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WORSHIP IN THE MANNER OF FRIENDS
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Quakers find amidst the noise and haste of modern life, there is in silent worship a healing and creative power.

 

 

We gather together in quiet meditation to receive divine guidance. Worship begins with silence so that we can be more open to the spirit of God. Please join us in seeking awareness of that of God in everyone and everything. When we meditate or pray, we draw spiritually closer together. Friends call this process "gathering."

As the meeting unfolds, someone may feel moved by the Spirit to share a message. It sometimes takes the form of a prayer or a song. Whether offering or receiving vocal ministry, we try to discern that it is divinely inspired and conducive to spiritual growth. What matters to all is the sense that we are sharing a group search for the will of God. We need time to move from our individual cares to more universal concerns. We may then reach unity with that of God flowing through our fellow worshipers. Ideally, the group becomes a spiritual whole.

One designated Friend will bring the Meeting to a close by shaking hands with and greeting another. Friends hope to carry the inspiration and spiritual  renewal found here into their daily lives.

 

To New Attenders at Friends Meeting (or Quaker Worship)

Whether you are here out of deep spiritual concern or pure curiosity, your presence enriches our Meeting. We meet in the conviction that we can be a body infused with love, truth, and forgiveness. The meeting this morning is not liturgically set aside as a moment of special revelation. We will encounter the same distractions and dryness in our silence that we experienced during the week, but instead of fleeing this emptiness, we turn toward it and await the intimations of divine love in our desires to minister to one another, however simply, and in opening ourselves to receiving that ministry. As Christ Jesus came to Jerusalem as a simple carpenter from Galilee from which scriptures assured that no prophet would ever arise, we look to one another rather than to images and institutions of celestial power for our sense of God.

The meeting will generally close with a hand shake after about an hour. We attempt to speak in response to intimations of divine leading, we thus count on forgiveness and tolerance.

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