{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_24576/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_24576","id":"gutenberg_24576","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24576","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Public worship -- Society of Friends","Society of Friends -- Doctrines"],"text":"Produced by Mark C. Orton, Stephen Blundell and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n           An Interpretation of\n             Friends Worship\n\n                   BY\n\n             N. JEAN TOOMER\n\n\n                [Device]\n\n\n              Published by\n THE COMMITTEE ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION OF\n       FRIENDS GENERAL CONFERENCE\n 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa.\n\n        _Price twenty-five cents_\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n Introduction                                                  3\n\n Worship and Love                                              7\n\n The Basis of Friends Worship and Other Inward Practices      11\n\n What to Do in the Meeting for Worship                        20\n\n Questions and Answers                                        28\n\n For Further Reading                                          35\n\n\n                          Copyright 1947\n                    Friends General Conference\n\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\n    Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.\n    copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and\n    typographical errors have been corrected without note.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nI was not more than ten years old when I first heard mention of the\nQuakers. The grown-ups of my family were talking among themselves,\nspeaking of an uncle of mine who lived in Philadelphia and operated a\npharmacy near the university. I had never seen this uncle and was\ncurious about him, so my ears were open. Presently a reference to the\nQuakers caught my attention. I wanted to know who the Quakers were. What\nwas told me then I have remembered ever since. The Quakers, I was told,\nare people who wait for the spirit to move them.\n\nA picture formed in my mind. Many a time I had seen my grandmother\nsitting quietly, an aura of peace around her as she sewed or crocheted\nor did her beautiful embroidery work. So I pictured older people, most\nof them with white hair like my grandparents, all with kindly faces,\ngathered in silent assembly, heads bent slightly forward, waiting to be\nmoved. It never occurred to me that young people, boys and girls of my\nage and even younger, might be present and participating.\n\nAs the word \"spirit\" meant nothing definite to me, I could have no idea\nof just what would move the Quakers, but I had a sense that it would be\nsomething within them, perhaps like the stirrings that sometimes moved\nme, and I may have had a vague notion that this something within them\nwas somehow related to what people called God. I never thought to ask\nwhat the Quakers might do after they were moved.\n\nHad I been invited in those days to attend a Friends meeting for worship\nI would have gladly gone. I would have gone because my picturings had\ngiven me good feelings about the Quakers. I would have gone because,\nyoung though I was, I liked to be silent now and again. Sometimes my\nbest friend and I would sit quietly together, happy that we were\ntogether but not wanting to talk. Sometimes I would go off by myself on\nwalks to look at the wonders of nature, to think my own thoughts, to\ndream, to feel something stirring in me for which I had no name. Or I\nmight withdraw for a time from the activities of the boys and girls and\nsit on the porch of our house, my outward eyes watching them at play, my\ninward eyes turned to an inner life that was as real to me, and\nsometimes more wonderful than my life with the group.\n\nCertain experiences I had when alone, certain experiences I had with my\nyoung friends, attitudes and feelings that would suddenly arise in me at\nany time or place--these made up the mainstream of my religious life.\nSuch religion as I had was life-centered, not book-centered, not\nchurch-centered. It arose from the well of life within me, and within my\nfriends and parents. It arose from the well of life within nature and\nthe human world. It consisted in my response to flowers, trees, birds,\nsnow, the smell of the earth after a spring rain, sunsets and the starry\nsky. It consisted in my devotion to pet rabbits and dogs, and to some\ninterest or project that caught my imagination.\n\nI had been taught several formal prayers. One of these I said every\nnight, regularly, before getting into bed. But I am thinking of the\nunformed prayers that welled up in me whenever I had need of them. I had\nbeen read some stories from the Bible and some of the psalms, and from\nthese I had doubtless gained attitudes of reverence. But I am thinking\nof the worship that spontaneously arose as I beheld the wonders of the\nworld which God created. Young eyes are new eyes, and to new eyes all\nthings are fresh, vivid, original.\n\nIt is sometimes asked if children and young people are capable of the\nreligious life. Certainly they are not capable of sustained effort\ntowards an unswerving aim. Certainly they cannot hold themselves to a\nconsistent discipline. They cannot engage in the religious life as a\nconscious way of living. These abilities come only as we grow up and\nsubject ourselves to training. But, just as certainly, young people do\nhave religious experiences, and these often are more vivid and glowing\nthan those of the elders. That is it--children can glow. They can light\nup. This capacity to glow is at the very heart of what we are talking\nabout.\n\nTo be sure, people young and old need instruction. We need instruction\nin the Bible, in poetry, in all literature that contains truth and\nbeauty. We need to be helped to struggle against our faults, to overcome\nour imperfections. And we need to be curbed on occasion, as the only way\nin which we may eventually become able to curb ourselves. But it should\nnot be forgotten that all people, especially young people, have poetry\nin them. And, more than that, according to the faith of the Friends all\npeople have within them something of the very spirit that created the\nscriptures.\n\nReligious education, it seems to me, is on the wrong track if it assumes\nthat religion is something that must be drilled into people. It is on\nthe right track if it recognizes that the source of religion is within\nus as a native endowment, and that the function of education is to call\nthis endowment forth, supply it with the nourishment it needs in order\nto grow, and guide it in ways that promote maturing. People should have\nreason to be assured that formal religion is not contrary to the springs\nof innate religious experience and longing, but is in accord with the\nlife and light within, and simply seeks to direct and develop this\nspiritual life.\n\nHad a Friend approached me in those days with some such understanding\nand assurance, and had I been able to understand what he said, I would\nhave had still another reason, and this a compelling one, for attending\na meeting for worship. And so I would have gone. I'd have sat there with\nthe others, feeling much at home, perhaps feeling I was in a holy place.\nI'd have sat as quietly as any for the first ten or fifteen minutes. I\nwould not have worshiped in any formal sense, for I had not been taught\nany form. But I would have practiced my kind of inwardness, thinking my\nown thoughts as I did when alone, dreaming wonderful dreams, feeling a\nlife stir within me. Had there been a spoken message or two, I would\nhave listened attentively, tried to understand, and honestly responded.\n\nPresently, however, I would have begun to fidget. Not knowing what I\nshould try to do in a meeting for worship, I would have had nothing to\nfall back on when my thoughts ran out, no purpose for curbing my\nincreasing restlessness. Through the windows my eyes would have caught\nsight of the world outdoors, and I'd have wished I were out there having\nfun with the boys. Time would have dragged. I'd have asked myself, \"Will\nthe meeting never end?\" And when finally it did end, I'd have been as\nglad for the ending as I had been for the beginning.\n\nWhat should we try to do in a meeting for worship? What do we hope to\nattain through it? Why is silence desirable? What is the main idea\nbehind the Friends manner of worship? It is true that Quakers wait for\nthe spirit to move them. Why wait? Wouldn't it be better just to go\nahead? Besides waiting, what more is to be done? Can we not pray and\nworship when we are alone, or as we go about our daily affairs? Why is\nit necessary to meet together? What is worship?\n\nThese are not questions that you answer once and for all. You continue\nto think about them and continue to increase your understanding. But it\nhelps us to think if we put our thoughts in order and study the thoughts\nof others. So I am going to write down some of the thoughts that have\ncome to me. We shall think about worship and the central faith of the\nFriends, and let the answers come as they may.\n\n\n\n\nWORSHIP AND LOVE\n\n\nWorship is the action of the spirit. It springs up from our depths, as\nlove does. It is a form of love, and just as desirable, and just as\nnecessary to human life at its fullest and highest. To worship is an\ninnate need of man. It is not imposed upon us from the outside, though\nthe way we sometimes go about it may make it seem an imposition.\n\nSuppose you are hungry. No one has to tell you to eat. No one has to\nforce you to take food. Suppose you are in love. Must you be told to\nthink of the person you are in love with? Must you be forced to yearn\nfor the loved one?\n\nWorship is a hunger of the human soul for God. When it really occurs, it\nis as compelling as the hunger for food. It is as spontaneous as the\nlove of boy for girl. If we feel it, no one needs tell us we should\nworship. No one has to try to make us do it. If we do not feel it, or\nhave no desire to feel it, no amount of urging or forcing will do any\ngood. We simply cannot be forced, from the outside, to worship. Only the\npower within us, the life within, can move us to it.\n\nBut others can guide our preliminary efforts. They can help us to\nprepare to worship. Such preparation, as Rufus Jones has said, is the\nmost important business in the world. Others can provide conditions,\nsuch as the Friends meeting for worship, thanks to which the desire to\nworship may spring up and grow. The meeting for worship came into\nexistence because the early Friends were powerfully moved to worship\ntogether and meet the spiritual needs of one another. I use the word\n_needs_. Their spiritual needs were more dynamic than ours--or\ntheirs--for food and shelter. Neither threats of violence nor active\npersecution could keep them away from their meetings.\n\nWhy is it that some of us would rather go to a movie, or listen to the\nradio, or see a ball game, or read an exciting book? One reason, it must\nbe acknowledged, is because our meetings today are sometimes dull and\nunliving. We assemble in our meeting houses, but nothing happens. A\nrelated reason is that many of us have not yet awakened spiritually. Our\nbodies are active. Our minds are alert. But not our spirits. Such\nawakening, however, will come in due time, if we encourage it, if we do\nour part to prepare for it, if we live honestly and are true to\nourselves, face life with clear eyes, and continue growing.\n\nThe main reason why we do not worship, or do not want to, is that God is\nnot yet sufficiently real to us. He is not as real to us as our human\nfather. His power is not as real to us as the power of man's brain and\nmuscles, as steam power, as electricity. Worship expresses man's\nrelationship to God. How then can we worship if we are not aware of this\nrelationship, if the main party to it is unreal to us?\n\nSome people speak of worshiping things that are not of God. God being\nunreal to them, their relation to Him being unrecognized, they turn to\nwhat is real to them, and engage in various so-called worships:\nmoney-worship, hero-worship, ancestor-worship, the worship of material\npower and machines, the worship of political States and their rulers.\nThese are false worships. God is the sole object of genuine worship--God\nand His power which He manifests to us as love, light, and wisdom.\n\nAll forms of true worship arise from an experience of the _fact_ of God,\nfrom the realization that God _is_. Men such as George Fox and John\nWoolman had their first experiences of God early in life. Most of us\ncome to the experience gradually and later on, if at all. What are we to\ndo meanwhile? Most religions offer formal official statements of what\nthey believe God to be. They say what God's nature is, and set forth His\nattributes. Friends make no such pronouncement; and I, for one, am glad\nthere is none. Man's words about God cannot substitute for a first-hand\nexperience of the living reality. Friends are directed to seek for the\nreality within themselves. Meanwhile, we are called upon to have faith\nthat God exists and that it is possible for us to meet with Him. We are\ncalled upon to prepare ourselves for this supreme experience. We are\nurged to try to sense God's presence, daily to practice His presence. By\nsuch practice, if we persevere, we shall surely come to have a\nconvincing experience.\n\nWorship is our response to God's reality, a reality which is, to be\nsure, within men, but which also is the radiant foundation of the entire\nuniverse. In trying to worship, we turn ourselves Godwards. We yearn for\nHim and endeavor to know His will. Our lives are pointed toward Him. If,\nand as we succeed, we make contact with God, and by this contact He is\nmade real to us. When He becomes real to us we spontaneously love Him.\n\nCan we see a sunset without responding to its beauty? Can we witness\nthose we love, in their goodness to us, without being touched and moved?\nCan we hear the voice of our best friend on the phone without eagerly\nlistening and eagerly replying? Be sure, then, that when we come into\nGod's presence we will be touched and moved beyond our greatest\nexpectation.\n\nNothing so deters us from wanting to worship as the notion that worship\nis unliving. If it is unliving it is not worship. If it seems dull,\ntedious or difficult, it is because we are not truly worshiping. We are,\nperhaps, preparing ourselves to worship. There are difficulties to be\novercome in the preparatory stages. Or, we are but assuming the\nappearance of worship, there being no life, no yearning within, we being\nmore dead than alive inside. Indeed it is dull and tedious to hold the\nposture, if it is not backed up by a quickening life of the spirit.\n\nTrue worship is a living experience. By and through it we enter into a\nlife so vital, so vivid, so large and glorious that, by comparison, our\nlife of ordinary activities seems narrow, dull, dead. By bodily action\nthe body comes alive. By mental action the mind comes alive. So by\nspiritual action the spirit comes alive. Worship is spiritual action. By\nmeans of it our spirits awake, mature, and grow up to God.\n\nAll human beings, except those who have been badly damaged by man's\ninhumanity to man, are moved to love. Some love animals, some flowers.\nOthers love the sea or farm lands or mountains. Some love truth, some\nlove beauty. All of us want and need to love and to be loved by our\nfamilies and friends, and we would be happy were we able to love all\npeople everywhere. To love and be loved is a universal human urge. Is it\nany wonder, then, that we are moved to seek God's love? It is inevitable\nthat we should desire this supreme form of love. The First Commandment\nexpresses our innermost desire as well as God's will.\n\nThere is nothing incredible about our wanting to love and to be loved by\nGod. The incredible fact is that it can actually happen, does happen.\nSome day we will experience it. Then our doubts will end. Then we will\nworship God through love of Him.\n\nHere is what two religious men of advanced spiritual development had to\nsay of their experiences. George Fox wrote, \"The word of the Lord came\nto me, saying, 'My love was always to thee, and thou art in my love.'\nAnd I was ravished with the sense of the love of God.\" Brother Lawrence\nwrote, \"You must know that the benevolent and caressing light of God's\ncountenance kindles insensibly within the soul, which ardently embraces\nit, a divine and consuming flame of love, so rapturous that one puts\ncurbs upon the outward expression of it.\"\n\nIt is to this divine love that we are called. This is the high promise\nof man's life. We are called away from indifference, from meanness,\nmalice, prejudice and hate. We are called above the earthly loves that\ncome and go, and are unsure. We are called into the deep enduring love\nof God and man and all creation. Worship is a door into that love. Once\nwe have entered it, our every act is a prayer, our whole life a\ncontinuous worship.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BASIS OF FRIENDS WORSHIP AND OTHER INWARD PRACTICES\n\n\nSome people believe that whereas God's nature is divine, man's nature is\ndepraved. God is good, but men are evil. God, according to this view,\nexists in heaven, remote from us. We exist in sin, remote from Him, in\nhell or next door to it. Human beings are completely separated from the\nDivine Being. The only possible connection between men and God is that\nbrought about by the mediation of the church and its authorized\nofficials. Friends have never held this view.\n\nFriends, beginning with George Fox, realized that something of God\ndwells _within_ each and every human being, and that, therefore, He is\nreachable by us through direct contact, and we are within His reach,\nsubject to His immediate influence. This is the well-known basis of\nFriends worship.\n\nSince God is within us, Friends turn inward to find Him. This is not a\nmatter of choice or inclination; it is a matter of necessity. Turning\ninward, we turn away from all externals. Friends practice inwardness.\nRufus Jones writes, \"The religion of the Quaker is primarily concerned\nwith the culture and development of the inward life and with direct\ncorrespondence with God.\"\n\nSome number of Friends in the early days of the movement not only sought\nGod but found him, though it would perhaps be better to say were found\nby him. It was because they found God that they had such living worship,\nsuch vital meetings. It was because they truly worshiped and had vital\nmeetings that they progressively discovered God and came increasingly\nwithin his power. The one led to the other. Without the one we cannot\nhave the other.\n\nThat there is that of God in every man was, as already implied, more\nthan a belief or a concept with the early Friends. It was an\nexperience. It was a recovery of the living Deity. As he made and\ncontinued to make this recovery in himself, George Fox went about his\napostolic work and laid the foundation of what came to be the Society of\nFriends. What did Fox aim for? How did he regard his ministry? Let him\nanswer in his own words. \"I exhorted the people to come off from all\nthese things (from churches, temples, priests, tithes, argumentation,\nexternal ceremonies and dead traditions), and directed them to the\nspirit and grace of God in themselves, and to the light of Jesus in\ntheir own hearts, that they might come to know Christ, their free\nTeacher.\"\n\nPointing as they do to the basis of Friends worship, these several\nconsiderations do not, of themselves, throw light on the reason for\ncertain other inward practices. The basis of these other practices is,\nunfortunately, less simple and less well-known. Why is there need of\nparticular occasions for prayer and worship? Why need we gather together\nand sit quietly? Why practice waiting before God? If He is in us, why\ndoes He not manifest to us continually, why does His power not always\nmotivate our actions? Why do we have to practice His presence, and why\nis this practice so difficult? To answer these questions we are forced\nto adopt a somewhat complex and non-habitual view of the situation.\n\nSuppose we are approached by a person of inquiring mind who says, \"You\nsay that there is that of God in every man. All right, I am prepared to\naccept that as truth. But precisely where in us does the divine spark\nexist? Is it in our bodies? Is it in our ordinary minds and everyday\nthoughts and emotions? Do you mean to say that God exists in ignorance,\nin man's prejudices and hatreds, in human evil?\" How will we reply?\nObviously God does not exist in our trivial actions, nor in our godless\nthoughts and feelings. Certainly He does not exist in our ignorance and\nevil. But these things exist in us. They constitute a part of us. This\npart of us, then, is separated from God, while another part is related\nto Him. Insofar as we identify with the separated part and believe it to\nbe ourselves, we exist divorced from that of God in us.\n\nThe attitude, in brief, is this. There is that of God in every man.\nTherefore man, in his entirety, is not separated from God. But man is\ndivided within, and against, himself, into two different and opposing\naspects, and one of these aspects is separated from God. This is my view\nof the situation. If I understand the writings of the early Friends,\nthis was their view of the situation.\n\nThe early Friends had names for the part of us that is separated from\nGod. They called it the \"natural man,\" the \"earthly man.\" I shall\nsometimes refer to it as the \"body-mind\" or the \"separated self.\" The\nearly Friends called the part of us that is related to God and in which\nGod dwells the \"spiritual man,\" the \"new birth,\" the \"new creation.\" I\nshall sometimes call it the \"inner being,\" the \"spiritual self.\"\n\nIt is of course the separated self that presents the problem. It\nobstructs our attempts to relate ourselves to God and to our fellow men.\nIt interferes with worship as well as with love. It is because of this\nself that we do not pray and love as naturally as we breathe. The\nseparated self stands in the way. Therefore it must be overcome. For\ndivine as well as genuinely human purposes it must be subdued and\neventually left behind. Every real religious practice, whether of\nFriends or of others, either directly or indirectly aims to enable human\nbeings to transcend the separated self in order that we may be united\nwith the spiritual self or being which is near God because He dwells\ntherein.\n\nIn the light of these facts we can understand the need and the purpose\nof certain specific inward practices, such as the practice of contending\nwith oneself (Isaac Penington called it \"lawful warring\") and the\npractice of gathering silently and waiting upon God. Since the separated\nself exists, and is an obstruction, we must contend with it. We contend\nwith it so as to remove it and, at the same time, activate the spiritual\nnature. Gathering in silence and waiting upon God is necessary for the\nsame reason, and is another means to the same end. More will be said of\nthis presently.\n\nThe early Friends, while proclaiming the good news that there is a\nspiritual man in each and all of us, that God dwells in this part of\nhuman beings and is, for this very reason, close even to the earthly\nman, regarded the earthly man as unregenerate, sinful, blind and dead to\nthe things of the spirit. Only by rising above the earthly aspect of\nourselves can we pass from sin into righteousness, from death to life,\nfrom that which exists apart from God into that which exists as part of\nGod. Only by yielding to God's power can the earthly man be regenerated.\nTo the degree that this happens, we are unified with our spiritual\nnatures. Thus we are mended and made whole. What formerly was a\nseparated and contrary part, becomes the instrument of expression of the\nresurrected spiritual being.\n\nIf the earthly man is dead to the things of the spirit, then, as long as\nhe remains so, he obviously can neither truly pray nor truly worship.\nNor can we, as long as we remain identified with him. Should he try to\npray, he but prays according to his own ignorant and faulty notions.\nShould he try to worship, he but worships in his own will, not according\nto the will of God. Robert Barclay called this kind of worship\n\"will-worship.\"\n\nWill-worship was what the Friends condemned and tried to avoid. They\naimed for true spiritual worship. They wanted to worship God by and\nthrough the workings of His spirit and power in their spiritual beings.\nHow were they to fulfill this aim? What, specifically, were they to do?\nTry, by all available means, to quiet and subdue the earthly man, to lay\ndown his will, to turn the mind to God. But, having done this, they\nfound that something more was wanted. They discovered, as you and I have\nor will, that it is one thing to still our habitual thoughts and\nmotions, but quite another to cause the spiritual self to arise. By our\nown efforts we can subdue the body-mind to some extent. Few of us, by\nour efforts alone, can activate our spiritual natures in a vital and\ncreative way. We need God's help. We need the help of one another. But\nGod's help may not come at once. Our help to each other, even though we\nare gathered in a meeting for worship or actively serving our fellow\nmen outside of the meeting, may be and often is delayed as regards our\nkindling one another spiritually. What are we to do in this case? There\nis only one thing we can do--wait. Having done our part to overcome the\nseparated self, we can but wait for the spiritual self to arise and take\ncommand of our lives. Having brought ourselves as close as we can to\nGod, we can but hold ourselves in an attitude of waiting for Him to work\nHis will in us, to draw us fully into His presence.\n\nSo the early Friends engaged in silent waiting, humble yet expectant\nwaiting, reverent waiting upon the Lord, that they might be empowered by\nHim to help one another and to render to Him the honor and the adoration\nwhich, as Robert Barclay said, characterizes true worship; that His\npower might come over them and cover the meeting; that He might bring\nabout the death of the old, the birth of the new man.\n\nFriends waited, both in and out of meeting. They waited for God to move\nthem, quicken them to life, make them His instruments. They waited for\nthe power of God to do its wonder-work, lifting up the part of them that\nwas akin to Him, gracing them with the miracle of resurrection. Waiting\npreceded worship. Waiting prepared for worship, and the springing up of\nnew life. By waiting they began worshiping. The stillness of the meeting\nhouse, the silence of the lips, the closed eyes and composed faces were\nthe tangible signs of the preliminary period of waiting.\n\nIt is instructive and reassuring to note how frequently, among the early\nFriends, the practice of waiting did have the desired sequel. This\nseeming inactivity led to spiritual action. Out of this chrysalis what a\nlife was born! God found them in the silence. Blessed and renewing\nexperiences came to Friends, experiences which enabled them to be agents\nof the divine spirit in every situation of human life. It is instructive\nbecause it points us, of this day, to a religious practice that is\neffective. It is reassuring because from it we may have sound hope that,\nif we rightly and faithfully engage in this and other inward practices,\nwe may reach and even surpass the high level of religious experience\nand service attained by Friends in the days when the Quaker movement\nreally moved. In our present-day lives and meetings there can be\nsoul-shaking events. The Light can invade us. Truth can take hold of us.\nLove may gather us. Above all, God himself may become real to us as the\nsupreme Fact of the entire universe.\n\nWe of this modern age are inclined to be more lenient in our views of\nthe earthly man. We are disposed to consider him a moderately decent\nfellow except when under the active power of evil. This makes us more\ntolerant, less intense. It makes us more likely to indulge our fondness\nfor the earthly world and its things and pleasures, less moved to seek\nGod and His Kingdom. Nevertheless if we examine our experience we shall\nrecognize characteristics of the earthly man that are similar to those\nseen by the early Friends. The outside world has changed considerably in\nthree hundred years, but man's constitution is much the same now as then\nin all essential respects.\n\nThe earthly man, whether we regard him as good, bad, or indifferent, is\nevidently an exile from God's kingdom. Our body-minds, namely our\neveryday persons, are out of touch with our spiritual natures most of\nthe time, hence out of touch with God. We, as ordinary people, are not\nby inclination turned towards God, but, on the contrary, are turned away\nfrom Him. Day in and day out we do not even think of the possibility of\nloving God and doing His will, but think of ourselves, and are bent to\nenact our own wills, have our own way. Whether we, as earthly men, can\ntruly pray and worship is a question about which there is likely to be\ndisagreement. But who will deny that when we are absorbed in our\naffairs, as we are most of the time, we do not pray or worship?\nRecognition of these several facts will lead us to a position similar to\nthat of the early Friends, and point us to the same needs as regards\nwhat we must do if we would truly pray and worship, and, indeed, truly\nlive. We too must endeavor to subdue the body-mind and turn the mind\nGodwards. We too must try to overcome the separated self and re-connect\nwith our spiritual natures. We too must practice waiting. We too must\nstrive to attain the Quaker ideal so well expressed by Douglas Steere,\n\"to live from the inside outwards, as _whole_ men.\"\n\nWhen compared with bodily action, what could seem more inactive than\nwaiting upon God? The modern world asks, \"Where will that get you?\"\nYoung people say, \"We want action.\" Yet, as we have seen, it was\nprecisely through this and other apparently inactive means that the\nearly Friends came into a power of whole action that surpasses anything\nthat we experience today. We say we are activists, but often lack the\nspiritual force to act effectively. They said they were waiters, and\nfrequently acted as moved by God's light and love. I think that we in\nthis age of decreasing inner-action, of ever increasing outer activity,\nhave a profound lesson to learn from the early Friends. We had best\nlearn it now, and quickly, lest the faith and practices of the Friends\nbecome so watered that they lose their character and flow into the\nactivities of which the world is full, and are absorbed by them, and\nFriends cease to be Friends. I do not say we should go back to the old\ndays. That is impossible. Let us move forward, as we must if we are to\nmove at all. But let us build upon those foundations, not scrap them.\nLet those past summits show us how high men can go, with God's help.\n\nFriends are by no means the only ones who realize that the body-mind\npresents a problem; that, in its usual state, it is an obstacle to\nworship and to all forms of the religious life. Friends are not alone in\nrecognizing that when the separated self is uppermost and active, the\nspiritual self is submerged and passive, and that we are called upon to\nreverse this. All genuine religious people, whatever the religion, have\nrecognized the problem and have endeavored to solve it in one way or\nanother. Generally speaking, there are two ways of dealing with the\nsituation. One way consists of the attempt to lift the body-mind above\nits usual condition, so that it may be included in the act of worship.\nThe body-mind is presented with sight of religious symbols. It is given\nsound of religious music and of specially trained speakers called\npriests or ministers. It participates in rituals, ceremonies,\nsacraments. This way may be effective. When it is, the body-mind\nactually is lifted above its usual state, the spiritual nature is\nevoked. But when this way is not effective it merely results in exciting\nthe body-mind and gives people the illusion that this excitation is true\nworship. Or it may result in a sterile enactment of outward forms.\n\nThe other way is just the opposite. It consists of the effort to reduce\nthe body-mind below its usual state, so that it will not interfere with\nworship. All externals are dispensed with. No religious symbols are in\nview. No music is provided, no rituals, no appointed speakers. The\nexternal setting is as plain as possible, so that the body-mind may be\nmore readily quieted. Internally, too, the attempt is to remove all\ncauses of excitement, all of the ordinarily stimulating thoughts,\nimages, desires. The one thought that should be present is the thought\nof turning Godward, seeking Him, waiting before Him. This way may be\neffective. When it is, the body-mind is subordinated and ceases to exist\nas the principal part of man. The spiritual nature is activated and\nlifted up. When, however, this way is not effective, it merely produces\ndeadness.\n\nIn both cases the test is this: Does the spiritual nature arise? Friends\nhave chosen the way of subduing the body-mind, of excluding it from\nworship except insofar as it may act as an organ of expression of the\nrisen spirit. Having chosen this way, we are called upon to do it\neffectively, creatively. If we succeed--and we sometimes do--our inner\nlife is resurrected, the whole man is regenerated, and a living worship\nconnects man with God. But if we fail--and we often do--the spiritual\nnature remains as if dead, and, on top of this, we pile a deadened\nbody-mind. What should be a meeting for worship, a place where man and\nGod come together, becomes a void. There is no life, only a sterile\nquietism. Sterile quietism is as bad as sterile ritualism.\n\nSterility, in whatever form, is what we want to avoid. Creativity is\nwhat we must recover--aliveness, growth, moving, wonder, reverence, a\nsense of being related to the vast motions of that ocean of light and\nlove.\n\n\n\n\nWHAT TO DO IN THE MEETING FOR WORSHIP\n\n\nDefinite periods for worship should be established because, constituted\nas we are, worship does not occur as naturally as it might, and at all\ntimes. Unless we set aside regularly recurring times, many of us are not\nlikely to worship at any time. We appoint times and places so that we\nmay do what something deep in us yearns to do, yet which we all too\nrarely engage in because most often we are caught up in the current of\ncontrary or irrelevant events. Set times of worship not only aid us to\nworship at those times but at others too; and, of course, the more often\nwe try to worship at other times, the more able we become to make good\nuse of the established occasions.\n\nAmong the people of our day, Mahatma Gandhi is an outstanding example of\napplied religion. It might seem that he, of all people, would feel no\nneed of special times of prayer; yet this is not the case. There are\nappointed times each day when he and those around him engage in prayer.\nWhenever possible he attends a Friends meeting for worship. The\nfollowing quotation from the _Friends Intelligencer_ gives his view of\nthis matter. \"Discussing the question whether one's whole life could not\nbe a hymn of praise and prayer to one's Maker, so that no separate time\nof prayer is needed, Gandhi observed, 'I agree that if a man could\npractice the presence of God all the twenty-four hours, there would be\nno need for a separate time of prayer.' But most people, he pointed out,\nfind that impossible. For them silent communion, for even a few minutes\na day, would be of infinite use.\"\n\nEach of us individually should daily prepare for worship and, now and\nagain, go off by himself in solitude. Fresh stimulus and challenge are\nexperienced when a man puts himself utterly on his own and seeks to come\nface to face with his God. Aloneness may release the spirit. So may\ngenuine togetherness. Group or corporate worship is also necessary\nbecause, as already mentioned, we need each other's help to quiet the\nbody-mind, to lay down the ordinary self, to lift up the spiritual\nnature. Many a person finds it possible to become still in a meeting for\nworship as nowhere else. Peace settles over us. Many a person is\ninwardly kindled in a meeting for worship as nowhere else. The creative\nforces begin to stir. When a number of people assemble reverently, and\nall engage in similar inward practices with the same aim and expectancy,\nlife-currents pass between them; a spiritual atmosphere is formed; and\nin this atmosphere things are possible that are impossible without it.\nMore particularly, we may have opportunity in a meeting for coming close\nto a person more quickened than we are. By proximity with him or her we\nare quickened. It is true that in a Friends meeting the responsibility\nfor worship and ministry rests upon each and every member; but it is\nalso true that Friends, like others, must somewhat rely for their\nawakening upon those who are more in God's spirit and power than the\naverage. We minimize an essential feature of our meetings if we fail to\nrecognize the role of the sheer presence of men and women who are\nspiritually more advanced than most and are able to act as leaven.\n\nThe meeting for worship should begin outside of the meeting house, on\nour way to it. As we enter the house, we would do well to remind\nourselves of the meaning of worship, the significance of corporate\nworship, the possibility of meeting with God. Be expectant that this may\nhappen in this very gathering. Lift up the mind and heart to the Eternal\nBeing in whom we have brotherhood. The hope is that by these initial\nacts we will put ourselves in the mood of worship and kindle a warmth of\ninner life that will continue throughout the meeting and give spiritual\nmeaning to all subsequent efforts.\n\nSettle into your place as an anonymous member of an anonymous group. If\nyou have come to have a reputation among people, forget this and become\nanonymous. If you have not made a name for yourself, forget this. The\nopportunity to practice anonymity is a precious one. The meeting for\nworship would be of great value if it did no more than make this\npractice possible. If you are accustomed to feel yourself important in\nthe eyes of men, lay it down and feel only that you and others may have\nsome importance in the eyes of God. If you feel unimportant, lay this\ndown. If articulate or inarticulate, forget this. Lay aside all your\nworldly relationships and your everyday interior states. In fine, forget\nyourself. Surrender yourself. Immerse yourself in the life of the group.\nThis is our chance to lose ourselves in a unified and greater life. It\nis our opportunity to die as separated individuals and be born anew in\nthe life and power of the spirit. Seek, in the words of Thomas Kelly, to\nwill your will into the will of God.\n\nQuiet and relax the body. We should try to quiet its habitual activity,\nto relax it from strain, yet not over-relax it. Though relaxed it should\nnot become limp or drowsy. It must be kept upright, alert, wakeful. What\nwe desire is a body so poised and at rest that it is content to sit\nthere, taking care of itself, and we can forget it.\n\nStill the mind, gather it, turn it steadfastly towards God. This is more\ndifficult. It is contrary to the mind's nature to be still. It is\nagainst its grain to turn Godwards. Left to itself it goes on and on\nunder its own momentum, roaming, wandering. It thinks and pictures and\ndreams of everything on earth except God and the practice of His\npresence. Even those who developed great aptitude for taking hold of the\nmind and turning it to God found it difficult and even painful in the\nbeginning. If we expect it to be easy and pleasant we shall be easily\ndiscouraged after a few trials. Brother Lawrence warns us that this\npractice may even seem repugnant to us at first.\n\nThe mind of an adult is more restive and all over the place than the\nbody of a child. How are we to curb its incessant restlessness and stay\nit upon prayer and worship? How restrain its wanderings and point it to\nthe mark? How take it away from its automatic stream of thoughts and\nfocus it on God? Only by effort, practice, repeated effort, regular\npractice. It requires life-long preparation and training. We cannot hope\nto make much progress if we attempt to stay the mind only on First-days\nduring meeting. We must make effort throughout the week, daily, hourly.\n\nIt is by stilling the body-mind that we center down. Put the other way,\nit is by centering down that we still the body-mind. I would judge that\nall Friends have in common the practice of centering down. This is our\ncommon preparation for worship. From here on, however, each of us is\nlikely to go his individual way, no two ways being alike. This is the\nfreedom of worship which has ever been an integral part of the Friends\nreligion. We are not called upon to follow any fixed procedure. This is\ncreative. The individual spirit is set free to find its way, in its own\nmanner, to God. Yet it leaves some of us at a loss to know what to do\nnext. Some of us are not yet able to press on. We are unsure of the\ninward way, and our available resources are not yet adequate to this\ntype of exploration. We need hints from others, suggestions, guides. To\nmeet this need, a number of Friends have written of what they do after\nthey center down. Among these writings may be mentioned Douglas V.\nSteere's _A Quaker Meeting for Worship_, and Howard E. Collier's _The\nQuaker Meeting_. In the same spirit I would like to indicate what I do.\n\nOnce I have centered down I try to open myself, to let the light in. I\ntry to open myself to God's power. I try to open myself to the other\nmembers of the meeting, to gain a vital awareness of them, to sense the\nspiritual state of the gathering. I try so to reform myself inwardly\nthat, as a result of this meeting, I will thereafter be just a little\nless conformed to the unregenerate ways of the world, just a little more\nconformed to the dedicated way of love.\n\nI encourage a feeling of expectancy. I invite the expectation that here,\nin this very meeting, before it is over, the Lord's power will spring up\nin us, cover the meeting, gather us to Him and to one another. Though\nmeetings come and go, and weeks and even years pass, and it does not\nhappen, nevertheless I renew this expectation at every meeting. I have\nfaith that some day it will be fulfilled. We should be bold in our\nexpectations, look forward to momentous events. We should not be timid\nor small but large with expectancy, and, at the same time humble, so\nthat there is no egotism in it.\n\nI kindle the hope that, should the large events not be for me and for us\nthis day, some true prayer will arise from our depths, some act of\ngenuine worship. I hope that at the least I will start some exploration\nor continue one already begun, make some small discovery, feel my inward\nlife stir creatively and expand to those around me.\n\nHaving aroused my expectancy, I wait. I wait before the Lord, forgetting\nthe words in which I clothed my expectations, if possible forgetting\nmyself and my desires, laying down my will, asking only that His will be\ndone. In attitude or silent words I may say, \"I am before thee, Lord. If\nit be thy will, work thy love in me, work thy love in us.\"\n\n\"O wait,\" wrote Isaac Penington, \"wait upon God. Be still a while. Wait\nin true humility, and pure subjection of soul and spirit, upon Him. Wait\nfor the shutting of thy own eye, and for the opening of the eye of God\nin thee, and for the sight of things therewith, as they are from Him.\"\n\nSometimes, while waiting, a glow steals over me, a warmth spreads from\nmy heart. I have a chance to welcome the welling up of reverence, the\nsense that I am in the presence of the sacred. Sometimes, though rarely,\nthe practice of waiting is invaded by an unexpected series of inner\nevents which carry me by their action through the meeting to the end. I\nfeel God's spirit moving in me, my spirit awakening to Him.\n\nMore often I come to have the sense that I have waited long enough for\nthis time. To forestall the possibility of falling into dead passivity,\nI voluntarily discontinue the practice of waiting and turn my attention\nto other concerns. I may summon to mind a vital problem that confronts\nme or one of my friends, trying to see the problem by the inward light,\nseeking the decision that would be best. I may bring into consciousness\nsomeone I know to be suffering. This may be a personal acquaintance or\nsomeone whose plight I have learned of through others, or people in\ndistress brought to my attention by an article in a newspaper or a\nmagazine. I call to him or them in my spirit, and suffer with them, and\npray God that through their suffering they will be turned to Him, that\nby their very pain they may grow up to Him.\n\nHardly a meeting passes but what I pray that I and the members of the\nmeeting and people everywhere may have this experience: that our wills\nbe overcome by God's will, that our powers be overpowered by His light\nand love and wisdom. And sometimes, though again rarely, I find it\npossible to hold my attention, or, rather, to have my heart held,\nwithout wavering, upon the one supreme reality, the sheer fact of God.\nThese are the moments that I feel to be true worship. These are the\ntimes when the effort to have faith is superseded by an effortless\nassurance born of actual experience. God's reality is felt in every\nfibre of the soul and brings convincement even to the body-mind.\n\nI would not give the impression that what I have described takes place\nin just this way every time, or that it happens without disruptions,\nlapses, roamings of the mind, day-dreams. Frequently I must recall\nmyself, again still the mind and turn it Godwards, again practice\nwaiting. All too often I awake to find, no, not that I have been\nactually sleeping, but that I might as well have been, so far have I\nstrayed from the path that leads to God and brotherhood. And I must\nconfess, too, that during some meetings I have been buried under inertia\nand deadness and unable to overcome them. Having meant nothing to\nmyself, it is not likely that my presence meant anything to the others.\nMy body was but an object, unliving, filling space on a bench. It would\nhave been better for others had I stayed away. A dead body gives off no\nlife; it but absorbs life from others, reducing the life-level of the\nmeeting.\n\nAs I am one of those who are sometimes moved to speak in meetings, I may\nindicate how this happens in my case. First let me say what I do not do.\nI never try to think up something to say. I am quite content to be\nsilent, unless something comes into my mind and I am moved to say it, or\nunless I sense that the meeting would like to hear a few living words.\nIn this latter case, I may search myself to see what may be found; and\nby this searching I may set in motion the processes which discover\nhidden messages.\n\nI never go to the meeting with an \"itch\" to speak, though it sometimes\nhappens to me, as to others, that I am moved to speak before arriving at\nthe meeting house. Even so, I usually restrain the urge until we have\nhad at least a short period of silent waiting before God. One is vain\nindeed if he thinks that his words are more important than this waiting.\nIf I have not been moved to speak before arriving, such an impulse, if\nit comes at all, is likely to arise after I have been waiting a while.\nIt arises within my silence. An insight or understanding flashes into my\nmind. A prayer or a pleading or a brief exhortation comes upon me. I\nhold it in mind and look at it, and at myself. I examine it.\n\nIs this a genuine moving that deserves expression in a meeting for\nworship, or had I best curb and forget it? May it have some real meaning\nfor others, and is it suited to the condition of this meeting? Can I\nphrase it clearly and simply? If it passes these tests, I regard it as\nsomething to be said but I am not yet sure it should be said here and\nnow. To find out how urgent it is, I press it down and try to forget it.\nIf time passes and it does not take hold of me with increased strength,\nI conclude that it is not to be spoken of at this time. If, on the other\nhand, it will not be downed, if it rebounds and insists and will not\nleave me alone, I give it expression.\n\nIf it turns out that the words were spoken more in my own will than in\nthe power, I feel that egotistical-I has done it, and that this\nself-doing has set me apart from the other members of the meeting. I am\ndissatisfied until again immersed in the life of the group. But if it\nseems that I have been an instrument of the power, I have the feeling\nthat the power has done it and has, by this very act, joined those\nassembled even closer. Having spoken, I feel at peace once again, warmed\nand made glowing by the passage of a living current through me to my\nfellows. With a heightened sense of fellowship with man and God, I\nresume my silent practices.\n\nI never speak if, in my sense of it, spoken words would break a living\nsilence and disrupt the life that is gathering underneath. But I have on\noccasion spoken in the hope of breaking a dead silence. Spoken words\nshould arise by common consent. The silence should accept them. The\ninvisible life should sanction them. The members of the meeting should\nwelcome them and be unable to mark exactly when the message began and\nwhen it ends. The message should form with the silence a seamless whole.\n\nIf the message be a genuine one, the longer I restrain it the better\nshaped it becomes in my mind and the stronger the impulse to express it.\nA force gathers behind it. Presently, however, I must either voice it or\nput it from my mind completely, lest it dominate my consciousness\noverlong and rule out the other concerns which should engage us in a\nmeeting for worship. It is good when a message possesses us. Our\nmeetings need compelling utterances. But it is not good when a message\nobsesses us to the exclusion of all else. This is a danger which\narticulate people, particularly those like myself who have much dealing\nwith words, must avoid. We miss our chance if we do not use the meeting\nfor worship as an opportunity to dwell in the depths of life far below\nthe level of words, rising to the surface only when we are forced to by\nan upthrust of the spirit which seeks to unite the surface with the\ndepths and gather those assembled into a quickened sense of creative\nwholeness--each in all and all in God.