Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 3rd November 2024

Dear Friends,

On occasions over the last several months I have had the pleasure of sitting down with an immensely tolerant vicar  and chatting through various aspects of Christianity.

Our most recent get-together centered on the person of Jesus. My companion, understandably for a man of the cloth, sees Jesus as the incarnation of God on earth whereas I have an image of Him loosely based on the more numerous Hindu avatar.

According to the dictionary avatars are temporary manifestations of the various Hindu deities who come to help mankind, but my adulterated version is of a mere mortal who has a stronger connection to the divine than the average human, a direct line so to speak.  If reincarnation exists (and who knows?), perhaps such a person is what is known of as “an old soul”. He or she is often a spiritual teacher or mystic, or both. These bearers of light come in all guises, in all religions and none.  For me, Christ was one of these amazing beings; perhaps George Fox was another, and there are many more.

These inspirational individuals may be granted the advantage of a hotline to the transcendent, to God or the Divine Source, but Quakers are aware we also-rans have the opportunity to develop a not dissimilar connection if we so desire. It is there for every one of us if we turn on and tune in to receive what is ever present.

Quakers, amongst others, talk of the “light within” which, for me, conjures up a pilot light. The light is low but constant and when we do whatever spiritual practice is our habit, it flickers into life. The Upanishads speak of a seed, a mustard seed, a canary seed or even the kernel of a seed representing the spiritual essence within each human being, ready to expand and grow when it is nurtured.

I like both of these concepts but for some reason I cannot explain I have settled on a bean in my solar plexus. I have never quite decided if the shape in my imagination is that of a coffee or a kidney bean. What I do know is that it is made of pure gold. When the line to the Divine is coming through clear and strong this little bean glows. However, when the reception is decidedly dodgy, as it sometimes is, and I can barely catch a distant crackle, the gold goes dull; it loses its lustre.

What to do about a lustre-less divine essence in the solar plexus or anywhere else? One that needs a bit of a buff? I have come to the conclusion there is only one course of action: keep on keeping on with the practice regardless. Never give up. Never despair.

I may not have an orthodox view of Jesus, but regardless of whether He is the Son of God or an avatar I am sure He would be comforting any and every one of us and, with his arm around our shoulder, be reassuring us that our efforts are worthwhile.

Judy Lee

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