Why Quakerism?

Last summer, while out to lunch with my mother-in-law, she asked me why I’d chosen Quakerism. I tried to explain to her what I found so moving about the kind of worship unprogrammed Quakers do; she replied, “Well, that sounds like a prayer group. Couldn’t you join a prayer group and go to a more normal church on Sundays?” (I don’t know if she actually said “normal church”, but this is what I remember.) I tactfully changed the subject at that point. But the question has hung around in the back of my head for a while. And I woke up this morning with my answer. First, here are some aspects of Quakerism that aren’t my reasons for choosing it.

1. The People
This is not to minimize the effect my Meeting community or this Quaker blogosphere community has had on me. I’ve found most of the Quakers I know, whether “irl” or online, to be inspiring, thoughtful, and, overall, wonderful people. But the truth is that there are inspiring, thoughtful, and wonderful people in other religious communities as well. Giving this as my reason for becoming a Quaker implies that the communities in other religious communities I’ve experimented with were lacking. And that’s not an implication I’m comfortable with.

2. The Books/Written Materials
I’ve been deeply affected by the Quaker books I’ve read and receiving Friends Journal every month constantly challenges me to better live out my faith as a Quaker. But other religious traditions have an enormous amount of books and written material as well; again, using this as a reason gives the implication that other religious communities are lacking in this area.

3. The Ability to Question and Be a Seeker
I read somewhere, probably in Friends Journal, that Quakers know what to do with people who Seek the Truth, but not with people who’ve found it. I think that’s a true observation, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I believe that God is unchangeable and permanent, but I believe that our perceptions of Him constantly change. And I think that’s a good thing and reflects how we’ve grown in our faith. I worry that those who say they’ve found the Truth and are no longer seeking think they’re at the end of their spiritual journey and will spend the rest of their days on a spiritual plateau. At least, that is my fear for myself. I think the emphasis on Seeking reminds us that faith is something that requires effort. But the reason this isn’t THE reason I’ve become a Quaker is that this emphasis on Seeking can be found in other religious communities as well.

The reason, then, that I’ve become a Quaker? It’s simple: the way we worship. In no other religious community that I know of do the faithful gather in silence to listen for God’s voice. Most Christian services are full of spoken prayers–usually written and memorized in advance, a message delivered by a Priest/Pastor, singing, sometimes Communion/the Eucharist, and only a couple of moments for quiet prayer. The Quaker practice of sitting in that wonderfully active silence to listen for God, and then sharing the message if called to do so, feels to me more real, more powerful, and more challenging than any other kind of worship.

Becoming a Quaker has radically changed my relationship with God. Instead of focusing on what I need to tell Him and what I need to do, I’m now focusing on listening for His voice and what He calls me to do. The focal point of my faith moved from myself to God. Quakerism affirms the most beautiful truth: that anyone who’s willing to listen can hear God’s call. Anyone, whether priest or layman, can be a vessel for God’s message.

Quakerism isn’t the only religious sect to affirm this, but it is the only one that was able to show me how to listen for Him. I spent years wondering why God wasn’t speaking to me, what proof of my faith He required to finally have our relationship be two-way instead of one-way only. I spent hundreds of hours in Catholic Mass and a handful in other Christian services feeling the call to worship without knowing how to do so. After the services, I’d feel thirsty for more, like I’d been given a glimpse of God but was denied more. Silent, expectant worship was what was required for my faith to deepen and my relationship with God to become two-way.

The next time someone asks me why I’m a Quaker, I’ll be able to answer simply: “Because the way Quakers worship deepens my relationship with God in a way no other form of worship is able to, and I wouldn’t give that up for anything…” (especially not for a “normal church”!)