Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 25th June 2023

Dear Friends,

I was recently introduced to a quotation:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

It’s an inspiring piece and has been quoted in many famous speeches, in films, and widely on the internet.  Much of the popularity of this quote likely arose because, over 25 years ago, it was misattributed to Nelson Mandela’s inauguration speech.  This has been corrected many times by the actual author, Marianne Williamson, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but the urban myth of Nelson Mandela speaking these words lives on.  The original quote actually appears in Marianne Williamson’s first book, published in 1992.  She has since risen to fame and she is currently campaigning to be the Democratic nomination for the presidential election in 2024. 

I have wondered how Ms Williamson must have felt in those early days when perhaps her most powerful words were misattributed to someone else.  I have also wondered about the person who originally misattributed these words – was this an unintentional error or a deliberate attempt to increase the gravitas of the quote?  It is doubtful that the protagonist could ever have foreseen what has happened since.  We will never know whether the simple telling of an untruth has enabled Ms Williamson to achieve more than she would, had she remained un-associated with such a famous person; but the irony of the content of this piece and the subsequent elevation of the author is intriguing.   

I hope that this quotation reminds us that humility is not always helpful and that by stepping up and allowing ourselves to live according to the promptings of love and truth, we can enable not just ourselves to reach our own potential, but we can also play our unique part in the unfolding or creation of the bigger picture, sometimes unknowingly.  I’ve always felt that coincidences are not merely meaningless happenstance but are indicators of a higher power at work – but please don’t ask me to explain it!   

In Friendship
 
Theresa

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