Feel free to take a cushion and blanket from the back of the room to make yourself comfortable on the 18th century benches. We are an unprogrammed meeting, which means the silence is only broken when someone is led to share a message. When a message is shared, silence is customary to regard the message. After an hour or so, the rise if Meeting will occur, with a clerk standing to shake a person’s hand in greeting. We then all circulate to greet each other and for us that means a lot of hugs!
Our meeting includes Afterthoughts once the greetings have all take place. Afterthoughts is a time when we are free to share thoughts we had during Meeting that we may not have been led to share during Meeting. Afterthoughts is an informal sharing, sometimes involving some interaction between the group. However, when someone is finished sharing Afterthoughts, it is customary to allow silence afterwards. Once Afterthoughts are shared by those inclined, the clerk will then make any Announcements. We invite you to register in our visitor’s book at the back of the room and hope you will join us again!
Dover-Randolph Friends Meeting (Dover-Randolph Monthly Meeting) is part of All Friends Regional Meeting of New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, which is a member of Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting. Please see the Quaker Resources page for more information on these organizations.
The historic 1758 Dover-Randolph Friends Meeting house is the oldest religious building in continuous use in Morris County, with one of the most intact eighteenth century Quaker Meeting house interiors in the United States. It is supported in part by the Friends Meetinghouse & Cemetery Association. The Meeting house is open to the public for tours on the first Sunday of each month from 1-4pm, April to November.
Here is more information on Meeting for Worship: