Philadelphia Yearly Meeting News

A. ITEMS FOR IMMEDIATE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Annual Sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (March Sessions)

March 26-28, 2010 (Friday-Sunday)

Arch Street Meetinghouse

Theme for March Sessions: We Make The Road By Walking (How are we called to be prophetic in our witness?)

Please contact Sessions Coordinator Lou Ann Merkle at 215-241-7238 or LouAnnM@pym.org.

Yearly Meeting in Session Part One will be held from Friday, March 26 through Sunday, March 28, 2010, at the Arch Street Meetinghouse.

A preliminary schedule containing registration information has been published in the Winter 2010 issue of PYM Today. Online registration will be available soon. Please visit http://www.pym.org/annualsessions. Although it is possible to attend without pre-registering, advance registration is appreciated, especially for those who wish to purchase meal tickets.

Anchoring worship will begin our weekend together and, after dinner on Friday night, we will explore some landmarks along the path we have walked together since Summer Sessions. We will celebrate through music, worship and stories as we create a gathered community.

Business at Saturday morning’s plenary will include further consideration of the frequency of our Yearly Meeting sessions, which began at November’s Interim Meeting. There will be a report about our new Eco-Justice Program, and examine some action steps we might want to take along that road.

The afternoon plenary is devoted to an in-depth investigation of the intersection between education and prophetic witness. How do our schools (both public and Friends Schools), our teachers and our children provide models that shape our vision and inform our active witness in the world? When does inquiry lead to action? What could our Yearly Meeting do to strengthen the support for Friends in education, and the education of Friends? Various perspectives will be represented, with time for reflection and sharing.

The keynote speaker on Saturday evening will be Vanessa Julye, co-author (with Donna McDaniels) of Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship. Vanessa will share stories and lessons from her ministry of racial healing.

PYM Tuition Aid for Fall 2010: News and Reminders

New for 2010: All families seeking PYM tuition aid must apply for tuition aid from their school. This is in addition to submitting PYM tuition aid applications, signed by your Meeting's Clerk, to your Friends school by February 15. (PYM applications, timelines, and guidelines can be found at www.friendseducationfund.org).

We have asked schools to tell us whether each applicant family is eligible for financial aid from the school in a scenario where that family’s effective income was reduced by 20%. If the school reports ‘yes’ then the family has met the need standard for PYM. As a final reminder, in order to apply for PYM aid, families must first apply for tuition assistance from both their Monthly Meeting and their school. If Friends have questions about this, the PYM Education office will be happy to speak with you: Elkem@pym.org or 215-241-7224.

Meeting on Worship & Ministry

The next gathering of PYM Meeting on Worship and Ministry will take place on April 17, 2010, at Central Philadelphia MM, from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.

If you are called to nurture the quality of worship, ministry, and spiritual life among us, you are part of the Meeting on Worship and Ministry. Please join us at this April meeting. Let us gather in worship and consider our business under the guidance of the Spirit. Encourage other members of your monthly meeting’s Worship & Ministry committee to come, as well as all Friends God is inspiring to deepen and nourish worship and ministry in our midst.

Please bring your own lunch. If needing child care, try to let us know by March 31st. To request child care, or for any questions you may have, please contact Contact: Jorge Aráuz, convener, at WM@PYM.org, 215 421 5811.

For a map and related site information, please visit:  http://www.pym.org/pm/stf.php

B. ITEMS FOR APRIL NEWSLETTERS:

Caln Quarterly Meeting Family Weekend - April 30 - May 2, 2010

Camp Swatara, Bethel, PA

The Middle School Friends program will include group games and worship sharing on Friday night. Saturday will be spent hiking up to the rock pile in the morning, building a MSF songbook during the day, and various arts & crafts opportunities. Saturday evening will include a campfire and a square dance (Bring costumes to share!) with the whole community. On Sunday morning we will have our final small group time, our Eighth Grade Graduation, and then join meeting for worship with everyone.

The Young Friends program: Saturday morning we will hike up the "rock pile" and along the Appalachian Trail. Young Friends we will take part in the Saturday afternoon "A" and "B" workshop sessions and the Sunday morning "C" workshop session: Young Friends will be able to choose their workshops on Friday night. See the workshop list posted on the website.Click here for the current list of workshops 

Register by April 9th!

NOTE: Make checks payable to "Caln Quarterly Meeting". Send the registration form to
Elizabeth Lamborn

876 Freemansville Rd

Reading, PA 19607-9404

The Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists will hold its eighteenth biennial conference at Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio USA, Friday, June 25 – Sunday, 27, 2010. Registration deadline: June 9, 2010. To register, visit: http://www.guilford.edu/assets/pdf/library/fhc/CQHA_Reg_Form2010.pdf.

