Workshop Saturday

“Workshop Saturday” promises to be a day of connection, learning, and meaningful conversations. Three workshops are offered on June 25 that live into our Sessions theme. These are opportunities to gather and listen deeply together while living into our witness as Friends.

Registration for this event has closed. If you are still interested in attending tomorrow, please contact the Sessions Coordinator: Sessions@pym.org

Experiment With Light: A Gift from Early Quakers

• 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
• Amy Duckett Wagner, Fallsington Meeting & Paulette Meier, Community Friends Meeting (OVYM)
• Young Adult Friends (ages 18-35) and older

Join us and experience a powerful yet simple contemplative practice that is as relevant today as it was when early Quakers learned it in the 17th century. Early Friends practiced letting the Light of God work in their lives for decision-making, healing, listening to spiritual leadings and guidance about their service. British historian and theologian Rex Ambler did extensive research and developed Experiment With Light scripts that groups of Friends have used around the world since 1996.  A few versions of these creative visualizations will be shared in real-time, by different Friends, with ample time for breaks and small group worship sharing which allows everyone to be heard even if our group is large. Various meditation sessions will be interspersed with simple plainsong chanting based on inspiring quotes from early Quaker writings. Together, we will share how the words of service-oriented Quakers like George Fox, Margaret Fell, Isaac Pennington and others have relevance and may provide insight in our leadings for our lives and Quaker work in the world today.

Co-Regulating and Building Relationships Toward Equity and Justice

• 10:00 am – 4:00 pm (with break for lunch)
• .O, Central Philadelphia Meeting & Dana Reinhold, Central Philadelphia Meeting 
• Young Adult Friends (ages 18-35) and older

Our faith calls us to grow toward equity and justice, and to relate to one another in ways that embody respect, dignity and love. The ability to listen deeply and receive feedback with a grounded heart and a receptive mind in the face of emotional overwhelm are skills we all need. This healing work is necessary to repair relationships, as we transform inequity at personal and systemic levels, and set the foundation for Beloved Community. This workshop will examine some of the impacts of centuries of trauma and oppression. We will explore the bases in the nervous system of several patterns of response to challenge and stress. Together we will practice ways to increase our self-awareness and to shift an agitated or a shut-down state to a more open and receptive response. Embodying our faith tradition, we will practice deep listening to the spirit that dwells within each of us, between us and around us.

Growing Our Meetings:  Two Models and The Resources We Need

• 10:00 am – 3:00 pm (with break for lunch)
• Linda Lotz, South Jersey Quakers & Irene Oleksiw, Downingtown Meeting
• Young Adult Friends (ages 18-35) and older

10:00 am – 12:00 pm Facilitated by Linda Lotz, SouthJerseyQuakers
Over the past two years, Barnegat and Cropwell revitalized their Meetings through strategic outreach and membership development activities, with the help of staff with the SouthJerseyQuakers (SJQ) project sponsored by Burlington, Haddonfield and Salem Quarters. Members of Barnegat and Cropwell Meetings and the SJQ team will describe activities that can be adapted by other Meetings and Quarters. Friends from other meetings will be invited to share their experiences as well.

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Facilitated by Irene Oleksiw, Downingtown Meeting
How can we grow? What do meetings need to do a better job at outreach and new attender integration? What existing PYM resources could be leveraged? What new resources and staffing support is needed? We’ll use this time to collectively frame out what would make a difference for your meeting, organizing the conversation around these topics:

• Why church?
• Becoming a better Quaker
• Public presence
• Greeting and integrating
• Investments