ABOUT QUAKERS

Woking Quakers

Our meeting is one of about 500 across the country and we have been coming together at the same Friends Meeting House in Park Road for many years. We are a friendly and open spiritual community that accepts everyone, accommodating a variety of views and backgrounds.

You are very welcome to join us for worship every Sunday at 10.30 am (see map), or for the other events we hold here. If you would like to bring children along, then let us know in advance so that we can make arrangements for them. We have a hearing loop, plus wheelchair access and an accessible toilet. There is some room for parking at the front. Contact us for more information.
[ Other meetings in our area. ]

Everyone month we take it in turns to select a book for our library that we have felt inspired by and feel may be helpful to others in our meeting.

The charities we plan to support in 2010 are: To Be Announced

Who are the Quakers generally?

The Religious Society of Friends - the official name for the group of people informally called Quakers - is now a group of over a quarter of a million individuals worldwide, who refer to each other simply as Friends.

The UK and Eire are estimated to have 18,000 Quakers plus 8,000 attenders. (An attender is someone who gets involved in Quaker activities but is not officially a "member".) Our Woking meeting has about 30 members.

What do Friends believe?

Woking Friends - like Quakers in general - have diverse ways of looking at Truth, whether coming from a Christian, Humanist, Buddhist or other perspective. Yet, despite the absence of any organisational creed or dogma, we experience a meaningful and mutually supportive unity in our worship and our life together. Quakers believe that the whole of life is precious. We live out this faith in strong concerns for truth, peace, social justice, simplicity and the future of our planet.

Traditionally, Quakers have believed in the 'inner light'. This is the notion that God is a spiritual presence within each individual and could speak to all humans through the words and actions of anyone.

What do Quakers mean by the term 'Worship'?

The foundation of Friends' activity is our silent meeting for worship, in which we sit and seek a stillness together.  We enter into communion with Presence - with our Source - whether we as individuals think of this as God, Inner Light, Higher Power, unconditional love, Truth, Inward Teacher, Being, Dharma or whatever feels comfortable to us.

Our 'meetings for worship' at Park Road are held on Sundays at 10:30 and last for just over an hour. There is no altar or hymnbook, though one can find copies of the Bible and an anthology called Quaker Faith & Practice on the table. Our worship together is based on silent waiting. Sometimes people will feel inspired to stand and speak briefly. We can learn a lot from other people's experience of God, which may be very different from our own.

Stillness

Sometimes, out of the silent unity of a meeting, someone may feel it helpful to stand up and say a few words.  We try to let the 'spirit' guide us. There is no formal structure during this quiet interval, which lasts for about an hour.

A Quaker meeting creates a space of gathered stillness. We come together where we can listen to the promptings of truth and love in our hearts, which we understand as arising from God (however individuals may understand that word). Our meetings are based on silence: a silence of waiting and listening. There may be silence for quite some time, but that does not mean that nothing is happening.

We are caught up in the still spirit of the meeting, and all of us are trying to come nearer to each other and to God. We do not worship in isolation: we try to hold ourselves aware of all those gathered with us, uniting in a common purpose, so that the waiting and listening become an act of sharing.

Quakers, God and Jesus

Every Quaker - especially these days - will have their own interpretation of the word "God", but in fact we all have a great deal in common and try not to spend a lot of time on definitions. For example, you will find that many Quakers have a strong belief in Jesus Christ as their saviour, while others recognise that Jesus was an exceptional and inspiring teacher and an example to us all, but aren't too concerned about the theology. All this makes for a rich and diverse company of Quakers - and this is especially the case at our Woking meeting, where we have Friends who have experienced quite varied spiritual traditions.

Quakers believe that everyone may have direct experience of 'God', without the need for priests and rituals, and that there is that of God in everyone. We feel inspired to follow the example of Jesus and whichever other spiritual focus may engage us in a loving response to God and to those around us.

Faith and practice

Quakers feel that it is no good having a faith if you don't put it into practice. Because we believe there is something of God in everyone, we try to respond to all people in a way that lives out that belief. It means treating everyone with respect, whoever they are.

It also means working towards making the world a better place. Quakers have always been involved in helping slaves, prisoners, people with mental health problems, refugees and war casualties, to name but a few. We are also well known for our work in prisons, our Quaker schools and our participation in environmental and peace projects. We will work for peaceful solutions and reconciliation to solve national and international conflicts.

Who runs the meeting?

As we don't have any clergy - paid or unpaid - it is up to us to run our own meetings. We take it in turn to serve in roles such as clerk, assistant clerk, tea & coffee makers, etc.

MORE ABOUT THE QUAKER WAY

Quakerism is a way of life, rather than a dogma or creed. It rests on the conviction that by looking into their inmost hearts people can have direct communion with their Creator. This experience cannot ultimately be described in words, but Quakers base their whole lives on it.

The Quaker movement arose in the mid-seventeenth century. Its followers called themselves "Friends of Truth", or simply "Friends". "Quaker" was an abusive nickname used by others, but Friends have since adopted the term themselves, and today "Friend" and "Quaker" mean the same and are used interchangeably. The formal title is "The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)".

