Epistle from the Central European Gathering 2021
Read the epistle from the Central European Gathering 2021 here.
Epistle regarding the Central European Quakers’ commitment to decarbonise and change our ways in the face of the ecological and climate emergency.
As members of the Central European Gathering of Friends of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) we acknowledge and want it to be widely known that we live in an unfolding global ecological and climate emergency of our own making that is threatening our civilization and already destroying the continued existence of many species sharing this world with us.
In response to the extreme danger human activity is triggering, we are taking the bold yet appropriate step as a faith community living across separate countries to decarbonise our personal lives as far as possible and to enact lifestyle and food choice changes, in line with, and mitigating the severity of, our situation, starting immediately. We commit to measuring, monitoring and transparently communicating our steps and progress in this collective endeavour to the general public and our global Quaker community in particular.
While we are aware that we may not succeed immediately, we believe that our action will inspire others and encourage them to follow our example. May we and others reflect and learn from our successes and failures. We trust that we will be guided and supported by our Quaker tradition of letting our lives speak, by our testimonies of integrity, community and simplicity and striving for stewardship in the context of right relationship. May we undertake this work in the faith and spirit expressed in the words of 17th century Friend, Isaac Pennington: Our life is love and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another and forgiving one another and not laying accusations one against another but praying one for another and helping one another up with a tender hand.
