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The Meeting assembled at the appointed hour and settled into open worship.
- Minute 1: Welcome toVisitors
Clerk Arlene Kelly introduced the Friends on the facing bench and welcomed visitors from other Yearly Meetings.
- Minute 2: Dates for Forthcoming Annual Session
The Annual Sessions Planning Group has scheduled our next sessions at Arch Street Meeting House for March 24, 2001, for reports of Nominating Committee and the budget, and in residential sessions in Allentown during the third week of July 2001.
- Minute 3: Incoming Epistle
The Clerk introduced Kenneth Sutton, clerk of the Epistle Project Group, who read an epistle from Southeastern Yearly Meeting. These Friends recorded their sense of being led to struggles beyond themselves and turning to God for the strength to match the call.
- Minute 4: Continuing Reflections on What We Are Called to as a Yearly Meeting
The Clerk introduced our continued discussion of what we are called to as a Yearly Meeting by recapping the history of the question in its current form and summarizing the events of our Friday evening sessions. Arlene then introduced Thomas Swain and Peg Szczurek of the ad hoc group that planned our consideration of our leading.
Tom observed that Friday evening was an opportunity of deep sharing for those who were there. From this, he heard several basics: that God is important to us, that God is actively with us, that we hear God through our endeavors, that leadings come to individuals who then find success with support of their community. He also was impressed with the bonds of affection that were formed and renewed.
Peg shared a summary of the messages received in the discussion. Important among them was the need to focus on our children, to experience transformation, to bond together as a spiritual people, to reaffirm the Divine in our lives.
From the body of Meeting, Friends testified to a strengthened sense of God in each person, to an intimate connection among us as a community of seekers united not intellectually but in the soul, to a greater sense of God among us than has been evident before.
It was noted that, as valuable as the searching has been, we did not find a specific mission to devote to.
Tom then brought forward recommendations on how we might proceed:
- That we share how these sessions of Yearly Meeting affected us in our spiritual path.
- That each monthly meeting be invited in a letter from the Clerk to take up these three sets of queries in whatever way or forum they feel best in answering them and to record their responses for sharing later.
- That we hold a one-day session where we share these responses and consider our next steps.
- That we ask the ad hoc group to carry this forward through to the one-day session, after which the group would be laid down.
It was hoped that the session could occur in autumn of this year; however, this may be rushing matters and may need to take longer, perhaps culminating at the March 2001 sessions.
A Friend noted that our profound experience was founded upon and buoyed by our deep sessions of corporate worship, which should be recommended to our meetings. Also important to our experience was reaching out and sharing from our individual experiences with Friends who are not familiar to us. Thus, Quarterly Meeting might be a better venue for these discussions than Monthly Meeting.
Our message should be sensitive not to presume to direct the activities of our monthly meetings. Including the minutes of the Friday evening session may help communicate the sources of our desire for them to participate. We should be careful not to be too directive in our recommendations, but to issue an invitation to share our experience of joy and fulfillment. Our language should also be sensitive to the range of Quaker experience of the Divine.
Also, we may offer a roster of resource people and other agencies, such as Yearly Meeting’s Meeting for Worship and Ministry, who may be called upon to facilitate these discussions.
This is, of course, not a one-time exercise. The search for divine call is a continuing exercise.
With the considerations expressed, those assembled approved the plan for moving forward.
- Minute 5: Review of Referrals
The Clerk reviewed the list of business of these Yearly Meeting sessions that is being referred to other bodies for further consideration or reports back to future Annual Sessions. Arlene listed four items:
- a letter to monthly meetings expressing concerns from our discussion of living peacefully in a violent world,
- the outgoing epistle,
- the minute on drug abuse and the War on Drugs,
- the ongoing consideration of how we are led.
From the body of Meeting, it was suggested that we place a newspaper ad during the Republican National Convention, urging adoption of peace-related positions. This concern was referred to Interim Meeting for fuller consideration.
- Minute 6: Singing
The Clerk invited those assembled to fellowship in song, with hymns selected from the FGC hymnal.
- Minute 7: Nominating Committee Report
Alternate Clerk Anne Moore called upon Rich Ailes, clerk of the Yearly Meeting Nominating Committee, to present the full roster of names who have agreed to serve on various Yearly Meeting committees, as well as the resignation of three Friends from Standing Committees. The roster for these nominations had been posted during these sessions.
- Appointed to Education Standing Committee were Margaret Kendon and Mardy D. Shaw.
- Appointed to Financial Stewardship Committee were Jacqueline D. Bowers, Lester Hopton, and Stephan de la Veaux.
- Appointed to General Services Standing Committee were Frances Beer, Walter C. Evans, and Alice W. Waddington.
- Appointed to Peace & Concerns Standing Committee were Howard Cell, Jacqueline Hurley, Jon Llewellyn Landau, and Jean-Marie Prestwidge-Barch.
- Appointed to Support & Outreach Standing Committee were Frances Dreisbach, Douglas W. Meaker, and Janet Shepherd.
- Appointed to Worship & Care Standing Committee were Alison A. Anderson, Sondra J. Ball, Edward Broadfield, and Christopher F. Paulmier.
- Appointed to Coordinating Council of the Friends Peace Teams Project was Richard Grier-Reynolds.
- Appointed to Fiduciary Corporation of PYM were Lester Hopton, Arthur Larrabee, Charles Ulford, and Thomas Williams.
- Appointed to Friends Committee on Unity with Nature was Hollister Knowlton.
- Appointed to the National Council of Churches 2003 Panel were Muriel W. Edgerton and Thomas Swain.
- Appointed to the Interim Meeting At-Large 2003 Panel were Howard Eyre and Lois Frey.
- Resigning from General Services Standing Committee were Thomas Peterson and Charles C. Thomas Jr.
- Resigning from Peace & Concerns Standing Committee was Robert Grow.
Those assembled accepted the resignations and approved the appointments.
Rich then nominated the clerks for our next Yearly Meeting sessions:
- For recording clerks: Mario Cavallini, Suzanne R. Day, and Stephan de la Veaux.
- For alternate clerks: Richard N. Bernard and Dudley (Sandy) Heath
- For clerk: Arlene Kelly.
Those assembled approved the nominations.
Rich asked that the Meeting record its appreciation of the service of the clerks and recording clerks in these sessions. This was approved enthusiastically by those assembled, who also expressed gratitude for the skill and efforts of Nominating Committee in staffing our offices.
- Minute 8: Outgoing Epistle — Final Reading
The Clerk called upon Steve Gulick of the Epistle Project Group to present the final version of our outgoing epistle. The Meeting asked that the text of the minute on drug abuse be included with the epistle, that Peter Goldberger be named in the epistle, that the financial assistance statement be refined, and that we might capture the theme of “running into the arms of God” or “going fully into the presence of God.” With these concerns, those assembled approved the epistle.
- Minute 9: Minute of Exercise
The Clerk offered her minute of exercise, in which she celebrated our realization of the presence of the Holy Spirit and our longing for a sense of being impelled corporately. We are aware of many injustices in the world that demand attention, but we yet lack the right order to address these. Our Annual Sessions have become an important yet circumscribed event; an isolated arena, rather than a stage in a year-round process.
Arlene perceived threads running through our session, especially addressing our peace testimony. We have assembled the patches of a quilt, which we view singly and not as a whole. Yet it is in viewing the whole that we best sense the Spirit that permeates all. We need to find better ways to view the whole.
The minutes of this session were then read and approved with corrections. After announcements and a period of worship, the Meeting adjourned, purposing to meet again in Third-month 2001, God willing.
Mario Cavallini, recording clerk
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM