Quaker Worship

[poliphilo]

 There's a movement in our Meeting to return our worship (a word I don't much like but others do so let it stand) to the basics of Quaker spirituality. I'm not driving this movement but I support it. Quaker worship is an established way of getting in touch with the Higher Mind- and it works.

Quaker worship is very simple. We sit in fellowship for an agreed length of time. We don't speak unless moved to speak- and such words as are spoken should arise out of the Common Mind- out of the present moment- and be in harmony with it- like a fish surfacing in a pond. We should bring nothing to the silence that is pre-prepared. Such material- no matter how godly, how inspiring- is intrusive. It's disruptive. It imposes. It comes in from outside, from another place and time...

Also we should be sparing of our speech. Silence unites, words divide. The more you say, the greater the likelihood that you'll say something with which others disagree. 

I like the Quaker Way. I like its purity. It suits my current way of being. It is, of course- to use Bashar's terminology- simply a "permission slip". It allows us to transcend. Permission slips come in many forms- a High Mass, a sweat lodge, a spread of Tarot cards, a poetry reading, an hour spent looking at paintings. One shouldn't fixate on them, they are techniques, modalities, tools... 

Means to an end.

But every modality has its protocols- and if you're going to use one you might as well observe them...

Comments

[heleninwales]

During our Area Meeting a couple of weeks ago (which was a Meeting for Worship), we did a meditation that was called (I think) Experiments With Light. It was very effective. It wasn't totally silent because it was a guided meditation, but I found it really useful as a way of seeing things more clearly.

Regarding bringing quotations etc. in our meeting people (including me) do, very rarely, bring in something, but it will be something that fits with what arose at our last meeting and so brings continuity.

[poliphilo]

Quaker practice seems to vary widely. My experience is limited to the one Meeting House- but my idea of what is normative derives from Advice and Queries...

Over the past year our Meeting for Worship has been a bit of a free for all- but as numbers grow and we become better organised the Clerk and Elders have been trying to take us back to basics...

[heleninwales]

We are a tiny meeting and most weeks no one says anything at all. It's rare for someone to offer any sort of ministry. But I can see that in a large meeting you don't want everyone feeling they have to chip in and say something.