As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
- Luke 10:38-42 New International Version
Joint Council
January 2025 | Joint Council Update
At January’s council meeting, council members reflected on the “Joint Council Experiment”, the new format in which all three councils meet together with a single agenda. The councils have now met three times in this new format and Friends have begun to elucidate, in various ways, how the new format works & how they feel about it.
December 2024 | Joint Council Update
The three councils that guide Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—recently gathered for their second meeting in a newly adopted joint format. In this structure, the councils come together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. in an article written about this experiment this summer, this practice ensures that the Joint Council can promptly share its minutes with the PYM community after the meeting.
