The meeting commences without formality as people gather and take their seats. Please come in and sit wherever you like.
There is no arranged programme or liturgy.
Quaker worship is based on silent contemplation and prayer.
Children are welcome. They may wish to join other children in Sunday School after spending some time in Meeting.
After about an hour a Friend will close the Meeting. Then tea or coffee is often served, giving an opportunity to meet and talk with Friends.
We hope that you will feel encouraged to join us for worship again in the future.
We gather in our Meeting for Worship, in silence, believing that God speaks to everybody - man, woman and child. Each of us shares a responsibility for our spiritual journey, for our worship together and for helping and caring for each other in times of trouble and joy. We practise the priesthood of all believers so do not have an ordained ministry. Gathering in this active spirit of worship and fellowship, we gain insight to see beyond the meeting itself and to appreciate its deep spiritual purpose.
We come to realise that we have met truly with each other and so with God.
Out of the quiet seeking in God's presence, some may be guided to express their thoughts and feelings in words, and may speak, read or pray aloud. Sometimes there is no spoken ministry and the time is passed in deep and uniting silence. You may find the silence strange at first but as the Meeting settles down everybody present can experience a deep and powerful love and truth that allows each of us to become aware of God's sacramental presence.
Our belief in God is based on experience and faith which grows with time. The Bible is a constant source of inspiration. The awareness of a spiritual light and guidance within all persons, motivates us to live our lives in keeping wiht teh teaching of Jesus.
These Meetings can ideally be described as a group mystical experience. The participants settle down in silence, each worshipper striving to make contact with and listen to God. From time to time one or other feels inspired and divinely compelled to take vocal part, contributing possibly a thought, an experience, a reading or a prayer. The meeting then continues in silence. At the end of a good meeting the members feel refreshed and ready to face the challenges of life.
Stella M B Webb
And so, I find it well to come For deeper rest to this still room.
For here the habit of the soul Feels less the outer world's control;
The strength of mutual purpose pleads
More earnestly our common needs;
And from the silence multiplied.
By these still forms on either side.
The world that time and sense have known
Falls off and leaves us God alone.
John Greenleaf Whittier