The devotional meeting is one of the four core activities of contemporary Bahá'í community life and is deliberately minimal in structure. It is normally held in a home, is open to anybody, and consists of prayers and passages read aloud by whoever wishes to read, often with music, followed by refreshments and conversation. Readings may be drawn from any religion's scripture, and frequently are. There is no leader, no order of service, no sermon and no address, because the abolition of clergy leaves nobody with the standing to preach. The absence of the sermon is worth registering: in most traditions the exposition of scripture by an authorised interpreter is the centre of communal worship, and the Bahá'í position that no such interpreter exists after 'Abdu'l-Bahá removes it entirely. What is left is reading, listening and hospitality, and the meeting's function is as much to open the community to neighbours as to serve those already in it.