Ihave worked as a writer/editor for many years, so it surprises no one who knows me that my introduction to Quakerism was through grammar. “Thee/thou/thy” sound formal to modern Americans because these pronouns are antiquated. I found a footnote in a textbook that explained that Quakers used these informal terms as a way of expressing equality among all humans. I was intrigued.

My father is a retired Lutheran pastor. I grew up with Midwestern church communities like those described in Garrison Keillor’s “Lake Wobegon.” As a teenager, I began to reexamine Christianity and found that although I loved the hymns and the community, I had serious doubts about the creed. I felt like a hypocrite reciting it each week. I became a seeker for the next 15-plus years.

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