Meeting together is pleasant, to be sure. We value our Friends as friends, and we value our relationships. We value the pleasure of catching up over a cuppa, of seeing the children of the Meeting tearing around the building. Of seeing the familiar faces, and occasionally welcoming new ones.

The heart of Meeting for Worship, though, is worship . We may have different ideas about what that means, but most would agree on coming together in silence, waiting on the Spirit (or whatever we might call it), and hearing the ministry that we hope will come from its inspiration. It is not merely being together in a space and being quiet. It is a silence not of the absence of noise, but of quieting the self to be open to Light. We do it together because we have generally found it more effective than doing it alone. It is an active passivity, and a shared endeavour that usually involves no visible effort.

Doing it together may be essential to true and effective worship, but do we need to be together to worship together? I have heard some say that it is, expressing dissatisfaction with meeting through any sort of telepresence. This is my response.

Whatever you may think the Spirit is, do you think it so limited that it has a range measured in metres or yards? Whether we think it is a social phenomenon, a psychic one, metaphysical in some way, mediated by the power of a deity, or a physical phenomenon that we do not understand, do you really believe that proximity is essential?

Perhaps you’ve tried it and found it didn’t work for you. Think about the possible reasons for that. It has worked for many, albeit usually with a sense that it was not as good a meeting in person. Why does it not work for you? Perhaps your expectations are too high. Perhaps you feel it ‘works’ only when you have the other parts of the experience you are used to, the social interaction, the warmth of a community physically surrounding you. Perhaps it is just strange and new.

When there’s a good reason that some or all of us cannot meet together, try to adjust your expectations. Try to challenge yourself, move beyond your comfort zone. Open your mind and put yourself into new experiences, setting your scepticism aside.

Times change. Sometimes they change back, sometimes they don’t. Be open, and let love in and out by whatever channels are available. Don’t circumscribe the Divine with your own limitations.

Written March 2020