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
News
New Schedule for Councils Meeting Jointly
Our current governance structure was set up with a goal of simplifying our governance and administration. Some adjustments have been made, such as adding a Clerks Group which encourages the clerks of the councils and officers of the yearly meeting to all collaborate. Another change is that the three councils, Quaker Life, Administrative and Nominating, have met jointly for about an hour every month for many years now. Over the course of the past two years, the clerks and Governance Advisory Committee have been watching for new opportunities that allow the councils to be increasingly effective in meeting our community’s needs, responsive to the spirit and respectful of the council members’ commitment. [Read more…] about New Schedule for Councils Meeting Jointly
Yearly Meeting’s New Online Giving System Gets Your Donations to Your Meetings—Instantly!
For many years, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting has supported donations to monthly and quarterly meetings by setting up PYM’s online giving platform to accept contributions and then disbursing those funds to meetings four times a year. We are happy to announce that our recently upgraded online donation software, QGiv, will now allow donations to be transferred directly to meetings—instantly!
The new system looks nearly identical to the old one. However, on the back end, it is connected directly to each meeting’s bank account. When a donation is made, it is deposited into a meeting’s account, and the appropriate person for each meeting, such as the clerk, treasurer, or administrator, will receive the notification. You can contact Joey Leroux, Director of Grantmaking and Data, with any questions. PYM will continue to cover the transaction fees and the cost of the service.
We have already begun implementing this process, with 35 meetings set up to date, and we hope to get all meetings set up soon! That means you can give directly to your meeting today. Since July 1, Friends have contributed significantly through this new system, giving $9,835 directly to their monthly and quarterly meetings.
If your meeting is not on the list yet, your meeting’s clerk or treasurer can submit this form to sign up now.
We believe there are many benefits to the new system:
- Meetings receive contributions quicker.
- Reduces administrative work for meeting administrators and treasurers
- Increases clarity and transparency of who donated and how the funds are intended to be used.
We’re excited in the way only people who love spreadsheets can be! Please reach out with your thoughts and questions. If you are interested in additional ways to give to monthly meetings, please contact Joey, and he will assist you with different ways to contribute. You are also invited to reach out if you are considering other ways to support the wider yearly meeting.
For More Details on How Donations Are Managed:
When a donation is made:
- Donor and donation information, along with any comments, are shared with the monthly or quarterly meeting immediately. Only the clerks or meeting treasurers can request this information. Meetings can decide how it is stored and used in the meeting.
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting does not share personal identifying information or donation details and information with other groups, in accordance with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s privacy policy.
Where donation information is stored:
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting maintains a secure digital filing cabinet where personal identifying information and donation information is stored. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting does not store bank account or credit card information.
How donations are acknowledged:
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting acknowledges donations electronically at the time they are received. Any additional acknowledgements are sent by monthly and quarterly meetings
Transition in General Secretary role in 2025
At Annual Sessions this year, the clerk shared the news that General Secretary Christie Duncan-Tessmer will be leaving her position in July 2025. A search committee is forming, a plan is in place, and there is a year for transition. Read on for Christie’s resignation letter below this note from Melissa Rycroft, Presiding Clerk.
In her decade as General Secretary, Christie Duncan-Tessmer exemplified servant leadership. Christie focused on PYM as a “We.” She understood how to take the gifts, skills, talents and dreams of the whole body and helped US become our best selves. She sees herself as a person who helped us do these things; she didn’t do these things on her own. From generously cooking for everyone to taking meticulous notes, she did an exceptional job modeling the type of leader that can work with and for everyone—monthly meetings, quarterly meetings, and staff alike—towards a common goal, utilizing everyone’s strengths.
Qualities that she has brought to the role and gifts she has shared with us:
Visionary—Christie can see ways to help the yearly meeting function, skillfully figuring out how the parts of the yearly meeting can operate differently, but work towards the same goals. For example, her efforts on the Strategic Directions and Implementation Plan were key to helping the yearly meeting understand and accomplish our objectives. The Powerpoints and presentations she’s built to explain and expand our work have proven to be incredibly useful tools, both for those familiar with our shared work and those who are encountering it for the first time.
Strategic—Christie is an exceptional listener, many times capturing the essence of a message more clearly than it was originally expressed. In so many meetings she’s listened attentively, taken copious notes, and returned with a plan that summarizes and encapsulates the fundamental aspects of the previous conversation. She hears our dreams and turns them into possibilities. In one clerks group meeting, we brainstormed for almost three hours. Over our next few gatherings, she presented a cohesive, comprehensive plan that incorporated the best of our ideas.
