Devotion

Diane


June 11, 2019

Diane is a member of the congregation at St. Mary’s Church, Frome (Church of England)

I’ve been a member of this church since 1986. We’ve lived in Frome since December 1985. We had a flier come through the letterbox to attend a harvest festival service. We came along to that and in our various incarnations we’ve been coming ever since. The girls have now moved away and I’m still here. Always been a member of this congregation.

We were what was classed a young family when we first started coming here. There were quite a few of us who were in our early to mid-30s with children of between two and ten, and that made quite a lively group of youngsters during services. Of course, the older members of the congregation weren’t so keen on that, so we had to bring them out here and they’d go running about and shrieking a lot, as young children are wont to do. And we had to impart some bible information at the same time; some of which went in better than the rest.

I do the heating. And when the weather’s not so warm, it’s nice to make sure that if you’re coming in for a service it feels warmer than outside. They are very keen on eating here, so anything that involves food we will get a crowd for… no matter what kind of food. If they all came… the people on our list amounts to fifty-five. Age-wise, I’m one of the younger members, I’m afraid.

AS SOON AS YOU COME THROUGH THE DOOR, THEY FIND YOU SOMETHING TO DO.

In a light-weight way, I’ve always attended church. Partly out of curiosity, I suppose. What are they doing in here? And as soon as you come through the door, they find you something to do.

I’ve never had one of those Damascene moments where it suddenly struck me that “this is it”. It’s always been sort of something slow and low-key, I suppose. When it was suggested by another member of the congregation that perhaps I could be put forward for lay readership, the vicar at the time said no… and I think he was probably right. I just don’t take things seriously enough. This is the problem. I’ve got too much of a Monty Python type of mind.

Tony McNicol Tony McNicol lives in the Somerset town of Frome, in the UK. His photos and articles have featured in many publications around the world. He spent 15 years working in Japan and translates from Japanese to English. He is Jewish via his mother, was baptised into the Church of England, but practices Buddhism.

  • About the devotion photo project

    In this project, I photograph and talk to people with deeply held beliefs.

    Some of the people here are followers of millennia-old faiths, others modern sects. Some have beliefs that could be described as mainstream, others as radical. But I’m not concerned with the difference between religions and cults, conventional belief and nonconformism. I’m simply fascinated by the beliefs that profoundly influence people’s lives.

    We live in an individualist, narcissistic world, but strongly held beliefs can turn our gaze outwards. All religions stress going beyond the self, but you don’t didn’t be religious to give yourself to something bigger. Why do people do it? How does it change their lives?

    These visual and verbal snapshots aren’t intended to reveal the essence of any belief. I encountered these people through my camera and the prism of my own experience, so I make no claim to objectivity.

    But here is their devotion as they shared it with me.

    Tony McNicol