'I miss knowing when I will see our children and friends in the UK.' Photo: by Linda Holman on Unsplash.
‘Family separations were long and hard but accepted as part of normal life.’
French connection: Marie Lebacq on some historical European ties
Over 200 years ago, a young girl called Christine Majolier met British Quakers here at Congénies. She wrote about how her siblings would play at holding ‘Meetings’; her sister Lydie would ‘try to preach like Elizabeth Coggeshall dressed up in a mob cap’.
Aged twelve, Christine was sent to England. Then, Friends travelled to each other’s Meetings by carriage boat and later by steam train. Those journeys took weeks or months. They travelled against a backdrop of war and conflict between Bonapartists and Royalists.
Christine eventually settled in England. It was not easy to stay in touch with her family – these were unpredictable times. Family separations were long and hard but accepted as part of normal life. But the connections between Quakers were precious. Christine wrote of how enriching it was when visitors came to share their worship. She wrote of other familiar problems, and the difficulties that operated ‘against the increase by convincement’ in secular France. People were suspicious of religion after so many years of religious conflict. She wrote of trying to be ‘good’ and did not come into membership until her mid-twenties.
Reflecting on her story and her experience of uncertainty over whether it was safe to travel, meet or see family again, my admiration for how those Quakers lived increases. They continued to work for important causes such as emancipation, abolition of the death penalty, and prison reform. They took what opportunities they could to speak truth to power.
We are fortunate in Congénies. It is a beautiful place to be confined. We still have the vines, fig trees and olive groves and even the village pump that reminded Christine of Rebekah at the well, or Jesus conversing with the woman of Samaria.
There was a window this summer when some of us saw our families from the UK, and we welcomed visiting Quakers. We have been able to hold Meeting for Worship since June outside under the shade of the cypress trees. As we prepare for winter, our Meeting room is large enough for us to sit safely with windows open, coats and masks on, and socially distanced. But I miss our ability to touch each other, to hold hands, to kiss each other on the cheek. I miss knowing when I will see our children and friends in the UK.
I love the Meeting house when our guests from around the world visit – the exchange of experiences and stories, the creative energy. The uncertainty of when they will return is dispiriting at times. But we plan for next year. We maintain our precious connections through Zoom. We hold our leaders in the light, in the hope that the ‘new normal’, whenever it emerges, will be kinder. We look forward to seeing each other face to face, to hug one another, to offer warmth, peace and friendship, just as Christine did so long ago.
