Society of Friends CD and joke....

Subject: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: InOBU
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 05:57 PM

Yesterday some of us were brainstorming on how to raise $s to help keep our 200 year old meetinghouse going... I suggested we do a CD (at Hearthside Cooperative) of an afternoon we had of Quaker artists, singers instrumentalists poets, the whole catastropy. I said, we can reach out to the non-Quaker community by offering it as a way of experiencing silent worship as well... just play the other side of the CD.
Yuck yuck yuck...
Cheers,
Larry

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: Burke
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 06:25 PM

How about a CD of Quaker songs & hymns? ;-) BG

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: Helen
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 06:34 PM

InObu,

I went to a meeting of the Society of Friends once. No one told us anything about it. My friend and I sat down to wait for the meeting to start, not realising that when the first person sits down that is when the meeting *would* start, so thenwe were the initiators of the meeting.

Then we sat in silence, and sat and sat, wondering what would happen and when. We sat in silence for an hour, but I was happy enough with that. Silence and a bit of thinking/meditating was a luxury.

Then, finally someone spoke and I began to get the idea about how the meetings go, based on whoever is inspired to speak.

I always intended to go back but have never made the time. I liked it a lot better than the traditional and over-ritualised church services I had grown up with.

Helen

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: mooman
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 07:16 PM

I had a similar experience to Helen when our daughter was much younger and we were all invited to the local Friends Meeting House.

Like Helen's experience there was silence for a long time until one Friend spoke up saying more or less how pleasing it was to have a young child in their midst and how this was mindful of the beauty of creation and of the importance of family, or words to that effect.

I have always had a very high regard for Quakers and their style of worship and feel very remiss in not going back, although I am not a particularly religious person.

mooman

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: sophocleese
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 10:24 PM

I love the idea Larry!

When I got married, in Quaker ceremony, my mom wanted to have a video of the event. I thought that there would be nothing more disastrous for a Quaker wedding than to have somebody prowling a silent meeting with a video camera. We ended up compromising, the video camera was set up on a tripod so that it aimed down the center of the meeting right where my mate and I would be sitting. It would be turned on just before the wedding and left alone until people started moving and then my brother would take it around during the potluck lunch. Great idea. Not an awful lot of drama though in a Friend's wedding. We get to see a couple of young nephews getting very restless and changing laps, we see people turning their heads to look at a speaker somewhere off camera. Watching the video with my relatives was hilarious, "Oh look that must be Thelma's foot!" "There's Mavis' hand reaching for her purse!"

Mom really wanted the video to send to relatives in England. This meant we had to take it to a video place to get it converted for English TV. The poor guy who was doing it kept stopping to make sure the video was going properly: it seemed strangely silent in places.

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 09:33 AM

Larry

go for the whole experience and include a small sachet of porage oats with the sleeve notes :-D

For the record "The Quaker Songbook" (London Yearly Meeting c 1980) contains around 150 songs written or composed by Friends and is well worth a look. Why should the devil have all the best tunes after all?

No drama at Quaker weddings? What about all that fun business when everyone rushes forward to sign the certificate?

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: InOBU
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 02:39 PM

As long as we don't include "Walk in the light..." a rather quaint old tune... in my old leather breaches and my shaggy shaggy locks, I am walking in the glory of the light said Fox... Now with the new Shaggy, when I hear that wee song, I think... "I wasn't me!" Kinda adds a sad new meaning! Cheers, Larry

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: Burke
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 06:21 PM

Just don't do "How can I keep from singing"

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: Jeri
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 06:32 PM

"...quaint old tune" - I think Sydney Carter wrote it. Couldn't be that old.

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: Penny S.
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 06:49 PM

"Dear Lord and Father of Mankind"?

The BBC did a live radio broadcast of a Quaker Meeting a few years ago. There were a couple of problems to be overcome, of course. The obvious one was overcome by playing quiet music over the radio (not in Meeting) and fading it out for ministry. I'm not sure how they dealt with making sure that the staff in the meeting room recognised that they were part of the meeting. (I'm not sure if I've put that well, but it is not accepted that there could be an observer who was separate from what was happening in the meeting.) There was also a TV broadcast, more recently, from Wanstead, I think. There were several camera angles, and some looking out of the window, a variety of images. Silence is better done visually, maybe.

Penny

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: InOBU
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 10:31 PM

Well the tune was old in the early sixties, so I guess its old! Cheers Larry

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 04 Jul 01 - 03:07 AM

G'day Jeri & InOBU:

George Fox (aka Old Leather Breeches) was written by Sydney Carter in the 1960s. At least the chorus tune (the "Old Leather Breeches" part)is an old Morris tune Monk's March ... I am not so sure about the verse tune.

I will look it up when I get home and correct myself, if necessary.

BTW: I have friends who are Friends and have been to their Quaker weddings in Hobart, Tasmania and in Sydney (both Australia). There was no objection or worry about me photographing during the services. I haven't tried video, but I'm sure there would have been no problem with sensible video work by the available light (much better than obtrusive movie lights or such intrusions).

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: Eluned
Date: 04 Jul 01 - 04:20 AM

There are a couple of good books out by a non-quaker but spiritual lady (also an artist) named Sue Bender who spent some time in a Quaker community. The emphasis was on seeking simplicity in life, learning to not rush from place to place - it was not only what she said (since this is a message we hear from time to time), however, but how well she said it, and how she evoked that simpler way of life, that made am impression on me.
Eluned

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: InOBU
Date: 04 Jul 01 - 07:27 AM

Hi Bob:
You are mostlikey right, the fact that it is a Morris tune makes it sound old, and also Quakers only got used (kinda) to the concept of music and art recently...
Cheers Larry

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: pavane
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 07:06 AM

Monks March is certainly old. Here is a reference to it printed in 1682: The Brimingham ballad on their royal highnesses return from Scotland ("Room, room for cavaliers, bring us more wine ...") To the tune of: Monk's march

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: pavane
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 07:07 AM

I wonder where Brimingham is....

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: Willie-O
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 08:21 AM

It's only stretching a point slightly to describe "Rise Up Singing", for better or worse, as the ultimate Quaker songbook. That is, in fact, the spiritual underpinning of the book's editor, clearly reflected in much of the choice of material. (which _does_ include "How Can I Keep From Singing?")

Simpler way of life, I don't know about that. Seeing as I have a workaholic Quaker spouse whose large Quaker family is forever globetrotting for some good cause or cultural exchange or what have you.

Willie-O
lapsed Unitarian

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: Burke
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 09:17 AM

Rise up Singing has songs from many traditions. I said not to do "How can I keep from Singing" because it was misidentified as a Quaker tune. It's composer & probably author, Robert Lowry, wrote many hymans thatcan be found in many evangelical hymnals. There's an added verse that came from Pete Seeger's source for the tune.

I was responding to the idea of traditonal Quater hymns. Traditional hymns now used by Quakers would be a different issue.

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 05:48 PM

Eluned, is it possible that you are thinking of 'Shakers' rather than 'Quakers'?

Subject: RE: Society of Friends CD and joke....
From: Burke
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 07:52 PM

Sue Bender wrote about staying with the Amish:
Plain and simple : a woman's journey to the Amish.