. . .IN SILENCE

I am morally certain, that I have many a day gone through the cares and concerns of life, with much more composure, stability, satisfaction and propriety, for the strength and assistance I have found in drawing near to God in solemn silence in my family.

-- Job Scott, Journal, 1797

[Early Friends] made the discovery that silence is one of the best preparations for communion [with God] and for the reception of inspiration and guidance. Silence itself, of course, has no magic. It may be just sheer emptiness, absence of words or noise or music .... But it may be an intensified pause, a vitalized hush, a creative quiet, an actual moment of mutual and reciprocal correspondence with God.

-- Rufus M. Jones, "Spiritual Message of the Religious Society of Friends," 1937

We value our times of waiting silently in holy expectancy. Many of us have quiet periods alone regularly; we share quiet before or after meals or with others in our meetings; silence is the context of our worship. Silence is also the context in which we come to inward reliance upon God. It brings us to our true commitment, our concerns, and our leadings.

By 1660 [George Fox] had taught some 50,000 Friends, as he called them, to sit in silence under the inwardly searchlighting truth which showed up every act or impulse of self-will or self-righteousness. Naturally, they quaked, struggled, and despaired for months, upheld meanwhile by fellow-quakers alert to self-made escapes, until finally a "new man" was born within, able to respond freely to positive leadings of the Light, and joy broke through. The Light was also the Spirit of Christ, whose power and judgment Friends had found to be loving.

-- Hugh Barbour, "William Penn, Model of Protestant Liberalism," in Church History, 6/1979

We benefit from reserving times for quiet reflection on our lives and on those "promptings of love and truth in our hearts, which are the leadings of God." Our worship, deeper than words, reminds us that we wish to give the first place in our lives to the unseen and eternal. Friends look forward to sharing silence with other Friends, to sharing insights in worship, and to sharing leadings.