Just as you, Father, live in me and I live in you, I am asking that they may live in us, that the world may believe that you did send me. I have given them the honour that you gave me, that they may be one, as we are one—I in them and you in me, that they may grow complete into one, so that the world may realise that you sent me and have loved them as you loved me.
~John 17:21–23
It has been over 30 years since the beginning of my convincement as a Quaker, yet the experience of that first Meeting for Worship remains as immediate and vivid as though it had occurred just yesterday. Living in the Chicago area and distressfully lacking a church home, I watched with bemused skepticism one Sunday morning as my husband departed our home to scout out a Quaker Meeting. My amusement only increased when upon his return he spoke of the spiritual depth he had encountered at Downers Grove Friends Meeting.
The following week—to humor the poor, misguided man—I traced his path to the Meetinghouse confident of acquiring the irrefutable theological evidence for exposing his religious gullibility. After all, I knew Quakers to be an obscure cult.
Arriving early, I was greeted in the vestibule and encouraged to enter the worship room, where I found a single worshipper sitting with closed eyes and holding a Bible on her lap. As I found a seat, she opened her eyes and smiled a silent welcome. Unfamiliar with the protocol, I followed her example, closed my eyes, and began to pray. Soon others entered and quietly seated themselves. Astoundingly, after what seemed but a few minutes, I felt the Presence. I know there were spoken messages that day, but I did not hear them. At that moment in that Meeting, I fully encountered Christ. The union I felt is best described in John 17:23, “Christ in me, and I in him.” In that Meeting, I spent an hour in unity with God and walked away a changed woman.
Since that time, I have experienced the fullness of Christ many times. One such occasion came just a few months after my initial visit to Downers Grove. It was the time of the Spring Equinox, and most of the members were talking about their gardens and the beauty of nature. In Meeting for Worship that day, a lady stood and talked about the difference between “a good tree and a bad tree,” and sat down. Two minutes later, another woman stood up and sang (off-key), “Let It Be,” and sat down. Soon afterwards, a gentleman stood up and shared how he was thrilled to see purple crocuses peaking out of the snow. He was so delighted that he decided to bake brownies. In a matter of 10-15 minutes, I was not feeling the Presence and was angry that these three didn’t “understand” worship. Directly afterwards, I demanded a meeting with the Clerk of Ministry and Oversight. George and Kendrick shared the responsibility and found a room in which to talk privately with me.
My first question was, “Just what is Downers Grove Friends’ statement of faith?”
George asked, “What is yours?”
Before I could answer, he asked, “What is it that causes you to ask?”
I sarcastically repeated what I heard in Meeting and said, “What kind of theology is that?”
To which George asked, “Do you see Christ in any of them?” I scoffed and said, “No.”
George looked right into my eyes and asked, “Why not?” Time stood still with that question. I didn’t think God could possibly be working within them, much less be with them. Right after that two-word query was asked, I felt the Living Presence asking me the same question: “Why couldn’t I see Christ in them?”
Some moments had passed when Kendrick explained that all of us are on a journey of faith. Some of us are further along the path than others. However, all of us—to the best of our capacity—can experience the Presence of Christ and are being guided, shaped, and formed by it. How we experience the Divine is diverse. The One who walks with me guides and transforms me in the way that fits me. How another is guided and transformed is uniquely their own experience.
For the next half-hour, we sat in silence while the power of God persuaded me that I was the one who didn’t understand worship.
Again I left transformed, realizing that the experience of unity with Christ is not only a personal event, but a corporate one as well. These two elders led me to the place where I understood that the experience of faith includes diversity, care, and peace. As Friends gather in worship—in the unity that Jesus describes in John 17—Christ expands our vision of God, our vision of each other, and our vision of the world.
My vision has expanded throughout countless moments of transformation and unity like the ones I experienced in worship at Downers Grove. Each time I come under the power of a tangible Christianity that is to be lived, experienced, and embodied—not only with Christ, but with each other. Over the past 30 years, the statements of belief, creeds, and doctrine that used to be meaningful to me have been replaced with the expectation that all will encounter the Presence of Christ as we walk this walk together.
—Annie Glen
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