Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is launching a new online community platform, PYM Connect, in January of 2025. PYM Connect is a secure and supportive virtual space to discuss, engage, and grow with PYM Friends. It allows participants to share updates and meaningful news, while also providing a virtual space to connect with other Friends within PYM who share similar ministries and leadings.
[Read more…] about Exploring PYM Connect: Features for Connection and Community
Discussing the stages of life is never easy, but it still remains one of the most essential acts we can offer both ourselves, our loved ones, and members of our meeting. The upcoming workshop, Creating Your Advance Directives and End of Life Plan, which will be one of the three at the Grief, Loss & Bereavement: A Pastoral Care Thread Gathering On October 19th, will provide a welcoming space for Friends to navigate this delicate subject. Participants will gain insight into critical documents, such as living wills and healthcare directives, that help ensure their values and wishes are honored. The facilitators, Susan W. Hoskins (Newtown Friends Meeting) and Susan K. Garrison (Media Friends Meeting), will lead a discussion on completing important materials, offering peace of mind to us and those we care for.
[Read more…] about Exploring Thoughtful Planning with Compassion and Care
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting has multiple October events that will provide ways to engage within our community before Fall Continuing Sessions. Three opportunities include fellowship of the thread gathering, a family-centered peace-building event, or the collective discernment over climate during a virtual threshing session. Each of these events offers a unique opportunity to engage with the PYM community and prepare ourselves spiritually for the work ahead. Whether you are seeking fellowship, family engagement, or discernment on critical issues, these events will help ground us as we come together as a faith community:
Authorship is credited to Melinda Wenner Bradley (West Chester Meeting), Quaker Religious Education Collaborative
The intensity of the election cycle is an experience both for adults and for the children and youth in our families and communities. Depending on their age, preschoolers to teens may be aware of the anxiety in the adults around them — and experiencing their own anxiety about the outcome of the election in November.
[Read more…] about Talking about the Election with Children and Youth
The Friends Counseling Service (FCS) serves members and attenders of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) who are in search for guidance, comfort, and assistance. This service offers accessible mental health care to Friends across PYM with counselors providing individual therapy, couples counseling, and family therapy sessions. We connected with Janaki Spickard Keeler, Friends Counseling Service Coordinator, who provided additional insight into the service by answering some key questions.
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting has embraced a new initiative to support climate action by “going veggie” on the third Sunday of each month. This meeting-wide project is the result of collaboration between the Climate Action and Hospitality Committees, reflecting a shared commitment to addressing climate change.
Sarah Whitman, a member of both committees at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, shared her perspective and the behind-the-scenes on this new initiative. “Last spring, we started a Climate Action Committee to help the meeting address climate change,” Sarah shared. “There have been individual leadings and practices related to climate change, but not a project that the whole meeting does together. I happen to be a member of both Hospitality and the Climate Action Committee, so I felt like this was an opportunity for synergy between those two committees.”
As Election Day, November 5th, approaches, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is asking members and monthly meetings to share how they are preparing and engaging Friends and their communities. From participating in the election efforts to spirit-led discussions. Friends are called to act, and PYM wants to hear how your meeting is living out that call. Whether your meeting is doing voter registration drives, holding discussions on community responsibility, or engaging in prayerful reflection, let us know what Friends are doing near you to inspire and mobilize your region for the upcoming election!
[Read more…] about Answer the Call: Share How Your Meeting is Engaging for Election Day
Granting groups are a very meaningful part of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM), and each group is thankful for the volunteers who give their time and effort as granting group members. PYM Friends are encouraged to join a granting group to have the opportunity to practice philanthropy through discernment and to be part of distributing grants on behalf of all of PYM’s members.
[Read more…] about We Invite You to Join a PYM Granting Group!
Join Friends for a three-part online series exploring Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s new book on a Quaker approach to death and dying, A Tender Time: Quaker Voices on the End of Life. Explore practical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of aging, dying well, and making end-of-life decisions guided by the Spirit and Quaker values.
[Read more…] about Aging Together in the Spirit: An Online Series
Summer is waning, the crickets are singing, and it’s time to get ready for the next year in religious education programs! The Fall issue of The Tote Bag: Religious Education and Family Resources is here to support getting ready for children, youth, and intergenerational programs in meetings. This includes new resources to support middle school engagement, explore Bible stories with children, and how to talk together with young people about election issues. With the upcoming election in November, staff have been thinking about how to support families and young people to feel grounded in our testimonies of integrity and peace. Two specific events for adults and children/youth are happening this fall. Read on!
[Read more…] about Religious Education Resources & Events Fall 2024
Update your contact & Meeting information at pym.org/updates
