Our Stories: Imogen

I had an experience of the presence of God as a child, walking along the lane to primary school with the dog-roses flowering in the hedge beside me.  Someone once asked me, why should I have this experience when others don't?  Maybe it was just the quiet of a country lane in summer, maybe it was because it was a time of need and unhappiness, and that often opens us up to the spiritual in a way that times of peace and content do not.  As a result of this, I was christened and confirmed into the Church of England, but in my early teens I suddenly realised that I was affirming a creed in which I did not believe.  

Truthfulness has always seemed to me to matter, and indeed it is at the core and centre of Quakerism.  Three or four years later I attended my first Quaker meeting and had that sense of coming home which so many experience, though it was another seven or eight years before I fitted it into the pattern of my life and began to attend regularly and finally to come into membership.  

That was nearly forty years ago, and of course it proved to be the beginning of a journey, not the destination.  Periods of spiritual detachment or 'dryness' followed, periods of  doubt or downright disaffection, and many periods of disappointment when I felt I had failed to accomplish God's will, failed to follow the Quaker way, failed in the most basic fundamentals to be a Christian.  What upholds me is silent worship and that experience of holding the light in the centre, inviting the presence of God, of listening rather than speaking, so different from meditation and worship as experienced elsewhere.  What inspires me is that unique combination of practical with mystical, of social conscience with spirituality, which is represented in the Quaker way; if I cannot achieve it I can aspire to it.

Our Stories: Sonja

I grew up in Denmark as a Lutheran and my lovely mother was a regular church goer so it was a natural environment for me. As I became an adult I slipped a bit - too busy to keep up with going to church.

Eventually I ended up in Withyham and I was very attached to the church there. It happens to be very beautiful - the twins were baptised and confirmed there.

After 21 years we moved to Crowborough and my local church was All Saints which is near to my home. It was busy - a lot of music - so it should have been just the right place for me but I never felt
comfortable there.

The vicar was actually very charismatic but his view of Christianity was miles away from mine. He refused to bless a newly married couple because the wife was divorced (no fault of hers) and she actually worked as a youth leader at the church.

Then the war in Iraq broke out - I had done everything in my power to stop it (demonstrations etc) and walked down to the church on a Sunday morning in absolute despair and the war was not mentioned.

That was the last straw! I called up my Quaker Friend, Henry Bernstein, who had told me for years that I really was a Quaker. At that time Henry was an Elder at TW and I went with him to the meeting
the following Sunday and never looked back.

I had found my spiritual home and I am very grateful.

Coming Up: "Why I Became A Quaker"

Recently I attended a Quaker Outreach conference, which was as much fun as you'd expect - or possibly more... ;)

It's always interesting to be in a room with eighty or so other Friends - the nice thing is that they feel like friends as well as Friends - and it was great to get a lot of input about the best ways to Reach Out. We would like to do more reaching out, frankly, so I was frantically taking notes. You'll be glad to know that I'm not going to summarise an entire weekend in this blog post, but one of the themes that came through most strongly was the need for us all to share our stories. Because, after all, most of us come to Quakerism because our lives have somehow led us to it - and those stories, personal and specific as they are, sometimes speak more strongly to other people than all sorts of theological debates.

So I have asked members (and attenders, of course) of Tunbridge Wells Meeting to share their stories of how they came to Meeting. At the conference, telling and listening to stories face-to-face, I realised how much of a privilege it was to hear people talk frankly about their spiritual journeys - so thank you in advance to everyone who contributes.

That's a bit of an introduction - call it a trailer... And coming soon, to a screen near you...