Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

spiritual formation

Quakers in Pastoral Care & Counseling Conference

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What is ritual today for Friends?

How might we employ ritual to heal from the trauma of racial inequity and the collective experience of the pandemic?  How can you use ritual in your own spiritual life, and how can you share ritual in spiritual care? What rituals do we already have in meeting, and how has the shifting of Quaker meeting for worship to Zoom made us long for the subtle rituals of communal life, like the handshake or hug after meeting?

Join with Quaker spiritual care providers as we wrestle together with these questions.  Be enriched by the wisdom of Quaker Friend Emma Churchman.  Gather together in small support groups to feel connection and collaboration.

What the Spiritual Formation program meant to me as a young adult

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Since becoming a Quaker in college (at a non-Quaker school!), I have attended plenty of PYM workshops and events and been either the only young adult or one of a very small handful of young adults. My experiences generally fell on a spectrum with “alienated” on one end and “overwhelmed” at the other. My experience of participating in the Spiritual Formation program fell right in that happy middle section – engaged, included and valued.

Perhaps it is because of the content: deep spiritual listening, finding common threads among our diverse theological perspectives, focusing on central texts, connecting authentically with one another and encouraging one another to live faithfully. Perhaps it was the unique combination of individuals that lead and participated alongside me. Perhaps it was the blend of large group gatherings and small group accountability meetings.

As the youngest person (by a margin of more than a decade) in my small group, I was given the opportunity to return the care and curiosity to older people that so often comes at me from every angle as a younger participant. It was a joy to get to know these older Friends on a spiritual level; Friends not from my own meeting, who didn’t already know me closely. I felt valued, but not pressed upon; included, but not tokenized. When the purpose of a program is to know one another genuinely and grow together spiritually, age matters very little. The Spiritual Formation program also gave me a deep spiritual well to draw from and helped me to grow in my own journey. I continue to be grateful for the learning and nourishment it brought me during a formative time in my own life. It was time well spent.

Pamela Draper (right) is a member of London Grove Friends Meeting and worships with West Philly Friends Meeting

Learn more about the intergenerational Spiritual Formation Program cohort that begins this fall!  The opening retreat is on September 27th.  Register by September 10th.

New Intergenerational Spiritual Formation Program

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An Intergenerational Spiritual Formation Program is specifically designed for Young Adult and other interested Friends.  This 7-month program begins in Sept. 2014 and closes in April 2015.  The elements of Spiritual Formation include retreats, personal spiritual disciplines, readings, and prayerful support.  Participants will meet monthly in spiritual friendship and reading groups. We will be joining each other in worship, practice and witness to the Eternal in our lives.

The opening retreat will be held Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014, at Abington Meeting. The mid-year retreat will be held at Chestnut Hill Meeting on Saturday,  Jan. 17, 2015 and the closing retreat at Chestnut Hill on April 18, 2015.

If you have any questions about the program or about registration, please contact Amelia Diamond, aediamond7@gmail.com,  Jane Keller, janeckeller102@gmail.com, Wanda Wyffels, mewkw01@moravian.edu or Wade Wright atw9a8d7e6w@epix.net.

Join us on a new spiritual journey!  Invite a Friend to travel with you!