Summer Peace Camp at Gwynedd Friends - From August 9th to August 27th, 2010, children attending the Peace Camp at Gwynedd Friends will explore their own understandings of peace and imaginatively delve into the world of conflict transformation. Through a wide variety of artistic, intellectual and fun-filled recreational activities, campers will have an opportunity to build upon their own ideas collaboratively and to discover worlds of possibilities, both vibrant and diverse.  They will learn of ways to respect the world beyond their horizon, and to care for the world within their reach.   Most importantly, each child will be encouraged to realize his or her own significance and responsibility; and each will be provided with the skills and resources needed to express his or her own creative designs for a more peaceful world.   Social realities might not change themselves, but collective imaginations certainly can... and have for seven years running; just add sun, friends and some positive instruction and a handful of curious challenges.

For more information about this unique and innovative summer camp including a brochure and registration form, please visit www.gwyneddfriends.org/peacecamp.  With specific questions, please contact 215.699.3055 or send a message to gwyneddpeacecamp@yahoo.com

Young Adult Friends - Spring Lecture and Workshop Series on Quaker Discernment Practices (on three consecutive Interim Meeting Saturdays):

These events will take place at Arch Street Meeting House. Each presenter will give a lecture (open to all Friends) at 2:30pm, and then a workshop on the same topic (for Young Adult Friends ages 18-35) at 4:30pm. Come for Interim Meeting and stay for the lectures!

1. Saturday, April 10 - Eileen Flanagan of Chestnut Hill Monthly Meeting in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting will speak on Individual Discernment.

2. Saturday, May 8 - Mary Lord of Adelphi Friends Meeting in Baltimore Yearly Meeting will speak on Discernment for Effective Social Witness.

3. Saturday, June 12 - Ernie Buscemi of Morningside Friends Meeting in New York Yearly meeting will speak on Corporate Discernment.

Contact: Sadie Forsythe, Young Adult Friends Coordinator

215-241-7075 or 800-220-0796, Ext. 7075; Fax: 215-241-7045

Email: sadief@pym.org

Website for Young Adult Friends: www.pym.org/education/yaf

Haddonfield Meeting - Leadings and Poetry to be focus of Adult First Day Programming

May 23 – Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”. Presentation and discussion of the Pendle Hill pamphlet, “Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself” by Michael Robertson. A member of Haddonfield MM will introduce this celebrated poem which is considered by some to be the greatest poem in American literature. Published in 1855, the poem presents some of the progressive religious ideals then prevalent in Quaker and other circles.

First Day programming for children and youth is aligned with adult discussions; guests of all ages are welcome!

Meeting for worship is 10-11 AM, followed by First Day programming, 11:30 AM to 12:15 PM. Haddonfield Meeting is located at 45 Friends Avenue, one block north of Haddon Avenue and one block west of Kings Highway.

Quaker Spirituality - Middletown Meeting in Concord Quarterly Meeting is offering a workshop on Quaker Spirituality on May 1, 2010, from 10 AM to 2 PM. The title is, "Reclaiming the Lost Priority: Quaker Religious Experience in our Monthly Meetings."

Middletown Meeting would like to move forward in our leading to work for spiritual renewal in the Society of Friends. Last summer at the residential sessions of PYM we held a workshop entitled, "Quaker Religious Experience in our Monthly Meeting, Reclaiming the Lost Priority." This was well attended and Friends expressed a real interest in continuing a dialog on how we can deepen our spiritual connection to God and our community in a world searching for a guiding light.

On May 1st Christopher Stern, recorded minister at Middletown, will speak on how the spiritual experiences of early Friends are still relevant today, offering a way to transform our lives. Large and small group discussions will follow with an emphasis on creating a dialog amongst ourselves on how our individual spiritual experience can be enriched in the community of our Meetings.

Childcare and light lunch provided. A small donation to offset event experiences will be requested.

Reply via email to MiddletownLimaClerk@pym.org to register. Or call 610-543-7321.

Save Energy in Your Meetinghouse: How to Get Started - As we come under the weight of climate change’s moral and ethical dimensions, through our Meetinghouses we can take action. Our Meetinghouses can raise awareness by both lowering energy use and on the behaviors of members and attenders. For example, Reading Monthly Meeting recently insulated all of the ceiling area of their building and renovated two of the three rooms of the "addition."  Prior to the renovations, the exterior walls were insulated.  (The same is planned for the third room this summer.) A more efficient heating system is in place and CFL or diode light bulbs are used exclusively. Friends, here is another suggestion, when energy efficiency projects are finished, a great community outreach opportunity can be made through an open-house invitation through the media, further spreading the reach of our efforts.  The Greening of Friends Center and its publicity has had a positive impact on the region and the world.

(submitted by John Hayden; jbhayden1@gmail.com)