We minister to each other in love by sharing our silence, our deepest leadings, our prayers, our sorrows, and our hopes. Our worship is based on silence. For us, silence is not merely a time to relax or gather one's thoughts. Quaker worship is an alert openness to the still leading of the Inner Light. Generally, no one speaks for the first twenty or more minutes.
Some meetings are completely silent.
Many Friends relish the peace, depth, and unity of such meetings. Completely silent worship can be a most refreshing and strengthening experience. When we are led to speak during worship, we observe spaces of silence between messages in order to allow each message to ripen in our hearts. We usually avoid responding to a previous speaker, although sometimes messages do share a common theme. It is most unusual for anyone to speak twice in one meeting.