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Sunday, April 11, 2010

Richmond Friends Meeting #16

At 9am this morning I drove to 4500 Kensington Avenue and parked my car outside of the Richmond's Friends Meeting, otherwise known as a Quaker service. The simple church sat on the corner of a tree lined street in one of the most beautiful areas of Richmond. Since the silent service didn't start until 9:30, I parked my car in the direct path of the sun's warm rays and let it illuminate the car as I tuned in to a Christian radio program and listened intently while sipping my delicious cup of Panera coffee.

The radio preacher chose a sermon relating to the healing power of God. He challenged us to pray for those inflicted with disease so that they may be miraculously healed through the power of the Spirit. The man said we could do greater things than even Jesus if we only believed. He was so inspirational that I found myself regretful that I was about to attend a silent Quaker service instead of a charismatic sermon that I now find myself anticipating all week. I thought, "I would really love to hear about God this morning instead of sit in silence for an hour." I'm continually amazed at how ignorant I am to the reality that God already exists within me and its not something I need to seek outside of myself.

At exactly 9:29 and probably 59 seconds, I hesitantly said goodbye to my charismatic preacher, and to my incredible cup of joe and approached the Meeting. When I first entered, a bold sign read "please no phones, food, or drink." I made sure my phone was turned off and then took a seat in an empty pew. It was easy to do so since at that time, me and another woman were the only ones there. She was a modest woman who appeared to be in her upper 40's. She was ordinary looking, with simple dress. She wore a button up long sleeve blouse, glasses and her hair was pulled back into a low, messy bun. Her cotton pants may have revealed her ankles had they not been covered by a thick pair of tall white gym socks. Since she was the only one in the room and I had no one else to criticize based on their appearance alone so my mind drifted off imaging the life she led outside of this Quaker service. In my vision, I saw her sipping hot water with her sister while visiting their small hometown in Pennsylvania. In my ridiculous imagination, I had made this woman up to be Amish, not Quaker. I envisioned her sister's house without electricity and how their log cabin home had a horse and buggy parked outside. Out back were several of those little wood heat furnaces I've see on infomercials with men and really long beards chopping wood. It's interesting how my mind immediately painted this picture of several religious stereotypes instead of initially trying to see the light of God within her. I had also determined that she was unfriendly. I thought she looked kinda mean since she wasn't smiling big at me when I entered. For a moment, I considered the fact that she might be, but then drew my own conclusion that if she was in this room and had the same intentions I did, to commune with the Holy Spirit, she couldn't be this cold, rigid Amish character I had made up in my head. In the first place, she's not Amish, I have no clue if she has a sister and her character, one would assume, may be much like the Spirit she communes with daily. At the very least, I knew I would be slapping my own hand for judging her spirit without even speaking a word to her. Then, as other people began to enter the area where we sat, I realized something quite interesting about myself and my character. First, I'm what my husband would call judgy McJudgerson. I assumed this lady is a mean Amish woman with a sister in Pennsylvania without electricity because of how she's dressed. But secondly, I think I assumed she wasn't nice because she wasn't giving me a huge smile and an over the top welcome. And I made this assumption when we weren't supposed to be talking. Hence, SILENT service.... so I'm not sure why I was expecting a salesman like greeting where she immediately met me at the door to let me know how happy she was to see me. And so, I began my one hour silent worship service asking for forgiveness from God for judging people based on appearances. He let me know that He had already forgiven me for this deed, and asked that we now begin what would be an hour long conversation with one another. And when I say this, I don't mean an hour of me praying and having this "knowing" that I was being heard, no, I mean, I spoke then He spoke, then I spoke, and then THEY spoke. I had no idea that in the next 55 minutes in this Friends meeting , I was going to have a very REAL Conversation with God. And that THEY had been wanting to converse with me for quite some time.

When the last person entered the church, there seemed to be a congregation of about 8 people. I didn't know if I was supposed to close my eyes or whether people would say anything but I just followed the others lead and closed my eyes and kept my mouth shut. For a brief moment, I wondered if this was going to be the same excruciating meditation that I was used to where I'd try to silence my mind but would think of about a million other things, but much to my surprise, the hour didn't seem like an hour, it went by in the blink of an eye. Time flies when you're talking to God like you would your neighbor, I guess.

My conversation with God can found be here: http://52prayers.blogspot.com/2010/04/quaker-church-part-2.html
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