Following are a number of quotations from various authors on the topic of Meeting for Worship. These passages can give one a sense of the experience of an unprogrammed Meeting. Please do not to be put off by the sexist language; note that most of these passages are at least fifty years old. Instead, try to sense what the authors attempted to convey in their words.
"Friends, meet together and know one another in that which is eternal, which was before the world was."
George Fox: Epistle 149 (1657), in Works, vol. 7, 1831, p. 141.
"A Friends' meeting, however silent, is at the very lowest a witness that worship is something other and deeper than words, and that it is to the unseen and eternal things that we desire to give the first place in our lives. And when the meeting, whether silent or not, is awake, and looking upwards, there is much more in it than this. In the united stillness of the truly 'gathered' meeting there is a power known only by experience, and mysterious even when most familiar. There are perhaps few things which more readily flow 'from vessel to vessel' than quietness. The presence of fellow-worshippers in some gently penetrating manner reveals to the spirit something of the nearness of the Divine Presence. 'Where two or three are gathered together in His name' have we not again and again felt that the promise was fulfilled and that the Master Himself was indeed 'in the midst of us?' And it is out of the depths of this stillness that there do arise at times spoken words which, springing from the very source of prayer, have something of the power of prayer - something of its quickening and melting and purifying effect. Such words as these have at least as much power as silence to gather into stillness."
Caroline E. Stephen: Light Arising, 1908, pp. 68-69.
"Prayer offered in the right spirit ... is a great power and has a wonderfully unifying and quickening effect. The times of silent waiting in our meetings for worship are not intended only for the refreshment of the individual worshipper. If the silence be a living one, in which the worshippers seek to enter into each other's needs and to bear in their hearts the sufferings of the world without and the call to dedication in the service of the kingdom of God, silent prayer may naturally lead also to vocal prayer. The expression of prayer will not be of the nature of an address to the congregation, neither exhortation nor exposition of doctrine. If it is offered simply and humbly in fellowship with others and as a heart-felt cry of man's spirit to his Heavenly Helper, it is of the utmost value in building up our common religious life. If we meet as members of one family in the presence of our Father, we should not shrink unduly from this offering of love."
London Yearly Meeting: Christian Faith and Practice, 1960, no. 300.
"The gathered group depends utterly upon the Spirit of God for direction and leadership, and meets in the faith that that Spirit is available and can be known to all. He may be known in that "sound of gentle stillness" in which the ancient Hebrew prophet found him; in private and personal pressures and restraints which are significant for the individual worshipper and known to him alone; in vocal ministry which is initiated by the Spirit of God in the midst; in the spoken prayer, sometimes haltingly uttered and perhaps offered in deep misgiving, yet in the belief that he to whom the prayer is addressed has prompted it. In all the rhythm of our worship we seek to be guided by and sensitive to the movement of God's Spirit in our own hearts within the gathered community....It would, however, be a great mistake were it to be assumed that only in the spoken word is God's message given to the worshipper. In the silence the faithful listener may catch the accents of a Voice within and become vividly aware of a demand which has absolute authority, a demand to which he must be obedient or betray something deep within him - which has, for him, become the voice of God himself."
Edgar G. Dunstan: Quakers and the Religious Quest, Swarthmore lecture, 1956, pp. 32-33.
"Those who persevere in group worship know that it differs from private devotion as the music of an orchestra differs from the music of a single player."
Beatrice Saxon Snell: A Joint and Visible Fellowship, Pendle Hill pamplet no. 140, 196, p. 10.
"Worship, according to the ancient practice of the Religious Society of Friends, is entirely without any human direction or supervision. A group of devout persons come together and sit down quietly with no prearrangement, each seeking to have an immediate sense of divine leading and to know at first hand the presence of the Living Christ. It is not wholly accurate to say that such a Meeting is held on the basis of Silence; it is more accurate to say that it is held on the basis of 'Holy Obedience.' Those who enter such a Meeting can harm it in two specific ways: first, by an advanced determination to speak; and second, by advanced determination to keep silent. The only way in which a worshipper can help such a Meeting is by an advanced determination to try to be responsive in listening to the still small voice and doing whatever may be commanded."
Statement prepared for a Friends' meeting attended by delegates to the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1948.
"As many candles lighted and put in one place do greatly augment the light and make it more to shine forth, so when many are gathered together into the same life there is more of the glory of God, and His power appears to the refreshment of each individual, for that he partakes not only of the light and life raised in himself but in all the rest."
Robert Barclay: Apology, prop. 11, sect. 17, 1908, Phila. ed., pp. 364-5.
"Long experience shows that out of ... a living silence there may come precious openings of truth, and that words may be spoken to the condition of those present. When the spoken ministry is exercised under the leading of the divine Spirit, and not under the stress of a fixed engagement, it is felt that it is truly a response to a community need, and the spiritual level of the meeting is lifted to a higher plane. Comforted, supported, inspired, as the case may be, the worshipper does not take leave of God for a week, but inwardly assured of his loving presence, he goes out with a tendered conscience to meet the tasks ahead, strengthened in his purpose to live under divine guidance to the glory of his Master's name."
William Wistar Comfort: Just among Friends - the Quaker Way of Life, 1945, p. 28.
"In the Meeting for Worship after the manner of Friends, it sometimes befalls that a person who feels moved to break the silence and share a fresh insight unknowingly expresses the thoughts of those listening. The speaker is not speaking to the Meeting' the gathered Meeting is speaking through one member."
