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Herndon Friends Meeting by Emily LaBrie |
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I am somewhat of a shy person. However, I do emphasize the word somewhat. I might be timid for the first few minutes of a new situation, but curiosity always gets the better of me. Such was the case of my first encounter and dialog report. I visited the Friends Meeting in Herndon, Virginia. From this experience I learned a lot about not only how Quakers (also known as Friends) worship, but also how they exist as a community. When I arrived at the meeting hall that Sunday morning, I was on of the first ones there. I thought I would be less nervous entering a building with hardly any people than entering a building that was full. When I did walk in, the few people that were there greeted me. They were very friendly and showed me to a wall with pamphlets and books of Quaker material. Right away I got a sense that the Quaker religion was a peaceful religion because of all of the pamphlets dedicated against the war in Iraq the death penalty. More people started to filter in and greet me. To make me feel more at ease they kept on making fun of themselves saying things like, “Don’t worry about the time, Quakers are always late”, or “Oh you are doing a report on us, then you are lucky, there is very little to write about.” The area behind the meeting room in the church was filling with people so I went into the meeting room to see what it was like. I was surprised by the informality of the setting. From someone who comes from a Catholic background I am used to a large and ornate nave that is focused around an altar. But this room had no symbols, no altar, no crosses, nothing. It was just a small room, with rows of chairs that faced each other, a few plants, a piano, and a fireplace. I took a seat in the back to be sure to get a good observer’s standpoint. It was 10:20, and the service had not started at the scheduled time of 10:15, so a lady who had entered the meeting room after me, started playing the piano to give the members congregating in the back a signal that it was time to start. The service started with 15 minutes of hymns. At the end of the hymns the children of the congregation were led back into the back room for First Day School. Then for an hour the congregation sat in silence. This time was used to focus on the Inner Light (a representation of God within us) inside of yourself and speak only if the Lord moves you to speak. I am used to a more vocal and traditional service so I felt a bit awkward here. Everybody was so quiet that the creaking my chair made when I fidgeted was as loud as any person’s voice. Prior to the meeting, I was told there were often meetings where nobody spoke for the entire hour. When the meeting was almost over, one lady did stand up to speak. The breaking of the silence made the entire room jump. She spoke of people doing the right thing because they are asked to by the Holy Spirit. It was a very poignant message. I realized that in this meeting it took about a minute to deliver a message, while in other churches, an entire service or mass could be devoted to that one message. I found that such a silent unstructured meeting could be a very moving experience in which one gets to have a personal and silent dialog with God. The Clerk, Kathy Toonis, signaled the end of the meeting by shaking hands with the people around her. She then stood up for announcements and introduced me as a visitor to the congregation. I was allowed to stand up and thank the people for making me feel welcome on my visit. There were then some announcements of a vigil taking place for a gentlemen being executed this month in VA, a pot luck coming up in a few weeks, and then the people were sadden to hear that one of there members was moving. From the announcements themselves I got the feeling that the Friends community in Herndon, though small, was very tight. I felt privileged to witness this bond through there meeting for worship. After the meeting hall had partly cleared I sat down for a meeting called Quaker in the Corner. This was where I was allowed to talk to a member of the congregation. I interviewed a man named Asa Janney, who’s family has been a member of the Quaker meetings in the area for generations. I first asked for some basic background of the Quaker religion. An Englishman named George Fox in the 1650s during the Reformation founded it. This was because he felt Christianity needed to get back to a simpler form in order to get back to the roots of what Jesus taught. Quakers do not believe in any symbols like an altar, a cross, or anything that would divert attention to what the symbol itself was trying to represent. They just meet in a hall to focus on what George Fox called the Inner Light. The simplicity is so strong that don’t even refer to Sunday by that name, but Quakers call it what it is in terms of its place in the week, First Day. I asked what were the basic principles Quakers lived by. I was told that one of the better-known beliefs that Quakers carry is that of peace. They are against war and believe that no government has the power to sentence somebody to death or send its young men to another country to kill or be killed. I found this very interesting. Quakers exist as such a peaceful and quiet religion while putting forth a strong presence in the political arena. Another thing I found interesting, was that Quakers do not believe in taking oaths. I was at first confused by such a stance, but it made sense when Mr. Janney explained that Quakers believe in telling the truth all of the time. So why would you take an oath to be honest like you were expected not to be? Quakers also believe in social equality. When they first came here from England they respected the Indians, and were abolitionists against slavery. They believe that every person is equal, that men and women of every race have the potential of good in them. I found this to be very uplifting. In many Christian settings we are all viewed as God’s children, but I have not come across such a message of equality like this before in Christianity. One thing that truly shocked me about being a Quaker can be more than one religion. They have Protestants and Catholics who attend a Quaker service as well as their own service. They are extremely tolerant of other faiths. Quakers acknowledge that there is some truth in all faiths. This is was a shock because while other churches will acknowledge other people’s beliefs, they still might feel that their doctrine is the only way to be saved. Quakers also do not believe in any strict or literal interpretation of any doctrines. They believe that the Bible is just a collection of stories and thoughts interpreted by the men who wrote them. And it is okay if someone has a different view of that interpretation. The doctrines that Quakers do follow are the Quaker Testimonies. But even these are very flexible and can change with the times. The two most known testimonies for Quakers are the Peace and Social Equality Testimonies. Once again I am surprised and pleased to see such an open and flexible faith, that can keep a message of peace, and be so tolerant of other faiths. Mr. Janney then started to tell me about a personal
experience of his that had to do with his faith. He spoke of being a conscientious objector during the
draft for the Vietnam War. He said he watched friends of his who were Quakers go to jail because they
refused the draft. He said that each Friend has to I learned a lot from my visit to the Friends Meeting in Herndon. Before the most I knew of Quakers came from a picture on an oatmeal box. Now I feel enlightened about a religion and a community who have messages of peace, equality, and simplicity in an increasingly complicated and violent world. I intend to visit the Friend’s Meeting again, to learn more about this compelling religion. |
| Created by Laura Ellen Shulman |
Last updated: July 2003
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