Quaker Meetings

8/13/2019 Quaker Meetings

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The Gathered Meeting

by Thomas R. Kelly

In the Quaker practice of group worship on the basis of silence come special times when

an electric hush and solemnity and depth of power steals over the worshippers. A blanketof divine covering comes over the room, and a quickening Presence pervades us,

breaking down some part of the special privacy and isolation of our individual lives andbonding our spirits within a super-individual Life and Poweran objective, dynamic

Presence which enfolds us all, nourishes our souls, speaks glad, unutterable comfort

within us, and quickens in us depths that had before been slumbering. The Burning Bushhas been kindled in our midst, and we stand together on holy ground.

I.

Such gathered meetings I take to be cases of group mysticism. It is commonly supposed

that mystical experience is an individual affair, in which the lone soul is caught up intothe first or second or third heaven and given to see things which it is not lawful for mento utter. And this, I presume, is most frequently the case.

Yet there are some cases recorded of two people sharing an experience of ascent together

into the amazing Presence of God in His immediacy and glory. The most striking

instance of which I know is that of Augustine and his mother Monica who, as they were

together leaning in a window overlooking a garden and talking of the wonders of the lifeof dedicated souls, were together caught up into a sense of divine immediacy and given

the bliss and rapture of the Touch of God.

But we need not go to places remote in space and time to find similar experiences of jointelevation into the light of the Eternal Love. For today it occurs again and again that twoor three individuals find the boundaries of their separateness partially melted down. It is

not necessarily, or frequently, as exalted an experience as that of Augustine and Monica,

nor does it involve losing touch with the world of sense. But after conversing together on

central things of the spirit two or more friends who know one another at deep levels findthemselves wrapped in a sense of unity and of Presence such as quiets all words and

enfolds them within an unspeakable calm and inter-knittedess within a vaster life. God's

reality and His love become indubitable; His presence, like a living touch, is over them.As one friend speaks in such a silence, the words are found to join on closely to the

thought of the others, so that words become needless and silence becomes a bridge not of

separation but of communication.

The gathered meeting I take to be of the same kind, still milder and more diffused, yet

really of a piece with all mystical experience. For mystical times are capable of allgradings and shadings, from sublime heights to very mild moments of lift and very faint

glimpses of' glory. In the gathered meeting the sense is present that a new Life and Power

has entered our midst. And we know not only that we stand erect in the Holy Presencebut also that others sitting with us are experiencing the same exaltation and access of


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power. We may not know these our neighbors in any outwardly intimate sense, but wenow know them, as it were from within, and they know us in the same way, as souls now

alive in the same areas and as blended into the body of' Christ, which is His church.

Again and again, this community of life and guidance from the Presence in the midst is

made clear by the way the spoken words uttered in the meeting join to one another and to

our inward thoughts. This I presume. has been a frequent experience for us all, as acommon life and current sweeps through all. We are in communication with one another

because we are being communicated to, and through, by the Divine Presence. Suchindeed is a taste of "the communion of the saints.

John Hughes once told of two Friends sitting side by side in such a gathered meeting. The

secret currents of worship flowed with power and then encountered a check. One man

moved nervously but did not rise to his feet. Finally the other Friend arose and spoke a

few words of searching power, and the meeting proceeded in a sense of covering. Afterthe meeting had broken the man who had spoken nudged his silent neighbor and said

"Next time, Henry, say it thyself".

But our interest in the gathered meeting is not in such striking side-phenomena as lift the

eyebrows of' doubting Thomases, but in the central fact of the overshadowing presence of

the Eternal One. For it is God Himself who graciously reveals Himself in such holytimes. The gathered meeting, as group mysticism, shows all the four characteristics which

William James applies to mystic states, namely, indescribability a knowledge-quality,

transiency, passivity.

The experience is ineffable; it is not completely describable in words. We live through

such hours of expanded vision yet never can we communicate to another all that wonderand power and life and re-creation which we knew when swept along in the immediacy

of the Divine Presence. To an absent friend we can only say what Philip said to Nathanielconcerning Jesus, "Come and See." And such must always be the report of anyexperience of God, by individuals or in groups. "He is wonder and joy, judgement and

power. And he is morethan all these. Come and see."

The experience has a knowledge-quality. The covering of God in the gathered meeting

carries with it the sense of insight of knowledge. We know Him as we have not known

Him before. The secrets of this amazing world have been in some larger degree laid bare.We know life, and the world, and ourselves from within, anew. And lo, there we have

seen God. We may not issue from a gathered meeting with a single crisp sentence or

judgment of capsuled knowledge, yet we are infinitely more certain of the dynamic,

living, working Life, for we have experienced a touch of that persuading Power thatdisquiets us until we find our home in Him. And, in the old phrase, we have directly

known the healing which drops from beneath His wings. We have been re-energized with

that Power and re-sensitized by that tenderness to meet the daily world of men with newpangs and new steadiness.

