SILENCE AND WAITING
Like many people who are attracted to Quaker worship, I was drawn to the silence. I first attended a Quaker meeeting over thirty years ago and loved it. Thanks to my background as a Catholic and member of a religious order, I have been familiar with silent meditation for decades. In my early life in the convent, we used to gather together for silent prayer each morning and evening. These were special times and I used to love being in the silent chapel feeling the stillness descend.
For years I thought Quaker worship was the same; a group of people praying in silence and occasionally speaking their thoughts. It was only when I started using the “Becoming Friends” pack as a way of deepening my understanding of Quaker faith and life, that I learnt that the meeting for worship is much more than that.
Friends speak of a ‘gathered’ meeting, when people join together for worship and open up to the workings of the spirit in themselves and in the group. I have realized over the past weeks that we are not silent individuals who happen to be in the same space, but a community, settling into the same silence from which words may or may not emerge. I realise now the difference between sharing a silent space and sharing the silence. I can’t at the moment put it inti words but I know my own attitude to being at meeting for worship is changing as I am experiencing this new insight.
SPEAKING IN MEETING FOR WORSHIP
Quakers have no rules, just advices and suggestions for living. I did find guidelines for speaking at meeting very helpful as I had always thought that people just said what ever came to them. It’s my understanding that there are certain indications which help us to judge when it is the time to speak or the time to stay silent. In the “Becoming Friends”course there is a set of questions to ask oneself before speaking. Again, these are not directions but help in clarification. Speaking in meeting is ministry, spirit- led to help ourselves and others. One of the great gifts of Quaker life for me is that there is no hierarchy and all are equal before God and so all are called to ministry. I see more clearly now why ministry during meeting is so important.
“We seek a gathered stillness in our meetings for worship
so that all may feel the power of God’s love drawing us together and leading us.”
Quaker Advices and Queries: 8
Live Adventurously 