Generous—Christie is generous with her time, attention, and hospitality. On many occasions she’s focused not just on how to gather people together, but also on how to make sure they are cared for. From the very first council retreat at Burlington Meetinghouse, Christie cared for us by preparing food, instigating a rousing game of Exploding Kittens, and offering opportunities for us to socialize. Her generosity made it possible for me to be a presiding clerk from Upper Susquehanna Quarter – without her willingness to host me in her home, I don’t know how I could have served the yearly meeting from 175 miles away. During a Phillies game, her family gave up the TV room so my partner and could sleep, even though it was the playoffs. I didn’t realize until later that her family watched on a laptop together, instead of the big screen tv.
Faithful—While it could be easy to become task-focused in our yearly meeting work, Christie continually draws us back to Spirit and reminds us to reflect ourselves as a faith community, even when we are immersed in administrative business. She has crafted many of the charges for our committees and sprints, making sure to ground us in our faith community and shared spiritual life.
It has been a privileged to witness Christie’s thoughtful, reflective, and spiritually grounded approach to leading Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Melissa Rycroft
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Clerk
She/Her/Hers
On the ancestral lands of the Susquehannock
June 14, 2024
Dear Melissa,
I’m writing to follow up on the conversation we’ve had about the end of my service as general secretary and to formally tend my resignation from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. My targeted final date will be July 31, 2025.
It is a privilege to go to work every day expecting to worship, knowing that everything we do as a community is to live into God’s call to us, and being accompanied by Friends who are authentic and have amazing gifts to share. At a recent first meeting of a sprint, the participants were asked to share how their faith shows up in in their walk in the world. Friends shared stories of connection, healing, wholeness, truth, artistic expression, and family legacy – and that was a normal day at work at PYM.
In the last ten years we have midwifed a shared vision of where we are called to go together. We have developed structures that help us get things done such as threads that focus us on the core ministries of our meetings and sprints that make space for people who have enormous gifts to participate for a short period of time. We have an understanding of the yearly meeting as the community of all the Friends and meetings in our geographic region, along with their ministries. We have created and evolved a governance form that is able to care for the needs of the community while encouraging the ministry of Friends. We have struggled – and continue to struggle – as we seek ways to be a place of belonging for all Friends on this path and as we figure out how to be faithful servants together and to trust one another and God. It has been a very rich decade, filled with gifts, emotions and challenges.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to have worked with you, the clerks group, our councils and community members. I’ve appreciated every Sunday that I’ve worshiped with meetings across our geography. I’ve loved collaborating with the staff to create programs, support and community. Just as we’ve been able to do the work we’ve done because the previous general secretary and Friends created a strong platform to serve from, the solid ground we’ve constructed will support the next general secretary in accompanying our religious community in its next steps.
The coming year gives us plenty of time to prepare and transition. At the end of sessions next year I look forward to, as my predecessor said, a promotion to being a member of the community again.
In faith,
Christie
General Secretary Search Committee
After more than ten years of service as General Secretary and twenty years with PYM, Christie Duncan-Tessmer will be stepping down from her position at the end of July 2024. More information about this transition can be read here.
The yearly meeting is immediately beginning the process of seeking our next General Secretary. Following long tradition and good practice, a search committee will be established to manage the search and bring a finalist candidate for approval to the body. The Quaker Life, Administrative and Nominating Councils will jointly support the committee and have approved a charge to give it direction (the full charge may be read below).
The Search Committee will be responsible for identifying finalist candidates to present to the joint councils. The councils will then present their recommendation to the yearly meeting in session which is responsible for appointing the General Secretary, as directed by Faith & Practice.
The immediate next step is to identify Friends to serve on the committee and nominations are invited and welcome. They can be given to Cecilia Filauro, Executive Administrator, at cfilauro@pym.org.
The committee will include 6-9 people who will be approved jointly by the three councils. Together, the people serving on the committee will have the experiences, perspectives, and the skills to support their responsibility for identifying qualified candidates. Specific needs for the committee are described in the charge; they include:
- Quaker process – the ways in which Friends worship, listen, discern and move forward.
- Non-profit administration – the requirements and responsibilities for running a small to mid-size non-profit organization.
- Non-profit governance – the roles and responsibilities of a governance structure in relation to the organization and to the chief executive officer.
