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.

How do we explain Quaker Meeting for Worship?

It's a new school year here on the East Coast of the United States and we have welcomed a new group of students, learners, educators, families, and caregivers to our school community. Some members of our community have Friends school experience and many are experiencing this way of growing, learning, and reflecting together for the first time. As the faculty and staff gather to plan and set our course for the year, the question always arises, "what is Meeting for Worship and how do I teach it?"

Here is some language that we use in our community as a beginning or an opening...

Meeting for Worship at Sidwell Friends Lower School

Sidwell Friends School has Meeting for Worship as a part of its curriculum, believing in its important contribution to the school community. Even the youngest students are taught how to use moments of silence effectively.

 

Quaker Meeting for Worship is silent.  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 a Lower School Meeting for Worship might say, “The children are wiggling. They can’t possibly be getting anything out of this.”  Is there more happening than meets the eye?  Is the effort one must make to reach silence worth it?  We believe it is.

 

On e morning each week, the entire Lower School is engaged in meeting for worship for a period of about twenty minutes (the Middle and Upper School also have their dedicated time for Meeting for Worship weekly, for 45 - 60 minutes). During the Meeting for Worship, the teachers or a student clerk will read a current query.  Queries are open-ended questions which are stated simply and have many possible answers. Classes take turns carefully formulating a query 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 also cherished for its own power. We learn that sometimes the silence is the message.

 

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. Central to the purpose of a meeting for worship is an acceptance of what another individual believes is important. This idea has a powerful trickle over (trickle on... trickle through... ) effect into other areas of teaching and learning for our students and faculty. Meeting for Worship ends when a previously selected member of the group (student clerk) turns to a neighbor, puts their hand to their chest and then waves at or shakes their hand. We strive to make a purposeful moment of eye contact with our neighbor in order to re-connect ourselves joyfully and with a stronger sense of community.

 

A few details about our Faith & Practice:

 

As 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…”  

 

Meeting for Worship is a time for listening to that still small voice for vocal ministry, as opposed to sharing “whatever is on your mind". 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.”

  

Notes around our expectations for and of Meeting for Worship:

*Meeting begins as soon as the first person sits down – silence should grow from that.

*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 member of the group is the teacher/minister – we are in community together – we are all potential teachers/ministers.

*Someone will serve as clerk to close the Meeting with the transfer from heart to hand, indicating to others that they should also wave, smile, make purposeful eye contact with each other.

Lunar New Year - Interfaith Education

Photo by Maud Beauregard on Unsplash

We are in the midst of the Lunar New Year!

At my school, we have had all manner of learning, sharing, and celebrating.

My hope for my students is that they learn to approach every new opportunity with curiosity and openness. Rather than notice differences or ideas of shock or strangeness, imagine holding space for wonder! 

As a way to encourage this approach, I have created an extended thinking routine of sorts. It is our interfaith dialog and education thinking routine. We use this routine throughout the year with each new observance or tradition, each new opportunity for interfaith exploration and wonder. Teachers are free to adapt, simplify, or chunk the thinking moves in the routine in any way that makes sense for their learners. Our hope is that teachers will settle on a version that they can use again and again, making this interfaith routine, routine.

We often begin with a story. It may be a story that is read by a member of the community or the teacher. It may be a story that a member of our community shares from their own personal history or identity.

You might use this story Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin

:

Grace Lin

Exploring the Lunar New Year, a thinking routine:

As you reflect upon the Lunar New Year story…

What is important to know about the Lunar New Year?

What feels familiar?

What surprises you? What is unexpected?

 

Further thinking about a point of view and the connectedness to our Quaker identity/the faith or non-faith based elements of our community’s identity:

Whose perspectives are being represented? How do you know? 

Whose perspective might be missing? 

In what ways might this connect to Quaker ideas or practices?

In what ways might this connect to your own story?

Further thinking about the relevance of all of this in the larger community or in our world:

Why might hearing these stories or learning about these traditions be important?

What role do these ideas play in our families? In our community? In our world? (Why might learning about this be important?)

 

Always great questions to ask:

What connections can you make?

What do you wonder?

How does the idea of light connect to the Lunar New Year? To our Quaker identity? To each of us?

What do you do with this thinking routine? Some options...

• use the queries to guide a conversation
• write about your thinking in response to the queries
• paint or draw or create an artful representation in response to these queries (painted reflection journals)
• use a query as a chalk talk prompt

Want to learn more?

• Read about thinking routines.
• Read about interfaith dialogs/education.
• I highly recommend reading Out of Many Faiths by Eboo Patel.

This interfaith thinking routine is adapted from the See Familiar Surprise Wonder routine.