Quaker.

[slippermaiden]

I went to a Quaker meeting for the first time yesterday....and loved it! I have been thinking of going for a few months and finally did it. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly . I immediately felt like I belonged.

[Ojoj1974]

What was it like? My SIL has become a Quaker

[slippermaiden]

When I arrived someone was on the door to welcome me in and he invited me to take a seat anywhere in the room. There were about 15 people already there, most of them older than me, but one couple with a small child. A few people smiled at me. We sat in silence for about thirty minutes, which seems an odd thing to do but it was calming and I felt I could think (life is normally so noisy with children!). A lady stood and spoke questioning how she saw a situation and how she could change it. When the hour finished we shook hands with people near us and then notices were read out. I was invited for a cuppa and a biscuit after, everyone was so friendly. I came out smiling.

[PeaceAndLove1]

I was looking into this a while back, makes sense to me, like you said, in this day and age the fast pace of everything, noise all the time, just to have the silence is a blessing. I should imagine it's a very powerful feeling everyone together like that. Glad you had a good experience.

[slippermaiden]

I'm not able to go this weekend, but looking forward to going again the week after. Peaceandlove did you ever go in the end? I'd definitely recommend it if you are able to.

[PeaceAndLove1]

I may in the future, they have a mid week and Sunday session at the meeting house in my city. I'm doing meditation on my own at home at the minute but would certainly like to experience a group one. I was reading that somtimes the sessions can pass without anyone speaking, then if someone feels the need to speak they do. Some people were saying that they have found themselves standing and speaking before they totally realised what they were doing, they believe God is speaking through them, sometimes the message might not make total sense at the time. Could I ask about how long and what sort of things were discussed afterwards, I think this bit is what's putting me off. Silly I know.

[slippermaiden]

Our Meeting was an hour long silence, as I said above, a lady did stand and speak about feeling frustration over something and used a sentence from the Quaker book in relation to this. A man also spoke, he quoted from the Bible and related it to the recent natural disasters in Caribbean etc and potential disaster in North Korea. After Meeting, while we had tea, a few people just asked me about my family and work, we chatted about the gardens attached to the Meeting house and a few people were making jokes with the lady who made the tea. It was so natural to be there. BTW I wouldn't normally go somewhere I didn't know anyone and feel at all comfortable, but here I felt like I could be myself.

[slippermaiden]

I think I stayed about 40 minutes for tea, some people left before me, some stayed longer.

[roloisking]

I've recently become a Quaker after attending meetings for 2 years - it all makes absolute sense to me - I love the silence and equally love when people are moved to speak

[slippermaiden]

Rolo, how did you know when it was time to become a Quaker rather than just an attender? I have read that some people just stay as attenders for many years.

[PeaceAndLove1]

Sounds lovely.

[roloisking]

I just felt that it was where I belonged: I wanted to be able to say I was a Quaker, to contribute to the life of the meeting and to explore the idea of faith in action in greater depth. You are right though lots of people attend for years without becoming a Quaker.

[slippermaiden]

Thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing where my experience will take me. The weird thing is I've never felt any leaning towards any other religions or ideas, I've found them interesting but not for me. Reading about Quakers was amazing, I just kept being drawn back to read more.