- Monthly and quarterly meetings – the needs of Quaker meetings for healthy functioning and being in relationship with one another.
- Larger Quaker landscape – the range of Quaker organizations and yearly meetings with which PYM is in constant relationship.
- Governance members – at least one member of the committee will be a member of Quaker Life or Administrative Council. The treasurer is ex officio.
- Diversity
- Age – Because we want to see a Quaker community that includes Friends of all ages, we’ll see age diversity on the committee: half the committee will be under 65. At least two members will be under 35.
- Race – Because of our commitments to belonging and to addressing racism we’ll see racial diversity on the committee: at least a third of the committee will be BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) Friends.
- Experience – Because we want to nurture leadership and because Friends in the yearly meeting have a wide range of experience with Quakerism, at least one Friend who is newer to Quakerism or to service in a high-impact governance group will be included.
- Committee members will be spiritually grounded Friends who are familiar with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. They do not need to be members.
- Nominations for membership on the committee will be solicited from the councils and from the body.
- The clerk will be appointed by the Joint Council. The committee may appoint an assistant clerk, recording clerk, or any other role.
- A staff member will not provide logistical support for the work of the committee. Initial meeting logistics can be set up by staff but ongoing work will need to be supported by the committee and the search firm.
The committee will be appointed by the councils jointly and will report directly to the councils and in writing to the PYM body on a quarterly basis. On an ongoing basis, the committee will be responsible to the Clerks Group which includes the clerks of the three councils, the presiding clerk, rising clerk and treasurer. The General Secretary is also a member of the Clerks Group but will not be involved in the administration of the search process.
The committee will identify a search firm to assist and support it in its work. A search firm is necessary as it can provide a large-scale search, has extensive experience in the unique needs of a search for a senior leadership staff role and can provide logistical support that the committee will need and that can’t be provided by PYM staff. The search firm will be one that has experience working with Quakers and Quaker organizations.
Friends will hear updates of the process throughout the next year as we prepare for a new chapter in the way our extended family is supported by the gifts and administration of staff. Until a committee is appointed, questions can be directed to Nikki Mosgrove, clerk, at NMosgrove@pym.org
General Secretary Search Committee
Charge:
With Divine assistance the committee will support the process of seeking unity on identifying the next General Secretary by shepherding the search process and bringing finalists forward for decision.
Background:
In July 2025 the current General Secretary’s service will be complete. The Administrative Council holds authority for the process of seeking the successor and is sharing that authority with Quaker Life Council and Nominating Council. Together they will set up the committee charged with managing the search process.
Composition of the Committee:
The Committee will include 6-9 people. Together, the people serving on the committee will have the experiences, perspectives, and the skills to support their responsibility for identifying qualified candidates. These include:
- Non-profit administration – the requirements and responsibilities for running a small to mid-size non-profit organization.
- Non-profit governance – the roles and responsibilities of a governance structure in relation to the organization and to the chief executive officer.
- Quaker process – the ways in which Friends worship, listen, discern and move forward.
- Monthly and quarterly meetings – the needs of Quaker meetings for healthy functioning and being in relationship with one another.
- Governance members – at least one member of the committee will be a member of Quaker Life or Administrative Council. The treasurer is ex officio.
- Larger Quaker landscape – the range of Quaker organizations and yearly meetings with which PYM is in constant relationship.
- Diversity
- Age – Because we want to see a Quaker community that includes Friends of all ages, we’ll see age diversity on the committee: half the committee will be under 65. At least two members will be under 35.
- Race – Because of our commitments to belonging and to addressing racism we’ll see racial diversity on the committee: at least a third of the committee will be BIPOC Friends.
- Experience – Because we want to nurture leadership and because Friends in the yearly meeting have a wide range of experience with Quakerism, at least one Friend who is newer to Quakerism or to service in a high-impact governance group will be included.
- Committee members will be spiritually grounded Friends who are familiar with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. They do not need to be members.
- Nominations for membership on the committee will be solicited from the councils and from the body.
- The clerk will be appointed by the Joint Council. The committee may appoint an assistant clerk, recording clerk, or any other role.
- A staff member will not provide logistical support for the work of the committee. Initial meeting logistics can be set up by staff but ongoing work will need to be supported by the committee and the search firm.
Accountability:
The charge for the Search Committee and its members will be approved by jointly by the councils.
The Clerks Group will be responsible for bringing nominations for the committee membership to the Joint Council.
