Worship, Music, and More

Unprogrammed Meeting for Worship

This service begins at 8:45 a.m. each Sunday, lasts about an hour, and offers an opportunity for worship in the manner of early Friends. After a few minutes of opening silence, a short passage is read followed by our time of silence, occasionally with a message arising out of the silence. We close the meeting with a “circle handshake” and enter into a time of worship sharing followed by announcements.  We are always delighted to welcome visitors. 

This service is conveniently offered online, too, via Zoom. If you’d like a link to join, please email.

To find us, park in the main lot and go in the door on the south end of the building and then take an immediate left into the gathering room.

Online Sunday Worship

Programmed Meeting for Worship

This worship service begins at 11 a.m. each Sunday and offers an opportunity for worship incorporating silence, sharing, singing, music from the choir, prayer, and a message from a pastor, a Meeting member, or guest speaker. At First Friends, a typical 11 a.m. programmed service looks like this:

  • music prelude beforehand

  • a friendly welcome with announcements, joys and concerns

  • an opening hymn

  • choir anthem or special music

  • an offertory

  • a reading from the Bible

  • a short message from the pastor or someone from the meeting

  • 15 to 20 minutes of open worship, often with a person or two speaking out of the silence.

  • a closing hymn

  • a benediction and an encouragement to shake hands with your neighbor.

Worship varies some each week — it’s never completely predictable. On occasion a carefully prepared message or chosen hymn will be abandoned, if we feel the Spirit leading us in a different direction. Worship usually lasts about one hour, but we’ll finish early or sometimes go a bit longer if it feels right to do so. Our goal in worship is to listen to God, and follow the Spirit’s leading.

All are welcome to attend our in-person service at 11 am. Our pastor does record a message weekly that is shared via email and social media.

Worship varies some each week — it’s never completely predictable. On occasion a carefully prepared message or chosen hymn will be abandoned, if we feel the Spirit leading us in a different direction. Worship usually lasts about one hour, but we’ll finish early or sometimes go a bit longer if it feels right to do so. Our goal in worship is to listen to God, and follow the Spirit’s leading.

Belong

Quakers do not have altar calls, and we do not press folks to join the meeting. But if you feel like this is your place, we’d love to help you become a member!

When you think you’re ready, reach out to the Clerk of Ministry and Counsel and ask them to create a discernment committee for you. This committee will meet with you and help you know if this is the right time for you to join, and will outline the process. It sounds complicated, but it’s not. We just want to be sure that you know you belong!

Music

Quakers are widely known for their practice of silence in worship. At First Friends, “music is as much a vital part of worship as is the message and quiet meditation.” William P. H. Stevens, former pastor (1973-1993), shared these words as he reflected back on more than 50 years of a rich heritage and commitment to music ministry at First Friends.

That rich tradition continues today. We know the ability of music to add another layer to our communion with God and one another. Our Meetings for Worship include instrumental offerings, congregational singing, choral music from the choir and music that is spontaneously offered during our time of open worship. We use paperless music taught through an oral tradition to strengthen our singing and emphasize listening. We sing old hymns of faith as well as new hymns that speak to our calling to love, do justice, and walk peacefully upon the earth. We incorporate music from the Taizé and Iona communities, allowing these short refrains and chants to invite us into deeper communion with God.

The embodied practice of singing is a spiritual practice that forms and shapes us. At First Friends, we cultivate opportunities for communal singing both within our weekly Meeting for Worship and by offering a Taizé Prayer Service three times a year.

We are a community that values music. With varied levels of ability, we offer our gifts both individually and collectively, trusting that through our musical expressions, our faith is deepened and our lives are transformed.

Children at First Friends

Our nursery/playroom is open to infants, toddlers, and young Friends up to 5-years old during 8:45 a.m. unprogrammed worship, 10 a.m. Sunday school, and 11 a.m. programmed worship. Age-appropriate activities such as art projects, imaginative play, building blocks, and a reading corner are available for children to explore. When weather permits, we go to the playground for swinging, ball games, and bubbles.

We encourage our Young Friends aged 3-11, to participate in the 11 a.m. meeting for worship until the offering is collected. Then those friends will join a mentor for a Godly Play  or Faith and Play Story. Godly Play and its Quaker counterpart, Faith and Play, nurtures the spiritual lives of children by honoring their centrality, competency, and capacity. In most religious education, children are told who God is. In Godly Play, children discover who God is.