Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

A Journal of Our Quaker Fai th and Pract ice

PYMToday Summer 2014

ANNUAL SESSIONS 2014Worship is a Door to Love

A Vision for Philadelphia Yearly MeetingPreparing for SessionsGrant Programs Support Our Priorities

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Contents SUMMER 2014

VITAL AND GROWING

On the coverMembers of Woodstown Monthly Meeting, Woodstown, NJ welcome you on the cover

of this issue of PYM Today. Standing in front of their open door, children and adults alike welcome all into the worship and fellowship that are hallmarks of our Quaker faith. This year’s Annual Sessions theme is Worship is a Door to Love. We call you to join your community at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

Annual Sessions 2014, July 23-27, at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA. We hope to see you there!

A Vision for Philadelphia Yearly MeetingArthur M. Larrabee General Secretary Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

At Interim Meeting on April 12, the Long Range Planning Group, of

which I am a member, presented a final report that included a vision statement. I would like to offer some thoughts about this statement because it also captures my vision for our yearly meeting. It is a vision I embrace and commend to our community as I prepare to leave the office of General Secretary at the end of August:

“We envision a vital and growing Philadelphia Yearly Meeting- a faith community that makes a difference by deepening spiritually, welcom-ing newcomers, building supportive and inclusive community, and providing loving service and faithful witness to the world.”

Vital and growing A vision statement is meant to

capture our aspirations, to lift up what

we hope for. One of the aspirations to which we keep returning is that we will be a vital and growing faith community. But how do you measure vitality and growth? Vitality is an intangible quality which perhaps can best be measured anecdotally in the stories we tell about ourselves and our community. It is so important to vitality and growth that we take time to tell and to hear the stories of our communities living out our faith.

Another way to measure growth is to look at our membership numbers. My dream is that we will grow our numbers. Although our adult membership has not increased over the last 14 years, neither has it decreased, and numbers alone cannot be the sole measure of our vitality. When I became General Secretary, I looked for a vehicle with which to contradict the sometimes

gloomy predictions we share with each other about our future membership. At Interim Meeting in November 2007, we began a practice of creating opportunities for members to share stories of vitality and growth in our monthly and quarterly meetings: “When we use the words

vital and growing to describe ourselves, we can create and live into that reality.”(Minute 2(f), Interim Meeting, November 29, 2007).

A faith community that makes a difference

What is the purpose of a faith community if not to make a difference, a difference in the lives of those who are touched by it and a difference in the world? My hope for us is that we will do more than merely maintain ourselves, our practices and our meetinghouses.

2 Vital and GrowingA Vision for Philadelphia Yearly MeetingNew General SecretaryMeet Christie Duncan-TessmerLong Range Planning

6 Annual SessionsGrounded in WorshipSpiritual Responsibility in the Meeting

for BusinessPreparing for Annual SessionsChildren & Youth ProgramsKeynote SpeakerAnnual Sessions ScheduleYoung Adult Friends ProgramWorkshopsHoney, Can We Afford to Attend Annual Sessions?Logistics and Fees

17 Grant MakingInternational Outreach:

Travels & Impact

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VITAL AND GROWING

A Vision for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting My hope is that we will encourage a consciousness that in whatever we do as Quakers, individually and collectively, we can and will make a difference.

Deepening spiritually Seeking to know and to be in

relationship with the Spirit of God is a core vision of our faith experience. We have different practices that support us in doing this, perhaps most important among them being the meeting for worship. In addition to the meeting for worship we have other opportunities to deepen spiritually such as the meeting for business, spiritual formation and the service we undertake. Each of the things we do presents a spiritual opportunity. The opportunity is to come into deeper and more meaningful relationship with each other and with Spirit. To do this is to deepen spiritually. It is a journey without end, but it is no less joyful or meaningful for being endless.

Welcoming newcomers, building community

Welcoming newcomers and building supportive and inclusive community are of a piece. We know from the experience of Quaker Quest that to welcome newcomers we must prepare and that in our preparation we build community. Likewise, when we give attention to what is required to build a supportive and inclusive community, we make ourselves attractive to newcomers.

One strategy to welcome newcomers is to be prepared with a clear summary statement of the central experiences of our faith. I believe there are many who seek what our faith has to offer; but if we cannot be clear and succinct about what our faith is about, we obscure the truth and fail to call seekers into fellowship with us. I presented a paper to our yearly meeting in 2012 entitled “What Do Quakers Believe?” As this paper has been seasoned some Friends have had difficulty accepting any

formalized statement of belief. Taking these concerns into account, I am currently rewriting the paper with a new title, “What Is the Experience of Quakers?” Whether we call it belief or experience, however, it is clear to me that we cannot be effective in welcoming newcomers if we cannot say, collectively, what we are about.

Another strategy to build supportive and inclusive community is to increase the resources we dedicate to continuing Quaker education and spiritual formation. I am a lawyer even though I am not now practicing law and in order to keep my law license current I must do something we call Continuing Legal Education (CLE). I take twelve hours of courses a year. What about adopting a similar concept for our Quaker faith? What I am suggesting is that within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting we might begin to develop an expectation of Continuing Quaker Education (CQE!) and give attention to how the yearly meeting may support individual meetings in doing this work.

Still another strategy for building inclusive community is to increase our efforts to make ourselves known. I believe we need to promote ourselves by proclaiming the good news of our faith experience. We have a precedent for doing this. Didn’t George Fox go out into the public square and proclaim good news? Didn’t the Valiant Sixty spread out over England proclaiming good news? They preached from the bible, but they didn’t stop there - they went beyond the bible and that’s what made Quakers different. They asked, “What can you say? Are you not a child of God?” What is your experience of God working in your life?

Providing loving service and faithful witness to the world

I like that we aspire for our service and witness to be grounded in love. We know that for service and witness to be

its most effective it must be offered and enacted in ways that will make a connection with “the other” and invite relationship. We know that we cannot change hearts and minds by threats or violent confrontation. We do change hearts and minds by grounding our service and our witness in the spirituality of our faith.

One of the ways we can make a difference in the world is to act together in community. We have greater capabilities and resources to meet the world’s challenges when we act together rather than as individuals or as individual meetings. At Interim Meeting in October, 2013, I shared a concept called “Foundational Minutes.” The idea is that we can be more effective in our witness in the world if we, corporately, focus on only a few select issues (perhaps just one for starters). We would need to take the time necessary to consider, thresh and prioritize as a yearly meeting faith community; articulate our perception of the issue; elaborate our concerns; ground our concerns in our faith; and seek unity in our action. Such a minute would necessarily be seasoned by meetings. And a Foundational Minute could then be the basis for the collective work and action of our yearly meeting, grounded by support among all of our meetings.

