Steven Davison (2)

Stephen Davison lifts up the gathered meeting for worship as the essence of the Quaker way. He puts it in historical context within the Christian and Quaker traditions and considers the state of the gathered meeting in our own time. By describing the gathering in detail from his own experience, he also quotes Thomas Kelly, William Taber, and Patricia Loring. He explores the "faith" of the gathered meeting and how it fulfills the promises of the Quaker way. Most importantly, he describes what fosters the gathered meeting. In the holy communion of the gathered meeting lie the soul of the Quaker faith and the hope for a Quakerism that remains vibrant and relevant into the future. Discussion questions included.… (meer)

Davison describes what a gathered meeting is and lays out concrete things we can do to foster this experience of communion in our meetings more often. While it is impossible to fully convey spiritual experience in words, his descriptions may help us to avoid barriers and open to the way toward this quintessential Quaker experience of a shared sense of presence, knowledge of the Truth, unity, joy, and love. Some of his suggestions for worshippers and meetings may be familiar: come prepared, on time, seasoned by regular devotional practice, deepen the vocal ministry, hold the meeting and each other in the Light; but new and old, they are powerful seen together.
He declares that meetings need to take responsibility for preparing worshippers, with a robust religious education program about Quaker faith and practice, and a meaningful approach to spiritual formation. Rising to this challenge, both as individuals and meetings, can lead us to the distinctive form of spiritual experience that Friends can offer of the gathering presence of the Holy Spirit. And he points out that it is in this encounter that Quakerism remains a living evolving religion.… (meer)

This is a fabulous Pendleton Hill pamphlet. But I must ask: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING to name it after Thomas Kelly's book by the same title? Such a shame.

Davidson did a wonderful job of putting in writing how possible it is to remain open to the Lord, Spirit, Source (name it what you will) in religious venues that are unlike one's normal setting for worship. I especially found resonance with the notion that "we are all clerks" (25). Just as holding the recording clerk in the Light while contemporaneous minutes are being written produces demonstrably a better record, it would seem to me that Davidson's admonition that we all bear responsibility to listen for the movement of the Spirit, and to help move the body towards the Truth.… (meer)

Reviewed by Marty Grundy, The Friends Journal, November 2017
https://www.friendsjournal.org/the-gathered-meeting/

The first time I read Steven Davison’s pamphlet my heart leapt and I said, “Yes!” The second time I read it, I wept. Why the difference? The first time I united with Davison’s proclamation that the gathered meeting is “one of the great gifts we have to offer the world.” The second time I realized the truth of his acknowledgment that too many Friends have never experienced a gathered meeting and have no idea what they—and we—are missing.

Drawing on Thomas Kelly, William Taber, Patricia Loring, and his own deep experience, Davison brings us along from a description of a gathered meeting, through his own transforming experience of such a meeting, to the essential elements of a gathered meeting and its necessity to our faith as a religious society, and finally to a discussion of what we can do to encourage its more frequent occurrence.

Just what is a gathered meeting? A meeting in which “we experience what we seek as a religious community: inward confirmation in our personal faith, collective unity of purpose in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and a profound sense of the Presence.” Davison describes these attributes present in a gathered meeting: energy, presence, knowledge, unity, joy, and holy communion.

Davison’s own most memorable gathered meeting occurred in 1991 at the Quaker consultation in Richmond, Ind., on “Quaker Treasure: What Do We Hold in Trust Together?” Not only did members of the diverse group find themselves in agreement on four essentials of Quaker faith and practice, but were “swept along” to a much fuller agreement. He remembers a “great surge of joy” and a “profound gratitude.” What held it all together was love.

It is encouraging that there are things we can do, individually and as a meeting, to prepare ourselves for the possibility of being gathered. Encourage Friends to sit closer together, perhaps by roping off the back benches. Have “reasonably comfortable seating and climate control.” Recognize that it takes about 20 minutes for a group to center, and this time is extended by latecomers trickling in. It helps to have all latecomers enter at once to shorten the time of disturbance. There is a great deal that individuals can do to prepare for being present in worship. An important practice Sunday morning before meeting is keeping the mind focused on the Spirit by devotional reading and centering at home. Listening to the news or reading the paper distracts from deeply centering, as does being rushed. If those with a concern for the depth of worship are able to come early and begin the worship, that helps. Once in worship, an impulse to speak should be checked by inwardly asking if this message deepens worship or brings folks up toward the surface. Pray for the meeting, that Friends be gathered, that love be experienced by all who are present. Ultimately, of course, a meeting is gathered by a power higher than ourselves, called the Spirit of Christ by earlier Friends. Don’t let the name of the gatherer be a stumbling block. Be open to experience the Love in which and by which the meeting can be gathered.

Davison rightly concludes that the gift of being gathered, whether in a meeting for worship or for business, is our best outreach tool. It is the essence of who we are. If we experience it, we will be changed; if visitors experience it, they are likely to return to taste it again. Young Friends, having experienced it in their home meetings, will be drawn back by more than sentimentality.

Davison concludes with a short bibliography and five discussion questions. It would be good if every Friend read and pondered this pamphlet, and if every Ministry and Counsel Committee studied it carefully and considered implementing its suggestions.… (meer)