quaker quest

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.

 

Share your thoughts on the articles or the topic by commenting below!

 

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.  

For information on Quaker Quest, email quak..reveal emai..reveal email..@fgcquaker.org or call 215-561-1700. Quaker Quest in the US and Canada is a project of Friends General Conference http://www.fgcquaker.org/quakerquest/organizers.

An Introduction
The Quaker commitment to nonviolence is one of the most public and distinctive manifestations of Quaker faith. We make a bold claim: not only that peace is a better way than war, but that it is possible, with God's transforming power, for the whole world. We commit ourselves to the vision of a world in which there is no violence between nations, between individuals, or within ourselves. We commit to an examination of how our relationships and our economic decisions-- all the mundane practices of our life-- may be contributing to the systems of war.

Despite the long history of what we now call the "peace testimony," there has never been uniformity in the belief or practice of pacifism in the Religious Society of Friends. Some Quakers have chosen to fight in every major war in the history of the United States, and were often (but not always) removed from membership in their meetings as a result. Other Friends protested, petitioned, did alternative or non-combatant service, and were sometimes jailed in opposition to those same wars. Even in our lack of unity, the idea of holistic peace-building and nonviolence continues to be one of the greatest challenges we offer, as a faith community, to ourselves and to the world.

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

Katherine Fisher
The letter below is one that I sent to my friends and family in April 2007.  It describes an action that I have taken every year since then, which comes from my Quaker and pacifist beliefs.

Dear friends and family,

I am writing to let you know that I am not going to pay my taxes this year.  I have been considering this decision for several years, with help from friends and Beacon Hill Friends Meeting.  I have discovered that I am a conscientious objector to participation in war, and it violates my religious conscience to pay taxes that support military activity.  Rather than paying taxes, I will put my tax money in an escrow fund where it will be used for life-affirming purposes.

Participation in war violates my belief in the worth and dignity of every human being (the light within, as Friends call it).  I am certain that if I were being drafted into military service, I would refuse to go, because I could not participate in killing another human being.  Taxes are just one step further removed:  instead of the government conscripting my labor and using it for war, I voluntarily trade my labor for money, which the government then uses for war.

These two situations are morally very similar in my mind.

I recognize that this decision has consequences. The IRS may seize my money, and it may be financially burdensome if they seize my bank account or levy my wages.  There may be other financial difficulties with credit, obtaining loans, etc.  I voluntarily choose these consequences rather than violating my conscience.

I also know that it may be emotionally difficult if I am receiving threatening letters from the IRS or facing financial consequences.  I know that I have a wonderful community of friends and activists around me, who will support me as I make this journey.

Thank you so much for all your love and support thus far.

Sincerely,
Katherine Fisher


Katherine Fisher is a member of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting, and works as the office manager at the Cambridge office of the American Friends Service Committee.  She has also been involved with the local Catholic Worker house and the movement to close the School of the Americas.


Liz Oppenheimer
If you were to look at my Quaker resumé, you'd notice a huge gap in it:  no peace marches.  No war-tax resistance.  Not even a bumper sticker on my car.   But then, one week before this short essay was due, I read about preparations for the 13th annual Day of Silence that students across the U.S. observe.  It's a way to send a message that bullying, harassing, ridiculing, and assaulting fellow students based on their gender identity or sexual orientation, real or perceived, is NOT okay.  

The night before the Day of Silence, I feel that familiar *tweak* that tells me I have to participate somehow out of solidarity with the students.  I print a few quarter-sheet handouts to explain why I won't be talking, and I mentally prepare myself for the day to come.  I worry about the inconveniences I'll encounter in the grocery store, on mass transit, in restaurants.

That morning, almost immediately, I become aware of my own hurt and shame of having been ridiculed by classmates when I was in middle school and high school.  My own voice back then had been shut out and I never did anything about it.  

At lunch, I buy a cup of soup and hand my small sheet of paper to the cashier, explaining why I'm not speaking.  The cashier takes a dollar off my meal.  I feel awkward in being given an unwarranted discount, but I choose to keep the silence.  For the rest of the day, I live with not knowing what the cashier thought of me.  I leave another of my handouts on the table for whoever sits there next.

At the organization where I volunteer, I smile and return the warm greetings of "Hello-how-are-you?" by handing the staff my piece of paper.  Two women will later seek me out and tell me they appreciate what I am doing.  One of them will tell me her son is also observing the Day of Silence at school and she wants to know more about it.

My brand of witness is a personal one.  My brand of pacifism is a personal witness that starts from an inward change and grows out of a motion of love, dignity, and care for all involved.  The smallest act of pacifism, even if it is carried out among kind souls and supportive friends, is important to do because I may be called on to carry out something even larger.  

Even if it's inconvenient.  