Conclusion I think the proposed vision statement

is great and I hope that we as a yearly meeting will adopt it. In my view, a vision statement is like an “elevator speech,” something that captures the heart of the matter in a brief statement. I think this one does just that. My plan is to commit it to memory so that I will have it available whenever I need it on the unpredictable “elevator rides of life.”

Arthur is a member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting.

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Christie Duncan-Tessmer, a native of Canton, Ohio, was raised in

the Episcopal Church tradition. She pursued a rigorous course of study at the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College. A child psychology special-ist by training, she dedicated her early career to helping children and women in crisis. A longtime motiva-tion for Christie has been helping others move toward “being whole.”

She relocated to Philadelphia in 1990 to begin graduate studies at the Bryn Mawr College School of Social Work and Social Research doctoral program in Clinical Human Develop-ment. While there, Christie worked

Meet Christie Duncan-Tessmer

as a supervisor in two Delaware Valley direct social service nonprofit organizations. During this time, she and her husband Zach, a ceramic artist and teacher, were drawn to explore the Religious Society of Friends as a spiritual home. They began to attend Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting where Christie later served for nearly ten years as First-Day School Coordinator. A new sense of calling began to emerge for Christie in working with Friends, help-ing Friends’ communities and families move toward wholeness.

In addition to her work at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, Christie made a

Interim Meeting Names New General Secretary

Christina K. (Christie) Duncan-Tessmer has been appointed to

become the General Secretary of PYM by Interim Meeting at its session held on April 12, 2014. The General Secretary is the chief administrator of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and is responsible for executive leadership and oversight of all staff operations and support and integration of all Philadelphia Yearly Meeting projects, services and activities. Christie will succeed Arthur M. Larrabee as General Secretary upon his retirement on August 25, 2014.

Following a thorough and extensive discernment process over eight months, gathering input from members and meetings and considering and interviewing a number of applicants, the General Secretary Search Committee united on its recommended choice. The search process, approved by Interim Meeting, was confidential, as were all candidate inquiries and applications. The committee expressed its confidence that Christie is the right person “to move our community forward together in the Light”.

Christie has served as the Associate Secretary for Programs and Religious Life for PYM since 2008 and was the Children’s Religious Education Coordinator from 2005 to 2008. Prior to her tenure with PYM, she held positions at Friends General Conference and Newtown Friends School as well as leadership roles in several Delaware Valley social service nonprofit organizations.

As Associate Secretary, Christie worked to establish the six annual Thread Gatherings and nine Thread e-Newsletters (ThreadLetters) that enable Friends to share experiences, resources, wisdom and support with one another. She is also known for her multigenerational work, bringing Friends together for meaningful and engaging interaction at Annual Sessions, and webinars so Friends may deepen skills without having to travel.

Christie looks forward to assuming the administration of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, which “is ready to trust the solid foundation we have built in recent years, to trust in the Spirit and to leap into new space where the vitality

PYM General Secretary Search Committee

and potential among us can find new expression.”

Looking forward to her new role as General Secretary, she envisions “an integrated, deliberate approach to our corporate work and life.” She wants members to experience a “large vibrant community manifesting Truth and Spirit.”

Christie will apply the same approach of interdisciplinary collaboration and common goals in her leadership of staff. She will work to build upon our fundraising efforts, increase our collaboration with other Quaker organizations, improve internal communications and increase our faith community’s visible presence in the world.

Please welcome Christie as our new General Secretary.

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newcomers, building supportive and inclusive community, and providing loving service and faithful witness to the world. We encourage everyone to read and consider the proposed plan in anticipation of further discernment at Annual Sessions in July 2014.

We also encourage you to watch “10 Friends and PYM Planning,” a short (16 minute) video in which members high-

light the strategic objectives addressed in the draft plan. The video is also available on the Long Range Planning Group page on the PYM website at www.pym.org/long-range-planning-group.

Suzanne serves as clerk of the Long Range Planning Group.

VITAL AND GROWING

full professional pivot into Quaker program and administrative work in 2000. That work includes six years as Junior Gathering Coordinator for the Friends General Conference Annual Gathering which entailed creating and executing programs for an immersive weeklong national conference for over 300 children through grade 8; and recruiting and supervising 80 -120 adult volunteers. As Religious Life Coordinator for Newtown Friends School she developed curricular materials and helped elementary-aged students “feel their way into relationship with the Divine.” Since 2005, Christie has served in positions of increasing responsibility for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, initially as Children’s Religious Education Coordinator and more recently as Associate Secretary for Program and

Religious Life. In her current position she supervises a staff and leads a team that has supported, facilitated and advised the work of as many as 25 yearly meeting committees.

Over the course of nearly twenty-five years in Philadelphia Christie has developed relationships with Quakers and Quakerism on the local, regional and national levels. As for her own religious home, Christie and Zach became members of Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting in 1999 on the day their daughter was born. Christie, Zach, daughter Moxie, 15, and son Ezra, 12, live in the East Mount Airy section of Philadelphia. Moxie and Ezra have attended local Friends schools and are now enrolled, respectively, at George School and Plymouth Meeting Friends School. Zach teaches at Chestnut Hill College.

Long Range PlanningSuzanne DayWestfield Monthly Meeting

The Long Range Planning Group presented a draft long range plan to

Interim Meeting in April and encourages all members and other interested people to find out more by reading the draft of “Rekindling Our Fire: A Draft Long Range Plan for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting 2015-2020.” You may find a copy of the draft plan on the PYM website at www.pym.org/long-range-planning-group. The plan envisions us as a faith community committed to deepening spiritually, welcoming

Nurture Quaker Faith and Practice

with a gift to the Annual Fund

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is a community of Quaker meetings,

members and attenders who support and strengthen each other in Quaker

community, faith, practice and witness.Please help nurture the work of your

yearly meeting with a gift.

Give online at www.pym.org/nurtureOr call us at 215/241-7115

“Use your capabilities and your possessions not as ends in themselves but as God’s gifts entrusted to you.

Share them with others; use them with humility, courtesy and affection.”

(Faith and Practice, p. 83)

A New Associate Secretary for Program & Religious Life

As Christie moves into the General Secretary role, PYM will be hiring a new Associate Secretary to work closely with her and the program staff. The new person will help strengthen the religious life and witness of PYM in framing, articu-lating and championing a vision of Quaker faith, practice and witness.

Friends who are curious about this full time position are invited to read more about it online: www.pym.org/employment/opportunities.

The search committee will begin reviewing resumes in mid-June.

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Grounded in WorshipKen ParkProvidence Monthly Meeting

worshipers. A blanket of divine covering comes over the room, a stillness that can be felt is over all, and the worshipers are gathered into

a unity and synthesis of life which is amazing indeed. It is within this sacred place, our unity as Friends in the light allow us not only to love each other but also to deal with the difficult matters of worldly life. (Thomas R. Kelly, The Eternal Promise, p.43, Friends United Press, 2006)

Opportunities to worship in both large and small groups present

themselves constantly throughout our four days together during Annual Sessions. We share, laugh, support and nurture each other as we share our individual leadings. Annual Sessions is a wellspring of light and spirit that re-energizes our spiritual batteries.

