You will find me here most Thursdays, from 5:30-6:30 pm, Newman Centre, 3484 Peel St., in the second
floor library, or Ryan Room.
As many of my UU friends know, I am an active member of
the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and my home Meeting is in Ottawa. However, from my early days of employment as
a Director of Religious Education, I
have called myself a "Quakertarian," because I feel very comfortable
with UU principles and practices, and I very much enjoy Sunday or other UU
services.
Of course, working as I do -- with great pleasure! -- on
Sunday mornings (currently at the Unitarian Church of Montreal), I don't get to
Sunday "meeting for worship" -- as a Quaker "service" is
called -- very often. So over the years that I have been a DRE, I have found
various ways to give myself
"sabbath time" for rest and renewal.
This year, to my great delight, a loose group of
Montrealers with Quaker connections, under the care of Montreal Friends
Meeting, have been working to initiate a mid-week Quaker "meeting for
worship"at McGill. We began last Thursday, September 25th, at 5:30 pm, with the door closing around
5:45, after spending the first l5 minutes settling into the room, our circle of
chairs, and the silence. We "broke
worship" at 6:30 with the usual Quaker handshake, but kept holding hands
as we sang "Tis A Gift To Be Simple," and then shared a bit about who
we are and what our Quaker experiences have been.
We plan to meet weekly, with once a month special
sessions for newcomers (though all of the meetings will be friendly to
newcomers). Please drop in to join us,
and see if the hour of worship feeds your inner being as it does mine! Depending on what Quakers would call the
movement of the Spirit amongst us, the time together may be wholly one of
silent seeking, or one, two or even a few people may "give ministry"
or speak from their hearts into the silence.
All are welcome!
Meeting is held in the Ryan room (the library) on the
second floor of the Newman Centre, 3484 Peel St., north of Sherbrooke.
(Go in the main
entrance to Newman Centre, which faces south, straight up the stairs, and the
Ryan room is at the end of the hall, facing Peel).
