British Friends Discuss Quaker Worship

(gentle music)

• Enforced silence
  in a world that is so

expected to have noise and experience

and continuous stimulation,

it’s incredibly moving
and powerful, I think.

• When worshipping,
  we’re all connecting to the

divine essence or god, or spirit,

or we use many different
terms, but we’re all connecting

to the same thing within that silence.

• I attended my first Quaker
  meeting at the age of 13.

And it was probably the
first time I went somewhere

and there was the sense
in the room that something

important was happening,
but I felt very comfortable.

• I felt a warm feeling in my stomach,

kind of 30 or 40 minutes
in and it was almost like

a quiet sort of, I’m starting
to open up a bit more.

I’m forgetting about
everything that was going on

in the world and at
that moment I was there

in that room with a
gathering of 30 people,

trying to achieve stillness
and waiting for leading

or waiting for something
bigger than myself

and the people that were in that room.

• We refer to the
  messages that people give

during worship as ministry.

So they are meant to be
divinely guided or inspired.

It could be anything
that person feels moved

to give in that particular moment.

• I remember the first time
  that I ministered in meeting.

I had no idea that I was
going to stand up and talk,

until I suddenly found myself on my feet.

And I can’t even remember
exactly what it was that I said.

I can just remember the emotion of it.

• I think I was about 10 or
  11 when I first ministered,

and I read from a book
called “Advice and Queries”,

which has short quotes about
reflecting on yourself.

And I found that quite a tough experience,

but it also marked a step
in me really starting

to feel that Quakerism was for me.

• You have to make yourself
  vulnerable in order to have

a kind of spiritual experience.

So you’ve got this room of people

making themselves vulnerable, being quiet,

seeing what happens, being
open to what happens.

Probably three or four
times I would say that

sort of unquestionably
something bigger was happening

in the room.

Which you could say God was there.

• From that worship we then
  go and work in the world,

so our social justice work,
our work in the world,

our everyday lives are
grounded in that collective

meeting for worship,
which is quite unique.

• I quite often find
  myself moved to tears,

without really being
able to say what it is.

It’s just this sense of
really deep love and gratitude

for everybody that’s there

and for the opportunity to be there.

• When it works, it’s the best thing ever

and it kind of recharges
you and you’re ready

to face the real world.

That’s why I’m a Quaker,

because occasionally meeting for worship

is sort of heavenly.

(music resolving)