May Quarterly Meeting: Perfect Attendance Again

The custom in Bucks Quarter is to have the hosting responsibilities for Quarterly Meeting rotate alphabetically through our fourteen meetings. Historically, some of our smaller meetings have not felt up to the challenge of hosting up to 100 Friends, and have dropped out of the rotation.

When the pandemic moved quarterly meetings onto the Zoom platform for a full two years – with no hosting responsibilities other than programming – those smaller meetings asked to be included once again. And over that two years, the Quarter discerned that it was important for Friends to be acquainted with all of the meetings, not just the larger ones. So with some help from the Quarter as needed, on May 19th, our smallest meeting once again hosted Quarterly Meeting in person.

Southampton Monthly Meeting currently has nine members, all of whom are active and attend meeting for worship most First Days. They are a cohesive and enthusiastic group, who displayed warm hospitality to the 65 Friends –with representatives from all fourteen of our meetings – who came to their meetinghouse on Gravel Hill Road in Southampton, PA.

The day began with coffee and snacks (so many snacks!) and was followed by a panel discussion about their ongoing social justice vigil, and how they might proceed in the future.

Worship is always an integral part of Quarterly Meeting, and the Bucks Quarter Technology Support Team provided the equipment for a hybrid meeting, so Friends who were unable to attend in person had the option to Zoom in. Lunch was brown bag and Friends enjoyed conversation and fellowship at their House on the Hill.

The business of the Quarter was addressed in the afternoon and by 3 pm the day was done and Friends headed home. Our next Quarterly Meeting will be in August and under the care of Wrightstown Friends.