Quaker meeting for ‘worship’?
I’ve been bookmarking verses at eBible, mainly looking for verses related to particular aspects of Quaker faith and practice. In the process I’ve found some food for thought in the word “worship.”
It never occurred to me, until now, that the Quaker phrase “meeting for worship” might mean something different to other people. (This reflection comes in the context of news that British Friends are eliminating the term “monthly meeting” because they realized it was confusing to others.)
Here’s the definition of worship from the American Heritage dictionary:
worship n.
-
- The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.
- The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.
- Ardent devotion; adoration.
- often Worship Chiefly British. Used as a form of address for magistrates, mayors, and certain other dignitaries: Your Worship.
v.tr.
- To honor and love as a deity.
- To regard with ardent or adoring esteem or devotion. See synonyms at revere1.
v.intr.
- To participate in religious rites of worship.
- To perform an act of worship.
[Middle English worshipe, worthiness, honor, from Old English weorthscipe : weorth, worth; see worth1 + -scipe, -ship.]
The words “meeting for worship” have become a cliché for Friends. (In the days of physical typesetting and printing, a “cliché” was a string of letters — several words together — that typesetters kept on hand so they didn’t have to recompose it again and again.) When we talk about going to meeting for worship, we usually mean that we’re going to whatever it is we do at the designated time, and not much more.
Does that make sense?
As a teacher of English as a second language, when I had students ask me about a particular turn of phrase, I asked myself, “So what do I mean when I say it that way?” and “Do other native speakers of English mean it that way, too?” That’s the sort of question I’m asking here.
Friends who watch the above video may never think of “meeting for worship” the same again — but particularly those Friends who are uncomfortable with 80% of it, who may nod smugly to themselves for the other 20% (as I did) thinking how much ‘purer’ the Quaker approach is.
(’Pure,’ here, refers to the original sense of the word “puritan,” which early Friends simply took to the n’th degree.)
I found the above video in a round-about way. After spending some time at eBible, I learned of another “web 2.0 bible” venture called YouVersion, and then found a blog of someone associated with that site, who had posted the video there. Because this interpretation of “worship” was so strange to me, looking at it with a Quaker frame of reference, it made me stop and reconsider.
In a later post on the same topic, I want to take this question further, and perhaps in an unexpected direction. I’ll be referring to Proposition 11 in Barclay’s Apology for the True Christian Divinity. Let’s just say this isn’t simply a “then-and-now” or “us-and-them” distinction.
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December 16th, 2007 at 7:48 am
Thanks for posting this. I love the video; it’s very evocative. It seems to me to fit pretty squarely with a Christian understanding of Quaker worship.
December 16th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Wonderful video! I think, frankly, that it would be presumptious for Friends to assume that we “get it right” while others don’t.
With regard to meeting for worship, the video embodies the words of Penn, about how we come to meeting “walking in the light of our own fire,” bringing with us “the sparks of our own kindling” instead of letting go and letting the Divine ignite us:
“When you come to your meetings…what do you do? Do you then gather together bodily only, and kindle a fire, compassing yourselves about with the sparks of your own kindling, and so please yourselves, and walk in the light of your own fire, and in the sparks which you have kindled…? Or rather, do you sit down in True Silence, resting from your own Will and Workings, and waiting upon the Lord, with your minds fixed in that Light wherewith Christ has enlightened you, until the Lord breathes life in you, refresheth you, and prepares you, and your spirits and souls, to make you fit for his service, that you may offer unto him a pure and spiritual sacrifice?”
http://www.pym.org/publish/fnp/08c_worship.php
December 17th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I am in the middle of reading “The Crucifixion of Ministry” by Andrew Purves. He comes from a place far from Quakerism (reformed theology), yet ends up in great harmony with Barclay’s proposition 11.
The book is very Christ-centered, which I am good with but may put some Friends off.
He argues that true ministry and worship happens only when we put ourselves aside and allow Christ to minister and worship through us. He also attempts to describe what this kind of ministry and worship looks like.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
I would prefer the word “Friendship” personally because it’s the Religious Society of Friends.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Quaker meeting for ‘Friendship’? That gets to the difficulty I’m having, because I think of the relationship that Jesus describes in John 15:14-15 -
I don’t think of ‘worship’ as it’s described in the video, although I like the video for some of the subsidiary points and the general line of presentation. I think of Quaker worship as taking the connection with God to a different place, more like sharing and friendship than a master-servant or Lord-serf relationship.
The Father-Son or parent-child analogy still has force for me, but what was the “Son of Man” thing (child of humanity?) that Jesus was on about? Again, putting himself at the same level as the rest of us, right? I’m sure somebody can explain that in a more complicated way, but I’ve always wanted to take it at face value.
December 19th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
There is much of value in the video, and I hope my raising one objection will not be taken as criticism of the whole idea. In that “worship” is at least in part an expression of our feelings about our relationship with Christ however that may be read, it IS very much “about us.” If participation in a gathered Meeting is expressive of our community with the Light and our fellows, then that is how we worship in a way that we need FOR that expression. If particular songs or modes of music are more expressive of our perceptions, then that means of worship will satisfy that need for expression. I will surely grant that we can make every effort to participate in whatever worship is available and make it our own, but if it does not express what we need, then perhaps another means is appropriate.
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:42 pm
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)
I think this is what the video is getting at. My mother used to say, “The life I live is the prayer I pray.”
We are called to take up our cross and follow Christ. The particular style we used to praise and thank God is not what is key. Whether a meeting for worship or worship service is edifying is whether it serves to “make you fit for his service, that you may offer unto him a pure and spiritual sacrifice?” in the words of what was quoted from PYM. God is not evaluating himself by whether or not we sing in the time we label worship, or how we do, or by whether we are silent or vocal, or whether we sit or stand or kneel, or whether or not we share the bread and cup in worship, etc.