What can you say?

Trevor Bending writes about what’s going on in the silence of a Quaker Meeting.

I heard the other day, in the context of a meditation session, someone say they were 'seeking celestial silence'. I wondered: is that the same as seeking heavenly silence, seeking holy silence, sacred silence? 

But what do Quakers do in their meetings? According to a survey in 1989, Quakers answered a multiple choice question on that subject: 

Thinking (66%), Opening up to the Spirit (61%), Listening (54%), Meditating (42%), Praying (35%), Seeking God's will (34%), Communing (30%), Seeking union with the divine (20%), Worshipping God (17%), Praising (13%), Sleeping (7%). 

Ben Pink Dandelion 'The Liturgies of Quakerism', Ashgate Publishing 2005, p119

'Seeking sacred silence' wasn't offered as a choice but I wonder if that's what many people in Quaker Meetings are also doing. Is meditation or contemplation the same? Many Friends say not (and perhaps those answers above confirm that). But meditation, silent prayer, centring prayer, silent worship are perhaps all in search of holy silence, even if many Quakers would not choose those terms.

Around the world, most Quakers are still Christian. But in Britain, things are rather different. We have Christian Quakers, but also Jewish Quakers, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Pagan Quakers (to name a few). We also have non-theist and humanist Quakers (who might not believe in God). Some are in 'multiple religious belonging' (we have Quaker Anglicans or 'Quanglicans') and some may have left their earlier religion and come to Quakers.

Uniquely in Quaker silence - most often sitting in silence for an hour on Sunday mornings - as we don't have priests or ministers, anyone can stand and speak ('minister') if they feel moved to do so. According to different personal beliefs or understandings, they might be moved by God, the Spirit, the heart or soul, something deep within them, the 'Inner Light' and so on. There is guidance for speaking, or generally not speaking unless deeply moved to do so and it is meant and appropriate for the meeting that day and others present and not just for you.

So we sit there in silence, which often lasts uninterrupted for an hour. We usually have on a table in the centre of the room around which we sit in a circle, our 'Big red book' (Quaker Faith & Practice), our 'little red book' ('Advices and Queries' which is chapter 1 of QF&P), perhaps the bible and maybe other scriptures or Quaker writings and perhaps some leaflets. Oh, and usually some flowers. 

If someone does speak during the hour, maybe someone else will, but not in reply. Some ministry might 'break the ice' and prompt another to speak too.

Clearly there are many things one might choose to do in that hour when no-one is speaking - see the 'answers' above - but silent prayer, meditation, centring prayer, thinking or deep reflection might be among them. And deep, careful listening to the silence (and anything that might be said).

There is guidance for Meeting in Quaker Faith and Practice and Advices and Queries, but no regulations or 'rules to walk by'. Quakers tend to 'advise' and 'query': we ask questions rather than lay down answers:

What can you say - about your own experience? Or, in George Fox's 17th Century English, 'What canst thou say?’ What do you find in Quaker meeting? What is your own experience of it?

If you’d like to give a Quaker Meeting a go, you can find out more about visiting a Meeting for the first time in our introductory pack. Or, you can get in touch with a friendly contact person at a Quaker Meeting close to you.