I had attended a course and returned with a bad cold – should I go to Quaker Meeting for Worship and risk passing the cold onto the others in the meeting?
No – we have Zoom – that’s how I could join in.
Shortly after the pandemic started we began to meet online for meeting for worship, our weekly healing circle also moved online to send distant healing out to those in need.
This weekly circle then became two with an evening session to cater for those who worked, along with the morning session.
At last we were able to return to meeting in person in the Meeting House and re-start our healing circle there – but in the meantime Friends from all over the country, including the Channel Islands, had joined the healing circle.
They were often isolated, even after the end of restrictions, and so enjoyed the weekly gatherings as well as the important task of sending distant healing. So we now have three weekly healing circles running, two online and one in person.
When the Meeting House reopened we were asked to give a summary of the positive and negative affects of the pandemic.
Bizarrely with Zoom we now have more opportunities to see each other – but the personal contact is still missing even when we meet in person, no shaking of hands after meeting or holding hands during the healing circle.
Things will never return as they were, but the use of Zoom has given us more opportunities – I can still join in with Meeting for Worship with a bad cold without feeling guilty.
Anne Le Marinel from Wokingham Quakers, writing on behalf of Churches Together in Wokingham
