Silent Worship
Currently, Carla and I don't "attend a church", per se. We have our Tuesday night Bible study at the jail, our every-other-Sunday Chapel service at the jail and our Friday night Bible study at Everett First Pres. After all of that, the thought of sitting in an audience listening to some guy give a sermon has very little appeal.
Yesterday though, we attended a Quaker church that we hadn't visited before. It was more of a "programmed" meeting which incorporated hymns and a brief sermon from the pastor (who is a woman, by the way). There was still plenty of opportunity for anyone in the meeting to speak and the meeting still concluded with a time of silent worship. It was a nice group of people. Here's their website.
There is something profound and deep and holy about a group of people sitting in a room together silently waiting and listening for God. The sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit is palpable.
I recall reading about a huge conference of churches that took place in Europe. I think it may have been one of the Lausanne conferences on world evangelism. Anyway, it brought people together from a wide variety of Christian denominations. Each morning a worship service would be conducted for all of the attendees, by the delegates of one of the denominations. So one morning it would be a Lutheran service, the next morning Baptist, etc. On one of the mornings the Quakers were asked to conduct the service. After a brief explanation of how Quakers worshipped, they led the entire conference into an hour of silent listening. Most of the conference attendees had never experienced silent worship before and were completely blown away. The hour of silence was considered the high-point of the conference. Imagine that.
If you're ever interested in trying it out, you can go to quaker.org to find an "unprogrammed" Quaker meeting in your area. It's a worthwhile experience.
Carla and I may re-visit the Quaker church from yesterday again from time to time, since we have every other Sunday free. Additionally, I want to incorporate a time of silent worship into our Friday evening meetings.
I'm thinking we'll try doing 30 minutes of silent worship, followed by 30 minutes of musical worship, followed by an interactive Bible study. There is also always lots of prayer and room for ministry to personal needs. This strikes me as sort of a Quaker/Vineyard/House Church amalgamation.
If you're in the Everett, WA area, come join us. We meet in the library of Everett First Presbyterian church on Fridays at 6:45 pm.
Yesterday though, we attended a Quaker church that we hadn't visited before. It was more of a "programmed" meeting which incorporated hymns and a brief sermon from the pastor (who is a woman, by the way). There was still plenty of opportunity for anyone in the meeting to speak and the meeting still concluded with a time of silent worship. It was a nice group of people. Here's their website.
There is something profound and deep and holy about a group of people sitting in a room together silently waiting and listening for God. The sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit is palpable.
I recall reading about a huge conference of churches that took place in Europe. I think it may have been one of the Lausanne conferences on world evangelism. Anyway, it brought people together from a wide variety of Christian denominations. Each morning a worship service would be conducted for all of the attendees, by the delegates of one of the denominations. So one morning it would be a Lutheran service, the next morning Baptist, etc. On one of the mornings the Quakers were asked to conduct the service. After a brief explanation of how Quakers worshipped, they led the entire conference into an hour of silent listening. Most of the conference attendees had never experienced silent worship before and were completely blown away. The hour of silence was considered the high-point of the conference. Imagine that.
If you're ever interested in trying it out, you can go to quaker.org to find an "unprogrammed" Quaker meeting in your area. It's a worthwhile experience.
Carla and I may re-visit the Quaker church from yesterday again from time to time, since we have every other Sunday free. Additionally, I want to incorporate a time of silent worship into our Friday evening meetings.
I'm thinking we'll try doing 30 minutes of silent worship, followed by 30 minutes of musical worship, followed by an interactive Bible study. There is also always lots of prayer and room for ministry to personal needs. This strikes me as sort of a Quaker/Vineyard/House Church amalgamation.
If you're in the Everett, WA area, come join us. We meet in the library of Everett First Presbyterian church on Fridays at 6:45 pm.
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