NOTE: Additional articles may be found by clicking here.

Contents

• Special Issue on Young People in NYYM
  • Raising Quaker Children
  • Teaching the Way
  • Experiences of Young Friends in Worship
  • The Birth of Farmington-Scipio Youth Program
  • Youth Finding Unity
  • Heaven on Earth: Envisioning a Loving and Open Community
  • In the World, but Not of It: Quaker Parents, Quaker Children
  • A Plea for Educating Quaker Youth about Quakerism, the Religion
  • Keeping Our Youth
  • Ask the Youth What They Want!
  • Spirit: The Magic Ingredient
  • Children in Worship
  • A Boy and the Bible
  • Inviting Our Young Adults into Leadership Roles
  • Confessions of a Reluctant First Day School Teacher
  • Queries for Children
  • Religious Education Resources on the Web
• Summer Sessions 2006: Unleashing the Blessed Community
  • Summer Sessions Schedule
  • Schedule at a Glance
    (opens in new window)
  • Featured Speaker
  • Bible Study
  • Financial Assistance Available for Silver Bay
  • Agenda Items
  • Helpful People for Yearly Meeting Sessions
  • AVP at Silver Bay
  • Help Sharing Fund and Powell House
  • START HERE if You Are Going to Silver Bay
  • Building an Inclusive Community (includes Silver Bay rules and NYYM agreements)
  • Staying on Campus
  • Staying off-Campus
  • Disability Concerns at Silver Bay
  • Food Service at Silver Bay
  • Golf Cart
  • Driving Directions
  • Public Transportation
  • Transportation Information
  • NYYM Registration Fees
  • 2006 Room Descriptions and Rates
  • Room Descriptions and Rates
    (opens in new window)
  • Study and Interest Groups
  • Junior Yearly Meeting
    • Attention Parents, Guardians, and Sponsors
    • Clustering Is Mandatory
    • What Do You Need, to Be Prepared?
    • How to Register for JYM
    • Medical Forms
    • Volunteers Sought for Preschoolers
    • Café Night
• On Your Way to Silver Bay
• NYYM Spring Sessions
• The Gift God Made You to Be
• Conscientious Objector Files at Old Chatham Quaker Meeting
• Revision of Query 9
• Renovation of Orchard Park Meetinghouse
• NYYM Events
• Notices

NOTE: Additional articles may be found by clicking here.

Raising Quaker Children

Christopher Sammond

As Friends, we live with a foot in each of two worlds. We seek to live our lives in such a way that we are in tune with the still small voice, the inner teacher. This requires us to live our lives in such a way that we maintain a steady and consistent awareness of the Divine, the sacred dimension of life.

But we don't retreat from life to do this, as do many called into maintaining connection to the realm of the sacred. We live our lives very much in the world, embracing and engaging with the difficult realities of everyday life and its inherent stresses and distractions.

We live our lives in the dynamic tension between these two realities. In seeking to maintain an awareness of the sacred in aspects others might deem secular, we claim a wholeness, an integrity, to our lives.

This is no small task, and even doing it half well takes a lifetime of learning. How do we pass this learning on to our children? How do we help them to have the experience of the Sacred in their daily lives? How do we pass on the jewel of the tradition we have inherited?

For many years at FGC Gatherings, high school–aged Friends have engaged in a practice called the Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience. For many of our youth who did this, it was the preeminent, if not the only, spiritual experience of their young lives. When it was suspended due to complaints by First Nations peoples that it was racist appropriation, our youth were furious and aggrieved at their loss; they have been vocal in extolling its spiritual impact on their lives.

This raises the question: What void was the Quaker Sweat Lodge filling? Why had high school–aged Friends not found a similar depth of spiritual experience in our own tradition? How are we raising our children, that they are not tasting the nourishment we have found in our practice?

Many of the youth I have talked to, in this Yearly Meeting and others, have never experienced a gathered meeting. They do not know what the phrase means. They don't know how to center down in worship, and they find our worship boring. They do not understand the spiritual dimension behind our business practice, and so they are deeply puzzled by what seems an achingly laborious way of coming to decisions. They do not feel a part of their meetings, and wonder why they are not asked to serve on committees.

Most of the meetings I visit are living with questions about how to better nurture the spiritual lives of their children. These questions run the gamut from how to prepare for having a First Day school when there still aren't any children in the meeting, to how to create a youth program that will attract and keep teens, to how to integrate children into worship, to how to help their children establish conscientious objector status.

This issue of Spark is devoted to looking at those questions, and others, about how to nurture our Quaker children, from infancy to young adulthood, in such ways that they know our faith well, from the inside out.

How shall we share what is most precious in our faith with our most precious resource, our children? How shall we open the dimension of the Sacred to them so that they, too, may walk with a foot in each world, and thereby have one whole life? The future of our children and our Religious Society depends on it.

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Teaching the Way

Angi York Crane, Dover-Randolph Meeting

Does our Inner Light shine for our children? Do we take primary responsibility for their spiritual nurture and care, or do we give over that role to our meeting for worship?

My oldest son, who is 15, and I were discussing this question the other day, and his response surprised and delighted me. "Mom" he said, "what you have given me is the knowledge of the Inner Voice within me that guides me in how to live, in who I am, and who I am created to be. You have taught me how to hear, and now I have a choice whether I follow or not. But I know it is there and that I have all that I need within it."

My three sons were not raised as Friends. Four years ago, our family moved to New Jersey from a brief sojourn in Australia. It took us two years to find a faith community at Dover-Randolph Meeting. Before we found a faith home, Len, my husband, and I attended to our family's spiritual needs by a Sunday morning time of "home church" with our three sons. As we have found a home with Friends, our Sunday morning family times have become even more important. As Christ-centered Friends, we value the diversity of spirituality our family experiences in our meeting, and we also want to make space for a faith language and experience that allows room for Christ-centeredness to be explored and named. Our family time on Sunday morning is that space for us to explore Christ-centeredness and the Inner Light within the context of a spiritual journey of seekers.

During this time of intentional spiritual seeking as a family, we facilitate training each other to live and love well in community, within the context of who we are as individuals. We have shared Bible studies, sacred readings, prayer times, and holding each other in the Light. We have discussed varied queries, traversing from Does God exist? Is Jesus important to faith? What does a sexuality that is honoring to ourselves and others look like?

Do our sons struggle with the silence of meeting for worship? Yes. Do they struggle with First Day school? Yes. Would they rather stay home on Sunday morning, or sleep in on Sunday morning? Yes. And yet we believe as parents that spirituality is key to a whole life, and we struggle with how to provide training in Spirit. As we were seeking for a faith home, we asked each boy individually, "If you were a parent, and you wanted your children to know the Divine, how would you facilitate that?" Each one responded that our Sunday morning family time had brought them closer to God than anything else, and if they were the hypothetical parents of our query, they would have Sunday morning family home time.

Our meeting community teaches our boys, and us, that spirituality is not an individual spectator sport. It is in our family, however, that they see modeled the truth that all of life is sacred. Friends have a history of valuing individual paths of spiritual awakening within community. How do we best teach our children this Way?

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Experiences of Young Friends in Worship

Sarah Brown, Rockland Meeting

In early December a group of PoHoians (attenders of Powell House), ages 12 to 18, gathered to discuss their experiences of worship and spirituality. What we discovered is that all the ways we express ourselves in worship are powerful and intensely individual. During that conversation and follow-up interviews I discovered a comforting depth to many of my peers' spiritually. Vinny Lomoriello said about worship that "it is my source of comfort in times when things are hard, and is my guide through each day."

The participants of this discussion were diverse, hailing from meetings where they were the youngest person there, by 43 years, to another person who attends meeting at a Quaker boarding school with all young adults. Although most people attended unprogrammed meetings, Ginny Prenot shared her experience of a semiprogrammed meeting in North Carolina. Other participants did not go to meeting at all. Sprawled over couches in the Pitt Hall library under the afternoon light, we began our discussion on worship, centering, and our experiences of the Light.

Among the youth assembled there were many different ways that we worshiped. Helen Staab said, "If I am doing art, I forget what I am and what's happening." Many people felt that the times they felt most centered were not at meeting, but when they were with friends, listening to music, or playing games. One person said that the most important thing about worship is "being and loving in the moment."

A common theme through the conversation was being more centered at times other than meeting, but also using meeting as a time to reflect. "When I am in meeting I let my mind do whatever it feels like…sometimes I have a discussion in my head and the different parts are not all my voice. I am stirred by the queries read and think about how it applies to my life and what I do with it," said Ginny Prenot. At the programmed meeting that she attended recently, Ginny enjoyed the talk about Jesus' message from the mount.

Many people felt it was easier to share in a meeting of their peers and not with all adults like many meetings. Helen Staab said that she feels "whatever message I have would not be meaningful to adult Friends. Sharing is very soul baring, and I don't feel comfortable with…them needing to advise me."

Appreciating our loved ones who surround us every day was the most consistent way of expressing the Divine. Diversity helps us to be more open-minded, and awareness helps us see the light and possibility in others. As people, expression was also very important, being able to show others our true selves and light. Ways we like to act out our worship are by reaching out to others and being organic and centered.

We come together as a community with our friends and family to worship, to strengthen our inner selves, acknowledge the light in others, practice Quaker values like silence and simplicity, and affirm the positive qualities of others and ourselves.

I have always noticed that when groups of young adults get together, they seem so much stronger, and seem to emit such truths. We are spontaneous and free, we buck at ritual.

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The Birth of Farmington-Scipio Youth Program

Donna Beckwith, Perry City Meeting

"We would like to have more say in our own program at Spring Gathering..." This statement, made more than a decade ago, was the seed of the Farmington-Scipio Youth Program.

A group, mostly parents of young teens, met at the home of the young man serving as spokesman for the youth. The result of that discussion was a teen cabin, a teen program, two young adult Friendly Adult Presences (FAPs), and a video fest during Farmington-Scipio Spring Gathering. There were compromises, "intergenerational activities" being the key phrase. Teens led get-to-know-you games at the beginning of the weekend and took over lunch preparation on the final day—when most adults were in meeting for business. Although food prep conditions have changed, teens still lead the games the first evening of the gathering.

The young man who spoke at that first meeting now has children of his own. Similarly, the youth program has grown up.

In the beginning, for just a few years, Spring Gathering was the only regional teen event. We noticed the same teens returning every year, new kids joining in, and the younger kids began looking forward to that rite of passage—getting to stay in the teen cabin.

As the Spring Gathering teen program grew, and young friends expressed interest in seeing each other more often, a Friend returned to the region after years of living elsewhere. She felt led to organize a more formal youth program. Looking back, it seems the program grew around a series of Youth AVP (Alternatives to Violence Project) workshops. Through AVP, a strong sense of intimacy among the kids, and between adults and teens, was established.

Other weekends—work weekends, play weekends, study weekends, and trips—stemmed from both youth request and adult leading. But, always, there have been AVP weekends. As new young Friends come of age, AVP continues to bind us in intimacy and trust. As a result, Farmington-Scipio Region has quite a few AVP youth facilitators.

Our Youth Program has struggled and grown. Today we have a regional oversight committee, and a group of experienced, committed FAPs. There is an official coordinator who works as an independent contractor for the region. The teens have coclerks and conduct business several times each year, maintaining a strong voice in the development of their program. They have written and approved minutes, which they submitted to be recorded by regional business meeting.

In addition to fairly regular AVP workshops, our teens have marched for the release of Leonard Peltier and attended the annual protest at the School of the Americas. They traveled to a peace roundtable. They have worked intensively with conscientious objection to the military. They have met people who have given them a broader, more balanced worldview and who show that one person can make a difference. They have baked cookies, cleaned up a cemetery, gone kayaking, visited a center for refugees.

