Southern
Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association (SAYMA)
of the Religious
Society of Friends
PO Box 2191
Abingdon VA 24212-2191 276-628-5852 AdminAsst@sayma.org
Young Adult
Friends presented the following "YAF 'Pistle" to the tune of
"Simple Gifts."
Tis a gift to be
at SAYMA,
Tis a gift to be
YAF,
Tis a gift to
worship-share
And sing and
laugh.
And when we find a
movie
And some snacks
late at night,
We will bond with
graduates And share our inner light.
Sadly, we never
did play Wink;
But we had a good
time with SAYFers, we think.
We talked about
our colleges
And where we're
going next,
And why our lives
and futures
Are
so...darn...complex.
Tis a gift to go
to worship,
Tis a gift to
sleep late;
How we manage both
Is a source of
much debate.
We drag ourselves
to meals
And we worship
with adults,
Though zoning out
at business meeting
Makes us feel like
dolts.
When old and new
friends have been fused
We'll bond over
memories
And catch the
latest news.
And our group is
taking flight,
And we trust that
in turning
We'll come round
right.
Young Adult
Friends made a dramatic presentation of their epistle, which was warmly
received by the rest of the meeting. The final highlight was the introduction
of the seven SA YF graduates who have joined their number.
Note on Y AF
epistle: All underlined words have appropriately cheesy synergistic-type hand
motions. Make up sufficient silliness accordingly.
Sign: Hold one hand up as if holding crystal
ball over the head.
Long-range: Extend one arm out while keeping the
other at rib-Ievel.
Vision: Like "long-range," only at head
level.
God: Hold both hands fingers upward, at head level, wiggling fingers.
Groove: Wiggle fingers on one hip. ~: Make Y -signs like horns.
Laboring: Hand on forehead--"Alas"
gesture.
Our theme for this
Yearly Meeting was "Where is everybody?" We had a vision
of people, many people. But there were only five of us. Hi Jess! Hi
Jonah! Hi Priscilla! Hi Lauren! Hi John! In addition to our small numbers, we
also found ourselves laboring with exhausting. Then we received a
sign from God that to perk ourselves up, we should go to business
meeting. Upon emerging from these meetings, we found new wholeness
in our positions of service to the Yearly Meeting. Business
meeting inspired us to hold more business meeting, of YAF-type business.
And we received a of a Long-Range Vision from God! We were led to ask
that age-old question: "Who the heck are we?" We knew we had to be
something more than aging SAYFers who happen to kidnap people of a similar age.
As we develop this identity, we wish to grow large enough to plan
activities for Yearly Meeting in advance, while still continuing our
involvement in the SA YMA community.
Then, we
remembered that there were only five of us! So, we invented a short-term plan
to be a vehicle to our Long-Range Vision from God! First, we obtained a
"powerful" position on the Planning Committee which will enable us to
advertise our Long-Range Vision from God better. To continue our evangelism, we
will be writing an article for the Southern Appalachian Friend and hopefully
creating some type of website to help facilitate our communication with Friends
who were * cough * not here at this gathering. We again felt the press of
exhaustion and off we went on a foot journey to groove with the cows. Seeing
such intelligent beasts, we were inspired to deep philosophical conversations
about education, meaning, and death. By Saturday night, we gathered a new group
of converts--seven SA YF graduates. We celebrated our population growth and our
Long-Range Vision from God with ice cream and donuts late into the night. In
conclusion, we ask you to go tell it on the mountain and help spread our
Long-Range Vision from God to all of those unknown and possibly derelict YAFs
who can help us construct our Beloved Community .