It is transient. The sense of Divine covering in a group is rarely sustained more than

three-quarters of an hour, or an hour. One can not seize hold upon it and restrain it from


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fading; or restore it the next Sunday at will. Each such meeting is a gracious gift of theEternal Goodness, and the eyes of all must wait upon Him who gives us meat in due

Season.

It Carries a sense of passivity within it. We seem to be acted upon by a More-than-

ourselves, who stills our time-torn spirits and breathes into us, as on Creation's day, thebreath of life. When one rises to speak in such a meeting, one has a sense of being used,of being played upon, of being spoken through. It is as amazing an experience as that of

beingprayed through, when we the praying ones are no longer the initiators of the

supplication, but seem to be transmitters, who second an impulse welling up from thedepths of the soul. In such an experience the brittle bounds of our selfhood seem

softened; and instead of saying "I pray '' or ''he prays," it becomes better to say "Prayer is

taking place." So in a truly covered meeting an individual who speaks takes no credit to

himself for the part he played in the unfolding of the worship. In fact he deeply regrets itif anyone, after the service. speaks in complimentary fashion to him. For the feeling of

being a pliant instrument of the Divine Will characterizes true speaking ''in the Life.''

Under such a covering an individual emerges into vocal utterance, frequently without fearand trembling, and subsides without self-consciousness into silence when his part is

played. For One who is greater than all individuals has become the meeting place of thegroup, and He becomes the leader and director of worship. With wonder one hears the

next speaker, if there be more, take another aspect of the theme of the meeting. Nojealousy, no regrets that hedidn't think of saying that, but only gratitude that the angel

has come and troubled the waters and that many are finding healing through the one Life.

A gathered meeting is no place for the enhancement of private reputations but for self-effacing pliancy and obedience to the Whispers of the Leader.

A fifth trait of mystical experience may well be added to James' listthe sense of' unity,unity with the Divine Life who has graciously allowed us to touch the hem of His

garment, unity with our fellow-worshippers, for He has broken down the middle wall of

partition between our separate personalities and has flooded us with a sense offellowship.This unity with our fellow-worshippers, such that we are "written in one another's hearts,''

is in one sense created and instituted in the hour of worship. But in a deeper sense it is

discoveredin that hour that we aretogether in one body, which is the true and catholicchurch invisible. And in a fashion the vividness of our unity fades, is transient, grows

weaker after the rise of the meeting. But the fact disclosedin the meeting, namely that we

are one body hid with Christ in God, remains secure from the ebb and flew of feelingsand emotion.

II.

What is the ground and foundation of the gathered meeting? In the last analysis, it is, I

am convinced, the Real Presence of God.

It is easy to call this sense of covering a mere psychological phenomenon. Psychologicalnotions have so permeated our contemporary thinking that it is very easy to rush hastily


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to popular concepts, lying ready at hand, and apply them to all experience. In one senseallthat we think and experience is "merely a psychological phenomenon."

But against the devastating implications ofPsychologismusthere has been, in the lastthree decades. a sharp rebellion in favor of realism.Knowledge of all kinds, realism

claims, is not merely subjective; it attains the real. The mere fact that knowledge isentertained in our minds does not create a presumption of falsity, or of lack of fidelity tothe real. But in such a return to realism we are opening the gates again to the contention

of the mystics that mystical experience is not merely a matter of subjective states but a

matter of objective reality.

I believe that the group mysticism of the gathered meeting rests upon the Real Presence

of God in our midst. Quakers generally hold to a belief in Real Presence, as firm andsolid as the belief of Roman Catholics in the Real Presence in the host, in the bread and

the wine of the mass. In the host the Roman Catholic is convinced that the literal,

substantial Body of Christ is present. For him the mass is not a mere symbol, a

dramatizing of some figurative relationship of man to God. It rests upon the persuasionthat an Existence a Life, the Body of Christ, is really present and entering into the body

of man. Here the Quaker is very near the Roman Catholic. For the Real Presence of the

gathered meeting is all existential fact. To use philosophical language, it is an ontologicalmatter not merely a psychological matter. The bond of union in divine fellowship is

existential and real, not figurative. It is the life of God Himself, within whose life we live

and move and have our being. And the gathered meeting is a special case of holyfellowship, of the blessed Community.