The committee will report in person (or by zoom) to the Joint Council quarterly. At each significant stage in the search the committee will report in writing to the Joint Council. The committee will always be available for responding to the questions or needs of the councils, through the clerks of the councils.
The committee will be held accountable on an on-going basis by the Clerks Group which will ensure that it maintains momentum and the work is completed. In the event the committee requires assistance, whether the need is perceived by the committee itself or by others, the Clerks Group is responsible for providing the assistance.
The committee will report in writing to the PYM body on a quarterly basis.
Responsibilities (what the committee will do):
1. Hold the meetings and the work of the committee in the manner of Friends, grounded in Spirit.
2. Identify a search firm that has experience working with Quakers and Quaker organizations. The search firm will support the logistics of the search and will assist the committee in meeting its responsibilities.
3. Collaborate with the PYM Finance office regarding resources and contracts.
4. Develop a timeline for the search including candidate identification, and consultations and communications with governance, staff and the body.
5. With input from the Personnel Committee, review the job description of the General Secretary. Recommend changes to the Joint Council for approval.
6. Identify a potential interim General Secretary to serve on a short term basis if needed. This will allow maximum flexibility in the timeline.
7. Identify a committee member who will be in regular two-way contact with staff, including:
- a. Organize an initial hearing by the committee from staff on their needs and hopes regarding the General Secretary.
- b. Organize a mid-point meeting with the committee and the staff.
- c. Report to the staff on a quarterly basis at a minimum.
- d. Receive and report back to the committee questions, thoughts and concerns from staff throughout the process.
8. Ensure the General Secretary position is posted and well publicized.
9. Carefully review all application materials.
10. Conduct interviews.
11. Members attend at least 80% of the meetings; come to meetings having read all advance material.
12. Recommend two to three finalist candidates to Joint Council and arrange for interviews of the candidates by councils and by staff.
13. Maintain confidentiality.
Outcomes:
1. The job description will be updated as needed.
2. Two to three finalist candidates will be identified. PYM Friends and staff will be informed of the process all along the way.
Next Steps:
1. The Joint Council will bring a single finalist candidate forward for consideration of approval by the yearly meeting in session.
2. A Transition Plan will be set up by the councils and leadership staff to facilitate the incoming General Secretary’s orientation and success.
FWCC World Plenary Events: August 5-12
Living the spirit of Ubuntu:
Responding with hope to God’s call to cherish creation – and one another
In the works for many years, the next Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) World Plenary Meeting is August 8-12. This is a time to worship and connect with Friends from around the world and to help set the direction for where FWCC goes next. The theme for the 2024 World Plenary is, “Living the Spirit of Ubuntu: Responding with hope to God’s call to cherish creation and one another” and Friends from all over the world will gather both in South Africa and online.
The World Plenary Meeting is a meeting for representatives from all four FWCC Sections — Africa Section, Asia West Pacific Section, Section of the Americas, and Europe and Middle East Section — to tend to FWCC business, surrounded by worship and fellowship with Friends from around the world. All Yearly Meetings and other bodies that are affiliated with FWCC are invited to send delegates to the World Plenary Meeting. There will also be a gathering of Young Adult Friends in the days before the World Plenary, August 1-5. PYM representatives to FWCC will be attending both in South Africa and online: Amy Duckett-Wagner (Fallsington Meeting) and Peterson Toscano (Millville Meeting).
The world office has shared resources to connect with the theme and prepare to engage with the program. These include a World Plenary Meeting Study Guide and a World Quaker Songbook. Amy Duckett Wagner has recorded a playlist of songs from the songbook, which can be watched (and joined in song!) on YouTube.
August 5 First Monday Lecture at Pendle Hill: Robin Mohr
On Monday, August 5, Pendle Hill’s First Monday Lecture series (7:30-9:00 PM ET) will welcome Friends into the spirit of the FWCC gathering. Robin Mohr (Green Street Meeting), who is completing her time as Executive Secretary for FWCC Section of the Americas this summer, will share stories of where she has seen ubuntu in action, as she concludes thirteen years in her position. Information about how to join online or on campus at Pendle Hill is on the Pendle Hill website.
Over fifty hubs to join the World Plenary Meeting online — including Pendle Hill!
Pendle Hill will host one of the online “hybrid hubs” across the globe, joining the World Plenary online. More information about the Pendle Hill hybrid hub is shared here. and a flyer to share is also available.
