The magnolia buds are slower to bloom this year but the sight of them means it is time for the PYM Annual Grant Makers potluck at Arch Street Meeting. The PYM Granting Committee sponsors two annual gatherings for the many Friends who are led to support the yearly meeting by being stewards of our grant funds. The fall Grant Makers Appreciation Luncheon will be held Saturday, October 6th at Friends Center. [Read more…] about PYM Grants – Sharing Our Stories
Archives for April 2018
2018 Birmingham State of the Meeting Report
- Six Friends met to Worship Share around 3 queries, considered one at a time.
- Half were female and half male, representing points of view of young people, new Friends and attenders (4 years or less), and long time members (more than 20 years at Birmingham).
- Query 1: What practices does our meeting provide to improve or help us prepare for worship?
Ministry
- There was appreciation expressed for opening exercises, both the music and the ministry from various members and attenders of the meeting. The fact that everyone is welcome to give opening exercises and tell about their thoughts and experiences is something that draws the meeting together. It’s good to hear the queries and notice how responses may change over time. The silence beforehand prepares us to hear the queries.
- Singing helps settle the group, creating a common experience and connecting us in the worship that follows.
- There is an intention that Friends come to worship, which is important to the quality of worship. Some Friends come and settle early to prepare the space for worship as others gather. This helps set the tone for the worship that is to follow. We come into a space where it’s easier to settle.
- There is an openness and calmness to the silence that helps us to let go of our work and worries and to help us center. There is a feeling of connection with each other, rather on individual thoughts.
- Worship and Ministry Committee has been intent on keeping the meeting room as a space for worship. They have helped deepen our worship and remove distractions by encouraging us to end Meeting for Business 15 min before worship begins. They also have moved the Greeter’s table away from the door to the meeting room and into the hall, where the initial socializing doesn’t interfere with preparation for worship.
- Query 2: What could the meeting do better to improve our worship and the spiritual life of the meeting?
Ministry
- There is a desire for more adult education and discussion. Worship and Ministry has organized some discussions around videos or pamphlets, but there needs to be more of these opportunities. Hearing different points of view in discussions help push us out of our own comfort zone and expands our understanding.
- More intergenerational opportunities would give both young and old to learn from each other. There is much to learn from our young people.
- There was a desire by young and old to learn more about the Bible and the specifics of the stories. There was once a Sunday evening Bible Study that is missed, including the conversations and bonding that went on during that time. The youth did express appreciation for activities like the plays that reinforce the Bible and Quaker stories.
- There was a desire for the children to spend more time in worship. Fifteen minutes is not sufficient time for them to get the full experience of worship and the messages.
- Query 3: How does God call our meeting to witness to the needs of the world? What could we do better?
Ministry
- Birmingham Meeting as a meeting gives to local groups such as Friends Association as well as national Friends organizations. We hold two dinners each year where the proceeds go to charities. We do other fundraising and activities such as gardening at the Barclay Friends’ garden. Children participate in gardening, raising money for UNICEF with pennies for pumpkins, and activities that lead to donations for the children at Friends Association.
- Many individual members and attenders and groups within the meeting have leadings that help people in need, such as work with the homeless, the food banks, refugee support and prison work. These Friends provide inspiration and volunteer opportunities for others within the meeting and the wider community. Many Friends raise our awareness to ways we can become involved in letter writing, marches, and local action. The meeting is a touchstone to access information about these actions.
- We recognize that Quakerism is more than a religion, but a way of life. It leads to a desire to help the world, community and people in need.
- How could we do better? Some members and attenders who live at a distance would like to know more about local charities, centered in the West Chester community. Our meeting may want to focus our engagement in a single issue by discussion and witness. For instance, race relations is a topic that the wider Quaker community is focusing on. This would add another layer to our witness in the world.
Some Thoughts from the 1955 Friends Journal
Change of Status for the PYM Clerk Role
Dear Friends,
After March Continuing Sessions Presiding Clerk Penny Colgan-Davis communicated with Melissa Rycroft, Clerk of Nominating Council that, due to health concerns, she was stepping down immediately as Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Penny simultaneously shared this news with the Clerks of Administrative and Quaker Life Councils, the PYM Treasurer, and our General Secretary, and then with our three Alternate Clerks. We are tremendously grateful to Penny for her faithful, grounded, and heartfelt service to the yearly meeting in this role and hold her in the Light as she moves forward in this next chapter of her life.
