Quaker silence is not sacred silence.

Quaker silence is different.

Quaker silence is not worship. In churches where there is some silence, it is usually part of the worship. It is like a song or a reading or a prayer or a sermon. It is something "sacred" like the other parts of the service - something to be enjoyed or engaged with itself.

Quaker silence is different.

Qaker silence is not a barrier. So often I have seen and experiences silence being used to say "Don't talk to me. Don't engage with me. I am contemplating silently". Iti s used as a barrier to keep others out, keep them away from your personal experience of the Divine.

Quaker silence is a different thing. That is my experience anyway. It is a starting point, not a destination. We arrive in meeting without prepared talks, prayers, readings, songs. We arrive as we are.

That is why we sit in silence - to wait, so see what comes from that. Because we come with nothing but ourselves, the ministries can be incoherent, banal, obtuse and sometimes irrelevant to us. But sometimes - often, in my experience - they help me in my engagement with the Divine, with God.

And sometimes, we are silent for the whole hour, because sometimes there is nothing else needed but me and God.