Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 11th June 2023

Dear Friends,

Desiderata – Words for Life
 
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

— Max Ehrmann, 1927
 
This poem was written in 1927 by the American laywer turned poet, Max Ehrmann, and not found in a church in the 17th Century, as believed by many. Ehrmann had a strong social conscience, and ‘deplored the exploitation of Labour in his early 20th century life’ (Robert L Bell). Before his death in 1945, he told an interviewer: “At De Pauw [University] I contracted a disease which I have never shaken off. The disease was idealism. Because of it, I did the thing in life I wanted to do – Writing.”
 
Many of us probably had a version of it on our walls in the 60s and 70s….and it was certainly an essential item for any card-carrying hippy. But…..looking at it again now….it is a beautiful, thoughtful and inspiring poem, and I don’t think it would offend any Quaker. 
 
It certainly speaks to my condition. 
So: here it is, Friends. 
 
In Friendship 
Veryan Greenwood 

On behalf of the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (David Hitchin, Chris Lawson, Tim Pitt-Payne, Caroline Pybus, Theresa Samms, Nancy Wall)