worship

Quakers and Worship

An Introduction

The form and essence of Quaker worship comes from a distinctive Quaker understanding of the sacraments, particularly the nature of communion. In Quaker sacramental practice, worship is communion: the faith community uniting in a single body to dwell deeply in the presence of God. We affirm that spiritual reality can be accessible, even palpable, without the intervention of symbols and rituals. Instead of wafers and wine, Quaker communion consists of hearts and minds and spirits, opened to the in-dwelling of the divine.

Quakers, even those who are called "unprogrammed", practice both open and programmed forms of worship: waiting (sometimes called "silent") worship, and meeting for worship with a concern for business. Starting in the mid-19th century, Quaker worship broadened significantly from earlier forms. Many contemporary Quaker meetings sometimes include planned singing, scripture reading, corporate vocal prayer, or preaching in their worship. What characterizes all Quaker worship, regardless of form, is the intention to submit to God as head of the worshiping body, to become one in the Spirit, and to be faithfully used as the bearers of whatever ministry God gives to the gathered Friends.

This summary was written by Kody Hersh, who is a member of Miami Monthly Meeting and serves on the Youth Ministries Committee of FGC.

Lisa Rand
My aspiration is to be conscious of God throughout my day, every day.  Meanwhile, times of intentional worship, with Friends and on my own, help me to cultivate this consciousness.

In the 16th century, Hindu poet Mirabai wrote a beautiful phrase that captures a sense of my experience of worship:  “The energy that holds up mountains is the energy I bow to.”  When I sit in the meetinghouse or in my home, and try to open the ears of my heart to hear Spirit, I am connecting with my life energy.  It makes me feel grateful, humble, and connected to the rest of creation.  The life energy that is in me is also in my neighbor, in the grass, in the mountains.  When I pay attention to this reality, I am filled with awe and reverence for my Creator, the source of this life energy.

Worship can potentially occur in any time and place where we are filled with wonder and love for something larger than ourselves.  For me, some worship takes place in silence and physical stillness, while other worship involves movement and sound.  

Since the natural world triggers a sense of wonder in me, walks outdoors are an important part of my personal worship.  These walks refresh me, and I have found that refreshment to be an important spiritual tool.  When stress is minimized, I am more likely to be able to deeply listen to others, to be fully present to others, and to respond as my best self.           

My first experience that felt like true worship caught me off guard, for it came at a time when I had lost my faith and was feeling rather agnostic.  I was singing “Kyrie eleison” in a school chorus.  I felt awestruck that our Creator gave us the ability to discover music, and bodies that could produce these sounds.  When we sang, the physical spaces between our bodies blurred; my voice joined and danced with the others.  We were one body, in true communion.  I learned that even in times when we feel lost or spiritually dry, worship—in whatever form speaks to us—can help us to cultivate awe and reverence.

When we come together to worship as Friends, part of the beauty for me is that our different conceptions of God do not change our ability to come together and drink from a living stream, to come together and connect with Spirit, to come together to fill our wells of wonder and love.  

Lisa Rand is a member of Unami Meeting (Philadelphia Yearly Meeting).  She has worked at Friends Journal and at Friends schools.  Lisa writes, teaches yoga, and plays with her family on their small organic farm.              

Greg Woods
"For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."- Matthew 18:20

My deepest experiences with worship, when I have felt totally immersed with the Holy Spirit, have happened when I have been worshiping amongst a group of people. I remember once being out in South Dakota and a group of us met for silent worship after a long workday. During the worship, we witnessed an amazing sunset and animals in the wild. Another time I sat in worship for ten hours with a group of peers discerning clerks for the next year's FGC High School Gathering. When we left the room, it had felt like only an hour had passed.

When I try to pray while I am alone, it is a difficult experience, I cannot keep focused, I feel antsy, but when I am in worship sharing the Holy Communion with fellow Friends, it is much easier to explore the Divine. This is why I love the above Bible passage from the Book of Matthew, because worship is a way to strengthen bonds within a community while seeking Divine guidance. This is why Friends have always placed a great emphasis on community a part of the religion

In thinking about my experiences in worship, I have realized that a majority of my deepest worship experiences have happened outside of a regular meeting for worship at monthly meeting. These experiences have happened at conferences, retreats, or occasions when I have gathered with a small group for potluck and worship. Recently I reflected on this with a small group of Friends, I realized, during our discussion, that in regular First Day meeting for worship, we let time break the silence, instead of the Holy Spirit, as early Friends did. Instead, we say that we are open to worshiping together only for an hour on the morning of First Day, no matter what God is calling to us to do together. Instead, we should listen for God's guidance for when we should end.