III.

What conditions favor a gathered meeting? Let us venture upon the question in anattitude of humility, not in the spirit of the masterly man, so characteristic of our modern

post-Baconian age. We seek at best to discern merely favoring conditions and releasingstimuli, not the full control of the event.

One condition for such a group experience seems to be this: someindividuals need

already, upon entering the meeting, to be gathered deep in the spirit of worship. There

must be some kindled hearts when the meeting begins. In them, and from them, begins

the work of worship. The spiritual devotion of a few persons, silently deep in activeadoration, is needed to kindle the rest, to help those others who enter the service with

tangled, harried, distraught thoughts to be melted and quieted and released and made

pliant, ready tor the work of God and His Real Presence

There is a real invisible work of kindling and of mutual assistance in worship which some

of the worshippers must do, directing it upon others along with themselves. It is aninternal work of prayer. Its language is not "I,'' or ''You," but "We.'' It is an awakening

and an attuning that goes on with energy in the soul. In power and labor one lifts the

group, in inward prayer, high before the throne. With work of soul the kindled prayingworshipper holds the group, his comrades and himself, high above the sordid and the


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trivial, and prays in quiet, offering that the Light may drive away the shadows of self-will. Where this inward work of upholding prayer is wholly absent I am not sure that a

gathered meeting is at all likely to follow.

This means a preceding preparation for worship. Worship, and preparation for worship,

begin before one has left one's home. They begin when one wakes on Sunday morning,before one has gotten out of bed. Worship in a meeting-house with one's friends shouldbe only a special period of a life of worship that underlies all one's daily affairs. Such

worship is no intermittent process, but a foundation layer of the life of the children of the

kingdom. And such special sense of bondedness and unity with others as is experiencedin the gathered meeting is only a time of particular enhancement of the life of bondedness

and fellowship in love among souls which is experienced daily, as we carry one another

in inward upholding prayer.

A second condition concerns the spoken words of the meeting. Certainly the deepness of

the covering of a meeting is not proportional to the number of words spoken. A gathered

meeting may proceed entirely in silence, rolling on with increasing depth and intensityuntil the meeting breaks and tears are furtively brushed away. Such really powerful hours

of unbroken silence frequently carry a genuine progression of spiritual change and

experience. They arefilledmoments, and the quality of the second fifteen minutes isdefinitely different from the quality of the first fifteen minutes. Outwardly, all silences

seem alike as all minutes are alike by the clock. But inwardly the Divine Leader of

worship directs us through progressive unfoldings of administration, and may in thesilence bring an inward climax which is as definite as the climax of the mass, when the

host is elevated in adoration.

But more frequently some words are spoken. I have particularly in mind those hours of

worship in which no one person, no one speech stands out as the one that "made" themeeting, those hours wherein the personalities that take part verbally are not enhanced asindividuals in the eyes of others, but are subdued and softened and lost sight of because,

in the language of Fox, "The Lord's power was over all." Brevity, earnestness sincerity

and frequently a lack of polish characterize the best Quaker speaking. The words shouldrise like a shaggy crag upthrust from the surface of silence, under the pressure of

yearning contrition and wonder. But in another sense the words should not rise up like a

shaggy crag. They should not break the silence, but continue it. For the Divine Life who

was ministering through the medium of silence is the same Life as is now ministeringthrough words. And when such words are truly spoken "in the Life,'' then when such

words cease, the uninterruptedSilence and worship continues for silence and words have

been of one texture, one piece. Second and third speakers only continue the enhancementof the moving Presence, until a climax is reached and the discerning head of the meeting

knows when to break it.

In a truly gathered meeting restraint in one's utterances is often more releasing than are

multiplied words. Words that hint at the wonder of God, but do not attempt to exhaust it,

have an open-ended character. In the silences of our hearts the Holy Presence completesthe unfinished words far more satisfyingly.


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The themes made central in truly gathered meetings are infinite. But one might venture toraise the question whether some types of themes are more congruous with such a meeting

than others. Some text that suddenly recalls the eternal, abiding relation of' man and God

seems particularly apt to serve as a releasing stimulus, but by no means as compellingthe

arrival of the covering. Such a passage as "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all

generations" opens up a vista of' gargantuan yet delicate proportions. (Would we havesufficient courage to say these words in a bomb shelter?) "Deep calleth unto deep at the

noise of thy waterspouts; all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.''

But humble, personal, daily incidents, or wisps of openings that have dawned withvividness in some quiet soul, or the tragic-heroic turmoil of events of the day, set in the

frame of the Eternal Patience and Persuasion may equally serve as themes within such a

meeting.

