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THANKS TO THE QUAKERS
2-7-10
My friend, Mike Thatcher, died last night and it sent me into a mood of
deep appreciation and admiration for the Quakers who have contributed so
much to my life and my way of thinking. I am not even sure Mike was a
Quaker but he was shaped a lot by their philosophy.
Mike’s father introduced me to Quakerism back when I was a young man and
had embraced no religion. I was in the hospital and awoke from a nap to
find Alfred Thatcher sitting by my bed with his head bowed. When he
heard me stirring he said, “I am Alfred Thatcher of the local meeting of
Friends and as I walked down the hall something tugged at me to come in
here and pray for you.”
I was impressed because at that moment in my life I needed prayer. I was
turned off by religion and needed a new and different way to look at it.
When I got out of the hospital, I went to one of their unstructured
meetings, no knowing what to expect.
After handshakes and brief conversations in the church foyer, they
walked into a room and sat in a circle. No one said a word. They just
got real quiet and sat. I would guess they sat close to 30 minutes and
only one person ever spoke. He simply quoted the verse from Isaiah,
“They who wait on the Lord shall mount up with wings as an eagle,” etc.
At first I was uncomfortable. I peeped at the others. Some had their
heads bowed, some were just looking straight forward, but I could tell
they were in prayer or, as the verse said, waiting on the Lord. Soon I
entered the spirit of the silence (which many of them spell with a
capital S), and it was a deeply beautiful spiritual experience for me.
I did not join. I am not a joiner. I like to attend different kinds of
worship service but none have ever impressed me more than the Quakers.
As I did when I first experienced Christian Science, Methodism, Unity
School of Christianity, Religious Science and several others, I embarked
upon a voracious reading adventure to learn as much as I could
assimilate about Quakers It certainly made founder George Fox one of my
heroes.
George was “new thought” before the terms became common. To me, that
means he saw man as a powerful son of the living God rather than a
sinful, weak work of the dust. I started seeing God and people that way
even when I was a child and didn’t know how to verbalize it.
Fox taught there was “that of God” in every person. He called it “the
seed” and “the Light.”
They are a peaceful people who believe in living a simple, righteous
life. I have subscribed to their magazine, Friends Journal, most of my
life. Right now I subscribe to it as well as the Unitarian-Universalist
magazine, Unity, Science of Mind and Creative Thought. Sometimes I drop
by the Christian Science book store and pick up their magazines and
newspaper.
Most of the Quakers I know are very committed and live by their values
and principles.
I will always be grateful for the day Alfred Thatcher stopped and prayed
for me. I will always remember Mike Thatcher with keen appreciation and
warm friendship.
There are so many good people in this world and just think -- we get to
enjoy them all and learn great things from them.
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