Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 9th August 2026

Dear Friends,

Recently I have been spending more time with my local meeting in Haywards Heath. Two Friends asked if they could meet with me to talk about becoming members. I felt rather ill-qualified to advise them, but it was also a deep joy. It is wonderful to find people locally who are searching for a similar way of living.

One of the questions we discussed was what God means to each of us. I explained that, as a Quaker, I am comfortable with different languages for describing spiritual experience while recognising and respecting our Christian roots. For me, the important thing is not the label we use but whether it helps us become kinder, more truthful and more compassionate people.

Our conversation ranged from Jesus’ teachings to the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path of Buddhism. I found myself comparing the Eightfold Path with the Ten Commandments. They come from different traditions, but both point towards lives of integrity, compassion, truthfulness and self-discipline. I do not see them as competing beliefs, but as different expressions of humanity’s search for what is good, and as guides in my own striving to be a better person.

Only a few days later I awoke to find a man who had slept on the bench outside my shop, with his head among flowers I had been carefully tending. He had been sick. I made him a cup of tea and put out a bucket of hot, soapy water. He asked for a sponge so he could clean up after himself. It was not a dramatic act of charity; it simply seemed the right thing to do. The look on his face when I handed him the tea was the highlight of my day.

I am far from perfect, but I try to follow Jesus’ example by choosing kindness whenever I can. If I can leave the world a little kinder than I found it, I hope I am being faithful to the Light that unites us all.

Jo Saady

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

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