Quakerphernalia

The Newsletter of Bucks Quarterly Meeting of Friends
August 1997

Contacting the Coordinator

Events This Month plus Last-minute updates

Looking Ahead

Chandler Hall Worship Services

Details about Past and Coming Events

From the Clerk's Corner (comments by Janet Braker, Clerk of Bucks Quarterly Meeting

Snippets of News from the Quarter and Other Places

Quakerphrenalia Archives

Just in case you forgot to write down a phone number, etc.

Chandler Hall Worship Services will be organized by:

• August - Middletown
• September - Newtown
• October - Solebury

• Celebration at Falls Meeting
• Quakerism 101 Classes
• Friends at the Grange Fair
• Quaker Heritage Tour
• Bucks Quarter Family Camp at Falls Meeting!
• Abolition 2000

Over one hundred Friends from every meeting in the Quarter joined together on June 8th to help Falls Meeting celebrate the new addition to the meetinghouse. Friends worshipped and ate lunch, sang and enjoyed the presentation on Harriet Tubman, dedicated trees, and ended with fresh strawberry shortcake. It was a wonderful day!

Quakerism 101 classes will be led by Annette Benert of Lehigh Valley Meeting. The classes will meet at Buckingham Meeting on six consecutive Sunday evenings beginning October 19th. Meetings are encouraged to help with financial assistance, if necessary, so that new members and attenders can participate. Annette Benert is a gifted leader of Quakerism 101, bringing her own combination of information and spirituality. For more information call 860-9747.

Bucks Quarter’s tent at last year’s Grange Fair saw about 1000 visitors, thanks to the committee and the many volunteers who helped man the tent. If you can volunteer again (or for the first time) for about 2 hours to chat with visitors, please call Karen Shaudys at 493-9406. The Grange Fair is on from August 13th-17th.

For several months an ad hoc committee of Friends from meetings in the Quarter has been discussing a Quaker Heritage Tour in Bucks Quarter. The tour is set for October 3rd & 4th of 1998. The object is to show our neighbors how we live our lives today based on our heritage and testimonies. Meetings are now exploring ways to do this. One meeting will have an art show of Quaker artists. Another will do three weddings in one day! (They will be renewal of vows.) Ideas are still floating, including guest speakers, local Quaker sites, etc. To learn more, contact the person in your meeting who has been attending the meetings.

Sunday, August 17

Barbara Simmons speaks on "Conflict Resolution: What Do Quakers Believe? What Do Quakers Do?"

• Middle School and Young Friends will go on a canoe trip on the Rancocas River, stopping for lunch at the home of the parents of our canoe guide, Bill Sharp. (Separate flyer.)
• Crafts, games, swimming at Snipes’ and more will keep our school-age Friends busy all day.
• Charlie Thomforde and his assistants will care for our youngest Friends.

• Bring a dish to share for lunch. Your cooler will help keep it cold, if necessary.
• Your children will need swimming suits and towels.
• Get your act together for Quaker Follies! Jacob Stone wants to hear from you! Call him at 345-0575.

Chandler Hall’s Fall Auction needs your help. Please donate new and used items as well as gift certificates and use of vacation homes. The auction proceeds benefit Hospice. The Auction will be on September 28th at 5:30 PM. Chandler Hall is accepting donations now. Call Sandi Bobeck at 860-4000, ext. 253, for more information. Friends in the Quarter will want to help make this important event a good one.

The Chandler Hall Auxiliary is holding a Flea Market on Saturday, October 18th. If you want to reserve a table the cost is $15 in advance or $20 on the day. Call Lee Opper at 860-4000 for more information or to reserve a table.

Lehigh Valley Meeting is selling Quaker Bonds in units of $1000 each, which will earn 6% semi-annually. Call Fran Dreisbach at 610-258-7313 for more information.

Thom Jeavons, General Secretary of PYM, recommends two books: A Generation of Seekers - the Baby Boomers, and Money Matters, a book about fund-raising in other denominations. They are available at the PYM library.

Both Buckingham Meeting and Makefield Meeting have gotten their newsletters up and running again! Friends in the Quarter thank all newsletter staff in every meeting for the fine jobs they do. We appreciate getting the news.

Chandler Hall is in great need of volunteer greeters at the front desk. The receptionist is very busy handling calls and this is an opportunity for Friends to help direct visitors to where they want to go. Call 860-4000.

Summer Midweek Meetings for Worship is still held at Middletown Meeting on Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. Makefield also holds a midweek Meeting for Worship on Thursdays at 7:00 PM year-round. Friends in the Quarter are invited.

Bring your extra garden produce to the Quarterly Meeting at Falls on Sunday, August 17th. The Quaker Gourmets will make us something wonderful for dinner!

Bucks Quarterly Meeting, at its last gathering in May, passed a minute on Abolition 2000. The primary goal is to have in place by the year 2000 a Convention under which the nuclear powers will promise to get rid of nuclear weapons at an agreed upon target date.

Friends are encouraged to write to their newspapers and bring this issue before the readers in our area. Some groups are exploring the possibility of Town Resolutions. Theresa Fitzgibbon of the PYM Peace Committee would like to visit your meeting to share more information. Call her at 1-800-220-0796, ext. 7233.

Friends Home and Village have purchased a mini-van for individual and small group outings. Residents are busy planning more frequent shopping and entertainment trips. Watch for the Quaker gray van buzzing down the highway!

Friends Village also needs a used cardtable. Call Lee Gourley at 968-9222.

We have just returned from PYM and although tired in the way in which one usually is upon returning from our conferences, I feel lifted and renewed from the glow of so many wonderful "lights" within our Religious Society of Friends. I was personally elated by the number of Young and Younger Friends and their families who comprised about a third of those in attendance. We deliberated, discerned, discussed and even danced and sang about our lives, our fears and hopes in worship, workshops, hallways, tents and cafeterias. We worked hard and played well as a community of Friends searching for spiritual guidance as individuals and as a corporate body. The rumors of our demise are greatly exaggerated. We, on a Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly level, all need to do our part to share the "Good News" of the vitality in our midst. Each of us needs to appreciate and cultivate the talents we have to share with one another. There are scores of opportunities for intergenerational mentoring, learning, worship and action throughout the Religious Society of Friends. We need to be open to allowing the Spirit to move through and among us as we presently enjoy the fruits of our historical past while working and playing together to insure interesting and fulfilling journeys now and in the future for ourselves, our children and their children.

These are my tired but happy reflections upon my returnfrom Allentown. I forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas on this or any matter when I see you on August 17th.

I also want to encourage you to invite a member or attender in your Monthly Meeting who may never have experienced a Quarterly Meeting to register and take part at Falls Meeting. Let’s all do our part to share our traditions and wonderful treasures to enrich and strengthen our Religious Society of Friends.

To have your events listed in the September issue, please notify the coordinator by August 15: