There's a Quaker Up In Quakertown
Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010
by Jack H. Schick
Sunday morning we got dressed up nice, put on our "goin' to meeting" clothes, because that's what we were doing, going to a Quaker Meeting for Worship. We belong to Richland Friends Meeting in, of all places, Quakertown, Pennsylvania. After years of searching for a satisfying place and method of soul soothing and spiritual growth we've settled on the Religious Society of Friends.
The Quakers are not a large Christian sect anymore. Most Americans have learned about William Penn and his establishment of a city, Philadelphia, on land between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. Most are familiar with the Quakers' advocacy of peace, simplicity and equality. Most are aware of the influence of Quakers in the development and growth of the Colonies of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Often Quakers are associated with the Amish, Menonites and the Pennsylvania Dutch, with whom they are not aligned and with whom they have many differences.
Colonial Quakers were renowned for their fairness in business and their tolerance of other religions and cultures. Quakers were honorable in their dealings with the local American Indian population. Quakers held positions of power in the Pennsylvania for many decades. They willingly relinquished that power and influence when the wars between France and Britain over control of North America began. Many chose to resign their positions rather than vote for participation in the violence of the French and Indian War.
The Religious Society of Friends arose in England in the mid 1600's, a time of both religious and political turmoil and change. Throughout Europe many Christians had become dissatisfied with both the Protestant and Catholic churches which had been in conflict or at war with each other for centuries. In both the Catholic and Protestant (in its many manifestations), services great emphasis was placed on outward ceremony guilded by clergymen. Only recently had the Bible become accessible to common men.
A group called Seekers began to emerge across the British Isles and Europe. They believed that a person could establish an inward, personal relationship and communion with his higher power and Jesus without the 'middleman' priest or minister. One of these who sought personal inward spiritual satisfaction was George Fox.
Fox looked within himself and found to exist there a Light, a Force. He believed: "This was the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." He believed he had found the true spirit of God within his own soul. He believed that this 'piece of God' existed in every man. He believed that to find God one need not look to the heavens, or to a priest or to a ceremony, but within one's self. He believed one must look inward and it was there we would find God's harmony and His will.
Fox preached this and found many followers, especially among the Seekers. When individuals discovered The Light Within, the Seed, That of God, the Force, as it has been described, it caused some to have physical sensations; they quivered and quaked, hence Quakers.
Richland Meeting in Quakertown celebrated its 300th anniversary recently. The Meetinghouse is a plain white building. There is no altar. Pews are on all sides and face the center of the room. There are no adornments of any kind, no crosses, no stained glass windows, no gold or silver. The grounds are pastoral. In the cemetery are stones dating back to colonial days.
We enter quietly and find our seats. Some read, some pray or meditate. Among the Attenders one might find someone reading The Dead Sea Scrolls, about Buddhism, Christian Science texts, a Catholic Bible, or The Quaker Way. Each individual worships in his own way seeking individual communion with his personal higher power. Friends meditate in silence. They feel a Force and the Light enter the room. It is intensified and magnified by the spirits of everyone there, each one seeking to be in the Light. God is waited for, in the Light. Peace and exhilaration swells within worshipers. The Spirit surges through the individuals nearly causing them to shiver and quake. When the sensation is most intense someone may rise and speak, or sing, or read an inspiring passage. Others listen and reflect on the revelation and perhaps are moved to speak themselves.
After a lifetime of religious quest, after myriad attempts to achieve spiritual satisfaction we have settled into this method of finding harmony with the Spirit of the Universe. There is no tenet, there is no form, there is only individual freedom. Each person, each child of God, seeks his own God in his own way with the support of everyone else who is doing the same.
We are the Seekers of Light. We are the Seekers of Truth. We are the Society of Friends, the Quakers. May peace be with you. My you stand in The Light. May you find your God, where he resides within you.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Jack, for many, many years I considered myself to be an athiest...then, one day I experienced a life-shattering event. On that day I re-evaltuated everything I once held to be important...and it changed my life utterly. I'm not saying the choices I made would be those you would...just saying that I changed my life completely.richI've always been spiritual. I have esp. I sensed "the Force". I've had 'experiences'. I do 12 steps.Great article, Jack.
Very interesting article Jack, these beliefs are very similar to what I believe only I do not practice any established religion.I was baptized Reformed Church, My kids were Catholic. Agnostic a lot, but believe Jesus spoke to me. I wrote an article called that- if it's archived, I'll email it. Friend, Jack
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