Do you have any text or poetry that you bring in memory to Meeting? Some of mine include the poem by Emily Dickinson “I dwell in Possibility”, the Talking Heads song “Once in a lifetime”, the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm. I use companion texts to focus on while settling into the quiet of worship. Sometimes, it is just a line from the text that stays with me.
When I was a teenager, I went to Old Chatham Meeting up at Powell House. One of the elder Friends there was Bob Bacon. He was warm, friendly Quaker, who always had a smile and a word of encouragement for me when he shook my hand. Bob would speak frequently in Meeting and he usually began with either the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father who art in Heaven…) or the 23rd Psalm (The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…). He usually wouldn’t complete the prayer or poem, but he would stop on a line and this would be the starting point for his message in Meeting.
By hearing Bob speak almost every week in Meeting, I learned to value these texts for myself and they have become companions for me when I am coming to terms with the silence of Meeting for Worship.
I have often used various passages –from Isaac Penington, St. Francis, the Upanishads, Hafiz. the 23rd Psalm — to help me center at the beginning of meeting. I find it very helpful especially on those days when I come in not feeling centered at all.