Religious Education - Part 3

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This is going to be the hardest part of "Religious Education" to write and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it fully.  The reason it has taken me so long to finish is I wanted to make sure we told our parents instead of springing this upon them through the internet.  Maybe it's not such a big deal to most people and I'm making much more of their reactions than necessary.  It's really all I can think about, the comfort and gut-feeling this is where we belong, so it feels big than life to me.  So here goes:

We are starting to attend a Quaker/Friends Church...ahem, Meeting House.  We made our decision after a lot of soul-searching, research and talking to friends who are Quakers.  I am hesitant to talk about this because Quakers are a very enigmatic group.  Really, I had never known any Quakers or heard anything about them other than eating Quaker Oatmeal for breakfast.

There are many differences between a Protestant Church and a Friends' Meeting House, so let me give a brief synopsis.  Quakers are Christians, but they believe each of us has a Divine Spirit within.  When attending a Meeting for Worship, the service is mainly silent (no preacher) with the occasional interjection from a member of the congregation who feels moved to speak possibly by the the Divine Spirit within.  Only one person spoke last week, she had no script or paper to read from but the words which flowed out her mouth were like poetry.  Lovely!

Quakers live with four Testimonies, sort of like a creed.  The four testimonies are: the Testimony of Peace, the Testimony of Equality, the Testimony of Simplicity, and the Testimony of Integrity/Truth.  If you would like to read more about Quakers, check out Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakers

The single most thing which has struck me has been how well the Testimonies mesh with our values.  The silence can be a little intimidating, especially for us with five children, but it is actually very peaceful.  How many of us wouldn't love to have an hour of silence in a gorgeous room filled your family and friends without a sink load of dishes or dirty laundry hovering over us?

The greatest joy is how the children enjoy going to Meeting, much more than any other Sunday School they attended.  There is a children's program which begins after the first 15 minutes of the silence.  They learn lessons on empathy and cooperation, using activities, Bible verses and other religious writings and to expand the lesson.  Our oldest son, whom we lovingly refer to as "Kyro the Pyro," especially loves the fireplace burning in the First Day School room.

This has been a life-changing decision for me, but a will probably evolve as we experience and adjust to the Quaker life.  As Steve said, it feels "weird" to say we are Quakers...much like we are in a cult or something.  We have attended only twice but it feels more like home each time, I think it will take a long time to be comfortable calling ourselves Quaker.

I look forward to sharing our journey with you.