Quaker Worship

Quaker worship, to varying degrees, is unstructured. It is characterized by silence and by the leading of the Spirit. It is easy to identify the Quakers or Society of Friends as the most radical tradition of all in its break from late medieval forms of worship. Other groups emerging from the Reformation have clergy, the preaching of sermons, and outward and visible sacraments. The classical forms of Quaker worship have none of these, although one may detect some indirect links with medieval mysticism. Paradoxically, most Quakers have tempered their radicalism by being the most conservative in fidelity to their original forms. Roman Catholic worship has changed far more than has Quaker worship in England or on the east coast of the United States. The origins of Quaker worship lie in the soul-searching of George Fox (16241691) and his discovery of the "inner light" in every human. This inner light brought one closer to God than Scripture or sacraments, for it was direct access to the…