Canine Quakers

As part of his ongoing investigation into Christian spirituality, Lord Bassington-Bassington recently attended a worship service by the Religious Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers.

While many fine humans have been attracted by the Friends’ intriguing blend of spirituality and social action, His Lordship was a bit surprised to find that two upstanding members of the Basset community, Embla and Ida, are Quakers.

The worship style used by Norwegian Quakers tends to be of the unprogrammed kind, and has no formal liturgy. It is conducted in silence, a silence that is only broken when one of the congregation feels moved by the Holy Spirit to say something. At the service attended by Lord Bassington-Bassington, 50 minutes passed in total silence, a silence framed in a lovely veil of summer rain.

While such prolonged periods of silence can be challenging for many humans, this form of meditative worship is ideally suited to the temperament of the Basset, as clearly demonstrated by Embla and Ida, who are here seen in deep contemplation of the mysteries of the divine.