Wahroonga Friends Bulletin - 25 February 2026
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Mar 2, 2026, 8:32:03 PMMar 2
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Wahroonga Friends Bulletin - 25 February 2026 Young Adults Turn to Quakers’ Silent Worship to Offset and Cope with — a Noisy WorldAbove - Young adults flock to Quaker worship seeking respite from technology and noise. Attendance at Philadelphia’s Arch Street Meeting House has surged from 25 to 100.
PHILADELPHIA - At the Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia’s Old City, more and more young people are seeking respite from a clamorous technological age in the silent worship of a centuries-old faith. The faith’s values of simplicity, peace, equality and social justice resonate with a generation seeking authentic community amid national division and constant digital distraction.
Like other Quaker houses of worship, it follows values of simplicity and equality. There’s no clergy, pulpit or altar. No statues of saints, no stained-glass windows. No one sings or chants, burns incense or lights candles. They simply sit in silence in 200-year-old wooden pews — and wait for a message from God to move through them until they speak.
“This feels different in that it’s so simple. It’s set up in a way that makes you feel like your internal world … is equally as important as the space that you’re in,” says Valerie Goodman, a pink-haired artist reading her Bible outside the meeting house on a recent Sunday before going inside. Goodman, 27, grew up Southern Baptist but left the evangelical church in college.
“It feels like I can have a minute to breathe. It’s different than having a moment of meditation in my apartment because there’s still all of the distractions around. … And it’s crazy being in a room full of other people that are all there to experience that themselves.”
It has been called the “Westminster Abbey of Quakerism.” Yet for years, attendance at Arch Street was so low, and its historic 300-seat West Room felt so empty, that the few people present began to meet in a smaller room. But recent years have produced an unprecedented surge in the number of attendees at Sunday worship — from about 25 before the coronavirus pandemic to up to 100 today. “One of the things that I’m very excited about is the number of people that we have coming to meeting, and the fact that the majority of them are young,” says Hazele Goodrich, Arch Street’s clerk. Read more here Young adults turn to Quakers' silent worship to offset — and cope with — a noisy world - Los Angeles Times 2 pm 7 March Farewell Lyn and John DundasLyn and John Dundas have moved to Hobart and Lyn is back for a week while the house is being sold.
The occasion is on Saturday 7 March at 2.00 pm.
- 2.00 - 2.30 Meeting for Worship
- 2.30 - 2.40 short 30 second tributes for Lyn and John. No speeches.
- 2.40 Afternoon tea. Please bring a plate.
No presents, as the family has worked very hard to empty the house and find new homes for a lot of their possessions. We will have a card for you to sign. You may prefer to bring your own card.
UK Time Thursday 9 April from 19:00-21:00The Big Quaker Quiz On Thursday 9 April from 19:00-21:00, we are holding the first Woodbrooke Big Quaker Quiz! Join Quizmaster Josh Selfe and test your Quaker knowledge against other Friends in this light hearted evening of fun. Featuring puzzles, pictures and Quaker general knowledge, this quiz will test your lateral thinking skills as much as your information retention skills. Assemble your own team of Friends or come alone and meet new people in one of our home-made teams. Find out more and book here The Big Quaker Quiz - Woodbrooke
See - The Palestinian Quaker School That Survived 150 Years of War and Occupation
Ramallah Friends School was founded in 1869 by Eli and Sybil Jones, the two New England Quakers from Maine. At the time. When they arrived to Ramallah, there was no school for girls in Ramallah. Ramallah was the small Christian village of 3000 inhabitants. Eli and Sybil Jones, after their pilgrimage, raised money and returned promptly to Palestine, to Ramallah, purchased the land and established a school for girls. Land was purchased in in the city of El-Bireh where the school for boys was established. In the last, I think, 30 years, the two schools were mixed. The campuses are beautiful stone structures from the 19th century. The city has grown up all around the campuses. And so they're really sanctuaries of trees and fresh air and greenery. See more here The Palestinian Quaker School That Survived 150 Years of War and Occupation
March QBC - Palestine and Israel: Understanding Encounters
The March QBC (Quaker Book Club) selection is Palestine and Israel: Understanding Encounters by Max Carter.
If you have never witnessed the Holy Land, this volume will bring you one step closer to humanizing the people behind the news headlines. It is a riveting account of the various developments since the Second Intifada and the struggle for peace in the Holy Land, including the "competing narratives" that stall progress toward justice and peace in Palestine. This book challenges everyone to seek a third way in their approach to the Palestinian-Israeli struggle and contributes significantly to the narration of the Ramallah Friends School history. Read the Friends Journal review, here. Obtain a copy here Palestine and Israel e - Wahroonga Send news of f/Friends and newsletter items to quiver...@yahoo.com.au Agenda items for Business Meeting should be emailed at wmnwah...@quakersaustralia.info or handed to a co-clerk. Visit us at "Our Home" First days (Sunday), 9.30 am Meeting for Worship - Wahroonga Friends Meeting, your local peace church. Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) 59 Boundary Road Wahroonga NSW 2076 Email:wmnwah...@quakersaustralia.info Web: Wahroonga Local Meeting | Australia Yearly Meeting A Zoom meeting occurs 9.30 am Sundays Meeting link Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting 918 558 7747 Passcode: 554662 Phone: 02 8015 6011 Please contact Paul Carter if you have any problems.
