Mark D Russ

Howard Thurman

I spent a lovely session tonight with @markdruss.bsky.social & Friends exploring the mystical spirituality of Howard Thurman.

Learn with me in 2026 I’ve got several exciting courses coming up with Woodbrooke this year. Do take a look and book your place. In 2026 I’ll be: exploring the spirituality of the 16th century Spanish mystic…

There's lots of opportunities to learn with me and @woodbrooke.bsky.social in 2026. Just a few words to tingle your tastebuds: Ignatian spirituality, how to pray, "The Screwtape Letters," the "Quaker Renaissance," Becoming Friends. Follow the link to find out more: jollyquaker.com/2026/03/09/l...

Learn with me in 2026 I’ve got several exciting courses coming up with Woodbrooke this year. Do take a look and book your place. In 2026 I’ll be: exploring the spirituality of the 16th century Spanish mystic…

There's lots of opportunities to learn with me and @woodbrooke.bsky.social in 2026. Just a few words to tingle your tastebuds: Ignatian spirituality, how to pray, "The Screwtape Letters," the "Quaker Renaissance," Becoming Friends. Follow the link to find out more: jollyquaker.com/2026/03/09/l...

The masculinity of Christ in question:

"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."

We need more of this, at the very least as an attitude toward each other.

Women's preaching still justified For International Women's Day, Rhiannon Grant reflects on early Quaker support for women's religious leadership ahead of a modern translation of Margaret Fell's seminal text.

Margaret Fell was a key figure in the early Quaker movement. For #InternationalWomensDay, Rhiannon Grant reflects on women's religious leadership and Margaret Fell's 'Women's Speaking Justified' https://www.quaker.org.uk/blog/women-s-preaching-still-justified

Apocalypse - a time of revealing I've been meaning to write this for a while. I was thinking of it as a new year's post to reflect on 2025. But time has got away from me and...

Apocalypse - a time of revealing
reigniteuk.blogspot.com/2026/03/apoc...

The Story of Margaret Fell - The Mother of Quakerism YouTube video by Quake It Up

📣 New Video! To celebrate International Women's Day, we will be looking into the Mother of Quakerism herself, Margaret Fell!

#quakerism #quakers #britishquakers #iwd26

youtu.be/wk0EgcFGecU

I'm spending a lot of time lately with the English mystics of the 14th century, and I'm finding a great deal of consolation. It's so edifying to be in the company of people who love God and each other in difficult times, even if they're long dead.

This is why I won't let my kids watch Bambi. I'm not prepared for them to know that deer are real.

You may have noticed that our name has changed! Following discernment at our recent meeting in York, we have changed our name to Young Friends in Britain.

It will take a while for all of our social media channels, website, etc to be updated, (which is why our logo is still YFGM!)

Sir Gawain Fucks the Green Knight Here’s a tale ripe for telling. Can’t say where I heard it first—in pretty French or Dutch. Perhaps as a young lady walking ‘longside the Rijn. I’ll spin it for you in an English tongue, fine as frost on lace, sweet as malmsey wine. So it goes that young Gawain, strength kissed into his limbs, fresh as the bright dawn, comes trembling down to the Green Chapel. You’ve heard this tale, I know. His breath makes peach fuzz in the air, fear into him like worm to apple. Christmas Morn is too soon, time is short. You have your own life to save, he says, picking through thorn and bough to an ivy-clad cave. The creature is the Jack O’ the Glen / forest prince / the wood’s own laughter. Beard of lichen and eyes like dark elder. I need not repeat their exchange—my boy’s flinching heart—a songbird in a rattled cage. It is after the blows are dealt, he asks, what god is worshipped in these green trees? Boy, the Knight replies, boy, were you not just down on your knees? The Knight is the tang of sap / bark rough and petal soft / everywhere leaves scatter / easily crushed / Gawain clings / hardly knows what he clings to / he is the forest and the flower / a turmoil of roots / where god and tree meet and melt / the birch the oak the fern the deer / mushroom maggot crow / here Gawain is branch and bud / blow returned for blow

This is a sheer indulgence on my part, but it turns out I never actually shared the poem here, so:

🍃

The @feministtheology.bsky.social collaborated with @practicaltheology.bsky.social Hub for a series of articles and mine is out today: practicaltheologyhub.com?p=2081 #feminist #theology #iwd26

Women's preaching still justified For International Women's Day, Rhiannon Grant reflects on early Quaker support for women's religious leadership ahead of a modern translation of Margaret Fell's seminal text.

Quakers uphold women in all areas of life, and support their leadership and callings in all faith communities.

With women's leadership back in the news, Rhiannon Grant reflects on the Biblical case for equality:

www.quaker.org.uk/blog/women-s...

