"And
Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,
Let me now
go to the field,
and glean
ears of corn after him
In whose
sight I shall find grace.
And she
said unto her, Go, my daughter."
Ruth 2:2
KJV
“S” is for Silence . . . which may just be the most difficult or least understood part of
Quaker Meeting for Worship for visitors, guests and/or newcomers.
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| Glendalough ~ Ireland |
Quaker worship is unique from other faiths in
that we gather in or spend time in silence during worship. Some of the
terms used to describe these periods of silence are: ‘centering
down,’ ‘communion in the manor of Friends,’ and ‘expectant waiting.’
Friends gather in community, waiting for
messages from God or the Holy Spirit - messages meant for the individual OR
another Friend, for a small group OR for the whole body that is gathered.
Friends are encouraged to vocally share the messages as lead by the Holy Spirit
with those gathered in the Meeting. Unprogrammed Meetings worship in
this manor – sitting in silence for an hour and sometimes more, while
Pastoral/Programmed Meetings will include smaller bits of silence
during their worship.
Having grown-up in another faith, the few
minutes of silence during Meeting for Worship I was exposed to when I
began attending Mooresville Friends Meeting, in July 1984, was uncomfortable
for me. Why? I don’t know maybe it was because that piece of worship wasn’t
explained, or not explained well enough or completely enough to me.
Well, that was thirty years ago . . .
 |
| Bishop Street Friends Meeting Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
Last summer I participated in a two week Pilgrimage
to Ireland & Northern Ireland, with and among Friends who are ‘Unprogrammed.’
As I began to prepare for this experience a Friend invited me to participate in
a local worship group that gathers in ‘expectant waiting,’ and I have continued
to participate.
A few months after announcing to my Meeting
that I was going on this Pilgrimage, a member of my Meeting asked me quite a
few questions, among them: “How will you handle times of extended silence?
Either as a part of the Quaker worship experiences that will be provided
through the Pilgrimage experience; or traveling in the van with others who
might want/expect extended times of silence?”
My answer: “I really don’t see this as an
issue. I look forward to the opportunity to participate in unprogrammed worship
and I plan to soak it in. When FCS (Friends Committee on Scouting) gets
together we have long periods of ‘Centering Down’ and ‘Communion in the Manor
of Friends.’ I expect that there will be times when I will want to sit in
silence – I’ll find a way and a place to sit and reflect.”
During Ireland Yearly Meeting sessions there
were a variety of opportunities to engage in worship with Irish Friends, which
I enjoyed. I especially enjoyed the ‘Epilogs by Candlelight’ in the
evenings – an opportunity to gather with other Friends in silent
worship. A single flickering candle, sitting on the floor or table in the
middle of the room was inviting and helped me settle into the silence. I
found this to be a really special way to close out each day.
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| Epilog by Candlelight Cork Meeting, Ireland |
It was during these times of silent
worship, with my Friends in Ireland that I noticed a difference in the speaking
from the silence OR maybe I heard truer ‘Spirit lead’ vocal
ministry. That is the vocal ministry I heard was ‘short.’ This was not at all
what I am use to hearing in my own Meeting, where one might get up and sing/read
the words to a hymn, OR read/recite a scripture, OR talk on and on about an
experience they had at work or somewhere else, OR give feedback about the
mornings Message – what they heard our Pastor or guest speaker say. No, my
Friends in Ireland (not all Irish Friends as some were from other parts of
Europe and the United States) spoke very briefly, a word or two, not connected
to anything that had been said or shared or a short prayer . . . and yes, there
were a few times when these words seemed to speak to me and other times not –
which both lead me to pause and reflect on what had been said. Wondering . . .
Was it a message for me? Sometimes I wondered what that Friend meant OR Who was
that message for?
