What Happens in Meeting for Worship?
Welcome to Northampton Friends Meeting. We are happy to have you join us for worship as we open to the Spirit of God in silent worship. If this is your first Friends Meeting for Worship, here is what to expect.
Worship at Northampton Friends Meeting is unprogrammed, meaning there are no sermons, no hymns, and no prepared readings or recitations from a prayerbook. Instead, we settle into silence with the hope and expectation that we will feel the presence of Spirit directly. The whole hour may pass in silence, but even so, Friends often find that they can feel Spirit moving in a very palpable way among the gathered worshippers.
Sometimes Friends are led to stand and give spoken messages. Messages in a meeting for worship should come only from the prompting of Spirit, and a message that rises in you may or may not be meant to be shared. If in doubt, speak in meeting for worship only when failing to do so would be unfaithful to Spirit.
Quaker practice expects that no one will speak more than once. While later messages often build on earlier ones, a direct response is discouraged. Meeting for Worship should not be used for discussion. In its best form, vocal ministry is not intellectual reflection, but rather the voice of universal love speaking through us, which is greater than our own thoughts and feelings.
Meeting for worship closes when a designated person invites us to greet one another and introduce ourselves.
Where to go with questions:
If you have questions about Quakerism or Northampton Friends Meeting, please mention, during your introduction or during fellowship, that you’d like to talk to someone to learn more. Someone will be pleased to talk with you and will be especially happy to hear what your experience of worship here has been like.
Opportunities throughout the week:
- weekly worship at the meetinghouse or Zoom (every Sunday 11:00 am)
- kids programming for the children during worship
- 9:30 Sunday morning programs for spiritual reflection and sharing
- occasional Sunday afternoon/evening programs (Zoom)
- midweek worship (Wednesdays, 9:30 am, Zoom only)
- Quaker Taizé worship (Thursdays, 7:00 pm, Zoom only)
- monthly potluck fellowship lunches (4th Sundays)
- monthly meetings for worshipful discernment (9:00 am, 2nd Sundays)
To stay informed and connected:
Please join the Meeting’s listserv by filling out a form on the table just outside the worship room or signing up online HERE.
- Northampton Friends Meeting website: quakercloud.org/cloud/northampton-friends-meeting
- To request URL for Zoom worship or for other questions, contact the Meeting clerk: northampton@neym.org
- To request URL for Taizé, contact Peter Bishop at: quakertaize@fastmail.com
For further reading: Please explore our library and the display of books and pamphlets in the Social Room. We especially recommend: Four Doors to Worship and Listening Spirituality by Patricia Loring, both available for browsing or borrowing
Northampton Friends Meeting 