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Impression of the First Fall Meeting for Worship
By Janet Stone
The musty old Meetinghouse –
knobby knees, legs dangling from the old benches –
the look of awe as they enter –
pigtails flying, then tousled heads bowed –
the autumn leaves, golden and silent outside –
the awesome quiet inside –
the children yawn with early morning sleepiness,
each little one quietly and soberly pursuing his thoughts
–
a long- haired, spindly-legged eleven-year-old rises and reads
a prayer – or a poem –
the silence is broken and then resumed again –
a huge vase of golden chrysanthemums invades the austerity
of the old wood –
more silence –
then each child turns to his neighbor, shakes hands and says
good morning –
then walks back to school, calmed, thoughtful, ready for what
the day may bring.
This poem catches a glimpse of a typical Meeting for Worship
that takes place in all Friends schools. Simply stated, Meeting
for Worship is learning to sit still, to give our souls a
chance to grow, and to help us to find God. Each Thursday
morning our students make their way to the Mullica Hill Meetinghouse.
While our youngest children will experience their weekly gatherings
in their classrooms, it is the first graders that will begin
the tradition of gathering in the Meetinghouse. Each first
grader will be partnered with an experienced fourth grade
student who will guide them through this spiritual experience.
Meeting will last anywhere from twenty to thirty minutes for
the lower school students.
Meeting begins as the children find their seats and settle
into silence. As soon as the room becomes quiet, one child
will stand and read aloud a query. This is a special question
that encourages everyone to reflect on some aspect of his/her
life. Throughout the year, each class will have opportunities
to plan these queries. After the query is read aloud, children
sit quietly and think about it. They may be able to hear that
small voice speaking to him/her. If a child chooses to share
their thoughts, he/she may stand and respond to the query.
A period of silence should follow after each comment to give
everyone a chance to meditate on that thought.
Each Meeting ends by shaking hands with the friends near
them. Friends School is a place for your child to grow –
academically, emotionally, socially, physically, and spiritually.
It is a place to grow our hearts.
To help me write this article, I used the text The
Mystery of Meeting for Worship written by
Dorothy Flanagan and Lee Quinby
and the text Occasional Papers on the Meeting for
Worship for Friends Schools by Friends Council
on Education.
Teacher Patti Sanderson
Lower School Coordinator
--as written in Notes to Parents, September 2004--
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