The Prayer Life of Quakers
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2019
- What does Quaker prayer look like? Australian Friend David Johnson says it’s something every human being does naturally, and it leads to inordinate spiritual refreshment.
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Quaker prayer is a matter of letting go of outward words, and of our thoughts and imaginations, and of centering down into a place of silence where we can wait and notice the movements of God within us.
A Quaker Prayer Life
I’m David Johnson. I live in far North Queensland, Australia. I’m part of a small worshipping group; my monthly meeting is Queensland Regional Meeting.
I’ve written many small pieces in Australia, but the two main things I’ve done recently are to collate-with some of my own comments-many quotes on Quaker prayer from the first- and second-generation Quakers.
A Heart Prepared By God
There’s a difference here between an outward prayer of a known prayer or a liturgy, which for some people-and I’ve used it myself-is a very helpful anchor. When I first kneel by a bed or when I first sit down to say a prayer, it’s a very helpful anchor and an introduction. But that is different to the prayer which emanates from the heart, and the early Quaker William Penn identified his experience when he said that “true prayer can only come from a heart prepared by God.”
A Natural Contemplative Practice
Our Quaker prayer life is one of the inheritors of this very ancient, very natural contemplative practice. This is very natural for the human being. We can see this practice coming down in many strands. We can see it in the mindful breathing in the Buddhist faith. We can see it in the constant invoking of the name of God in the Orthodox Christian faith. We can see it in a similar way in the Sufi faith.
The Quaker prayer life, for me, is a way of going inward, using normally one of these practices as an entry point: using deep breathing, using the same repetitive saying of a sacred word, so that my attentiveness moves from up in here, gradually and sinks down into here where I’m enabled, I don’t actually do it, I’m actually enabled to give up my own willing, give up my own running of my own mind, sinking down, breathing down, centering down into where the spirit of God is present in the heart, and where the presence of God can actually minister to me, convey things to me that I then have a choice about.
The Steps of Quaker Prayer
So the first step as we go inward, which is identified in the Quaker prayer life, is actually being very attentive inwardly in the heart to the Light and the movements there, what the early Quakers called “mind the light,” be attentive to it.
The second step, when the light shows us something, is actually to welcome it. What George Fox, the early Quaker called, “love the Light” no matter what it shows you. Because the Light is showing parts of you that may be in error (what others call sin) so that it might be remedied and you might become purer of the heart.
And that’s my experience, that when I welcome those signs-and they come quite often- that I was out of line spiritually, when I welcome those and sit with them, the light shows me some reparation or there is some healing. There is some reconciling going on towards peace within me.
Experiencing Inward Refreshment
The Quaker experience is that as we continue that letting-go of outward forms and just sinking inward, we find we’re being helped. Something is actually working with us. We can call that the grace, we can call that the presence of the Light, or of Christ, or another word for it, is the anointing within us-it comes to help us in this path. And as we do this, we find that it gradually goes deeper and starts to take hold of us. We begin to let go of those expectations. We begin to find, eventually, for small times at first and then for longer ones-that that deep silence is actually accessible to every one of us, and that it is actually-even though we don’t hear anything-we begin to realize that the first language of God is actually silence.
More: fdsj.nl/prayer
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The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
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Quakerism, Buddhism, Sufism, Metaphysics., different labels, same purpose., through self reflection, Self-Realization can be attained.
🙏😇
I am thankful for all I have been given. Jim Evans. Kalgoorlie Western Australia.
I like his guy's book on prayer...bought it a few months ago. Decent
I concur - there are some very informative videos posted on RUclips by Quakers of every hue.
There are also Quaker friend groups online and across the world.
I attend free online Zoom meetings through the UK Quaker college, Woodbrooke. The Woodbrooke site has a link to join their meetings directly, and a schedule that tells you the weeks meetings. People from all around the world join there, and the after meeting discussion is so much richer for that global friendship.
David is a beautiful witness - yes.
This is very beautiful thank you. Our relationship and the stillness with God is everything I have though "religion" should be
Beautiful-thanks David, i found it very relatable and you very humble :) love from England
This was so good! 😍
Thank you
There is no reference to God's word in what he said, indeed there could not be as there is no support on the Bible to what he said. The only thing he said that could be based in Scripture is the need for heart preparation, but that is not an emptying of our minds but an aligning of or minds to God’s will and glory (as in the first half of the prayer Jesus gave as a pattern for His followers to follow when praying). Every prayer or reference to times when people pray recorded in Scripture are specific supplications or requests.
Welcome to Quakerism. It's not Christianity.
RisingDawn you’re right. I pastor a Quaker church but it is evangelical. I had to get rid of a 'gospel tract' that was all about the Spirit is a person and nothing to do with the blood of Christ and his resurrection to provide salvation to those who by faith in Christ receive by grace the gift of God, eternal life.
Oh wow, so the church you pastor preaches the biblical Gospel of Christ and yet is a "Quaker" church? I'm not particularly knowledgeable about modern Quaker churches but I just assumed it was a cult from what I've heard.
I praise God for your faithfulness to the truth of the word!
I actually shared a short video recently about the reformed doctrine of Sola Scriptura, which probably wouldn't go down very well with most Quakers! I'd be interested as to what you'd make of it.
Although the speaker doesn't directly reference this in the video, the Biblical origins of this style of contemplative prayer (which is akin to the practice of Centering Prayer in Catholicism) is Matthew 6:6 "But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you"
The written Word of God must be the focal point of our worship, and the governing criteria of our worship, otherwise it will become a non-authoritative hodgepodge of human sentiments and feelings. Both Jesus and the apostles constantly quoted the Scriptures, saying, "It is written." All kinds of religious groups claim this, and claim that, and see this, and see that, etc. There is no credibility or viability in such an approach as this. Read the Bible, search the Bible, learn the Bible, obey the Bible, and let the written Word of God be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto you path (See Psalm 119:105). Note: All but two of the verses in the very long Psalm of Psalm 119 mentions the Word of God.
One must be born again of the Spirit of God if they are to enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:3). Only through Jesus Christ may someone come to God (John 14:6).
I know what the Bible says. But what can you say, about your specific experiences of God, as has been revealed to you in your life?
@@adrianglamorgan9486 Genuine religion in relationship with God must be experiential, and this helps us with assurance, but we must always interpret experiences through the word of God and not the other way round. Quakerism makes this mistake.
And so our faith must not be based on experience but the word of the Lord.
@@risingdawn5788 the issue of reading the word of God requires an active intellect and knowledge of ancient languages, or trust in those who do have those skills, and so that experience of that word is always mediated by that. Then there is a personal and cultural response. I can trust in the word of the Lord but I must also factor in contexts, that which is temporal, and that which is eternal. I am nourished by both versions of creation, in chapters one and two, but one has to make a call about what the different stories are saying to each other, and to one as a reader.
@@risingdawn5788 God is NOT a book. God is NOT limited to a book. God CAN and DO speak through other means and channels, through nature, through people that don't know you personally. God is NOT limited by your preference (that includes your preference being the bible only).
@Rising Dawn Yes