Liz Oppenheimer is a member of Twin Cities Friends Meeting (Northern Yearly Meeting) and is active in Laughing Waters Friends Worship Group (unaffiliated).  She carries a concern for how we convey our faith to others and she maintains the blog The Good Raised Up.

Zach AlexanderZach=second from left
Before we talk about pacifism, it's helpful to talk about Quakers and ethics in general. The Quaker approach starts with listening inwardly to the "promptings of love and truth" in our hearts, both as individuals and as communities. When it seems clear what those things are saying, we say we feel "led" or "called" to a course of action – and hopefully do it right away. But if those promptings are less clear, we say we have a "concern" about the matter, and we undergo "discernment," which involves more inward listening and listening to others, until we reach a feeling of clarity. And then we sometimes need a boost of courage to do what needs to be done.

What does this mean for Friends and peace? First, it means that most Friends who arrive at a pacifist position do so through a basic feeling of ethical compulsion more than philosophical arguments – from the heart more than the head. So if you want to understand Quaker pacifism, you should learn about Friends who have opposed war over the centuries, and empathetically enter into their lives – William Rotch sinking muskets into the Atlantic, or Irish Friends aiding the wounded on both sides of the Irish Revolution, or Tom Fox monitoring human rights abuses in Iraq at great personal cost.

And second, this language we use for small-scale decisions can also be used to talk about the Society of Friends as a whole. The simplistic picture is that all good Quakers must be pacifists, and some Friends treat this as a Quaker dogma. But the reality is more complex. We carry a concern about the horrors of war, and the injustices that cause it, and the threats that are used to justify it. But not all Friends feel led to oppose all war. And of those who do, not all have reached clarity about the next step. And of those who have, not all have summoned the courage to act.

And though we sometimes look down upon those who don't share our own leadings, it seems we no longer expel people for insufficient pacifism. And that is as it should be. A tiny community of Quakers, numbering in the mere thousands, will never bring down empires or end wars. But we might bring peace a little closer by bringing people into this process of listening.

Zach is a member of Friends Meeting at Cambridge, a post-bachelor student at Harvard University interested in neuroscience and philosophy, and a co-moderator of the local Humanist Small Group. He is co-leading a workshop on "Nontheism among Friends" at the Friends General Conference Gathering this summer.



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.   

How the blog series works
Each month from March until June, three Quakers write two to three paragraphs on a certain topic from their experiences as a Friend. Anyone is welcome to post their reflections or comments about the topic! If you have suggestions for future topics, please email Emily at emilys@fgcquaker.org

Schedule of topics
February- An introduction to Quaker Quest
March-Quakers and Equality
April- Quakers and God
May- Quakers and Pacifism
June- Quakers and Worship

For information on Quaker Quest, email quak..reveal email..@fgcquaker.org or call 215-561-1700. Quaker Quest in the US and Canada is a project of Friends General Conference http://www.fgcquaker.org/quakerquest/organizers.

An Introduction
A core truth of Quaker theology and experience is the direct relationship of God with humanity. Whether as individual seekers or in the collective practice of worship, God can be experienced anywhere, at any time, and all people can be called on for the work of ministry. The experience of God is both sustaining and transformative, as the divine Seed in each person is met and searched and nourished directly by the Inward Light of God.  

The range of theological language and ideas at play within Quakerism, for various individuals and groups of Friends, has broadened considerably from the original Christian context of Quaker faith. What remains at the core is the intimate, know-able nature of spiritual reality, the mystical heart of faith experience.

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

Jacob Stewart

Do I know God? Of course I know God. God whispers sweet words of silence in my heart when I am most still, as well as when I am not so still and need Her words the most. God is everywhere. I feel Her through others as well as through myself, when a tender worship is invoked from the center of my heart, while I am alone or among those whom I love, and I feel that this love from my heart is the purest form of worship.

 

God flows through rivers, and blossoms on trees. God is the words carried by wind, and the warmth of sunlight on all of our cheeks. God volunteers to serve food to hungry people in city soup kitchens, and God asks me for change on urban streets. She takes care of me when I’m sick, She holds me in the night, She loves me unconditionally. She is a lover, She is a mother, and She is a sister.

 

God is stillness and compassion, God is love and God is light, and God is life and God is death.

 

God is that which connects me to nothingness and to everything: a quiet dichotomy that is inherent among all people regardless of religion, race or romantic orientation. For me to name this God is to limit God, since God has many names and many occupations, for we are God and God is inside us all.

Jacob Stewart resides in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he actively pursues his studies both in and outside of his academic community. He is part of a neighborhood of active youths in the struggle to understand their existence and expresses his Quaker values in the form of simplicity, modest humility and thoughtful intent.

