Within Quakerism, we believe that Truth may come from any member of the community; the speech of the youngest child is given the same respect as the speech of an adult. Students mature into attentive listeners to those they are with, reflective thinkers, and accomplished communicators ready to speak their truth.
Together with Teacher Rachel, our 3rd graders have been working in their classroom on understanding the queries posed by the 8th graders in one of our January meetings for worship - a place where, every Wednesday the entire school gathers together to worship, reflect, and share.
These were:
- How does our worship nurture all worshippers, creating a deeper sense of community?
- Does worship enhance my capacity for attentive, nonjudgmental listening to others?
- How does participation in meeting for worship contribute to my lifelong spiritual journey?
Here are some of the 3rd grade students' shared thoughts in response to these queries:
How does participating in Meeting for Worship contribute to my spiritual journey?
Haley shared:
"I love meeting for worship. It is a pause in my day. The songs are a beautiful start and makes life feel really good. The meditations are a key to letting everything go. My worries, bad thoughts, everything.
I love hearing what others have to say and listening to the road outside the meeting house and the world outside the meeting house."
How Does meeting for worship create a sense of community?
Dylan shared:
"Being in Meeting for Worship makes us feel connected by a n invisible string that goes everywhere a n d doesn't break. We are all connected to each other so we need to be nice to each other and we all have love in our hearts somewhere."
How does meeting for worship create a deeper sense of community?
Cora shared:
"When you walk into the meeting house, it feels different there then when you are with the same people somewhere else.
When Iam in the meeting house, my whole body is calm, so Ican listen and concentrate better. Ithink of meeting for worship as a time to think and calm my body so that Ican work better for
the rest of the day.
the rest of the day.
When I walk into the meeting house I am covered in a layer of calmness and I can not take it off. I just get all of my thoughts out and Ican work
better that way."
better that way."