Using technology available to us today, the opportunity for people in Congo Yearly Meeting, Lake Forest Friends Meeting, Japan Friends, Canberra Quakers Hub, Belgium & Luxembourg Yearly Meeting, Dublin Meeting and a Russian-speaking hub to join Friends gathered in South Africa is deeply aligned with the mission of FWCC.
FWCC was formed in 1937 to bring Quakers together across theological and cultural diversity. The primary task of FWCC today is to help Friends appreciate and develop unity within the diversity of the Quaker family. This includes differences of language, culture, and tradition, and in the emphasis placed on different aspects of our common Christian and Quaker heritage and witness. From the FWCC World Office website: “Friends worship in a variety of ways, and by increasing understanding of these differences, FWCC helps Friends both deepen and enlarge their own understanding of their faith and life as Quakers.”
FWCC opens doors to friendship and learning
FWCC has been a transformative influence on my journey as a Friend. In 1987, I participated in the FWCC Quaker Youth Pilgrimage as a rising senior from Westtown School, along with two classmates. Youth from around the US and across parts of Europe participated in a three-week travel and learning experience that took us to Pendle Hill and Swarthmoor Hall in 1652 country, and also to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. It was the first time my home meeting (Millville Meeting) wrote a minute of travel for me. It was my first experience of community with Quakers from parts of the US who belonged to programmed, pastoral congregations, and also with Friends from other parts of the world. It opened new possibilities for me as a young Friend, including spiritual growth. I made friends who I am still connected with today living in other parts of the globe, and it put my feet on a path that has included travel in all the FWCC Sections. I would not have imagined as a sixteen-year-old the idea of being in public ministry among Friends, but FWCC opened doors that included traveling to the last World Plenary in Peru in 2016, where I was invited to bring the message in worship on a morning the Section of the Americas had care of worship. Most recently, FWCC connections led to the invitation by The Yearly Meeting of Aotearoa/New Zealand (Te Hāhi Tūhauwiri) to travel in the ministry there in August 2023.
The worship during the days together at the World Plenary in Peru illustrates the spirit of FWCC and our global Quaker family. Each morning was unique and grounded in the practices of the people from that Section – we sang, danced, were led in a guided meditation, and heard sermons. Throughout, the sense of the Light among us was strong, and we were listening together for God through these different ways. Our Quaker faith connected and uplifted us.
Let’s hold in the Light those Friends gathering and participating in the 2024 World Plenary!
A version of this story first appeared in the July 2024 Concord Quarterly Meeting newsletter. Shared with permission.
Quaker Education Granting Group awards Post-Secondary Education Grants!
At its June meeting, PYM’s Quaker Education Granting Group met for discernment and approved a total of $49,050 to eighteen students from the yearly meeting to support their post-secondary education. The granting group meets annually for discernment of these grants, and applications are due May 1st.
Friends’ interests are diverse! Grants will support students in their pursuits of medicine, clinical counseling, human rights, environmental science, and more. This is what Friends are studying:
Words of gratitude and excitement have poured in since we shared the news with grantees. One friend wrote, “Thank you so much!! This is such great news! I’ll share it immediately with my mom!!!!” Other Friends shared how their faith is with them on their journeys. One Friend wrote, “My Quaker upbringing has played an integral role in my passion for human rights law, and I am so appreciative of your support.” Another shared, “It means so much to me to be fortified by Quakers as I start this next chapter.”
Funds to support post-secondary education come from Mary Jeanes and Anne Townsend. The Mary Jeanes Fund was established in 1896 by the Jeanes family estate “to aid deserving young Friends to procure an education, also to assist them to obtain the necessary course to prepare them for teaching by loaning money without interest, to be returned by them as soon as able.” The Fund was minuted in 2013 to be entirely a grant fund. The Anne Townsend Grant Fund was established in 1896 by the estate of Anne P. Townsend to provide grants to PYM Friends securing an education in the field of “domestic, industrial or practical arts”.
If you feel led to participate in this work, either by applying for funds or serving on a granting group, please reach out to grants@pym.org to find out how to get involved, or learn more on the grants webpage.
Words of gratitude:
“I am so appreciative of PYM’s continued support.”
“My Quaker upbringing has played an integral role in my passion for human rights law, and I am so appreciative of your support.”
“It means so much to me to be fortified by Quakers as I start this next chapter.”
“Thank you so much!! This is such great news! I’ll share it immediately with my mom!!!!”
“Thank you so much for your continued support. It is much appreciated!”
