husband and his siblings grew up here. I also feel more anchored in myself. Having dual citizenship I feel at home as a British-Swede and as a Swedish-Brit. At 60 I have a new sense of self-confidence: I have had my long hair cut short and as if by magic the long grey hair streaked with brown has now become short brown hair streaked with grey! I am in balance with my inner self and at peace with the being I am happy to call God. I enjoy my work and find satisfaction in helping others to express themselves in writing. The once-a-month Meeting for Worship with the Småland Worship Group is a joy, and gives me a sense of continuity and of anchorage.

The future – framtiden – is as yet unknown. I have no idea where I may be led, and what I might find there. My hope, however, is that I will not be abandoned.

Saturday 1 February 2014

E is for Erfaren

In English ‘erfaren’ means practised, skilled, experienced, veteran. Up to now I have always connected the word with the first three meanings, but not the fourth. That changed the other day.

Since last October I have been a deputy representative (for the Social Democrats) on the municipality’s Education Committee. This is my first step into politics, but one that I find increasingly fascinating. This involvement has gradually led to new duties – as a deputy on the preschool-primary school sub-committee, and as deputy contact person on a parent-teacher council. Last week I attended the above mentioned sub-committee for the second time. The ‘governing’ group (in Nässjö this is an alliance of the Social Democrats, Centre Party, Liberals and the Left Party) usually meets for half an hour prior to the committee meeting proper, and on this particular occasion the chairman turned to me and said that he’d have to leave early, that the vice chairman might be late in arriving, and that if that was the case I would have chair the meeting.

As a totally unpractised, unskilled and inexperienced politician, and a deputy to boot, I asked him how that could possibly be the case – especially as there were others on the committee who were much more eligible than me. Ah, he replied, it has nothing to do with experience. It is to do with age. You are the oldest and are therefore next in line to take charge.

As it turned out the vice chairman arrived in the nick of time. I have clerked many Quaker meetings for business, locally, nationally and internationally, but I have never chaired a political committee meeting and when it comes to those procedures am totally inexperienced. However, when I returned home that evening I looked at the municipality’s website and sought out the live-recordings of full council meetings that are available there. I watched the latest one to see what the chairman did and listen to what he said, in the hope of gaining some insight as to how the proceedings were carried out in another, larger political gathering.

To my utter amazement, during the council meeting the chairman used language that I have heard used in a Quaker business meeting in Sweden, and have even used myself in that context: “is it the sense of the meeting that we should .....?” With this, I realised that I was a veteran – practised, skilled and experienced, albeit in a different context to the one in which I find myself now. This also brought the realisation that, yes, I could chair a political meeting if it came to the crunch, in my own way yet with help from others who are familiar with political procedures. I have already discovered that in this municipality decisions are mainly taken by consensus, which means that the step from Quaker clerk to committee chairman is not all that great.

Being 'erfaren' as in veteran – in terms of age and experience – could have its advantages.  


Saturday 18 January 2014

D is for Dans

One particulardans’ (dance in English) stands out in my mind. In 1996 I attended the international Quaker gathering on Barnens Ö (Children’s Island) in Sweden, and while there came into contact with Swedish Quakers for the first time. The first night of the gathering was memorable. After supper in our particular house (the participants lived in various houses spread over the site) the host announced that the dishwasher wasn’t working and could she please have a few volunteers to wash the dishes by hand. As I enjoy washing-up my arm shot up into the air, along with those of a few others.

There were a lot of dishes and pots and pans to wash, and it took quite a bit of time to get everything clean and dried. As we worked we chatted and got to know each other a little better. We came from different countries, so our curiosity was great. When everything was finished, and the kitchen area had emptied, Gunnar remarked on how much space there was now that everyone had gone. I responded by saying that yes, we could even dance in it! What an idea, said Gunnar, and we promptly began to do just that!

That spontaneous ‘dans’ in the kitchen signalled the start of a friendship with Gunnar, and later with his wife, Elfi, that lasted until one and then the other passed away. When I came to Sweden in 1999 as the first Visiting Friend for the Europe and Middle East Section (EMES) of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), it was Gunnar who translated a talk that I gave at the Friends Centre in Stockholm and it was Elfi who made sure that I was well and truly cared for during my stay.

