Church Crawl - Part 6: The Quakers

And you thought we were done with this madness.

What we knew about the quakers was one of them had something to do with oatmeal.

I don't know if I've ever tried oatmeal. It kind of scares me.

The Religious Society of Friends

Yep, thats what they call themselves. Crazy, eh?

Not only did they have a friendly name, they had a very normal looking hideout.

We were already late, and we just about walked right past it.

It looked like someone's house. It probably was at one time. Nobody was outside.

In any case, we walked right in the door, only to find another set of doors, something like a kitchen on the left, and another set of doors.

Dead silence.

I noticed there was a window above the second door (what is the proper name for this type of interior door?) so I stood on a chair and peered into the next room. Only to find quite a few sets of eyes looking back at me.

So we figured we'd just walk in at that point. As silently as possible.

As soon as we got in the door, one of the "Friends" stood up and handed us a pamphlet.

In many more words, the pamphlet effectively read "sit down and shut the fuck up". So we sat.

Over the next 40 minutes, we sat and stared at the other "Friends". Every 5 or 10 minutes, one of the members would stand up and ask a rather deep question as eloquently as possible.

It was all very mellowing.

The chairs were damn uncomfortable though.

After the service ended (apparantely with two of the elders shaking hands or something) the meeting progressed quickly into the days events.

Before we knew which way was up, we were asked to introduce ourselves to the group.

There were only a dozen people in the group, we just found it a bit weird to be asked to speak in front of an audience that just spent the last half hour contemplating silence.

After explaining what we about, we got more documentation about the quakers than one could ever ask for.

One "Friend" mentioned that many people that attend Quaker meetings aren't necessarily Christian. Which would be easy to believe, as there is really no led sermon, and nobody is actively preaching to you.

It is quite refreshing, as you don't feel manipulated into believing whatever the speaker happens to think about anything and everything. Perhaps this is what Sundays should be for.

Quiet reflection.

Quiet reflection + beer is even better.

If you're bored and beerless on a Sunday, I'd suggest you check out the Quakers. It's a highly recommended experience.