“What is spiritual silence? It is not just the absence of talk. Silence has substance. It is the presence of something.
If we can stay in this place of silence without rushing to fill it up in some way, we are humbled to know even for a little while that we in our own power do not have all the answers. We become more willing to listen. Meanwhile, God has always been communicating. Listening to the Inward Teacher is the foundation of Quaker spirituality.”
“If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.”
“Friends, as events unfold in the world around us, I very much fear that we are on the eve of a new and terrible global war. Even now it could be stopped, but there is not the will to stop it. There is rather the will to threaten and to fight, either by design or lack of thought, blundering forward in a manner reminiscent of the events that led up to World War I. The consequences of the war now beginning will bring immense suffering to many peoples. We as Friends need to do what we can to stop the wars that are already spreading or intensifying. But we also need to be prepared to be Quakers in wartime — never an easy experience.”
“The early church gathered not around Scripture, creed, or liturgy but around the presence and the experience of God in their midst. They trusted that God is what they needed to live and find their way through the empire. These new followers created seedbed communities called the Ekklesia—meaning called-out assembly or congregation—in which they could experience the presence of God within.”
“Love silence, even in the mind; for thoughts are to the mind as words are to the body, troublesome; much speaking, as well as much thinking, spends [….]
True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. It is a great virtue; it covers folly, keeps secrets, avoids disputes, and prevents sin.”
“We cannot find God in noise and agitation.
Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence.
What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us.
In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice.”
“In the stillness and silence of the power of the Almighty dwell, which never varies, alters, nor changes, but preserveth over and out of, and above all the changeable worships, religions, ministers, churches, teachings, principalities, and powers, with the power of God, which keepeth over all this, to the kingdom of Christ, that is everlasting, in which there is no changing, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords.”
“The use of silence or solitude as a doorway to the Divine has a long history in the Christian tradition. Jesus often went away to pray alone. (Mark 1:35; Matthew 14:23; Luke 5:16). Early Christian monastics went to live alone in the desert in the fourth century AD to find and love God. This type of spirituality remains important in the Orthodox Christian Church under the term Hesychasm (quietness, rest, inner peace). It continues in the Catholic monastic tradition under the term ‘contemplation.’ Since the seventeenth century, Quakers have often used ‘silent worship’ as a part of their corporate worship. Quakers have more accurately termed this practice ‘expectant waiting.'”
“Some Friends are able to recall with clarity the first occasion on which they attended a Quaker meeting. While I cannot remember when or where I did so, I do have a vivid recollection of the meeting which I began to attend regularly.
It was held in a rather hideous building: the meeting room was dingy. We sat on rickety chairs that creaked at the slightest movement. The whole place gave little hope that those who worshipped there might catch a glimpse of the vision of God. It was in stark contrast to the splendour of the Anglican churches to which I had been accustomed, where through dignified ritual the beauty of holiness was vividly portrayed. However, it was in this unlikely setting that I came to know what I can only describe as the amazing fact of Quaker worship.”
“Prayer is sitting in the silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful, and praising God until we ourselves are an act of praise.”
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