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Lehigh Valley Friends to Celebrate 75th Birthday!
June 16 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Free
Lehigh Valley Quakers to Celebrate 75th Birthday
Sunday June 16, 2024 Open House from 1-3PM
The public is invited to an open house from 1 to 3pm. Activities include an address by Christie Duncan Tessmer, General Secretary of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, signing of a commemorative photograph by guests, and a tour of the building and grounds with an attention to memorial trees honoring some of the founders.
Location: The Meetinghouse sits within sacred land known as Lenapehoking inhabited by the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) Nation. It is located on Route 512, half a mile north of US Route 22 at 4116 Bath Pike Bethlehem, PA. Next to Dunkin Donuts on the right. Parking is available at the Meetinghouse with overflow at 3897 Adler Place.
Brief History: The Lehigh Valley Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, was established in 1949 after gathering informally since 1923. It came into being against a backdrop of Quaker history, centered in Philadelphia. In 1961, a Meetinghouse was constructed on the present three-acre site in Hanover Township chosen so as to be accessible to a widely-scattered membership today ranging from Stroudsburg to Springtown and from New Jersey to Hamburg. And because of the technology of ZOOM we have weekly attenders from Ireland, Mexico, and Bradford County PA.
The early organizers were college professors, an engineer for the city of Bethlehem, writer for the Globe-Times, a clerk for Orr’s, artists, sculptors, a chemist who was also a conscience objector who served in Montana as a smoke jumper, the director of admissions at Moravian Academy, a family physician, and an employee at Bethlehem Steel. Two of these active citizens of the Lehigh Valley were instrumental in cofounding of LEPOCO, a Center for Peace and Justice still functioning today.
The Hugh Moore Jr.-designed building is modern and has a skylight. Worshippers sit on wooden benches once used in an eighteenth-century Meetinghouse in Bucks County. Facing one another in expectant silence, Friends stand as they are moved to speak. The service lasts approximately 1 hour.
The Meetinghouse property was awarded a certificate from the National Wildlife Federation in 1991 as a “Backyard Habitat” and 2 summers ago a mother fox established a den with 3 kits honoring the spirit of George Fox, Quakerism’s founder in England in 1624.
If you cannot attend the open house consider worshipping with us any Sunday at 10am. All are welcome. The building is fully accessible including hearing assistance. Child care is provided and there is education for school age to high school aged children at 10:20am.
To learn more about Quakers visit our website at www.lehighvalleyquakers.org
Contact information:
Nancy Johnston, LVMM Social Media Contact Sacredgrove4@gmail.com 610-390-480
