My High Priest Haiku

So early Quakers often referred to Jesus as the High Priest of our meetings for worship.  This comes from Hebrews 4:14-16 where Paul writes to the Hebrew followers of the Way and says "14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[a] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

This metaphor has been useful for me in worship.  Early Friends counseled against creaturely activity or of things being of the creature.  That Puritanical influence of "me=problematic" "God=solution" isn't always wrong, but in terms of meeting for worship, "creaturely" probably means more like me deciding what I'm going to do or think or contemplate during worship instead of letting go and letting the Light do its thing.

So for me, the Spirit is like my High Priestess. Whereas a priest guides the mass/liturgy/worship/ceremony, the Spirit guides my worship.  When lost in thought, when astral projecting back to France, I can turn my mind to the Priest and listen to what the Priest would have me do: meditate on something (or nothing), contemplate something, pray (silently or aloud), sing (silently or aloud), offer vocal ministry, hold people in the Light, or just sit and be.  

People often think this difficult: but consider the number of times you've sat through a sermon, a song or a ritual at church and your mind was somewhere else, or you felt that you had specific prayers different from what the deacon or elder was offering; or maybe even you felt close to the Divine but not because of what was going on in the service.  Whether in silence or a programmed worship, our minds can do their own thing, and sometimes what the pastor has in store for his congregation is not what the Spirit wants.  In unprogrammed worship, there is a Priestess who guides us all if we listen to them.

In some Quaker meetings that have pastors, a pastor is willing to sit down and let the silent worship time in their programmed meetings take over.  I don't know how common that is anymore among programmed Friends but it was a thing. Anywho...

At Quaker meetings 

High Priest guides my inward parts

thus silence is full