Quakers believe that every individual holds a spark of the Divine and that that spark can be nurtured through worship, prayer, meditation, and community. We recognize that as our connection to the Divine is nurtured, the “Inner Teacher” becomes more and more accessible. Acknowledging the availability of the Inner Teacher, we choose to worship without a pastor, relying instead on Spirit’s availability to all gathered.
We sit in silence, expecting the presence of the Divine, which may be experienced as peace or comfort, or it may be experienced as a sense of oneness with each other and all creation, or it may be experienced as a stirring towards some action. That action might be standing and speaking in Meeting for Worship, or it may be making some fundamental change in one’s life.
Once a month we gather for Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business, where we have a specific agenda to consider. The agenda may include aspects of the meeting’s structure or finances, or it may be a consideration of whether the meeting is led to make some public statement or action. A decision is made when all present are able to unite with each other and the Divine.
Quakers’ most well-known testimony to the world is peace, and many Friends have come to the Quaker faith because of our public stand for peace and non-violence. But where someone new to the faith may be focused on the outward elements, over time they will become aware of an inner transformation. This might first be recognized as a greater sense of inner peace, and may grow to include greater consonance between word and deed, and a deep recognition that we are all children of God, with equal opportunity to express that divinity, or to fail miserably, yet deserve forgiveness.
Sometimes, through regular attention to the Inner Teacher, we find ourselves drawn to a certain action, or to sustained work on a particular concern. We call this a leading, which may be as simple as calling a Friend who keeps coming to mind, or as complicated as leaving gainful employment to work for racial justice. A friend who is wrestling with a concern may ask for a clearness committee, a group of Friends who will meet and consider the truth and direction of the leading. A number of Friends at Fresh Pond have Care and Accountability Committees to provide continued support and discernment for an on-going leading or ministry.
Fresh Pond, as a local worshipping community, is called a Monthly Meeting, because we meet for business once a month.
Several Quaker meetings in a geographic region, typically form a Quarterly Meeting which meets four times a year. The quarterly meeting may include social and education components, but at its heart is a business meeting which considers decisions that affect all the meetings in the region. Fresh Pond is a member of Salem Quarter, along with ten other monthly meetings in the region.
The monthly meetings and quarterly meetings in a wider geographic region are typically part of a Yearly Meeting which meets once a year, again for a combination of social and educational activities, as well as attending to the business which affects all the meetings in the region.
Fresh Pond is a member of New England Yearly meeting, which includes meetings in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
New England Yearly Meeting is in turn a member of two conferences, Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting. Each meets periodically with representatives from member yearly meetings, and each has a different perspective and mission.
See Learn More for links to various Quaker organizations, including New England Yearly Meeting, Friends General Conference, and Friends United Meeting.