Worship is the adoring response of the heart
and mind to the influence of the Spirit of God. It stands neither in forms
nor in the formal disuse of forms; it may be without words as well as
with them, but it must be in spirit and in truth.
In our hectic age many of us have lost the
art of true worship. We sometimes feel awkward in a time of corporate
silence. We find it easier when things are carefully programmed, when
something is "going on." Yet Friends have consistently emphasized
the value of silence, not as an end in itself, but as a means of hearing
the voice of God, speaking either directly to the individual heart or
through the vocal witness of a sensitive fellow-worshipper.
Throughout our time of worship, you are
encouraged to focus your mind and your spirit upon the presence of Christ
in our midst. We need not invoke His presence, for His Promise is true:
"Where two or three of you meet in my name, there I am in your midst."
Our task is to "center-down" and experience His presence, with one intent
in mind: to respond in holy obedience.
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