Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 4th December 2022

Dear Friends,

“Are you able to contemplate your death and the death of those closest to you?  Accepting the fact of death, we are freed to live more fully.  In bereavement, give yourself time to grieve.  When others mourn, let your love embrace them.”  Advices and Queries 1:30

Seeing a loved mother and granny approach her death with acceptance and gratitude has been a tremendous gift to our family.  Reflecting on a simple life well-lived, I was reminded of this passage by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“What is success? To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”

Dedicated to Joy Samms

In friendship
Theresa

On behalf of the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (Bob Harwood, David Hitchin, Chris Lawson, Tim Pitt-Payne, Theresa Samms, Nancy Wall)