You Are Welcome Here

“To the Friends, religion is above all a life to be lived, an experience to be shared… Quaker mysticism, the sense of the presence of God and the unity with God which one can feel in a Friends meeting for worship, is no withdrawal from life, but rather a springboard for action.” – Irwin Abrams, Friends and the Seeker

Meeting for Worship, 10:00am Sundays
The Interfaith Center, 16 S. Campus Ave., Oxford, Ohio 45056

As Friends, we believe that there is “that of God in every person”. This core belief shapes all of Friends’ faith and practice. Because we believe that every person has access to the Light Within, we seek to follow the Spirit as it is revealed in our own experience, rather than dogma, and our worship grows out of silent waiting for the awareness of truth.

When first time visitors come to our meeting, we introduce them to our worship in the following way:  “A Quaker meeting for worship is based on silence, a silence of expectant and attentive waiting for the leading of the Divine Spirit. There is no appointed minister to start or conduct the meeting. Everyone present shares in the responsibility for worship; everyone can share in its blessing. All contribute to the common worship as well as to their own renewal.  Anyone may speak if he or she feels moved by the Spirit of God to do so. We enter into the silence with an open mind and receive what is said in a loving spirit. We recognize that our needs differ, but we believe that each sincere spoken message will help someone. Sometimes a message may not ‘speak to your condition,’ but our experience is that the spirit behind the words nonetheless holds meaning for us.”

Because we believe in the Divine Spark in all persons, we are called to seek nonviolence and social justice. This is exemplified in Friends’ conscientious objection to war, and our historical role in the US antislavery movement.

“If we consider the spiritual message of the Society of Friends apart from its social message we must realize that ‘spiritual’ and ‘social’ are as intimately related as the two sides of a door; you can’t have one without the other…” – Howard Brinton, Friends and their Spiritual Message