the
online meeting for worship as a meeting house has no theological, yearly
meeting, or organisational affiliation - people of different quaker traditions
worship here separately & together as they are led.
you can enter meeting, suggest a time & date for a future meeting to happen, find out when future meetings are going to take place, or subscribe to be told when meetings are going to take place using the box on the right. if you're curious to see what is going on but don't want anybody to see you, you can even look through the meeting room windows to see what's happening without showing yourself !
the online meeting for worship has been developed by simon gray, but special credit must be given to margot lunnon, ian graham, theo tulley, klaus huber, & many other people for their helpful suggestions, comments, & support in the development of the experiment. thanks also go to john hall for the photograph of brigflatts quaker meeting house in the worship room.
john 4:23 "but the hour is coming - in fact, it is already here - for true worshippers to worship the father as he truly is, without regard to place. it is worshippers of this sort the father is looking for" john 4:24 "god is not tied to this place, & those who worship god must worship him as he truly is, without regard to place" matthew 18:20 "in fact, wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, i will be there among them" translation by the jesus seminar |
quakers worship together in two ways - 'unprogrammed', & 'programmed'. whichever way they do so, when quakers come together to worship god, they do so in obedience to these passages.
unprogrammed quaker worship
'unprogrammed' worship is the kind of worship practised by most quakers in europe (& in yearly meetings who inherit that tradition), & in many parts of north america, & is often mistakenly called 'silent worship'. to a newcomer, an unprogrammed meeting may indeed seem 'silent' but in reality it is an experience of intense listening. this silence is not a passive, reflective, meditative, individual silence such as you might get at a prayer meeting, but an active silence of a community gathered together in expectation - the silence is every bit as exhuberant as a group of young adults in a standard modern church singing worship songs to the accompaniment of a rock band. we gather, in a meeting house, in a private home, in a park, & now here using the world wide web, to strengthen each other and to wait, as did the disciples on the day of pentecost. the word of god, christ, is there among us and speaks to us by his spirit, in our hearts.
sometimes no audible word is said, but we are together refreshed and
washed clean by the fountain of living waters. sometimes one friend may
deliver an inspiring message. sometimes several friends, as the spirit
leads each one, will give a series of brief messages which joined by god's
plan form a complete revelation. sometimes a friend will be compelled
by the spirit to speak something that seems to make no sense, only to
learn later that it was a divine answer to someone else's need.
those who speak and those who listen should do so in quiet attention to the spirit of god. each person present affects the depth of the worship we reach as a group, in which there is no human leader and no planned programme - where we are all learners, trying to live as active disciples of christ.
the meeting for worship is closed by the shaking of hands initiated by people previously appointed to do so, or by someone who feels moved to close the meeting. in the online meeting for worship, this is done by whomsoever feels led clicking the 'shake hands to end meeting' button at the bottom of the main meeting page, & other friends present confirming the end of meeting similarly.
adapted from ohio yearly meeting (conservative) & olympia monthly meeting (fgc)
about quakers in general
you can find out more about quakers in general from the outreach page of britain yearly meeting, from the history page of evangelical friends international, from the frequently asked questions page of friends general conference, from hans weening's 'meeting the spirit' booklet, & from the introduction to friends of friends united meeting; for a full & true perspective of the quaker way enquirers are encouraged to browse as much of each of these five sites as possible