October 18th – 20th, Middle School Friends joined together in community and autumnal fun at West Chester Friends Meeting. We are grateful to the meeting community for hosting us, and their warm welcome after worship on Sunday morning.
We had a busy weekend playing next-level hide and go seek with the lights off, having a birthday party for a newly minted 13 year-old, as well as cooking and sharing meals together. We visited a local orchard to pick apples, enjoy cider and cider donuts, and explore the orchards in the last moments of warmth in the season. We were also visited by a friend of the MSF program, Tara Rubinstein, who heeded our call that MSF was interested to learn more about the complexities of gender. Within this workshop, we learned about pronouns, the gender unicorn, and even explored within our gender affinity groups about what we value and what challenges us within these affinity groups. On Sunday morning, some participants attended worship with the meeting, and others joined with their Young People’s Group for an exploration of ”The Questions We Ask,” a lesson created for teens to explore the creation story in Genesis laid alongside the Big Bang Theory. The approach is addressed to “Quaker skeptics,” the young Friends who are questioning stories and information in our religious faith and wider culture.
The weekend was filled with community, learning, and fun! We hope to see everyone on November 2nd for Continuing Sessions!