Many geographically separate teens stay in touch through an Internet community. And right now, they are looking forward to . . . Spring Gathering.

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Youth Finding Unity

Joanna Hoyt, Portland Meeting (NEYM)

Thanks to NYYM for sponsoring me to attend the World Gathering of Young Friends in Lancaster, UK, last August. I carry new Friends in my heart, and I carry a vivid memory of reconciliation, of finding unity in the Spirit beneath differences of culture, custom, and beliefs.

Our differences were profound. Some Friends asked "How can those people be Quakers? They have hired clergy and outward sacraments!" Others asked "How can those people be Quakers? They don't know the Bible or believe in Jesus!" There were painful discussions on religious authority, sexuality, and politics. Sometimes differing groups politely avoided one another. Sometimes we argued. Sometimes we stopped defending our positions, worshiped together, and spoke of how we knew and followed Spirit.

Many of us found that we shared the experience of Spirit and the attempt to let Spirit shape all parts of our lives, whether we spoke of dying to ourselves and being reborn in Jesus, being vessels for Spirit, or relinquishing ego and opening to Truth. We asked ourselves and one another: Are you burdening yourself with tasks that you consider important, or are you waiting before God to find the work to which you are called? We shared the wish to believe that we are in control of our lives, the fear of what God might ask us to become, the strain, weariness, and failure that come from trying to control the world, and the peace and power that flow through us when we are open to Spirit. We were divided in ourselves between love and fear, and united with each other in striving to choose love, to live in faithfulness, though our faithfulness is expressed in different ways.

Not all participants felt this unity. Some said they had no experience of Spirit, and saw Quakerism as a political/ethical system. Some felt unable or unwilling to be united with those who did not share their (usually conservative) theological views or their (usually liberal) political views. Perhaps the only thing that united us all was our desire to be caring and respectful. That is a good thing, and the world needs it. But the transforming power I experienced was unity in the Spirit. Some Friends spoke of experiencing that power for the first time at the Gathering.

Since the Gathering several Friends have been called to intervisitation with yearly meetings from different traditions and have found themselves opened to different ways of worshiping and understanding God. Many have written about the Spirit working powerfully in their lives, giving them courage to deal with long-ignored wounds and lovingly confront bullying and prejudice. The harvest is just beginning.

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Heaven on Earth: Envisioning a Loving and Open Community

Chris DeRoller, Powell House youth director

Respect is: "mutual care and regard, dignity, and physical and emotional safety; a state in which everyone counts, and everyone counts upon everyone else." – Ralph Cantor

I am a visionary, a prophet, and an unabashed idealist. For me a loving and open community is nothing short of Heaven on Earth. It is a sacred space created by its members in which people experience and respond to the transforming power of unconditional love. It is a place where each and every person is embraced, a gathering where respect, as Ralph Cantor describes it above, abounds. It is a place where no one gets off easily; everyone is counted on. Each person is responsible for his or her own actions and each person is responsible for the well-being of every other person in the community.

That seems an impossible order, almost an unfair one. How does it happen? Frankly, unless there is an openness and receptiveness to the Living, Loving Spirit, I don't think it can. It requires a deeply felt commitment from a majority of those participating. There must also be a handful or more who look upon the community with profound love and who are willing to provide structure and discipline.

I know it is not impossible because we youth directors (my husband Mike and I) experience this weekend after weekend during Powell House youth conferences. How does it happen? We (Mike and I and the youth and the supporting adults) are intentional about it. We talk about it—a lot. We practice with each other—a lot. We feel the presence of God (abounding, unconditional, make-you-quake, connecting-us-one-to-all Love)—a lot. It's not that we don't bump into each other and bruise one another physically and emotionally. It's just that when we do hurt one another, we know that we are not where we want to be and we sit with that and move with that and wrestle with that until we are there.

At youth conferences, we have clear guidelines—several in fact. But they can all be summed up with the three nurture questions that all Powell House youth can recite should you ask them to: Does it nurture me? Does it nurture the group? Does it nurture the Powell House Community? If the answer is "no" or "maybe" to any of the three, then I don't do it. I'll be honest, often the questions get asked after the fact. But even then, they provide a learning moment and draw all of us closer to the community we seek.

Our youth are learning what loving community entails. They have taught Mike and me much, mostly by their willingness to believe in the vision, to be open to one another, to see the Good in one another, to trust in us and themselves and each other—in short, to submit to living in the Spirit together.

I will close with some of their answers to two questions that we ask each year. I truly believe that spending time with others reflecting on these questions and these answers will deepen our sense of loving community and open us to the richness and joy of living in the Spirit. What things are present in a loving community?

• Mutual respect
• People tell each other they care
• The ability to accept compliments
• Inclusion
• Sharing
• Trust
• Love
• Tolerance
• Family
• Acceptance
• Interdependence
• Communication
• Caring
• Understanding
• A common goal
• Peace
• Leadership
• Humor
• Safety
• Friends
• Support
• Puppies

What things should not be present?

• Forced respect
• Prejudice
• Cliques
• Inside jokes (personal, noninclusive)
• Dismissal of feelings
• Violence
• Exclusion
• Intolerance
• No compromise
• Fear
• Un-acceptance
• Hatred
• Resentment
• Disloyalty
• Jealousy
• Greed
• Labeling
• Casual sex
• Theft
• Lying/deceiving
• People who are too controlling
• Weapons
• Fighting

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In the World, but Not of It: Quaker Parents, Quaker Children

Sue Tannehill, Buffalo Meeting

In a perfect world, I would arrange the four images I hold in my heart around my words, allowing the words to speak through both story and discourse. However, in the linear way of things, I must share images first and then say what they might mean for those wanting to engage children in our faith in meaningful ways. Here are the images:

Our son is 20 months old. My husband and I clasp hands across the table, close our eyes, and rest in a moment of prayer before each meal. Something makes me open my eyes one evening and our son is looking at us squinting his eyes almost closed, but not quite, so he can see what we do next. I realize that what is transparent to my husband and me, worship before a meal, is opaque to my son.

I am working with middle-school students at Friends General Conference (FGC). A young adult shares her Peace Corps story. She grew up in a meeting with no other kids. When I ask, the young woman says that growing up the only kid in the meeting was great, because no one made special arrangements for her. She just grew up sitting in meeting, attending committee meetings, playing or listening according to her own needs. As a result, she saw herself as a participant in the life of the meeting. Her meeting was transparent to her.

Same FGC meeting: the inevitable skits. The parody of meeting for worship would have made George Fox proud. Every sign of hypocrisy is writ large—the sleeping, the boredom, the surreptitious glancing at a watch—everything is shown except what is really happening in worship. To these young people, meeting for worship is an opaque, pointless ritual.

Final image: In England during the early years of Friends, soldiers came and arrested the men during meeting for worship. The women and children continued in worship. Then the soldiers returned and took away the women. The children continued in worship. That the children would continue meeting for worship in the absence of parental authority and in the face of a potential punitive authority is a wonder to me. How transparent the power of worship must have been to them!

I have chosen to use the images of opacity and transparency to think about how we might do a better job of welcoming children and young people into our faith. My experience is based primarily on children under 14.

"That of God" in everyone needs to be the fundament of everything a child experiences. It must be transparent to our children that there is that of God in everyone and we are called to answer it. That perception must come before any exposure to the "Ocean of Darkness." An opaque veil needs to be drawn over evil, inappropriate sexual content, news, violence, and political mayhem. We should not expose children to these things.

Woolman claims that the first motion is love, and that is where we must begin. The grounded principle that people are generally good, that there is that of God in everyone, and that it can be called forth by how we treat people gives children a powerful place to stand. Even when exposed to bad things later in life, that fundamental belief that people behaving badly are not "naturally" that way gives strength to combat the wrong without doubling it by hating the doer.

This has uncomfortable implications for modern adult Friends. In our household it has meant no television at all (we do watch old movies as a family), no violent movies, no local paper (we receive the Christian Science Monitor), no inappropriate sexual content, no violent or commercial toys, not even NPR on the radio in the car.

Children need to see concrete compassion at work, and be invited into the world of adults who care and act in the world long before they get exposed to things that overwhelm, frustrate, and discourage even the most courageous of adults.

How do we demonstrate that concrete compassion? Children are hardwired to imitate. This leads to the second uncomfortable demand on adult Friends. We must be good role models for our children, and we must do concrete things to show our children what it means to be a Quaker. This means that we engage in service and actions that are easy to see.

With regard to the first image of my son, my husband and I decided that we would join hands and sing the Johnny Appleseed grace before every meal. 10 years later, the four of us still do it everywhere we go. We have met many people who come up to us in restaurants to thank us, or share their own memories of that particular grace. It has given us a chance to "answer that of God" in many strangers. In this small way, we made gratitude and prayer before food transparent for our son, and later his sister.

Second, our service consists primarily of those things that we can do as a family. Examples include marching in demonstrations, volunteering at a local nature center, and working the 2004 election in Cleveland.

There are also simple things we do as we go about our daily lives. I make sure that anytime we travel in a city, I have a pocket full of change. Every street person who asks, every street musician gets something from the kids. I'm interested in my children's growing up unafraid and feeling like they make a difference. Giving the kids change to put in a Styrofoam cup gives them a chance to meet that of God in a person they wouldn't otherwise meet. Transparent: Someone asks for help—you give it.

I also want to capitalize on the child's natural desire to be "big." As a faith community, we do very little to invite kids into the world of compassionate, courageous adulthood. Instead we marginalize children and send them the message, "This is for grown-ups—you couldn't possibly be interested." Remember that young woman who grew up and stayed Quaker even though she was the only kid in her meeting? She was invited to participate in the meeting whenever she wanted to. We need to let our kids spend lots of time with us.

When we do that, we can live out our faith in front of our children. Here's one small example. About seven years ago, our local supermarkets began vying with each other to offer appealing "kiddie corrals" where you could leave your child while you shopped. But by keeping my children with me while we shopped, all the daily decisions that can be faith based become transparent: buying organic (earth stewardship), local (less fuel needed), and vegetarian (sacredness of all life) and not buying junk food or drinks (caring for our bodies so that we can be of service to others).

We need to walk cheerfully over the earth, answering that of God in everyone even when they aren't acting God-like. This has been hardest for me, but it's been great for my own spiritual development. Practical examples: Someone cuts me off as we are driving, and then gives me the finger. My response (after I had kids riding with me in the car) is now, "Wow, that person's having a tough day." And even though my "mama lion" hackles are raised when children are unkind to my children, I grit my teeth and say, "You know they probably didn't really mean it. They might not have known that you didn't like that."

I once asked a very wise man, "Isn't it dishonest to treat people nicely that that you don't like? I mean isn't that pretending?" He looked straight at me and said, "Sue, people pretend that they have nothing of God within them all the time. When you behave well in the face of provocation, you are acting out of the most Divine part of yourself. Is that dishonest?" I was convinced.

Parents are the primary teachers of our faith. Just as corporate worship amplifies our own spiritual sensitivities, First Day school amplifies knowledge about our faith. If, as adults, we do nothing for our spiritual life from one First Day to the next, the wellsprings of the Divine get so cluttered up with life's debris, that we spend the entire hour during meeting for worship clearing out garbage. When we spend daily time in worship or prayer, we come to those Living Waters and find them available and restorative. So it is with children. Daily family life is the place to learn to be a Friend. First Day school amplifies the lessons learned at home.

So, make the secular world opaque and "that of God" a living presence in your life. Do acts of concrete compassion first and talk about them second. Articulate testimonies and practices. Let's not fear raising our children to live in the world, but not be of it. If it means that we also have to change our lives as adults, so be it. We are, after all, a "peculiar people."

This is an excerpt of a longer piece Sue Tannehill is drafting on dimensions of parenting. She welcomes comments from Friends at Stannehill [at] adelphia.net.

