Newtown Friends Meeting will send greetings and love to Quakers throughout the world Oct. 6, in celebration of World Quaker Day as they gather for worship at 11 a.m. in the historic Newtown Meetinghouse, 219 Court St., Newtown, and assemble afterward for a group photo under a sign made by the children of the Quaker Meeting.
The theme for World Quaker Day this year is “Sustainability: Planting Seeds of Renewal for the World we Love.”
Friends will feature the importance of taking care of the natural environment and the spiritual imperative to sustain life on earth. Quakers in Kenya, Africa, for example, will plant more than 5,000 tree seedlings at the Farmers Training Centre in Lugari, Kenya.
There are approximately 400,000 Quakers worldwide in North, Central and South America, Europe, the U.K., East Europe, Russia, Africa, Southeast Asia, The Far East, Australia and New Zealand.
In Bucks County, there are 12 Quaker Meetings plus George School, Newtown Friends School, Buckingham Friends School, Pennswood Village, Chandler Hall, and Friends Home and Village.
The idea of World Quaker Day was first suggested here in Bucks County in 2013, and a little over a year later, on Oct. 5, 2014, the first World Quaker Day was celebrated worldwide.
The purpose of World Quaker Day is for Quaker Meetings and organizations around the world to celebrate their involvement with the world around them.
Some meetings feature talks about well-known Quakers such as Judi Dench, William Penn, Lucretia Mott, John Greenleaf Whittier, the Cadburys of Cadbury Chocolates, Johns Hopkins, Joan Baez, and Susan B. Anthony, or people raised as Quakers such as James Michener, Daniel Boone, James Dean and Samuel Nicholas, the founder of the Marine Corps.
Others focus on the Quaker Testimonies of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, Service, and Stewardship.
Newtown Friends Meeting, co-founded in 1815 by Quaker minister and artist Edward Hicks, First Day (Sunday) activities are open to the public with Sunday School classes for children and adults at 9:45 a.m. and worship based on silent expectation at 11 a.m. Childcare is provided.
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