Faith and Practice also shares that

worship is always possible, alone or in company, in silence, in music or speech, in stillness or in dance. It is never confined to place or time or form. (Faith and Practice, PYM, p.19)

Friends at Annual Sessions have found this to be true whether sitting together in silence, singing, conducting business or even finding God in the transformation of cicadas.

Our worship together is truly the door to the love that carries us forward as we serve God and each other.

Ken is Clerk of the Sessions Planning Group.

How do Friends create a sacred

space for over four hundred people? A space where it is safe to struggle to discern a sense of God’s will for us? Faith and Practice shares that,

Worshiping together strengthens the members of the worship community and deepens the act of worship itself. Such communal worship is like a living organism whose individual but interdependent members are essential to one another and to the life of the greater whole. (Faith and Practice, PYM, p.19)

Once each year Philadelphia Yearly Meeting gathers as a faith community to worship together, discern business and bathe in the light of our loving community. Our worship throughout our time together strengthens our community and clarifies the work that God intends for us to do.

The first time I attended worship at Annual Sessions I was left with an emotional imprint I will never forget. The corporate worship of over four hundred people sitting together in silence filled me with an energy I had never before experienced. This energy strengthened my faith and buoyed my heart. Thomas Kelly in his famous essay, “The Gathered Meeting,” describes what I felt:

In the practice of group worship on the basis of silence come special times when the electric hush and solemnity and depth of power steals over the

A Message from the Clerk

Friends, I am excited about

Sessions! We are preparing ourselves to consider needed change: including a long-range plan and revisions to Faith & Practice. In addition, we will celebrate the

faithful service of Arthur M. Larrabee as our General Secretary and welcome as incoming, Christie Duncan-Tessmer.

As in past years, Worship with the Attention to Business has an open agenda. Business will be addressed as the Spirit so leads us, allowing us to be faithful and responsive, and respectful of the time and efforts needed to bring forth well-seasoned business. Prior to Sessions business items will be posted on our website to inform our minds and for prayerful consideration.

Friends, please join me in preparing ourselves completely. Sessions Planning Group is ensuring that travel, childcare, and other logistical needs are met. But the preparations of our heart and souls, dear Friends-only we can do this work. As we move towards Sessions I ask you to give special attention to your personal grounding practices: mid-week worship, daily meditation, mindfulness practices, prayer and spiritual readings. When we gather as grounded individuals we move with the full strength of a grounded people. I will be at Sessions, and I look forward to being with you!

Jada is a member of Trenton Monthly Meeting and Burlington Meetinghouse Worship Group

by Jada S. JacksonClerk

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Preparing for Annual Sessions Amy Ward Brimmer,Fallsington Monthly Meeting

and their work. Take a few minutes to look at the worship, workshop and recreational activities scheduled outside plenary sessions. Think about how you might use that time—when to participate fully and when to choose rest and renewal. Read the advance documents and reports. Everything can be found online at www.pym.org/annual-sessions-2014 as we approach the opening of Sessions.Hold Annual Sessions in the Light. Start now, don’t wait until you have arrived. Whether this takes the form of prayer and meditation, visualization or just a positive loving wish, please take the time to ask that Sessions go well for everyone. If you can, take time each day to reflect upon this.

Britain Yearly Meeting holds up the example of Mary Hughes (1860-1941), who “comes with heart and mind prepared … For weeks beforehand it came into her prayers in the morning, at meal times and with friends. She wished that God’s power would be in the meetings, that people would go forth from them with a new vision of God’s work for them, a new sensitiveness for their fellows, and especially the distressed.” (Quaker Faith and Practice, 3rd ed.)

We can each use the time before Sessions in this way. This practice not only supports the Sessions itself and the staff and volunteers who plan and lead the programs, but daily preparation puts each of us in a clearer spiritual place ready to open ourselves to the working of the Spirit in all our activities together.

Consider this year’s theme, “Worship is a Door to Love”. You will see the theme in all the scheduled programs, agendas for meetings for business,

workshop offerings and in the new “Meeting for Worship for Business and Togetherness.” There will be numerous opportunities to prompt our thinking and feeling about a vision of a living faith community that is encouraged into worship and love.

Prepare for our work together by asking yourself, “What do I need to live, walk, speak and act in the world as it is reshaped again and again in our ongoing encounters with God?”Connect with your monthly meeting. Find out who else from your meeting plans to attend Sessions (perhaps you can carpool). Find someone in your meeting who has never attended Annual Sessions and encourage them to join you. See what kind of financial assistance there might be to help members who need it. Discuss the scheduled items for business with Friends who cannot be present and ask them what they think (be careful, however, as they are likely to tell you!).

If you cannot attend Annual SessionsThere are may reasons some Friends

may not be able to attend Annual Sessions: work obligations, family needs, travel restrictions, etc. are part of the complex lives we lead in this busy world. But that does not mean you cannot participate. Your yearly meeting needs you and here are some ways you can be part of —an important part of

What should be done then my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. —I Corinthians, 14:26

Quakerism has never been about going it alone. —Ben Pink Dandelion

Imagine that you are about to embark upon a journey. This may be a

journey you have taken many times before or it may be the first time you have traveled this path. Think about the days leading up to embarking on your trip. What would you need to do to get ready to leave? What conditions would you need to create in order to travel safely and enjoyably?

Preparing for Annual Sessions requires us to ask similar questions. These questions range from the practical (what do I need to pack?) to the metaphysical (how will the Spirit move me during sessions?). While practical preparations for attending Sessions are important I would like to suggest that we each take time to examine how to prepare spiritually for our time together as a yearly meeting.

Show Up. Our Faith & Practice indi-cates that everyone who is a member of a monthly meeting “should feel under the weight of duty to attend the annual sessions and participate in its deliberations and decisions.” Know that your choice to be present in community makes a difference. Review the agenda. This is a little like looking at a map of the places you might travel to. Know what items of business are scheduled to come before us. Read about the speakers Continued on next page

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—Annual Sessions, even while at home:Hold Annual Sessions in the Light. As outlined above, committing to the daily practice of prayer and positive, loving wishes that Sessions go well is the most powerful support any Friend can provide. (And it might do you some good too!)Join your meeting in support. Find out who is attending from your meeting and ask your meeting community to hold them in the Light as they prepare for and engage with other Friends at Sessions. Speak to those Friends who will be attending and tell them you are supporting them in this way.