“Omg!! Thank you so much!! You have no idea HOW much this means to me!!”
“Thank you, thank you!!!”
“Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful news with me. I am incredibly grateful for PYM’s support.”
Supporting Children and Teens After Violence in the News
How do we talk to children and adolescents about gun violence and senseless tragedy? Parents and caregivers are helping their children process their feelings alongside their own, and signs of anxiety are different in children and adolescents when compared with adults. Pastoral care for children begins with pastoral care for their caregivers, and the resources below are offered to support parents and caregivers, educators, and Friends who care for and work with youth. A concern about election violence led to the creation of this event in October for families — Peace Begins with You: A Gathering for Children & Families — and we hope you will share this community gathering and the resources below with your meeting.
Processing in Developmentally Appropriate Ways
Children and teens will have different exposure to and understanding of violent incidents, and may feel anxiety, confusion, fear, sadness, or anger, and have questions about what they see and hear in the media and from friends. Children cannot always articulate their feelings, and they may show us how they are feeling through play or behaviors. Their anxiety may show up as: anger, negativity, difficulty sleeping (particularly falling asleep), defiance, and lack of focus. For adolescent youth, symptoms of anxiety may include recurring fears and worries about routine parts of everyday life, irritability, trouble concentrating, withdrawal, and complaints about stomachaches or headaches.
* Some practical advice for parents and caregivers
- Parents and adults need to first deal with and assess their own responses to crisis and stress.
- In PYM, adults seeking support can reach out to the Friends Counseling Service.
- Try and keep routines as normal as possible. Children gain security from the predictability of routine, including attending school.
- Be present. Listen to your children’s fears and concerns.
- Depending on their age, limit exposure to television and the news but be honest with kids and share with them as much information as they are developmentally able to handle with simple, honest answers.
- Reassure kids that the world is a good place to be (individuals are responsible for violent actions).
- Reaffirm attachments and relationships.
Resources for Adults Supporting Children and Teens
- Spiritual Practices for Use During a Traumatic News Event from Traci Smith
- Talking to Children About Gun Violence from Everytown for Gun Safety
- Talking to young children about community violence from Sesame Workshop
- Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Families and Educators from the National Association of School Psychologists
- Helping your children manage distress in the aftermath of a shooting from the American Psychological Association
- Isaiah and the Worry Pack — Learning to Trust God with All Our Fears by Ruth Goring
- A Kids Book About Anxiety by Ross Szabo from the “A Kids Book About” series. The inside covers suggests, ”This book is best read together, grownup and kid.”
Making Faithful Practices Available
Children need us to hear their concerns, and we can provide reassurance even if we do not have answers. Lifting up our worry and anxiety in prayer is another way to acknowledge those feelings and place them in the care of our Quaker faith. These coloring pages “Prayers For When You Feel Anxious” includes both suggested prayers and three different sets of images for mindful coloring. This lesson plan about meeting for worship suggests that our worship as Friends is a container that is strong enough to hold big feelings —even hard ones—and the lesson could be adapted to help process recent events and heavy hearts, alongside encouragement to continue finding the Light in our world.
Election Violence Prevention: Youth Programs
The guidance below for “Youth Programming” comes from Friend Emily Provance (a traveling minister from New York Yearly Meeting) and the Election Violence Prevention series she has created.
Featured strategy: Youth Programming
What the strategy means: There are three ways to approach this strategy: (1) encouraging teens and young adults to engage in the political process nonviolently, (2) empowering teens and young adults as leaders in the nonviolent movement, and (3) holding peaceful social events for teens and young adults during “flashpoint” moments, such as the day of an election or inauguration. How this strategy prevents election violence: Young adults and teens are often perpetrators of election violence, but this is often because older people have intentionally encouraged them to be violent. Empowering youth to take and even lead nonviolent actions means that they are much less likely to be convinced that violence is their best avenue for change.
Action Steps:
These are things that you can do to enact or promote election monitoring and mapping. Which one sounds like a good match for young people you know, and for you?
- For shepherd people (gifted in leading or organizing groups): Create or visit a youth forum, small or large, of teens and young adults. Support them in learning about and actively practicing nonviolent strategies for the political changes that they want to see.
- For relationship people (folks who are good at conversations and making friends): Ask some young people for their thoughts about the upcoming election cycle. Engage in conversation. What do they believe is likely to happen? How does that feel? Do they have concerns? Do they have ideas for action?
