Adult and Children's Activities
2025 - 2026 Schedule of Special Events
September 28, October 19 and 26, November 2, and December 7 and 28
Fall Bible Study - Quaker Style
We will continue with our Bible Study into the Fall. We are reading the Book of Luke. All are welcome, even if you have not participated before. Bibles are available at the Meetinghouse or you can bring your own. We are using the Quaker Method of Studying the Bible by Joanne and Larry Spears. After we read the passage, we ponder the queries below.
1. What is the author's main point in this passage? (MAIN POINT)
2. What new light do I find in this particular reading of this passage of the text? (NEW LIGHT)
3. Is this passage true to my experience? (TRUTH)
4. What are the implications of this passage for my life? (IMPLICATIONS)
5. What problems do I have with this passage? (PROBLEMS)
Beginning October 7, 2025, 6:30 to 8:00pm
Book Study - Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
First Tuesday of each month at 7pm at the Harrisburg Quaker Meeting house. Join us for a faith-based study of Octavia Butler's 1993 novel Parable of the Sower, which explores how our beliefs are shaped when the world we know collapses. See flyer here.
For more information, contact Nancy Alleman at nalleman1@verizon.net.
Registration for current group is now closed.
In-person and Zoom
Join Zoom Meeting (this is different from the worship link)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84722598849?pwd=dDfEhEdPj6jxebytxrzAgamdeylgfI.1
December 6, 2025, 10am to 12pm
Palestine Peace Committee - Write-In! For Palestine
Come and share coffee and tea with the Palestine Peace Sprint Committee and learn about some of the latest issues and what we as individuals can do to help
December 13, 2025, 4 to 8pm and December 14, 11am to 2pm
Fair-trade Holiday Craft Sale to Benefit Amazon Artisans and Holiday Potluck - Saturday December 13
Join us for our Holiday Potluck:
5pm bring your dish
5 to 5:30pm singing upstairs
5:30 to 6:45pm meal
7 to 7:45pm - worship.
Craft sale! Saturday 4 to 8pm: Sunday 11am to 2pm
Harrisburg Friends Meeting will sponsor a sale of beautiful hand-made fair-trade crafts on Saturday, December 13th next to the social room at its Meeting house at 1100 N. 6th Street from 4 to 8pm. This will coincide with our holiday potluck which starts at 5pm. The crafts are made by artisans who work in cooperation with the non-profit organization Amazon Ecology led by HFM member Campbell Plowden. The crafts include a wide variety of Christmas tree ornaments featuring birds and other animals, baskets, bags, jewelry, instruments, and many other decorative and practical items. Purchases help artisan families make a living without harming the forest and support health, education and conservation needs in their communities. For more information about Amazon Ecology, visit www.AmazonEcology.org. See the latest report of their work – Building bonds between artisans and neighbors in the Ampiyacu.
December 21, 2025, 9:45 to 10:45am
Christmas/Holiday Intergenerational Program: Share Our Gifts!
Bring a gift from your heart to share, for example: a poem, a song, show and tell, a story, a prayer, artwork, craftwork, etc. We will also have music and singing.
December 24, 2025, 7 to 8pm
Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship and Singing
7pm we will start with singing.
7:30pm worship will begin with a combination of silent worship and sharing. Bring a poem or reading to share. Worship ends 8 or 8:15pm
Friends can also join by Zoom using our regular worship link.
December 28, 2025, Doors open at 5pm and entry restricted at 6:30pm
Palestine Peace Sprint Committee presents a free dinner and movie night: The Occupation of the American Mind - please RSVP if you would like to attend.
January 18, 2026, 9:45am to 10:45am - Vocal Ministry Roundtable
Bring your questions about vocal ministry and hear from a group of Quaker members and attenders about how they discern when to speak during Worship
Picture from Friends Journal June 2022
February 1, 2026, 9:45am to 10:45am – Mindful Meditation
This is a continuation of the Quakerism and Buddhism talk from this past fall and offered by popular demand. Friends will be introduced to guided meditation.