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A Plea for Educating Quaker Youth
about Quakerism, the Religion

Spee Braun, Old Chatham Meeting

The following article was drafted in 1979 when I was 19 years old and a student at Duke University in North Carolina. I intended to submit it to the Friends Journal, but never did so. I expect that the article's closing plea still needs to be heard among Friends 27 years later.

"You're a what?"

"I'm a Quaker."

"What do Quakers believe in?"

"Well …"

My first year in college found me trying to answer questions about Quakerism and feeling at a total loss. All I could do is explain how (some) Quakers have no preachers and (some) Quakers are pacifists.

My elementary school had been a Friends school. Junior high school was my first contact with "You're a Quaker?" But at least in the Philadelphia area Quakers were known to exist, and twelve-year-olds didn't demand an explanation of my religious beliefs. (One day in eighth grade, my English teacher illustrated the use of a new vocabulary word, austere: "Quakers wear austere clothes." I looked down with amusement at the bright red-and-yellow dress I was wearing that day.)

High school was three more years in a Friends school—three more years in a school where "I'm a Quaker" elicited no surprise response.

Duke University draws its student body largely from the New York area and North Carolina. Out of 5,000 undergraduates, 15 or 20 are Quakers. Questions showed total ignorance about Quakerism except for some historical details. But what astounded me the most was my ignorance of Quakerism.

"Are Quakers Christians?" one of my Episcopalian friends asked me freshman year. Stumped, I told him I'd have to ask my parents. It was another month before I went home for vacation and could pose the question. My mother's response, so typical of those received earlier and later, was "Some Quakers are." My friend thought that answer was unacceptable.

Another question the next year found me in the same position. "Are Quakers pro- or antiabortion?" Having read controversial stances in the Friends Journal, I answered, "Some are for it, some are against it."

Biblical questions left me feeling very stupid. "Do Quakers believe in the Holy Trinity?" I didn't know. I still don't know. What do Quakers believe? I'm glad someone started asking me. Just think if I'd gone to a Quaker college like Guilford or Earlham and had fewer challengers of my faith.

"Where do I find the answers?" should be my next question, but that's not what I'm asking here; literature is abundant in Quaker libraries. I want to know why I know so little about Quakerism from the standpoint of Christianity.

I can tell all my college friends about how Quakers express their ideals in their life. As my grandfather said, "Quakers preach what they practice." On my hall freshman year, only five of us stayed out of the rush to join a sorority—two because they didn't have the time, and the rest of us were Quakers. (I wonder if the housing office intentionally put on the same hall the three Quaker women in our class of 1,200 students.)

"Does your religion prevent you from joining a sorority?" one of my friends asked.

"No," I answered. "We just know it's wrong because sororities are exclusive groups."

"But Duke is an exclusive university," my friend replied. "Why is there a difference?"

It took me a year to formulate a good answer to that.

The three of us Quaker women were the only ones who didn't shave our legs, blow-dry our hair, or wear makeup. Had someone told us that these things were unacceptable, inappropriate, or unnecessary? No, we just knew.

The teaching of Quakerism as applied to one's life has been very strong for my generation, the "Me Generation." As a result, our individualism in such communities as Duke sticks out. But faced with inquiries on the religious bases of our religion, we are at a loss. (The one exception is concerning nonviolence: "There is that of God in every person.")

I am not the exception. I am the rule. I did not miss Sunday school classes or a "Quaker education." I even went to Quaker camps for seven summers. I know Quaker history up to 1900 inside out. I'm asking you to consider how you are educating the Quaker youth of today, for they are the Quaker adults of tomorrow.

We cannot remain a viable religion if some Quakers do this and others do that and no one is sure what exactly Quakers are, or if the only thing holding us together is that we are fighting for the same social issues. We need some religious cohesion. The older generation has it to some degree; the younger generation does not. Help us before you are gone, as we are drowning in confusion and ignorance of Quakerism, the religion.

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Keeping Our Youth

Adam Segal-Isaacson, Brooklyn Meeting

I've been a Quaker all my life. My parents were attenders at Rochester Meeting, and I went along. Later, when I was in college, both they and I became members. How did this happen? So often we find that young people drift away from Quakers in high school or college. What kept me involved?

Like many children among Quakers, I attended First Day school as a child. Somewhere along the line, I think I was about 12, I realized that First Day school and the Religious Education Committee were organizing things for children, but there were no children represented on the committee. I made it known that this was a concern of mine, and I was invited to join the committee. I don't remember any particular decisions that I was involved in, although I do remember being involved in things like cleaning out RE supply closets and the like. But it was extremely empowering to have expressed a concern and have it taken seriously by the adults. In many ways, of course, I remained a child—I don't think I felt comfortable speaking in meeting for worship until I was well into adulthood—but this early experience of being taken seriously was probably pretty critical.

Then I went away to college. My parents continued to go to meeting, and I attended when I was in town. I began to think about membership, but knowing how varied Quaker belief and practice is, wanted to be sure that I was joining Quakers, and not merely Rochester Meeting. Unfortunately, in St. Louis, where I was, the Quaker meetinghouse was not at all convenient to school. Eventually, as a junior, I did find a way to meeting and attended reasonably often, although not every week, and discovered that it was indeed Quakers I was interested in joining. So I applied to Rochester to become a member and did.

By that time, my parents had gotten involved in Yearly Meeting, which they hadn't been when I was younger. After I graduated from college, I was encouraged to come to Yearly Meeting and to become involved, and I soon found myself on a committee. A couple of years later, with the members of the committee having shifted, I found myself as clerk. This was in many ways quite frightening as I did not see myself as a "weighty Friend" worthy of clerkship. There were odd committee clerk meetings at Powell House where I was a good 20 years younger than virtually everyone else in the room! But again, all these more weighty Friends took me seriously. I still often feel that I am a "young Friend," not a weighty Friend, even though I am now middle-aged.

The thread that connects this is that, despite not being an adult or weighty, I was made to understand that I had something of value to offer. Too often children are made to feel that they are an intrusion into the life of the meeting. At a meeting I was at not so long ago, a child spoke up, and this was followed by an adult saying, to the gathered meeting, that the child shouldn't have said what he did. Another adult chided the meeting in afterthoughts, saying, "This child will probably never speak in meeting again." We need to find ways to make children feel welcome and a valued part of Quaker life.

At times in meeting, my eight-year-old daughter has whispered to me that she wants to say something in worship, something that is quite clearly connected to the messages she has heard and that she has considered in a spiritual manner. I encourage her to stand up and speak, but she is shy, as I would have been at her age. So I help her out by giving her message for her, in the words she gives me, and not elaborating on it—it's not my message. Perhaps in this way she can learn to trust her spiritual leadings and feel a part of the meeting.

However we do it, we need to make our children feel that they are real members of the community. Not just through occasional child-oriented events (First Day school picnics, Christmas festivals, and the like) but in a more day-to-day manner. Some First Day schools undertake service projects, and certainly such things, if they are encouraged and supported by the Meeting, have real value. These don't need to be elaborate: When I was in high school, for a while several of us walked down the street to a nearby nursing home and talked to the residents for the hour of meeting, coming back feeling that we had, momentarily at least, enhanced the lives of the residents there, many of whom had no visitors. Our children need to understand Quaker values in practical terms and learn to see Quakers as their spiritual home. Parents and the Meeting need to work together to bring this about. First Day school needs to be organized as something more than elaborate babysitting while parents are in meeting for worship. Children need to feel welcomed regularly in the life of the Meeting. This needs to be done with the elementary school children, and carried into high school. High school and college are difficult times, but if the children really have been made to feel that Quakers provide a comfortable spiritual home, then they will come back, even if they go away for a while.

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Ask the Youth What They Want!

Gabrielle Bailey, Summit Meeting

A huddle of concerned Quakers contemplate the raging fires of the Anna Curtis Center, wondering if putting out the fire would be extinguishing the light that is within us all. People run through the ballroom screaming. Reaching consensus takes a while. There is discussion of forming a subcommittee to investigate the methods of putting out the fire, and who would have to be contacted. No. Powell House did not burn to the ground that day. The feisty youth of our meeting wrote a skit, reflecting back to us what they had observed about the sometimes frustrating Quaker decisionmaking process. We laughed, maybe squirmed in our comfy Powell House chairs, but there was much to be learned from the way that teens and adults view various situations.

We have phenomenal youth in our meeting. They are thoughtful, deep, and loving. I have the honor of coleading the teen group. This is both a joy and a challenge. It is exhilarating at times, and at others plain old frustrating. But for me the good outweighs the bad, and I find that despite the slower times—and there are slower times—I do not lose hope. I am sure that our meeting is challenged by many of the same things as other meetings: inconsistent attendance (or no attendance at all), busy, overcommitted schedules, a seeming lack of interest. It's hard to keep kids as part of the community as they transition into adulthood. I have come to realize that many of these challenges come from perceptions, and a need for all the members of the meeting, oldest to youngest, to get to know each other. In many ways, our success really comes down to that. The teens have enlightened me on numerous occasions, offering insight on many of the questions that adult Quakers grapple with concerning youth. Sometimes really listening to teens is hard, and needs patience—they say things in ways that we don't always appreciate right away.

It's critical to have adult leaders to whom the kids gravitate. For whatever reason, they chose me and my coleader. Maybe it's that we really admire them—for their humor, their struggles, and their challenges. It's important to have a coleader. We can bounce energy off each other, picking up for each other when our other life-stuff gets to be too much. But also there are two people for the kids to go to, to talk, to express concern and excitement. I hope that we have earned their precious trust. I have no magic charm, but I do like to spend time with the kids, listening. It is a goal of mine to meet them where they are.

The youth of our meeting have expressed to me and Ed, or "Religious Ed," as my coleader is affectionately called, that they didn't feel that they had a place in the meeting. They didn't feel that they were the cute cuddly kids they had once been—the ones that the adults love to talk to and oogle over—and therefore, they weren't getting attention from the community for who they are now. It's true that teens can get a little more prickly, and harder to love, on the surface. It isn't that they love the meeting any less; they are often unsure of how to be older in a meeting where they had once been little children. It is sometimes easier for us to assume that they don't care, than to sit and listen to what they really care about. It is hard, at times, to remember that in order to have them come to meeting, they have to feel known and wanted, to believe they have a valued place in the community. Isn't that what we all want? Isn't that why we come to meeting?

Our group really takes off and becomes involved when there is an exciting rallying point. In 2004 we took a trip to "1652 country," the Lake District of England where George Fox organized early Quakers, and to other spiritual sights in England. The planning and the trip really pulled the kids together and into meeting. They researched, planned, raised funds, presented the various steps to meeting for business, developed rules for their behavior, wrote to other meetings and NYYM, and met new Quakers. The challenge was to make sure our trip was a pilgrimage and not just a summer vacation. Our journey was not just physical, but a truly spiritual one. We asked probing questions about spirituality, Quakerism, and working in a community. Each day we worked as a group preparing meals, cleaning our host meetinghouses, reflecting on our adventures, and seeing how all this fits into our identity as Quakers. They jumped into this spiritual journey with grace and interest (okay, not every second, but more seconds than not). I was struck at how they would allow themselves to sit with places, ideas, or each other in a worshipful, respectful, mature and loving way. By the end they were finally willing to go deep into what it means to be a Quaker, and what it means to be a Quaker youth. When we returned we made a documentary and a presentation of our trip to England for the community to see, and the teens became the teachers to the many who had never climbed Pendle Hill, roamed Firbank Fell, or worshiped in Briggflatts meetinghouse.

