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November 2009 
The Quaker Meeting
Posted on Mar 22nd, 2008
by 
Laura
Laura
Inside the Quaker Meeting
by John Krumberger
Inside the Quaker meeting house people sit in silence and a small invisible stream flows just beneath the earth. One or two men are so old their hands move without sound; hair sparse and white like patches of snow on rough grass. I wonder about these old men, why they are so happy.
I cannot think of God or even loneliness. I watch the faces in these pews and the slender shoulders of a young woman across from me. I would like to reach across this room to touch her face. A Zen Master once said our whole lives pass by while our minds lie asleep in the outer world.
I think of a photograph of a train stopped in a small town in central Wisconsin. A crowd of people wait on the station platform holding packages. Some of them stand in light, some in shadow. The shadows creep down the roof like ivy climbing a fence. Each journey begins in silence, the mind calm, the body slipping from shadows. Snow falls on the road to farm land, a'58 DeSoto parked along the tracks, its motor running.
by John Krumberger
Inside the Quaker meeting house people sit in silence and a small invisible stream flows just beneath the earth. One or two men are so old their hands move without sound; hair sparse and white like patches of snow on rough grass. I wonder about these old men, why they are so happy.
I cannot think of God or even loneliness. I watch the faces in these pews and the slender shoulders of a young woman across from me. I would like to reach across this room to touch her face. A Zen Master once said our whole lives pass by while our minds lie asleep in the outer world.
I think of a photograph of a train stopped in a small town in central Wisconsin. A crowd of people wait on the station platform holding packages. Some of them stand in light, some in shadow. The shadows creep down the roof like ivy climbing a fence. Each journey begins in silence, the mind calm, the body slipping from shadows. Snow falls on the road to farm land, a'58 DeSoto parked along the tracks, its motor running.
Access: Public
My husband is a Quaker. Our wedding was a Quaker wedding, in which everyone sat in silence, but if the spirit moved, they could stand up and say something to us - share wisdom or best wishes. We explained this to the non-Quakers ahead of time, so we received a beautiful array of poetry, biblical passages and impromtu speeches. It wasn’t too much or too little - it flowed naturally and spontaneously. The only funny thing was that we had to have a JP officiate to make it all “legal.” On the first copy of the marriage certificate, under his religion, she typed, “Quacker.” We all had a good laugh about that, and still do from time to time.
Quacker. I love that. I want to be a Quacker. thanks for sharing that story.
Laura, what lovely images this conveys! And the photo is perfect. What is there about spare and space and one empty chair in the sunlight? Beautiful silence.
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I love the spareness of it too. I took this photo in December at an old cabin that's been 'in the family' since around 1820. my cousin had done some restoration work on it. I should send him this photo.
oh yes, you should. such a gorgeous photograph.
i love this. it made me pause.
One of my best friends in grad school was Quaker…with my already unfolding Zen inclination and Thoreau orientation we got a long great. I think the Quakers probably approximate the Zen Buddhists in many ways and vice versa..
So..Luara is that your background…Quaker?
nah. i was raised episcopalian but i'm kind of a mutt really. sort of a panentheist with zen leanings and a little bit of an inner dervish thing happening too, if that makes any sense.
ahhh another ecclesiastical outlaw like myself. “Panentheist” I hardly met anyone else who has ever heard the term..and Zen leanings…well, we would certainly get along each Sunday!
: ) did you ever read The Spell of the Sensuous? that's where my religion is coming from, at least in part.
as an aside I just had to say that i love the pantheon.
This brought back memories. I went to Quaker school for several years in Grade School. I loved the religion class the most the teaching of inner light and the quiet.
inner light and the quiet, yes.
jenni, your dry wit never fails to make me smile big.