We welcome all to our Meeting for Worship and to our other Meeting activities.

We hope you will find in them, as we do, Divine guidance, encouragement, the friendship of people who seek to learn God's will, and a deeper awareness of what Friends for three centuries have called the Inner Light, "that of God in every one." Worship is a special time away from our worldly concerns, in which we seek together, often in silence, for the strength to meet our problems and responsibilities.

The Meeting asks that you listen attentively, both to the remarkable harmony of the silent waiting and to the ministry of the spoken word which may arise from the silence. We ask you to wait with patience and openness for an understanding of the Friends Meeting.

In the expectant stillness there may come to one or another of us a message that he or she feels impelled to share faithfully with all. It may be spoken out of meditation in Meeting, an insight, a concern previously pondered, an upwelling of the spirit, or a soul's cry for understanding. This is a result of most earnest seeking and is never casual or argumentative.

Courtesy, Quaker custom, and respect for others suggests that there be a period of silence following each speaker so that the message that has come through his or her ministry may be incorporated and appreciated by each of us present. It is not expected that you agree with or grasp everything which is said. Remember that even broken and imperfect words may spring from a deep place in the heart.

Quaker silence is not an emptiness crying out to be filled but a disciplined and contemplative openness to the spirit of God. "Be still, and know that I am God."