#InternationalWomensDay #LeadingtheChange #IWD2026

My confession I am a sinner doesn't make too much sense to me in terms of my sexual life or my disobedience towards my mother. It makes more sense to look on a world hunger map. Dorothee Solle

My confession I am a sinner doesn't make too much sense to me in terms of my sexual life or my disobedience towards my mother. It makes more sense to look on a world hunger map.

Dorothee Solle

Westminster Meeting House raided by Metropolitan Police again. Statement: “For Quakers, faith and action are inseparable. Peaceful protest, prayer and nonviolent action are integral parts of many Quakers' religious life. Whilst we take the planning of criminal acts very seriously, we believe that this incident is a deliberate targeting of committed young people who want to make our country a more equitable place. This raid is part of a systematic stifling of dissent. That this is the second time in a year that the police have raided our meeting house dramatically illuminates the broader trend in the UK of cracking down on those who disagree with the government. The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy. It's a key part of how people make their voices heard between elections.” – Oliver Robertson, Head of Witness and Worship Quakers in Britain, 5 March 2026

Yesterday evening, for the second time in a year, the Met Police raided Westminster Quaker Meeting House and arrested a number of young nonviolent activists.

STATEMENT: www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

I'm reading Rachel Muers' latest book "On the Voices, Contexts and Tasks of Theology: Experiments in Quaker and Feminist Thought." A gorgeous hamper of a book.

It’s #worldbookday and so here’s a book I wrote! It introduces a dozen radical 17th women who have been ignored by history books for far too long ✍️📚#voicesofthunder #newbook

Migration is part of what makes this country great.

We're not an island of strangers - we're an island of neighbours.

The Green Party will always support fair & managed migration.

Reform fury as someone else wins by Our By-election Editor Tim Shipsink The losing candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Matt Goodwhinge, has demanded an immediate re-run of the election on the grounds that he lost comprehensively to someone else. "It's totally unfair and rigged," said Goodwhinge. "I shouldn't be required to sit there and suck it up, just because I lost." Mr Goodwhine continued, *I can't believe that all those voters I demonised failed to back me. Especially after I was endorsed by Tommy Robinson and ten million Russian bots on X. "We have clear evidence of family voting, where people voted in order for me to stop deporting their families." Mr Badloser concluded. "I'm the victim of colour prejudice. They didn't vote for me simply because I'm not green." Reform leader Mr Farage, speaking from a sun lounger on a rock near the Chagos Islands said, "It's a tragedy that the people of Manchester won't see Matt in Westminster, but my constituents don't see me in Clacton either." PLUMBER DEFEATS MATT GOODWIN Photo of Hannah Spencer with speech bubble saying… I've stopped the cock

Beautiful from Private Eye on the massive toddler-tantrum that Matt Goodwin and Reform are having, because they got whooped in Gorton and Denton.

Rhiannon Grant on Giving Ministry in Quaker Meetings YouTube video by Quake It Up

New Video! So excited to share this one with you. I am joined by the marvellous Rhiannon Grant to discuss her latest book 'Speaking in Quaker Meeting for Worship'! We talk all about VERBAL MINISTRY. What it is, why we do it, when we do it and perhaps when not to do it too!

youtu.be/E7fuJs8rW7Q

Always a pleasure to work with the fantastic @cosmichope.bsky.social! Please consider joining us for this Woodbrooke course

And a lovely almost-full moon rising in a clear evening sky.

How Men Can Respond to Gender-Based Violence in Church and the Bible YouTube video by Rev’d Will Rose-Moore

I have shared on YouTube today a talk from Nov 2021, which was one of my first explorations into masculinity, violence, and the Bible. It was part of the @corrymeela.bsky.social launch event for a faith-based resource to tackle gender-based violence: youtu.be/La_t_wyCclE?...

'And herein is the love, exceeding kindness & mercy of God manifest—in that he loved us while we were enemies, & waited to show himself gracious while we were sinners, to be reconciled unto us when we were in rebellion against him, & enlightened us when we were darkness' (William Shewen).

Yesterday I spent some 2 hours with Stillwater Conservative Friends for Bible Study & worship. Hospitality was the silver thread: Who & how do we truly welcome others? Many Friends spoke about how God welcomed them, how the Spirit made them feel loved & at home, even when they felt like strangers.

We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness

It’s Women’s History Month, with the theme “leading the change”, and I want to celebrate all the unsung women who innovated, resisted and risked their lives to pave the way for the freedoms we cherish today. My book introduces 12 of these women from the C17th but there many more stories to be told

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant hapus i bob un o fy ffrindiau 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
Gobeithio fydd o'n diwrnod bendigedig i chi gyd 🌼

Happy Saint Davids day everyone. Today we celebrate the Patron Saint of Wales as well as honour the country's culture, language and history. #welshsky #stdavidsday #folkloresky