Another event that always seems to pull the kids together, as well as connect them to the community, is our annual Powell House retreat. The teens have begun to attend some of the "adult" sessions. In the beginning, there was apprehension on both sides. What took place was sharing that was refreshing and filled with mutual learning. The teens also write and perform a skit each year, often poking fun at the adults and Quakerism. It gives both groups a chance to see themselves from another perspective. It's great to laugh together, and it gives the teens a way to be seen in a positive light, as a valued and vital part of the meeting. Humor and laughter are more powerful than we can imagine with youth, and with adults for that matter.

When we plan, we have to go to the source, the kids. It seems obvious, but when you want people to participate, it has to be something they want to participate in. If the kids aren't coming to worship, we ask them why. Then we have sessions that speak to their concerns. We show them the many facets of the Quaker community, the "behind the scenes" things that they do not get to see as kids in First Day school. We give them options of how they can become part of the community, in their own right, and not merely as "so-and-so's child." If a trip or an activity is to be successful, it has to come from them. They have to have an investment. They have to want to work it into their own very busy and complicated lives. It has to fill a void. We have worked with Habitat for Humanity, gone to museums, gone camping, organized peace vigils, and had overnights. How do we get them to do it? We talk to them. They ask for it. Then we all figure out a way to make it possible. These are not isolated experiences. They become touchstones, beacons: places where they once belonged, had fun, felt understood. It is my hope that these common experiences will continue to draw the youth back to the people, and the place, where they had them.

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Spirit: The Magic Ingredient

Margaret Obermayer, Binghamton Community Friends Meeting

EarthSong: We sat in the warm sun and watched our seniors take flight. EarthSongs are notoriously hard (as a matter of fact our Powell House Youth Director Chris always says she wished she didn't have to go to EarthSongs, they are too rough on her). We watched with tear-filled eyes as our seniors sat in front of us and told us how much Powell House has changed their lives. They spoke of the love, of the acceptance. They spoke of the beautiful people and the amazing, crystal moments. They told us that they would never leave us in spirit. They would carry Powell House with them for all their lives.

I think this snapshot of one of my Powell House moments holds some of the essence of what makes the Powell House Youth Program such an amazing experience. Powell House changes lives. It has changed my life. It has helped me grow fully into myself, in even the three short years that I have been attending conferences. Just ask Chris or Mike, when I first came to Powell House I was very quiet and shy, and didn't spend much time with the other teenagers. Boy, do friends who know me now laugh when I tell them that. But it is true. Really. Powell House is a safe and loving environment that helped me to see people, not as strangers, but as friends. I am now at a place where I am excited about engaging the world, and I'm not afraid of pushing my limits or stepping out of my comfort zone. I know that this is partly due to the community that I found at Powell House.

We talk a lot at Powell House about the "magic ingredient," that special something that makes Powell House what it is. Although I know that most likely other youth attenders will disagree with me, I think the "magic ingredient" at Powell House is the Spirit. We have not just created a community at Powell House, we have created a Covenant Community based around the Quaker Testimonies and deeply grounded in an experiential knowledge of the Light Within. When we ask ourselves the three nurture questions (for those of you not up on your Powell House slang, they are: Does it nurture ourselves? Does it nurture others? Does it nurture the Powell House community?), we are creating a covenant agreement with ourselves and with the community, an agreement that we will care for ourselves and everyone else.

I would challenge the young Friends who do not think Powell House is based on Quaker testimonies and a uniquely Quaker understanding of God, to tell me what it is that they like the best about Powell House. I think that they would find that what they like the best are the things that are most clearly Quaker. If you were to envision a community that lived by the Quaker Testimonies of equality, simplicity, peace, and integrity, I bet that community would look a lot like the Powell House youth group.

For me, the best thing about Powell House (although it is a tough choice—there are lots of good things about Powell House: the Pata Pata and Wink 'em spring to mind) is the fact that I can walk through that door at the beginning of a conference and many, many people will come running to give me a hug. The very best thing about Powell House is that everyone is welcomed and loved. Differences do not melt away at Powell House; they become the colors in the tie-dyed tapestry of a community bound by Spirit.

NOTE: See related article on the Powell House youth program here. —Editor

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Children in Worship

Roger Dreisbach-Williams, Rahway and Plainfield Meeting

Children bring a special energy to worship; and in meeting for worship they can learn how to be still and to recognize the presence of God in their hearts. They can; but not unless the adults, beginning with their parent(s), want them to be there and are willing to teach them, to raise them up as children of the meeting.

The 6th Query begins, "Do our children receive the loving care of the meeting?" Well, do they? Are parents encouraged to bring their children to worship and reassured about what is acceptable behavior? Are there stuffed animals to hold? Stools to sit on when we are small and rest our feet upon when we are bigger? If there are benches, are children allowed to put their feet on cushions as they cuddle with a parent? Do they know that?

There are many ways meetings can say "Children are welcome"—even a rug with soft pillows, stuffed toys, and picture books (plus an adult willing to share the space) in the back corner of a small meetinghouse can be a special quiet place for children not ready to spend an hour sitting with adults.

Are children listened to? Do we ask them about what they experience in worship and advise them (if need be) on how to use the Stillness? Is "boredom" respected as something adults (including the speaker) experience, and reframed as part of a living faith in a Creator who is greater than we are and beyond our control? Are children reassured that this time of emptiness will not last forever and that the sweet presence will be felt?

Is First Day school the province of parents who "take their turn" or does the meeting make every effort to allow parents to stay in meeting for worship and for other adults to get to know the children? Are there provisions for infants and small children—and their parents—that those parents can appreciate and take comfort from?

Most small children are not immediately comfortable in unprogrammed worship, and most parents do not look forward to bringing them. Asking active children to sit still for an extended period of time feels like torture to both the child and the primary parent (one parent in our meeting walked around the block with their preschooler before going in to meeting for worship) but children learn. And how are they going to learn if parents don't bring them and meetings don't take their needs and perspectives into consideration?

Preparation for worship is important for adults; it is even more important for children. When families take time for quiet reflection during the week—at mealtimes and when children are going to bed—children are prepared for the stillness of open worship. Talking about it on the way to and from meeting is also important in helping children learn how to use open worship. Meetings with some form of programming can include the concerns and perspectives of the children in the corporate preparation for silent worship. Meetings with separate First Day school programs for children can provide opportunities for children to talk about how they experience worship and to ask adults about their experiences. Meetings without programming for children can provide a space that is theirs, where they can move about quietly or cuddle with a caring adult.

When children are trying to be quiet, a certain amount of fidgeting and whispered questions to parents should be accepted. However, when their behavior makes it impossible for others to settle, the children need to be taken out of meeting for worship (hopefully somewhere else in the meetinghouse rather than going back home). When this happens both parent and child need to be reassured that they are welcome to return and try again. They also need to hear that this has happened to others—including eminent members of the meeting. Parents who are new to Quakerism need particular care and support as they struggle with their own doubts, questions, and uncertainty as well as those of their children.

It must also be acknowledged that not every meeting is a place for children. If you don't have the space or members who are committed to ministry with children, then be truthful with yourselves and visitors. Pray (if led) that way will open and the day come when children can be a part of your meeting—if that is not the case now—and be faithful in the ministry you do have.

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A Boy and the Bible

Heather Cook, Summit Meeting

One night at bedtime last fall, my sons were putting in their usual bids to stay up past their bedtime. Thinking I was being very clever in a Hobbesian way, I heard myself say, jokingly, "The only way anyone can stay up late is to read the Bible with me." The 12-year-old was in his bed by the time I said "me." This was no surprise because he had reached a stage where he couldn't stand to have me read anything out loud to him. But the 10-year-old foiled my scheme, and completely floored me, by saying, "Okay!"

Understand that not only do I know almost nothing about the Bible, but I struggle mightily with much of it. I still stutter a bit when I use the words "Bible" and "I" in the same sentence. I'm not entirely clear about the source of my biblical jitters. In my family, which disdained organized religion as a magnet for hypocrites, fools, and the simple, the Bible was ignored. In college I took the ubiquitous "Bible as literature" course that was a way to read the Bible from the safe distance of intellect. I remember nothing about that class. From my culture, I got the idea that the Bible was a tool, a weapon of oppression and violence.

Yet, over the last few years, the Bible has begun to tug at me. I read it in fits and starts, and afterward end up feeling as baffled as when I started. Someone startled me once by asking if I found the Bible comforting and inspiring. Neither of these options had occurred to me. I saw the Bible as a problem to be solved; the "comforting and inspiring" thing belonged to other people.

So that night, here was the Bible tugging at me again, this time through my son. I chose Ruth for us to read, because it was short. I kept waiting for him to stop me by announcing that bed seemed like a better option than listening. When we reached the end, he asked if we could keep reading.

I considered the possibility that my son had been swapped in the hospital. The next night when he got into bed early so we could start I Samuel, I was quite sure of it.

He clearly expected I Samuel to be a continuation of Ruth's narrative. When it wasn't, that was okay. There was plenty of death and betrayal to keep us going. He was amazing with his ability to keep straight who did what and who was related to whom.

We began to switch back and forth between the Bible and a book we'd already started: A Little History of the World, a wonderful book with short chapters on world history. Shortly after we started reading the Bible, we got to the part of the history book that talked about Jesus, so it was a fascinating weaving of the two stories, the one feeding the other.

The translation of the Bible we started with was by Max Lucado. Its language is contemporary and accessible. One night as an experiment, I read to my son from the King James and the New English versions, and didn't get past a few sentences before he was demanding we return to "the original."

One night as we were reading my son said, "Mama, the Bible is just stories."

And there it was. I felt a shift, an opening, in my chest. It was as though with those few simple words, he cut away all the strings I'd attached to the Bible. Since then I've had flashes—tiny flashes—of being able to tap into the Bible on a spiritual level rather than just an intellectual one.

While reflecting on this story recently, I picked up Tom Gates's essays, Opening the Scriptures: Bible Lessons from the 2005 Annual Gathering of Friends. I skipped around in the slender volume, uncomfortable, unable to connect with much of what I read. In the last essay, Gates describes a composer talking about " 'the yoke of tradition.' To his surprise, he had experienced this yoke not as confining, but as liberating." Gates saw the composer's experience as parallel to his own experience, where the discipline and practice of the Quaker tradition—including the Bible—has much to offer modern Friends. Again, I felt that opening inside.

For reasons I can't remember now, but which I think are called life, my son's and my practice has fallen away. I expect that at some point we'll pick it up again. And if we don't, I'm hopeful that for him the Bible will remain easily accessible—simply stories that can, at the right time, comfort and inspire.

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Following the Spirit,
Inviting Our Young Adults
into Leadership Roles

Paddy Lane, Butternuts Meeting

A fresh wind seems to be blowing through our Yearly Meeting. I find it difficult to name, as I feel only one small breath of it, but others have felt it too. There is arising among us the realization of the power of God's creativity residing in our young adults. I am interested in exploring a process to encourage the creativity and energy needed to usher us into the new century, seeking to create God's kingdom here on earth in the midst of chaos, as did George Fox. Will our next generation be that bridge to the future?

Did you know that George Fox was 24 years old at the time of his great opening? Are we shortchanging our next generation by not crafting more definitively the encounters that foster the kind of spiritual exploration and commitment that George Fox was all about?

I have been working with the Yearly Meeting Advancement Committee on a proposal for young adults. This has been prompted by my discovery that, after my absence of 17 years, CRISPAZ (Christians for Peace in El Salvador), an organization I had helped to found in El Salvador, is now being run chiefly by young adults with the support of a committed board of directors and affiliated colleges. It is a vibrant and tough-minded organization, yet is steeped in a strong spiritual tradition and a reflective practice.

The proposal I am working on is aimed at ages 20 to 30, after high school, after a young adult begins to go out into the world to explore and to test the waters of ideas. The proposal needs work and refinement. The Advancement Committee has given its blessing to my writing this up for Spark to see who may be interested in working on it further. There will also be an interest group about it at Silver Bay this coming summer (see page 11).