Read the advance documents and reports and stay in touch with the work, worship and discernment Friends will be involved in during Sessions.Schedule a report about Annual Sessions for your meeting. Ask the people from your meeting who attend Sessions to provide a brief report when they return. Schedule this now. It might be held at the rise of meeting for worship, as part of a meeting for business, at a potluck or any time your meeting is gathered in community. Let those who were able to be present tell you of their experience and what happened and what you may do to carry the work of yearly meeting forward.

Some thoughts in closingI offer two final thoughts concerning

the call to be engaged in the life of our yearly meeting and hope that they inspire you as they have inspired me:

Community is at the heart of Quaker worship and of Quaker discernment. We don’t need to be all in the same place for prayer and worship to feel powerfully connected, but knowing when others are also connected in these ways can have a great effect. —Ben Pink Dandelion

The intent and holy design of our annual assemblies, in their first constitution, were … that good order, true love, unity and concord may be faithfully followed and maintained among all of us. – Yearly Meeting, London, 1718

Spiritual Responsibility in the Meeting for BusinessPatricia LoringHartford Monthly Meeting

position with which one has arrived. Unfortunately these methods tend to obscure the sense of the meeting rather than to clarify it. The sense of the meeting is better arrived at when each person present relinquishes control, to endeavor to see her- or himself and others not merely with the mind’s eye but with the eye of faith; to discern not only his/her own leading but the leadings of others; to keep in mind that at any moment the most improbable person may be the prophet of God; to discern how the leading of the meeting may be different from the quite genuine leading of an individual.

The individual may be led to go to point “A” but may have to go there without the support of the meeting or with only its warm wishes. The individual may be led to call the meeting to go to point “A” so that in fact it will get to point “B” rather than to point “C”. The individual may be

of God in a particular matter. They have found the most reliable guide to that will to be the sense of the meeting. The sense of the meeting may be different from consensus because the sense of the meeting can arise only out of a membership which has in fact given itself over to seeking the will of God and has prepared itself spiritually for the search. It may be that some present have not yet come to that condition of seeking. It may be that some have come seeking that their own will be done —sometimes for excellent reasons. It may be that they come with a leading from God which is quite true for themselves but not a leading for the meeting as a whole.

It is easy and tempting for Friends to fall into secular customs in the conduct of business: each one simply seeking, working, manipulating for one’s own point of view, attempting to control the outcome to the advantage of the

Continued from previous page

In working toward a decision, Friends are urged to recall that there are

important differences between their process and the one known in the secular world as “reaching consensus.” So many of us sit on secular committees which have an outward resemblance to those of Friends, that it becomes very easy to transfer their methods, attitudes and goals to Friends’ committees. Friends have been so competent at running the business of the world that they have always been at risk of eroding their life as Friends by assimilating the secular values of efficiency, decisiveness, effectiveness, and dispatch.

When Friends make a decision, they are not seeking a consensus of their membership. They are seeking the will

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members of the meeting and of the Society. We can only be divided if we put our partisanship ahead of unity, order and love within the meeting.

During one of my stays at Pendle Hill, the clerk announced at a meeting for business that we had an unusually long and troublesome agenda, promising to keep us at it until well into the night. The only thing to do, she said, was to alter the time of our opening worship. We would simply have to take more time in worship than usual. And we did. After a few minutes, there were some restless rustlings; but we went on for surely no less than twenty minutes —long enough for the restless impatience to “get on with it” to fall away as we began to come to our center individually and

as a group. I have rarely attended a meeting for business conducted with more peace, order, love and even dispatch. From the place of quiet we had come to, many of the difficulties fell away as matters were discerned in a new Light.

“Spiritual Responsibility in the Meeting for Business” is reprinted with the permission of Patricia Loring and New England Yearly Meeting. Copies are available for purchase from Quakerbooks.org and may be freely shared and republished under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public license which may be found online at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

mistaken altogether in her/his leading to go to point “A”. It may be only a good or interesting or poor idea. Or it may be that the individual has a leading which is valid not only for her or himself but is a true calling for the whole meeting or society to go to point “A” with varying amounts and kinds of support from individuals within the meeting.

Ultimately the responsibility for discernment rests with the clerk. This is the one who must not only intellectually sift what is going on but—more importantly—must discern the spiritual dimension of the interaction. Yet it has been said with truth that the clerk can best clerk the meeting only when everyone present is also clerking. That is, everyone present must be practicing spiritual discernment to the best of his/her capacity while recognizing that the clerk has been chosen for a special gift of discernment.

The necessary discernment of leadings can only be done after the manner of Friends from the deep centering that can arise in an atmosphere of worship. That is why we begin our meetings with a time for recollection of ourselves and for worship. That is why it is important to pause between speakers to recollect and re-center ourselves to listen and to speak in the Light rather than in passions or the intellect: to remember that we are engaged together in a search for the will of God rather than in discussion, argument or persuasion. Information and reason are to serve that higher purpose rather than to be ends in themselves. The process also requires of the members tremendous openness, sensitivity and tenderness to one another.

One reason that Friends conduct of business is so slow is that it takes time to sift ourselves and the matter at hand

for ego, self-will, sincere mistakes, matters of individual conscience and for reasons which may be excellent intellectually but not necessarily for God’s will. In a meeting which is seeking at the deepest level, there must be time and opportunity for all these matters to rise to the surface, to be examined in the Light, and to settle again to a deeper level of quiet. There must be time not only for those whose interest and concern for the matter has impelled them to go deeply into it, but for those whose inward processes and flow of words are moving at a slower pace —and perhaps at a deeper level as well. There must be time for change to take place inwardly —not just in the head but in the heart and gut —as members search the matter and are searched by it. For one can come with sincerity to a Friends’ gathering for business with a mind unalterably set. To do so would leave no room for the Spirit to move, for Way to open, for discernment to take place.

Friends’ spiritual process is demanding; and it is difficult to keep it sorted out from the secular models with which we spend so much of our lives. Yet the process is sufficiently precious to make it worth laboring to keep sight of its spiritual basis while we are in the midst of it. Otherwise it may become a set of empty forms used in a secular manner.

One important effect of staying within the Spirit from which the process is derived is that it can keep us in unity even while our opinions diverge. Remaining aware that we are jointly engaged in the enterprise of discerning together the will of God for the meeting rather than trying to advance or defeat a particular project, we can be held together in holy communion as

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adult plenary sessions. Afternoons will provide some free time for families to enjoy ReCreation (or to take naps). Each day we will gather with our larger faith community in Meeting for Worship and Togetherness, after which kids depart for “Meeting for Swimming” while adults enjoy the rest of the afternoon in meetings for business.

Youth gather during Annual Sessions to share fun, fellowship

and worship; to conduct Spirit-led business in their own age-specific programs and with the larger community; and to participate in multigenerational opportunities for togetherness.

