Unprogrammed (Silent) Worship
Our Meetings for Worship have no formalized order of worship and no human leader in keeping with our testimony of simplicity. They are based on expectant waiting in silence. During Meeting for Worship, a member of the group may be moved to speak out of the silence, to share a leading from God, or a prayer, a passage of Scripture, or even words of an inspirational poem of hymn. Fellow worshippers are called to listen with openness of heart and mind. Messages may be meant for a member of the gather meeting or for all in attendance. These messages are spontaneous usually brief, and are followed by silence allowing all to reflect inwaredly on their meaning. Sometimes the silence remains unbroken. The unprogrammed form of worship is our way of saying that God works through all of us. After a suitable time, usually not longer than an hour, Meeting is concluded by two worshippers shaking hands followed by handshakes by all those in attendance.
There is no creed, no prepared order of worship, and no sermon. Worship is guided by the Holy Spirit. This simple Christian form of worship seeks for direct communication and communion with the Divine without intermediary. The sense of worship may be expressed in the awe that is felt in attentive silence, on the awareness of our profound connectedness to one another, and connectedness to nature and its power. In worship can be found repentance and forgiveness in the acknowledgement of God as the ultimate source of our being and the serenity of accepting God's will. Each experience in worship is different as God reaches to us as individuals in our current situation and circumstance. There is no right way to prepare for spiritual communion, no set practice to follow when worship grows out of expectant waiting in the Spirit. Worship depends far more on a deeply-felt longing for God than upon a specific practice or format.