Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 10th May 2026

Dear Friends,

When I first came to worship with Quakers I was asked to go on a weekend course at Charney Manor located rather charmingly in the Vale of the White Horse. There I heard that Friends tried to live by four testimonies, summarised by the word STEP – standing for Simplicity, Truth, Equality, and Peace.

I like to think that simplicity is something which attracts me. It was similar to a life I had lived for a couple of years back in the 1960s, and poverty was something I had encountered in the apartheid days of South Africa where some people had made the best of their lives despite disadvantages of soil, climate, weather, and other people’s unjust laws.

Economic deprivation certainly challenges people to make the best of their resources and opportunities, both in order to survive and also to better their lot. In the more affluent society which Lewes Friends now find themselves in, I wonder what the main challenges of simplicity might be. I suppose an individual’s list might include something like: whether to own a car and if so how environmentally friendly it is; plane versus train for business or holidays; fair trade issues for coffee and tea, also possibly for imported goods like carpets or avocado pears; how often to buy new garments; how make the best use of a garden (or even a window box); and a good many other things which don’t occur straight away.

What is the point of this? Is it to show some kind of fellowship with those who are disadvantaged in various ways? Is it to live simply so that one may be generous to those who are disadvantaged, especially in the economic sphere? Is it part of our egalitarian testimony? In fact are the four testimonies linked?

Caroline Pybus

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.