The spiritual grounding for this work is most important. How can we foster this? Often our messages of peace and justice are couched in intellectual terms. Where does the lifeblood of faith, hope, and love enter in? How do we, in our ever-so-silent meetings, bring forth the life-giving wonders of our faith? How do we convey the deeper basis of our work and help our members learn worshipful discernment? This is something that all generations can help each other to learn.

Can we prepare on all levels for a more sustainable and just world—jobs, food, housing, energy resources, environment, health, preservation of cultures? Let us use the concept of apprenticeships proactively, on whatever scale we are able, to promote God's kingdom here on earth. Let's give to our next generation the support and skills for worshipful discernment that can lead us through challenging times ahead and can help us focus on hopeful new alternatives . . .

If you are interested in pursuing this further, please contact me at grodlane[at] frontiernet.net or 607-263-5817.

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Confessions of a Reluctant First Day School Teacher

Mary Kay Glazer, Rochester Meeting

I began attending Quaker meeting around 1989. In the 17 years since then, I have successfully dodged all attempts to get me to teach First Day school. Until last year. Then, it wasn't a general plea to the meeting or a person standing in front of me to which I responded. It seemed to me I was being called by the Spirit—with the help of my then nine-year-old son and his "accidental" experiences of meeting for worship.

One such experience came when I attended a retreat on worship. The childcare person was not on time, which meant my son had to come into the retreat's opening worship with me. He went out with the kids as soon as he was able. But later that night, on our way home, he talked about what happened for him in worship. I was aware of a miracle—that I was talking with him about something that many of us adults find challenging. Our dialogue was deep and rewarding.

That was the first voice of the call. The more I thought about his experiences of worship—and there have been several—the more I wanted to help nurture his encounters with the Divine in worship. And one place to do that, I realized, was in First Day school. Wouldn't it be great, I thought, if my meeting provided opportunities to explore Quaker worship? But, while there are many worthy things being taught at my meeting's First Day school, focusing solely on Quaker worship isn't typically on the menu. It began to come to me that if it were to be taught, it would be me doing the teaching.

"But I'm not good with kids," I protested. Especially groups of them (though, admittedly, the group in my meeting is only about two to five big). How can I do this in a way that engages them? Won't they be bored out of their skulls—and won't they just reject me outright?

My protests, I believe, were heard. And quite ignored. I was being called to take on Quaker worship with my meeting's First Day school. And so I did.

The curriculum, such as it was, was pretty loose. I incorporated worship in each session. We also had discussions of worship and our expectations and our experiences. We had discussions of who God is. We talked about a passage in one yearly meeting's Faith and Practice that says if you ask ten Quakers who God is, you'll get ten answers. The kids wanted to ask that question after meeting for worship. They did, and three brave souls answered. And each answer was, indeed, different from the others.

We used Bible stories, clay, and drawing as part of worship. We began going into the meeting about ten minutes before it closed so the kids could worship with the large group. (In my meeting, the children are present for about the first ten minutes of meeting, which is programmed with a healing circle. It seemed important for them to also experience unprogrammed meeting.) One week, the children stayed in meeting for about a half hour. Afterward, we went out and talked about what had happened for them.

We talked about the story of the children of Reading, England, meeting who kept the meeting going in the 1660s when their parents were imprisoned (see Opening Doors to Quaker Worship, published by Friends General Conference). We talked about the testimonies. And, in planning what to do for the meeting's Christmas meeting for worship, we held a business meeting—grounded in worship.

Here's my confession: by the grace of God, even I was able to dialogue with the children of my meeting about substantive issues of Quakerism, and their basis in the Spirit. Another confession: I still don't think I'm very good with kids, and it is still hard for me to engage with children other than my own. But I found it rewarding and enlightening to explore these things with the kids.

And still another confession: I am rather passionate about Quaker worship, and have a vision that our worship can be as fiery and filled with the Spirit as it was in the early days of Quakerism. How will our children catch the power of our form of worship if we don't pass along what we know of the Spirit, and if we don't tap into their knowledge of how the Spirit is among us?

With some cobbled-together lessons, and lots of prayer, the children and I shared our faith journeys for a few months. I was so nourished in that venture—in that leading—that I may just do it again next year.

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Queries for Children

By members of the Worship and Ministry
and Children's Education Committees
Orange Grove Monthly Meeting, Pacific Yearly Meeting

Meeting for Worship—first month
Come to Meeting for Worship; it takes practice to worship. Do I come into Meeting quietly, ready to be quiet and find my spiritual center? Do I feel God's Spirit drawing us together? Am I ready to speak if God asks me to?

Spiritual Life—second month
We grow in our spirits as well as our bodies. So does our Meeting. Am I aware of God's presence in my life? Am I thankful for it? When do I spend time with God? Do I try to learn about God? Do I share what I learn with others in Meeting?

Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business—third month
We try to conduct our decision making meetings as a form of worship. We believe that when we do, God is working through us in the world, and love and unity are maintained among us. When I participate in group activities do I listen and share with my friends and classmates? Are my words helpful? Do I show respect to people taking care of me?

Stewardship and Vocation—fourth month
Stewardship means that we are responsible for using our time, talents, and possessions wisely and generously. Vocation is something you just know you're meant to do. Do I use my gifts wisely and generously? Do I follow my heart in choosing what to do? Do I share according to the Light I am given without going beyond my strength? Does my behavior at school go with my life as a Friend? Am I helpful to people whose lives are changing?

Harmony with Creation—fifth month
We are part of the community of life on earth and need to work to understand it. How do I thank God for this world? Did someone harm the earth so I could have what I want? Do we understand that people in other parts of the world live differently, and may see things differently than we do? Does the way we live hurt or help the earth?

Social and Civic Responsibility—sixth month
Social and civic responsibility means we should not be content to live in an unjust world. What does it mean to be a good citizen? What can I do if I see things that are unfair? Do I know how my Meeting is helping people and do I participate in these activities? Do I try to understand why people are poor or unhappy, not only here but throughout the world?

Reaching Out—seventh month
Reaching out means talking about our beliefs. Do people know what I believe by the things I do and say? What do I say when people ask if I'm a Quaker? Do I know what my friends believe? How do I learn about Quaker beliefs? Am I friendly to newcomers? Am I friendly to people who talk differently or look different from me?

Simplicity—eighth month
Simplicity begins with placing God at the center of our lives. Do I let God help me make the right choices? Am I wasteful? Do I want all the toys I see on TV, even though my room is full? Do I tell the truth? Do I always want more even though I have enough? Does my Meeting help me understand how to live simply?

Integrity and Personal Conduct—ninth month
Integrity means speaking and behaving honestly all the time. Do I speak truthfully and keep my promises even when it is hard? Do I speak and act kindly, making sure that no one is hurt by what I do or say? Do I ask God for help when I don't know what to do? If my heart tells me something is wrong, do I speak up? Do I take care of my body because it is God's gift?

Personal Relationships—tenth month
Quakers try to see that of God in everyone: we are all children of God. Am I kind to people in my home? Do I know why I don't get along with some people? If someone hurts me, whom do I talk to? Do we share our deepest thoughts with our parents and our friends and listen when they want to talk? Do I participate in Meeting activities?

Peace—eleventh month
Be a peacemaker. Quakers believe that violent words or deeds do not solve conflicts. We believe that violence hurts that of God within ourselves and others. Do I live in the Spirit that takes away the causes of violence? Do I let God help me be a peacemaker? Do I try to stop people from hurting others? Do I try not to hurt others? When I see hatred and unfairness, do I try to make it better? How can I help my Meeting work for peace? Do I understand that creating peace takes courage and love?

The Meeting Community—twelfth month
"The Meeting Community" means we take care of each other. Do we take care of each other and cooperate? Do I forgive people? Do I apologize? When I speak of others, am I kind? Do I know the difference between tattling and telling in order to help someone? Do I believe that everyone has the right to be here? Do I listen with an open heart; do I truly listen? Do I welcome people in my home?

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Religious Education Resources on the Web Friends General Conference Library: Ideas for Teaching First Day School, www.fgcquaker.org/library/ministry/ideas5.htm. FGC, 1216 Arch St #2B, Philadelphia PA 19107; 215-561-1700 Quaker Hill Bookstore: First Day School for Young People, www.quakerbooks.org/get/900025. Friends United Meeting, 101 Quaker Hill Dr., Richmond IN 47374; 800-537-8838; sales [at] quakerhillbooks.org The Net (Newsletter of the NYYM Religious Education Committee),

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Summer Sessions 2006: Unleashing the Blessed Community

July 23–29, 2006

Christopher Sammond, general secretary, NYYM

When Friends gathered to discern the theme for this year's annual session, we became clear to name a powerful upwelling of the Divine Spirit among us, straining to become manifest, like groundwater welling up through the soil, creating a spring. We struggled to put language on what we were sensing, but this is a realm where words fail us.

We were clear we needed to convey a sense of God's presence already among us, in fact, breaking through. We were clear that this power of God was manifested in and through community, and at the same time, is what creates and gives the essence of community to us as a people. We were clear that there are barriers in ourselves, individually and corporately, which stand in the way of this powerful flow of the Spirit seeking to bring us to new life.

Only when we added the three queries did we feel that we had named, still imperfectly, what was clear in our hearts. Come wrestle with us, seeking to know what we must do to unleash the Blessed Community, poised and ready to take form.

What are we seeking to create? What are the fetters that bind us? What would we be doing if we lived in the Blessed Community?

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Summer Sessions Schedule

Linda Chidsey, clerk, NYYM

Friends will notice a shift in the schedule for Yearly Meeting Sessions at Silver Bay this year. Additional time has been scheduled for meetings for business in order to allow time for deeper worship and prayerful engagement of reports and matters for discernment brought before us. The Living Spirit has been moving powerfully among NYYM Friends in recent times and, as a body, we want to be in that place where we are best able to hear the Living Word and say "Yes" to what God is now asking of us.

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Featured Speaker

Niyonu D. Spann Photo © Sharon Gunther

In the spring of 2000, Niyonu created and led the first Beyond Diversity 101, a five-day intensive transformational workshop. This new workshop design sought to elevate interconnectedness within and without and to tell the truth about power in our society. Out of this same powerful vision, Niyonu formed the music group Tribe 1, which has performed throughout the U.S. at peace & justice rallies, churches, and schools and in Nicaragua. Niyonu loves "helping folks sing from their souls in ways they might have only thought possible in their dreams."

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Bible Study

Deborah First

A mother of three, grandmother of seven, rug maker, musician, and long-time educator, now retired from Nazareth College, Deborah leads Bible studies and retreats for Friends. She continues her long involvement with Israeli and Palestinian peace-education projects, Habitat for Humanity, and, now, the Ecumenical Community of Chautauqua.

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Agenda Items If you have items for the business agenda, please contact Paula McClure, General Services; Deborah Wood, Ministry and Counsel; Melanie-Claire Mallison, Nurture; Anita Paul, Witness; or the NYYM office or Linda Chidsey, clerk of NYYM.

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Financial Assistance Available for Silver Bay

Advancement Committee

July 1 Deadline for Financial Assistance. To help make Silver Bay more affordable to Friends in need, the Advancement Committee provides modest scholarships.

To apply for an Advancement scholarship, first, ask your monthly meeting and quarterly/regional meeting for support. Second, fill out the Financial Assistance section of your registration form stating the amount you expect to receive from your meeting. Then write in the amount you need from the Advancement Committee. Our committee provides adults and children up to one third the cost of the lowest-priced housing. If you have a physical condition that limits your mobility and your access to the lower-priced housing units, please give us that information on your registration form. We may be able to adjust your scholarship.