\n\n\n\n\nQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS\n\n\nWHAT MOVES US TO PRAY AND WORSHIP? Sometimes we are moved by a quickened\nsense of a sacred Presence. Prayer and worship are our spontaneous\nresponses as we awaken to God's unutterable radiance and wonder.\nSometimes we are moved by a realization that, left to ourselves, we are\ninadequate, that apart from God we are insufficient. Realizing that our\nknowledge is insufficient, we turn to God's light and wisdom. And there\nare those who pray and worship as a conscious means of growing up to God\nand becoming firmly established in His kingdom.\n\nWHY DO NOT MORE PEOPLE PRAY? Why do not all of us worship more often?\nMany lack a quickened sense of a sacred Presence. Though aware of\nmaterial things, they are inert to the things of the spirit. They wait\nto be spiritually awakened. Most of us persist in feeling that we are\nself-sufficient. We feel we are adequate for all ordinary affairs, and\nit is only when we find ourselves in overpowering situations that we\nrecognize we are not self-sufficient, and may then turn to God. But when\nthe crisis passes we are likely to lapse into an assumption of\nself-sufficiency.\n\nWHY DO NOT THE LEADERS OF NATIONS TURN TO GOD? Did not the recent war,\ndoes not the present chaos of the world show them that their powers and\nknowledge are inadequate? It would seem that the leaders, despite all\nevidence to the contrary, still believe that their own powers and\npolitics are enough to prevent war and to secure an ordered and peaceful\nworld.\n\nWHEN WILL THE PEOPLE LEARN? WHEN WILL THE LEADERS LEARN? I do not know,\nbut for the sake of mankind I hope we learn soon. The people of all\nnations would do well to suspend their ordinary affairs for an hour each\nday, and, in concert, turn their minds and hearts steadfastly towards\nGod. The purpose of regeneration would be better served in this one\nhour than in all the other hours of the day.\n\nIS THE MEETING FOR WORSHIP BASED ON SILENCE? No. Friends know that it is\nnot, yet some Friends have fallen into the habit of saying that it is.\nJane Rushmore brought out this point in one of our meetings of Ministry\nand Counsel. She reminded us that the meeting for worship is based on\nthe conviction that we can directly communicate with God, and He with\nus. Silence, we believe, is a necessary means to such communion. For if\nwe are busy with our own talk, God will not speak to us. Stillness is a\nnecessary condition for practicing the presence of God. For if we stir\nabout in our own wills, God will not move us. In the meeting for worship\nwe try to obey the command, \"Be still, and know that I am God.\" God is\nthe goal. A living silence is a means thereto.\n\nRecently I was visited by three young Friends, thirteen years of age.\nThey had some problems to talk over. I asked if they felt they knew what\nto do in the meeting for worship. Their happy confidence that they did\nknow was a pleasant surprise, as I have found many Friends, young and\nold, who are in need of suggestions and guides. I asked these three what\nthey did in the silence. After some hesitancy, one brightened and\nreplied, \"I talk over my problems with God.\" I told her that was a\nsplendid thing to do. For young people of thirteen or thereabouts, it is\nenough that they talk over their problems with God, or engage in some\nother simple and sincere exercise. For some older people one or two\nsimple practices are enough. I am in sympathy with those who would\nworship in simplicity of mind and heart. But others are in need of more,\nand the preceding chapter tries to speak to this need. Whatever the\nmeans used, the important thing is that we spiritually awake and come\nalive during the meeting for worship even more than at other times.\n\nWHO SHOULD SPEAK IN THE MEETING FOR WORSHIP? Anyone who is genuinely\nmoved to. Age has nothing to do with it, though older people may be more\nable because of longer practice. Education has nothing to do with it,\nthough education may facilitate verbal expression. The essential matter\nis the inward prompting, under God's guidance. The Book of Discipline\nsays, \"Our conviction is that the Spirit of God is in all, and that\nvocal utterance comes when this Spirit works within us. The varying\nneeds of a meeting can be best supplied by different personalities, and\na meeting is enriched by the sharing of any living experience of God.\"\n\nWHAT ARE WE TO DO IF WE FEEL GENUINELY MOVED TO SPEAK BUT ARE INHIBITED\nBY THE FEAR OF NOT EXPRESSING OURSELVES WELL? Attend to what you have to\nsay. Put your mind on that, and take it off yourself. Do not be\nconcerned that your speech may be halting and imperfect. Do not compare\nyourself with others, thinking that they speak fluently, you poorly. Be\nconcerned to communicate. Summon up your courage and break the ice. Try.\nIf you can once overcome an inhibition, you have broken its hold. It\nwill still be there, but you can overcome it more readily the next time.\nKeep trying.\n\nIt is true that some people seem born with the facility to speak, but it\nis also true that the ability, like other abilities, is developed by\npractice. Most of those who speak well now, began with embarrassment,\nself-consciousness, and an imperfect command of words. Friends can be\ncounted on to understand if at first your thoughts and feelings are not\nexpressed as well as they might be. They will attend more to what you\nare trying to say than to how you say it. Here again the Book of\nDiscipline gives wise counsel. \"One who is timid or unaccustomed to\nspeak should have faith that God will strengthen him to give his\nmessage.\"\n\nWHEN SHOULD WE SPEAK IN THE MEETING FOR WORSHIP? Whenever we are moved\nto. We may be moved to speak near the beginning, midway, or towards the\nend. The important thing is not the time but the moving. However, as\nRufus Jones once pointed out, it sometimes helps if, once we are really\nsettled, something is said that lifts the spirit, that raises us above\nour worldly problems and gives impetus to our search for the indwelling\ndivinity.\n\nWHAT SHOULD BE SPOKEN OF IN THE MEETING FOR WORSHIP? This question will\nbe answered for us, inwardly, if we are in the spirit of the meeting, if\nthe meeting is in God's spirit. We may speak of spiritual things. We may\nspeak of daily affairs and events, if these are given a spiritual\ninterpretation. We may speak of world problems, if these are seen in the\nlight of religion. Anything that comes from the heart is proper and\nacceptable. We will not go wrong if we keep in mind the central purpose\nof the meeting for worship, and are striving to fulfill this purpose.\nLet your heart respond to the need of our meetings for a vital ministry.\nOpen yourself and accept, should it come to you, the call to an inspired\nministry.\n\nSHOULD MESSAGES COME ONE AFTER THE OTHER IN RAPID SUCCESSION? No. There\nshould be a due interval between them, a living silence in which the\nspirit works deep below the level of words. Messages should arise from\nthe silence and return to it. Of course there are times when one message\narises from another. Even so, there should be pauses between them during\nwhich the creative forces may operate in unexpected ways. Restraint of\nspeech improves both the speech and the silence. Read what Thomas Kelly\nhas to say of spoken words in his pamphlet, _The Gathered Meeting_.\n\n    But more frequently some words are spoken. I have in mind those\n    meeting hours which are not dominated by a single sermon, a single\n    twenty-minute address, well-rounded out, with all the edges tucked\n    in so there is nothing more to say. In some of our meetings we may\n    have too many polished examples of homiletic perfection which lead\n    the rest to sit back and admire but which close the question\n    considered, rather than open it. Participants are converted into\n    spectators; active worship on the part of all drifts into passive\n    reception of external instruction. To be sure, there are gathered\n    meetings, which arise about a single towering mountain peak of a\n    sermon. One kindled soul may be the agent whereby the slumbering\n    embers within are quickened into a living flame.