Thursday, January 11, 2007

Reflections on 100 Hours Part 1

My mind is still buzzing over a couple of the events I attended in the early/mid part of the week. The class led by Pilgrimgirl was something I found especially provocative. Though I was baffled by some aspects of the discussion on prayer (verbal vs. non-verbal, vocalized vs. non-vocalized), the depth of thought about every-day worship was something I found very appealing. It's too easy in life to skip introspection for the external demands which are placed upon us. For those who don't want to think about this in spiritual terms, imagine setting aside time for a self-assessment at the beginning and end of each day. Imagine taking the time to review the things one wants to do better in life or for the day ahead, and the taking an inventory of the things that went well (or which could have gone better) each evening. In my mind, prayer lies in that direction of introspection, though with a difference in one's state of mind.

A friend of mine in a 12-step program reminded me of their tradition of acknowledgement of a "higher power," which always reminds me of the Quaker non-specific description of divinity. Though the Quaker descriptions tend to focus inward (inner-Light, "that of God in all of us," etc).

Back to the class, I found it so gratifying to join a group of people willing and able to discuss their slightly different attitudes towards prayer, including struggles against their Church's traditions (perhaps too weak a term) of prayer. Briefly touched upon their tradition of passing into divinity after death, which I'm not that familiar with. What an amazing comfort it must be to have faith in that kind of afterlife. Difficult for me to understand the rigidity of practice in a Church, such rigidity that the thought of deviating from stated acceptable practice is a source of fear for some. It wasn't my place to provide comfort for that pain and fear to a someone who I barely know, but I wish that it was. My ministry kung-fu is weak.

The class closed with the song (hymn?) "Secret Prayer" which was ... beautiful. It really served to remind me that I miss the musical tradition of Quakerism which I grew up in. A friend who attended the class asked me whether music was a part of Quaker worship, which is a difficult question to answer. My understanding is that different Meetings have different traditions of music. This is perhaps a problem in the fragmentation in the practice of Quakerism. I get the feeling that one can get a fairly consistent experience in LDS Churches (actually, that's just an assumption), which is kind of true when one travels within various unprogrammed Meetings. However, music doesn't really seem to consistently fall under the umbrella of worship in Quaker meetings. I don't ever remember anything more formal than the type of group sing we did at the close of last night's class (pass around the hymn book, and let's all sing...).

6 comments:

  1. Pilgrimgirl sent me to read your blog about the group. It is a very insightful post, thanks for posting it.

    There is definite comfort in the faith of that kind of afterlife (at least for me anyway). There is a consistent feel to most LDS meetings. They all follow the same basic structure, which includes verbal/vocal prayer, singing of hymns (songs) and lessons. There are three separate parts to an LDS church service and they all have those three components in every one-basically you are looking at 6 prayers, 7 songs (Sacrament meeting has 3 instead of 2), and the lessons/teaching. Music is a very big part of the LDS service, and of the LDS culture in general (i.e. Mormon Tabernacle Choir).

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  2. Hey Tanya Sue! We'd met before at on the non-consumerism day, right?

    I really appreciate the details on LDS services and insight into LDS culture.

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  3. Hey Juan Blanco,

    Yes, we did meet at the anti-consumerism party. You went into my favorite bead stores looking for bread. I just go by Tanya in person.

    No problem on the info. It was really great to read that you had an interesting experience at the group. Hopefully you will speak up more if you attend again. I would love to hear experiences and insight of people from other faiths and backgrounds.

    I tired to post this once but your blog doesn't seem to like it...

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  4. Mmmmm.... Sweet, crusty, crunchy, fragrant, .... beads?!

    For the record, I realized that the Brea bead store was a bead store. It was "Bead Addict" in Placentia which confounded me. Curses!

    I was hoping to be a consistent attender to the class, but have a conflict with another class. Still frustrated thinking about it. However, I'll be around as much as John and Jana can stand me. :-)

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  5. John,
    Glad you were able to make it to the class! Too bad you have a conflict Wed nights. I would have loved to hear some of your insights and approaches to spirituality.

    I can see why you'd think some of our conversation was bizarre. Compared to Quakerism, Mormonism can be pretty rigid. I'm very attracted to various aspects of Quakerism.

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  6. Caroline, thanks for your kind words. It felt very important for me to be respectful of the situation, and I felt that if I spent time talking about my contrasting viewpoint, it would have been presumptuous, so I tried to keep it brief. I think I'll be able to make a few classes during the semester, so I won't disappear.

    The toughest part for me was seeing people clearly in pain, but not being in a position to offer comfort. I hope that changes.

    And as I'm sure the Remy's have mentioned, there's always an open invitation to come to Meeting with us.

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