Those Quaker People

So Murph and i are leading worship at a conference this week in northern Indiana.  the name of the camp is Quaker Haven Camp, which sparked an interesting conversation at breakfast this morning.  murph tells is like this:

Several of the kitchen staff had come and joined as by this point, so there were about 5 of us all together.  Adam looks over at my mug and says, “You even have a Quaker Haven mug.”

“Yep.” says I.  [Brace yourselves]

Adam continues… “So, if it’s called Quaker Haven, where are all the Quakers?”

“I couldn’t say,” I replied, pretty in to my coffee.

“I mean, if it’s a haven for Quakers, you’d think there would be more Quakers running around, right?”

And then a small voice chimed-in from across the table, “I’m a Quaker.”

“Me too,” answered another.

The kitchen staff was kind enough to reveal themselves to us.  Now… the encounter could have ended there with a few poilte remarks and smiles.  But wait.  There’s more.

“Really?  What makes you a Quaker?” asks Adam, genuinely curious and making attempts at polite conversation.

“My beliefs,” answers our new friend.

“Yeah?  What are those?”

“I don’t really know,” she said.  Clearly moving towards embarrassment.

“You don’t know?” Adam continued.  “Are you a non-practicing Quaker?”

Okay, so i’m not great with people…