Frank Godfrey Letter 4 April 2013
Tuesday 9th April 2013
Dear Gloucester PCNians (!) It was good that ten of us had more or less escaped what popularly called ‘the dreaded lurgi’ for our session with R S Thomas’ poems. David introduced Jim Cotter’s DVD . Thomas’s short verses, coined largely in the life of Aberdaron and the Lleyn peninsula seem to enshrine brief moments of awareness of the presence of God, a presence, as always, just beyond us. This was an experience quite different from the dominating rationality of our “Honest to God” discussions. We were glad to welcome Glenys back from her visit to Palestine. She shared a brief but vivid account of some of her experiences there , certainly enough to make us want to hear more at Christchurch on June 30th at 7.00. Her theme prompted a discussion of ‘Pluralism’ a term which is the opposite of ‘Exclusivism’ and believes in various faiths accepting one another, learning from one another, and working together. Andy referred to a recent book “The Dysfunctional family” about the three monotheistic faiths Judaism , Christianity and Islam that are so closely related in their origins. We asked him to introduce this book to us at our next (May 4th) meeting. This does mean that we postpone our reflections on what the distinctive nature of PCN worship might be until Eric is with us. I look forward to our meeting in Springtime, with sunshine.... Frank G