Nominating Council intends to bring forward a nomination for Presiding Clerk as the first order of business at our Annual Sessions in late July. Until then, we need to chart our way forward without a presiding clerk until the start of Annual Sessions. The PYM Governance Handbook does not make provision for this, so the Council Clerks, the Treasurer, and the three Alternate Clerks have come together to craft a plan, which they revised and refined following consultation and input from members of the three councils on a joint Zoom web/phone conference. It will allow us to move forward and be prepared for Annual Sessions this summer. It takes into consideration the published job descriptions for Presiding Clerk, Rising Clerk (which we do not have right now) and Alternate Clerks, as well as each individual’s available time and familiarity with matters before PYM which require attention to get us to Annual Sessions in good order. Throughout this process we have worked outward, continuously including a broader range of input to arrive at this plan.
The three Alternate Clerks, Amy Kietzman, Tom Hoopes and Chris Lucca, and the clerks of Quaker Life and Administrative Council, Amy Taylor Brooks, and Bruce Haines, will function as a collaborative group to perform the duties of the clerk that are necessary to get us to Annual Sessions in July. The two council clerks will convene this group.
We have learned a lot in the course of making this plan. One is that the job description for Alternate Clerks is very much to assist and serve as a support, as requested by the clerk. As a result, each alternate clerk has unique and defined experiences and knowledge. It also is clear that the Alternate Clerk role was not designed to be a full substitute for a presiding clerk and they have not inhabited it that way. A big part of our goal right now is to support the Alternate Clerks in preparing to take a greater clerking role coming into sessions and have greater participation in sessions planning than before. It is much harder to clerk what you have not helped prepare! This aligns with two of the more urgent and time-consuming roles in the clerk’s job description for attention before Annual Sessions which are to “work closely with the process for planning annual-sessions” and to “consult regularly with the General Secretary of the yearly meeting, and receive minutes and relevant correspondence for attention.” Quaker Life Council already oversees the Sessions Planning Committee and Administrative Council has oversight responsibility in regard to support these roles in addition to their background knowledge of the activities and business of PYM between sessions.
The Alternate Clerks have been invited to attend council meetings going forward, as the clerk would, and to become as engaged with Sessions Planning Committee as they can. Amy and Bruce will jointly receive communications to the clerk@pym.org email address and share responses with the team. The five of us are committed to making sure that the role of clerk is well covered for the next four months.
We know some of you may have questions to more fully understand this process. We are therefore scheduling two Zoom meetings to take your questions. These will be at 7:30 PM on Wednesday and Thursday, April 11 and 12. We invite you to join us. Instructions to participate are below.
Faithfully,
Amy Taylor Brooks, Clerk, Quaker Life Council
Bruce Haines, Clerk, Administrative Council
Amy Kietzman, Alternate Clerk
Tom Hoopes, Alternate Clerk
Chris Lucca, Alternate Clerk
Conference Calls
Date: Wednesday, April 11th, 2018
Start Time: 7:30 pm
Duration: 1 hours
Internal Phone Number: x 7110
External Phone Number: (215) 241-7110
Access Code: 89209543
Date: Thursday, April 12th, 2018
Start Time: 7:30 pm
Duration: 1 hours
Internal Phone Number: x 7110
External Phone Number: (215) 241-7110
Access Code: 22786837
To access these conference calls dial either the internal or external phone number and enter the access code when prompted. To mute or unmute your line press *1 .
Community Building: Awareness & Empowerment
Beth Popelka has followed a leading about theatre as a transformative practice that connects communities to the sacred since early in her adult life. For the past twenty years, she has worked to continue the legacy of Augusto Boal and other innovators to create dramatic group experiences that open communities to hidden sources of healing and wholeness.
“The exploration of embodied imagery empowers communities to face issues which they might otherwise avoid,” according to Beth. It helps them access others way of knowing. Ways that tap into the body’s wisdom.
The Wisdom of the Body to Heal Itself
“The body knows our condition if you will. It holds our traumas and our hurts. But, it can also open us to so much wisdom about coping with life and overcoming trauma and pain. When we get to be in our bodies, to enact our stories of pain and of joy as a group, we discover that our awareness of our needs and of others expands. Creating a connection,” says Beth.
“Not only that but the stories we tell ourselves about life, especially our lives and our troubles with others, come to be seen in a new and often healing light.” This is what makes the work so exciting for Beth. “For me, it is a sacred practice because, like Quaker meeting, when it works well, it is a collected peak experience that connects us to the mystery and wonder of being alive.”
A Source of Empathy and Compassion
At the recent, PYM Pastoral Care Thread Gathering, Beth led the morning workshop on responding to conflict in meeting. As each small group presented its embodied dramatic image, the picture-story of its conflict, Friends watching could be heard expressing sighs of recognition and “a-ha’s” of empathy and insight.
