Get ready for a Super Quaker Weekend! During the last weekend in September, PYM Youth Staff will be joining in youth and family-centered events throughout the region, leading up to World Quaker Day on Sunday, October 1st, hosted by our friends at Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC). No matter where you are located within PYM, there’s something for everyone to enjoy and participate in during this Fall weekend. All are welcome! [Read more…] about It’s A Super Quaker Weekend!
Quakers
Awakening the Witness: Convincement and Belonging in Quaker Community
7:30pm – 9pm Eastern Time (US & Canada) via Zoom.
Free to the public! Registration required.
There are ongoing conversations across the global Quaker community about belonging, the structure and meaning of membership, and the shape and purpose of outreach work. Often, these are tied to widespread anxiety about the future of the Religious Society of Friends and the possibility of its renewal. As these conversations develop, it can be helpful for us to remember that early Friends had no system of membership as we understand it today. Instead, their writings center on an experience they called convincement: when they found themselves without any outward help or guidance, at the end of their own resources, they encountered God and were transformed – not just once, but again and again. For these first Friends, the unity of community was found through the shared experience of this transformation and its fruits.
Drawing on descriptions of convincement experiences from early and contemporary Quakers, as well as Matt’s own experience as a convinced Friend, this lecture will explore what makes us Friends, the significance of membership, and the diversity of ways to belong in Quaker communities.
Pennswood Village Rededicates Its Peace Pole
In 2001, Pennswood Village, the Quaker-founded retirement and health care community in Newtown, installed a Peace Pole in front of its community center. Two of the speakers were atomic bomb survivors (Hibakushas) from Japan, Mr. Shigeyuki Yama from Hiroshima and Mr. Hideo Tose from Nagasaki, the sites in 1945 of the two atomic bombs detonated over those cities which killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians.
[Read more…] about Pennswood Village Rededicates Its Peace Pole
Young Adult Friend Alex Emmert Shares Experience With Quakerism and Annual Sessions
We sat down with 19 yr. old Young Adult Friend, Alex Emmert to find out what drew him to Quakerism from his upbringing as Baptist, what he enjoyed most about Annual Sessions and what he is looking forward to seeing from Quakers in the next decade. Alex shares his personal, truthful experiences with Quakerism and insights on outreach to other young adults seeking solid spiritual grounding. [Read more…] about Young Adult Friend Alex Emmert Shares Experience With Quakerism and Annual Sessions
12 Days to Annual Sessions … 12 Reasons to Join!
We’re counting down to Annual Sessions! Here are 12 great reasons to join, July 26-30. [Read more…] about 12 Days to Annual Sessions … 12 Reasons to Join!
Stephen G. Cary Memorial Lecture 2023: Forging Beloved Community with Friends ~ A Journey through the Refiner’s Fire
Stephen G. Cary Memorial Lecture 2023 with Bridget Moix, General Secretary of Friends Committee On National Legislation
September 11, 2023, 7:30pm-9:00pm Eastern Time, on campus and via Zoom
Free and open to the public! Registration required.
To register to watch this lecture online via Zoom, click here.
To reserve a seat for attendance in the Barn, click here.
In a world wrought by lies, injustice, and violence, how do we live out our Quaker faith and spiritual truths? How do we live “in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of war”? How do we “walk cheerfully over the Earth” while sacred forests burn and oceans rise around us? How do we “seek that of God in everyone” when we are so deeply divided from one another by fear and pain? Bridget Moix shares lessons, laughter, and Light from her journey with Friends toward becoming the beloved community we seek.
The Stephen G. Cary Memorial Lecture was endowed by Norval and Ann Reece and established in 2004 in concert with Pendle Hill’s publication of Steve Cary’s memoir, The Intrepid Quaker: One Man’s Quest for Peace.
PYM Launches New Info Line
Do you have a Question? The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) office can connect you with someone who has the answer!
Reparations: Responsibility & Relationship
“We are responsible for the world that we’ve inherited, and the world that we pass down.” — Reverend Naomi Washington-Leapheart
January Workshop Opens Conversations
At the start of the year, the Mayor’s Commission on Faith-based and Interfaith Affairs invited members of Philadelphia-area faith communities to spend four days examining the intersection between theology and systems of white supremacy alongside reparations and truth telling. Under the leadership of Reverend Naomi Washington Leapheart, Director for Faith-Based and Interfaith Affairs for the city of Philadelphia, and the Commission’s ongoing “Rise Up for Reparations” campaign, inaugurated in June 2022, the January program was part of ongoing work to build a culture of reparations in the city – and one where faith leaders are at the front of the movement. [Read more…] about Reparations: Responsibility & Relationship
Ashanta Washington Accepts Role as PYM’s New Director of HR and Inclusion
We are delighted to announce PYM’s very own Ashanta Washington has accepted the role of Director of HR and Inclusion. Ashanta has worked with PYM for the past five years. Please join PYM in congratulating Ashanta on her new role!
[Read more…] about Ashanta Washington Accepts Role as PYM’s New Director of HR and Inclusion
Demystifying Planned Giving
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
— 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
Many people enjoy giving, whether of their time or resources. Giving fosters a greater sense of community, connection, service, and philanthropy – plus it is an amazing feeling! Philadelphia Yearly Meeting believes anyone can give regardless of age, race, or income.
