I wrote this piece for The Canadian Friend Summer Youth Issue, which is being mailed to Friends across Canada and beyond this week.
Do
we know our fellow worshippers? Do we know the people with whom we
are filling Christ's request for His presence in the Book of Matthew
chapter 18? Christ says in 18:20, " For
where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them"
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| The Canadian Friend Summer Issue Cover |
Often
our monthly meetings do not function as a close caring group of
Friends. I
attended a large meeting for well over a year and one day during
worship I looked around the room to count the names of people who
were there. Even though I attended regularly and was active in
organizing the Young Adult Friends, I was embarrassed that I only
knew half of the names of the people gathered that day. After
attending another Meeting regularly for six months, I was called by a
member of the Outreach committee and was asked if I was still
attending worship. Even though I have a more positive experience with
this particular monthly meeting and had knew most of the community, I
had never met the caller. Furthermore when I asked the clerk of the
meeting if she could point out the person, she could not recall who
this woman was.
Recently,
I read an article in Friends Journal recommending that the
Religious Society of Friends talk about having a testimony of
intimacy. I agree with the need to talk about intimacy in our
community, but this Friend referred only to sexual intimacy.
I
utterly reject using intimacy to mean only romantic relationships. By
relegating this word to just mean one kind of relationships, to mean
just one of its definitions, we are losing a valuable aspect of our
community. When worshipping together was considered a criminal act,
early Quakers know what being intimate with each other meant. Then
during our Society's isolationist period - in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries - when Quakers lived in their own communities
away from others, they knew each other and set up ways to monitor
each other. This is why we have traveling minutes and marriage
certificates. Both of these traditions were introduce partly as ways
to watch over people to make sure that our collective faith stayed
pure. Friends were definitely involved with each other in an intimate
manner.
I
am definitely not arguing that we go back to our isolationist period,
but our spiritual ancestors definitely knew who they worship with
every First Day. Do we? Can you name everyone in Meeting on Sunday?
If so, do you know what their recent struggles and triumphs are?
Quakers
do not believe in outward forms of sacraments. Rather, we believe in
sharing the holy communion inwardly with each other. Through waiting
worship should be offering each other the proverbial bread and wine.
It is a communal experience. If it isn't, why do we gather each week?
Why pay for the upkeep of our Meeting Houses? Instead we could just
stay at home and mediate alone. Sharing God's body with fellow
worshippers each Sunday is an intimate act. Do we treat each meeting
for worship as a sacred time? Do we come to meeting for worship
expecting to be changed through this weekly time for sharing inward
sacraments with each other?
One
of my favorite meeting for worships happened in the aftermath of
Superstorm Sandy that hit the eastern coast of the US last October.
The Sunday after Sandy hit, the Meeting House was still without
electricity. Yet we gathered on a rather cold morning. We huddled
together around the fireplace for an hour of waiting worship. Our
bodies were touching as well as our souls as we gathered in God's
presence. That day, I felt a part of this worshipping community in a
whole new way.
By
the next Sunday, the electricity to the Meeting House was restored
and we returned to our usual seating pattern spread throughout the
room, with two or three on a pew, instead of a dozen. The only people
who sat close together were couples and families. Months later I
still miss the intimacy I felt that one cold Sunday morning as we
huddle together simultaneously seeking the warmth of the fire and the
Holy Spirit.
How
can we reclaim intimacy within our faith community, before we just
become strangers who gather together for personal time of mediation?
