Worship

Our Invitation to Worship: Advice to all Who Wait upon the Lord

We gather to wait upon the Lord in silence. We wait for His power and life to fill us. We wait until the Lord’s spirit moves us and gives us the words to speak. We do not speak or sing or pray in our own will and words, our own earthly wisdom, or at the time we have picked. We speak as God opens within our hearts what He would have us speak to His assembled people. If any of us, man or woman, speaks: it is as a vessel through which God speaks.

Our worship is worship in which our Lord is an active participant, choosing who will minister, choosing what will be sung and what will be prayed. Our worship is for the edification of God’s church, which is a gathering His people in His spirit.

God’s true church is that body of which Christ is the head, directing it as its priest, king, prophet, shepherd, bishop, governor, and orderer. We know He calls His sheep by name and gathers them in love and that He has other sheep, besides ourselves, that He is gathering beyond our knowledge. Our worship recognizes Christ Jesus as our present and life-long teacher, who instructs us how to live in His world and gives us power to forsake sin and live in perfect obedience to His will.

We invite you to wait upon the Lord with us and know the gospel, the good news of God’s power to teach and lead us in all things. Seek to be still and quiet, letting go your own thoughts and desires, your wandering imagination and the murmurings of your own will, the counsel and notions of your own heart. This may not be easy at first. As you strive to banish them, they may assert themselves all the harder. Therefore, simply ask our Lord to lift them from you. Then, waiting upon the Lord, you will know the presence of your Shepherd and you shall not want.

Our Message

Christian Friends who wait on the Lord for inspiration as well as guidance realize that before they expostulate vocal ministry of any sort, it is vital that we hear God inwardly proclaim Truth.  Then and only then will we be prepared to evangelize in the love and power of Christ.

First we need to empty ourselves from our own ideas and notions while waiting on God.  If we obey in that manner, the Lord will quiet our emotions and then we will be prepared to listen to that small voice, Jesus in the midst of His people.  In waiting in the Lord’s power, we will hear Jesus in our souls enunciating His Father’s vision for us humans with finite minds.  We might not always agree with His commands but if we are in Truth we will be constrained to hear and obey him completely.

In our waiting, Jesus appears as our Shepherd who affords us the love that enables us to feel God’s presence.  And when we do receive this all embracing love from the Shepherd we overcome our natural hostility and become loving in the presence of the Lord.

But if we wish to speak of God’s Kingdom, we must be in unity with Jesus’s everlasting Kingdom.  Jesus will not disappoint us when we seek His Kingdom in reverent worship.  Rather in our waiting, Christ will appear as our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He will outline the qualities He expects from us in our attempts to abide in His rules.  Most important as Jesus elaborates in the Gospel of John, we must love each other in the Gospel He proclaimed to His disciples and sending us, when we submit to His Kingdom in worship.

In worship Jesus prepares us to bring people to His peace, not the world’s misguided definition.  Small wonder that in our faithfulness, we will be prepared to do the work of the Lord relating to those who seek God’s help to abrogate their lack of power to cope with hopelessness.  Yes, we need to bring people to Jesus’s light and in Fox’s words “leave them there for Christ to minister to them. . .”

We can never doubt that it is essential for us to minister to those who have resisted the power of the Gospel.  But for us to minister in Jesus’s holy name, we must first receive and accept Jesus’ everlasting power.  Then we can witness not only with our outward words but as examples of Jesus’ love.

In that love, we can speak to individuals as well as groups about experiencing Jesus.  As a result of our patience and listening, we will become God’s ministers prepared to proclaim the good news.  That is our message.

Arthur Berk 12-21-2007


A Special Place: Welcome to Quaker Meeting for Worship

What does “Meeting” mean?

Quakers go to Meeting like other people go to church on Sunday morning. We go to Meeting to worship God and His Son, Jesus. We give thanks to God for His love and guidance in our lives. In our hearts, we can talk to Him about anything.

Who can come to Meeting?

Everyone who wants to worship the Lord!

What do we do in Meeting?

We sit down in silence, quietly waiting for the Lord to speak to our own hearts or someone else sharing thoughts from the Lord out loud. We try to get quiet enough in our minds and bodies to hear what God’s Spirit wants to tell us. God is a spirit and we want His Spirit to cover our spirit with love. “Be still and know that I am God.”

What is “Waiting on the Lord” – What does it mean?

Sitting together quietly in one place, we listen with our hearts, souls and minds, waiting for God’s Spirit to speak to us. This may come as a quiet thought in our minds, from Scripture (Bible) readings or by someone sharing spoken words. We are taking time to hear God and to let His Spirit cover our spirits with love.

What is worship?

Worship is coming to God, our loving heavenly Father. We open our hearts to Him with thanksgiving and praise. God can touch our hearts in the stillness. He may give us feelings of joy. He may help us to understand things we’ve done wrong. He can help us to see how He wants us to live.

What kind of speaking happens in Meeting?

When we turn our thoughts toward God to hear what His spirit is saying to us, sometimes we have a leading, a strong feeling, to speak out loud by praying, telling a story that shows how the Lord had helped us, by singing or quoting verses from the Bible.

Can anyone speak?

Anyone may feel the Lord leading them to speak. This isn’t always easy but it shows that you are willing to obey God’s prompting.

Who are the people who sit on the facing bench?

Usually, people on the facing bench are members who have had a lot of experience listening to God’s voice and following His leadings. These Friends are asked to sit there as examples to the rest of the meeting and we can learn how to behave in meeting by watching them.

Can children sit there?

Children have sometimes sat on the facing bench. Usually, they would not, unless they were asked or invited to sit there.

Why do babies and little children stay in the Meeting with everyone else?

Babies and little children are a part of the meeting family and can also feel and share God’s presence. “Raise up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Does our conscience help us to know God?

Our conscience can tell us whether our actions are right or wrong. Listening to our conscience, which tells us what is right, is a lot like listening for God’s Spirit to speak to ours.

Do we seek to be obedient?

The Lord tells us, “Children, obey your parents.” It is important that we try to obey our heavenly Father, too, so that by living for Him we bring glory to His name.

When Christ Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command you,” was He speaking to us?

We believe Jesus was speaking to all people everywhere. He invites everyone to come to Him. He loves everyone and wants us to do the same.

Wherever we meet, we meet some place and God is there.

Approved by Representative Meeting of Ohio Yearly Meeting, 11-18-2006


We gather for worship three times a week.

First Day (‘sunday’) 10:30 a.m., Eastern, in-person and virtual

  • In-person: Note: in-person worship will resume May 12, 2024 Crossroads Meetinghouse, 4108 Menton, Flint MI 48507
  • Virtual (joining Seeker’s Haven Worship Group’s virtual worship): Zoom link; Meeting ID: 869 2993 7251 Passcode: 285662:

First Day (‘sunday’) 7:00 p.m., Eastern, virtual only

  • Virtual: Zoom link; Meeting ID: 891 7811 4215; Passcode: 112710

Fourth Day (‘wednesday’) 7:00 p.m., Eastern, virtual only

  • Virtual: Zoom link; Meeting ID: 891 7811 4215; Passcode: 112710