Newtown Quaker Kids Feature Angelou Poem for Christmas Program

Quaker children performing at Christmas Program

Newtown Quaker Children Featured Angelou Poem in Special Christmas Program

The children of Newtown Quaker Meeting presented a special one hour Christmas program to a full house on Sunday, December 16, featuring Dr. Maya Angelou’s poetry, the traditional Christmas Story, hymns, carols, and an orchestra composed of children and adults of the Meeting at the historic Friends Meeting house at 219 Court Street. www.newtownfriendsmeeting.org

The program opened with a reading of Maya Angelou’s remarkable “Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem” written for the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the White House in 2005.

Dr. Angelou concludes her stirring poem with:

"We, Angels and Mortal's, Believers and Non-Believers,

Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.

Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.

Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves

And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.

Peace, My Sister.

Peace, My Soul.”

The children then read the traditional Christmas Story from the Bible, interspersed with hymns and carols and finished with each child saying how he or she “would change the world to make it a better place.”

Debbie Watts, Director of Music at the Hun School in Princeton, a resident of Newtown and member of Newtown Quaker Meeting, led the young musicians’ orchestra featuring three cellos and two violins.

Sarah Buxton of Newtown, Clerk of the Children’s Education Committee, said, “The Christmas celebration is a favorite for all of us. It is full of optimism, excitement and cheer. This is the perfect way to enter into the spirit of Christmas. The little ones are always so inspiring as they recite the Christmas story."

Following the children’s program, there was finger food in the Gathering Room of the Meetinghouse with its extensive collection of replicas of Edward Hicks’ paintings of the Peaceable Kingdom, Bucks County farmscapes and historic events. Edward Hicks, Quaker minister and artist, was a co-founder of Newtown Friends Meeting in 1815. The public is invited to attend all events. Child Care is provided.