Silent Worship

The processes of centering prayer and contemplative meditation, which we call Silent Worship, do not require a human intermediary between a person and God.

Silent Worship is peaceful, enjoyable and refreshing. Results in attitudes and regular activities may surface slowly and imperceptibly over time. Quakers find regular centering prayer frees them from error and unhelpful habits. It also allows them to express diverse personal responses to biblical and conventional teaching.

Silent prayer moves us gently between these types of perception:

Ordinary awareness ↔ Ordinary silence

Spiritual awareness ↔ Intentional silence

Divine awareness ↔ Inner silent communion

In all faiths based on personal transformation, various aids to silent prayer may be privately used – such as mantras, holy objects and repetitive prayers.

Quakers consider centering prayer so natural to everyone that we have not created a formula or description. Instead, we have relied on instinctive practice, which over time becomes more and more accessible, to promote truth, wisdom, and emotional and physical health. However, in our busy lives there are many obstacles to contemplative prayer and sometimes we may need more help.

The truth and insights that rise from the sub-conscious during silent meditation may be immediately clear or, perhaps, only become evident days or weeks later.