Scholarship applications are due in the Yearly Meeting office by July 1. If you are a first timer, please be sure to check that box on the registration form. A confirmation slip will be mailed to you on July 12 indicating the level of aid you will receive. This slip must be presented to the Silver Bay desk as part payment of your bill.

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Helpful People for Yearly Meeting Sessions

• Agenda items for the business sessions: Nurture, Melanie-Claire Mallison; General Services, Paula McClure; Witness, Anita Paul; Ministry and Counsel, Deborah Wood; Linda Chidsey, clerk of NYYM; or contact NYYM staff
• Display arrangements: Kate Lawson
• Financial assistance: Benjamin Frisch
• Food service coordinator: Martha Gurvich
• General scheduling: Kate Lawson, clerk of Sessions Committee
• Golf cart coordinator: Claire Simon
• JYM: Martha Gurvich, Jennifer Lindop, Roseann Press
• Off-Campus Liaison: Deb and Jim Henning
• Silver Bay arrangements: Rose Lynn, Silver Bay liaison
• Special needs: Sarah Faith Dickinson
• Study & interest groups: Dee Duckworth, coordinator

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AVP at Silver Bay

AVP is serious—and we laugh a lot. It offers not lessons, but activities, which participants take part in and then reflect on. These activities are interspersed with active games to keep our energy levels high. AVP invites us to ask our own questions and recognize that there may be several possible answers. We not only laugh, but we also get to hear ourselves and others.

Friends high school age and older can volunteer to participate in this group on their registration form. Registration will be on a first-come, first-registered basis. Plan to spend the week.

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Help Sharing Fund and Powell House

Kate Lawson, clerk, Sessions Comm.

Please support the Sharing Fund and Powell House by bringing items to Silver Bay for the Tag Sale. The sale will take place during the Fun(d) Fair, and all proceeds will be divided between the Sharing Fund and Powell House. This is a great way to support the Yearly Meeting's witness work.

We also need Friends to work on the day of the sale. If you can volunteer your services, please contact me at quakerkate [at] aol.com. We are in particular need of four people who will agree to show up to close and pack up the sale and to take the leftovers to a church in Ticonderoga.

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Building an Inclusive Community

Silver Bay Rules

1. To wear a badge on campus. You will be responsible for infractions by someone else wearing your badge.
2. To observe safety precautions, such as:
   • Swimming only at stated times and places;
   • Smoking only outdoors where permitted;
   • Wearing shoes where food is being served;
   • Refraining from use of alcohol and illegal drugs on campus;
   • Using only those sleeping rooms
   • reserved for your use. Any changes
   • after check-in MUST be cleared with Silver Bay.
   • Observing quiet time after 11 P.M.;
   • Not using sleeping bags or otherwise camping on the grounds or in the public facilities.
3. To observe regulations against:
   • Using cars as sleeping accommodations;
   • Bringing pets onto the Silver Bay campus;
   • Removing linens or furnishings from the rooms;
   • Parking in undesignated areas;
   • Bringing alcohol or illegal drugs on campus.

NYYM Agreements

1. All attenders are expected to:
   • observe safety precautions such as: maintaining contact between children and parent(s), guardians, or sponsors at regular intervals;
2. under 18 years old:
   • register with Junior Yearly Meeting in the company of the parent, legal guardian, or sponsor
   • cluster with (sleep in a room near) the parent(s), guardian, or sponsor
   • have a valid medical consent form signed by a parent or guardian (medical forms will be mailed to JYM registrants)
   • attend the activities of the JYM group to which assigned.
3. if parent(s), guardians, or sponsor for a child under 18 years old, assume responsibility for the safety and well-being of that person.
4. if responsible for a child or to an adult, agree and commit to a specific bedtime and daily check-ins
5. if 18 years or older, register yourself and dependents with Yearly Meeting

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Staying on Campus

Room Reservations

Preference for rooms is given to those who stay for the entire week. Rooms are assigned in the order in which requests are received. It is advisable to register early.

All rooms have double occupancy. Beds for children may be added to the larger rooms. If you require a single room we suggest you find accommodations off campus.

If no rooms are available at your price, you may be assigned to a room at a higher price. You will receive prior notice if this is necessary.

A few double beds are available in the highest-priced rooms in the Inn. If you would like one, please indicate that on your registration form. Room reservations will not be held after 6:00 P.M. unless the room is completely prepaid or you call Silver Bay to notify them of your late arrival. If you need to cancel, call Silver Bay (518-543-8833) directly, so your room can be assigned to someone else.

Silver Bay room check-in begins at 4 P.M. on Sunday, July 23. Checkout time is 11:00 A.M. daily. Luggage can be left in designated areas after checking out. Those not out of their rooms by 11:00 A.M. will be charged for an extra day. No refunds are issued for early departures, unless arrangements are made prior to check-in.

The Half-Conference rate is for those attending from Sunday 7/23 to Wednesday 7/26 or Wednesday 7/26 to Saturday 7/29. The Extra Day rates are for those who wish to arrive on Saturday 7/22. Silver Bay does not guarantee that you will be assigned to the same room on the extra day.

Clustering (staying in rooms that are close together) is required of all parents/guardians/sponsors and the children they are supervising. Voluntary clustering is available for family groups or others who wish to be housed together. Send your registrations together in the same envelope.

No one should go to Silver Bay without an advance registration with New York Yearly Meeting and assurance from Silver Bay that there is room for you.

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Staying Off-Campus

There is no camping space available on-site at Silver Bay. Campsites Friends have used in the past, along with area motels, are listed here.

Campsites

Wintergreen Lake Campsite, Hague, NY 12836; 518-543-6751. Four miles west of Hague, off Route 8, about 8 miles from Silver Bay campus.

Green Acres Campsite, Hague, NY 12836; 518-543-6645. 1/2 mile west of Hague on Route 8, about 4 1/2 miles from Silver Bay.

Rogers Rock Forest Preserve State Campground, Ticonderoga, NY (for reservations, call 800-456-2267). Eight miles north of Silver Bay on Route 9N.

Brookwood RV Resort, Ticonderoga, NY; 518-585-4462; 518-585-7047. This is the old Brookwood Campground, which has been completely refurbished.

Nearby Motels

Northern Lake George Resort (518-543-6528)
Trout House Resort (518-543-6088)
Hague Motel (518-543-6631)
Ruah Bed & Breakfast (518-543-8816)
The Locust Inn (518-543-6035)

Ticonderoga vicinity (14 miles north) (address: Ticonderoga, NY 12883):

Lord Howe Valley Motel (518-585-7454)
Green Acres Motel (518-585-2274)
Latchstring Motel (518-585-2875)
Circle Court Motel (518-585-7660)
Belfred Court Motel (518-585-7000)
Super 8 Motel (518-585-2617)

 

Early reservations for campsites and motels are advised. You may wish to notify managerment that you are attending the YM at Silver Bay so that you can be near other Friends.

Off-Campus and Day Registrants

People staying on campus pay for the use of facilities through their lodging costs; those living off campus and daily commuters pay for the use of the facilities through an off-campus fee, paid when checking in at Silver Bay.

The fees for the use of facilities are as follows:

Individual	$15 for one day*
Individual	$85 for the week*
Family	$215 for the week*
*Please add $2/person for name badge

Meal tickets for the Silver Bay dining room can be purchased at the Inn front desk in advance of desired meals. The cost per meal is:

Breakfast	$ 6.00
Lunch	$ 8.00
Dinner	$12.00

A special rate may be obtained if meals are bought as a "package," though this can be done only on July 23, upon arrival. These package rates are:

Six breakfasts for	$33.00
Six lunches for	$44.00
Six dinners for	$66.00

If you intend to buy meal tickets when you arrive at Silver Bay, please indicate this on your registration form.

A name badge must be worn and a meal ticket purchased by anyone staying off campus who wants to eat in the dining room.

 

REMINDER: All Off-Campus Registrants Must Report to the Yearly Meeting Desk AND the Silver Bay Registration Desk upon Arrival.

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Disability Concerns at Silver Bay

There will also be opportunities for Friends to be special-needs volunteers. A checkbox for volunteers is on the registration form.

Housing

If you have a disability or illness that makes it hard for you to climb hills or steps, please make sure that you sign up early, and request one of the reserved rooms. Financial assistance is available from the Advancement Committee.

Friends who are unable to transfer themselves to and from wheelchair/bed, etc., and require special assistance with dressing, bathing, or other personal needs must arrange this personal assistance on their own and must have the person assisting stay in their room. The caregiver must be in attendance for the length of the stay of the person requiring this type of specialized help. Silver Bay will offer a special reduced rate for the person assisting.

Worship and Meetings

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Food Service at Silver Bay

Silver Bay will provide standard and vegetarian menu choices for each meal. Vegetarian meals will include eggs, milk, and cheese but no red meat or fish. Silver Bay cannot accommodate "specialty" diets. A full salad bar will be provided at both lunch and dinner. If you are a vegetarian, please indicate this on your registration form, so that Silver Bay can be prepared.

For those who have other special dietary needs, it is recommended that you bring your own food. Silver Bay will provide refrigeration. A refrigerator will be made available for baby food, etc. Cooking facilities for those with special dietary needs (though not for campers) will be available in Paine Hall —1st floor off rotunda and in Spruce Mountain Lodge kitchen.

The Silver Bay cooks will not add salt to either the regular food or the vegetarian food. Salt will be available on the tables.

Food service coordinator is Martha Gurvich.

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Golf Cart

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For a map of the Silver Bay campus, please click here (map will open in a new window) or request one from the NYYM office.

Driving Directions

At exit 22: Take a left onto Rt. 9. Go thru village of Lake George. At the north end of village take a right onto Rt. 9N. Go through Bolton Landing, then go approximately 13 miles. At Silver Bay Road, go 1/2 mile to the Inn.

At exit 23: Take a right off exit onto Bolton Road all the way to the end of road. Turn left onto Rt. 9N, through Bolton Landing and 13 miles towards Hague. At Silver Bay Road, go 1/2 mile to the Inn.

At exit 24: Take a right off exit. Go 4 miles east to Rt. 9N, then left (north) on 9N for 13 miles. At the Silver Bay Road, go 1/2 mile to the Inn.

Pulling a trailer take exit 25 and go toward Hague through Brant Lake. Turn south on 9N in Hague Village. There are steep hills when using exits 22, 23 and 24 and going north on 9N.

Driving time is 1 1/2 to 2 hours from Albany; 4–5 hours from New York City; 6–7 hours from Buffalo. Those needing more explicit or alternate directions may contact Silver Bay.

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Public Transportation

PLEASE NOTE: Silver Bay no longer provides shuttle service to and from Silver Bay. Below is a listing of vendors who can provide this service.

Transportation Information

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NYYM Registration Fees

Early registration is critical to assist in JYM, NYYM, and Silver Bay planning. The YM office will forward your forms to Silver Bay in the order in which they are received until July 14. After that date, room reservations must be arranged directly with Silver Bay Association (518-543-8833).

Family groups pay a maximum of $77 until July 14. A family group is one or two adults and their dependent children. All members of a family group must send their registrations in at the same time and must cluster together at Silver Bay.

If more than one person is on a registration form, your registration form will be returned. If you need more forms, photocopy them or download here for adults and here for JYM.

 

	Until July 14	July 15–22	After July 22
Adults (out of high school)	$32	$62	$72
JYM Youth ages 3–18	$17	$32	$37
Per day fee*	$12	$17	$22
*Per day fee applicable only to those attending less than half session.

