Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 15th December 2024

Dear Friends,

Silent worship and the spoken word are both parts of Quaker ministry. The ministry of silence demands the faithful activity of every member in the meeting. As, together, we enter the depths of a living silence, the stillness of God, we find one another in ‘the things that are eternal’, upholding and strengthening one another. Quaker Faith & Practice 2.01 (part)

At this, the darkest time of the year, Christmas lights are a familiar sight. Shining and twinkling in the darkness they capture our attention like stars in the night sky.

Spoken ministry in an otherwise quiet meeting can be like those lights, bright and sparkling, and we rightly focus on the words spoken. However, it is good to remember that spoken ministry emerges from the stillness, drawing on the energy of the whole meeting.

So we are grateful to those who uphold the whole meeting in silent ministry. In doing so, they create the conditions for spoken ministry, just as hidden cables provide electricity to the Christmas lights which enables them to shine in the darkness.

Remember that we all share responsibility for the meeting for worship whether our ministry is in silence or through the spoken word. Advices & Queries 12 (part)
In Friendship,
David Martin

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