Zen and Quakers

 

SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

 Friends’spiritual practices include regular meetings for worship, as well as individual practice. Friends’ monthly meetings for business are also conducted in a spirit of worship, seeking the present guidance of the Spirit as to the right course of action during the meeting, rather than predetermining what that should be, or simply taking a vote of the members. 

 For those attending our Meeting for Worship for the first time, we offer the following introduction. 

WELCOME TO THE WALLA WALLA FRIENDS MEETING

We welcome you to our Meeting. Friends gather together for a period of both expectant silence and spoken word. 

The Meeting begins when the first person takes a seat and settles into silence; it continues until the Clerk rises and we form a circle to greet one another. 

In the silence, our members and attenders seek to become aware of the Light that shines within and among us. Because this spirit is available to all of us, there is no pre-selected leader or arranged program. Sitting quietly here, each seeks to know at first hand the presence of the Light. 

In response to this spirit of worship, anyone present may be moved to speak. If there is speaking, it should come sincerely from the depth of life and experience. Each message thus shared is received and surrounded by additional silence. If your reason rejects any message, let your heart remember the spirit behind the words.

Such a Meeting is always a high venture of faith, and it is to this venture that we invite you this hour. We are glad to see you.

At the close of the Meeting, Friends may share informal fellowship, and may also take up as a whole any business or concerns needing our attention. In doing so, we seek to be open to the Light coming from all persons who participate. Rather than taking votes, Friends take action only when we have found unity in a course to be taken. 

More information on the Meeting and its projects is also available in the book “What Sayest Thou?—A History of the Walla Walla Friends Meeting.”  Our Friends Meeting website is wwfriendsmeeting.blogspot.com. 

As our meeting is predominantly universalist in approach, we have also sponsored several retreats and talks by a Seattle Quaker and Zen priest, Genjo Marinello.  Below is an announcement of one of those.