- For word people (talented writers and/or speakers): See if you can find a high school or university class or club to which you can speak about the election cycle and ways to engage in political change nonviolently.
- For prayer people (spiritual grounded intercessors): Pray for young people in particular throughout the election cycle. When the opportunity arises, invite young people you know to pray actively for nonviolence.
- For motion people (naturally physically active doers): Consider holding a sports tournament on a Saturday or several weekends in a row. During breaks and over snacks, talk about the election cycle and the influence young people can have on nonviolence in their communities.
- For learning people (research ninjas and data analyzers): Find out what, if anything, your local schools are teaching in terms of voter and civic education.
- For creative people (artists, musicians, performers, and crafters): Find an opportunity to hold a creative workshop of some sort for young people, either by organizing a group or by being a guest artist for an existing group. Use election violence prevention as your theme.
Image: Pixabay.com
Middle East Collaborative at PYM Annual Sessions
At the invitation of General Secretary, Christie Duncan-Tesmer, and Presiding Clerk, Melissa Rycroft, PYM’s Middle East Collaborative (MEC) presented during the Saturday afternoon July 6, 2024 proceedings of PYM Annual Sessions. With the challenge from a statement published in April 2024 and endorsed by eight Quaker organizations, A Different Future IS Possible, MEC asked gathered Friends to consider personally and collectively possible responses to the tragic, seemingly ongoing, and complex injustices in Israel/Palestine/Gaza.
A Different Future IS Possible, calls on Hamas, Israel, the Western world – particularly the US and UK – and Quakers to actions that will head us toward a negotiated peace with justice and equity. Monthly and Quarterly Meetings within PYM (as well as elsewhere) have passed ceasefire and/or other related minutes. Our faith calls on us to act. The list for Quakers at the end of the shared Quaker statement calls for a variety of actions.
Four MEC Friends, Sandy Rea, Jonathan Evans, Joan Broadfield and Deb Wood, guided Friends gathered for the segment of sessions to consider: [below as listed near the end of the Quaker group statement.]
“As FRIENDS, we will continue to support the global community of Quakers to:
- Urgently call and fervently work for a permanent ceasefire and amplify our voices in our communities and at the local, state, and national levels.
- Encourage decision-makers calling for a ceasefire and working for peace.
- Organize and participate in teach-ins, actions, and protests until a ceasefire and a just and lasting peace are realized.
- Actively support an end to Israel’s occupation and equal protection and rights for all people living under Israeli control and commit to actions as meetings/churches until this reality is realized.
- Divest from corporations profiting from militarism, including the occupation of Palestine.
- Support those in Israel and Palestine who are working for peace.”
With the support of items found on the Middle East Collaborative’s website Sandy, Jonathan, Joan, and Deb highlighted the Timeline of Quaker Involvement in the Middle East region and the printable list of Education and Advocacy resources. These resources include information about organizations, news sources, websites, books, films, travel possibilities, activists and journalists to follow, and more. MEC has hosted a series of programs on the book “Why Palestine Matters” to learn more about the history and circumstances of the conflict, as well as the implications for the people and countries around the world. MEC is also ready to make available for intervisitation individuals who are eager and willing to offer information and education sessions on a range of topics at monthly and quarterly meetings.
Additionally, all Friends are invited to be involved with Middle East Collaborative. The Collaborative meets on the first Sunday of the odd numbered months via Zoom at 1:30pm to about 3:00pm. The upcoming meeting is Sunday July 14, 2024 at 1:30pm. Email Sandy Rea if you wish to be included in this Sunday’s or future meetings.
344th Annual Sessions Epistle
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting held its 344th annual sessions last weekend, July 6-7. Friends gathered both on Zoom and at Haverford College for worship, business, and fellowship. Please read this story for more information about this year’s sessions, and the minutes are now posted and available.
During Sunday’s business meeting, Melissa Rycroft, our presiding clerk, made an announcement that had not been included on the advance agenda. Melissa announced that PYM’s General Secretary, Christie Duncan-Tessmer, intends to step down from her role in July 2025. Melissa also informed us that the Quaker Life, Administrative, and Nominating Councils will be working together to form a Search Committee. Further details about this transition and the next steps will be shared after the next meeting of the councils in two weeks.
The epistle – an outgoing letter about our sessions to Friends everywhere – was approved as the last order of business. Before sharing the epistle, a member of the committee shared a limerick about the writing process:
There once were five Children of Light
Who had a good summary to write.
