Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

Youth Programs Epistles 2020

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Children’s Program Epistle

To All Friends Everywhere, from the Children of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

We gathered for our Annual Sessions in Zoom rooms, July 29 to August 2, 2020. Our time together included playing, singing, laughing, and being close to Spirit.

The artist in residence Zenaida Peterson helped us to deepen our relationship with God through poetry and games. We wrote poems and made zines. We laughed a whole lot. Together we wrote this poem: [Read more…] about Youth Programs Epistles 2020

Minutes of PYM 340th Annual Sessions Meeting for Business of August 1, 2020

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Like the yearly meeting quilt, Annual Sessions knits together Friends everywhere. Saturday August 1st began with worship and All Together Time where we all made a haiku poem. This was followed by Youth Programs, then a lunch break. The afternoon featured a Bible study class with Chris Mohr and George Schaefer.  At 2:00 the PYM community convened 102 Friends for a meeting for business. It included a review of the budget, and nominations for the positions of Clerk, rising clerk and other roles. Minutes follow: [Read more…] about Minutes of PYM 340th Annual Sessions Meeting for Business of August 1, 2020

We Are . . . PYM Youth!

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Photo: Young Friends (high school group) together in program on Thursday, July 3

This year, we start our Sessions days with all-ages worship and All Together Time on Zoom. In the last part of the hour of worship, Youth Programs staff transition us from waiting worship to All Together Time. This is when we do something all together in a worship space that uses our spirits and bodies and connects us with one another. When we gather for Annual Sessions, we are an all-ages spiritual community, even in virtual spaces. [Read more…] about We Are . . . PYM Youth!

Friends Then and Now, Connecting to the Source of Spirit

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Photograph – A View of Pendle Hill from the 2012 Quaker Pilgrimage

Following worship, a Land Acknowledgment by S. Boone O’ Scheyichbi, and a brief meeting for business, PYM’s keynote speaker, Marcelle Martin, welcomed 144 Friends of all ages to an evening of  spiritual programming on Wednesday, July 29th.

She began her presentation by inviting the assembled community into a deeper relationship with the Faith. She acknowledged an apprehension in leading a virtual session with so many numbers of PYM Friends. However, by looking at the evening differently—through the perspective that God wants to reach us—this relaxes the heart. She noted that for her and for gathered Friends, Spirit can have a way of opening the self to a keen sense of possibility and connection—all through God’s love and power. [Read more…] about Friends Then and Now, Connecting to the Source of Spirit

PYM Land Acknowledgment and Why it Matters to Friends

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It has become PYM’s practice to begin Annual and Continuing Sessions—as well as plenary spaces, or sessions/spaces where we gather as a yearly meeting community/body—with a land acknowledgement. During this virtual Annual Sessions, we have extended that commitment over the runway of events to Sessions by offering a different land acknowledgement prayer before each Plenary and meeting for Business. [Read more…] about PYM Land Acknowledgment and Why it Matters to Friends

We Can Do This! Virtual Sessions Begins

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Some drawings from the “Build a Team” activity during the PYM Staff Huddle on Monday, July 27.

Each year as we get close to the end of July, staff makes a pilgrimage to the event site for that year’s Annual Sessions.

This is the moment when everything becomes real. We pace out how our five days together will feel, think about tech support, negotiate better cafeteria food or ice cream parties, and plan the welcome tables and our most essential events. We investigate the places and spaces that hold and gather family and youth, or support the Young Adult Friends (YAFs), and nurture us in plenary. [Read more…] about We Can Do This! Virtual Sessions Begins

Spiritual Formation Retreat Launches our 340th Annual Sessions

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At 6:45 Tuesday evening our 340th Annual Sessions launched with a Spiritual Formation Retreat guided by Marcelle Martin.

There were 76 participants of all ages. Marcelle grounded the retreat by connecting the lived experience of early Friends and their longing for God with our spiritual feelings and practices today. [Read more…] about Spiritual Formation Retreat Launches our 340th Annual Sessions

Report on Budget Plenary – A Steady, Familiar Budget

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At 7:30 PM on July 21, participants gathered for a Plenary Session on PYM’s FY 2021 budget. Alternate Clerk Jonathan Rhoads opened the meeting with worship. S. Boone O’Scheyichbi offered a land acknowledgement that named the four historical Lenape Nations and spoke to “inclusion in a place of truth with diversity and equity.” General Secretary Christie Duncan-Tessmer briefed the 34 participants on technology. [Read more…] about Report on Budget Plenary – A Steady, Familiar Budget

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