Daisy Newman: A Procession of Friends, 1972, p. vii.
"Friends, meet together and know one another in that which is eternal, which was before the world was."
George Fox: Epistle 149 (1657), in Works, vol. 7, 1831, p. 141.
"A Friends' meeting, however silent, is at the very lowest a witness that worship is something other and deeper than words, and that it is to the unseen and eternal things that we desire to give the first place in our lives. And when the meeting, whether silent or not, is awake, and looking upwards, there is much more in it than this. In the united stillness of the truly 'gathered' meeting there is a power known only by experience, and mysterious even when most familiar. There are perhaps few things which more readily flow 'from vessel to vessel' than quietness. The presence of fellow-worshippers in some gently penetrating manner reveals to the spirit something of the nearness of the Divine Presence. 'Where two or three are gathered together in His name' have we not again and again felt that the promise was fulfilled and that the Master Himself was indeed 'in the midst of us?' And it is out of the depths of this stillness that there do arise at times spoken words which, springing from the very source of prayer, have something of the power of prayer - something of its quickening and melting and purifying effect. Such words as these have at least as much power as silence to gather into stillness."
Caroline E. Stephen: Light Arising, 1908, pp. 68-69.
"Prayer offered in the right spirit ... is a great power and has a wonderfully unifying and quickening effect. The times of silent waiting in our meetings for worship are not intended only for the refreshment of the individual worshipper. If the silence be a living one, in which the worshippers seek to enter into each other's needs and to bear in their hearts the sufferings of the world without and the call to dedication in the service of the kingdom of God, silent prayer may naturally lead also to vocal prayer. The expression of prayer will not be of the nature of an address to the congregation, neither exhortation nor exposition of doctrine. If it is offered simply and humbly in fellowship with others and as a heart-felt cry of man's spirit to his Heavenly Helper, it is of the utmost value in building up our common religious life. If we meet as members of one family in the presence of our Father, we should not shrink unduly from this offering of love."
London Yearly Meeting: Christian Faith and Practice, 1960, no. 300.
"The gathered group depends utterly upon the Spirit of God for direction and leadership, and meets in the faith that that Spirit is available and can be known to all. He may be known in that "sound of gentle stillness" in which the ancient Hebrew prophet found him; in private and personal pressures and restraints which are significant for the individual worshipper and known to him alone; in vocal ministry which is initiated by the Spirit of God in the midst; in the spoken prayer, sometimes haltingly uttered and perhaps offered in deep misgiving, yet in the belief that he to whom the prayer is addressed has prompted it. In all the rhythm of our worship we seek to be guided by and sensitive to the movement of God's Spirit in our own hearts within the gathered community....It would, however, be a great mistake were it to be assumed that only in the spoken word is God's message given to the worshipper. In the silence the faithful listener may catch the accents of a Voice within and become vividly aware of a demand which has absolute authority, a demand to which he must be obedient or betray something deep within him - which has, for him, become the voice of God himself."
Edgar G. Dunstan: Quakers and the Religious Quest, Swarthmore lecture, 1956, pp. 32-33.
"Those who persevere in group worship know that it differs from private devotion as the music of an orchestra differs from the music of a single player."
Beatrice Saxon Snell: A Joint and Visible Fellowship, Pendle Hill pamplet no. 140, 196, p. 10.
"Worship, according to the ancient practice of the Religious Society of Friends, is entirely without any human direction or supervision. A group of devout persons come together and sit down quietly with no prearrangement, each seeking to have an immediate sense of divine leading and to know at first hand the presence of the Living Christ. It is not wholly accurate to say that such a Meeting is held on the basis of Silence; it is more accurate to say that it is held on the basis of 'Holy Obedience.' Those who enter such a Meeting can harm it in two specific ways: first, by an advanced determination to speak; and second, by advanced determination to keep silent. The only way in which a worshipper can help such a Meeting is by an advanced determination to try to be responsive in listening to the still small voice and doing whatever may be commanded."
Statement prepared for a Friends' meeting attended by delegates to the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1948.
"As many candles lighted and put in one place do greatly augment the light and make it more to shine forth, so when many are gathered together into the same life there is more of the glory of God, and His power appears to the refreshment of each individual, for that he partakes not only of the light and life raised in himself but in all the rest."
Robert Barclay: Apology, prop. 11, sect. 17, 1908, Phila. ed., pp. 364-5.
"Long experience shows that out of ... a living silence there may come precious openings of truth, and that words may be spoken to the condition of those present. When the spoken ministry is exercised under the leading of the divine Spirit, and not under the stress of a fixed engagement, it is felt that it is truly a response to a community need, and the spiritual level of the meeting is lifted to a higher plane. Comforted, supported, inspired, as the case may be, the worshipper does not take leave of God for a week, but inwardly assured of his loving presence, he goes out with a tendered conscience to meet the tasks ahead, strengthened in his purpose to live under divine guidance to the glory of his Master's name."
William Wistar Comfort: Just among Friends - the Quaker Way of Life, 1945, p. 28.
"In the Meeting for Worship after the manner of Friends, it sometimes befalls that a person who feels moved to break the silence and share a fresh insight unknowingly expresses the thoughts of those listening. The speaker is not speaking to the Meeting' the gathered Meeting is speaking through one member."
Daisy Newman: A Procession of Friends, 1972, p. vii.