If you’re new to this topic, read the other posts in the OC Pilgrimage category.
Liberal Quakerism is in many ways the antithesis of modern Mormonism, which is probably why I like to escape to the local Meeting on occasion. Jana shares some of my sentiments—she’s said many times that if she weren’t born into the LDS Church she’d be a Quaker. If I have a second church home, it’s the Orange County Friends Meeting.
I have to make a distinction between liberal and other types of Quakerism here. There are various flavors within the greater Society of Friends, such as the Evangelical Friends who have structured (“programmed”) meetings, permanent ministers and basic creeds concerning Jesus’ divinity. The Meeting I visited is of the “unprogrammed” variety within the Liberal Quaker tradition. There are no creeds, no ministers, and no real structure to worship.
The OC Meeting meets in downtown Santa Ana, on the 2nd floor of a run-down office building. They could meet in a non-descript suburban strip mall or office park, but they’ve chosen to situate themselves in an urban environment. They support programs for at-risk youth within the same community. Most of the meeting for worship takes place in a small room, on inexpensive but comfortable chairs arranged in a circle.
So what do you do at a liberal Quaker meeting? Simple! You sit.
That’s it.
Well, you also listen. And sometimes, when lead by the Spirit, you speak.
But mostly you just sit and listen.
Over the space of about an hour (I got there a bit late), I counted:
- 22 attendees.
- 2 non-Caucasians.
- 7 people who looked under 40.
- One woman over 90 (but didn’t look it).
- A dozen hideous feedback screeches from the two hearing aids in her coat pocket.
- 2 sirens.
- 6-7 cars blaring Latin music (with accordions).
- 6-7 cars blaring hip hop music (with deep bass).
- Male Quaker voices: four.
- Female Quaker voices: six.
There was an abundance of speaking because towards the end of the meeting, attendees responded to the “queries” read by the Meeting’s clerk (a woman). The queries consisted of soul-searching questions, in this case regarding seeking and following the Spirit.
The quiet sitting is one of the things I find appealing about the Society of Friends. For all of my affinity to and study of Buddhism, I have a hard time meditating in the Eastern Zen or transcendental ways. Even though liberal Quakers are reluctant to espouse any creeds (and you’ll find them coming from Christian, Jewish and atheist backgrounds), the tradition is rooted in 17th Century English Protestantism. I’ve found that I love meditating in the Christian tradition.
In my mind, Quakerism has a wonderful blend of accessible Christian mysticism—a focus on the experience of “that of God” within every human—and then acting within the world on the revealed light and truth received. This is the tradition, though it has been relatively small in numbers throughout history, that produced William Penn and his great political experiment, suffragists like Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott, prison and social reformers like Jane Adams and Elizabeth Fry, early U.S. patriots like Thomas Paine and Dolley Madison, and countless abolitionists and pacifists. Also Dave Matthews. And Walt Whitman. Note the number of famous female Quakers! This cutting-edge progressivism and powerful activism is the other side of the silent, mystic Quaker coin.
So, to wrap up my Mormon-Quaker comparison:
Where Mormon men wear white shirts and dark suits and women are required to wear skirts or dresses, Quakers dress comfortably in jeans and corduroy and a few pairs of Birkenstocks. This is part of a long tradition of being “plain” in appearance.
Where Mormonism has a strong vertical hierarchy, Quakerism is about the flattest, most egalitarian of religions I know. Everything is run by committee and from what I’ve heard and read, sometimes it’s a miracle that things get accomplished.
Where Mormonism has well-defined gender roles, there is no visible difference between men and women in Quakerism.
Where U.S. Mormon culture can be heavily jingoistic, Quakers deplore war and emphasize the humanity of individuals before their citizenship.
Where modern Mormonism tends to preserve social fossils like second-class status for men of African descent (until 1978) and women (still going strong), Quakerism is sometimes decades (or even centuries) ahead of their time.
You can tell that I’m just a wee bit biased towards the Quakers. Why am I not a Quaker then? Because Mormonism is family.
But I’m not adverse to calling myself a Quakerish-Mormon. A Quaking-Mormon? A QuakMon? I’ll have to puzzle this out…
8 responses so far ↓
1 J // Feb 14, 2006 at 7:03 pm
Good pics John! I especially like the rainbow ‘brella even tho it has little to do w/quakerism itself.
I love Quaker history and I enjoy Quaker practice. Not sure if I like the ‘decide everything by committe’ idea, tho-it seems like it might get old when nothing can get done quickly (I am a woman of action).
