Our annual Christmas program this year featured the children of Meeting offering a Godly Nativity Play, as well as musical sharing (“The Wexford Carol,” “Oh Holy Night”), children’s stories, a group reading from the Gospel of Luke, and holiday mummers leading us in a Newfoundland variation of “Green Grow the Rushes, O.”
Afterwards, we braved the frigid air for a group photo, and then joined up for a festive potluck.
Special thanks to Peggy Ramsey for ably directing the festive occasion.
Volunteers from four Monthly Meetings in the Haverford Quarter recently came together to donate flour, pumpkin, eggs, milk and other supplies, roll flaky crusts and mix tasty filling, then bake and deliver twenty freshly baked pumpkin pies to area shelters.
Coordinated by OHFM’s Faith Spear, the actual pie baking took place the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in the Haverford Meeting kitchen.
Giving thanks this Thanksgiving for the generosity of Haverford Quarter friends and our eager volunteers!
Members of Old Haverford Friends Meeting alongside volunteers from Haverford Township Tree Tenders worked together to plant eight new trees, three outside our Havertown Meeting House and five more in the historic (founded 1684) burial ground nearby. The day was crisp and clear, and the trees were full of life and promise. Special thanks to George Salloom for acting as meeting liaison with the Tree Tenders
More photos from the day:
Old Haverford Meeting has recently established a comfortable children’s space in the main meeting room (pictured below) to encourage intergenerational worship.
Melinda Wenner Bradley writes on the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting website about the move toward adding welcoming children’s areas, noting that these spaces are “part of a growing conversation about how we welcome children and their parents/caregivers in Quaker community.” Though concerns are sometimes raised “about children’s capacity for stillness and silence,” Wenner Bradley adds, “one response is to acknowledge that yes, their integration with the worshiping body will require both setting expectations and providing preparation. Another response is that the challenges of stillness and silence can be true for both children and adults.”
Wenner Bradley also notes the importance of sending a strong signal to newcomers that “Children are welcome here!”
Old Haverford’s new children’s space, also known as “the cozy corner,” includes books, craft activities, pencils and paper, and some soft animal friends who have no problem with staying silent.
Old Haverford Friends Meeting will be holding a Spring Retreat on Sunday May 19th from 8:30-1:30 PM at the Meetinghouse.
The retreat will be inclusive of worship and our 3rd Sunday potluck lunch. We will start in the morning with reflections on Quaker writings followed by sharing in pairs. Then we will experience some live music before worship, provided by Molly Hicks and Tim Simmons. After worship and lunch, we will explore some queries as a community.
Meeting member sand visitors are welcome to attend all of he retreat events, or just some!
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting will host a family gathering at the Old Haverford Meeting House on April 6th from 3 to 6 PM. There will be an intergenerational activity, time for parent/guardian worship sharing, children’s activities, play time outside, and dinner as a community. Pizza and beverages will be provided. Families are invited to bring a snack/side dish/dessert to share. All ages are welcome!
For more information, contact Kristin Simmons, Youth Engagement Coordinator: ksimmons@pym.org
You can register here!
Old Haverford Friends have united in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on 6/14/2020.
Here are some other ways to get involved:
Indivisible.org – actions in solidarity with Black Lives and community.
American Friends Service Committee – movement for Black Lives,
Poor Peoples Campaign – a national call for Moral Revival.
Color of Change – the nation’s larges online racial justice organization,
On Sunday, January 17, at 10:00 Tim and Kristin Simmons will be leading a discussion on the life and works of Sara and Angelina Grimke as part of our continuing Forum Series, “Quakers Who Have Made a Difference.” The Grimke sisters grew up on a plantation in South Carolina in the early 1800’s, in a slave system they grew to abhor. They moved to Philadelphia and joined the Arch Street Meeting, and they were the first women to speak out in the north against the injustices of slavery from their own first hand experience. They dared to speak out in favor of women’s rights as well.
Children are welcome as this series is a joint project of our First Day School and our adult Meeting. Come and join the discussion.
The Friends Community Garden has taken first place for the community vegetable garden category in the Penn State Cooperative Extension of Delaware County garden contest.
Michele Taylor, one of our FCG committee members, had submitted our garden for this contest on behalf of the FCG committee a few months ago.
In notifying us of our first place, Penn State wrote:
“…you had an amazing use of the space with lots of interesting small plots and vegetable varieties. We applaud all your efforts with the community there.”
The award will be presented at a luncheon Sept. 26.
Thanks to all of our gardeners for helping to make our garden so special. This award goes to everyone who plants, weeds, harvests, mows, cleans up debris, etc. despite record breaking heat and drought conditions.
Our garden is certainly a team effort! Keep up the good work!
Congratulations!
Bonnie McMeans
Run of the Mill String Band, featuring “old time” music performed by Greg and Palmer Loux and friends, performed at Old Haverford Meeting on Saturday April 25th at 7PM. Great music and fun!