Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Epistles

Youth Epistle “We Were Here”

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Each year the three Children and Youth programs of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting share Epistles at the close of Annual Sessions. This year, one united Epistle was shared by Youth Programs staff. Below please find their 341st Annual Sessions Epistle. 

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Meeting For Business – Minutes of Thursday July 29

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With 82 Friends in attendance,  Meeting for Business in Worship was held virtually from just before 1:00 to just past 4:00 PM during the afternoon of July 29th. The agenda offered the following items of business: Introductions, Epistle Writing Committee, Administrative Council and Treasurer’s reports, the 2022 PYM Budget presentation, and the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Sprint Report and work.  Minutes follow with thanks to the PYM recording clerks, Jim Herr and Kri Burkander. [Read more…] about Meeting For Business – Minutes of Thursday July 29

Young Adult Friends: Engagement, Program, and Work

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The Young Adult Friends (YAF) program has flourished through years of service by Meg Rose, Young Adult Engagement Coordinator, and her predecessor,  Elizabeth Piersol Schmidt. As we look ahead to when Meg is leaving Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to begin a career in social work in late July, it is worth looking back at all that ties this engaged set of young adults to one another, to their leadership commitment to peers, and to this Faith.

The YAF program supports the spiritual vitality and community of PYM by creating programming specifically for young adult Friends (age 18-35-ish), as well as strengthening commitment and involvement of young adult Friends in PYM’s multigenerational community.

Read Minutes of Appreciation for Meg.

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Yearly Meeting Epistle — 340th Annual Sessions, August 2, 2020

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To Friends everywhere:

Greetings from the 340th Annual Sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. These Annual Sessions took place in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic that led Friends to meet via Zoom videoconferencing technology. This pandemic has exacerbated the very racial injustice and societal inequities that have hindered our spiritual growth within the PYM. [Read more…] about Yearly Meeting Epistle — 340th Annual Sessions, August 2, 2020

Young Adult Friends Epistle from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions 2020

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To all Friends everywhere:

Greetings from a gathering of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Young Adult Friends, together from many different homes for Annual Sessions, July 29–August 2, 2020. Many of us gathered from the lands around Philadelphia, on the traditional homelands of the Lenni Lenape. We humbly acknowledge that many or all of us are settlers here, and live on stolen lands. [Read more…] about Young Adult Friends Epistle from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions 2020

Threshing Session on Membership Minutes of Appreciation

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The Quaker Life Council approved the following minutes of appreciation as a sincere expression of gratitude to the Friends who facilitated the recent January 26 Threshing Session on Membership and to the monthly meeting that hosted. In addition to continuing a process of discernment about membership that has had many years of seasoning in our wider yearly meeting, this was an opportunity for intervisitation during which Friends from across our yearly meeting community could join a meeting for its worship on Sunday and take part in its community life. Intervisitation is an important part of Quaker tradition because it serves to reinforce the bonds we need in spiritual growth.

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Threshing on Membership Report

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View a downloadable/PDF version of the report here.

Introduction
The bulk of this report is made of minutes of exercise taken by PYM Recording Clerk, Jim Herr. The minutes review the proceedings of the day. Following the minutes of exercise, the report contains a transcription of collections of “advice to the yearly meeting” in response to several queries that participants wrote down in small groups. Find in Appendix A the advance documents that were provided ahead of the threshing session.

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2019 Annual Sessions – Children’s Epistle

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To Friends Everywhere,
We need to raise our voices when things are not right.
You have to know when things are not right..
This week Ollie tried to chase a chicken at Snipes Farm.
We watched Mulan for movie night.
We went to game night with Middle School Friends.
We played on a slip and slide, and always have friendship.
We also took pictures of our week, and here they are.
In Peace,
PYM Children
PS – It was also really fun break dancing with pushed learning!
(Thank Edy and Megan!)