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So, how about Quakerism, you may ask?
Yes, today was the second attempt at being a Quaker, and this time I actually found the meeting -- this time, I took the one in Kent. There was nothing terribly surprising in terms of events. We entered in silence, sat together in silence and meditation, and after about one hour, the cue to end worship (a pair of designated members shaking hands) came, and it was basically over. There was only one testimony today.
I do have to say, though, that the hour of meditation may be exactly what I've been looking for, strangely. During that hour, I was more focused on God and spiritual matters for more time than probably the last five years of church services put together. And yes, my mind did wander a few times, but I brought it back. Just closing my eyes (as many do) and meditating on spiritual, moral and religious issues, giving prayers of thanks and requests, and being able to do so in a quiet place without interruption was a very new experience for me. And it was very refreshing.
After the worship, a general discussion of anything spiritual on anyone's mind took place. Also, because I was new, everyone introduced themselves. There were around 12-15 people there. Following the service, I was invited to a communal dinner, but I had to decline because I had not made plans with Amy to be gone that long and didn't have my phone.
Okay, to be as simple as possible... the pros of this were the worship, which was as enriching and comforting as any worship service I've been to in recent memory. I liked not being distracted by mini-sermons given by prayer leaders, terrible singers sitting behind me, somewhat pointless (or needlessly ontologically stretched) sermons given by holier-than-thou preacher/pastor/priests. I liked being able to focus on God and my own relationship with him, and being able to reflect on my week and my relationship with God in an individual fashion. Something I never thought of is that the liturgical foundation of most churches assume a one-size-fits-all mentality, while I think all souls are different. Also, no money was collected. It seems as though Quaker meetings only gather money when a certain expense is urgent. Because this meeting met in a lounge of the United Christian Ministries building in Kent (probably for free), there were no expenses.
Another pro was the discussion afterwards. These people seem like good people who have similar concerns to myself (peace, humanity, ecology, easing poverty, etc.) They were all able to speak in an intelligent fashion about the topics at hand. They also are active in the community. These folks were talking about organizing a bus to Washington for a march for peace, and working next weekend with Habitat for Humanity. I like the go-do-it attitude.
Some cons: Besides one girl (a daughter of someone, about 20 years old I suppose) who was giving me the eye before I mentioned "my wife" after the service, I was the youngest person in attendance by at least 25 years. It's hard to be a member of a social organization with that kind of a gap. Despite that (chalk this part of it to being a pro), all of the people there that talked to me treated me as an absolute equal. Sometimes at other churches (from my own experiences) young parents seem to talk down to younger married couples, etc.
A pro/con is the size of the congregation. While I am a fan of small congregations because of the intimacy factor (and you could tell there was one there) it makes it difficult to really join and get into. The con factor is also apparent in terms of lacking resources, both physical and human. A hallmark of Quaker meetings is a meeting library. They had the cutest little one on a cart. A benefit to a larger meeting would be (in theory) a larger variety of people with whom to connect and a larger library, both of which are attractive to a path-seeking wanderer like myself.
I know it's only one worship service, but I think that Quakerism is probably going to be my path at this point. I'm not sold for sure on this congregation yet, because that's a more delicate process. These people seem like nice people and they seem like they have a good thing going, but I'm not sure if it's for me. Depending on how our whirlwind trip to Muncie will be planned next weekend, I may hit up the Akron meeting this next Sunday.
The fact that I'm planning to attend a church again, a second week in a row by choice without any convincing by Amy, should tell you that it's working thus far.
In other news, Maggie (the dog) is really getting on my nerves. If you could describe my Christmas break in a couple words, it would probably be: "crap cleaner." Well, today, while I was at church by choice (weird to say, no?) Maggie escaped from her crate in the computer room, took a huge pile of newspapers (waiting to line her crate), shredded them like lettuce and made a big pile shin-deep throughout the area of the computer room outside of her crate. Then, to top it off, she took two giant shits, stomped in them, and rubbed them throughout these newspaper shreds. When I walked in, she was stomping on a turd, and she ran under the computer desk to hide.
See, that's what made me so mad: she knew that her creation of the world's largest turd salad was wrong, but she did it anyway. And then, when I walked in the room, she hid, which while it admitted guilt was a cowardly thing to do.
I cleaned up her messes (she had screwed up the inside of her crate before her daring escape) and put her back in, locking the doors firmly. The last time I checked in on her, she had taken to moving the puppies to an area in which she normally craps. If she poops on the puppies... ugh.
With my turd salad adventure in mind, I determined that I had no desire to go to the dog park today (a mud pit) or to eat brownies. I've had enough with shit for today. And with that, Amy's been taking an extended-length afternoon nap. I probably should wake her up soon so that I can see her a little tonight before she returns to church for a second service. Or, I could just let her sleep since she's obviously tired.
The good news? Financial aid comes this week. You know what that means? A whole bunch of bills will be paid, we'll be buying a bigger hard drive and more memory for my ibook, we'll be paying for our train ticket to San Francisco, we'll be paying rent, turning in the Impala, buying books, and perhaps most importantly....