Vocal prayer poured out from a humble heart frequently shifts a meeting from a heady

level of discussion to the deeps of worship, Such prayers serve as an unintended rebuke

to our shallowness and drive us deeper into worship and commitment. They open thegates of devotion, adoration, submission, confession. They help to unite the group at the

level at which real unity is sought. For unity in the springs of life's motivations is far

more significant than unity in phrases or outward matters. Such prayers not only "create"that unity; they also give voice to it, and the worshippers are united in a silent amen of

gratitude.

IV.

But what if the meeting has not been a gathered meeting? Are those meetings failures thathave not been hushed by a covering? Quite definitely they are not. If we have been

faithful, we may go home content and nourished from any meeting.

Let us be quite clear that mystical exaltations are not essential to religious dedication and

to every occurrence of religious worship. Many a man professes to be without a shred of

mystical elevation, yet is fundamentally a heaven-dedicated soul. It would be a tragicmistake to suppose that religion is only for a small group. who have certain vivid but

transient inner experiences, and to preach those experiences so that those who are

relatively insensitive to them should feel excluded, denied access to the Eternal love,

deprived of a basic necessity for religious living. The crux of religious living lies in thewill,not in transient and variable states. Utter dedication of will to God is open to all,for

every man can will. Where such a will is present, there is a child of God. When there are

graciously given to us such glimpses of glory as aid us in softening our will, then we maybe humbly grateful. But glad willing away of self, that the will of God, so far as it can be

discerned, may become our ownthat is the basic condition. In that steadiness of spirit

one walks serene and unperturbed praying only "Thy will be done.'' Confident that we arein His hands, and that He educates us in ways we do not expect by means of dryness as

well as by means of glory, we walk in gratitude if His sun shines upon us, and in serenity

if He leads us in valleys and dry places.


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And as individual mystics who are led deep into the heart of devotion learn to be weanedaway from reliance upon special times of vision, learn not to clamor perpetually for the

heights but to walk in shadows and valleys and dry places for months and years together,

so must group worshippers learn that worship is fully valid when there are no thrills, no

special sense of covering. The disciplined soul and the disciplined group have learned to

cling to the reality of God s presence, whether the feeling of presence is great or faint. Ifthe wind of the Spirit, blowing whither He wills, warms the group into an inexpressible

sense of unity, then the worshippers are profoundly grateful. If no blanket of divinecovering is warmly felt, and if the wills have been offered together in the silent work of

worship,worshippers may still go home content and nourished and say, "It was a good

meeting." In the venture of group worship, souls must learn to accept spiritual weatherwithout dismay and go deeper in will into Him who makes all things beautiful in their

time.

The Gathered Meeting - Copy number 1328

Published by the

TRACT ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDS

1501 Cherry Street

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102

Founded 1816

www.tractassociation.org


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From PYM Faith and Practice (1997), pages 16-21

The Light WithinThe Light Within is the fundamental and immediate experience for Friends. It is that whichguides each of us in our everyday lives and brings us together as a community of faith. It is,

most importantly, our direct and unmediated experience of the Divine.Friends have used many different terms or phrases to designate the source and inner

certainty of our faitha faith which we have gained by direct experience. The Inward Light,

the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Spirit of Truth, the Divine Principle, the Christ Within,

the Seed, and the Inner Light are examples of such phrases. George Fox refers in his Journal

to "that Inward Light, Spirit, and Grace by which all might know their salvation" and to "thatDivine Spirit which would lead them into all truth." He wrote: "There is one, even Christ

Jesus, that can speak to thy condition" and encouraged Friends "to walk cheerfully over the

world, answering that of God in every one." Many Friends interpret "that of God" as another

designation for the Light Within.

For Friends, the Light Within is not the same as the conscience or moral faculty. The

conscience is a human faculty, which is conditioned by education and the culturalenvironment; it is not, therefore, an infallible guide to moral practice. It should nevertheless

be attended to, for it is one of the faculties through which the Light shines. Friends are

encouraged to test the leadings of conscience by seeking clearness, through directcommunion in the meeting for worship, and through the clearness process (see p. 29). Such

testing enhances and clarifies insight so that the conscience may be purged of

misconceptions and become more truly obedient to the Light Within. When conscience hasbeen transformed by experiencing the Light, it gives more reliable direction even though it

may seem to point in a direction that is contrary to generally accepted authorities.

