One Sunday years ago I took a small group of college students to a little Quaker church. Actually, it’s called a meeting house. This was in Millville, Pennsylvania, the Millville Friends Meeting, which has been there a long time – since 1795. It is a very small, simple, old building with plain wooden pews. In the front of the room there’s no pulpit because most Quakers don’t have preachers. They are known for worshiping in silence and waiting on the Holy Spirit to speak to them. When someone feels inspired by the Spirit to share something, he or she will simply stand up and say what is on their heart and mind.
There were a couple of long benches in the front of the room that faced the pews, sort of like a choir loft, I guess. We were invited to sit there so that we could watch things as they unfolded, so we did. The worship hour began and there was a long period of silence.
Then, someone stood and spoke briefly. Shortly after, another person stood and said something. It was all very calm and mostly quiet. From my seat in front, I found myself most interested in a family sitting toward the back. A father and mother with three young children. The children sat, leaning against mom and dad, all quiet and serene. And I thought it was amazing.
After the worship ended I told the mother how impressed I was that her children were able to sit so calmly and quietly during the hour. She told me the whole family really treasured this time together – to be able to sit with one another, to just hold one another and rest in the silence. During the rest of the week, they led busy, active lives just like every other family we knew. But for this one hour of the week, they really valued the quiet.
So, I guess that’s something the Quakers have going on. They are offering something that we need – quiet. But most of us probably don’t even realize we need it, because we are so used to its absence. It’s not easy to find quiet in our world. Even in our homes when we are sleeping, our appliances are still humming away. Even when we are not talking to one another, our TV’s and phones, and computers are making noise, talking to us. But without the quiet we are missing something we need.
This was something I had in mind when I was serving a church with a preschool on site. I wanted to offer Children’s Chapel. It was something I learned about from a colleague, who developed it in her congregation. It is a way for very young children to participate fully in the spiritual life of the church.
Once a month the children and the teachers would walk in straight lines from their classrooms to the sanctuary. I wanted to do it every week but settled for monthly. When they arrived at the door, I would remind them that in this place we move more slowly, and we talk more softly; that in this place we are meeting God. This was just to help them transition, to quiet their spirits, to ready them for worship.
We would sit in a circle on the floor. I would guide them in taking a couple of deep breaths.
Then we would greet one another with the ancient words of the church –
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
We always lit a candle and I would remind them that God is here, and God is the light of the world.
And then we would begin to do the most amazing thing – we shared our joys and concerns. Because we all cared about one another and all the good and bad things that were going on in our lives. Here is something very important for us to know: Children understand that life holds both joys and sadnesses. It is the adults who think we can, somehow, prevent any sadness from impacting their lives.
After we shared our joys and concerns with one another, we shared all these things with God, who is with us, loves us, and cares for all the little and big things in our lives. Just like we do here.
Before sending the children back to their classrooms, we did one more thing: we blessed one another with these words: God made you, God loves you, and God is always with you. Now and then, parents would tell us that their children were taking this practice home with them.
When we come together in this place, we draw close to one another and we draw close to God. For many reasons, all kinds of reasons that matter. We come here because we have friends here whom we love – or we come here because we are looking for friends. We come here because we have a need, a hunger, we are looking to fill – a hunger for love, for purpose, for joy, for peace. And maybe we will find what we need here.
We come here because the spirit in us is calling out to the Spirit of God in this world – it’s like a little dog tugging on the leash when they see another dog and want to be closer. Maybe your spirit is the little dog that senses the Spirit of God here and wants to draw near.
We come here because that same Spirit of God is whispering to us, calling us to be a part of God’s work in the world – somehow.
When we come together in this place we breathe deeply, knowing that with each breath we are filled with God’s Spirit. That it is like Jesus said, “I am in the Father, and you are in me and I am in you.” That God is as near to us as our breath.
And a little bit of quiet sometimes is what you need to know this: that God made you, God loves you, and God is always with you. For keeps.
No comments:
Post a Comment