Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 26th February 2023

Dear Friends,

The first question given to the working groups which were asked to suggest how the new rooms in the Meeting House should be set up, was “Who will use this area?” That seems the right starting point. We are surely not going to all the effort and expense of the refurbishment and extension of our old building just to make it better for ourselves but also to increase the Meeting’s service and witness to others. Our use on Sundays is precious to us and at the heart of the ongoing life of the building, but Monday to Saturday a lot of other people are glad to use it. We hope there will be new as well as former users once it is available again.
Friends’ Meeting Houses are part of their witness to their communities. Their presence makes a statement about our continuing existence and the opportunity for joining in our times of worship. How they feel to others makes an implicit witness about who we are. They can affirm our testimonies. A welcoming atmosphere within the building and garden can show simplicity and openness. All the efforts to improve accessibility of our premises relate to our aims for equality. The information we display can indicate the current involvement of Friends in peace, justice and sustainability. The groups that we are glad to see using our premises can include ones with whose aims and service we feel close and are glad to be linked in this way. These are all part of trying to let the way we live speak.
In looking for a bit of Quaker Faith and Practice that fitted these thoughts, I was surprised
not to find anything much about our meeting houses other than reminders to look after them properly. I remembered, though, that they are the home base for the Meeting and recalled that one of the Advices and Queries, No. 26, fits that, though I prefer it in the 1964 version:
“Do you try to make your home a place of friendliness, refreshment and peace, where God becomes more real to all who live there and to those who visit it?”
QFP 22.20

A good challenge in our own and our shared home.
Chris,


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