Kindergarten Joins the Lower School for Meeting for Worship

Last week, the kindergarten classes walked to the Meetinghouse to join the rest of the Lower School in Meeting for Worship for the first time this school year. As a Quaker school, we gather every Wednesday for Meeting for Worship in our classrooms or in the Meetinghouse.

When walking to the Meetinghouse, it often feels as if the walk down the path is part of our preparation for settling our minds and bodies. Nature envelops us as we notice the changes in the seasons and the grounds around us. There is something very comforting and settling about walking the path to the Meeting House; the path may remain the same yet it looks different every week. At the end of the path, is a pole, that we lovingly call the "quiet pole." At this point in our walk, deep breaths are taken and voices are quieted as we begin to move indoors to our Meetinghouse.

Settling into the silence with some calm breaths and quiet bodies, everyone finds a different way to settle. Some children watch the other children, while others close their eyes, take deep breaths, silently count their fingers or focus on the lights up above.

Meeting for Worship (MFW) provides time and space for the community to open their minds and hearts to larger questions, concerns and thoughts that are sometimes overlooked in the busyness of the week.  At times, a child or teacher might stand and share a message with the community. At other times, MFW is silent and reflection is still happening but it is individual and within.  In the classroom, we often speak about how Meeting for Worship messages can be shared and others do not need to be. 

Settling into the silence

Sometimes one feels comfortable sharing and feels that it is a message that should be heard by all, while others quietly hold a thought or idea. We have also discussed with the children that it is not like a Morning Meeting in our classroom where everyone is asked to participate. A message might sit within for a short time or over many meetings before one may or may not decide to share it with the community.  During this week's Meeting for Worship, one of our kindergarten friends shared, "I like Meeting for Worship because it is peaceful." As our time together unfolded, more children stood to share in the Meetinghouse.

Kindergarten friends at the first MFW with Lower School

The silence is broken with a handshake and a morning greeting to friends close by. Meeting for Worship then closes with a song, such as This Little Light of Mine or Simple Gifts, reminding us to let the guiding "inner light," the love that is within each of us, to shine through.

Gathered in song

Walking the path back to school

The kindergarten classes have Meeting for Worship in the classroom on the first Wednesday of the month. On the other Wednesdays, we leave our classrooms at 8:20 am to begin walking to the Meeting House to join the entire Lower School for MFW by 8:30 am.  Please know that you are always welcome to join us on Wednesdays for Meeting for Worship. In two weeks, we will have our Thanksgiving Meeting for Worship and hope that you can join us as we contemplate all that we are grateful for.