Information from 2011 Annual Sessions
This page contains information about the 2011 Annual Sessions. Visit the current Annual Sessions page for up-to-date information about this year's theme, schedule, and registration.
The 2011 theme Powerful Beyond Measure: Trusting the Call to Leadership, was discerned by the Sessions Planning Group after 2010 Sessions, in response to Friends’ desires to understand more clearly the role of power, authority and leadership in our relationships with one another and engagement with the world at large.
Stories from 2011 Annual Sessions:
The "Friend Speaks My Mind" Release Party: Celebrating A Distinctly Quaker Radio Show - July 30
By Jon Watts
On Saturday afternoon Madeline Schaefer hosted a release party for her radio show, "Friend Speaks My Mind". The program focuses issues that are vital to Quakerism today, such as technology, aging, class, and history. Madeline spoke to us about her process of recording the programs and exploring her own faith in putting them together.
Saturday Evening MS, YF, YAF Mixer - July 30
By Jon Watts
Saturday after dinner the Middle School Friends, Young Friends and Young Adult Friends gathered to participate in a mixing program designed around the concepts of heaven and hell, and intended for fun and play. With all of the programs' ages blended together, we sat across the table from a partner, with 2 cups of pudding and a long stick with a spoon attached to the end in front of us. Our task was to feed our partner sitting across the table from us. The story is as follows:
Attending Annual Sessions With My Children - July 29
By Burgess Ekman
Summer sessions are underway once more, away from the city. I am here with my girls because I want them to grow up knowing Quaker community through their own experiences of it, and want them to know the thrill of finding strong connection with other Quakers. I want to be able to plug in to my Quaker community in whatever way I can, while constrained by nap-time, bedtime, and separation anxiety. And so, we are here.
My Experience of Workshops at Annual Sessions - July 29
By Brenda Walker Beadenkopf
I heard singing. "Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit, from thy own thoughts, and then thou wilt feel the principle of God."
In the cool classroom, Paulette Meier was leading chants she'd composed from pearls of Quaker wisdom from George Fox. In antiphonal fashion, the audience repeated the line, then tackled the next. Another chant from Naylor participants learned was, "Light arises out of Darkness and leads thee."
Glimpses Into Interest Groups at Annual Sessions - July 29
By Brenda Walker Beadenkopf
Hey-ya! hey-ya! hey-y! My first glimpse into PYM Interest Groups was a video of "Native Peoples - Leading the Way to Earth Harmony" with drums, chanting and pow wow dancing presented by Kate de Rell. Then the setting changed to a young Native American sitting in a radio studio talking knowelgeably about a new Native concern - PCB's poisoning the water in New Mexico. After fish drink and then humans eat the fish, these poisons, the PCB's get to us.
Quakerism in the 21st Century: Growing into Paradox - July 29
By Jon Watts
On Friday afternoon at PYM Annual Sessions 2011, Tom Gates gave a workshop called "Quakerism in the 21st Century: Growing into Paradox" in which he provided for us a framework that helps to explain the shortcomings of all branches of modern Quakerism. The beauty of this framework, however, is that it simultaneously provides us with an understanding of the tools through which to confront those shortcomings.
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Photos from The PYM House - July 28
Friends at Annual Sessions have been decorating The PYM House, an ongoing community building project offered by PYM Staff. In the playroom next to the FGC bookstore, Friends can use an assortment of craft materials to build their vision of the PYM House:
- How do we make our house welcoming?
- What does it contain?
- What supports it?
The work on the house will be photographed each evening and then emptied for the next day, in the spirit of rebuilding.