Friends' experience has been that following an enlightened conscience brings a releaseof the spirit and also a state of peace that are independent of the tangible results of the action

taken. Spiritual power arises from living in harmony with the divine will. George Fox often

spoke of the power he experienced in times of need, and of that relationship between power

and the Light. For instance, he writes that "the power of God sprang through me," and, headmonishes us, "hearken to the Light, that ye may feel the power of God in every one of

you."

Continuing obedience to the Light increases our gratitude for God's gifts. Among these

are an awareness of enduring values, the joy of life, and the ability to resolve problems in

accord with divine leading, as individuals or as a Meeting. Under the guidance of the Light,

the monthly meeting is enabled to use and transform the aspirations and judgments of itsmembers. This practice helps the Meeting make decisions and face undertakings in a spirit

detached from self-interest or prejudice. Basic Quaker testimonies such as equality,simplicity, nonviolence, integrity, and community have arisen from a deep sense of

individual and corporate responsibility guided by the Light Within.

Recognizing that God's Light is in every person overcomes our separation and our

differences from others and leads to a sympathetic awareness of their need and a sense ofresponsibility toward them. Friends believe that the more widely and clearly the Light is

recognized and followed, the more will humanity come into accord. "Therefore," writes

George Fox, "in the Light wait, where unity is."


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Worship and the Meeting for WorshipThe meeting for worship is the heart of the Religious Society of Friends. It draws us together

in the enlightening and empowering presence of God, sending us forth with renewed vision

and commitment.

WORSHIP

Our word "worship" has its roots in the concept of "worth-ship." Worship is our response to

what we feel to be of ultimate importance. Our expression of that feeling of ultimateworthship may take many forms. Worship is always possible, alone or in company, in

silence, in music or speech, in stillness or in dance. It is never confined to place or time or

form.

When Friends worship, we reach out from the depths of our being to God, the giver of

life and of the world around us. Our worship is the search for communion with God and the

offering of ourselvesbody and soulfor the doing of God's will. The sense of worship canbe experienced in the awe we feel in the silence of a meeting for worship or in the awareness

of our profound connectedness to nature and its power. In worship we know repentance and

forgiveness in the acknowledgment of God as the ultimate source of our being, and the

serenity of accepting God's will.

In worship we discover direction for our lives and the uses of our resources. Leadings

are often made clearer by reference to the life and teachings of Jesus and by the transformingpower of the Inner Light. From worship there comes a fresh understanding of the two great

commandments: to love "your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all

your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27).

Careful listening to the Inward Teacher can lead to fresh openings: an inpouring of love,

insight, and interdependence. True listening can also bring the worshiper to new andsometimes troubling perceptions, including clear leadings that may be a source of pain andanxiety; yet it can also bring such wholeness of heart that hard tasks can become a source of

joy. Even when we worship torn with our own pain or that of another, it is in worship that we

discover new strength for what faces us in our everyday lives.

Each experience of worship is different. There is no right way to prepare for spiritual

communion, no set practice to follow when worship grows from expectant waiting in the

Spirit. Vital worship depends far more on a deeply felt longing for God than upon any

particular practice. "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will

be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7)

THE MEETING FOR WORSHIP

Friends find it useful to come to meeting with hearts and minds prepared for worship by

daily prayer, meditation, and study, especially of the Bible and of the experience of others.

We deepen thereby our awareness of the wonder of God and of God's love, and acquire thewords with which to understand and to express that awareness. Many also find help through

thoughtful reflection and listening to the Inward Teacher in the course of daily life and

service.


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As Friends arrive for meeting, such preparation helps us set aside our preoccupationwith ourselves and our affairs and so settle into worship in a manner described by Alexander

Parker in 1660:

The first that enters into the place of your meeting ... turn in thy mind to the light, andwait upon God singly, as if none were present but the Lord; and here thou art strong. Then

the next that comes in, let them in simplicity of heart sit down and turn in to the same light,and wait in the spirit; and so all the rest coming in, in the fear of the Lord, sit down in pure

stillness and silence of all flesh, and wait in the light. Those who are brought to a pure stillwaiting upon God in the Spirit are come nearer to the Lord than words are; for God is spirit

and in the spirit he is worshiped.

Worship in meeting may thus begin with stilling the mind and body, letting go of

tensions and everyday worries, feeling the encompassing presence of others, and opening

oneself to the Spirit. It may include meditation, reflection on a remembered passage from the

Bible or other devotional literature, silent prayer, thanksgiving, praise of God, considerationof one's actions, remorse, request for forgiveness, or search for direction. Even in times of

spiritual emptiness, Friends find it useful to be present in worship.

