Download a pdf file of the March 2017 Spark

Contents

The Election and What Comes Next

• Finding the Rhythm, by Emily Provance
• President Trump: Now What? by Jerry Leaphart
• What Comes Next? The Same as Before, by Jeffrey Aaron
• Let love (and welcome, inclusion, knowledge, and action) be the first motion! by Melinda Wenner Bradley
• Some days are gone, by Sheree Cammer

Other Articles

• QuED: Quaker Exploration and Discourse, by Adria Gulizia
• #Quaker Outside the Lines
• Quaker Groups on Facebook

Around Our Yearly Meeting

• Editor's note
• Meeting News
• Upcoming Events
• Job Opportunities
• Notices

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Around Our Yearly Meeting

Editor's Note

Hello! Everyone is encouraged to write for Spark. Articles in Spark are a form of written ministry; pieces should be spirit-led, and reflect your personal experience, Quaker history, or present faith and practice on the subject. For example: things you or your meeting has done; a prophetic message; personal reflection; or whatever you are led to say.

The theme for the next Spark, in May, is Discernment. We welcome articles on this or other related topics. Please send your submissions to me at [email protected] by April 18th.

Meetings and committee clerks: don't forget to share your info. Send me your meeting’s news and upcoming events so I can share them with the rest of the Yearly Meeting through InfoShare, our digital newsletter. Send your items to [email protected]. Don’t get InfoShare? Email [email protected]. Keep up-to-date with NYYM events through our Facebook page, updated frequently: www.facebook.com/NewYorkYearlyMeeting/. Read short messages and links to articles on Twitter: twitter.com/NYYMTweets. —Sarah Way

Meeting News

Benefit Concert for Refugee Alliance

In December Poughkeepsie Meeting hosted a benefit flute and piano concert for the Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance (more than 20 faith-based groups and civic institutions), which is supporting the Church World Service refugee resettlement program in the mid-Hudson Valley.

Farmington Friends Aids Homeless Families

Farmington Friends MM has become a “host congregation” for Family Promise of Ontario County, an affiliate of the Interfaith Hospitality Network. For a period of one week four times a year, beginning on Sunday afternoon and continuing through breakfast of the following Sunday, a host congregation provides overnight hospitality for families who are homeless. The host congregation provides overnight accommodations, the evening meal, breakfast, and food for bag lunches for up to fourteen persons; the families consist of at least one parent/legal guardian and minor child(ren). The families arrive late Sunday afternoon to have supper with volunteers from the host congregation. After supper and chores, guests and volunteers spend some time together socializing and helping with homework before bedtime. After an early breakfast the next morning, the families are transported by Family Promise to a day center; from there children go to school, parents go to work, and help with whatever each family needs to achieve sustainable, independent housing is pursued. (http://familypromise.org/)

Interfaith Flushing event

A Beacon of Pluralism candlelighting ceremony and photography exhibit, organized by local artists Nancy Bruno and Gina Minielli, was held at the Flushing Meetinghouse on January 30th. The event brought together people of many faiths, including Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh and other communities, in celebration of the religious diversity of Queens. The Flushing Meetinghouse is seen as the birthplace of religious tolerance in the US. The event was covered in local newspapers and television, including pieces on NY1 News, the Queens Courier, and the China Press.

News from Purchase Meeting

We hosted Purchase Quarterly Meeting on Feb 5; our speaker was Paulette Meier, a Friend from Indiana, who has put historic Quaker writings into song. Friends found her beautiful voice and messages inspiring and healing. NYYM Friends may be most familiar with her version of John Woolman's quotation "May we look upon our treasure, the furniture of our houses, and our garments, and try to discover whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these, our possessions." See her website www.paulettemeier.com for more information.

We are currently hosting a display of the banners celebrating the AFSC's 100th Anniversary. They are well-done and portable, each with its own stand. We were able to display them at Quarterly Meeting and at Friends' Academy on Long Island. We highly recommend signing up to bring them to your Meeting.

On February 25, we will host a Quaker Parenting Meet-up for our Quarter that Melinda is offering, and on April 8 Scarsdale Meeting will host a Quaker Young Adult Meet-up at Purchase Meeting hosted by Emily and Gabi.

FGC Offers Spiritual Deepening Program

Friends General Conference invites Friends, meetings, and seekers to participate in the Spiritual Deepening Program, a framework and set of resources for adults and children that encourages connecting with each other, connecting with Quaker practice and faith, and connecting with Spirit. The Spiritual Deepening Program provides participants with an opportunity to explore and deepen their faith journeys, to rediscover the power that early Friends experienced in a way that is relevant for their lives today, and to explore tools to help them move closer to living a life transformed by the Inward Teacher, the indwelling Christ, the Seed—that Power Beyond Words.

