Society of Friends - Quakers

You can listen to the interview with several members of the Religious Society of Friends in Tampa here.

Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
5013 Garden Lane
Tampa, FL 33610

Contact: Multiple!

Religion: Christian

Denomination: Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

Web Page: http://www.tampafriends.org/

I think it was the sight of the rain barrels that first drew my eye when driving up to the Society of Friend's center in Tampa. The church itself is modest - a house converted for use by worshipers, something I've seen before.

But those rain barrels. As soon as I saw them, I knew I was in for something different.

First, a bit of history. Most of the history I'm quoting here can be gleaned directly from a brochure titled "Fact about Friends" off the Quakers.org web page - a site that can explain the Quakers far more effectively than I could.

Basically, the history boils down to this:

In the 17th Century, George Fox did what many other people were doing in his time period: setting up their own religion. Mr. Fox had questions of a spiritual nature that he felt weren't being answered by the religions of the time. His solution sounds much like others that were espoused at the time - a return to the "true" Christianity.

However, Mr. Fox did hit upon a very unique notion. While the Lutherans, Anglicans, and so on still kept the hierarchy of priests, bishops, and other rigid organizational structures, Fox's conception of the Society of Friends really stripped Christianity down to the individual level. What made a priest any more able to have the Spirit of God move within them compared to any other person? After all, didn't Jesus and the Apostles promise that the Holy Ghost would touch all people?

So, Mr. Fox's new church did away with any hierarchy of leaders, and instead brought it down to the individual. Instead of established clergy leading the flock and interpreting scriptures, local groups of Friends would meet, and be guided by the spirit. If a member felt the Spirit of God was moving them to say something, they would simply stand and do so.

This was my first lesson upon entering the Friend's church, and finding the pews not pointing towards the "front", where a clergy would give the sermon of the day, but instead pointing inwards towards the center, so all members could see each other. Even discussions about what actions to take in the community, or how to handle the budget needs, are performed by the entire group reaching consensus.

When the service actually started at 10:00, I took my seat, phone at the ready to fill my Twitter account with the proceedings. People took a seat, closed their eyes, and I waited.

And waited. 15 minutes in, nothing had happened. Some people arrived late, took a seat, and closed their eyes to meditate. 20 minutes. I kept looking around. Was there going to be a service? 30 minutes in.

Finally, a gentleman stood up, read a line from Psalms in the Bible, and sat back down again. A few minutes later, a lady stood up, shared her thoughts, and then took her seat, and the quiet continued.

This went on until at 11:00, the entire congregation turned to each other with declarations of "Hello, Friend!" There were hugs, shaking of hands, and general greetings. Then there were announcements. Again, instead of one person reading from the list, people were asked to give any announcement they had, and then if everyone could wait before giving theirs so as not to rush over each other.

Most of these were requests, such as "I have a friend who is sick, please hold them in the Light," or "So-and-so is looking for a job - please hold them in the Light." This was truly a democratic church in action - the members relying on each other for their spiritual needs.

As it turns out, the group is also probably the most environmentally conscious religion I've run across. Remember those rain barrels I mentioned at the beginning, so they could use less water for the church's plant needs? The group was nearly a commercial for the Toyota gas-sipping Prius - put my small VW Beetle to shame. During the pot luck meal after the service, members were encouraged not just rinse leftover food off their plates, but to scrape it into a compost heap first.

This idea of environmental service ran very deep with the group, along with a strong commitment to the local community, and to working for peaceful efforts for the world abroad. Members were involved in many exercises, from a lady I talked to that did negotiations work in Africa, to a gentleman who protested war. It seems it's not just enough to profess faith for the Quakers, but to be an active force for good in any way they can.

I have to say - this engendered a lot of respect from me. I have a soft spot for community service - for groups doing those things that many religions profess to care about (helping the poor, the sick, and the needy). Here was a religion that really put that message first and foremost, who put the idea that when Jesus called his disciples "friend", that he really meant it.