Worshiping together strengthens the members of the worshiping community anddeepens the act of worship itself. Such communal worship is like a living organism whose

individual but interdependent members are essential to one another and to the life of the

greater whole. It is like the luminous unity and individual fulfillment that arise whenmusicians, responding to the music before them, offer up their separate gifts in concert.

Friends sometimes use Paul's image and speak of the meeting for worship as a body whose

head is Christ (I Cor. 12:27). The gifts and participation of each member are important in

maintaining and enriching the spiritual life of the meeting for worship.

There is a renewal of spirit when we turn away from worldly matters to rediscover

inward serenity. Friends know from experience the validity of Jesus' promise that "Wheretwo or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew

18:20). Often we realize our hopes for a heightened sense of the presence of God through the

cumulative power of group worship, communicated in silent as well as vocal ministry. Whenwe experience such a profound and evident sense of oneness with God and with one another,

we speak of a "gathered" or "covered" meeting for worship.

Communion and CommunicationDirect communion with God constitutes the essential life of the meeting for worship. Into itsliving stillness may come leadings and fresh insights that are purely personal, not meant to

be shared. At other times they are meant for the Meeting at large to hear.

When a leading is to be shared, the worshiper feels a compelling inward call to vocal

ministry. The very name "Quaker" is by tradition derived from the evident quaking of earlyFriends witnessing under the power of the Spirit. Though ministry is seldom accompanied by

such outward signs, some still feel the inward quaking. Vocal ministry may take manyforms, as prayer, praise of God, song, teaching, witnessing, or sharing. These messages may

center upon a single, vital theme; often apparently unrelated leadings are later discovered to

have an underlying unity. Such ministry and prayer may answer the unrecognized or

unvoiced needs of other seekers.


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When someone accepts the call of the Spirit to speak, fellow worshipers are likewisecalled to listen with openness of minds and hearts. Diffident and tender spirits should feel the

Meeting community's loving encouragement to give voice, even if haltingly, to the message

that may be struggling to be born within them. Friends whose thought has been long

developing and whose learning and experience are profound serve the meeting best when

they, like all others, wait patiently for the prompting of the Inward Teacher. Anyone movedto speak following another should first allow others to absorb and respond inwardly to what

has already been said.

Friends should not put obstacles in the way of the call, whether by deciding in advance

to speak or not to speak, or by feeling a duty to speak to provide some balance between

silence and the spoken word. Even if not a word is spoken, meetings for worship can be

profoundly nurturing.

Hindrances to WorshipAll present should remember that spiritual opportunities entail responsibilities as well,including attention to the time of assembling and consideration for those already settled.

Speaking carried on in a spirit of debate or lecturing or discussion is destructive to the life ofthe meeting for worship and of the meeting community. It is rarely helpful to answer or rebutwhat has been said previously. Friends moved to vigorous support of causes need to find

brief and sensitive ways to voice their insights. Similar sensitivity should be practiced by

those who bring material to be posted or shared during worship. Any who habitually settleinto silent reading or sit in inattentive idleness cut themselves off from their fellow

worshipers and from the pervasive reach of the Spirit. If hindrances to worship occur within

a meeting for worship, members of Worship and Ministry or others as appropriate should

move quickly and in love to provide counsel.

In ClosingFriends gather for worship in quiet waiting upon God. We come together out of our care forone another and out of our shared hunger to know God, to follow the leading of the Spirit, to

feel with clarity our shortcomings and the reality of forgiveness, to give voice to our anguish,

faith, praise, joy, and thanksgiving. At the close of the meeting for worship, we shake hands

in acknowledgment of our commitment to one another and to God, and go forth with

renewed trust in the power and reality of God's grace and love.


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PAGE 8 THEJOURNAL OF NORTH CAROLINAYEARLYMEETING (CONSERVATIV

THERE ARE MANY SPIRITUALgifts. The one shared by Friendscorporately is the charism of

prophecy of hearing the word of

God and declaring it to the world

through our words and deeds.

Though one often hears the Societyof Friends described as a society

where everyone is a minister, it

would be more accurate to say that

all Friends are prophets or at least,

should be. Principles of Quakerism

says this: [The Religious Society of

Friends] may almost be described as

a society formed for the express

purpose of receiving and preserving

the prophetic gift [that was given] to

the Christian Church. The Society

is therefore also a Society for the

practice of what may be called the

prophetic life.

Though all Friends have the

opportunity to offer vocal ministry

at every meeting for worship, not

every Friend speaks in every meeting

(thank goodness!). In fact, it soon

becomes obvious to even the most

casual observer that the bulk of the

work of vocal ministry is carried by

a group of relatively few persons.

