PYM Annual Sessions Retreat, 2023
Sponsored by the PYM Spiritual Formation Collaborative.
Join us July 26 & 27, 2023 to ground both ourselves and Annual Sessions. Prepare to live with our neighbors so we may
grow into beloved community together.
Join the Spiritual Formation Collaborative on Zoom for our Virtual Annual Sessions Retreat to prepare the Holy Ground of our gathering on:
- Wednesday 1pm to 4pm
- Thursday 10am to 12pm
We will approach the Annual Sessions theme of “Living with our Neighbors: Growing into Beloved Community” by exploring the question that Jesus is asked at the beginning of the parable of the Good Samaritan, “And who is my neighbor?” Friend Tom Gates will lead that part of our discussion.
During the workshop we will deepen listening skills and share with Friends in intimate as well as large groups. This is a chance to delve into your Inner Light with Friends by your side. We will share in w(holy) listening, lectio divina, passages from Thomas Kelly’s “The Blessed Community,” and our own experiences and challenges of being in this world as a neighbor and a member of a blessed community.
Tom Gates is a member of Lancaster (Pa.) Meeting and a recently retired family physician. He is the author of five Pendle Hill Pamphlets as well as Opening the Scriptures (Quaker Press, 2006). He is currently working on a book exploring the Bible and the experience of early Friends through the lens of René Girard’s mimetic anthropology.
The Spiritual Formation Collaborative is a group of Friends throughout Philadelphia Yearly Meeting whose mission is to offer programs that enable new and experienced Friends to deepen and strengthen their personal and corporate spiritual lives, and to build more intimate Spirit-led community within their Meetings. We offer a 9-month program to individual Meetings and Quarters, a yearly weekend retreat for anyone who wishes to participate and an Annual Sessions two-day retreat. For more information https://www.pym.org/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative/