If there is any message or moral in this story it is – Dare to Dans! You never know where it might lead.

Sunday 12 January 2014

C is for Cirkel

Cirkel, or circle in English, is a form that is well-known to most Quakers. In general, at least in liberal Western European contexts, and as far as the room and numbers allow, Quakers sit in a circle for their Meetings for Worship (‘andakt’ in Swedish – see A). Circles are said to represent trust, security, protection, wholeness, unity and infinity. American Indians regard the circle as a sacred shape that reflects nature and natural phenomena.

How many circles – and cycles – can you identify in nature – and in life?

A circle draws an individual to the centre, where enlightenment can be found. All the points on a circle are equidistant to the centre, and each person in the circle can be seen and acknowledged. Circles often conjure up images of community, connection and inclusion.

You can be inside or outside a circle. Included or excluded. We Quakers like to talk about inclusion, rather than exclusion. However, I remember when I was a warden of a Quaker Meeting House in England and the rap on the knuckles and the resistance I got when I arranged the chairs in a way that made entry into the circle easier for all. How many people do we exclude from our comfortable circles when we resist change, I wonder?

When the small Småland Worship Group comes together for ‘andakt’, standard poodle Irma lies inside the circle when she feels safe, but stays on the outside and observes when she is unsure. When we met at the home of another dog owner, his dog came into the circle, circled around to each one of us and licked our hands in turn as if to say ‘welcome’. It reminded me of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. It also took me back in my mind to a Retreat in Sweden that I took part in many years ago, when we participants washed each other's feet.

How do we welcome people into our circles, I wonder? And do we exclude anyone?

Sunday 5 January 2014

B is for Bön and for Barmhärtig

Bön (pronounced boen) is Swedish for prayer, request, appeal, entreaty, plea or supplication. The verb ‘be’ translates as ask, beg, request, entreat, implore, plead, pray, offer a prayer, say a prayer.

As a child I was taught to say my prayers. This activity mainly consisted of asking God to bless mummy, daddy, grandma ... and so on. The fact that I asked God for something must have meant that even at that tender age I believed in some kind of higher or mystical power.

Prayer was not a strange phenomenon to me. Until the age of 14 I was forced to accompany my mother to church on a Sunday. As no choice was presented, I amused myself by inspecting ladies’ hats, perusing the hymn book, or playing silently (and sometimes not so silently...) with my young brother (who was also forced to attend). The vicar’s call to prayer meant bowing one’s head, reciting the Lord’s Prayer, saying the Creed, or receiving the final blessing.

At the age of 14, and the news that mother had enrolled me in confirmation classes, I rebelled. I was a stubborn child, and there was absolutely no way that the theatre of church was going to be prolonged. Mother gave in, and soon after that left the church herself. What a relief that was!

Until I discovered Quakers in my early twenties, I searched for an expression of God that I felt comfortable with. I found this in nature, in our garden, walking in the Yorkshire Dales or locally in the fields close to our house. In the outdoors God has always felt close, and there, prayer has come quite naturally to me – not just as requests, appeals or the like, but also as thanks for blessings received, for the beauty of the surroundings and for the wonders of nature. I often send out arrow prayers – for someone, for myself, for guidance in a particular situation. Perhaps this is what Paul was getting at when he encouraged people to ‘pray without ceasing’. It is being in an attitude of prayer that matters, not the constant petitioning.

Since becoming a Quaker, prayer has been a rather private affair. It is rare for someone to pray, out loud, in Meeting for Worship. A Swedish Friend who died recently was an exception. His legacy of a book of prayers written by him to God, his loving Father, is a treasure to treasure.... and a reminder to dare to pray out loud.

I cannot think of Bön without linking it to Barmhärtig (pronounced barmhaertig), which means merciful, compassionate, charitable. In my own prayers – and indeed in my attitude towards others – I also need to be merciful, compassionate and charitable. If I remember that, I can reflect what God constantly reveals to, and bestows on, me.