Over any extended period of time,most Friends will speak in worship,

but some will speak much more

often than others.

Some speakers will, in their mes-

sages, give evidence of having

received a spiritual gift in vocal min-

istry of speaking the Word of

God in ways helpful to those gath-

ered in worship. When this becomes

apparent to the faith community, it

is important to take steps to nurture

and preserve this gift, to promote its

proper development and exercise.

Among Friends, this process of

acknowledging the presence of a

spiritual gift is usually called record-

ing.

The gift in vocal ministry that is

the subject of this discussion is not

necessarily a gift of frequent min-

istry, and is rarely, if ever in these

modern times, a gift of lengthy min

istry. Of course some recorded

ministers speak in meeting frequently, and some messages are longer

than others; but it is the quality, no

the quantity, of ministry that gives

evidence of a spiritual gift.

Recording a Friend as a minister

of the gospel acknowledges the

presence of this gift and establishes

a covenant relationship between the

Friend so named and the meeting

community. This covenant relation-

ship has responsibilities on both

sides, but its most important aspect

are those that make the recorded

minister accountable to the monthl

meeting to which (s)he belongs.

This accountability relationship

makes explicit that the minister is

Accountability andVocalMinistry

BYLLOYDLEEWILSON


22/23

ONVOCAL MINISTRY PAGE 9

the servant of the meeting, not

someone set above the meeting in

any way. The word minister comes

from a root word meaning to serve.

This relationship is true because the

spiritual gift is bestowed on thecommunity, not the individual. As

the body of Christ, the faith com-

munity receives a full range of the

spiritual gifts that are necessary to

the communitys well-being. These

gifts are entrusted to individuals as

stewards, but they are the communi-

tys gifts, in the care of individuals.

The Friend who recognizes and

accepts a gift in vocal ministry must,to be faithful, make some important

changes in personal orientation.

Before, the Friend could focus pri-

marily on personal spiritual growth

or, if a parent, on the spiritual

well-being of his/her family. After,

the emphasis is on how to develop

and exercise this spiritual gift for the

welfare of the meeting community.

Personal spiritual well-being andthat of ones family are of course

still very important, but the minis-

ters whole life comes to be

concerned with the spiritual welfare

of the meeting community in a

unique way. This new orientation

and purpose on behalf of the meet-

ing community calls for a new

relationship of accountability to the

community which the recorded min-ister serves.

Samuel Bownas addressed this

issue directly in his classic workA

Description of the Qualifications

Necessary to a Gospel Minister. In his

introduction to that work, William

Taber explains that Qualification,

as [Bownas] uses the word, implies

that one has gone through a process

of personal transformation which

reorients the ego, the will, and the

attention so that one can be trusted

purely to receive and purely to giveforth an inspired message. Taber

goes on to say To be a Quaker

minister then meant that one had

accepted a vocation, a calling, which

was more important than ones eco-

nomic vocation and which often

determined it or frequently inter-

rupted it, as was true with Samuel

Bownas.

This process of personal transfor-mation continues over a period of

many years after one accepts the

vocation of ministry. It would not

be overstating the case to say that it

continues for the rest of the

Friends life. Guidance for this

process comes in the main from

two sources: more seasoned record-

ed ministers, who have personal

experience of the challenges andrewards of faithfulness in this new

vocation; and the meeting commu-

nity as a whole, which can see more

clearly how the individual ministers

words and deeds are affecting (for

better or worse) the welfare of the

meeting. In order for this guidance

to have its proper effect, the minis-

ter must be willingly accountable to

these two groups of Friends.The minister is accountable pri-

marily through the meeting of

ministers and elders in most meet-

ings now called the meeting of

ministry and oversight. This group

of wise and experienced Friends

have the insight to guide the minis-

ter in so ordering his/her life that

there is opportunity for the gift to

become fully developed over time,

and so that there is nothing in the

rest of his/her life that would lead

Friends (or others) to discount ordiscard the vocal ministry that is

offered.

The ministers and elders also give

guidance over the exercise of the

gift not only when and where it is

exercised, but also how and why. In

the close and supportive group of

ministers and elders, one feels freer

to share ones inner condition and

struggles to be faithful than in themeeting at large. This stems from

the strengthening of friendships

that comes from long shared experi-

ence and from the shared

dedication, expressed in each life, to

the good of the monthly meeting.

In this supportive setting, it is possi-

ble to discuss how ones personal

style helps or hinders the ministry,

whether particular messages seem tohave been rightly ordered, and how

ones life circumstances may be

affecting ones ability to be a faithful

minister.

