Thoughts and observations on returning to Meeting

Christianity

I never realized how carefully Universalist and non-Christian the Quaker school I went to was.

I think we even sang the George Fox song without the verse about "If we give you a pistol, will you fight for the Lord?" As far as I remembered from my childhood, the "ocean of darkness" verse was the third one.

When people used to ask me if Quakers were Christian, I would straightforwardly answer "No, of course not. It just used to be Christian." This was before I had done so much as a five-minute Google search on the state of the Society of Friends, which of course reveals that Quakers are on a spectrum of Christianity, from fundamentalist programmed Meetings to the most liberal unprogrammed ones.

It's also now clearer to me the influence that Christian philosophy and theology has on Quakers as a group of people, even those who are explicitly non-Christian (like me). As my dad used to say: "Some people believe Jesus was God. But the view I hold is that he was just a person -- a person with lots of very good and important stuff to say that we should listen to, but just a person."

Quaker values are basically Christian values with a dash of individualist freedom of thought. (And these days, a hefty dose of hippie ideology.)

I went to the website of the Meeting associated with the Quaker school I went to growing up, and found out that they have a Bible study group. I was genuinely surprised. Even they aren't quite so Universalist as I thought; it must have just been the school! There were plenty of non-Quaker kids there, so perhaps they wanted to tone down the Jesus stuff for their sake.

The Meeting I'm attending now seems to have a fair number of explicitly Christian folks; I've heard vocal ministry shared about the Bible and angels after attending just a few times. They have a Bible study group, but I suppose I can't take too much away from that after seeing that my childhood Meeting has one too.

I recall there was someone at my childhood Meeting who was an atheist Friend, while being a valued and accepted member of the Meeting. What I realize now: That was noticeable, meaning that most people in the Meeting were not. That means that I can be present and accepted, but it's a minority view.

Discussion

Something else I'm noticing is how uncommon it seems to be for anyone to discuss outside of Meeting what they experience during it.

This doesn't surprise me much, but I wish it were different.

Meeting is a sacred space. Vocal ministry is an opportunity to share with others, but a moderately high-stakes one.

My experience of the people at the Meeting I attend has been warm and loving, but I still feel a bit uneasy about how they would react if they had a sense of my beliefs, just out of uncertainty if nothing else.


People

As you'd expect for any religious gathering, the Meeting I attend skews towards older people. There are a few kids who come to First Day School every week, though, and their parents, who are a few years older than I am.

There are also a few teenagers. I think I've only met one other person in their 20s so far.

Sometimes I feel a bit uncomfortable about this, but overall I'm taking it as a gift. Relationships with people of different ages can be just as enriching as those with people of our own age; as a meetup organizer, I've certainly had to tell older folks a few times that we welcome them even if they are more gray than most of our attendees. And some of my favorite people at our own meetup are much older than I am.