Friends' basic attitudes show themselves in certain ideas and practices, personal and collective, of which the most important are:

• In their meetings for worship Quakers do not sing hymns or use set prayers, but wait on God together in silence. Out of this silence occasionally someone may speak briefly, or pray, or read from the Bible or other religious work.
  
• Friends try to learn from the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Gospels. They also try to live in the spirit of forgiving love that was shown in his life and death, and has been a living source of strength and inspiration to his followers ever since. This does not, however, prevent many Quakers from acknowledging a debt to the saints and sages of other religions and to wise people of no declared religion.
  
• Quakers do not consider that ultimate authority can reside in a church or other organization. Nor do they regard the mere words of the Bible, or any other writing, as authority. They try to enter into the spirit that inspired the writers. This does not mean that every Friend is his or her own authority. Belonging to the worshipping group exerts a gentle discipline with Friends gladly accept.
  
• Friends also carry on the business of their Society in a framework of silent worship, placing themselves and their affairs in the presence of God. The proceedings are conducted by a "Clerk", who is both chairperson and secretary, and records the "sense of the meeting" at the time without recourse to voting.
• Quakers tend to live simply, but they are not rigidly puritanical. For example, some Friends are teetotal, while others drink alcohol in moderation.
  
• Quakers recognize only one standard of truth, and consequently do not swear legal oaths. This attitude is also reflected in their avoidance of speculative business deals and gambling.
  
• Quakers do not practise or condone discrimination by sex, social class, or race.
  
• The Quaker way implies non-violence in thought, word and deed. Most Quakers refuse to fight in war, and make clear their opposition to all preparations for it. The Society is regarded as one of the traditional "peace churches".
  
• Quakers are prominent in work for disadvantaged people at home and abroad, though many people who admire this work are not aware of the religious conviction underpinning it.
  

Finally, it is fundamental to the Quaker way to be open to new insights from whatever source, to tolerate differing opinions, and to work for reconciliation wherever there is strive and enmity.

It should not be imagined, however, that Quakers are impossibly "good" people. Like others they have their faults and fall short of their own aims. Nor do they claim that their path is the only true one; they have simply found it right for them.

While Friends are glad to tell others what Quakerism means to them, they do not pressurize anyone to join them, but leave people free to decide whether the Quaker way really is for them. Everyone is welcome to attend a Quaker Meeting for Worship, and Friends are delighted when people want to find out more about them. This may take some time. The best approach is to attend a Meeting for Worship on several occasions, and also Meetings in different places, and to do some reading. Leaflets on Friends' silent worship and other aspects of the Quaker way can usually be obtained free from any meeting house.

From a booklet by Richard Allen, copyright Quaker Home Service, 1985

FIRST TIME AT A QUAKER MEETING?

We come to meeting because we feel the inspiration to worship. Meeting for worship starts as soon as the first person enters the room and sits down. It helps if the meeting can settle a few minutes before the appointed time.

Go in as soon as you are ready and sit anywhere you like. Children may be present for a time at the beginning or at the end of meeting, and have activities of their own in another room.

You may find it easy to relax in the silence and enter into the spirit of the meeting, or you may be unsettled by the strangeness of the silence, by distractions outside or by your own thoughts. Don't worry about this. We all find it difficult to settle at times. When we return again and again to the still centre of our being, we can know the presence of God. Try if only for brief periods, to be quiet in mind, body and spirit. Bring whatever is pressing on your mind to the meeting. It can be a time of insight, revelation, healing or calm.

Nearly everyone at some time seems to want to find God in themselves, even those who find it hard to believe that God exists. Using a different image or concept, such as 'spirit' or 'light' can be helpful.

The silence may be broken if someone present feels called to say something that will deepen and enrich the worship. Anyone is free to speak, pray or read aloud, as long as it is done in response to a prompting of the spirit which comes in the course of our meeting. This breaks the silence for the moment but does not interrupt it.

Listen with an open mind to what is said. Each contribution may help somebody, but our needs are different and can be met in different ways. If something does not speak to your condition or need, try to reach the spirit behind the words. The speaker wants to help the meeting, so take care not to reject the offering by negative criticism.

Each of us brings our own life experience to the meeting. Some people will have a profound sense of awe and wonder because they know God is present. Others will be far less certain. They may only be ready to hold an awareness that their experiences in life point beyond themselves to a greater whole. Some will thankfully accept God's inexhaustible love shown in Jesus. Others will know their direction is seeking to be open towards people in a spirit of love and trust.

In the quietness of a Quaker meeting worshippers can become aware of a deep and powerful spirit of love and truth, transcending their ordinary experience. We seek to become united in love and strengthened in truth, so we enter a new level of living, despite the different ways we may account for this life-expanding experience.

After an hour, people will shake hands to mark the end of the worship. The clerk may then allow time for "afterthoughts", where people can share thoughts that perhaps they did not feel appropriate to share during the slient session. The clerk may then announce forthcoming events and give news of members. Afterwards, do feel free to speak to anyone particularly if you wish to know more about Quakers. Literature is usually available and books can often be borrowed.

Adapted from the leaflet: Your first time at a Quaker meeting