Details
In earlier times Friends would often worship for hours fully expectant and deeply patient for the Living Presence to do its work in the gathered body of Friends. These gathered experiences were core to Quaker convincement, personal transformation, and prophetic challenges to the cultural behaviors in the places where Quakers lived.
Modeled on a 25-year practice in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, we have begun these opportunities for NEYM Friends to experience a full day of Quaker worship. In May we will be holding our next opportunity at Westerly Meeting. We hope you will join us. We will gather in the Westerly Meetinghouse at 9:30 a.m. for three hours or so of expectant waiting worship. Three hours may sound like a long time, but Friends who have been practicing this kind of extended worship have often been surprised how quickly it seems to go by. Friends are free to get up and move around, to lie down on the benches, to use the bathroom, even to take a walk outside and rejoin the worship as led. Following the worship, we each eat our own brown bag lunch (beverages provided). After lunch, we will return to the meeting room for some worship-sharing about our experiences of the morning. We will close by 2:30 p.m. Friends are welcome to come for the morning only, to stay for lunch, or to stay for the whole day.
Transformative experiences can happen when the Living Presence has adequate time to remove the spiritual cobwebs and to shine a Light on the deep calls that are beckoning us to change and to make the world a better place. It is God’s work to awaken people to God‘s wisdom, guidance, and love. These extended meetings for worship can provide a seedbed for God to do that awakening. You can also read Marcelle Martin’s Pendle Hill Pamphlet, An Invitation to a Deeper Communion, which describes the beginnings of these extended worship experiences in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Westerly Friends are offering home hospitality for those coming from a distance. If you would like to take advantage of their offer, please contact Ann Watkins at (860) 460-4928 by May 17.
Schedule
9:00 a.m. Tea, coffee, and light snacks will be available with an opportunity for quiet conversation outside of the meeting room.
9:30 a.m. Meeting for Worship
12:30 p.m. Brown Bag Lunch and time for a walk, relaxation, conversation, etc. Beverages will be provided.
1:15 p.m. Reflections on the morning experience of extended worship
2:30 p.m. Closing
Logistics
- Please remember to bring your own lunch if you plan to stay beyond the morning worship.
- Overnight Accommodations: There will be a variety of accommodations available for Friends coming from a distance. If you would like Friday night hospitality, it is necessary to contact Ann Watkins at (860) 460-4928 or Michael Wajda at (484) 639-3356 by May 17.
- If you could offer carpooling, please let us know.
- Parking: If the meeting parking lot is full, there is parking ½ block away on Crescent Street.
- Announcements: To allow us to hold the deep experiences of the longer worship, and the reflective time in the afternoon, we ask Friends not to plan to make announcements of other Quaker events at the end of either session of the extended meetings. The only announcements that we will make will concern the extended meetings themselves. If you want to share information about another upcoming Quaker event, we ask that you bring the information in printed form, which can be put on a table at the venue where we meet.