Session: 1 Thursday 2nd October 2008

Title: How Quakers worship

The Meeting for Worship is at the heart of all Quaker experience and action. Worship is our response ‘to the promptings of love and truth in our hearts’ which we believe are the leadings of God. Quakers think that everyone is able to sense something within them that enables them to grow closer to God, however we interpret that name. In the Meeting for Worship, we sit together in silence and stillness, although from time to time, someone will be moved to speak. We worship without using rites or symbols. All those present are equally responsible for the worship, as we have no paid ministers. In this session Quakers will share their personal experience of Meeting for Worship, how they approach it as a discipline and how at times people may be rightly prompted to speak.

Session: 2 Thursday 9th October 2008

Title:Quakers, Simplicity, Peace and the Environment

Quakers are involved in all kinds of activities in contemporary society and are very concerned about the future. Like many non-Quakers, we are concerned about terrorism and the results of armed conflict: with our wide experience of peacemaking, we are anxious to share our insights with others. From the time of Elizabeth Fry, we have been concerned to make the penal system more humane and effective. Increasingly, we are taking the call to live simply seriously and are trying to reduce our impact on the environment. In this session, three Quakers will share their concerns about the future and indicate what they and other Quakers are doing about those concerns.

 

Session: 3 Thursday 16th October 2008

Title: Quakers, God and Religion

For Quakers, ‘God’ is beyond our comprehension, yet we experience something of God in worship and as we respond to other people in everyday situations. We do not all use the same language to speak about God: each of us tries to find words that express our convictions, words that arise out of experience that can be used with integrity. Some of us use traditional language to speak about God, language derived from Christianity; others find alternative language to communicate their deepest experiences. This variety of language does not concern us because we value the experiences that lie behind the words, not the words themselves. In this session, three Quakers will describe their experience of God and then say what difference that makes to their lives.

 

Session: 4 Thursday 23rd October 2008

Title: Quakers truth and equality

Quakers respond to God in their worship; they also respond to the potential for a response to God in other people, what we call ‘responding to that of God in everyone’. Our spiritual experience requires us to express our faith in action. As we respond to God in trust, letting go of our own wills, we are moved to care for others and the world. An early Quaker put it like this: True Godliness doesn’t turn us out of the world, but enables us to live better in it, and excites our endeavours to mend it. The collective expression of these valued insights and actions are called our Testimonies; they include truth and equality. In this session, three Quakers will share how they put their faith into action.

 

Session Descriptions

 

“Everyone is unique, precious, a child of God”