3107 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
(410) 235-4438
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| Homewood Friends Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland has for several years offered newcomers a leaflet containing the original form of this text. As a member of Ministry and Counsel's pamphlet subcommittee, I undertook to revise the text of the leaflet; the revised text, edited by Friend Bess Keller and approved by Homewood Meeting in September, 1994, appears below. -- George Amoss |
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| Welcome, Friend... |
| If you are joining us in worship today, you may need an introduction to our Quaker form of worship. We hope that this short statement will be helpful. Please feel free to ask any member for further explanation. |
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Friends have no creed, no sacraments, and no presiding ministers.
We minister to each other in love by sharing our silence, our
deepest leadings, our prayers, our sorrows, and our hopes.
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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. One
consequence of this "waiting upon the Light" is that one or more
worshipers may be moved to speak out of the silence. Such speaking
is not an intellectual exercise; it is a movement from the depths
of one's being, a conscientious response to a carefully discerned
leading of the Spirit.
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It takes time for a meeting to "settle." Generally, no one speaks
for the first twenty or more minutes. During that time, we are
admonished to "Turn in thy mind to the Light, and wait upon God."
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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.
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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.
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Meeting draws to a close in silence after about an hour. We close
our worship by shaking hands and greeting each other. Usually, a
simple lunch is provided in another room; visitors are encouraged
to join us there after worship for food and fellowship.
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We are happy to welcome you to Homewood Friends Meeting. We hope
you will become part of the loving community that we share.
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3107 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21218 (410) 235-4438
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Click here to return to the
Quaker Electronic Archive's Main Page.
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