Come in and have a seat. You are welcome to join us, once, or as often as like.
If you are used to other Christian worship services, worshipping with
Conservative Friends can seem strange, even to the point of feeling
uncomfortable. The silence may be experienced as restful, but it
can also be a source of anxiety for those unused to prolonged quiet.
If you are accustomed to some of the meditation practices of the East,
worshipping with Conservative Friends can seem misleadingly
familiar. In fact, those used to Eastern spiritual traditions may
at first not notice any difference between Christian waiting worship
and their own meditation. They are actually quite
different. What is happening is not meditation, not an individual
striving for unity with God. It is the corporate communion of a
group actively attempting to create a linked body that listens and
responds to the presence of God as something greater than the mere sum
of its parts.
When Friends meet for a scheduled meeting for worship, they gather
together at a set place and time, often (but not always) on a Sunday
(often referred to as First Day). Sometimes the place is a
meetinghouse, sometimes some other suitable place, such as someones
living room. To Conservative Friends, neither a particular day
nor a particular place is inherently better than any other, so long as
the day and place are convenient for the gathering of the Church, Gods
people.
As Friends gather together, they sit down and settle themselves quietly
in preparation for worship. Some meeting houses have pew-like
benches as well as facing benches, a group of benches at the front of
the meeting house where the ministers, elders, overseers, and clerk
traditionally sit. Other groups simply pull some chairs into a
circle or use whatever seating is available. The meeting
begins without rituals or announcements. Each worshipper sits
quietly, unless they feel led to share some ministry with the
group. Sometimes, a meeting for worship will be conducted
entirely in silence, although much is quietly going on. Other
times, someone will stand and give a message that they have felt God
moving them to share with the group. This message may be based on
a Biblical text, or on a personal experience. It may be a word of
encouragement, or of exhortation. It may seem pertinent to every
member of the group, or some of the worshippers may find the message a
mystery. It may be a prayer. Sometimes, a worshipper may be
moved to sing; these are often, but not always, religious
songs. Any worshipper may be moved to speak, including first-time
visitors.
Usually, an experienced Friend is designated to be the one to end
meeting. In modern scheduled meetings, there is usually an
allotted time for worship. Somewhere around the end of this
allotted time, the experienced Friend begins feeling for the
appropriate time to end meeting. When he or she feels that the
time has come to end the meeting, they turn to the person next to them
and shake hands. At this signal, the other worshippers also turn
to their neighbors and shake hands, ending the worship meeting.
Some meetings may end early, others may go on longer, depending on the
movement of the Holy Spirit as sensed by Friends.
To the person unfamiliar with it, this sort of meeting based on silent
waiting worship can be very challenging. There is often just not
that much going on visibly to attract and hold ones attention.
This is what the waiting worship of Friends was designed to do; it is
designed to remove as many barriers as possible between the worshipper
and God. We have no paid priests to take charge--the
responsibility for the worship lies with us. We have no formal
prayers or creeds to recite, no pre-arranged songs to sing--we wait for
Jesus to direct our worship. We have no ceremonies or physical
sacraments--we experience the inner renewal of true baptism and the
inner joy of true communion as our Saviour administers them. We
have no pre-arranged or written sermons--we wait for God himself to
provide the words to speak, and the moment to speak them. And if
we are not led by the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, we believe we are to
remain silent and wait.
Conservative Friends trust Jesus promise to be present with us
wherever we gather in his name. This is what Quakers mean when
they refer to the Presence in the Midst: Jesus is with us, in our
midst in the room as we worship. We trust that he is our teacher
and priest, and that he can guide us in worship himself without the
need for planned speeches or songs or rituals.
As Friends gather together, each Friend takes some time to settle down
and set aside the cares and business of the day. Sometimes this
is easier said than done! Most Friends have at some time or other
experienced meetings for worship that seemed almost completely taken up
by this one initial task. However, as Friends succeed in setting
aside temporal concerns, Friends find themselves slipping into an
awareness of the eternal. Friends find that they can pay
attention to God, talking to him in silent prayer and listening to him
as he answers. The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ moves among the
worshippers, comforting one person, exhorting another, correcting and
admonishing another. Each is ministered to by Christ according to
individual needs.
There is more to waiting worship than sitting in a room together while
each worshipper individually tries to listen to God, however.
Friends believe that as the Body of Christ, we also gather together to
worship in order to encourage and support each other, and that a
special communion with God and with each other can form out of the
silence. As Friends sit in worship, they may feel themselves
opened up and becoming a channel for Divine Love. They may feel
an outpouring of love for each of the other worshippers, or they may
feel held and loved themselves... this is one of the ways that Christ
builds up and encourages his Body, by helping us feel the currents of
his eternal divine love.
During waiting worship, God also builds up his church in more
tangible but equally inexplicable ways. Any Friend, at any time,
may come to feel that the Lord has a message that is intended for the
rest of the meeting, not just for them personally. Often, this
feeling is accompanied by physical symptoms: one Friend may
actually shake, another feels butterflies in the stomach, another
feels hot as though on fire, another describes feeling
electric. At this point the Friend will stand and deliver the
message that has been given them. They may speak, or sing, or
pray. They may be moved to do some physical act (I have seen a
baby laid gently down in the center of a circle of worshippers, for
example). Sometimes that Friend will not understand the message
that they feel they are supposed to give; they may even feel foolish
delivering it. But after delivering a message, the Friend will
often feel a sense of rest and peace that lets them know that they were
faithful to Gods call.
Conservative Friends call these sorts of vocal messages a free gospel
ministry. Ministers are unpaid, because the ministry is not of
man, but by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. If Jesus freely
gives it to us, we believe that we cannot charge others to give it to
them.