Helen Gould

Helen Gould attends an unprogrammed Quaker meeting in Australia. She has experienced what has come to be known as "the gathered meeting." She discusses Waiting Worship as a practice that transforms lives, individually and corporately. "My theology and practice, like that of first generation Friends, is mystical," she writes. She tells her own experiences and relates experiences of other Quakers who have shared with her their mystical experiences. As one who rarely mentions her own mystical experiences, both before and after coming to Quakerism, I welcomed the opportunity to learn about someone else's.… (mere)

Longer than a Pendle Hill Pamphlet, yet short enough to read in just a few sittings for even the slowest reader, Helen Gould's lecture to the Australian Yearly Meeting in 2009 is inspirational. It contains first hand mystical experiences; spiritual practices; and historical background to much of Quaker practice today. For those wanting to know more about the Religious Society of Friends, this book works. For experienced Friends who wish to deepen their worship time, this book works. For those who wonder about the quality of spoken ministry, this book works.

All in all, I should probably have given it 5 stars. I read the kindle version on an iPad and was disappointed in the formatting (call me silly, but first and last names should be capitalized?). The syntax of the written word does not always match grammatically with the spoken and I think it shows here.… (mere)