First Editorial

Image: Pixabay

Dear Friends, Hello!

I have always enjoyed reading the quarterly Newsletter of our community. I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to Margaret Comerford who has fulfilled the role of Editor so ably over the last 10 years.

I hope I will be able to serve you in the future giving a voice to our community with the invaluable help and support of Andy Goddard. Of course, I depend on you, dear fellow meditators, to send in your contributions. I would like to support us in communicating with one another. We can share inspiration and discover the various gifts and achievements of fellow members of our UK community.

There is a theme coming through in the various contributions that have come my way (as I gather material for this issue). It is the theme of Hope! Despite the wretched state of the world politically and environmentally, there is much to work, to pray and to meditate for. You will see it reflected in a number of the articles and poems in this newsletter.

The S.W. Ammerdown retreat in September this year given by Bridget Hewitt was entitled The Voice of this Calling: Listening to the voice of our souls in a confusing world. The final talk was entitled The Voice of Hope.

Bridget asks at the beginning of her talks, “How amidst so much apparent breakdown do we hear a voice of hope?” In her final talk she gives this answer:

We need to recognise that indomitable spirit (to quote Jane Goodall) that is within each of us…

We are to be reborn… to take on that agency of our true selves and to become agents of hope in the world. A hope that comes from the depth of souls that are alive, souls that are on fire with a deep love of all creation. This is the voice – and the calling – of hope.

I think you will hear this voice expressing itself eloquently in the personal accounts and poems and the examples of Outreach that follow. It was expressed in Sarah Bachelard’s revolutionary call ‘Not to collude but to challenge’ the soul-destroying norms of the world we live in. We don’t have to submit helplessly but we have an effective and inspired practice and the voice of our souls to counter the soullessness of our prevailing culture.

You will hear it expressed in the words and actions of Sue Clarke, reaching out enthusiastically to clergy, of Terry Doyle’s example of including people on the margins who are the targets of hate and prejudice. There are those working with young people: Sally Walters’ experience with young people at Taize. Lucy Blows working in schools. The joy of those who have found their home on the Oblate pathway – and many more.

Maybe the darkness many of us feel is a womb for the rebirth that needs to happen.

I hope and believe that the contents of this Newsletter will encourage us all.

If you want to respond to these or other articles, you can reach me at shelagh.newsletter@gmail.com

Shelagh Layet