Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Families

Colonial Quaker Day

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Haddonfield Friends Meeting is sponsoring its first-ever Colonial Quaker Day.   c will focus on peaceful activities and a celebration of Quaker history in Haddonfield.  (This all-day event coincides with, but is not part of, the annual Haddonfield Skirmish. )

Please join us for one or all of these activities:

  • Farm Animal Petting Zoo – 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
  • “Demonstration” Quaker Meetings for Worship (10 minutes) – on the hour from 10 AM to 2 PM.
  • Graveyard Tours – 30 minutes at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, and 2:30
  • Graveyard Scavenger Hunts – Anytime 9:00 am to 3:00 pm (PRIZES!)
  • Live Music  in the Meeting House – 11:10 am and 1:10 pm
  • Children’s Games –10:00 am to 11:30 pm

Please note: Any visitor bringing a toy weapon of any kind onto our grounds will be asked to please check the item at one of the two “Peace Tables” that will be set up along Friends Avenue. Such items will be returned when the visitor leaves us.

Members will be on hand to pass out literature and answer questions about Quaker history and values.  Please join us!

PYM Youth Programs Welcomed Spring with a Series of Weekend Events

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PYM Youth Programs welcomed Spring with a series of weekend events that included young people of all ages! We’re excited for our upcoming Annual Sessions  July 26-30th.  Be sure to stay connected for news about Fall programs for children, youth, and families!

[Read more…] about PYM Youth Programs Welcomed Spring with a Series of Weekend Events

All Together Worship

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A New Sessions Tradition

  • On Sunday, March 12, we will gather all together again on Zoom — from meeting houses and from homes for those who join their meeting for worship online.
  • 10:00-11:00 AM is All Together Worship time. Recognizing that this will be a different worship time for some meetings, we hope you will join this hour all together as the Yearly Meeting.
  • The Zoom link for All Together Worship will be shared with everyone who registers for Spring Continuing Sessions, and also with Clerks of meetings to share with Friends who join your Sunday worship online. There will be a password.

    Zoom link for All Together Worship on Sunday, 10-11am:​​
    https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82332043509?pwd=c2lWQ1dyTHNaaXcwdml4QUdvNVc4Zz09
    Passcode: innerlight
    Meeting ID: 823 3204 3509

  • 10:00-10:15 will be lightly programmed with greetings and readings to support all ages entering into worship together.
  • How will vocal ministry work? Participants will be asked to raise their “electronic hand” on Zoom, and PYM Elders will call upon people to minister. Discipline is required of everyone, and expectations will be shared at the beginning of worship. 
  • As with any meeting on Zoom, Friends are welcome to keep their video turned off, and we ask that you not take screen shots to follow our practices for online gatherings where youth are attending.

Intergenerational = for All Ages

All Together Worship is a great time to gather as an all ages meeting community for worship! The first 15 minutes of our time together on March 12 will include greetings and images to help all of us gather as Friends and neighbors. Meetings are encouraged to set up a quilt on the floor, baskets of quiet things to help everyone center and listen, and welcome children to stay in worship with their family and Friends. Learn more about intergenerational worship.

Questions? Reach out to Director of Programs, Melinda Wenner Bradley, at mwennerbradley@pym.org.

Supporting Children and Teens After Violent News

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In the last two weeks we have been repeatedly confronted with the legacy of gun violence and ongoing, communal trauma in this country. The three events in recent days have happened in the kinds of everyday places that should be safe — the grocery store, church, and school. How do we talk to children and adolescents about gun violence, racialized violence, and senseless tragedy? Parents and caregivers are helping their children process their feelings alongside their own, and signs of anxiety are different in children and adolescents when compared with adults. Pastoral care for children begins with pastoral care for their caregivers, and the resources below are offered to support parents and families—please share. 

[Read more…] about Supporting Children and Teens After Violent News

How Do We Pray with Children?

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How do you pray? What personal practices do you have that bring you into relationship and conversation with the Spirit? How do prayer practices nurture your spiritual life and anchor your experience of gathering with others for meeting for worship? In my experience, we don’t talk a lot about prayer in Quaker religious education — how to pray with children, teach prayers to children, or why we might offer this as a practice for their “spiritual toolbox.” I’ve been collecting ideas and resources over time, hoping to bring together interested Friends to talk about prayer with children. On December 2, several Friends gathered for an online Religious Education Conversation on “Prayer with Children,” and what is shared below is from a presentation, participant sharing, and group reflections. [Read more…] about How Do We Pray with Children?

Part 2: Where are we going? Supporting Families and Religious Education

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Queries from PYM Faith and Practice are read at the beginning of worship each month at my meeting; one of the youth in our Young People’s Group is the reader.  In May, they were the ones about religious education: Nurturing Our Community: Religious Education in the Home and Meeting. As we think about returning to weekly programs for our children and youth, what guidance do these queries offer? This summer is a moment to pause and consider the experiences and lessons of these past months and how they might shape our programs and support for young Friends and families in our meetings. The PYM queries ask us is place in the center of our religious education programs preparation, formation, and belonging.
 [Read more…] about Part 2: Where are we going? Supporting Families and Religious Education

Part I: Where have we been? Where are we going? Supporting Families and Religious Education

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This is the first of a two-part story focused on local meetings and their experiences with programs and support for children and youth, and their families, in the last fourteen months of “pandemic times.” Families in our local meetings come in all different varieties; these stories are focused on families with children and the people parenting them (who also come to that relationship in a variety of ways, including foster parents and grandparents).

The people who support children and youth programs in meetings, in their Quarter, and the Yearly Meeting have expressed many feelings in this time — sadness at separation, joy in creativity, mourning for connections lost, delight in new ideas, frustration with lack of support, fear that families will not “return” when others resume community in person. I’ve written about the liminal time we’re in, and the opportunities this disruption/interruption provides to think in new ways. I’m also holding a keen awareness of the exhaustion and longing to return to “normalcy” that Friends may be feeling; it feels important to balance encouragement about new possibilities and succor for what feels lost or overwhelming. [Read more…] about Part I: Where have we been? Where are we going? Supporting Families and Religious Education

Pastoral Care for Our Children in These Times

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As the pandemic continues, and this week our nation struggles once more against the legacy of racial injustice and violence, our children look on. 

Children and teens are experiencing the continued uncertainty of Covid and its impact on school, peer relationships, and future plans. Additionally, the events in Washington D.C. on January 6 were deeply disturbing and young people may feel anxiety, confusion, fear, sadness, or anger, and have questions about what they see and hear in the media and from friends. As parents, we’re holding space for our children’s feelings alongside our own anxiety, fury, and questions about moving forward. What follows are resources specifically for children, youth, and families.*

[Read more…] about Pastoral Care for Our Children in These Times

Christmas Together in New Ways

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Meetings may be seeking to create meaningful Christmas programs that keep Friends connected while also being safe about Covid-19. Two online Conversation Circles were hosted by the Youth Religious Life Coordinator to share ideas and support each other with how to plan for celebrations in this challenging time. [Read more…] about Christmas Together in New Ways

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