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2006 Room Descriptions and Rates

The rate for ages 3–15 is now $168 for the full session when sharing a room with an adult or adults because the adult(s) will get charged the whole room rate. Last year the rate for ages 4–12 was half the adult rate in the room. This difference affects 3-year-olds, who must now pay, and 13–14–15 year olds, who now pay $168 if they share a room with an adult. Any group of ages 3–15 in a room without an adult now each pay $78 less than the adult rate charged for double, triple, quadruple, or quintuple. In the case of a single adult sharing a room with a child or children ages 3–15, the single adult must pay at the single adult rate for the room +$168 for each child, and therefore the total bill may be higher in 2006 than it was in 2005. Cots are available to put in rooms if the room can accommodate one. For fire-safety reasons, Silver Bay cannot allow more than one cot in a room.

2006 Silver Bay Room Descriptions and Rates (includes meals • rates per person) (Clicking here will open the rate table in a new window in PDF, which requires Adobe Reader. You may download Adobe Reader free here.)

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Study and Interest Groups at Silver Bay

Please Note: There is a change in the scheduling of the study and interest groups. Both will be given on Wednesday, July 26. Study groups will be held from 2:30–5:30 P.M., and interest groups will be held from 8:15–10:00 P.M..

 

NOTE: These are the listings as of the time Spark went to press. For updated listings, including changes made since Spark was printed, click here.

Study Groups

1. AFSC Presents: On Immigration and Detention, Danielle Bolden & Arif Ullah
   We will consider the practical impact of current and proposed laws on the daily lives of immigrant workers and detainees. Together we will discuss resources available and those still needed for this group of newcomers to our land. The presenters are a detention attorney in Newark, N.J., and the coordinator of NY Project Voice.
2. Aging in NYYM, Carol Coulthurst & Carol Mallison
   Do you know anyone who isn't getting older? Do you need help, advice, or counsel on the problems of coping with an aged parent or two? Who can help? We will explore, talk, share, and commiserate with each other as we learn how to get old.
3. The Agony and the Ecstasy: Recovering Racists Work with Allies of Color, Members of NEYM's Working Party on Racism
   To share the story of, the glory of, and mostly the struggles of NEYM's Ministry & Counsel Working Party on Racism, which is dedicated to the long haul of acknowledging and eradicating white privilege and racism within NEYM. What's worked, handling minefields, locating support, falling and getting back up, next steps. Limited to 25 participants.
4. Attending to Our Grief, Kathleen Slattery
   We will consider how we care for ourselves in grief and mourning, both as individuals and as meetings. We will explore how our spirituality shapes and transforms our experience and how Quaker spirituality informs our lives with meaning, value, and purpose as we face painful events.
5. Beyond Kindness & Charity: How to Meet the Minimum Needs of All, Radh Achuthan
   While kindness and charity are important, loving, and consoling, intentionality is essential to meeting the minimum needs of all (MMNA). To meet the minimum needs of all we must move from "exclusion morality" to "inclusion morality," additionally enabling genuine trusteeship of the environment. Resources of inclusion morality are spiritual, emotional, and intellectual.
6. A Brighter Light, James Schultz
   A presentation of a series of folk-type songs walking you through the fundamentals of Christian love that are too often lost in the midst of day-to-day concerns and activities. There will be time for reflection and sharing on judgment, behavior, unforgiveness, patience, fellowship, joy, perspective, and of course forgiveness.
7. Connecting with and Creating Cultures of Peace, Mac Larsen, Lu Harper, Fred Dettmer, Chrissie Rizzo, Mary Rothschild
   We will explore the concept and application of Cultures of Peace as an effective counter to the prevalent violence we see today, both at home and abroad. A panel will present specific examples of successful work, followed by a general discussion in the manner of Friends.
8. Facets of Conflict Transformation, Tom Rothschild, Cheshire Frager, Joanna Komoska
   Presented by the Yearly Meeting Committee on Conflict Transformation, this study group will cover ideas and skills on different facets of conflict transformation, including: How is "conflict transformation" different from "conflict resolution"; the spiritual basis of our work; understanding primitive responses to conflict; and useful skills toward transformation. Limited to 20 participants.
9. Globalization in the Modern Nicaraguan Context, Jamie Contois
   Jaime Contois spent the last year in Nicaragua, Central America, researching and documenting how various economic-development strategies are affecting the people and the environment. This study group will examine the larger context of the global economy and some specific examples of how it impacts the everyday lives of Nicaraguans.
10. Healing Ourselves, Vanessa Julye This experiential study group is for Friends of Color who want to begin healing our wounds from racism. Personal healing work will occur through worship sharing, group discussion, and listening to each other. We will also spend time identifying ways we can support each other as people of Color in the Religious Society of Friends.
11. Health Crisis in Akwasasne: Indian Affairs Study Group, Tom Porter and Henry Lickers
    Tom and Henry, Mohawk elders, will share their wisdom and knowledge as we examine the effects of industrial pollution on the St. Lawrence River and its effects on water, land, animals, plants, and people of Akwasasne. Ongoing health issues affecting the people are of special interest, as are interactions among governments and industries that should address the contamination.
12. JYM Quakerism 101 (Modified), Jeffrey Aaron
    NOTE: This study group will not be presented during the study group time slot. It has become part of the JYM program.
13. The Power of Conscience, Dan Jenkins and Jens Braun
    Throughout our history, Spirit-led conscience has given Quakers the clarity of conviction to negotiate accommodations with wider society to uphold our pacifist ways. This study group will look at this history of Quaker political engagement on war issues and at words from individuals speaking their consciences to Power. This will be continued in Interest Group 9.
14. Quakers against Torture, John Calvi
    We will discuss the recent QUIT conference of Quakers against Torture and the variety of next steps that Quakers can take to end this evil practice.
15. Race, Love, and Justice, Jeff Hitchcock
    Jeff will give the talk he gave at Spring Sessions. Friends will reflect upon how we might better love one another as we work together to achieve racial justice in our community. How can European American Friends take Quaker tools for justice and, as a privileged group in a fading but present system of white supremacy, join with Friends of Color in applying those tools, so that justice is shared within our community? How might Friends better love one another in this work?
16. Reading the Gospel According to John, Roger Dreisbach-Williams
    The gospels record Jesus' life and ministry. This will be an opportunity to experience the Gospel according to John through a reading script for 12 voices. Reading the text ahead of time helpful but not necessary.
17. Roundtable for First Day School Teachers, Carol Rice, Judy Inskeep, Peggy Clements
    Calling First Day school teachers of tiny tots to teens! We will share ideas and materials as well as brainstorm solutions to First Day school "dilemmas." Together we will develop ways we can support each other as FDS teachers and ways our meetings can support us.
18. The Spirit and the Cosmos, Hugh Barbour
    Friends learn from each other's experiences of the spirit. We also need to share and think together about what we can say about the Spirit, God, and Jesus, in face of new scientific understandings of the cosmos and human nature, and what Quaker, Hebrew, and Christian traditions say about these.
19. Taking Quaker Minutes, Lee Haring
    Meetings and committees need recorders who can take accurate minutes. The study group invites you to experiment with minute-taking, even if you have never done it before. Bring writing materials. High schoolers and youth especially wanted!
20. When the Walls Come Tumbling Down, Rima Vesely-Flad
    27,000 people leave New York State prisons each year. The leader, from the Interfaith Coalition of Advocates for Reentry and Employment (ICARE), will tell us what faith communities are doing in the areas of employment, housing, education, healthcare, and voting, to promote the successful reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals.

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Interest Groups

1. The Bolivian Quaker Education Fund—Growth and Challenge, Newton Garver, Bernabé Yujra
   Founded four years ago by members of NYYM, BQEF ministers to the educational aspirations of Bolivian Quakers, all of whom are indigenous and generally impoverished. Our leaders will tell us about the circumstances of Bolivian Quakers and describe the work and challenges of BQEF in Bolivia.
2. Breaking the Barriers, Members of the Rural & Migrant Ministry Youth Arts Group (YAG)
   YAG members will present and discuss their mixed media, 3-D mural, 8' x 16' entitled Breaking the Barriers. Created by the culturally diverse high school students in YAG, it depicts "a beautiful world, where there is no racism, and YAG is trying to open up that wonderful world for everyone."
3. Couple Enrichment, Mary Kay Glazer & Mark Moss
   People attending this interest group will have the chance to learn more about Couple Enrichment. Couples work is peace work, as we live our vision for a more peaceful world in our most intimate relationships.
4. FGC Youth Ministries Committee, Margaret Obermayer & Rick Townsend 
   This will be an opportunity for young Friends to learn about the YMC as well as a chance for them to inform the committee of their needs and desires as the committee works to fulfill its charge. There will be time for worship sharing.
5. Finding Our Role in Earthcare, Janet Soderberg & Tom Goodridge
   Two members of a local Friends earthcare group will speak to the support and energy generated by their committee. The workshop will be part experiential, part remembering, part worship sharing, part discussion, encouraging participants to look at the inspiration in their immediate natural world, their bioregion, and the Universe.
6. Following the Spirit, Young Adults in Leadership Roles, Paddy Lane & Dave Grodsky
   We'll explore creating opportunities for young adults, ages 20–30, to participate in internships/apprenticeships in witness, ministry, and service within the Yearly Meeting. We'll also explore more broadly the concept of "apprenticeships," where young adults and youth may accompany adult Friends in Quaker undertakings. How do we nourish ongoing worshipful discernment in this process?
7. Joys and Challenges of Raising Children in Multiracial Families, Charley Flint & Norma Ellis
   In a safe and sacred space we will identify issues, concerns, and experiences within the Quaker community regarding raising children and adolescents in multiracial families. We will explore our multiracial identities and acknowledge and examine how racism and privilege affect our families and spiritual lives.
8. Peace Circles
   Will Bontrager will explain and demonstrate peace circles, a conflict-resolution process he teaches to children, some as young as preschool, through his work with Finger Lakes Restorative Justice.
9. The Power of Conscience, Dan Jenkins and Jens Braun
   Throughout our history, Spirit-led conscience has given Quakers the clarity of conviction to negotiate accommodations with wider society to uphold our pacifist ways. This interest group is a continuation of Study Group 13.
10. Socially Responsible Investing, Diane Keefe
    The three forms of socially responsible investing—community development loans, socially screened investments, and shareholder action—will be summarized. Socially responsible alternatives to conventional stock, bond, and mutual fund investing will be evaluated based on historical performance. Current and future campaigns of the social investment movement will be discussed.
11. White Friends Sharing Feelings about Racism, Robin Alpern & Irma Guthrie
    White Friends have tried hard to be free of racism. Yet we hear that our Society, and even ourselves, have been unconsciously influenced by the racist culture around us. White Friends are invited to share honestly and safely, and to listen compassionately to the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of others. Limited to 8 participants. White Friends only.

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    J u n i o r    Y e a r l y    M e e t i n g

    Attention Parents, Guardians, and Sponsors

    Parents, guardians, and sponsors are responsible for their junior and senior high school age young Friends, as well as younger children, during Yearly Meeting Summer Sessions.

    Clustering Is Mandatory

    Clustering allows parents and children, sponsors or guardians, and youth to room in proximity and be better able to check in and communicate responsibly. Clustering can save you money! Special rates have been established for children/young Friends staying in the room with a parent, guardian, and/or sponsor. So long as there are two adults in the room, each child 15 and younger, will pay only $168.00 in all locations. All registrations in one cluster should be sent in the same envelope. Silver Bay staff is not able, with our large numbers, to reshuffle for clustering accommodations.

    What Do You Need to Be Prepared?

    JYM volunteers working with your group will send you a letter explaining what you child/young Friend will be doing in JYM and listing certain things they think you may want to bring with you. Early registration is critical!

    How to Register for JYM

    Carefully fill out the JYM registration form.

    Be sure to:

    1. Provide the name of the child/young Friend's parent(s), guardian, or sponsor
    2. Ask to be assigned to a room with, or close to, the parent(s), guardian, or sponsor.

       This is called clustering. It is Mandatory!

