Quaker
LibraryPAGE TWO: WORSHIP
Index of pages: 1: Introduction, 2:Worship, 3:History,
4:Practices
The Quakers, or Our Neighbors, The Friends
By William J. Whalen
About the Author:
Since 1950 William J. Whalen has directed the publications program at Purdue University where he is also an associate professor of communication. He attended the University of Notre Dame and received degrees from Marquette and Northwestern. During World War II he served as a Navy public information officer on Saipan and Guam. Professor Whalen is the author or co-author of 13 books and more than 200 articles, pamphlets, and encyclopedia entries. He is a Roman Catholic.
The present pamphlet was originally published in 1966 by Claretian Publications. It is now republished by Friends General Conference with permission from the author, who has also approved certain up-datings and minor changes in wording.
Personal Commitment and Inner Light
Quakers do not win acceptance because they are numerous or because they are growing in numbers. What does distinguish the Quakers from many other Christians is their personal commitment to God and humanity. The Quaker worships God by serving Him through society. Although decidedly mystical, Quakerism does not understand a purely interior religion. It believes that the Christian faith must express itself in action and service.
The Quaker tries to seek direct divine illumination by jettisoning all of the Christian sacraments, rituals, hymns, formal prayers, and priesthood. The Quaker tries to live by the Inner Light; and some understanding of what is meant by this term is central to an understanding of Quakerism.
This Inner Light is not conscience but it is that which enlightens conscience. Quaker theologians usually describe the Inner Light as "that of God in each man." People discern the Inner Light when they silently and patiently wait for God to speak to them. Such direct illumination is far superior to the written revelation of the Bible or the Tradition of the church, in the Quaker view.
Here is how the founder of Quakerism described the Inner Light:
The Lord God hath opened to me by His invisible power how that every man was enlightened by the divine Light of Christ; and I saw it shine through all and that they that believed in it came out of condemnation and came to the Light of Life, and became the children of it; but they that hated it, and did not believe in it, were condemned by it, though they made a profession of Christ. This I saw in the pure openings of the Light, without the help of any man, neither did I then know where to find it. For I saw in that Light and Spirit which was before Scripture was given forth, that all must come to that Spirit-if they would know God or Christ or the Scriptures aright-which they that gave them forth were led and taught by.
 George Fox (1624-1691), the founder of the Society of Friends. |
Quaker attitudes toward the Bible stand in sharpest contrast to the orthodox Protestant. Quakers consider the Bible to be a word of God but consider the Inner Light to be a manifestation of God. The same spirit of God which inspired the writers of sacred Scripture can enlighten the individual seeking Christianity today. Therefore, the Society of Friends does not attribute to the Bible the same final authority as do the Protestants. Some scholars classify the Society of Friends as a third form of Christianity, neither Catholic nor Protestant.
The Way of Quaker Worship
The traditional Quaker form of worship, the silent meeting, is designed to facilitate the direct inspiration of the Inner Light. A Quaker writer explains: "Silence is practiced by Friends because silence alone can perceive and communicate the ineffable. They know that any attempt to give adequate verbal expression to inward experience is doomed to failure at the outset" (A Procession of Friends, p. vii).
A statement distributed at the World Council of Churches meeting in 1948 presented the rationale for Quaker worship: "Worship, according to the ancient practice of the Religious Society of Friends, is entirely without human direction or supervision. A group of devout persons come together and sit down quietly with no prearrangement, each seeking to have an immediate sense of divine leading and to know at first hand the presence of the living Christ. It is not wholly accurate to say that such a meeting is held on the basis of silence; it is more accurate to say that it is held on the basis of 'holy obedience.'"
At an appointed time on the First Day (Sunday) the Quakers gather at their meetinghouse. They sit quietly and wait; at times an individual will rise to give a testimony or share a spiritual thought. There are no set prayers, sermon, altar, scripture readings, or hymns. Quakers traditionally do not make much of a fuss about celebrating Christmas, Easter, or other holy days.
In the earlier days of Quakerism the elders sat on raised seats facing the congregation. The men, wearing their hats, would sit on one side of the aisle and the women on the other.
I recently attended a meeting for worship conducted by a small congregation of Quakers in Indiana. At 11 o'clock on Sunday morning the 35 or so men, women, and children filed into the bare room and took their seats in a semi-circle.
