Cincinnati Friends Meeting - About Cincinnati Friends Meeting

About The Meeting - For First-timers

About the Meeting

We meet every Sunday for at 11 a.m. until about noon for semi-programmed worship in the meetinghouse at 8075 Keller Road in Cincinnati. Visitors are always welcome, and there are usually refreshments just off the main foyer after Meeting. During worship we have a nursery attendant for infants and toddlers and religious education for older children.

More information:

If this is your first time at a Quaker Meeting
If you've been to other Quaker Meetings...

Here are some things you might want to know about our worship:

One of our basic Quaker beliefs is that God still speaks to us. We believe that any one of us might hear God speaking within us, teaching us, leading us. We speak of learning to listen to the “still, small voice within,” and we learn that the voice usually nudges us toward what God would us do or speak.

One of the best ways we know to find that small voice is through silence. We enter worship together, we sit down in silence and we begin to quiet ourselves, in mind and in body. We become as still as we are able. We may start by praying, or we might meditate on a passage from the Bible, or we may hold up to God something that is happening in our lives.

In the semi-programmed form of worship that we use, someone—most often the pastoral minister—comes to Meeting for Worship prepared to give a message from the silence. At its best, this message serves to draw us closer together within the presence of God. Messages from our interim pastor, Donne Hayden, are in the Archive of Messages. Other messages, spoken by worshippers, may build upon or complete the message begun by the speaker. We believe that when we are faithful together, all these words arise from the same Spirit.

By the leading of the Spirit, sometimes someone will request a hymn for us to sing. Our singing may sound inept at times, when the pianist or organist has never heard the tune, and neither have the singers. But we keep trying, and sometimes a hymn works as we hope any message will: it brings us into deeper communion with God and with one another.

You might wonder about the speaking that occurs in the silence. Who is it that speaks, and why? Sometimes it happens that, from within our quieted selves, we feel words rise within us. Some sentence or story comes to mind that won’t go away. We test these messages before we speak them: “Is this meant for me alone? Is it something for me to say to a friend, but not for all those gathered here? Is it for all of us?" In the end, the pressure to speak may almost push us to our feet.

A few minutes before the end of worship, we take a collection, which is frequently signaled by instrumental music. Then we ask whether there are joys or concerns to share within the community, or any announcements. We also give space for visitors to introduce themselves. We would love to know who you are, so we can welcome you personally, but please don’t feel compelled to make yourself known if you are wary of attention. We invite you to join us in the Fireside Room (just off the foyer) for light refreshments after Meeting. Any one of us would be happy to answer any questions you have about Friends.

Cincinnati Friends Meeting | 8075 Keller Rd | Cincinnati, OH 45243 | (513) 791-0788