It is easy, especially at the begin-

ning, to be carried away with the

importance of ones giftedness and

to feel that one has a message to

give to ones meeting or to Friends

generally or to an even wider audi-ence. One feels divinely chosen to

deliver Gods word to a specific

group of people. In the absence of

a clear system of accountability and

association with more seasoned

ministers, one can do considerable

harm in this way. More seasoned

Individuals in the ming (as well as themeeting as a wholeneed to take responbility. We bring tomeeting on First Daour collectedness oscatteredness, and or hinder the meet

accordingly.Elizabeth W

Worship That CFrom Silence General Confe

Trad


23/23

ministers can help the less experi-

enced Friend remember that

ministry is not so much carrying the

word of God to a group of Friends

as agreeing to gather with a group of

Friends in the expectation that, ifone is faithful, something divinely

good will happen. That divinely

good thing may or may not involve

ones speaking oneself.

Other issues of ministry are under

the oversight of the monthly meet-

ing for discipline, which has come to

be known as the monthly meeting

for business. The clearest example

of public accountability to themonthly meeting for business in

matters of vocal ministry involves

the desire to make a religious visit

to distant Friends.

The minister who feels led to trav-

el outside the boundaries of the

yearly meeting follows a similar pro-

cedure at the yearly meeting level. If

the meeting for business approves, it

issues a certificate for travel in theministry. The certificate states that

the minister in question is a member

in good standing in his/her local

meeting, and has shared the leading

for this trip with the monthly meet-

ing, and that the monthly meeting

has found unity with the proposed

journey.

Traveling in the ministry has been

a vital part of the Quaker experiencesince George Fox and the Valiant

Sixty evangelized the British Isles in

the first years of the movement.

Over hundreds of years, traveling

ministers have knit scattered meet-

ings together across continents and

oceans, encouraging isolated Friends

and invigorating larger meetings

with a new sense of the gospel mes-

sage. The traveling minister called

special meetings for worship for

Friends and for other people, visited

families in their homes, and wasoften called upon to adjudicate dis-

putes or settle matters of

disagreement among local Friends.

The meetings being visited went out

of their way to provide hospitality

and local guides, to publicize called

meetings and, when needed, to rent

suitable space for public meetings.

How was a local Friends meeting

to know whether this stranger attheir door was truly led to this trav-

eling ministry or for that matter,

that this person was even a Friend?

The certificate for travel in the min-

istry was evidence that the traveler

was a Friend in good standing, and

that the travelers motivation for

embarking on the journey was, in

the best discernment of his or her

home meeting, a true leading of theHoly Spirit.

Issues considered before approv-

ing such a certificate range far

beyond the question of whether the

motivation for the trip seems to the

meeting to be a true leading. The

meeting considers whether the trav-

elers family will be properly

provided for during the journey,

whether the travelers businessaffairs are in good order, and

whether there are sufficient financial

resources to make the trip and pay

necessary expenses at home.

Members of the meeting may take

on some of the travelers responsi-

bilities in order to release the

traveler for the journey.

The use of the term traveler

rather than minister in the preced

ing two paragraphs is intentional.

Especially in current times, certifi-

cates for travel are issued for Friendnot recorded as ministers more

often than for those recorded, if

only because so few Friends are

recorded ministers at present. The

procedures followed are the same,

whatever the designation of the

traveling Friend. At one time, a

request for a certificate releasing a

Friend to follow a leading to travel

in the gospel ministry would be sufficient impetus to begin considering

whether this Friend had a gift that

should be recorded, but the link is

not as close now as it once was.

It is a vital strength of the

Religious Society of Friends that th

divine inspiration to vocal ministry

may fall at any time on any individ-

ual in meeting for worship. It is also

true that the strength and vitality oour society has depended for cen-

turies on a relatively small group of

individuals for whom vocal ministry

became a divine vocation, and who

re-oriented their lives around that

vocation. If that strength and vitali

are to continue into the new centur

we must be willing to encourage an

assist those Friends who receive thi

calling, and they must be willing toenter into this relationship of

accountability with their faith com-

munity.

Lloyd Lee Wilson is a recorded ministe

and a member of Rich Square Monthly

Meeting in Woodland, NC.

When we talk aboutthe gift of ministry,

we must be careful,for the word can be

taken in a number ofways. People are said

to have a gift if theyenjoy a certain skill ortalent, but also,

someone has a gift ifthey have received apresent from some-body else. AmongFriends, the call tominister is under-

stood as a divine giftin the latter sense.

John Punshon,Reflections From the

Quaker Tradition, 1987

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