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By John Calvi The most sure way to get yourself into trouble is to offer to be of help. It works most of the time. It’s the kind of trouble that teaches the essences of spiritual life and cannot be replaced by reading or prayer. And the more desire you have to serve, the bigger…

By Laura Dixson The summer I turned sixteen, I was a teenager secure in my life, antsy for my independence (and drivers license), and annoyed because I was single. Then, I was nominated by Northern Yearly Meeting to be a representative to Friends General Conference, and attend Central Committee. At the time, I was struggling…

By Wally Winter Are Quakers boring? Some of us may be. In fact, all of us may be some of the time, but all of us, all of the time? Recently a First Day School teacher at our meeting announced that his class thought Quakers were “boring.” While reflecting on this blunt critique the other…

By Eileen Bagus with help from Hannah Branson Because children are important to Community Friends Meeting of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting we continue to keep thinking of new ways to make them feel a welcome part of the meeting family. Our youngest children, infants and toddlers, have a paid child care worker for worship hour…

By Elizabeth Baltaro My grandfather pulled the car up in front of huge stone building. The front steps of the building were covered with teenagers about my age. I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. It was the end of June in 1997, and I had come all the way from Oklahoma City to…

by David M. Butler, Friends Historical Society, 1999, 2 volumes, paperbound, $85. Reviewed by Barbara Rosen, Storrs Monthly Meeting Is it a reference duo? A coffee-table extravaganza? A work of scholarship that tells us more about meeting houses than we want to know? None of the above. The Quaker Meeting Houses of Britain is a…

Amesbury Monthly Meeting is the northernmost meeting in Massachusetts, active since the 17th century for all but a short period in the late 1970s. It helped other meetings get started and was the location for the Salem Quarterly meeting from 1851-1962. It is best known as the meeting of the famous poet and social activist,…

Nestled in a grove of trees in the town of Easton is one of the most important historic structures in Maryland’s history, the Third Haven Meeting House. This large frame building-the oldest structure known to survive in the state- was constructed in 1682 near the headwaters of Tred Avon Creek to serve the Third Haven…

By Deborah Fisch Most people driving on Highway 59 in the northwest corner of Iowa never notice the white, wooden building sitting by the road south of Primghar. And unless they are from the area, those that do notice it would never guess that the unassuming building is a place of worship. For nearly 20…

By Mary Kay Glazer, Rochester Monthly Meeting It has been about six months since Rochester Friends moved into their new meeting house, and in that time the look of the faces worshipping has changed almost as dramatically as the building itself. Each week brings new people, and now the sunlit meeting room that once seemed…

By Marsha Holliday As a home-away-from home, a meetinghouse can be a tremendous asset in working with Quaker youth. Your child’s first best move away from the family, however defined, is to your meetinghouse. In the safety and comfort of their own meetinghouse, even young children can cook dinner with their First Day School class,…

by David Morse Storrs Friends Meeting had been wishing for larger quarters- for the same reasons that prompt many meetings to expand. Our building was too small to accommodate large gatherings such as weddings and memorial services; it was unfriendly to children, and inaccessible to the handicapped. After years of mostly vague talk, we began…