When planning for Saturday, March 28 and youth programs at Spring Continuing Sessions took an unexpected turn with COVID-19, it didn’t take long for staff to shift gears and think about what is important when we gather in our youth communities, and how to recreate that same energy in a virtual setting. Both Middle School Friends and Young Friends gathered virtually during the weekend of March 28-29 using Zoom. MSF brought the positive middle school energy and their typical warm welcome to a gathering with both new staff members and new faces among the youth participants. Young Friends used two meetings to do much of what they usually engage in at gatherings: fun and fellowship, committee work, meeting for business, worship, and loving one another in community. [Read more…] about Youth Programs Zooming!
Archives for March 2020
115 Strong: PYM’s Zoom Spring All Ages Sessions Worship
At 9:45 on Saturday March 28th, Friends began logging into our PYM all All Ages Sessions Worship. By 9:48 we had 50 people; four minutes later we reached 78; and finally we reached 115. Friends used the chat function for helpful messages about how to manage the technology and offered their greetings. Computer screens were filled with images of Friends everywhere, and some five or six friends also called in by phone. It was wonderful for Friends to see everyone.
Jonathan Rhoads, Alternate Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM), welcomed the community to PYM’s virtual joining in Worship. We were meeting under conditions of physical distancing imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but our virtual community is strong and growing.
Melinda Wenner Bradley, PYM’s Youth Religious Life Coordinator, offered her own message of welcome to the all-ages gathering. She noted that whether families were worshiping in Zoom at their meetings, or together at home, we were all connected by spirit. She reminded friends that even as some hearts may be heavy with our condition, when children are present Friends can be mindful of lightening that weight.
Soon afterwards, we heard, in a humble acknowledgement, that today’s gathering place is part of the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape; land where Lenape Tribal Nations people have continuing presence and relationship with their territory. We affirmed the aspiration of harmony between the Lenape people of this land and early Quakers.
Outside many of our homes rain fell, and the sky promised that the land would not suffer drought.
Friends shared several messages of Spirit and hope during the hour of worship. It is Friends’ practice not to record vocal ministry so we’ll simply capture here that the messages included a prayer, a hymn, a biblical passage and gave some shape to the practical and spiritual experience of being in this time.
Melanie Douty Snipes and Johnathan Snipes broke worship with the song “Give me Oil in My Lamp.” It was remarkable to see some 100 faces singing together at one time. After a second song, “Jubilate Deo,” Melanie and Jonathan closed with the African-American Spiritual “Every Time I Feel the Spirit.”
Christie Duncan-Tessmer, PYM’s General Secretary, then concluded our Spring Continuing Sessions with a statement that we Friends of PYM create an “architecture of love in community” when we are together. She offered; “what a joy it is for us to be with one-another in this way. This day has been a perfect illustration of what a yearly meeting is and can be. Each of us–from our home spaces–are joining across the geography of multiple states; we share spirit among us. As we walk across the larger world – we are here together. Be well!”
A group of Friends continued to share their reflections in conversation at the rise of meeting via the zoom call. Friends were reminded that virtual events can be posted on the PYM website and were also invited to log in to other Friends’ Zoom Meetings for Worship as they wish.
Melinda Wenner Bradley noted that Middle School Friends are doing a virtual hangout later today and Young Friends are continuing with their virtual meetings and sharing digital space as well. All Virtual Events are listed on the community calendar at pym.org/virtual-events/
PYM is launching a new digital program of Wednesday Evening Worship for Children and Families at 7:30 each week.
Meg Rose, our Young Adult Friends Coordinator, noted by Zoom chat that Young Adult Friends meet for worship each Thursday.
Friends with pastoral care needs can email our Care and Aging Coordinator George Schaefer.
With rain still falling in the background, our Zoom call closed at 11:50.
PYM Staff: A Balancing Act on Work from Home vs. Private Time
Remote work at PYM launched two weeks ago. The shift has presented both opportunities and challenges with children at home, shared workspaces with spouses and roommates, and in some cases, excessive isolation when there are no housemates to chat with.