\n\n    But I have more particularly in mind those hours of worship in which\n    no one person, no one speech stands out as the one that \"made\" the\n    meeting, those hours wherein the personalities that take part\n    verbally are not enhanced as individuals in the eyes of others, but\n    are subdued and softened and lost sight of because in the language\n    of Fox, \"The Lord's power was over all.\" Brevity, earnestness,\n    sincerity--and frequently a lack of polish--characterizes the best\n    Quaker speaking. The words should rise like a shaggy crag upthrust\n    from the surface of silence, under the pressure of river power and\n    yearning, contrition and wonder. But on the other hand the words\n    should not rise up like a shaggy crag. They should not break the\n    silence, but continue it. For the Divine Life who was ministering\n    through the medium of silence is the same Life as is now ministering\n    through words. And when such words are truly spoken \"in the Life,\"\n    then when such words cease the _uninterrupted_ silence and worship\n    continue, for silence and words have been of one texture, one piece.\n    Second and third speakers only continue the enhancement of the\n    moving Presence, until a climax is reached, and the discerning head\n    of the meeting knows when to break it.\n\nWHAT ARE WE TO DO IF SOME FRIENDS ARE SOMETIMES OVER-VOCAL ABOUT MATTERS\nTHAT ARE HARDLY THE PROPER CONCERN FOR A MEETING FOR WORSHIP? How are we\nto regard those who do not always speak acceptably to us, or are\noverlong in their words, or who get up and repeat what we have heard\nthem say again and again? Instead of viewing them as objects of\ncriticism, separated from you, try to feel them as being together with\nyou in a common life, and pray that the Creator of this life may make\nall expressions living expressions. Do not let your resentment build up,\nbut increase your humility by recognizing that the faults that others\ndisplay may well be your own.\n\nHOW ARE WE TO MANAGE THE OCCASIONAL RUSTLINGS AND NOISES, WITHIN AND\nWITHOUT THE MEETING, THAT THREATENS TO DISTRACT US AND DRAW US AWAY FROM\nWORSHIP? Here Douglas Steere has a helpful practice. Try to include\nthese distractions in one's worship. Instead of attempting to exclude\nthem, weave them into your efforts to practice the presence of God. Read\nwhat Douglas Steere has to say of this in _A Quaker Meeting for\nWorship_.\n\n    But again and again before I get through this far in prayer my mind\n    has been drawn away by some distraction. Someone has come in late.\n    Two adorable little girls who are sitting on opposite sides of their\n    mother are almost overcome by delight in something which is much too\n    subtle to be comprehended by the adult mind, the drafts in the coal\n    stove need readjusting, how noisy the cars are out on the highway\n    today, the wind howls around the corner and rattles the old\n    pre-revolutionary glass in the window sashes. Do these rude\n    interruptions destroy the silent prayer? Well, there was a time when\n    they did, and there are times still when they interfere somewhat,\n    but for the most part, I think they help. The late-comers stir me to\n    a resolve to be more punctual myself--a fault I am all too well\n    aware of--and I pass directly on to prayer, glad that they have come\n    today. The little girls remind me of the undiscovered gaiety in\n    every cell of life that these little \"bon-vivants\" know ever so\n    well, and they remind me too that a meeting for worship must be made\n    to reach these fierce-eyed nine- and ten-year-olds, and I pass on. I\n    get up and open the draft in the coal stove. Sometimes I pray the\n    distractions directly into the prayer--\"swift, hurrying life of\n    which these humming motors are the symbol--pass by at your will--I\n    seek the still water that lies beneath these surface waves,\" or \"the\n    wind of God is always blowing but I must hoist my sail,\" and proceed\n    with my prayer.\n\nWHAT ARE WE TO DO WHEN A MEETING IS UNLIVING? Suffer it. Continue to do\nyour part to contribute to the life. Continue to pray that God will\nquicken the meeting, shake it awake. Suppose you yourself are heavy with\ninertia and feel more dead than alive. The only way to overcome inertia\nis to become active. Since, in a meeting for worship, our bodies are\nstill, the only positive action is inner-action. We have already\nconsidered several inward practices that facilitate inner-action. Engage\nin one or more of these with renewed determination. See your deadness as\na challenge and resolve not to be overcome by it but to overcome it.\nStruggle against it. Persist in the act of turning your mind and heart\nGodwards. Kindle your expectancy. Wait before the Lord. Think of Him.\nPray Him to send His life into you, and into the meeting, and into the\npeople of the world. Should these inward practices prove of no avail, I\nsometimes fall back on this device. There is always in us some theme\nthat the mind wants to think of, some fear, some desire, some problems,\nsome situation, some prospect. Though the theme is not a fit one for a\nmeeting for worship, I let my mind run on about it. Once the mind is\nwell started on this topic, I switch it and transfer its momentum to one\nof the practices that prepare for worship.\n\nHOW SHOULD WE COME TO MEETING? Reluctantly? No. Burdened by a feeling of\nobligation to attend? No. Expecting something dull and tedious? No! If a\nmeeting evokes only dullness in its members it is a dead meeting and\nought to be laid down. A live meeting evokes life. Just the prospect of\nattending such a meeting should quicken us. It were better to come alive\ndoing housework than to become deadened in a meeting house.\n\nCome with the expectancy that, as you make effort to turn yourself\nGodwards, the life deep within you will arise, and meet you half-way,\nand call you, and draw you, gather you into God's presence. Come with\nthe hope that the Teacher within will teach you of spiritual things.\nCome with the expectancy that as you meet with other Friends, in this\nvery gathering you and they will be shaken awake by the impact of God's\npower, and made to tremble, and become actual Quakers. Come with the\nprayer that one and all may be \"brought through the very ocean of\ndarkness and death, by the eternal, glorious power of Christ, into the\nocean of light and love.\"\n\nWHAT SHOULD WE DO, IN AND OUT OF MEETING, IN OUR PERIODS OF WORSHIP AND\nIN OUR DAILY LIVES? Practice the presence of God. Practice, as far as we\nare able, the love of God and the love of man and all creation. But let\nGeorge Fox declare it to us, as he declared it to the early Friends and\nto people of all ranks and conditions in two continents. \"All people\nmust first come to the Spirit of God in themselves, by which they might\nknow God and Christ, of whom the prophets and apostles learnt; by which\nSpirit they might have fellowship with the Son, and with the Father, and\nwith the Scriptures, and with one another; and without this Spirit they\ncan know neither God nor Christ, nor the Scriptures, nor have right\nfellowship one with another.\"\n\n\n\n\nFOR FURTHER READING\n\n\nBooks\n\nAN APOLOGY FOR THE TRUE CHRISTIAN DIVINITY by Robert Barclay\n\nTHE BOOK OF DISCIPLINE OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS\n\nCREATIVE WORSHIP by Howard H. Brinton\n\nTHE FAITH AND PRACTICE OF THE QUAKERS by Rufus M. Jones\n\nTHE JOURNAL OF GEORGE FOX\n\nTHE LETTERS OF ISAAC PENINGTON\n\nPRAYER AND WORSHIP by Douglas V. Steere\n\nTHE QUAKER MINISTRY by John William Graham\n\nTHE QUAKER WAY OF LIFE by William Wistar Comfort\n\nTHE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE PEOPLE CALLED QUAKERS by William Penn\n\nSILENT WORSHIP, THE WAY OF WONDER by L. Violet Hodgkin\n\nA TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION by Thomas R. Kelly\n\nTESTIMONIES AND PRACTICE OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS by Jane P. Rushmore\n\nWORSHIP AND THE COMMON LIFE by Eric Hayman\n\n\nPamphlets\n\nPENN'S ADVICE TO HIS CHILDREN\n\nTHE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD by Brother Lawrence\n\nTHE QUAKER MEETING by Howard E. Collier\n\n\nLeaflets\n\nTHE GATHERED MEETING by Thomas R. Kelly\n\nGOING TO MEETING by Leonard S. Kenworthy\n\nA QUAKER MEETING FOR WORSHIP by Douglas V. Steere","title":"An Interpretation of Friends Worship","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":11887}