Liz Wine

My experience with God began at a young, tender age.  When I was growing up we spent countless hours on acreage in the country my parents owned.  It was in these moments when I encountered nature that I felt the presence of the divine--I knew something powerful and wonderful had to have orchestrated this beautiful land, from the cornstalks to the grasshoppers.  

 

I have always found along my journey that Quakerism emphasizes personal experience with God, the moments such as the above. This is how we learn and are spiritually shaped.  While I love to read books and feel I can relate to other's walks, there is no substitute for my own experience.

 

God came to me, in the form of a vision of his son, Jesus, while at the World Gathering of Young Friends in 2005. During the closing silent worship service I had a vision that Jesus came and sat in worship with me, which was a very special moment in my life.  I was speechless.  During this open worship, someone gave vocal ministry in a language I did not understand. I noticed Jesus was watching them intently. I asked him if he understand them and he replied, "Yes, I understand all languages, especially the language of the heart." This blew my mind, as the human heart can be so complicated! This was the first milestone of several journeys that led me to Christianity, which to me is a closer and deeper walk with God.

 

Along the way, he has graciously taught me about himself by showing he is patient with me when I am not patient with circumstances, and by showing he is graceful by loving me even with my human error! God has taught me who I am, as his creation--that even though I may not always feel like loving myself, He loves me and that is adequate.

 

There is no greater joy than knowing and living in the light of God's love for me!  I could never have gotten to this point if it were not for my openness to these journeys, such as my time at World Gathering and my subsequent experience at the Young Adult Friends Conference in 2007, at which I accepted Christ into my heart. It may be uncomfortable and unsettling at times, but the end result, the daily walk with God, is worth it.

 

Liz was raised in an FGC affiliated meeting and is now currently a member of University Friends Church in Wichita, KS.  Liz is preparing to go to Rwanda for 2 years with Evangelical Friends Mission, to teach missionaries children.


Nathan Sebens

When asked to blog about God, I must admit, I had no idea about how I should go about it. I knew right away that it would be a good exercise for me, but also, incredibly challenging. This is because, God to me is mystery. Rather than understanding, God is the lack of understanding. I have found this discovery to be both liberating and frustrating. And so I think I would like to talk about that.

During my studies at seminary, my eyes have truly been opened to many aspects of my own faith. Perhaps one of the most amazing experiences came through my study of the Hebrew Scriptures. There is a great tradition of mystery in the Hebrew canon. So much so, that it is often considered taboo (if not blasphemous) to say the name of God. So now, when many Jewish people talk about God, or translate the original Hebrew, they use words like Adonai (Lord), or Hashem (literally, the name). In scholastic discussions, the name of God is referred to as the tetragrammaton (or 4-letter word). In modern times, people also will write G-d in the place of the word God. For me, the substitution of words seems a little out of place, because everyone knows what you really mean, but I think there is something to being intentional about not pretending to know too much about God.

This opening of the Divine Mystery has truly changed my views on God. Though I may find words helpful in describing my experience of God, I know that they in no way can define who God is to me, much less the world. God is both the Mother/Father/Brother/Sister/Son/Daughter/Friend/ Aunt/Uncle etc., and also is none of these things. God is simply God. God is the God of Moses and the God of Jesus. Despite the apparent discrepancies between this God of Military leader, and the God of the one who came telling us to love our enemies. God is the God of Mother Theresa, and the God of Jimmy Carter. Despite the differences between a man who served in the highest governmental position in the world, and a woman who chose to live among the “least of these”. The contradictions are rampant, and yet when you open your eyes to the darkness, when you live into the mystery, they seem to disappear.

When asked who God is to me, I think it is useful to refer to God how God answered Moses when he asked who he should tell the people had sent him. God said, in a very Popeyeish way “I am who I am”. And so, when asked what or who God is, I think from now on I will say only, “God is!”    

Nathan Sebens lives in Richmond, Indiana where he is a Masters of Divinity student at the Earlham School of Religion. Nathan enjoys volunteering at the Richmond Civic Theatre and directing the choir at West Richmond Friends.



What is Quaker Quest?
Quaker Quest is based on the idea that Quakerism is a spiritual path for our time that is simple, radical, and contemporary. 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 the 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.   

How the blog series works
Each month from March until June, three Quakers will write 2-3 paragraphs on a certain topic from their experience as a Friend. I hope that the posts will spark a conversation that can continue online through people commenting on the blog posts.  Please email Emily at emilys@fgcquaker.org if you are interested in writing on one of the topics.

Schedule of topics
February- An introduction to Quaker Quest
March-Quakers and Equality
April- Quakers and God
May- Quakers and Pacifism
June- Quakers and Worship

For information on Quaker Quest, email quakerquest@fgcquaker.org or call 215-561-1700. Quaker Quest in the US and Canada is a project of Friends General Conference http://www.fgcquaker.org/quakerquest/organizers.