Children’s Sessions and Middle School Friends: Infants through middle school age children will meet in age-based groups each morning and evening during the same time as the

ANNUAL SESSIONS

Children and Youth Programsand time in the pool with other yearly meeting youth.

Financial assistance is available to help Young Friends defray the cost of attending Annual Sessions. As we approach the date for Annual Sessions, please check the Young Friends page on the PYM website for more details: www.pym.org/annual-sessions-2014/childrens-and-youth-programs.

All of the youth programs will be led by gifted, enthusiastic adults who will follow each child’s age-defined group throughout Annual Sessions. Volunteers are always needed to provide fun and grounding ways to connect with our young people. We will explore this year’s theme—Worship is a Door to Love—in our own programs and together with the whole community during Meeting for Worship and Togetherness and Meeting for Business gatherings. We have many great plans in the works to encourage children to share their Quaker faith, grow spiritually and have fun at the same time. Residential and program spaces at Muhlenberg College are close to each other, surrounding an open space for outdoor play. Nothing grows community like time and adventures together!

For more info, contact Gracie Coscia, Children’s Sessions Coordinator at childrenssessions@pym.org or 215-241-7236;Matt Sanderson, Middle School Friends Coordinator at middleschoolfriends@pym.org or 215-241-7171; or Hannah Mayer, Young Friends Coordinator at youngfriends@pym.org or 215-241-7222.

Gracie CosciaChildrens’ Sessions CoordinatorMatt Sanderson, Middle School Friends CoordinatorHannah Mayer, Young Friends CoordinatorBen Camp, Children’s Religious Life and Youth Team Coordinator

Middle Schoolers will care for evening Vespers as they did last year, a quiet time for gathering and reflection before going to bed.

At night the community continues in the Family Neighborhood—families will be housed together centered around a lounge—a place to hang out and play with friends. Housing is free for Children Infant-Middle School age. The cost for this age group is only for meals. Financial aid is also available to families (and people of all ages) who need it to help cover the cost of their attendance at sessions.

Young Friends (High School): The Young Friends Program will be a round-the-clock, residential program led by Hannah Mayer, our Young Friends Program Coordinator, Kody Hersh, Youth Programs Assistant, and a number of Friendly Adult Presences. The program is open to anyone who would attend a Young Friends

Gathering: all high-school-aged and Quaker-affiliated or Quaker-interested people and anyone in high school whose family is attending Annual Sessions.

While Young Friends join the larger yearly meeting community for many activities (worship sharing, Meeting for Worship and Togetherness, business meeting items of interest, most workshops, speakers

and vespers), we sleep in our own dormitory wing. Much of the time we will be engaged in workshops and other programs specific to Young Friends, similar to Young Friends weekend gatherings. Worship Sharing Queries will be under the care of Young Friends as we did last year! Other highlights include a day hike to Glen Onoko Falls

SUMMER 2014

11

ANNUAL SESSIONS

Young Adult Friends at Annual SessionsElizabeth Piersol SchmidtAdult Young Friends Communication Coordinator

Young Adult Friends (YAFs, ages 18-35) participate in all aspects of

Annual Sessions, facilitating workshops, participating in business, and providing

Keynote Speaker: Peterson ToscanoPeterson Toscano Pennsdale MonthlyMeeting

Guilford and Earlham,) Friends’ high schools and middle schools, young friends gatherings, and many Quaker meetings throughout North America and the United Kingdom.

He created the political comedy “The Re-Education of George W. Bush—No President Left Behind!” for the plenary session at the 2008 Friends General Conference (FGC) Gathering. With his work, “Transfigurations - Transgressing Gender in the Bible” Peterson has delighted diverse audiences and received high praise for his groundbreaking, genre-bending gender blending Bible scholarship wrapped up

in a performance. He performed pieces of it as the Bible Half Hour presenter at the 2012 FGC Gathering. His newest play, “Does This Apocalypse Make Me Look Fat?” is a comedy about broken bodies large and small; in it he seeks to provide a queer (and Quakerly) response to climate change.

Peterson Toscano and his husband, Glen Retief, are members of Pennsdale Friends Meeting where they were married under the care of the meeting in 2012. More information is available about Peterson on his website at www.petersontoscano.com.

leadership for youth programs. Young Adult Friends have our own dorm area where we host late-evening programs & fellowship often including discussion, worship sharing, board games, and checking in with each other about our

experiences. In a new tradition, YAFs will welcome graduating Young Friends into the Young Adult Friends community at a super-secret event this year! YAFs also find ways to find additional informal time as a peer group including sharing meals, amidst the myriad of offerings during Annual Sessions!

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Piersol Schmidt, YAF Communications Coordinator, at youngadultfriends@pym.org or 215-241-7075, or visit our website at www.pym.org/young-adult-friends.

Elizabeth is a member of Swarthmore Friends Meeting and West Philadelphia Friends Meeting

This year we are delighted to have Peterson Toscano as our keynote

speaker on Saturday evening, July 26 at 7:15 pm. Using a mix of storytelling, live performance, and personal reflection, Peterson will offer a public meditation on leadings. It promises to be a lively and moving message delivered with a sense of humor!

Peterson Toscano is a theatrical performance activist who uses comedy, Biblical scholarship and storytelling to address social justice concerns. He has presented in many Quaker venues including yearly meeting sessions (Baltimore, New England, and Appalachian yearly meetings,) Quaker Colleges (Haverford, Swarthmore,

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Annual Sessions is one of the most important events we can participate in, a time and place where all who embrace our faith community—members and seekers alike—may gather to share worship, fellowship and the work we are called to do to bring the light of God’s spirit to the world.

Please register by June 30, 2014 at www.pym.org/annual-sessions-2014

Contact 215/241-7238 or email sessions@pym.org

SUMMER 2014

13

ANNUAL SESSIONS

Workshops at Annual SessionsWorkshops are scheduled for Thursday, July 24 and Friday, July 25, from 7:15-8:30 p.m. You may sign up for workshops during online registration or on-site at Annual Sessions. For a complete description of each workshop, please see our website at www.pym.org/annual-sessions-2014/workshops

THURSDAY WORKSHOPSWorkshops scheduled on Thursday

are for ages high school and older. Children’s Session and Middle School program participants will be engaged in their own peer-group activities during workshop time; childcare will be available for very small Friends.

