Here indeed is a service of worship that demands that all believers be their own priests. For in the Quaker meeting for worship, the members must still their bodies, still their minds, must attend to the presence of God, must thank and adore God for being what God is, must feel the incongruities of their own lives that are out of keeping with such a presence, must long for their removal and forgiveness ....

-- Douglas V. Steere, On Listening to Another, 1955

Thanksgiving, confession, calming of fears, forgiveness, reproof, chastisement, awareness of our many blessings, instruction, exhortation, support, comfort, challenge, and openness to joy and truth are some aspects of worship we may meet.

But there will be times for all of us when worship will not offer us comfort, uplift our spirits, or speak to our condition. At times we may feel distant from God and our fellow-worshippers; faith and perseverance are necessary to bring us through these dry spells. At other times the spoken ministry may be pointed, prophetic, or disturbing. Worship offers us the experience of the power of the Spirit, but that power is not tame, and our lessons from meeting are not always those we expect.

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.

-- Revelation 3.20 (NRSV)

Vocal ministry in the meeting for worship should arise from inward prompting, an experience that may come at times to all earnest worshippers. Ministers who can speak at length and maintain a genuine spirit of prophecy are rare and appreciated, but the experienced speaker should be watchful not to speak too often or at undue length. A simple thought, briefly expressed by a timid speaker, may be the message most needed; the shy worshipper is encouraged to speak, however haltingly.

When one rises to speak in [a gathered] meeting one has a sense of being used, of being played upon, of being spoken through. It is as amazing an experience as that of being prayed through, when we, the praying ones, are no longer the initiators of the supplication, but seem to be transmitters, who second an impulse welling up from the depths of the soul. In such an experience the brittle bounds of our selfhood seem softened and instead of saying, "I pray" or "He prays," it becomes better to say, "Prayer is taking place."

-- Thomas R. Kelly, The Eternal Promise, 1966