A marigold on Easter
One thing I always enjoy about Easter is learning about everyone's various traditions and rituals because as a Quaker growing up we didn't have too many. The main Quaker rituals of my childhood for holidays were getting a marigold on Easter and the holiday pageant.
As I'm applying for private school jobs and finding ones connected to Quaker schools, I keep thinking of how even though I'm not currently a member of a meeting, I consider myself a Quaker. Another more formal name that gets used by the larger Quaker organizations is the Society of Friends, but Quaker is the better known one especially the farther you get from Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. I've found it interesting how one reason I define myself as a Quaker is how often I've spoken about it to people who don't know much of Quakerism as in Pennsylvania, it's quite well known and a major part of the state's history. Both my parents converted to Quakerism when they were adults while for me, Quakerism is something that's a part of my identity that I grew up with and I hope to join a meeting when I next move.
Today feels like the right day to try and write about how I see myself as a Quaker and what role it takes in my life. The basic principles of being Quaker and the ones that I hold dear are that there is the light of God in everyone, that there is no need for an intermediary between you and God and that each soul is precious which makes war something that we need to stop doing. There are other ones but these are the ones that I come back to in my daily thoughts as a Quaker.
In terms of practice, what these mean are the Quakers are active in peace making throughout the world and though some Quakers have fought, many of them are pacifists and conscientious objectors. Silent worship, which is what I grew up practicing at the Swarthmore Meeting is fairly simple, a Quaker meeting begins with clerks going through the daily business, sometimes there's a singing and then silence into which people choose to speak. When I was younger, I attended First Day school as opposed to Sunday school, it's the same general idea but the naming comes from something called the plain calendar. This is something I actually just found out the reason for because growing up all I knew was I went to First Day school not Sunday school. Before I was about thirteen which was when I became a full member of the meeting, I would to First Day school for the first half of meeting and then sit with my parents for the last fifteen minutes. Then after meeting, there would be a friendly gathering in another room of the meeting house. These various gatherings and the lack of ritual define my own ideas about my own spirituality, that its about community, I can connect to God anywhere and to the inner light of others.
I hope this all makes sense as I feel that my thoughts are a little scattered. Please feel free to ask questions in the comment and I'll try to answer them. Some good resources for more detailed questions can be found here on the Friends General Council site where they answer some frequently asked questions. To end I'm going to leave you with a beautiful quote I found that captures a lot of what I love about being a Quaker.
It would go a great way to caution and direct people in the use of the world, that they were better studied and known in the Creation of it. For how could Man find the Confidence to abuse it, while they shoud see the Great Creator stare them in the face, in all and every part thereof?
- William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude, 1692
This entry is also posted at http://ceitfianna.dreamwidth.org/332242.html. Please comment wherever you'd like.
As I'm applying for private school jobs and finding ones connected to Quaker schools, I keep thinking of how even though I'm not currently a member of a meeting, I consider myself a Quaker. Another more formal name that gets used by the larger Quaker organizations is the Society of Friends, but Quaker is the better known one especially the farther you get from Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. I've found it interesting how one reason I define myself as a Quaker is how often I've spoken about it to people who don't know much of Quakerism as in Pennsylvania, it's quite well known and a major part of the state's history. Both my parents converted to Quakerism when they were adults while for me, Quakerism is something that's a part of my identity that I grew up with and I hope to join a meeting when I next move.
Today feels like the right day to try and write about how I see myself as a Quaker and what role it takes in my life. The basic principles of being Quaker and the ones that I hold dear are that there is the light of God in everyone, that there is no need for an intermediary between you and God and that each soul is precious which makes war something that we need to stop doing. There are other ones but these are the ones that I come back to in my daily thoughts as a Quaker.
In terms of practice, what these mean are the Quakers are active in peace making throughout the world and though some Quakers have fought, many of them are pacifists and conscientious objectors. Silent worship, which is what I grew up practicing at the Swarthmore Meeting is fairly simple, a Quaker meeting begins with clerks going through the daily business, sometimes there's a singing and then silence into which people choose to speak. When I was younger, I attended First Day school as opposed to Sunday school, it's the same general idea but the naming comes from something called the plain calendar. This is something I actually just found out the reason for because growing up all I knew was I went to First Day school not Sunday school. Before I was about thirteen which was when I became a full member of the meeting, I would to First Day school for the first half of meeting and then sit with my parents for the last fifteen minutes. Then after meeting, there would be a friendly gathering in another room of the meeting house. These various gatherings and the lack of ritual define my own ideas about my own spirituality, that its about community, I can connect to God anywhere and to the inner light of others.
I hope this all makes sense as I feel that my thoughts are a little scattered. Please feel free to ask questions in the comment and I'll try to answer them. Some good resources for more detailed questions can be found here on the Friends General Council site where they answer some frequently asked questions. To end I'm going to leave you with a beautiful quote I found that captures a lot of what I love about being a Quaker.
It would go a great way to caution and direct people in the use of the world, that they were better studied and known in the Creation of it. For how could Man find the Confidence to abuse it, while they shoud see the Great Creator stare them in the face, in all and every part thereof?
- William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude, 1692
This entry is also posted at http://ceitfianna.dreamwidth.org/332242.html. Please comment wherever you'd like.