Meeting with approval: Tony D’Souza has a bold adventure

‘That is the jaw-dropping claim of silent Quaker worship.’

It’s a wintery Sunday morning and it’s freezing outside. The wind is blowing the sleet almost horizontally across my window, and I can see it billowing and eddying on the black tarmac road outside. Despite this, I am putting on my warm clothes to go to a Quaker Meeting. Why?

Well, I am not going to a lecture – of that, I am sure. I am not going to hear anyone hold forth about their pet subject or offer me some new information for my already over-educated mind. Thank goodness for that. Neither am I going to a show. I am not going to be entertained. I am pretty sure nobody is going to astound me by pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

When I get there, a group of people turn up, most of whom I know well. Many of them are ‘of a certain age’. Some greet each other, some go straight into the hall. And that’s when things get really weird. When they get into the hall, they all sit around in a circle doing nothing. That’s the oddest thing of all – nothing happens at a Quaker Meeting. The people come in and sit around in complete silence, and it’s not just for a few minutes, they do it for a full hour. And I put on my thermal socks for this?

For almost 400 years this form of worship has survived in this unstructured form. Mostly in England, where it all started. It is the most precious thing we have, and the truth about it is as incredible as it is stupendous. It is a revolutionary form of worship, and makes the mindboggling, audacious claim that when people sit in silence and wait upon the Spirit of God, God turns up. Nothing happens at a Quaker Meeting apart from this. We sit and wait for the Spirit of God to minister to us. We feel the presence, and sometimes the Spirit of God minsters through an individual in the group (and you can usually tell when the message is authentic). That is the jaw-dropping claim of silent Quaker worship.

I am not interested in going to lectures – I have enough learning to last me several lifetimes. There is no end to the accumulation of ideas. As the Bible sagely advises, ‘My son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh’ (Ecclesiastes 12:12). I definitely don’t need any more ideas. Also, in common with most of my Quakers friends, I have more opinions than a dog has fleas, so I don’t need any more of those either.

Why do I go to a Quaker Meeting on a Sunday? I go to be with my friends and to be ministered to by God. Nothing else will do because nothing else matters. It’s a bold group adventure that began in 1652 and has been happening regularly ever since. We sit in silence and invite the Spirit of God to minister to us, and God does.

And I would not miss it for the world. If I didn’t have a car, I would get a bus. If there was no bus I would walk. Hell, I would probably crawl on my hands and knees through the snow if I had to. Why? Because I am going to Meeting to be with God. That’s why. For those who are able to see with the eye of faith, no explanation is necessary. For those who cannot, no explanation is possible.

---

Comments

Please login to add a comment