Aging in Place: Remaining in Your Home Safely Thomas G Wells

For Such a Time as This: Developing an Artful Response to the Climate Crisis Glen Retief and Peterson Toscano

Fundraising Strategies for Monthly Meetings and Other Non-Profit OrganizationsDevelopment Working Group

Inter-generational Spiritual FormationSpiritual Formation Working Group & Young Adult Friend Coordinators

Join the movement! Work with AFSC for Peace with JusticeLucy Duncan and other AFSC staff

Letting Love be the First Motion, Even in Politics!Joan G. Broadfield and Mary Lou Hatcher

Rooting Ourselves in Love for CreationPamela Haines, Susan Christian and the Eco-Justice Working Group

Stories of Friends: A Yearly-Meeting-Wide Video ProjectMadeline Schaefer

The Presence in the MidstChris Stern and Middletown Friends

White Privilege Work: Challenge and Hope for our Meeting CommunitiesEllen Deacon, Facilitator; Carla White and Carter Nash, Elders

FRIDAY WORKSHOPSThere are several all-age workshops on Friday evening. Children’s Sessions and Middle School programs will continue during workshop time. Parents may bring their child to an all-ages workshop if they choose or children may stay in their peer-group program.

Building the Circle: A Place for Everyone in Spiritual FormationMelinda Wenner Bradley, Faith & Play Working Group

Choosing Love in a Time of Peril: Climate Change and Our InvestmentsInvesting with Integrity Nancy Sleator and Margaret Mansfield

Ending Mass Incarceration: A Discussion on Federal Criminal Justice PoliciesTila Neguse, Friends Committee on National Legislation

Group Drumming: Sharing Our Heart BeatCarolyn Shafer

Love and LossMary Lou Hatcher

Mapping Quaker Links to Slavery, Abolition and the Underground RailroadAvis Wanda McClinton, Linda Lotz and Madeline Schaefer

Native American Views on Meeting for WorshipPhiladelphia Yearly Meeting Indian Committee

Quaker Witness in Urban AmericaMercer Street Friends Trustees

Resolving Conflicts, Deepening RelationshipsMeeting Enrichment Services

The Best Ideas are Free; Develop MembershipMembership Development Support Fund Working Group

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SUMMER 2014

Honey, can we afford to attend Annual Sessions this year?

Carla White Chestnut Hill Monthly Meeting

This question may be heard in many households around this time of

year. We hope the information in this article will help you answer with a resounding YES!

In 2012 Annual Sessions, the Yearly Meeting approved this minute:

“In our discernment, there was a spirit of affirmation that Annual Sessions are a core purpose of our Yearly Meeting. In this light, we want to do all we can to make our Sessions as accessible and free of barriers as possible. We want to come, and to invite others to come with us, without concern for cost. We ask that General Services Standing Committees, Financial Stewardship and PYM Sessions Working Group come under the weight of this concern as they prepare future budgets.”

As a result, additional funds have been allocated in the general fund budget for Annual Sessions so that now there are no program fees associated with attending Annual Sessions for worship, business and other activities. Friends pay only for food and housing. We hope that this will encourage more Friends to participate in Annual Sessions, including our meetings for worship and business, making connections and the many community activities planned as part of our annual gathering as a faith community.

This is all very good in theory, you say, but what is the result for my personal budget? This year, the total cost for food and housing for an adult to attend Annual Sessions (full time, Wednesday through Sunday) is $310. The total for an infant through middle

school age child attending full time is $90 (in room with parents). Young Friends (high school age) costs are lower than for adults, and Young Friends are eligible for scholarship funds to cover their food and housing costs. While we keep costs as low as possible, we know that some Friends may still not be able to afford to pay for housing and meals away from home - and for that, we have financial aid in the form of work grants and scholarships, available to help anyone of any age who wishes to participate in Annual Sessions!

Consider everything that is included in the Annual Sessions experience: age appropriate activities for everyone in the family, free-time for family activities together, community with other Quakers who support your values, lovely surroundings, excellent food that you don’t have to prepare or clean up, a room for four nights, service to your religious community and the satisfaction of participating in meaningful decisions.

In addition, there are many recreational options in nearby areas including Allentown, Lancaster and

Harrisburg. If you want to extend your family’s time away from home, consider going camping, visit an amusement park, climb a mountain, go white water rafting on the Delaware, or track history in a nearby state and national park for a few days before or after Annual Sessions. Why not build your family vacation around Annual Sessions? Refresh your inner spirit at the same time that you relax and explore.

You can participate in any way you wish, from a single meeting or a single day to the entire program from Wednesday afternoon through Sunday—but you must register in advance for rooms and children’s programs.

The bottom line is, please do not stay away from Annual Sessions for lack of funds. Friends of all ages find Annual Sessions to be an enriching, worthwhile experience, there are many options for attending, and many forms of financial aid. We hope to see you this summer!

Carla is a member of the Sessions Planning Group.

ANNUAL SESSIONS

We Are Called to Support Annual Sessions

Annual Sessions is one of the most important events we can participate in, a time and place where all who embrace our faith community members and seekers alike—may gather to share worship, fellowship and the work we are called to do to bring the light of God’s spirit to the world.

Financial Contributions. There are many costs associated with renting a facility and providing all the logistical support for our Annual Sessions. We encourage Friends to make voluntary financial contributions to help offset the costs of Annual Sessions and reduce our reliance on the General Fund. Please consider making a monetary gift when you register, or while you are onsite during Annual Sessions.

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Logistics and FeesLocation

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions 2014 will be held at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Meetings for Worship and Business, Children’s Sessions, meals and other activities will be housed comfortably in a single building, the Seegers Union Building. Dormitories and additional program spaces are clustered nearby with shady outdoor spaces between. And there are many opportunities for Friends to extend their stay in the Lehigh Valley, visiting mountains, museums, or amusement parks before or after Annual Sessions. Please visit our website for more information: www.pym.org/annualsessions

HousingStaying together on a single campus

means plenty of opportunity for fellowship during Annual Sessions. Housing and meals are available at affordable prices and financial aid is

available to help anyone who needs assistance to attend. All the dormitories are close to the Seegers Union building.

Housing options include the following:

The Family Neighborhood where families with children may stay together in one hallway with a common loungeAir-conditioned rooms are configured as double rooms or single rooms in suites. Bathrooms are shared with suite-mates or roommates. Non-air-conditioned rooms are mostly double rooms with a shared bathroom. Young Friends will share rooms in a single dormitory area with staff and Friendly Adult PresencesYoung Adult Friends have the opportunity to stay with other young adults in a designated dormitory area.

Directions By Car

The Muhlenberg College campus is easily accessed from the east or west via I-78, and from the north or south via I-476 or US 309, connecting with the PA turnpike and I-95. Detailed directions are available on the

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting website at www.pym.org/annual-sessions-2014 and the Muhlenberg College website at www.muhlenberg.edu.

By Public TransportationIt is easy to reach

Muhlenberg College via public transportation. The closest bus stop to the college is Wescosville, served by Greyhound, Trailways and Carl Bieber

Bus lines. Please contact the bus lines for route and fare information (links are provided on the PYM website).

