Meeting Notes February 2018

Many congratulations to Jean Whittam on her 90th birthday on February 18.

On February 4th Gavin Lloyd led our Service, focusing on Epiphany. We remembered the visit of the Magi, and their wisdom and judgement in realising that Herod’s apparently benign interest in the baby they were seeking was anything but benign. Gavin suggested that the result of this moment of enlightenment has led to the word epiphany gaining wider, secular, use . He illustrated this by reminding us of a number of changes or developments in society or science that had resulted from such a moment. These ranged from ‘eureka’ moments, when light dawns on a problem, as with Isaac Newton, to moments when there is a change in how society sees an issue – enlightenment of a different kind.  One such example Gavin gave was votes for women. Another was Gay marriage. In both there was a shift in how someone saw the conventions or rules of society. Gavin stressed the need for good judgement to assess and manage the change that results from such epiphanies.