Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 31st August 2025

Dear Friends,

Last First Day, in our little meeting, the Master was pleased to preside, and it was indeed a ‘feast of fat things’; and the language which arose in my heart was, ‘Take, eat, this is my body’. I never remember being under such a covering, and my desire is, that I may never forget it; and oh! that the fear of the Lord may so prevail amongst us, as to entitle us to His Love, which can alone enable us to ‘run through a troop, or leap over a wall’: and which at this time enableth me to call every country my country, and every man my brother.

(Quaker Faith and Practice, 2.04)

This is one of my favourite passages from Quaker Faith and Practice.  But I know the language is old-fashioned, and needs some explanation.

I could draft a long footnote here.  I could explain, for instance, that the author (Daniel Wheeler) went to St Petersburg as agricultural adviser to Tsar Alexander I, and so the passage reminds us of the links between Quakers and Russia.  I could explain that “First Day” means Sunday day, that the reference to a “feast of fat things” relates to a passage from the book of Isaiah, that a “covering” is an old Quaker word for a powerful collective experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and so on.  But none of this really explains why this passage speaks to me so strongly.

What I find powerful here is that Daniel Wheeler is describing his experience of a Meeting for Worship using Eucharistic language, i.e. the language that the Christian churches would use when talking about a communion service.  For him, Quaker Worship is a form of Holy Communion.

A question Quakers are often asked is, why don’t you celebrate the Eucharist?  One possible answer (inspired by Daniel Wheeler):  “Who says that we don’t?”

Timothy PItt-Payne

Quakers value diversity. We share this Friend’s message in the hope it will speak to others.

Pastoral Care and Eldership Team: Patricia Cockrell, David Hitchin, Sharon Krummel, Tim Pitt-Payne, Theresa Samms, Emily Slater.