But I really love our Quaker “Friends.” What an asset they’ve been to our family
2 Kathy Quick // Feb 17, 2006 at 10:50 pm
I’m always so happy to see you, Jana, and your kids at OCFM or elsewhere. I don’t know that I’ve been all that deliberate about my spiritual journey, and certainly I’ve been not nearly so thoughtful as you have, but many of the observations you’ve made about Quakerism and the comments you’ve made about what you like resonate deeply with me. The queries that were read at the end of meeting when you visited are probably my favorite part of the rituals of meeting. We circulate through them annually, reading one every first Sunday of the month, and they are often so provocative. It’s been very interesting to follow through this blog your thoughts not only about religion but about returning to school, seeking meaning, and being a fully engaged family member, because I feel that we are in some ways fellow travelers. It’s generous of you to share these thoughts through your blog, which I’m glad to have just discovered is active again. And, while I can’t speak for the OC Friends Meeting as a whole in any official capacity, I know that the other members and attenders, like me, are always happy to have your or other members of your family join us for worship or fellowship any time, however you would identify your religious hybrid affiliation in any given week! Kathy
3 John // Feb 18, 2006 at 10:43 am
Kathy, thank you so much for your kind response.
I get nervous when writing these Pilgrimage posts because there’s no way I could do any church or religion any justice within the space of even a long blog post.
Jana and I love our encounters with you and Guillermo and Sonia. We do feel like we’re fellow travelers, in many different ways–sometimes we get discouraged but then we talk to people like you and think, “they’re doing the same thing and they’re all right.”
4 Gray // Feb 22, 2006 at 1:58 pm
That was pretty interesting. Besides our Governor and the young guys who knock on my door, I don’t think that I know any Mormans.
I am primarily familiar with the Unitarian church which I attend (Jews, and Catholic gays and lesbians are heavily represented), the liberal Presbyterian church of my youth, and with my wife’s independent synagogue. I frequently play music for regional Episcopal churches and have several times visited the local Quakers.
I have enjoy meetings with the Friends. The congregations sounds similar, although the small meetinghouse is in a quiet area next to a park. It must be well over 150 years old. Most of them are also old friends in the secular sense. I fit in easily and have sometimes considered joining.
I have never really experienced prescriptive or hierarchical religion.
There are customs in Judaism that I follow when I am with my wife and daughter because they are my family and am respectful of them, but I am under no pressure to do so. I have a certain pride in the knowedge and comfort that I have achieved there, but I have a freedom denied to congregation members.
I often wonder what others might think of me and my congregation. Would a born again bible literalist hold hands with my gay friends while we prayed? Would a Mormon be puzzled by a public discussion of theology, where the congregation decided that two completely opposed interpretations of a point were ethically useful and should both be accepted as true? Would an observant Jew be surprized by the Mezuzah in the frame of our re-revolutionary door?
It’s hard to be comfortable in a religious environment that is either much more prescriptive or much more flexible than your own. I feel very exposed and out of my element when confronted ith the mysteries of a Catholic church, an Orthodox synagogue, or a very conservative Christian church.
It sounds like you fit in easily.
5 John // Feb 22, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Gray, I admire your multi-religion fluency. I can relate to your sense of vulnerability and foreigness in some places of worship. I think that’s one of the things I’m aiming for with this pilgrimage: becoming familiar with the basic (basic!) gestures and phrases from each religious culture and deliberately exposing myself to that first culture shock.
I’ve really enjoyed the Unitarian Universalist services I’ve attended (and people I’ve met). Until I found the Quakers, I think the UUs were my top choice for a potential rebound church (they’re still a close second). I’m looking forward to visiting the Costa Mesa church in the next month or two.
6 Gray // Feb 24, 2006 at 2:42 pm
I did enjoy the Quakers, but I found myself wishing for more structure. Also, the homogeneity of the members bothered me, perhaps because they were so much like me. There was economic and ethnic diversity to be sure. Yet all of us who were over 30 had graduate degrees in health or human services, we all had been active in the same political causes, and most of us had invested in community supported agriculture.
I don’t think that the quiet company of my clones would drive me forward as well as the irrepressible ferment of the UU stew.
7 Liz Opp // Mar 4, 2006 at 8:00 pm
Hi, John.
Not sure how I found your blog, but you might be interested to know that there is an entire “Quaker blogosphere” at your fingertips, and we explore some of the questions and observations you make in this post:
dressing plain
being a “hyphenated Quaker“: Jewish-Quaker, Buddhist-Quaker, etc.
what we do at Meeting for Worship
etc.
Another resource for recent posts among Friends is the website QuakerQuaker.
Nice to learn some about the Church of Latter Day Saints while doing my blog-browsing tonight.
Blessings,
Liz, The Good Raised Up
8 John // Mar 5, 2006 at 11:11 pm
Liz,
Thank you for the helpful links and the introduction to the Quaker blog-world. I love what I’ve read (in print) from contemporary Quakers like Parker Palmer and Richard Foster–I’m looking forward lurking on Quaker blogs.
Peace,
John
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