Moment of calm in city's square

WERE you in Exeter around midday around on Sunday, May 24? If you were you might recall a group of eight people in Bedford Square sitting silently on camp stools around a makeshift table with flowers upon it.

You probably ignored it. There are always some strange people about doing strange things. But what was really going on?

Those eight people were Quakers. They had left their regular Sunday Meeting at the Friends' Meeting House at 11am carrying their camping stools and table with them.

This was a Quaker Meeting for Worship that had begun in the Meeting House at 10.30am and was continuing in the city centre for all to see. The point? To reach out — to offer the opportunity to join in, to ask a question or take a leaflet. To let the people of Exeter know we are here.

Quakers never evangelise or seek to convert others. They know everybody has their own personal journey.

However, they recognise that it takes a certain courage to enter a place of worship for the first time. Here the walls were down. This was no demonstration or stunt, just an open invitation to take an interest in a real Quaker Meeting.

Well, what happened?

The Quakers themselves will tell you that they experienced a genuine Meeting for Worship. The silence that is the hallmark of a Quaker Meeting felt deep and safe despite the hustle and bustle.

We had to apply for permission from the authorities to hold this meeting, but once granted we were exercising a hard-won right of freedom of assembly and worship in this country. It is a right not enjoyed in many parts of the world for religion is often inconvenient to power.

What though of the passers-by? What did they make of it?

Some make a business of simply 'not noticing' what's going on. There are those who notice but adopt a diversionary "I am busy with my shopping/child/shoelaces" tactic.

A few have a diffident "What's all this but I don't want to get suckered into something" approach.

They may look more closely, but not stop.

A leaflet may be accepted or a polite "Good morning" may be exchanged. More usually, it's not. These passers-by do indeed pass by.

Rather rare is the full-frontal inquiry, but at least a couple of people have on occasion sat down with us. One young woman said: "I've been thinking of coming to your Meeting House but now you have come to me"; another person said she just needed a little time and space to help her over a recent family trauma.

A young Chinese person asked: "Is it meditation? Is it yoga?" The answer to both questions is no. Quaker Meeting for Worship is better experienced than defined. Quakers say it is a silent waiting upon God.

What is too easily taken for granted is the remarkable fact that a Quaker Meeting can be held at all in a shopping centre. Exeter shoppers demonstrate a respect and toleration that is rare and precious.

There was no disruption or derision as elsewhere there quite easily might have been. The British street, although apparently overshadowed by materialistic values, makes room for alternative realities. Exeter Quakers are grateful for this.

The next outdoor Quaker Meeting will be held on Sunday, October 4. Do look out for us!

Regular Quaker Meetings are held on Sundays at Wynards Lane opposite the Hotel Barcelona from 10.30am to 11.30am and on Thursdays at Mary Arches Church from 12.15pm to 12.45pm.