The difference is at conferences and retreats we generally have more opportunities to gather for worship over the weekend or during the week. Before we meet in worship at those events, we have prepared ourselves. On First Days, we might have spent the morning reading the newspaper, listening to NPR or doing something other than preparing ourselves for worship. I know that before going to meeting, I have usually read the front section of the Washington Post, which doesn’t prepare me to worship, because my mind usually becomes focused on whatever I read that morning, like politics or which famous person was seen around the city.

Quakerism is a unique religion. Our religion was founded on the basis that each person can have a direct relationship with God and each of us can be called by the Holy Spirit to give messages to the gathered community. The religion has changed in many ways in the last 350 years, but this element remains a key part of worship. I have no concrete answers on how to directly address how we find more time for worship, but I think if we try to operate more on God's time, instead of manmade time, we can improve the spiritual depth of our regular First Days.

Greg Woods, a member of Columbia Monthly Meeting in Missouri, now attends Friends Meeting of Washington. When he isn't working as the Coordinator of Washington Quaker Workcamps at the William Penn House, he can be found attending demolition derbies or monster truck rallies.

Mary Crauderueff
In my experience as a Quaker, speaking out of the silence during meeting was something that as a child I wanted to do, as a teenager I was intimidated by, and as a young adult I have started to actually do.  It was not until I was 20 years-old, after returning from a life-changing conference (the World Gathering of Young Friends 2005) that I finally did so.  For me, knowing that I need to rise and speak comes from the literal shaking that I get sitting in meeting for worship.  I often put it back down, but if the quaking is persistent enough, I know that God has a message not only for me, but for the whole meeting.  As an unprogrammed Friend, I learned that one does not bring anything into meeting with the intent to speak - one's message should come from God during that sacred time.  However, over the years, as I’ve listened to and been a part of other worship services, I have come to realize that words brought to a service can be just as powerful as those that arise during the silent worship hour.  Until almost exactly a year ago, I never thought those words could be mine.

I was asked to write an introduction of unprogrammed meeting for worship for the young adult Friends conference in Richmond, Indiana in May 2008. During the course of the conference, it became clear that what I had originally written was not going to be adequate enough to convey what I wanted. Throughout the weekend there were many worship times and other spaces where I felt God, and his Spirit moving through the conference. Although I enjoyed the other worship services, I felt discouraged that when we had silent times, they were not treated the way I felt unprogrammed worship should be.

On the last morning of the conference, I went into the worship time ready to do the introduction for unprogrammed worship like I am used to, as a former stage manager. As we settled into silence, however, I felt a quaking inside of me. Part of what I knew I needed to say was not going to be easy, and I was scared. A lot of work had been accomplished by the group during the course of the weekend. I did not want to take anything away with offending Friends in my introduction. As I prepared to stand, God shook me. I stood ready to speak, shaking, and as I started to read, tears flowed down my face. I am not used to having a message that was already written down be, or become, a message from God. Although the worship time was short, as I settled in after my message, I could tell that there had been a shift in the tone of the worship.

To read Mary’s introduction to unprogrammed meeting for worship, click on the attachment below.

Mary is a member of Radnor Meeting (Philadelphia Yearly Meeting) and a recent graduate of the University of Maryland's iSchool with a specialization in Archives and Records Management.  She has many Quaker-focused research interests, recently including Quaker blogs as an extension of Quaker Journals and the role of Quaker children's book in guiding Quaker identity.

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What is Quaker Quest?
Quaker Quest is a program that explores how Quakerism is a simple, radical, and contemporary spiritual path for our time. Quaker Quest offers Friends an opportunity to articulate their faith, deepen relationships within their meeting/church, and share their spiritual stories with the larger community.

The public Quaker Quest sessions are structured gatherings for people interested in learning about Quakerism.  As part of the public Quaker Quest sessions, three people from a Quaker meeting share from the heart about their experiences on a particular topic.  These presentations are prepared in advance and include brief quotes from Faith and Practice or other resources.  Presenters mostly share stories that illuminate their journeys around the topic.  

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