    3. Indicate your grade, in the fall of 2006, and age. This year we have the K's joining the Silver Bay Program with AM Childcare. The older groups are broken down as follows: grades 1+2, 3+4, 5+6, 7+8, 9+10, 11+12
    4. Mail your registration and that of your parent(s), guardian, or sponsor together in the same envelope.

    Any youth registrations sent independent of their responsible adults will be returned.

    If you have any questions call Helen Garay Toppins at the NYYM office, 212-673-5750.

    Can my child go to Silver Bay without me?

    A child under 18 years of age who wishes to attend Yearly Meeting Sessions, but will have no parent or legal guardian present, is required to have a sponsor.

    What is a sponsor?

    1. A sponsor is a responsible adult who agrees to act in the role of parent during the child's stay at Yearly Meeting. The designated sponsor must be at least 10 years older than the young Friend they are sponsoring. Sponsors must cluster!
    2. The sponsor should be designated by the parent or legal guardian. When you register your child to attend Yearly Meeting, you will need to indicate who the sponsor is, and send your child's registration in with that person's.
    3. The sponsor and the child should know each other reasonably well, and must request clustering near each other at the time of registration. The sponsor must include the name of the child sponsored on his/her registration form.

    If you have any questions, call Helen Garay Toppins at the NYYM office, 212-673-5750.

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    Medical Forms

    When you arrive at Silver Bay adults register with Silver Bay Association. Once you have your room assignment you may then register with JYM. The parent, guardian, or sponsor must accompany all children and young Friends under the age of 18 to JYM registration. At that time, you will have the opportunity to meet the staff who will be working with your age group.

    Each child who registers early will receive, in the mail, along with a welcoming letter from their group, a medical form. Please completely fill it out and bring it (or send it with your child if he/she is to be sponsored by someone else) to JYM registration at Silver Bay. Do not mail medical forms. Extra copies will be available for late registrants.

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    Volunteers Sought for Preschoolers

    JYM has established a unique morning program with the Silver Bay Association. To supplement the Silver Bay staff and program offered at the Children's Pavilion, a JYM assigned volunteer will be present every morning to be with the children and work with the volunteers from the NYYM community. All SBA staff and JYM volunteers will work to provide a Friendly presence and activities for the youngest of our children. We need additional volunteers to augment the program. Friends are asked to consider giving half a morning, during worship sharing or NYYM meeting for business, on as many days as they wish. A full morning of service would also be greatly appreciated. The only qualifications are love for young children, a friendly lap, and helping hands. The rewards will come in the form of small hugs, laughter, and song. The program will run Monday through Friday mornings from 9:00 A.M. to 12:15 P.M.

    Anyone who would like to volunteer some time to help with the preschool program is asked to contact Roseann Press, whose contact information is listed in the Yearbook.

    Who do I talk to if I have any questions about JYM?

    The JYM coordinators, Martha Gurvich, Jennifer Lindop, and Roseann Press, are available to answer questions about JYM. Their names, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers are listed in the Yellow Yearly Meeting Yearbook.

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    Café Night

    Come and share your talent

    On Thursday evening, the High School group will sponsor Café Night. The purpose is to raise funds for the Sharing Fund and Powell House. This is your opportunity to share your performing gifts. Acts that have performed in previous years will be asked to give space to new performers. If you play an instrument, sing, dance, or tell a good story, think about preparing to perform at Café Night. Because of the wealth of talent in NYYM, acts will be limited to 3–5 minutes each. If you do not want to perform, then plan to attend and have fun. There is no admission charge—the JYM'ers will be passing hats for donations.

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    On Your Way to Silver Bay

    Adirondack Friends Meeting extends an invitation to all Friends to visit on Sunday, July 23, on their way to Silver Bay. Programmed meeting for worship will be held at 10:30 A.M.

    Adirondack is the meeting closest to Silver Bay, making this a convenient place to break your journey. The meeting is at 27 Saratoga Ave., South Glens Falls NY 12803. For information, you can call Diana De Blois at 518-798-1806 or Regina Haag at 518-793-3755.

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    NYYM Spring Sessions

    March 31–April 2, 2006

    Linda B. Chidsey, clerk, NYYM

    The Kingdom of Heaven did gather us and catch us all, as in a net… We came to know a place to stand in and what to wait in… Francis Howgill, in Edward Burrough's The Memorable Works of a Son of Thunder, 1672

    These words of Francis Howgill rise up, aptly describing the deep and powerful experience of Spring Sessions the weekend of March 31 through April 2. On Friday evening Nadine Hoover and Deborah Wood reported on their recent trip to Aceh, Indonesia, to provide ongoing tsunami relief and offer Alternatives to Violence training. On Saturday evening Jeff Hitchcock spoke to the body about racial privilege and racial discrimination, inviting us to reflect upon how Friends might better love one another as we work together to achieve racial justice in our community.

    The worship, the reports, the listening and discernment of the weekend were all of a piece, upheld in a fullness of Power and Life.

    On Saturday the body, gathered in worship, bore witness to Friends' historical peace testimony, approving the preparation and filing of an amicus brief in the tax witness case of Daniel Jenkins v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Friends also approved a minute from Farmington-Scipio Region proclaiming our belief in the Power of the Living Spirit to bring love, integrity, and compassionate justice to all people, and that paying taxes for war violates our religious convictions. "We will seek ways to witness to this conviction in each of our communities."

    On Sunday Friends approved a minute on meeting the minimum needs of all people, to be achieved by the year 2030. These needs are defined as adequate drinking water, nutrition, clothing, housing, primary healthcare, and five years of primary education. The minute includes: "Friends are advised to raise the issue on all occasions where it is possible to influence individuals, groups and organizations. We charge our Clerk and General Secretary to make a special effort to speak about this issue with regional, national and international groups."

    In ministry on First Day, a Friend observed that this weekend was a time of Pentecost—"a time when we could see, hear, and taste what the world is like in the Peaceable Kingdom." She shared further that those present at Pentecost then scattered to proclaim the good news that love overcomes hate, strife, and oppression. She concluded: "May the unity that we experienced in Spring Sessions strengthen us to do likewise."

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    The Gift God Made You to Be

    Becoming the Gift God Made You to Be, the retreat led by Christopher Sammond at Powell House in January, will be repeated in the Farmington-Scipio Region in June. This retreat was oversubscribed, and many people were left on the waiting list. Therefore, Christopher will lead this retreat again on June 2–4, 2006, at the Stella Niagara Center for Renewal in Youngstown, N.Y.

    Becoming the Gift God Made You to Be is the first in a series, Drawing Out Gifts, sponsored by NYYM's Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel. Future retreats include How Can I Keep from Speaking? a workshop on vocal ministry, facilitated by Deborah Fisch, clerk of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative), May 12–14, and the Ministry of Presence, September 15–17, at Powell House.

    For further information on the retreat in Youngstown see the Events section of the NYYM Web site or contact the Yearly Meeting office.

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    Conscientious Objector Files at Old Chatham Quaker Meeting

    Jens Braun, Old Chatham Meeting

    Suppose your meeting wanted to support conscientious objectors to war. How would you go about it? After members of Old Chatham Monthly Meeting's Outreach, Peace, and Justice Committee (OPJ) attended Powell House sessions on draft counseling, we came up with the idea of telling the community that we would be willing to archive anyone's conscientious objection (CO) file at the meeting.

    We sent out a notice to all the local papers, and the first thing that happened was the Albany Times Union gave a call and interviewed some of us about the concept. This was a little embarrassing, because the reporter asked whether we were keeping files for our children, which we intended to do, but had not yet done because we had only started with the idea as a community-outreach plan.

    One of the committee members purchased a fireproof file box, and we spoke with First Day School Committee. OPJ was given Sundays in February and March to work with the teen group on CO files. These kids, they are fabulous. They organized the files, wrote out initial statements of conscience, and then put together two forms, one for posting on fridges to remind themselves, and parents, about the sorts of documents that can be placed in their files, and the second a questionnaire to fill out after completing any peace-related activity that could support one's CO status. Then the teen group took one Sunday to work with the "middle" group, getting them to start their own CO files, place them in the box, and become familiar with both the concepts of conscientious objection and the value of keeping their files growing. The teen group has also reminded the adults in meeting that there is room for their CO files in the box and has encouraged all to consider opening a personal dossier.

    OPJ plans to remind all in meeting, periodically, to think about their CO files. We have not yet taken in any CO statements from the wider community. But it is okay; we will remind them, too.

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    Renovation of Orchard Park Meetinghouse

    Dale Jacobs, Orchard Park Meeting

    Several years ago Orchard Park Monthly Meeting received a gift from the husband of a descendent of one of the early families of Orchard Park Monthly Meeting. The gift came from Valentine Pratt in memory of his wife, Emma Lathrop Pratt, granddaughter of Frank F. and Meta Baker Holmwood. The gift inspired us to complete renovations to our historic meetinghouse, the earliest house of worship in Western, N.Y., dated 1820. We wanted the meetinghouse to be accessible and comfortable to 21st-century standards, with an eye on making it more energy efficient.

    The planning stages went slowly because we were dealing with 19th-century construction methods. At the first meeting in 2005 of the Building Program Committee on August 7 there was a good exchange of ideas and feelings on what our priorities would be. The agenda for the meeting mentioned accessibility (ground-floor rooms and bathroom), upgrading the heating system, upgrading the kitchen, and putting hot and cold running water (year round) in the bathroom as well as the kitchen. After a period of sharing, those present concluded that since worship was central to our meeting, we might undertake removal of the false ceiling on one side of the meetinghouse, as it had been prior to 1960. The idea was to let in more light and thereby enhance the quality of worship. After approval by monthly meeting, we completed the task of removing the ceiling and painting the renovated area by Christmas. We are a small meeting of perhaps 20 active families, and the renovations were accomplished by 8 "somewhat skilled" persons ranging in age from their 30s to their 90s. And while it took only two days to remove the false ceiling, it required us four months to complete the carpentry and painting.

    Removing the ceiling succeeded in allowing in more light. It also "let in" a greater acoustical resonance (an unexpected benefit!) and a deepening perception and regard for all the generations who worshiped there before us. Entering from the east side into the restored worship room, there is a many-layered experience of light: physical, palpable, embracing, emotional, literal and allegorical, and spiritual. Artist James Turrell told of his grandmother's explaining to him as a child going to meeting, "You went inside to greet the light." Come and visit us and experience our "new" worship space. We hope to continue our projects in 2006 as we let in more light.

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    NYYM Events New York Yearly Meeting events are updated frequently on our Web site. Go to our Calendar or Events sections. Please visit the site and print out items for your newsletter. We need your help! Please send information on your Quaker events, for inclusion in the calendar and the Events section, to Paul Busby at the NYYM office, paul [at] nyym.org.

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    Notices

    This column is prepared from information about membership received from the local meeting recorders.

    NEW MEMBERS

    Violet Goncarovs – Ithaca
    Eric Michael Kaiser – Fredonia
    Antonia Saxon – Ithaca

    TRANSFERS

    William and Mary Fairhurst, to Unadilla from Poplar Ridge

    MARRIAGES/COVENANT RELATIONSHIPS

    Maia Murray, member of Summit, to Jules Simon, on March 25, 2006.

    DEATHS

    Betty Applegate, member of Manasquan, on March 5, 2006
    Jean Pratt Cary, member of Easton, on March 25, 2006
    Victoria Baker Cooley, member of Central Finger Lakes, on April 10, 2006*
    George A. Saxton, member of Albany, on December 25, 2005
    Florence Stevens, member of Hartland Monthly Meeting, May 1, 2006
    Walter Vail, member of Easton, on March 4, 2006

    *A memorial service for Vicki Cooley will be held Sunday, June 11, 2006, at 11:00 A.M. at Long Point Camp on Seneca Lake, 100 Long Point Rd., Penn Yan, N.Y.

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