Like Quakers everywhere, PYM staff’s approach to working from home is leading to creative outcomes and interesting ways to address work and make personal connections in communities everywhere.
[Read more…] about PYM Staff: A Balancing Act on Work from Home vs. Private Time
Sustaining Community in Challenging Times – Report from Lehigh Valley
The following report comes from Lehigh Valley Friends Meeting’s recent experience with virtual Meeting for Worship. With thanks to Friend John Marquette, who interviewed Lehigh Valley Worship & Ministry clerk, Mary Lou Hatcher
On March 22, six Friends from Lehigh Valley gathered at their Bethlehem meetinghouse to experience and share worship online.
Many meetings have selected the Zoom system to begin online meetings for worship. Lehigh Valley took an incremental step toward true unprogrammed worship with a live stream using YouTube Live and a notebook computer. [Read more…] about Sustaining Community in Challenging Times – Report from Lehigh Valley
Minutes from 3.17.20 Clerks/Coordinators Zoom Meeting
Clerks Zoom Call minutes – 3.17.20
Christie took attendance at 7:01 – initially there were 25 on the video conference plus another 12 on the phone, growing to 61 finally.
Christie read a defining statement from a registrant and then led the digital community in worship.
Defining Statement: The challenging thing about this pandemic is that it pits two of our most deeply held values against each other. The first is the health and well-being of our community. The other is that a direct and unmediated relationship with the Divine is best experienced together, in community, as one body. [Read more…] about Minutes from 3.17.20 Clerks/Coordinators Zoom Meeting
Travel & Witness Grant Report: Friends Reflect on Travel in Ghana
In August of 2019, Vanessa Julye of Central Philadelphia Meeting led a group of Quakers to Ghana to explore the histories of Ghana and the United States. The trip, part of Vanessa’s 25-year ministry to address White Supremacy within the Religious Society of Friends, provided people of all races an opportunity to have critical conversations about history.
[Read more…] about Travel & Witness Grant Report: Friends Reflect on Travel in Ghana
General Secretary to Take Wellness Leave
Our General Secretary, Christie Duncan-Tessmer has served PYM as staff for over 14 years and served as General Secretary for more than five years.
With gratitude for the work accomplished and a desire for her to be at her best as she continues to serve Friends, the Administrative Council began planning a three-month wellness leave in the winter with final approval in February. This is a paid leave during which she will have the time and space to rest and be renewed.
Anthony Stover – “I Like the Simplicity of Quakerism”
Anthony Stover was first introduced to the Germantown Monthly Meeting after his daughter was enrolled at the Germantown Friends School more than 20 years ago. He has been a member of GMM ever since. He is also a founding member of the Ujima Friends Peace Center, which was formed a few years ago.
Anthony has been working as the Community Relations Manager at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House since 1999. His work profoundly speaks to his faith, and that faith is centered in spirituality.
[Read more…] about Anthony Stover – “I Like the Simplicity of Quakerism”
Gathering Together: Support for Families & First Day Programs
Last Sunday, a handful of families in my meeting decided to try online Children’s Meeting (our First Day program for children) and worship together online. It was a last-minute decision to fire up my Zoom account and see how it worked. We posted the information on Facebook and sent out a quick email on the meeting listserv. Two hours later, when we gathered across households, we were joined by a former attender now living in Seattle, and three other PYM families who had seen the Facebook post. We came together across miles and even time zones to share songs, a reading, queries, and waiting worship. [Read more…] about Gathering Together: Support for Families & First Day Programs
Quaker History: Maria Mitchell, the First Female Astronomer in the USA
The astronomer and educator, Maria Mitchell, was born in 1818 and grew up in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Raised in a Quaker family of ten children, she and her siblings were encouraged to learn and question by their astronomer father and librarian mother. This climate of inquiry and scientific training led Maria to become the first professional female astronomer in the United States.
[Read more…] about Quaker History: Maria Mitchell, the First Female Astronomer in the USA