Gunpowder Friends Meeting

Meeting for Worship

It is sometimes said that Friends today worship the silence, but many of us are aware that what we have in the silence is an expectation. There is an urge inside many of us not for the silence but for the expectation that we can experience the presence of God. Our focus on the Light, the divine seed in us all, presses in on our attention. We need to sharpen this expectation and query one another about how we quicken it. We are a Religious Society of Friends; we are not an ethical culture society. For some, sitting in corporate worship opens silence as a new experience. At their first Meeting for Worship, they feel very much as if they had come to their spiritual home. For others, it takes many visits. Continue reading →

To sustain spiritual life, we need one another’s eyes and hearts as surely as we need help creating food and shelter. This reflection and encouragement is no small thing. As Adrienne Rich says, “Truthfulness, honor, is not something that springs ablaze of itself, it has to be created between people.” – Jack Kornfield, After the Ecstasy, the Laundry

Our report represents a rich mosaic of voices representing the breadth of experience within the Meeting community and the depth of our listening to the living Presence in our midst. First gathered from a worship sharing experience, thoughts were edited into topic paragraphs by the Ministry and Counsel committee and perfected in Meeting for Business.

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