Opening Brunch: 9:30 am – Meeting for Worship: 11:00 am
Newtown Friends Meeting is beginning its fall season of First Day Classes (Sunday School) for children and adults with an opening brunch at 9:30 a.m. on First Day (Sunday), September 10, followed by worship at 11 a.m. in the traditional Quaker manner of settling into silence from which anyone may speak, if moved to do so. Quakers believe there is that of God in every person, enabling anyone present to be able to bring inspired ministry to a gathered meeting for worship.
Finger food, juice, and coffee will be served on the Meeting House grounds, after which dozens of children will meet with their teachers to get to know them and discuss the year’s program schedule. Many of the volunteer teachers are parents and/or from the faculty of the Meeting’s elementary school, Newtown Friends School, and/or George School, the Quaker boarding school (9-12) in Newtown.
Sarah Buxton of Newtown, Clerk of the Children’s Religious Education committee, said “We are kicking off the year by building excitement around the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (umbrella group for Quakers in the tri-state area) scavenger hunt. This will be an inter-generational activity that should yield a great deal of fun while simultaneously forging stronger bonds between Meeting members of all ages. The theme we will study this year is called The Light Within, taken directly from Faith and Practice (the Quaker book of guidelines). Students of all ages will look for that Light and decide what that Light means in relation to their personal lives and the world around them.”
Buxton added, “Our Newtown Quaker Meeting nursery is bustling with little ones and each week they will hear a story, sing songs and play happily. We cannot wait to see everyone!”
The adult class this year will feature Spiritual Journeys by Meeting members and other prominent Quakers, news of other religions, and current events.
Opening the adult class series on September 17 at 9:45 a.m. will be Newtown Quaker Meeting member Marybeth Snyder of New Hope speaking about “Business as the Crucible of Quaker Faith.” Marybeth Snyder is Principal of Superior Benefit Plans and Superior Benefits HR, two companies she founded and manages. She has 35 years business experience in employee benefits, 15 of those as a Quaker. She says, “I am grateful every day that my Quaker faith informs my business and my business informs my Quaker faith.”
Newtown Friends Meeting co-founded by “Peaceable Kingdom” painter and Quaker minister, Edward Hicks, in 1815, is open to all who wish to attend. Regular First Day Education classes (Sunday School) for all ages begin at 9:45 a.m. and Meeting for Worship begins at 11 a.m. Childcare is provided.