Shuttle service from the Wescosviille bus station to Muhlenberg College may be available if there is sufficient interest. The shuttle will include space for luggage and door-to-door service. If you are interested in shuttle service from the bus station, please request this when you register for Annual Sessions. There will be a small fee for shuttle service.

Parking Plenty of free parking is available in

designated parking lots on campus. Maps will be available for registrants and volunteers will be on-site to help direct you to the appropriate parking lots. If you need access to a handicapped-designated parking space, please indicate this when you register for Annual Sessions.

MealsAll meals will be served in the Wood

Dining Commons in the Seegers Union building. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are always available.

Our first meal will be dinner on Wednesday July 23. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner will be available; on Sunday,

Continued on next page

ANNUAL SESSIONS

Time and Talent Contributions. Volunteering is a great way to get to know others at Annual Sessions and be involved in our yearly meeting community. Sessions works because of the support of many volunteers who assist with programs, registration, information, youth activities and more! Please consider volunteering your time, talent and energy during registration, or stop by the volunteer desk on-site during Annual Sessions.

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SUMMER 2014

only breakfast and lunch will be served. Note that dorm rooms are not equipped with refrigerators or microwaves, although some suites do have shared mini-kitchens.

AccessibilityThe Muhlenberg College campus is well suited to accommodating accessibility needs: Seegers Union and the classroom buildings where workshops are located are fully accessible buildings, as are most of the dormitory buildings. Paved walkways connect all buildings and the longest distance between the buildings we will use during Annual Sessions is less than one city block. Golf cart service will be provided for Friends who need help. Speech-to-text transcription will be provided during each meeting for business and for speakers.If you require a wheelchair-accessible room (or any other assistance) please indicate your needs when you register for Annual Sessions.If you have any other special need

please contact our Sessions Coordinator at 215-241-7238.

Fees There are no program fees

for attendance at Annual Sessions this year! The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting General Fund covers the location, logistic and program costs of Annual Sessions. Participants only need to pay for their own food, housing and personal expenses. We do encourage Friends to make voluntary contributions to help offset the costs of Annual Sessions and reduce our reliance on the General Fund.

Fees for Housing and Meals

AdultsFull time registration$310 – all meals plus housing in an

air conditioned room$230 – all meals plus housing in a

NON air conditioned roomDay registration$31.50/day – all meals (per day)$46/night – housing with air

conditioning$26/night – housing without air

conditioning

Children (Infant-Middle School)Full time registration$90 – full time registration including

all meals and housing. Day registration$22.50/day – all meals (per day)

Young FriendsFull time registration$220 – includes all meals, housing in

a double room in the Young Friends area.

Day registration$29/day – all meals (per day)$26/night – housing in a double

room in the Young Friends area

Financial AidAdults: Work Grants and Scholarships help defray the cost of housing and food at Annual Sessions. Work grants are based on the number of hours worked. Both types of aid are subject to availability, so apply early! The application process is simple; during registration, just let us know you would like to obtain this support.

Young Friends: Scholarships are available from the Sergei Thomas and Haley Yarmark Memorial Scholarship Fund. Young Friends may apply for this aid when you register for Annual Sessions.

Children—Middle School: This year, housing is subsidized by the PYM General Fund for all children aged infants through middle school. There is no need to apply for this subsidy.

Individual assistance from your Meeting: Monthly and Quarterly Meetings are encouraged to support their member’s participation in Annual Sessions. Many meetings have funds available to help members and attenders participate. Please contact your local meeting for more information.

Friends may apply for workgrants and scholarships during registration. More information is available on the website.

How to registerPlease visit www.pym.org/annual-sessions-2014 for detailed information about Annual Sessions and to register for this year’s program. Friends who do not have access to a computer may register by phone by calling 215-241-7238.

This year’s registration deadline is June 30, 2014.

We highly recommend that you register as early as possible in order to obtain your preferred housing choice. Registering in advance also enables us to plan better to provide the kinds of assistance and support everyone needs during Annual Sessions.

While it is possible to register onsite during Annual Sessions, no housing will be available for onsite registrants. Children, Middle Schoolers, and Young Friends (High School Age) must register by June 30.

ANNUAL SESSIONS

SUMMER 2014

17

GRANT MAKING

International Outreach: Travels and ImpactLinda LotzHaddonfield Monthly Meeting

Do you take time to listen? To really listen? To listen to that still small voice, speaking to you? To listen to the voice of God? What is God saying to you? What is it that God wants you to do?

This year, I’ve learned to really stop and listen, I’ve found it easier to center down, I’ve learned the use of silence and I’ve learned where peace can be found. I’ve heard the ‘still small voice of God’ calling to me, and I’ve found myself recalling scriptures or looking for scriptures to fit a situation and I’ve heard so many new things. I’m learning to be collected and to get in tune and I’ve been directed . . . I’m not ready for the silence to end. I’m still working on the last part.

—Luanne Hage

The International Outreach Granting Group (IOGG) provides small

grants to assist American Friends and other individuals who travel abroad and international visitors who come to the United States on Friends concerns. These visits and projects seek to further international understanding, peace and other Friends’ concerns. Grants are generally in the $300-500 range.

During the 2012-13 Program/Fiscal Year, the IOGG approved grants totaling $8,830 to assist 19 individuals to travel internationally. Most recipients were over 18 years of age. Trips during 2012-13 fell within four thematic areas:

Meet with Friends; embark on a Spiritual Journey: Recipients traveled to worship and engage with Irish and Palestinian Friends, and Friends gathered in the US at several yearly meetings, Friends General Conference, and the Friends World Committee for Consultation/Americas Section Gathering.

Another person took part in a Friends’ pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy.

Give or receive training: IOGG funding helped support an Alternatives to Violence (AVP) training program for Israelis and Palestinians as part of a multi-year effort to develop local resource leaders who will be able to train others. A Guatemalan Friend visiting the US also participated in an AVP gathering. An Iraqi-American doctor returned to his home country to provide training in the area of child psychosocial needs. And an adult traveler was part of a group that took bicycles and bicycle training to a village in Sierra Leone.

Engage in witness or action on peace and justice concerns: Recipients traveled to Tunisia for the World Social Forum and to participate in a Christian Peacemaker Team witness in Palestine.

Participate in Service/Learning: Students participated in school trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Another person worked in the Monteverde Conservation League’s Children’s Eternal Rainforest. Continued on next page

Following are excerpts from letters and reports from some of the people who received grants from the International Outreach Granting Group recently:

Bolivian Friend Visits the USA

For 9 weeks in June, July, and August,

I visited Friends at 4 Yearly Meetings and the FGC Gathering, in addition to gatherings in private homes and visits to Friends schools and Friends Homes. Friends in Pacific Yearly Meeting and elsewhere learned about Friends in Bolivia and the importance of completing their university education, along with the deep value of other Bolivian Quaker Education (BQEF) programs. -Alicia Lucasi

AVP Training in Israel-PalestineWe are also training organizations in

Israel that are trying to address the discrimination and violence that exists between Jews, and Palestinian Muslims and Christians, in Israel. There are organizations and individuals on both sides of the divide who believe in respect, peace, security, reconciliation and self-determination for all peoples. We all do what we can to participate in this vision. -Joe DiGarbo

Service Learning in the Dominican Republic

(Our Friends’ School project was) at the school Enriqueta Olmer… We made the very drab wall…look more like a school than look like a military building. Our mural made the school

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Over $900,000 of new income was budgeted for grants by Philadelphia

Yearly Meetingt this year. Combined with funds carried forward from prior years, we had over one million dollars to grant, almost exclusively from restricted funds. Friends practice philanthropy as a worshipful witness for truth. Granting Group members prepare carefully, inform themselves of the realities of need and potential and, guided by the Spirit, come to unity on the best stewardship of our grant funds.

Our 15 granting groups (16 including the Emergency Fund) fulfill their missions while supporting the purposes their donors require.

The generosity and vision of our past donors continues to provide opportunities for witness, service and stewardship today. Our many granting groups help fulfill our donors’ purposes

GRANT MAKING

During this year IOGG members developed standard application and report forms which have encouraged applicants to provide more thought-ful and detailed information regard-ing their trips and the impact their trips have had on themselves, their meetings and those people visited. Groundwork was laid for a new data-base of grantees and their travel to provide a better overview of how IOGG funds are being used. Prepara-tion of this report is a direct result of these initiatives.

The members of the PYM International Outreach Granting Group during FY2012-13 included: Tim Esser-Haines, Roberta Foss, Neil Hartman, Linda Lotz, Miyo Moriuchi, Randy Quinby and Chris Roberts. Samantha Griggs joined the IOGG in 2013-14 and Steve Gulick, clerk of the PYM Peace and Concerns Standing Committee, is the Standing Committee liaison to IOGG.

Linda is a member of the International Outreach Granting Group

YM Grants Scope: Fiscal Year 2014Carol WalzDirector of Grant Making

look a lot nicer and brighter. We also made the children very happy by playing games with them during the camp. Many smiles were brought to their faces while we were there. Conversations held between the students at my school and the students at Enriqueta Olmer… helped the Dominican students’ English and our Spanish and gave more of an understanding of each other. -Blaise Glowiak

Spiritual Journey to IrelandAs a result of my trip to Ireland I

learned a lot about me and that ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ Philippians 4:13; about Friends; about Irish Friends and Friends from a few other countries that were at Ireland Yearly Meeting sessions; about Northern Ireland – the ‘Troubles’ hardships and problems that continue still and what Friends have and are doing to help others in Belfast and elsewhere within Northern Ireland. I was able to experience a truer sense of speaking from the silence that is Spirit led and not just someone talking to be talking. It made me think more about this piece and how little of real Spirit led speaking I have heard in the past. I needed to hear and experience this. -Luanne Hagee

Nurture coming generations of Friends with a Deferred Gift

Friends strive to be thoughtful stewards of financial resources. Including Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in

your estate plans is a meaningful way to nurture Quaker faith and practice. Through a Bequest,

Legacy Gift or a Life Income Gift you can make a contribution now that will support the work of PYM

Friends in the future.For more information,

please contact Jennie Sheeks, PYM Director of Development, at

215-241-7115 or jsheeks@pym.org.

SUMMER 2014

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GRANT MAKING

Fiscal Year 2014 Grants Income

By PYM Standing Committee and Granting Group

Education Standing Committee $134,297 Tuition Aid (Committee on Friends Education) $96,227 Other Education Grants $38,070 General Services Standing Committee $84,305 Meeting House Trusts Granting Group $48,107 Pemberton Granting Group $10,580 Mary Pusey Granting Group $25,617 Peace and Concerns Standing Committee $17,568 Fund for Sufferings Granting Group as need arises Indian Committee $8,486 International Outreach Granting Group $9,082 Support & Outreach Standing Committee $32,204 Friends Institute Granting Group $13,072 Membership Development Granting Group $16,272 Willits Book Trust Granting Group $2,861 Worship & Care Standing Committee $665,046 Aging Granting Group $77,440 Family Planning Granting Group $28,743 Greenleaf Granting Group $321,738 Anna T. Jeanes Granting Group $237,124 TOTAL Projected FY2014 PYM GRANTS Income: $933,419

PYM Donors’ Purposes Based on the portion of principal restricted for each program area

*Specific Friends Concerns include Indian Committee, Family Planning, and Willits Book Trust

Aging - 62.0%

Education - 20.4%

Building Projects - 10.0%

Travel - 2.4%

Specific Friends Concerns - 5.2%

Our Yearly Meeting’s grants are distributed by 15 Granting Groups (listed above) through discernment by over 100 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting members who serve on them. Last year, we made well over 250 grants. The chart below shows new income of $933,419 available for grants in FY 2014. It does not include grants income carried forward from prior years.

with great care and creativity while they also prepare and deliberate how to make grants that will make a real difference in our times. Based on the portion of principal restricted for each purpose, this chart shows the scope of our granting programs.

Evolving the Pie ChartA challenge we face today is that

some past donors’ restrictions no longer fully represent the current discerned priorities of our yearly meeting: Spiritual Growth and Renewal, Caring for Our Community, Witnessing Our Faith and Making Ourselves Known. We encourage Friends who seek to support their leadings through legacy bequests to write their wills with restrictions that are as broad as possible. For example, bequests “to further Friends Testimonies” and “to strengthen Quaker institutions” would offer greater latitude for discernment by Friends in future millennia.

Added ValueOur granting groups create benefits

beyond the dollars granted in many ways, offering advice, promoting networking among individuals and institutions, and sharing knowledge gained from grantees and their projects. Granting groups strengthen connections between members and meetings, build up our community and Quaker institutions , further our Quaker witness and help those in need. Service on a Granting Group in itself is a profound experience. When viewed together, the impact of these grants is vast.

Carol is a member of Mount Holly Monthly Meeting

PYMTodayPhiladelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends1515 Cherry StreetPhiladelphia PA 19102-1479

Worship is a Door to Love

July 23-27Muhlenberg College

Allentown, PA

Please Registerby June 30, 2014 at

www.pym.org/annual-sessions-2014

Contact 215/241-7238 or emailsessions@pym.org

PYM Today is our journal of Quaker Faith and Practice, published by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, and distributed free to members.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting1515 Cherry StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19102

Phone: 215-241-7211Fax: 215-241-7045Website: www.pym.org

Jada S. Jackson, ClerkArthur M. Larrabee, General SecretaryMartin D. Reber, Director of Communications

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Annual Sessions 2014

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