WINTER 201010 Ninth Month 2010
Salem Quarter Worship & Ministry Committee met on 10 September 2010, at the home of Becky and Michael Shapiro of Salem Monthly Meeting, convening in worship at about 7:30 pm. Individuals were present from Mickleton, Mullica Hill, Salem, and Woodbury Monthly Meetings, as well as the Quarter Coordinator.
After our opening worship, we resumed the work begun in our June session, which undertook the fostering of prayer groups in Salem Quarter. Since our last meeting, Salem Quarter Friends gathered in Mullica Hill Meetinghouse on 10 August 2010 to create prayer groups. While we did not form groups directly, partly because we thought a dozen or so people were too few to do so, we did discuss expectations and practices that we experience in communal prayer.
Several factors seem to be polar alternatives, but may better define spectra:
Inward Focus — Outward Focus (God Conversation) Petition — Inspiration Personal leading — Collaborative Vision Intentional — Emergent Explicit Verbalization — Implicit communion Location-based gathering — People-based gathering Mission focus, leading to spiritual cover — Spirit focus, leading to mission direction A group of individuals may successfully and comfortably form a prayer group if they all agree on one position in a spectrum; however, they may be even stronger if they can harmonize a range of positions.
In that session, we spent some time on the terms “covered meeting” and “gathered meeting.” These terms are typically used synonymously, and drawing a distinction may be arbitrary. However, in our discussion, it was useful to see “gathered meeting” as putting emphasis on the bringing together of individuals into a heightened sense of being a worshipping community, and “covered meeting” as putting emphasis on bringing those individuals into a shared responsibility or purpose.
We also considered “sacred space” as an aspect of prayer groups. A sacred space need not be actual geography, but comes about as a consequence of spiritual cover. This is not to say that prayer creates sacred space, but prayer can invite or perhaps co-create a protected and spiritually hospitable atmosphere.
Continuing the discussion in our September committee meeting, we looked anew at what conditions would be sufficient to start one or more prayer groups. Our qualms in August about having too few Friends to form groups may have been misplaced. Prayer groups do not have to be all of one mind, and they do not have to be large; two or three people, willing to pray together with a shared focus, would suffice.
So we resolved to try again, calling for a gathering of Friends interested in forming prayer groups on Thursday, 11 November, starting at 7:30 pm, at Mullica Hill Meetinghouse (pending confirmation of availability). We will have sign-up sheets for people to indicate their availability and preferences; we will have a brief discussion, and then decide then and there on a focus for the evening and undertake communal prayer.
We concluded in worship at about 9:30. Worship & Ministry intends to meet again on 10 December 2010, the Friday evening before Quarterly Meeting. We welcome participation from all monthly meetings of Salem Quarter. In December, we intend to discuss spiritual anchoring and other ways in which Worship & Ministry Friends can support worship in their meetings.
For the Committee,
Mario Cavallini, clerkRETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Friday, November 19, 2010 at 03:45 AM
