Attending first Quaker meeting – what should I know?
I’m a Quaker in the liberal unprogrammed tradition. We do call ourselves Quakers, for sure. An unprogrammed meeting for worship is generally close to an hour of silent (or “expectant”) worship, though tardiness is endemic in every meeting I’ve ever attended and that cuts into it. People may speak out of the silence “as they’re led.” Some meetings have a time for more casual sharing towards the end; my meeting does this and we call it “joys and sorrows.” The clerk (the person sort of in charge of shepherding the meeting) might say something like, “Are there any joys, sorrows, or concerns people would like to share out of the spirit of our meeting?” and then people will share short things about surgeries, illnesses, anniversaries, the really amazing sunset they saw on Thursday, etc. Not all meetings do this. Meeting usually ends with friendly handshakes to the people around you, initiated by the clerk. Some meetings do introductions at that point; newcomers may be asked to introduce them
