Jordans Quaker Centre, William Penn, and Me

I am doing a cat sit in the beautiful village of Seer Green, England.

My lovely hosts, Victoria and Andrew are in Singapore. They are kind and generous educators. It is a return to a city where they taught for many years and friends they still treasure.

They have two beautiful neighbours, Ian and Kathleen. They are a couple in their 80s. It was Ian who recommended visiting the Jordans Burial Ground and the Quaker Meeting House to me. They have a giant apple tree in their yard and there is a bounty of apples on the grass. I brought them some vegetable soup to exchange for the apples.

I will post a pic of apple crumble or pie when I have accomplished that.

Back to the Quakers and William Penn. As an American who has lived near Philadelphia, I was intrigued to visit his grave thousands of miles away in England. My knowledge of William Penn includes that in Philadelphia there was a gentleman’s agreement that no building in Philadelphia would be higher than his statue atop City Hall.

The manager of this campus is a beautiful woman from South Africa who identifies as a Baptist and embraces the values and simplicity of Quaker worship.

She shared the principles of the Quaker beliefs. I should say that she presented this tour to me and another couple from London. They were retired people who had driven three hours to visit the meeting house. The man had done a PhD on one of the founders of the Quaker organisation and augmented the presentation beautifully without overstepping or trying to overshadow. It was a lovey sharing of his knowledge and passion and together, he and the manager did an extemporaneous presentation that was a gift to receive.

The Quaker faith is based on six core values represented by the acronym SPICES:

Simplicity

Peace

Integrity

Community

Equality

Stewardship

Instead of a Sunday service with bible readings, hymns, and other verbal expressions of worship, Quaker’s gather in silence awaiting the word of God, open to His/Her/Its presence. There is no vicar. There are no deacons. All are equal. If one feels moved by the Holy Spirit to share, s/he rises and speaks.

I am not an expert. I am trying to express what I learned in a few simple sentences that may inspire others to contemplate this beautiful philosophy.

I will share more about the Quakers after I visit worship tomorrow. I met a great guy in here who invited me and shared a leaflet. I as guided here by a nice woman that I met walking her dogs, Christine. We exchanged numbers and I hope to see her again.