Laurel Neighborhood News

by John Frando

Oakland Quakers It was an hour-long meeting, with no talking. I had known about Quakers' pacifist beliefs and antiwar positions, but I wasn't prepared for my first Quaker meeting. Before walking into Helen Haug's Laurel district home, I quickly read a leaflet from a box mounted to the front door: "Some meetings are entirely silent, but at times out of the silence someone may speak in ministry." Following this brief preface and friendly greetings, I was offered a seat among several empty chairs arranged facing each other in a small circle in the cozy living room. I selected one with the best view of the front door. I was there as an observer, and I wanted to see who would enter. The hour was approaching. I am not sure when the worship began, but the talking stopped, and then there was silence. A couple more people came in. They removed their shoes and quietly took seats in the circle. No one spoke or greeted anyone. Simply, eyes closed and silence. I sat there, at first staring at them, and then I closed my eyes and listened. No one spoke, but I could hear all sorts of noise the neighbor's children playing basketball outside, cars passing on the street, the refrigerator motor and ice maker filling with water in the kitchen, the owner's cat purring and pawing, a ticking clock. I resisted the urge to look at my watch. Soon I didn't care about the hour. I enjoyed the quiet time, focusing inwardly but hoping as well that someone would speak out. No one did, and it seemed shortly afterwards that I opened my eyes to see the others standing and shaking hands. We were all smiles as we held hands in a circle, after which we sat down as Helen brought tea from the kitchen. After an hour of silence, I had lots of questions, for myself and this article that I wanted to write. Helen, Peter, Constance, and Denise patiently answered them, elaborating on their faith and practices. The explanations were friendly, open, and punctuated with humor. The hour-long silence was "unprogrammed" worship, without a sermon or singing, a minister or readings. They explained that some meetings are completely silent, and at others someone may speak out as called by God to be a messenger. The others reflect in silence and discern the meaning in the spoken words. As the leaflet said, "God may call on anyone to be a messenger, regardless of experience, age or education." Quakers (the Religious Society of Friends) believe that every individual has an immediate connection to God in the calling to service in areas like social justice, prison reform, and violence prevention. Oakland Quakers meetings are held Sunday evenings at 5 p.m. For more information, call Pamela Calvert and Helen Haug at 336-9695, or Peter and Karen Lin at 530-0479. Or visit www.oaklandquakers.org. John Frando can be reached at jfrando\@gmail.com, and Kathleen Rolinson at krolinson\@gmail.com.