Greetings
     La Jolla Friends Meeting extends a warm greeting to all who come to worship with us and to those who come to explore the meaning of Quaker faith and practice. To you who come among us for the first time, we offer this brief statement that you may have a better understanding of Friends' worship.
Meeting for Worship
     In the Meeting for Worship, as we gather in silence-setting aside the distractions around us and the temporal thoughts that seem to flood into our consciousness-we center our minds and hearts so that we may sense God's presence in the stillness. When we are open, listening, receptive, we can come to know God's will even in our normal daily routines. In the Meeting for Worship we find ourselves drawn together on holy ground in God's presence.
    The Quaker Meeting for Worship is filled with a silence of waiting in expectancy. Out of this quiet, this yielding to the Spirit, may come vocal prayers or spoken messages, helpful in gaining strength and direction for our daily living and for deepening our awareness of God and of one another. For many minutes, perhaps for half an hour, there may be silence. But that does not mean that nothing is happening. We are seeking to come nearer to each other and to God as we are caught up in the still spirit of the Meeting.
Vocal Ministry
    The silence may be broken if one of those present feels led by the Spirit to deepen and enrich the experience of worship by spoken ministry. Anyone is free to speak or pray in response to a prompting of the Spirit which comes in the course of the Meeting. Those who minister by a spoken message do not come determined to speak. Meeting for Worship is not an occasion for discussion; other opportunities are provided for this. For the same reason, almost never has anyone been led to speak more than once during a Meeting for Worship.
    Vocal ministry is generally brief, and responsive to the spiritual needs of the Meeting. The silence is broken for the moment, but it is not interrupted. Two questions are usually asked by individuals considering whether to speak: "Is the message God's, or only my own?" and "Should it be given to these gathered Friends, or individually?" Gathered worshipers listen with deep sensitivity-even to a message with which they might normally disagree-because they trust that speakers have tested themselves in the Light before speaking.
    Try to receive what is said in an accepting, charitable spirit. Each contribution, righdy given, will help someone, but our needs are different and can be met only in differing ways. If something is said that does not "speak to your condition", nevertheless try to reach the spirit behind the words. The speaker wants to help the Meeting: take care not to reject an offering by negative criticism. Those who give messages are not judged for we trust that the message came from God.
The Inner Light
    There is that of God in every one; through the Inner Light we can know God. The sharing of the Light makes the Meeting for Worship the deepest expression of the common Spirit we feel.
Rise of Meeting
    You will know Meeting for Worship has ended when Friends shake hands. You are invited to share in this expression of community. If you wish to know more about the Religious Society of Friends, the announcements after Meeting for Worship will identify a Friend of whom you can ask questions on a one-to-one basis.
Children
    We encourage the attendance and participation of children with their parents in all Meeting functions. There is First-day school for all ages. Usually, the children worship with us for a quarter hour. While they are not in the Meeting, they are cared for in the cottage. The Meeting-house sign-board will have the current schedule.