They wrote an epistle,
Then let out a whistle,
Saying, we think that this one’s alright!
Greetings to our beloved Friends around the World,
We send you this epistle from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s 344th Annual Sessions. This year’s unusual sessions, which met June 25 (online) and July 6 and 7 (hybrid) on the Haverford College campus, were arranged to embrace the celebrations of George Fox’s 400th birthday at the historic Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia and Friends General Conference Gathering, also held at Haverford College.
“Called to Healing” was the theme this year. In four Bible Studies held online during June, each facilitator focused on the theme and a call to action to experience the Spirit. We need each other and, if we falter, there is a path to create listening and forgiveness. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (KJV).
Empowerment was a thread that wove through all three sessions of Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. Addressing racism is one of two corporate witnesses adopted by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. By acting together, we are empowered to witness, notice and then change the many patterns of racism here at Annual Sessions, in our homes, at our Meetings, and in our hearts and actions. It is crucial to listen closely to Friends of color, who may spot these serious, pervasive, and divisive issues. We commit to addressing the structures and patterns of white supremacy and racism wherever they exist.
The second corporate witness Philadelphia Yearly Meeting has adopted is the call to every person, every household, and every Monthly Meeting in the Yearly Meeting to address the climate crisis. A serious yet hopeful report from the Yearly Meeting’s Climate Witness Stewards was received with gratitude. In particular, Creating a Playbook for Climate Action (a Power Point presentation and workbook available for download on our website) offers guidance on ways to counter the climate crisis. We were shown a calculator that tallied the carbon dioxide emissions from the food choices we make. We learned that if all Friends attending Annual Sessions were to adopt a plant-based diet instead of a meat lovers’ diet, our CO2 emissions would drop by tons. Temperatures nearing 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) outside our air-conditioned auditorium kept us mindful that our immediate action is needed.
Reports of the spiritual state of the Monthly Meetings provided uplift in their many approaches to worship, spiritual growth, community, and social action. This uplift had to be weighed against the dwindling participation at Annual Sessions and the many unfilled openings on Yearly Meeting committees and many committees in the wider Quaker community.
Urgent minutes from two Quarterly Meetings mourned the death and destruction from the conflict in Israel/Palestine. Reports from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s Middle East Collaborative, a committee that has for many years studied the increasing tensions there, sought to empower us with further education, multiple resources and accurate information to inspire create thoughtful action and more involvement.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting has implemented five strategic directions, one of them includes a focus on deepening worship and discernment as empowering and foundational practices for Quakers. As we talked of connection and acting on one’s leadings, one Friend noted that “brave spaces are more important than safe spaces.”
Before both Annual Sessions and Friends General Conference Gathering, there was a joyful celebration of George Fox’s 400th birthday held at the historic Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia. A Spirit-ed discussion called “Fox Forward” brought together four Friends in leadership positions who explored radical solutions to continuing concerns throughout Philadelphia Yearly Meeting: envisioning the future of faith, of Friends’ witness, and of propelling justice forward in a war-torn world. An “Angel of Merging” was one novel idea introduced to help address concern for the many small meetings with declining membership. Quaker Peace Teams presented the “Power of Goodness” workshop emboldening people to act from love, hope, and conscience.
At the hot All Together Meeting for Worship Sunday morning, almost one hundred Friends were in the room and some thirty-five individuals and six Monthly Meetings were on Zoom. The Spirit of all the Friends who have ministered in the historic Haverford Meeting House surrounded us. Vocal ministry rose up about our spiritual awakenings, about non-theist Friends, about the danger we are facing in our political lives, about moving out of our “silos” and joining with others, and about being more “weird,” stepping forward into our testimonies.
In the final Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business, Friends were asked to consider what the essential aspects of Monthly Meetings were. Worship, work, meals, communications, children, diversity, cooperation, respect, friendship, recognizing gifts, and financial support are all part of a vibrant Meeting.
The General Secretary described two key tools available to Monthly Meetings and individual Friends: sprints and collaboratives. Sprints are short-term, focused committees that address a given concern and invite more people into the process. A collaborative grows out of an interest of two or more Monthly Meetings, who then join to work on that shared interest. Both sprints and collaboratives have access to resources and support from the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting staff and the larger community.
We are a strong group of committed Friends, sharing our joys and concerns, our work and worship. And we send to you, Friends around the world, this epistle sharing how the Light moved among us at our 344th Annual Sessions.