February 15, 2026, 9:30am to 10:45am (Note the slightly earlier start) – Friends House Moscow
Julie Harlow began working toward the fulfillment of the vision of a Quaker presence in Russia immediately after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Active with the international governing board of Friends House Moscow since its inception, she can share the challenges, disappointments and successes from its beginnings up to the current program. She also speaks knowledgeably about current conditions in Russia based on research, communication with colleagues there, and her personal experience traveling there since 1984. Learn how Friends House Moscow (FHM) provides a Quaker presence and nurtures seekers throughout Russia, Ukraine and beyond; supports programs promoting peace, conflict resolution and justice; helps orphans, refugees, victims of domestic violence, disabled children, COs, teachers of non-violence and AVP; and translates Quaker materials into the Russian language.
Julie is a former teacher, an experienced and entertaining speaker and has been well received at the Summer Gatherings of Friends General Conference and meetings throughout the US since 1992. Going virtual has not diminished the effectiveness of her presentations.
You are invited to send her questions in advance of her presentation to harlow4julie@gmail.com
This promises to be an inspirational and eye-opening presentation, and very timely.
February 22 and March 1, 2026, 9:45 to 10:45am – 4 Doors to Meeting for Worship Parts 1 and 2
In this two part forum, we will explore how to deepen our worship by presenting the themes from the Pendle Hill Pamphlet 306, Four Doors to Meeting for Worship, by William Taber
“The heart of worship is communion with the invisible but eternal stream of reality in which is the living and eternal Chrsit. Worship, then, is something which can be entered at any time of day or night when we are ready to step into that stream, either through the grace of God or through our own great desire (which also involves the grace of God).
One way to enter the stream is to imagine passing through a series of four stages or doors…”
From William Taber’s Four Doors to Meeting for Worship
March 15, 2026, 9:45 to 10:45am - Ben Pink Dandelion, BA, PhD.
Start time might change to allow for a longer session.
Ben Pink Dandelion will present a talk on Quakerism. He is an Honorary Professor of Quaker Studies and Director of the Centre for Postgraduate Quaker Studies at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. His work is in the sociology, history and theology of Quaker studies and in the wider sociology of religion. He founded the Centre for Research Quaker Studies in 1999 and now direct its work. He is currently co-editing with Stephen Angell of the Earlham School of Religion two books on the history and social practice of Quakerism, also researching Philadelphia as a sacred space, and is beginning a longer term project on citizenship and how Quakers have related to wider society across time.
He will join us from the U.K. via Zoom. More information to come.
March 29, 2026, 9:45 to 10:45am – To be Determined
April 5, 2026, 9:45 to 10:45am - Easter Program - to be determined
April 19, 2026, 9:45 to 10:45am – Introduction to Clerking and the Quaker Decision-making Process
Members and Attenders to Friends Meeting should be familiar with Quaker process and Quaker decision-making with respect to clerking. We may each be called to clerk at some point, whether it be for a committee, Business Meeting itself, or perhaps you will be serving on the board of a Quaker-based institution like a Friends School or a Quaker retirement home. This one-hour session will be a brief introduction to some of the basics of clerking and its spiritual underpinnings. Clerking is something we should each take responsibility for, so understanding the process and how it differs from typical secular world decision-making (like Roberts Rules) is crucial to understanding Quakerism and to the smooth functioning of a Friends Meeting.
April 26, 2026, 9:45 to 10:45am – The Gospel of Thomas
Presented by Dan Turner of Abingdon Friends Meeting. More details to come....
May 17, 2026, 9:45 to 10:45am - Program to be Determined
May 31, 2026, 9:45 to 10:45am – Hinduism
Quakerism is rooted in the Christian faith. However, modern Friends have found wisdom in the exploration of other faith traditions that can serve to deepen our own spiritual seeking. Join us for this presentation and discussion about Hinduism, perhaps the oldest religion in the world.
“Hinduism is also an indigenous religion made up of a diverse family of philosophies and traditions that have been practiced primarily throughout Asia for thousands of years. Today, Hinduism is a global religion with adherents representing virtually every racial, ethnic, and national background and living on every continent, and comprising majorities in three countries: India, Nepal, and Mauritius. All beings, from the smallest organism to man, are considered manifestations of the Divine (existence, pure being, light of consciousness) or reflections of the Divine’s qualities, depending upon the school of thought. Because of this shared divinity, Hinduism views the universe as a family or, in Sanskrit, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.” From www.hinduamerican.org/hinduism-basics
June 21, 2026, 9:45 to 10:45am - Program to be Determined
