Meeting for worship
We meet at the Scottish American Society Hall from 10:00 to 11:00 am, at 917 Louden Avenue, Dunedin, Florida. Worship meetings are held every Sunday from October through May, and on the first and third Sundays of each month from June through September. For more information please contact our Clerk, Peter Day at
After-Meeting-Hour Activities
From October to May meeting for worship is usually followed by an After-Meeting-Hour activity. On the first Sunday of the month there is a potluck lunch, and on the second Sunday, Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business. On the other Sundays there may be discussions on topics such as the peace testimony, Quaker service to the community, etc.
Information for Visitors
The Clearwater Monthly Meeting is "unprogrammed", without ministers, sermons, creed, recited prayers, or hymns. We are affiliated with South Eastern Yearly Meeting (www.seym.org) and with Friends General Conference www.fgcquaker.org. For those unfamiliar with these terms, the Wikipedia "Quaker" article is a good resource.
Visitors are always welcome. Our meeting accepts that not everyone has the same journey of faith, and each of us may express our beliefs in different ways. You will find no written dogma nor will you be asked to recite a prayer or sing a hymn that expresses someone else's belief. "Faith and Practice", available at www.seym.org/FandP.html, a document of guidance based on the insights of others, contains the monthly Queries and Advices posted on this page. We strive to listen to the "still small voice within" for guidance. We value the testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, and equality.
Our Worship Meetings are typically 45 minutes long. During Meeting for Worship participants may rise to share an inspired prayer, a message, or an insight that has come to them during the meeting. At the end of the meeting we have time for "unspoken thoughts" which did not arise from the silence, and then for announcements, and introductions. We close the meeting and greet each other by forming a circle, joining hands with our neighbors. There is no collection plate, nor are contributions solicited. We rely on friends to contribute as they are led, and to give in other ways outside the Meeting to implement our testimonies. Visitors are invited to introduce themselves, but are not pressured to do so.
| |
| News & Announcements
Thought for the Week
Monthly Queries and Advices (view complete document as a .pdf)
Third Month: HARMONY WITHIN THE MEETING COMMUNITY
Queries:
- Are love and unity maintained among us?
- When differences arise, do we settle them in a spirit of love and humility?
- Are we careful not to hold an idea too firmly, knowing that another may bring us closer to the truth?
- Are we patient and considerate towards those we find difficult to understand or like?
- Do we demonstrate a forgiving spirit?
- Do we have concern and respect for the reputation of others?
- When people are hurt, do we take care to hold them up with a tender heart?
- Do we respect that of God in each person, though it may be expressed in unfamiliar ways or may be difficult for us to discern?
Advices:
- Maintain love and unity by avoiding tale bearing and detraction
- Settle differences promptly, in a manner free from resentment.
- When we have a difference with another person, speak to them in private "in the love and wisdom that is gentle and pure".
- Be aware that verbal violence can be as destructive as physical violence.
- Be careful that our language does not incorporate violence, consciously or unconsciously.
- Listen patiently, and seek the truth another person's expressions may contain for us.
- Be willing to seek and willing to receive counsel and help from one another.
- In our daily lives, seek to know one another in the things that are eternal, and to enter with ready empathy and sensitive discretion into the joys, sorrows and needs of each other.
- Be mindful that everyone is included in the life and activities of the Meeting.
|