About Quakers

Quaker Spirituality

Quaker spirituality is based on a direct unmediated experience of God. We seek the still small voice of God in silence. Quakers call God by many names: the Living Presence, the Light Within, the Seed, the Inward Christ, and That Which Is Eternal, just to mention a few. The fundamentals of our spirituality are listening, honesty, vulnerability, trust, direct experience, and patience. Our faith can best be understood as a lifelong spiritual journey.

We Quakers put our emphasis on practices more than on beliefs. We do not have a written creed. We seek God experientially through individual practices and corporate practices, which together enable us to yield to the love and guidance of the living presence of God. 

The variety of individual practices is limitless. Some Quakers sit silently at home, listening for the still small voice. Some practice devotional reading, whether it be in the scriptures of any of the major religions, or any variety of spiritual writings by poets and mystics. One can have a listening, spiritual practice while working or walking. Some individuals are taken to the Deep Place by listening to music or encountering great art. The key component is finding oneself being opened to the deep, direct experience of the Divine Within.

Quaker corporate practice is centered in the meeting for worship. We gather as a group sitting silently in a circle for approximately one hour. In worship we seek to still our mind so that we can connect with the deeper currents of life flowing within us and the others who are worshipping too. Sometimes there is an inward quickening, and one is moved to speak offering what Quakers call vocal ministry, or simply a message. During the hour there may be one, several, or no spoken messages. In any case, worshippers can know if the Living Presence was in the room.

At Bennington Meeting, whoever is "closing meeting" that month will stand when the hour has passed, and all those present will also stand holding hands in a circle for just a short time before returning to our seats. Then, the Friend closing meeting will invite any who are present to share about their experience of the worship that morning. This brief sharing offers us a window into the worship experience and affirms the reality of this spiritual quest. Worship for Quakers is a crucible in which God works our transformation.

"Proclaim what you have discovered, for others' benefit, sharing as if inviting to a banquet:…our community will grow in depth and power as we tell each other what we've been trying and finding…. We need to find ways to talk about it — simple, humble, concrete, realistic, truthful. It's not bragging to admit we've been visited by the Lord, and trying to take some steps along the way God's spirit leads."                                                      

                                                                              Brian Drayton, Amor Vincat, 4/30/23