• What to do in a Meeting.

A Quaker meeting is based in silence, but it is a silence of waiting in expectancy. For many minutes, perhaps for the whole of the meeting, there may be silence. But that does not mean that nothing is happening. All of us are trying to come to each other and to the Spirit, as we are caught up in the still spirit of the meeting.

Go in as soon as you are ready. It is a good thing if a meeting can settle down a few minutes before the appointed time. Sit anywhere you like.

You may find it easy to relax in the silence and enter into the life of the meeting. Or you may be disturbed by the strangeness of the silence, by distractions outside or by your own roving thoughts. Do not worry about this. Try if you can, if only for an instant, to be quiet in body, mind and spirit.

The silence may be broken if someone present feels called on to say something that will deepen and enrich the worship, in response to the prompting of the Spirit. The silence is broken for the moment, but is not interrupted.