The compassion expressed by everyone to the image and the wisdom revealed in its embodied presentation was profound and moving. It led to a strong sense of empowerment, knowing that the solution to many of our problems may be found in the images we hold about them. And, that creatively embodying these image reveals a deep wisdom that leads to transformation and renewal for communities and individuals.
Beth Popelka is available as a Resource Friend to conduct Empowerment and Community Building Workshops and can be reached at popelkavision@yahoo.com
Junior Friends Conference Hosted by Abington Quarter
“This is the best week of my life.” 4th Grade Student
For more than forty years, Abington Quarter has supported two summer youth programs for members and attenders of Friends Meetings within the Quarter: Junior Friends Conference (JFC) and Middle School Friends Conference (MSFC). The opportunity to join the Junior Friends Conference is open to all young people in PYM completing grades 2-6! The JFC program is a one-week residential conference. This year, it will be held Sunday, June 17- Friday, June 22, 2018 at The George School in Bucks County. The week will feature: arts, ecology, games, worship, swimming, talent sharing, team building, and campfires.
The JFC program offers participants the opportunity to live in a “Friendly” community that strives to live Quaker testimonies. It is called a “conference”and not a camp because while there is fellowship and fun, the focus is to provide an environment rich in Quaker values. The hope is for all children to benefit spiritually, emotionally and physically as a result of their experiences. A 5th Grade student reflected: “Thank you sooo much for helping me to come here, and I can’t explain how thankful I am to be in this wonderful community.”
Friends are asked to register no later than April 30, and questions can be directed to Karen Shanoski shanoski@comcast.net.
50 years after Dr. King’s death, local Quakers are on the move and in the news.
“Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham
Washington, DC – Live stream Quaker Volunteer Service’s Director of Equity and Inclusion, Oscar Castro, and PYM’s General Secretary, Christie Duncan-Tessmer as they make their remarks on the mall at 10:30 today. They are being featured at the National Council of Church’s (NCC)—Act to End Racism—a day-long event. The gospel singer/actress Yolanda Adams, the Dakota tribal leader, Louie Blue Coat, and actor Danny Glover will be speaking, along with faith leaders, the health professional, Dr. Mary I. O’Connor and the civil rights activist, DeRay McKesson. This event is a kick-off for a longer-term, national, undertaking that will tap into NCC’s network of 100,000 churches to work to bring about an end to racism.
Philadelphia, PA – A Quaker from Newtown Meeting, Norval Reece, who worked and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, will be featured on CBS between 5:00 and 6:00 PM. A video of that feature has been posted below. He will be talking about his activism with Dr. King, and about the jobs creation/economic justice planning they did several months before King was killed.
Live Streaming Event: Join Christie & Oscar on the National Mall
PYM Friends Christie Duncan-Tessmer and Oskar Castro will be speaking at the ACT to End Racism Rally on the national mall on Wednesday, April 4 at 10:30, giving remarks after Rev. Jim Wallis speaks.
The full event will be live streamed at the following link:
Members of Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Native American and numerous other congregations from all over the United States will be joined by individuals from the Religious Society of Friends to convene a day of prayer, and mobilization on the National Mall in Washington DC. The cause is ambitious – putting an end to Racism – and the tools are simple; standing together, sharing words of inspiration, expressing contrition for complicity, and taking responsibility for change.
As invited speakers for this National Council of Churches event, PYM Friends Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary, and Oskar Castro, Social Justice Resource Friend for PYM and Director of Equity and Inclusion for Quaker Voluntary Service are sharing personal reflections and prayers at about 10:30 AM on April 4th. You can tune in to hear their remarks live, and know that members of our faith are present and hopeful for a better future.
The full program of events runs from 9AM-4PM – 50 years to the day on which Dr. Martin Luther King died.
Worship in Solidarity with the March for Our Lives
Haddonfield Monthly Meeting welcomed some thirty people on Saturday, March 24, between 10-Noon, for a period of worship in solidarity with the 800+ March for Our Lives rallies across the globe Members of Haddonfield and Medford Meetings, as well as some nearby churches participated. Participants reported that some strong messages were shared during worship, and that it felt like a gathered meeting. Among the 30 participants were members of Haddonfield and Medford Meetings ( in New Jersey), and some nearby churches. Sponsored by the Meeting’s Peace and Social Concerns Committee, this opportunity for worship was created for those who were unable to participate in marches but wanted a way to support these efforts.