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date Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:05:19 -0400
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1 Maureen Anderson and Henry Thompson met with Laura Dunkel at Henry's
2 house on the evening of 12 June, 2013, following Laura's application
3 for membership in Southeast Scotland Area Meeting
4
5 Laura was moved to think about herself and how she was living by some
6 events in her life a few years ago. Something she read helped her see
7 that she was looking for a way to allow a Higher Power into her life.
8 A period of intensive reading and seeking followed, during which she
9 came more and more to look for reality as what was within her, rather
10 than outside her, and that listening inwards for the promptings of a
11 Higher Power could help her understand how she ought to live her life.
12
13 Laura felt a strong sense of recognition when she read about the
14 testimonies, and the Quaker way of worship. Although attending Quaker
15 meeting was one of several attempts she made at this time to
16 participate in organised worship, she wasn't comfortable with any of
17 them.
18
19 Harvey Gilman's book helped her towards beginning worship in her home,
20 and with some encouragment from a new partner, she started attending
21 Polmont, which _did_ feel right: there was an immediate sense of
22 recognition, of coming to a place she already somehow knew. She has
23 always been comfortable and at home there, over time coming to know
24 the members of the Meeting well.
25
26 Having been called to attend GM in Glasgow, nearly not managing it
27 because of the need to register as a non-Member, but being very warmly
28 helped over the difficulties, crystallised Laura's desire to join the
29 Society: "I want this to feel like my family".
30
31 After a few conversations and some further reflection, and attendance
32 at several Area Meetings, she decided the time was right to apply.
33
34 Laura has found the group involvement in the decision process at
35 Meeting for Worship for Business very positive, and misses that, and
36 the silence, in meetings in her daily life. Instead of speaking for
37 speaking's sake, just to fill the silence, the sense of _waiting_,
38 waiting for the right words, which we have in a Meeting for Worship,
39 is so much more satisfactory.
40
41 Recognising that the Spirit is behind a contribution to worship, both
42 for others and herself, has been an important insight.
43
44 Laura wasn't brought up in a church, but not anti-church either.
45 She's talked a bit with her mother about what she is finding with
46 Friends, as she has with her brother and his partner and her family
47 more widely. She has been talking more about Quakers with friends
48 and family lately, and finding some surprisingly receptive responses.
49 People are interested in how she can be quiet for so long, and she
50 tries to explain that it's not like a punishment.
51
52 Her partner has been very supportive about her Quaker commitment, and
53 ways in which her involvement with Quakers is leading her to want to
54 make changes in how she lives her life.
55
56 Laura took part in a Becoming Friends group not long after she started
57 at Polmont. The diversity of experience and attitude she found there
58 was both challenging and encouraging: all different, but all the same
59 as well. More recently she led a session of the Polmont discussion
60 group on Peace and Social Justice. Polmont's regular discussion
61 sessions have also deepened her connection with the other members of
62 the meeting, growing out of the experiences that others have offered.
63
64 The experience of praying in times of challenge in her life, both for
65 herself and for those who depend on her, and the sense of support this
66 brings, is an important affirmation of the reality of the spiritual
67 background to her life.
68
69 Being in a job were tackling inequality was part of the remit really
70 connected with our testimonies for Laura, and hearing people's stories
71 in that work likewise made that connection.
72
73 Similarly the influence of the peace testimony has turned up
74 repeatedly in her work context.
75
76 Respecting that of God in everyone, and in particular making the
77 connection between that and "thinking that you may be mistaken", is
78 another important part of how Laura is growing into Quakerism.
79
80 Actively working to avoid deception, going beyond just avoiding
81 falsehood, is part of the same process.
82
83 Laura is impressed by the way the meeting chooses to support a wide
84 range of charities, and how that challenges her to look beyond the
85 list of her regular contributions, particularly to smaller/less
86 aggressively advertised groups.
87
88 Laura likes it that Quakerism is a faith about questions -- being on a
89 journey is now about learning more about being a Quaker for Laura, and
90 that's a long-term commitment.
91
92 We are all more than satisfied that Laura has indeed found her
93 spiritual family, and that ratifying this with Membership is the right
94 thing for her and for us.
95
96