Shakin’ it up with the Quakers

Aside from offering up more than it’s fair share of fun and frivolity, the City of Brotherly Love gave us the opportunity to gain some new perspectives on the roles religion, community and self-reflection play in our lives. And how, you might ask, did this happen? Why, at Quaker meeting, of course!

We got the chance to attend a meeting at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia with our friends Jeanette and Jamie, and although none of us had previously been to meeting, we took to it quite readily as there were but a few simple rules:

1. Sit silently and reflect.

2. Stand to speak if moved to do so, with the aim of the speech being to aid or add to others’ reflection.

3. Only one person may speak at a time.

4. A period of silence must be observed following each speaker.

5. The meeting ends when a previously identified Friend shakes hands with the person next to them.

We sat in rows of benches facing each other in a square with the mild winter sun lighting up patches across the well-worn wooden floorboards. Throughout the hour long meeting, a handful of people spoke, mostly those established in the school community, but some newcomers as well. And even with the spare number of words spoken, there was a strong sense of openness to the contribution of each person present and to the development of a temporary communion. I spent the majority of the meeting thinking about the value I place on self-reflection and on what the Quaker practice of meeting for communal self-reflection might accomplish. I certainly didn’t come to any conclusions, but I have been motivated to think about finding a way to ritualize reflection in a way that acknowledges the important part it plays in my life and the high priority I place on it. I’ll let you know if I come up with any answers, but, for now, I’ll just leave you with the question and the hopes that I will continue to be inspired by the Quaker sense of humanism and openness.