A printed card handed to visitors stated: "All present are asked to join in prayer and meditation and, if moved by Divine Spirit, to give expression to prayer or to speak in the spirit of worship."
The 60 minutes of silence was interrupted only twice. After we had been sitting for about 10 minutes one of the members of the congregation told about an experience which her daughter had had while she was a Quaker worker in a prison farm in Kentucky. Her relationship with a young Black inmate illustrated how God shows his love through human beings.
After half an hour the young children were dismissed. Most of the Quakers sat with eyes closed throughout the meeting. The only noises were those of the hissing steam radiator, a passing airplane, and the traffic in the street below. Near the end of the hour, another Friend offered a reflection on Gandhi's understanding of means and ends. At noon we shook hands with the persons sitting next to us and departed.
I was told that during other meetings many more people offered prayers and testimonies and that two such offerings were below the average. This is a small Quaker group; most of the dozen or so families who belong are associated with the nearby state university.
Preceding the meeting for worship was a First Day School for children. These schools resemble the familiar Protestant Sunday School and include Bible study, hymns, and story telling.
The Value of Silence
Catholics should appreciate the value of silence, especially if they have attended a closed retreat where silence is the rule. The church has always recognized the role of silence in private meditation and has been concerned lest the current reforms of the Mass eliminate any time for such meditation. Of course, for the Trappists and the cloistered orders silence is almost a way of life.
The Quaker withdraws to the silence of the weekly meeting only to find spiritual nourishment and inspiration and to go back into the world. There is no such thing as a Quaker hermit or a Quaker monastery where contemplatives isolate themselves from the world and its affairs.
A Friend will belong to a "monthly meeting" which meets once a week for worship and once a month for business. These monthly meetings correspond to a parish; the monthly meetings of an area get together four times a year for a quarterly meeting. Finally, the monthly meetings form the 31 yearly meetings in the United States and Canada which are the counterpart of a Catholic diocese.
In all Quaker meetings the members seek decisions not by majority rule but by the "sense of the meeting," which means unity but not necessarily unanimity. In all Quaker meetings women hold equal power and status with men.
Elders and overseers are appointed to serve each monthly meeting. The elders arrange meetings for worship, marriages, and funerals, while the overseers assume responsibilities for the pastoral care of members. The clerk is the chief administrative officer of the meeting.
At least once a year each monthly meeting makes what amounts to a group examination of conscience. The members of the congregation answer a series of questions or queries, posed by the yearly meeting, which relate to the spiritual state of the meeting.
A Quaker wedding service consists of the bride and groom repeating their marriage vows during a meeting for worship after obtaining the consent of the meeting to the union. Each declares: "In the presence of the Lord and of these our friends, I take thee, ______ to be my wife (or husband), promising with divine assistance to be unto thee a loving and faithful husband (or wife) so long as we both shall live." Then all those present sign the marriage certificate as witnesses.
Differences Among Friends
Not all Quaker congregations follow the original form of the silent meetings. Many Quakers in the Middle West, West, and South have abandoned the silent meeting in favor of a programmed worship service which differs little from a typical Protestant service. These are known as Friends churches, or pastoral meetings, and are often served by salaried ministers. Classical Quakerism dispensed with a separate ministry; laymen and laywomen were chosen to serve as clerks, elders, and overseers but drew no salary.
Even the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, preserved by every other Protestant church, were discarded by the first Quakers. They reasoned that no rites or rituals were needed to discern the Inner Light. The born Quaker is therefore not a baptized Christian. Converts or "convinced" Quakers may have been baptized in another denomination but their entrance into the Society of Friends would involve no initiatory rite. A committee interviews the prospective convert and submits a report to the meeting.
One would not expect to find a religious conservative among the Unitarians, or a liberal in the Southern Baptist Convention, but both unitarians and fundamentalists are found among American Quakers. Some Quakers consider Jesus Christ to be the Second Person of the Trinity while others rank Him only as a great teacher who exemplified the Inner Light better than other people. These theological differences are evident not only in the major Quaker groups but among the membership of the many yearly meetings.
Next Section: History
Quaker Beginnings in George Fox, Early Difficulty and Persecution, Quaker Growth in America, Quietism Hinders Development, Schism Splinters American Friends
Index of Pages:
1: Introduction, 2: Worship (this page), 3: History, 4:Practices.
