IMYM Faith & Practice, 2009, pp 29-30
Introduction
This chapter considers several customary forms of worship used by Friends. To focus on form is to focus on the outward, but in fact these practices were developed to make the largest space possible for the inward. They work against our habits of mind and our pleasure in external stimulation. They work to surrender initiative to the Spirit. Sitting with several people in a designated place for an hour or so will not produce a meeting for worship, but in Friends’ experience, gathering together, waiting quietly, and listening for that “still small voice” is an essential part of our life together in the Light. Any form can be empty of Presence, and the Presence can fill any form it wishes. Friends in Intermountain Yearly Meeting worship without a program or ceremony to open the individual and the community to the immediate and creative possibility of the experience of God.
Friends’ practices and processes rest on social and mystical1 understandings of human nature: the individual always stands simultaneously in relation to the Spirit and to others, and it is through the Spirit that we are most intimately related to our fellow human beings. Remembered and looked for, the Spirit can gather us and lift us into creative unity.
Friends have applied the term worship to several practices in which Friends, singly or together, try to stand in the Presence. This chapter considers the meeting for worship, worship by individuals, worship in the home, the meeting for worship with a concern for business, and worship sharing. For many Friends, service is a form of worship as well, especially when a concern has been laid upon them. Although service is an intrinsic part of Friends’ practice, nevertheless this chapter looks at those forms of worship in which we step aside from our daily lives and focus ourselves inward. In 1676, Robert Barclay wrote, “True and acceptable worship of God stems from the inward and unmediated moving and drawing of his own Spirit. It is not limited by places, times, or persons.”2 Later, he adds,
We have certain times and places in which we diligently meet together to wait upon God. . . . We consider it necessary for the people of God to meet together as long as they are clothed in this tabernacle. We concur with our persons, as well as our spirits, in believing that the maintenance of a joint and visible fellowship, the bearing of an outward testimony for God, and the sight of the faces of one another are necessary. When these are accompanied by inward love and unity of spirit, they tend greatly to encourage and refresh the faithful.3
Friends try to find a way to live in constant awareness of the “moving and drawing” of the Spirit. Each form of worship considered in this chapter represents a possibility for a meeting of spirit, body, context, and purpose. Each practice has its own way of opening participants to a sense of the “inward and unmediated” Presence. Each practice helps us discern the movement of the spirit.
Among Quakers, discernment goes beyond insight or good judgment. It denotes a process used by Friends when wishing to know what Spirit is leading them to do. It is distinguished by a seeking, an inner listening to hear what the voice of God is saying. This is not an intellectual exercise in discrimination. In discernment, we are reminded to “wait upon the Lord” and to listen for the sacred voice within. Learning discernment takes time and much practice. Instead of holding back when we feel the Spirit nudge us, we need to go forward, trusting that Spirit will be with us. With practice, our skill becomes greater. It is possible that Friends with greater experience will help guide us as we learn.
