{"id":737,"date":"2011-04-08T00:46:53","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T00:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.DurhamFriendsMeeting.org\/?page_id=737"},"modified":"2026-03-02T12:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:00:22","slug":"our-meeting","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?page_id=737","title":{"rendered":"Our Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Our current Sunday Worship is hybrid:\u00a0 in person and also via ZOOM (1st, 2nd and 3d Sundays).\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We have found comfort in the metaphor of the potluck.\u00a0 Each of us brings what we are able, a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?attachment_id=1690\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1690\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1690 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Meeting-photo-17.10-300x146.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Meeting-photo-17.10-300x146.png 300w, https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Meeting-photo-17.10.png 416w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>nd we gather joyfully to share the bounty.\u00a0 It does not matter if we have little or nothing to bring, there is always enough.\u00a0 And being with each other, in light and laughter while giving thanks, is our deepest blessing.\u00a0 We are grateful. (From our <a href=\"..\/our-meeting\/state-of-the-society-2011\/\">State of the Society 2011<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The usual order of our worship service is:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">10:25 Open Hymn Sing<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Message Giver speaks when moved<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Unprogrammed Worship <\/strong><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">(people speak as moved)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">~11:15 Sharing of joys and concerns<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Announcements and introduction of visitors<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Final Hymn<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Meeting is usually closed by handshakes, led by people on facing bench.\u00a0\u00a0After meeting please stay to enjoy refreshments with us and sign our guest book. \u00a0On the 4th Sunday each month (and 5th Sunday if there is one) we have unprogrammed worship and no Zoom connection.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>How We Do Things at Durham Friends Meeting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Durham Friends Meeting meets every Sunday for worship lasting about an hour followed by a social hour with refreshments. It begins at 10:25 am.&nbsp; This weekly worship is the heart of all that we do.&nbsp; And Durham Friends Meeting does a great deal more.&nbsp; Here\u2019s an overview of how we do various things.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meeting members and attenders meet once a month to conduct business.&nbsp; We do this using Quaker business practice in which we search together for unity without taking votes.&nbsp; You can find <a href=\"https:\/\/neym.org\/faith-practice\/part-4\/chapter-1\/business-meetings\">a good overview<\/a> of this in New England Yearly Meeting\u2019s <em>Faith and Practice<\/em>.&nbsp; (Durham Friends Meeting is a member Meeting of NEYM.&nbsp; <em>Faith and Practice<\/em> is the document that tells us how we do things like approve new members, perform marriages, conduct memorial services and the like.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The monthly meeting for business takes place on the 3d Sunday of each Month following the social hour.&nbsp; A clerk (Quakerese for a chairperson) conducts the meeting and is assisted by a recording clerk who keeps the minutes.&nbsp; Most of what the business meeting considers comes forward in reports from various committees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the business meeting agrees on a course of action, we agree together on a wording that states what we have agreed to.&nbsp; These statements are the heart of the minutes, and we leave the meeting knowing what we have agreed together to do.&nbsp; The minutes also contain brief summaries of committee reports and of what we discuss at business meeting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today the Meeting has about nine standing committees.&nbsp; &nbsp;Descriptions of what the various committees do can be found in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=3602\">Meeting Handbook<\/a>.&nbsp; Members of these committees are proposed by a Nominating Committee and approved by the monthly business meeting, usually in January each year.&nbsp; We encourage everyone connected to the Meeting to serve on a committee.&nbsp; A list of committee members is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=4656\">here<\/a>.&nbsp; Most committees have a regular time that they meet once a month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Communications Committee puts together Newsletter, <em>Best of Friends<\/em>, which goes out once a month, usually at the very end of one month to cover activities for the month head.&nbsp; Material to be submitted for the Newsletter should be in the hands of the editor by the Wednesday following business meeting (3d Sunday of the month).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Meeting also has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/\">Website<\/a> that posts all of the information in the Newsletter.&nbsp; The website also includes messages that have been delivered on some Sunday mornings, committee reports and a good deal of additional information.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For 2025-26<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clerk\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0             Rotating<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Meeting Care Coordinator     Leslie Manning<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recording Clerk\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0            Ellen Bennett<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Newsletter editor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0             Ellen Bennett<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Website editor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Doug Bennett\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Meeting is connected to the wider world of Quakers through a number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=3740&amp;action=edit\">connections<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our current Sunday Worship is hybrid:\u00a0 in person and also via ZOOM (1st, 2nd and 3d Sundays).\u00a0\u00a0 We have found comfort in the metaphor of the potluck.\u00a0 Each of us brings what we are able, and we gather joyfully to &hellip; 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