Small groups within meetings can come together to participate in the Spiritual Deepening program exercises over a series of sessions, or individuals can join an 8-week online Silence & Light eRetreat and build spiritual community online. The suggested fee for participating in the program is $20/person, on a Pay-as-Led basis.

Learn more about the Spiritual Deepening Program and how to bring it to your meeting: www.fgcquaker.org/spiritualdeepening/.

The next Silence & Light eRetreat will run from March 26 – May 19, 2017.

Sign up for the Spiritual Deepening email list to receive announcements about registering for eRetreats and new program content: www.fgcquaker.org/sdinterest.

 

 

Upcoming Events

FWCC Section of the Americas
Meeting in Stony Point, NY

The Friends World Committee for Consultation, under the Nurture Coordinating Committee in NYYM, would like to announce: The Section of Americas meeting for Quakers from every country in North, Central, and South America is having our annual section meeting HERE IN NY!

Date: March 23-26, 2017
Location: Stony Point Center, 17 Cricketown Rd, Stony Point, NY 10980 / 845-786-5674
[email protected]

From fwccamericas.org:

"In the Americas, the Quaker community extends from the Arctic to the Andes, spanning a rich diversity of regional cultures, beliefs and styles of worship.
Answering God's call to universal love, Friends World Committee for Consultation brings Friends of varying traditions and cultural experiences together in worship, communications and consultation, to express our common heritage and our Quaker message to the world."

Please REGISTER at http://fwccamericas.org/_wp/event/2017-section-meeting-of-the-americas/.

Local friends are welcome but they must register in advance for any portion of the event they attend.

Questions: [email protected].

FGC Gathering in NYYM!

2017's Annual FGC Gathering, Ripples Start Where Spirit Moves, is July 2-8 in Niagara, NY. Remember to mark your calendars for Monday, April 3rd, 2017—that's when online Early Registration begins for an equal chance at your choice of a workshop and housing requests.

Volunteers needed for JYM

As we look ahead to NYYM Summer Sessions at Silver Bay, Sunday, July 22 to Saturday, July 28, 2017, we are looking for volunteers to work with the Junior Yearly Meeting (JYM). Friendly adults are sought to work with young Friends from Grades 1-12. Perhaps you, or someone in your meeting, has the gift of working with children or teens and would welcome this opportunity. It is a wonderful way to get to know the Yearly Meeting. We ask that Meetings give consideration to providing financial assistance to JYM volunteers from their community so that they may serve the Yearly Meeting in this way. Volunteers may also request that part of their Silver Bay costs be covered by JYM. Friends who are not led to give the entire week to JYM may have gifts to share for an hour or so during the week. Please contact Ellie Rosenberg ([email protected]) or Dawn Pozzi ([email protected]), this year’s JYM coordinators.

AVP Summer Camp for Youth Leadership and Personal Development

A summer day camp “with a difference” for youth entering Grades 6-11. Have fun while building a community of peers and growing and developing as a person. August 7-17, 2017 (Monday-Thursday, 9am-5pm) at Chatham-Summit Friends Meeting.

Using the principles of the Alternatives to Violence Project program, teens will focus on:

• Self esteem
• Communication
• Nonviolent Relationships
• Conflict Transformation
• Community Building

The goal is to help young people develop into leaders who are caring and skillful communicators in all their relationships.
Visit avpnjyouth.weebly.com.

 

 

Job Opportunities

General Secretary of New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

This is a full-time position headquartered in New York City, serving the needs of more than 60 monthly meetings spread through New York State and parts of Connecticut and New Jersey.

The ideal candidate is a servant leader with strong spiritual grounding, abilities in both administration and ministry, good understanding of Quaker process, and demonstrated skills in

• Translating vision into action
• Management
• Collaboration
• Releasing and nurturing others’ gifts in ministry
• Communication
• Building effective teams of volunteers
• Development, grant writing, budgeting

Although each General Secretary brings a personal vision, typical activities of the position include visiting throughout the Yearly Meeting, leading workshops for spiritual growth, writing press releases on urgent events, and consulting with committees and meetings in crisis. The General Secretary leads and supervises a small staff that has grown in size and scope, coordinating their efforts with groups of volunteers. Eventual membership in a monthly meeting of NYYM is expected.

Click the following for a link to the job description.

Deadline for applications: April 1, 2017
Contact: [email protected].

 

Passages

New Members

Peter Derries — Rochester
Suzanne O'Hara — Poplar Ridge

Transfers

Daniel Seeger — to Morningside from Newtown (PhYM)

Deaths

Mark Tolbert Kenmore, member of Buffalo, on NOvember 19, 2016
Janet Miller Laird, member of Rochester, on December 17, 2016