Bucks Quarter Friends Gather for Quarterly Meeting
On November 15th over 100 Bucks Quarter Quakers gathered virtually for worship, fellowship and business. Held under the care of Quakertown Meeting, the morning began with a welcome by clerk of the meeting, Pat Stover. She expressed regret that she could not welcome Friends in-person to their meetinghouse with coffee and muffins, and then introduced the morning’s speaker. Karen Tibbals, author and founder of Ethical Frames LLC and a sojourner at Quakertown Meeting, spoke about her book, Persuade Don’t Preach – Restoring Civility Across the Political Divide.
Karen observed that as a society, we’ve become so polarized that we tend to talk past one another. She explained that if you want people to really hear what you have to say and give it due consideration, then you must learn to talk to people in such a way that they can hear you. To be successful at this, you need to understand people on a deep level; you need to figure out what really matters to them. Then, you need to adjust your message to take that into account.
Friends were highly engaged and found Karen’s presentation interesting and informative. She suggested that Friends visit her website persuadedontpreach.com for more information and for ways to purchase her book.
After Karen’s presentation, Friends settled into worship. At the rise of meeting, Friends were given the choice at lunch to either take a screen break, or join breakout rooms to visit with Friends from around the Quarter.
The afternoon concluded with meeting for worship with attention to business, which included regular reports from the treasurer and coordinator, annual reports from Newtown and Plumstead Meetings, and a revisiting of a minute presented last year by Middletown Meeting on making sure our quarterly meetings can be inclusive places where all feel welcome.
The next quarterly meeting will be held under the care of Solebury Meeting on February 21, 2021.
“Our polarized society makes listening to each other hard.”
