This past weekend, November 7-9, our Fall Continuing Sessions at Arch Street Meeting House, and online, gathered us into a community for worship, fellowship, and discernment as we continued our theme of Members One of Another, which will continue through all of 2026’s sessions. In the spirit of Lucretia Mott, this Mott Memo captures a reflection of our time together. The minutes from these sessions will soon be available on the PYM website under Session Minutes, so Friends can read and reflect on the work and joy we shared. [Read more…] about Fall Continuing Sessions • Mott Memo • 2025
meeting for worship
Extended Worship: Return home within and dwell in the Light
Extended in-person worship at Merion Friends Meeting House!
11/15/25 9:30 am
Merion Friends Meeting (activities building)
615 Montgomery Ave Merion, PA
Merion Friends Meeting (activities building)
615 Montgomery Ave Merion, PA
Schedule:
9:15 to 9:30 Gathering and Welcome
9:30 to 12:30 Extended Meeting for Worship
12:30 to 1:30 BYO Brown Bag Lunch
1:30 to 3:00 Worship Sharing
3:00 to 3:15 Clean-up and departure.
a mini retreat of extended worship. lie down, roll into a ball and otherwise join us in returning home within and dwelling in the light. NO prior experience with Quakerism or religion is necessary.
Time is slippery. It may take only a moment, or the rest of our lives to discern God’s Will. Our Weekly meetings are Every Sunday at 11 am and they are one hour. This Special Saturday retreat is part of a time honored tradition going back to the early days of the Quaker Experiment in which friends met for long hours, sometimes whole days of listening in body and spirit for a transformative encounter with the divine presence, of the inward light and the eternity which has been set at hour hearts. Paradoxically, We find that the extended duration (usually around three hours) allows any anxiety or feelings of scarcity to drift away into an oceanic sensation of deep time and embodiment that are only just starting to bloom in shorter durations. Our manner of worship is grounded in deep silence, where we hope to gather “with hearts knit together in love” (Colossians 2:2). In this stillness, we set aside the noise of our busy lives and our preconceived thoughts, listening inwardly for spiritual insight and guidance. We believe, that Inward communion is nearer to us than the air we breathe, it fills the secret interiority of all creation and speaks to us at our innermost hearts. In worship we return to a reality that is always within and around us- an invisible and living stream into which we can step at any time.
A Quaker meeting for worship, is a dedicated space in which to Return Home within, and to dwell in the light.
West Philadelphia Friends: A Community Is Valued and Valuable
In West Philadelphia, on Baltimore and 48th, there’s a building where Friends gather to meet. It is not a meetinghouse, but inside those walls, a small community keeps a meeting thriving.
[Read more…] about West Philadelphia Friends: A Community Is Valued and Valuable


