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Worshiping with Quakers

10/29/2012

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10/29/12

Worshipping With Quakers

Rev. Elizabeth A. Peterson

“When we gather for worship, we try to follow two simple guidelines:  we don’t decide ahead of time that we are going to speak, and we don’t decide ahead of time that we are not going to speak.”  These were the simple instructions given to us by Millie Gimmel, a leader of the West Knoxville Friends’ Meeting, as she led us in a brief time of worship in our Gathering Hall last Thursday night. 

When Quakers worship they gather and enter into a time of silence together. This silence  is an intentional listening for the “still, small voice of God” as a corporate body, rather than as a personal or isolated time of meditation.  There are no creeds, no hymns, no scripture readings. Instead, if a friend feels compelled to speak, they stand and share with the assembly what they feel called to say in that moment.  Sometimes, they told us, there is a lot of sharing, and sometimes the entire worship time is spent in silence.  It is quite simple on the face of things.  But this can be daunting for Presbyterians who love shaping words into beautifully wrought prayers and eloquent sermons.

We settled in, all of us, to this silence, the Presbyterians taking a bit longer to stop our fidgeting.  Eventually, all was quiet.  At first, I didn’t know what to look at.  I’m used to praying with my eyes closed, but this time I kept my eyes open, and looked around at the people gathered there.  There were folks of all ages, black and white, some looking quite comfortable with the silence, some casting furtive glances at the exit door.

I went through my usual mental gymnastics for times like this:  “Should I say something to set an example for my parishioners that it can be done?”  “Should I keep quiet and let others talk?”  “How much silence is good, and how much is awkward?”   I was acutely aware in the first couple of minutes how uncomfortable I am, and our culture is, with long periods of silence.  We go to great lengths to avoid it, filling the air with mindless chatter or media distractions.  

But as the silence settled in, I felt a change in myself, and in the group.  The awkwardness gave way to an attitude of expectant waiting.  There were some children in the room moving around, and noises from downstairs and the street outside, but these became a comfortable backdrop to our silent communion. And we all listened, together.  I found myself letting go of the need to set an example or to lead, and simply gave in to the silence itself.  I began to enjoy the close but quiet proximity with others, and gradually let go of the compulsion to put my feelings to words, or to make sense of things, or to manage the mood of the room.  It was both relaxing and energizing. 

Before I knew it, our time of worship had come to an end, and I was left with a sense of wanting more.  I had indeed felt the Spirit moving during that time, and it was apparent that others had as well.   Our groups had only just met, but after worshipping we were easier with each other, and it was as if a blanket of peace had been laid over all our shoulders. The Quakers who joined us that night have a heart for intentional community, and an open and alive spirit in their congregation that gives me hope, both for the spirit of our city and for the revitalization of my own soul.  And several days later, I still feel a longing to linger with others who are listening for that “still, small voice.”

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Start Where You Are.  

10/8/2012

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The sign on the wall at the YMCA in a small town in North Carolina said: “Start where you are; use what you’ve got; do what you can.”

I was taken by this advice, and especially by that first part: “Start where you are.”  Because it seems to me we are forever wanting to imagine we are somewhere else than we are, or thinking that we can’t get started towards anything good unless we can change the starting place.  But, guess what?  We can’t change our starting place.  Where we are is where we are, no matter how much we wish we were somewhere else. 

Start where you are.  Not where someone else thinks you are, or where you are pretending to be in front of everyone else.  START WHERE YOU ARE.  Where are you today?  Where am I?  You might be sick, wishing you were well.  Start where you are.  You might be deeply hurt because you have lost a good friend.  You might be wishing so badly you hadn’t lost her or him, but you have.   Start where you are.  You might be in jail wishing you had never gone to that party last Friday night, but you went and one thing led to another.  You are in jail.  Start where you are.  You have made a number of mistakes as a father, and now you’ve barely got one child that will speak to you.  You can sit around and make all sorts of excuses about it all, but whatever you want to pretend, you are where you are – alone on your birthday again.  Start where you are, even if its hard to admit it. 

Some of us are working so hard to avoid the truth of our lives, to avoid facing our real situation.  Some of us are just brokenhearted from some deep losses, some terrible mistakes, some tragic misunderstandings.  And, we are spending all the energy we have inside us to avoid facing what we feel deep down.  We are trying to drink it away, play it away, shop it away, eat it away or drug it away.  We are trying to keep so busy we won’t even be able to notice what has happened, what is happening to us.

But, as Jackson Browne used to sing: “Now matter how fast I run . . . I can never seem to get away from me.” 

Start . . . where . . . you . . . are. . . Those four words come to me as good, holy and somber words.  It also occurs to me that in order to be able face where you really are in life, you usually need to be able to tell another person, as hard as that might seem to do.  Often unless you have someone to tell the truth to, you can never bear to tell it to yourself.  Start where you are.  Not such an easy thing to do.  It requires going down to that bedrock of truth inside of us – that foundation we rarely get to in human life. 

I pray to God that you will be given the grace, the courage and the love of another that will enable you to go to this starting place deep in your soul, in that place where God dwells.  Amen.    


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October 08th, 2012

10/8/2012

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This morning I have a little time I didn't expect to have before court starts.  And, it occurs to me that our Creator and Redeemer, the God of all, begins this day with the raw materials of life everywhere moving in and out of view, and as in the beginning, the Spirit of God hovers over the face of the chaos, brooding in that beautiful and creative Spirit of God over all that is.
 
And, part of that chaotic moving, pulsing life that God looks upon this morning is the movement of our lives: the hesitation in going forward here, the leaping out to embrace, the retreat into a corner, the burgeoning hope, the creeping despair.  God comes to us to create, to weave together what has come apart, to break apart what we have falsely woven together. 
 
And, I say in my spirit: "Come Gracious Spirit, come Lord Jesus. . . come among us, full of grace and truth.  Come to us within, surround, bind us together, or break us apart . . to create new life . . life, this time, from God, imagined in the beauty and heart of God, and poured out upon us like a downpour on parched ground!  And, soften, O God, or puncture if needed, the soil of our hearts that we might soak in your grace, that we might feel the wetness of new life on the dryness of our souls.  Amen. 
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    Rev. Elizabeth A. Peterson

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