The air is crisp, and fall color is everywhere. Quaker events are happening, and PYM’s community is gathering in multiple ways for fun and business. There’s Historic Arch Street Meeting House’s Rocky Horror Picture Show Movie night on October 29th, then the following weekend, on November 5th, 6th, and 7th, there is Fall Continuing Sessions. [Read more…] about Ten Reasons to Come to Fall Sessions
Continuing Sessions
Invitation from PYM’s Presiding Clerks to join a Multigenerational Fall Continuing Sessions 2021
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s upcoming Fall Continuing Sessions begins with a Friday evening, November 5th program with music therapist Molly Hicks, and proceeds with meeting for worship and business the next day. On Saturday Deborah Cooper, a licensed professional counselor, will lead a mindfulness meditation program before lunch followed by an afternoon program of Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. Sessions closes with an intergenerational program Sunday with the author and artist Anastasia Higginbotham, creator of the Ordinary Terrible Things series.
New Quaker Communities: Johanna Jackson
Johanna Jackson (she) is a member of State College Friends Meeting. She travels in the ministry with JT Dorr-Bremme, a Friend with a gift for eldering. They formed the Listening Project, a series of creative conversations rooted in love. Johanna writes about the spiritual community that sustains her, imagining how similar groups could help sustain others, too.
How to Prepare for Continuing Sessions: March 23, 26 and 27
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s upcoming Continuing Sessions on March 27th will feature three issues of importance to Friends; Membership, Climate Change, and AntiRacism.
It is hoped that Friends at every meeting or worship group will feel led to participate, and that these issues will be brought back to your communities to inform and sustain Friends in an ongoing partnership towards a better world.
[Read more…] about How to Prepare for Continuing Sessions: March 23, 26 and 27
Clerks’ Report at Meeting For Business
PYM Presiding Co-Clerks Frank and Jean-Marie Barch presented the following report in the called December 8th Meeting for Business in Continuing Sessions. They shared information gathered from Monthly and Quarterly Meetings in response to the three PYM Initiatives launched at Annual Sessions in July 2020.
Clerks of Meetings who have not already submitted feedback to Jean-Marie and Frank Barch may use this form to do so.
Minutes of PYM’s Meeting for Business in Sessions – December 8, 2020
Meeting for Worship with Attention Business at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is held at Fall and Spring Continuing Sessions and during the summer at Annual Sessions in late July. Nominations are approved and yearly meeting wide initiatives are reviewed or established.
The following minutes were taken by recording clerk, Kri Burkander and approved in Sessions on December 8th. There were 104 participants in the meeting, which began at 6:30 and closed at 8:45. [Read more…] about Minutes of PYM’s Meeting for Business in Sessions – December 8, 2020
Land Acknowledgment Prayer – December 8th, 2020 Meeting for Business
Land acknowledgments connect us with the rich heritage and spiritual thinking of the native people of this land. They appear as prayers and help convene Friends in the truths of the past and opportunities of the present. Each time we gather for Sessions, a land acknowledgment is offered as vocal ministry out of worship. This one was offered on Tuesday, December 8th by sandra o’scheyichbi (Boone Murphy).
[Read more…] about Land Acknowledgment Prayer – December 8th, 2020 Meeting for Business
A Spiritually Centered Continuing Sessions
A total of 81 Friends gathered for a morning of worship at continuing sessions on Saturday November 7th. Presiding clerks, Jean-Marie and Frank Barch welcomed convening Friends, as participants joined and “box after box” appeared on Friends’ computer, I-pad and I-phone screens. [Read more…] about A Spiritually Centered Continuing Sessions
Ministry & Care Letter to Our Meetings
Dear Friends,
This is a check-in to see how you and your meeting are doing in these unique times. The physical distancing required by the Covid-19 pandemic has created unexpected opportunities for discerning how to feel connected when physical contact is not possible. Some meetings are also struggling with how to complete their Spiritual State of the Meeting Report given the challenges of Covid-19. We offer some guidance here. [Read more…] about Ministry & Care Letter to Our Meetings
Youth Programs Zooming!
When planning for Saturday, March 28 and youth programs at Spring Continuing Sessions took an unexpected turn with COVID-19, it didn’t take long for staff to shift gears and think about what is important when we gather in our youth communities, and how to recreate that same energy in a virtual setting. Both Middle School Friends and Young Friends gathered virtually during the weekend of March 28-29 using Zoom. MSF brought the positive middle school energy and their typical warm welcome to a gathering with both new staff members and new faces among the youth participants. Young Friends used two meetings to do much of what they usually engage in at gatherings: fun and fellowship, committee work, meeting for business, worship, and loving one another in community. [Read more…] about Youth Programs Zooming!
