Some techniques
Settling the mind takes practice and if you have ever meditated, a few techniques might come in handy for stilling body and mind, so we are able to hear what God may be saying to us.
So, although you may be a newcomer to Quaker Meeting, you become as active a participant as anyone else. As we have no ministers to lead worship, we all take responsibility for the Meeting. While nothing literally is required of you, a willingness to be open to the experience is key.
We welcome young people to our meetings and value the contribution they make. A session for young people is generally arranged for the first Sunday each month. Young people join the full meeting for worship for the last 10-15 mins after their own session. A Friend (with DBS clearance) will work with the young people present. Often it will be a arts & craft session, storytelling, walk or visit.
Some of our young people attend national gatherings of young friends for weekend camps and week long residencies where they explore the Quaker faith with their peer group. Please contact us first if you wish to bring a child to meeting.
Silent worship underpins Quakerism and makes it profoundly different from other religious practices. It is true many Faiths recognise silence as part of their worship, but for Friends it is right at the heart of the matter.
It is the belief that to truly sense the Divine, we feel the need to go to beyond words. What ever you chose to call this universal force – God, Light, the Spirit, oneness – no words can ultimately sum up the experience. It is a feeling that uses the whole body, not just the brain or intellect.
It is not a feeling you can learn about from someone else or from the words of a book (though these may be a helpful way in). You need to experience it for yourself and learn to trust that personal experience. Quakers in their silent worship seek to listen for a divine prompting.
We aim to quieten both body and mind so we can access a deeper place within ourselves where we may find the Light.
Some of the tools we may use might sound familiar to those who meditate, but it is important to point out that a silent Quaker Meeting for Worship is not a meditation. It is is very much a communal activity where the Light within each individual can uphold, and be upheld by, others.
If you consider a candle, one candle on its own sheds a little light, but when we come together the light is far brighter. We seek to find the tranquil centre within and so the stillness of each person meets the stillness of others. That of God within each of us is encountering the Divine.