Tread lightly on the things of earth

I attended my first Quaker meeting today.

BTW, the formal title of the Quaker movement is “Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).”

I had read Thomas Hamm’s The Quakers in America at Martin’s suggestion, so I was better prepped than I think I’ve ever been for attending a new worship context. In this case the reality I’d read about meshed perfectly with the reality I encountered in an unprogrammed Friends worship meeting. In a gentle and non-spectacular way, it felt like going home.

As I told one of the Friends I met, I was visiting because I haven’t been able to stay in community with my Christian brothers and sisters who support present U.S. administration policies — and because I value community, I simply need to find someplace else to be. No disrespect intended to anyone I know, but my peaceful experience at the Friends meeting highlights for me the violence I feel elsewhere in the cracks between worship among ones who agree with current U.S. foreign policy.

The good news is, there’s apparently somewhere to worship for everyone, even ones with nervous systems cranked up to 11, like me. :-)

(For anyone interested, Marsha provides a lovely one-page introduction to unprogrammed Quaker worship and values.)