5 reasons to go to Quaker meeting (number 5 is a surprise)
Why try a Quaker meeting for worship for the first time? Giving something new a go can be daunting but Rhiannon Grant shares five reasons why it might be worthwhile.
Quaker meeting for worship involves sitting together with others, either in a room or online, and trying to access stillness and silence in order to listen deeply. The aim is to hear what love and truth are saying to us, which many Quakers understand as God speaking in our hearts. That's pretty vague, though. Why specifically might you want to try meeting for worship for the first time?
1. Make up your own mind.
In the openness of a Quaker meeting, where we gather in stillness and silence to see what will happen, there's nothing you have to agree to in advance.
The Quaker movement is part of the Christian family, and individual Quakers have lots of different relationships to Christianity: from outright rejection to full commitment, ranging through many kinds of doubts and interpretations. There are also many Quakers who are inspired by other religious traditions and secular, humanist, and scientific viewpoints.
You're welcome to come as you are, with whatever is already meaningful to you, and make up your own mind about whatever you encounter.
2. Support when things are hard.
There can be lots of challenges in life and many people find themselves wanting connection when times are hard.
Some people who have been bereaved, for example, find it helpful to spend time listening to themselves and their Inner Light, and that can be easier to do with others. Sometimes people who have experienced a relationship breakdown or are struggling with caring responsibilities or financial pressures find comfort, perspective, and support in the stillness of a Quaker meeting.
There are also people who come to meeting for worship to pray, perhaps to ask for God's help with a situation. Whatever you're going through, there's space for it in the silence.
3. Spirituality and community without pressure.
Sometimes looking for support feels like adding another demand. If life is already busy, committing to attend a group every week or organising an event yourself can be just too much, even if it's a great idea.
Quaker meeting for worship is happening anyway, at lots of locations around Britain and online, so you can simply turn up and try it. You can stay to talk afterwards if you want to, but it's optional.
With a bit of work finding online worship around the world you can attend meeting for worship every day if you want to, but you can also come only once in your whole life, or only when you feel able, or only when it fits around your shifts. At some point you might feel led to help out, but you're welcome to come whether or not that's a possibility.
4. Be loved as you are.
A core Quaker text, Advices & queries – it's online, or in the little red books usually put out at meeting for worship – says, “We seek a gathered stillness in our meetings for worship so that all may feel the power of God's love drawing us together and leading us."
Quaker communities are full of amazing, kind, funny, and flawed people, who do their best to bring God's love into the world, working for peace, justice, truth, and equality in all sorts of ways.
In meeting for worship, there's also a chance to experience that directly: flowing through the people who are present, and filling the silence, is God's love. It's not necessary to know where that comes from (people, the universe, a transcendent divine power, all of the above?) in order to experience it. This love is for everyone, including you.
5. Be surprised!
Quaker meeting for worship is not planned in advance. Quakers are advised to try and come prepared to be open to whatever arises. Sometimes it's dramatic: hearing God's voice or receiving a specific message. Often, it's gentle: a sense of presence, a feeling of relaxation or safety. We don't know what will happen. You can come to be surprised.
