Providence Friends Meeting Celebrates 325th Anniversary
“Quaker Contributions to Freedom”
The following keynote address was delivered by Friend Sam Lemon, at the 325th anniversary celebration to commemorate the founding of Providence Monthly Meeting, held at the Meetinghouse on Saturday, October 24, 2009.
Providence Meeting’s 325th anniversary celebration
It is a far greater honor than I deserve, to be the keynote speaker at Providence Meeting’s 325th anniversary celebration. The stones of this old Meetinghouse have sheltered Friends far wiser and weightier than I—Friends, whose voices, for over three hundred years, have echoed against these walls and served as channels by which the words of the Divine have been showered upon us like the cool and gentle rain, like water for our spirits that sinks in and heals us from inside.
But I am proud to be called a Friend of Providence Meeting. We are all pilgrims here, who need not be perfect—we simply seek to find and stay on the right path. Each of us here today, is one interconnecting link of an unbroken chain—who has, in his or her own way—whether through worshipful silence or by speaking; or by singing or by sweeping, by cooking or cleaning, raking or mowing, painting or fixing—some part of this wondrous Meetinghouse or its sacred grounds, helped to shepherd our community in the Religious Society of Friends, up to this special day.
Each of us drinks from the same cup, drawn from the same spiritual well within these walls; and although we may come by different paths, together, we are warmed by the collective glow of the Inward Light that shines like a candle within each of us. “Cleave the wood, and I am in it. Lift the stone, and there am I.” There is Something greater than, and a part of all things, that binds us together as one: people, plants, birds, animals, trees, rocks, mountains, valleys, oceans, and sky.
As we sit on these solemn and sturdy benches, on this anniversary day, let us always remember to save a seat, for the spirits of those ancient Friends who sleep in our sunny graveyard, and to whom we are so greatly indebted; and for those whose journeys may have taken them longer to get here than did ours; and for the next generation of Good People who will feel the breath of the Spirit when our hefty door is blown open by the wind to let still others come in to mind the Light.
Samuel M. Lemon, Ed.D.
October 24, 2009
Following the keynote address, Dr. Lemon gave a powerpoint presentation on how local Quakers—Isaac and Elizabeth Smedley Yarnall—helped his ancestors upon their arrival in Media, after their escape from slavery from neighboring plantations in Southampton County, Virginia, during the Civil War.
Good afternoon everyone. I am Samuel Lemon, and on behalf of Providence Monthly Meeting I welcome you on this august occasion. The theme of today’s celebration is Quaker Contributions to Freedom. Since the first days of Penn’s Sylvania, and even before, Friends have been involved in matters of peace, freedom, and social justice. Quakers have long been at the forefront of prison reform, care of the sick, food for the hungry and homeless, proper education for all, the just treatment of American Indians, and the abolition movement. As with any other religious or spiritual group, there has always been diversity of opinion among Friends, even regarding these critical issues. Our movement toward progress has sometimes been a slow, sometimes difficult, and deliberative process. But we are here today, 325 years after our Meeting was born, still working toward peace and greater understanding for all. Obviously, in the course of a few hours, none of these topics can be addressed in great detail. But each of the workshops and presentations will examine a different aspect of these nearly inexhaustible subjects. And I will begin with my own presentation of the contributions that Quakers played in my own family’s history…
Powerpoint presentation followed