Meeting for Worship

Robert Smith describes in The Quaker Book of Wisdom:

 “Friends believe that each individual has access to God through the powerful illumination of the light within, they worship in silence, joined in waiting for God to speak to them directly…” 

This week my kindergarteners and I shared our first Meeting for Worship together. We learned that Meeting for Worship is a time for silence, for waiting, for listening to our still small voices for any messages, and for reflection. 

Meeting for Worship is a part of our school curriculum. We believe in its important contribution to the school community. We teach and practice ways to use moments of silence effectively. Our youngest learners begin this spiritual journey at Sidwell Friends School by learning how to be silent. What does it mean to be silent? What does it mean to be quiet? Are they the same? As we grow and learn, we add to our Meeting for Worship toolkit - lessons on speaking into the silence (discernment), radical listening to messages, and ways to listen more deeply to our still small voice.

Children and Grown ups enter the space and gather around a central table.  No one leads the group in ceremony.  Quakers believe people can guide themselves toward their own truth, and that silence is the context in which this process can occur.  A first-time observer of an adult Quaker Meeting for Worship might say, “Nothing is happening.  They just sit there.”  Likewise, a visitor to an elementary school Meeting for Worship might say, “The children are wiggling. They can’t possibly be getting anything out of this.”  We're on a journey. It's a long, thoughtful, challenge-filled journey. There are bumps and there are slides. We are learning about ourselves, our community, and striving for growth. It's a practice.

At our school Meetings for Worship, there is always a centering table with three elements on top:

- a plant or flower to connect us to nature, 

- a collection of rocks with various messages to remind us that we are waiting and listening for a message (a thought or idea to help us grow and learn), 

- a candle to show that we each have a beautiful and unique Inner Light. 

One morning each week, our entire Lower School is engaged in Meeting for Worship for a period of about twenty minutes.  During this time, the teachers or a designated student will read the monthly query. Queries are open-ended questions which are stated simply and have many possible answers.  Classes take turns carefully formulating a query each month for the entire school to consider and reflect upon.  Sometimes the teacher may choose to read a story or poem to their class before or during the silence in order to give the children an idea to focus on.  But the silence is cherished for its own power.

In addition to the weekly Meeting for Worship, each class begins each day with a period of silence.  During these times teachers help children become comfortable with silence and encourage them to make good use of it.  Simply establishing silence for a few moments is quite a powerful accomplishment for any class of 4 -10 year olds.  

The Meeting for Worship ends when a previously selected member of the group (Meeting for Worship clerks) turns to a neighbor and shakes their hand.

Meeting for Worship is a time for listening to that still small voice for vocal ministry. Quakers are waiting for messages from God that might give the Meeting something to learn or grow from. What aspect of your faith identity might be your still small voice? We hold a long silence between messages to give them (the message) time to “settle.”

 

Practical Notes around our expectations for and of Meeting for Worship:

• Meeting begins as soon as the first person enters the Meeting space – silence should grow from that (although we teach members of our community to transition into a Meeting for Worship frame of mind as we line up to head to Meeting for Worship.
• We are sharing active silence and expectant waiting as we wait to receive a message that is appropriate for the group – something we can all connect with or learn from.
• The reason we face inwardly is so that no one is the teacher/minister – we are in community together – we are all potential teachers/ministers.
• Someone will serve as the clerk to close the Meeting with a handshake or a wave, indicating to others that they should also wave and smile at each other – many members of our community follow the “gentle transfer of heart to hand” literally as the close of Meeting.