Holy Experiments - Learning and Working Together at Annual Sessions

Holding Annual Sessions in Philadelphia creates exciting opportunities for planning our time together in new ways. Changing our location stretches us to think outside of “tradition” and do things differently! The focus of sessions planning remains: to create openings for us to be guided by spirit in conducting our business, for learning together, and to leave plenty of room to simply be in relationship with one another in meaningful ways. The spaces in the city and our meetinghouses present new possibilities- since we won’t have the many classrooms of a college campus to inhabit, the city, parks, Friends Center and Arch Street Meetinghouse spaces will serve as our learning environment. We will enjoy our historic home, and make the most of our location in the heart of the city by engaging with community inside and outside the borders of our Meetinghouses.

In response to this opportunity, Sessions Planning Group is organizing Holy Experiments- larger scale group activities on Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons that will stretch us to consider what Penn’s Holy Experiment means for us today. Holy Experiments will include opportunities for worship, fellowship, fun, learning and service through themed programs in these realms:

• Building Foundations for Monthly Meetings
• Digging our Quaker Roots
• Experiments in the Arts
• Exploring our Stories
• Peace and Justice- Deepening our Understanding
• Peace and Justice- Training for Action
• Serious Fun- Cooperative Games
• Worship: Seeking the Holy

Friends may choose to participate in the same realm for all three afternoons, experiencing different aspects of the theme, or may try something different each day. Some of these experiences will be within Friends Center or Arch Street properties, while others will be located nearby in city parks and other places “out in the world”. Since we do not have the classroom space for workshops as we’ve had in recent years, we continue to look for creative ways for Friends to share their leadings within our space limits.

The Sessions Planning Group Program Committee is coordinating Holy Experiments and other programs that will take place when we are not in Meeting for Business. 

If you have an idea for a Holy Experiment, please send it to Margaret Mansfield:  mmansfield14@gmail.com . You may also contact Tricia Coscia, Sessions Coordinator, 215 241 7238 for general information.

Click here to return to the main Annual Sessions page.