PHILADELPHIA - At the Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia’s Old City, more and more young people are seeking respite from a clamorous technological age in the silent worship of a centuries-old faith. The faith’s values of simplicity, peace, equality and social justice resonate with a generation seeking authentic community amid national division and constant digital distraction.
Like other Quaker houses of worship, it follows values of simplicity and equality. There’s no clergy, pulpit or altar. No statues of saints, no stained-glass windows. No one sings or chants, burns incense or lights candles. They simply sit in silence in 200-year-old wooden pews — and wait for a message from God to move through them until they speak.
“This feels different in that it’s so simple. It’s set up in a way that makes you feel like your internal world … is equally as important as the space that you’re in,” says Valerie Goodman, a pink-haired artist reading her Bible outside the meeting house on a recent Sunday before going inside. Goodman, 27, grew up Southern Baptist but left the evangelical church in college.
“It feels like I can have a minute to breathe. It’s different than having a moment of meditation in my apartment because there’s still all of the distractions around. … And it’s crazy being in a room full of other people that are all there to experience that themselves.”
It has been called the “Westminster Abbey of Quakerism.” Yet for years, attendance at Arch Street was so low, and its historic 300-seat West Room felt so empty, that the few people present began to meet in a smaller room. But recent years have produced an unprecedented surge in the number of attendees at Sunday worship — from about 25 before the coronavirus pandemic to up to 100 today. “One of the things that I’m very excited about is the number of people that we have coming to meeting, and the fact that the majority of them are young,” says Hazele Goodrich, Arch Street’s clerk. Read more here Young adults turn to Quakers' silent worship to offset — and cope with — a noisy world - Los Angeles Times 2 pm 7 March Farewell Lyn and John DundasLyn and John Dundas have moved to Hobart and Lyn is back for a week while the house is being sold.
The occasion is on Saturday 7 March at 2.00 pm.
- 2.00 - 2.30 Meeting for Worship
- 2.30 - 2.40 short 30 second tributes for Lyn and John. No speeches.
- 2.40 Afternoon tea. Please bring a plate.
No presents, as the family has worked very hard to empty the house and find new homes for a lot of their possessions. We will have a card for you to sign. You may prefer to bring your own card.
UK Time Thursday 9 April from 19:00-21:00The Big Quaker Quiz On Thursday 9 April from 19:00-21:00, we are holding the first Woodbrooke Big Quaker Quiz! Join Quizmaster Josh Selfe and test your Quaker knowledge against other Friends in this light hearted evening of fun. Featuring puzzles, pictures and Quaker general knowledge, this quiz will test your lateral thinking skills as much as your information retention skills. Assemble your own team of Friends or come alone and meet new people in one of our home-made teams. Find out more and book here The Big Quaker Quiz - Woodbrooke
See - The Palestinian Quaker School That Survived 150 Years of War and Occupation
Ramallah Friends School was founded in 1869 by Eli and Sybil Jones, the two New England Quakers from Maine. At the time. When they arrived to Ramallah, there was no school for girls in Ramallah. Ramallah was the small Christian village of 3000 inhabitants. Eli and Sybil Jones, after their pilgrimage, raised money and returned promptly to Palestine, to Ramallah, purchased the land and established a school for girls. Land was purchased in in the city of El-Bireh where the school for boys was established. In the last, I think, 30 years, the two schools were mixed. The campuses are beautiful stone structures from the 19th century. The city has grown up all around the campuses. And so they're really sanctuaries of trees and fresh air and greenery. See more here The Palestinian Quaker School That Survived 150 Years of War and Occupation
March QBC - Palestine and Israel: Understanding Encounters
The March QBC (Quaker Book Club) selection is Palestine and Israel: Understanding Encounters by Max Carter.
If you have never witnessed the Holy Land, this volume will bring you one step closer to humanizing the people behind the news headlines. It is a riveting account of the various developments since the Second Intifada and the struggle for peace in the Holy Land, including the "competing narratives" that stall progress toward justice and peace in Palestine. This book challenges everyone to seek a third way in their approach to the Palestinian-Israeli struggle and contributes significantly to the narration of the Ramallah Friends School history. Read the Friends Journal review, here. Obtain a copy here Palestine and Israel e - Wahroonga Send news of f/Friends and newsletter items to quiver...@yahoo.com.au Agenda items for Business Meeting should be emailed at wmnwah...@quakersaustralia.info or handed to a co-clerk. Visit us at "Our Home" First days (Sunday), 9.30 am Meeting for Worship - Wahroonga Friends Meeting, your local peace church. Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) 59 Boundary Road Wahroonga NSW 2076 Email:wmnwah...@quakersaustralia.info Web: Wahroonga Local Meeting | Australia Yearly Meeting A Zoom meeting occurs 9.30 am Sundays Meeting link Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting 918 558 7747 Passcode: 554662 Phone: 02 8015 6011 Please contact Paul Carter if you have any problems.
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