From: nelson@crynwr.com (Russell Nelson)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.quaker
Subject: Hour of Silence 
Distribution: world
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 04:22:05 GMT
Organization: Crynwr Software

In article <1992Nov2.134415.21089@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> banghartr@clvax1.cl.msu.edu writes:

   In article <1992Oct29.164145.24441@nsisrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>,    toma@hyperion.gsfc.nasa.gov (Tom Atwater) writes...
   >I understand a Quaker service consists in part of a long period in
   >which everyone is silent, broken occasionally by those who are moved
   >to share their insights with the assembly.
   > 
   >Would anyone who has experienced this care to talk about it, either
   >in general or to relate specific memorable instances?

   In Ann Arbor, MI, the meeting house is a fairly modern looking
   building, and the room has a fairly institutional look to it.

Right.  A Quaker meetinghouse is not a consecrated building.  I'm
sure that many older meetinghouses had a fairly institutional look to
them at the time they were built.

   The 'pews' are arranged on all four sides of the room, all facing the
        ^^^^ benches is a better term.
   center.  There is no pulpit.  The 'service' consists entirely of

The service begins when the meeting ends, or so goes the usual quip.  :)

   silent meditation, interrupted only by 'messages' received by
   those in meditation.  I had read some in "Faith and Practice" (a
   book describing Quaker life), and was aware that these messages
   were supposed to emerge from the silence of  meditation, and
   specifically were not to reflect personal concerns and issues.

There exist multiple Faith and Practice publications.  I, myself,
would not presume to decide which of God's leadings were acceptable
in meeting.

   This was clearly not the case in Ann Arbor on the day I attended.
   The messages were political in nature, and other people's messages
   responded directly to them.

Um yes, that can happen.  More typically (in my meeting anyway) the
first person to speak will set the tone of the meeting.

   In contrast, I attended meeting one Sunday at Abbington Friends
   Meeting outside of Philadelphia.  This was a meeting house
   that had been standing, (as a Quaker meeting), for more than
   200 years!  Again, the 'pews' were arranged the same as in 
   Ann Arbor, but beyond that the buildings had no similarity.
   As I recall, meeting was scheduled to begin at 10:00 am.  People
   started arriving at about 9:30, and met and talked in a comfortable,
   carpeted room, before service.  A little before 10:00 people 
   started drifting into the meeting room, where there was complete
   silence.  By 10:00 all were in the meeting room, where we sat
   silently for about 20 minutes before someone rose, spoke for 
   about 15 seconds (I don't remember what he/she said, but it was
   clearly sincere and seemed divinely inspired.).  Then we sat in
   silence for another 10 or 15 minutes.  Another message.
   After about an hour, the 'meeting closer' shook hands with 
   the person next to him.  We all shook hands with one another.
   The meeting closer then rose, and read about 3 or 4 minutes 
   worth of announcements about various committee meetings that
   were scheduled, members who needed help, etc.

This is what happens commonly in our meeting, and in other meetings I
have attended.  Other times we will be silent for the whole meeting.

   I was particularly impressed by reliance on the individual
   to find his/her own contact with God (or whatever you choose
   to call It).  I also noted that on the book table in that 
   comfortable room where we met before and after meeting, were
   books about avoiding military service, accepting homosexuality,
   and other views that I have rarely seen expressed in conservative
   religions.

That, too, sounds familiar.  Quakers tend to value Christ's love of
his fellow man over the laws of Leviticus, e.g. I am wearing
cotton/polyester blended sweatpants without the least trickle of
guilt.  :)

-russ <nelson@crynwr.com> What canst *thou* say?
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