poliphilo

Trouble at t'Meeting House: there's a character whose behaviour is annoying- going on disruptive- but who is also in need of pastoral care. Ain't it always the way, that the people who need love the most are also the least lovable?

It seems I'm an elder now. I thought I had to submit to the Area Meeting, but the message that comes down from that level is that a local Meeting chooses its elders and the area Meeting simply notes that they've been chosen. I've slipped into the role without any kind of fuss, without any kind of initiation.

Being an elder means I have a certain authority within the Meeting. I need to own that authority, which is something I didn't manage when the person I'm thinking about was cutting up rough yesterday.

Afterwards I figured out exactly what I should have done.

I have never been comfortable with authority- either when it's being radiated by other people or when I've been required to radiate it myself. I tell Ailz I want a chain of office or a hat- which is a joke, but not entirely. There's a reason why monarchs wear crowns and bishops wear mitres (derived I'm told told from the headgear of the priests of Dagon- the fish god.) Such things reinforce authority, and most people are willing to go along with the masquerade. A Quaker elder has no badge of office- only the name.