I just want to take a moment to remember all of the people who have passed by over the years - some for only a meeting or two, some for as many as a year or two. I think that spiritual longing is the desire and need to connect with others of relatively the same religious orientation as yourself - and therefore I'm not too surprised if people move along from a small group of admittedly radical Quakers who, let's face it, have more in common in their political leanings than we have in our specific theology. we don't actually talk theology that much. Sometimes we have little in the way of active using the speaking from the silence to minister to each other.
Quakers tend to be so busy being activists in their daily lives that they welcome a half-hour of silent minutes clicked together, or in the case of larger in-person meetings, up to 59 or 60 minutes of pure silence. I find myself explaining by chat that we are silent the first half, and sometimes people click off, disappear, before that 30 minutes is even over. Usually, if they make it to the second half, we ask them if they have any experience with Quakerism and we have time for some friendly getting-to-know-each other. Still in the end I may not know as much about people's personal lives as I would if I walked into a church and just started visiting with everyone at the potluck brunch. Online leaves a few things to be desired and one is the excellent vegan food of a good Quaker potluck.
To all the varied and widespread people who have visited us over the years, I hope you are out there thinking of Quakers as sincere, well-meaning people who care about you from afar. That's really the best we can be, as you don't really want to get too involved in whatever we are doing here on the ground. I believe in community but this is where a virtual meeting really differs from a live one. In a live one you can simply go over to someone's house and minister to them, if they are sick, need a listening ear, or need to work something out. We've never had that luxury. Our members are in various states of distress and there's not much we can do about it.
I have just a few examples. One is a guy from England, who you'll recognize pretty quickly since we don't have too many from England. For one thing he had to wait until two or three in the morning to join us, but he did; he attended regularly. he had problems bad enough that he was forced to lose his autonomy and was hospitalized - and what could we do? At one point we wrote him letters or emails of support and that actually made some difference in the way he was seen and treated in his hospital situation. We still send him greetings and send our love. But what do we know, or what can we do? From over here we are in a virtual community yet it's basically nothing. He might be better served by a community that can actually visit him.
Yet in this world, many of us are in positions where our neighbors can visit us, yet don't really share the essence of Quakerism like we can. We do have a lot in common. And we are here, if you stop by to visit us, and we'll support you, in whatever form, in your quest to express and live out the life of peace and non-violence. I think there has to be a support system for people trying to make non-violence (especially spiritual non-violence) central to their daily lives.
Thank you for joining us, whenever it was, however long it was. We will still be here. Please come back and say hello!
