Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 11th May 2025

Dear Friends,

Judy Lee writes:

Those of us who have read Robert Harris’s novel, Conclave, or seen the screenplay will have some insight into the momentous challenge for those tasked with the election of a new pontiff.

Early in the film version Cardinal Lawrence, the main protagonist, says that what the church does not need is a pope who is certain. I was struck by this inferred necessity for enquiry and an open mind, something Quakerism echoes.

Part of me is quite envious of those who are certain; it must be so reassuring. How good it would be to feel safe, surrounded by a sense of the factual. The other part of me, however, would feel restricted and desperate to break free. Where would be the opportunity for discovery and growth?

In his poem, The Kingdom, Terry Waite writes “Walk calmly through the mist of unknowing. The kingdom is yours.” I have found comfort in this gentle advice over the years, in my search for Truth.

During an informal conversation following a contemplative prayer session I attended this week, mention was made of the need to know God in terms of our inner being. Knowing only in the head, in the mind or cerebrally, is not sufficient. Without this inner sense, it was suggested, religion is just a story.

If God is in my thoughts only, I can be wracked with doubt. Despite being greatly moved by speakers and writers on the subject of faith, for me, going beyond words, spoken or written, is essential. It has been in our prayerful silence I have, however fleetingly, occasionally glimpsed a sense of “knowing”.

Perhaps certainty is intended to be ephemeral so we continue to seek.

“Come to meeting for worship with heart and mind prepared”. (Advices and Queries 9).

Each week the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) invites a Friend to write a message to help us to prepare for our Sunday meeting and to sustain us if we are unable to come. Our meeting is enriched by the diversity of our members and these messages help us to share and learn from others. Every contributor writes from their own experience as an individual, recognising that others may think differently.