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| Sandy Spring Friends Meeting Sandy Spring, Maryland, ISA |
In April of this year, members of Friends
Committee on Scouting held their Annual Meeting in Sandy Spring, Maryland and
that First Day we attended Meeting for Worship with members of Sandy Spring
Friends Meeting, which is ‘Unprogrammed.’ I was glad that our group had
arrived before members of the Meeting did as this gave us a bit of time to go
inside and take a look around before worship - this Meetinghouse is one that
you walk directly into the Meetingroom from the outside.
 |
| Sandy Spring Meeting - inside Sandy Spring, Maryland USA |
There was no ‘vocal ministry’ that morning,
that is to say that no one spoke from the silence. Silence was broken by
the sound of the doors opening & closing as Friends came and went; the
sounds of the old wooden benches creaking as a Friend here or there shuffled in
their seat. About five minutes before worship ended, a Friend stood-up and
asked if there were Friends that needed to be held in the Light. After a bit of
silence a Friend spoke a name, more silence and then another name . . . I
didn’t count but there may have been a half-dozen or so names spoken by
different Friends. WOW, other than the local Friend from our committee asking
that the members of our committee be held in the Light as we headed back to our
homes that afternoon – Friends spoke only a name. I didn’t know any of the
names that were spoken or why prayer was needed, BUT I did have chills up and
down my back. As I think about that, it may have been the simplicity of the
requests. Even now, five months later, my mind keeps going back to this piece and
I wonder . . . do we really need to know more than just the name of a Friend or
friend/family member of a Friend in order to pray for them? I think not.
 |
| Corrymeela Community Northern Ireland |
Over the last seven years I’ve found myself
settling into the silence during worship in different ways. And it’s the
silence that I now look forward to . . . that piece or type of worship
seems to be speaking to me more and more. I’ve also found different ways to
settle myself into the silence and I’ve learned how to tune out the
noise around me.
So, now I ask you: What is it that draws you
to the ‘silence?’ What keeps you coming back to the silence? OR What is it that keeps you away from the ‘silence?’
Do you ever feel that the message you just heard was meant for you? Where does
the silence take you?
 |
| Sunrise over Dewart Lake Quaker Haven Camp Syracuse , Indiana USA |
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Now it’s time for some ‘S’ recipes . . . this was a tough one as I came
across so many favorites from my mom’s recipe box! So, what are you getting????
A couple of cookie recipes – “S” Cookies, which were my dad’s favorite cookies
and another one that my mom only made for Christmas . . . and you can’t stop at
eating just one or two of these – take a whole handful of these! And I just have
to share my mom’s Snickerdoodles recipe . . . MY FAVORITE COOKIE! I can’t
control myself when there are homemade Snickerdoodles around – I love them warm
and fresh from the oven!
“S” Cookies
(full recipe makes 22 dozen cookies)
1 pound butter (NOT margarine)
2 cups white sugar10 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
8 large egg yolks
8 ½ egg shells milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Ungreased cookie sheets.
Mix all ingredients together. Shape into “S”. To make
“S” take a small marble size piece of dough, roll into a log (about 3
inches long and about the size of a pencil); shape into “S” shape on cookie
sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes or lightly browned around the edges.
Cookies will ‘puff-up’
while cooking. Let cool a bit on the cookie sheet before removing. Feel free to
experiment with the size of these, as I have seen them bigger than my mom made
them – you just may need to bake them a bit longer. These are fragile cookies –
won’t be hard, but will have a bit of light crunch to them.
Easy to cut down into 1/4 recipe ~ makes 5 ½ dozen cookies.
These also freeze well!
Snickerdoodles
(Makes 5 dozen 2” cookies)
1 cup margarine, softened
1 ½ cups white sugar2 large eggs
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 400˚ F. Ungreased baking sheets.
Mix margarine, sugar and eggs together. Sift and add flour,
cream of tarter, soda and salt. Roll into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll
in a mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Place 2 inches
apart on baking sheet. These will spread out as they bake.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned.
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| Sunset over Dewart Lake Quaker Haven Camp Syracuse, Indiana USA |
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