Buying a Wii.
Yippee!
I do have to say, though, that the hour of meditation may be exactly what I've been looking for, strangely. During that hour, I was more focused on God and spiritual matters for more time than probably the last five years of church services put together. And yes, my mind did wander a few times, but I brought it back. Just closing my eyes (as many do) and meditating on spiritual, moral and religious issues, giving prayers of thanks and requests, and being able to do so in a quiet place without interruption was a very new experience for me. And it was very refreshing.
After the worship, a general discussion of anything spiritual on anyone's mind took place. Also, because I was new, everyone introduced themselves. There were around 12-15 people there. Following the service, I was invited to a communal dinner, but I had to decline because I had not made plans with Amy to be gone that long and didn't have my phone.
Okay, to be as simple as possible... the pros of this were the worship, which was as enriching and comforting as any worship service I've been to in recent memory. I liked not being distracted by mini-sermons given by prayer leaders, terrible singers sitting behind me, somewhat pointless (or needlessly ontologically stretched) sermons given by holier-than-thou preacher/pastor/priests. I liked being able to focus on God and my own relationship with him, and being able to reflect on my week and my relationship with God in an individual fashion. Something I never thought of is that the liturgical foundation of most churches assume a one-size-fits-all mentality, while I think all souls are different. Also, no money was collected. It seems as though Quaker meetings only gather money when a certain expense is urgent. Because this meeting met in a lounge of the United Christian Ministries building in Kent (probably for free), there were no expenses.
Another pro was the discussion afterwards. These people seem like good people who have similar concerns to myself (peace, humanity, ecology, easing poverty, etc.) They were all able to speak in an intelligent fashion about the topics at hand. They also are active in the community. These folks were talking about organizing a bus to Washington for a march for peace, and working next weekend with Habitat for Humanity. I like the go-do-it attitude.
Some cons: Besides one girl (a daughter of someone, about 20 years old I suppose) who was giving me the eye before I mentioned "my wife" after the service, I was the youngest person in attendance by at least 25 years. It's hard to be a member of a social organization with that kind of a gap. Despite that (chalk this part of it to being a pro), all of the people there that talked to me treated me as an absolute equal. Sometimes at other churches (from my own experiences) young parents seem to talk down to younger married couples, etc.
A pro/con is the size of the congregation. While I am a fan of small congregations because of the intimacy factor (and you could tell there was one there) it makes it difficult to really join and get into. The con factor is also apparent in terms of lacking resources, both physical and human. A hallmark of Quaker meetings is a meeting library. They had the cutest little one on a cart. A benefit to a larger meeting would be (in theory) a larger variety of people with whom to connect and a larger library, both of which are attractive to a path-seeking wanderer like myself.
I know it's only one worship service, but I think that Quakerism is probably going to be my path at this point. I'm not sold for sure on this congregation yet, because that's a more delicate process. These people seem like nice people and they seem like they have a good thing going, but I'm not sure if it's for me. Depending on how our whirlwind trip to Muncie will be planned next weekend, I may hit up the Akron meeting this next Sunday.
The fact that I'm planning to attend a church again, a second week in a row by choice without any convincing by Amy, should tell you that it's working thus far.
In other news, Maggie (the dog) is really getting on my nerves. If you could describe my Christmas break in a couple words, it would probably be: "crap cleaner." Well, today, while I was at church by choice (weird to say, no?) Maggie escaped from her crate in the computer room, took a huge pile of newspapers (waiting to line her crate), shredded them like lettuce and made a big pile shin-deep throughout the area of the computer room outside of her crate. Then, to top it off, she took two giant shits, stomped in them, and rubbed them throughout these newspaper shreds. When I walked in, she was stomping on a turd, and she ran under the computer desk to hide.
See, that's what made me so mad: she knew that her creation of the world's largest turd salad was wrong, but she did it anyway. And then, when I walked in the room, she hid, which while it admitted guilt was a cowardly thing to do.
I cleaned up her messes (she had screwed up the inside of her crate before her daring escape) and put her back in, locking the doors firmly. The last time I checked in on her, she had taken to moving the puppies to an area in which she normally craps. If she poops on the puppies... ugh.
With my turd salad adventure in mind, I determined that I had no desire to go to the dog park today (a mud pit) or to eat brownies. I've had enough with shit for today. And with that, Amy's been taking an extended-length afternoon nap. I probably should wake her up soon so that I can see her a little tonight before she returns to church for a second service. Or, I could just let her sleep since she's obviously tired.
The good news? Financial aid comes this week. You know what that means? A whole bunch of bills will be paid, we'll be buying a bigger hard drive and more memory for my ibook, we'll be paying for our train ticket to San Francisco, we'll be paying rent, turning in the Impala, buying books, and perhaps most importantly....
Buying a Wii.
Yippee!
Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ on January 7, 2007 04:25 PM | Permalink
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