Download a pdf file of the March Spark

Thank you, Melinda Wenner Bradley! Melinda served as Guest Editor for this issue, soliciting these wonderful articles and helping with the editing. We think the result is an extraordinary resource for Friends seeking to make their meetings more welcoming to families. Thus, we have made all these articles available in a special document you can download as a pdf file.
    Download Family Friendly Meetings.

Contents

Articles

• Family-Friendly Meetings, Editor's Introduction
• When All God's Children Are Together, by Marissa Badgley
• Welcome—and It's Okay to Feed the Baby During Worship, by Spee Braun and Mike clark
• Family-Friendly Meetings, by Beth Collea
• Children in the Warp and Woof of Meeting Life, by Karen Greenler
• A Recipe for Welcome, by John Scardina
• Growing in Spirit Together in All-ages RE, by Liz Yeats
• NYYM Forum: you can comment on these articles in the Comment box at the end of each article. Start a conversation!

Around Our Yearly Meeting

• News & Announcements
• Conferences
• Passages

Around Our Yearly Meeting

Announcements

Tending the Garden—spiritual nurture programs for meetings and members

Spiritual Nurture Working Group of New York Yearly Meeting has led four Tending the Garden retreats for local meetings since September 2015 and is arranging more. We offer adult and intergenerational retreats on many topics, including Opening to Deeper Worship, A Deliberate Faith, Discernment, Experiential Quakerism, Forgiveness, Pastoral Care, Prayer, Quaker Toolbox, Sacred Journeys, Sense of the Meeting, Spiritual Support & Accountability, and Vocal Ministry. While retreat lengths range from short morning or afternoon sessions to full weekends, we recommend day-long to weekend lengths for the most meaningful retreats.
    Interested in bringing a Tending the Garden retreat to your meeting? See nyym.org/?q=TendingtheGarden for more information on the programs. Then get an expression of interest from your meeting and contact Lu Harper (luharper[at]gmail.com) or Anne Pomeroy (apomeroy10[at]gmail.com) to find the facilitator and topic that will work best for your meeting. Please allow a minimum of two months to schedule and finalize topics and facilitators.
    As an integral part of the Tending the Garden program, Spiritual Nurture Working Group has also sponsored three retreats at Powell House and have scheduled another for May 20–22, “From Seed to Power,” led by Christopher Sammond. This program focuses on finding internal and external support for spiritual transformation. Next in the series—September 23–25, topic and leader to be determined.

Nightingales Singing Weekend

April 22-24. If you love to sing, come join others who do as well for a weekend of singing and sharing good food and wonderful fellowship. Near Poplar Ridge Meeting. Check Events on nyym.org for more details.

New ARCH Staff

The ARCH (Aging Resources Consultation and Help) Program of NYYM has hired five new local coordinators to better serve our aging Friends and our network of ARCH Visitors in their ministry of care:

Farmington-Scipio Regional Meeting — Kathy Slattery, kathyslattery62[at]gmail.com, 716-988-5157, and Bronwyn Mohlke, BronwynARCH[at]gmail.com, 607-220-3219.

Purchase Quarterly Meeting — Martha Gurvich, margurvl[at]aol.com, 203-838-3433

New York Quarterly Meeting — Yana Landowne, yanaland[at]gmail.com, 917-684-8784.

Shrewsbury & Plainfield Half-Yearly Meeting and All Friends Regional Meeting — Abby Burford, abigail_burford[at]yahoo.com, 973-932-9785.

Anita Paul and I continue to be available to Friends in NYYM for consultations, resources, and workshop facilitation. However Anita will be focusing more on mentorship and outreach, and I will be focusing more on administration of the ARCH Program. Your local coordinators have access to resources and experiences closer to where you are. They are as excited as I am to work towards our goal of cultivating a community of well-supported aging Friends.
    Thank you for your continued support of the ARCH Program!

Callie Janoff, Brooklyn Meeting, ARCH Director

Next ARCH Visitor Training

Do you feel called to a ministry of care for our oldest Friends? Join a vibrant network of trained ARCH Visitors by attending our next ARCH Visitor Training: Stony Point Retreat Center, in the lower west Hudson Valley, just north of the New Jersey border, April 22-24.
    For more information contact Callie Janoff, ARCH Director, ARCH[at]nyym.org 347-249-8470.

Online Worship Opportunities

The Western Friend now hosts several online gatherings for Friends: an online lunchtime worship every Thursday, real-time online discussions every second Wednesday, and a written worship message forum in their “Worship Forum.” Western Friend is an independent nonprofit publishing and communications organization jointly funded by Pacific, North Pacific, and Intermountain Yearly Meetings. Note that because they are on the west coast, there’s a three-hour time difference for these gatherings. Go to westernfriend.org/connect to learn more.

Conferencess

Gathering for Quakers in Business
May 2016 in NYC

What did integrity mean to early Quaker business people? Join us at a special gathering in New York City in May where Quaker business person Karen Tibbals will share her Quaker Studies thesis findings that might surprise you. (Hint: It’s not on price retailing.) Those who are involved in or interested in business are encouraged to attend. For more information, contact Karen Tibbals, 732-968-0255.

Stoking the Fire
May 13–15, 2016 • Caraway Conference Center, Sophia, North Carolina

A “gathering in the power of Christ” for North American Friends who are spiritually on fire, smoldering embers, ready to burst into flame, discerning risky new steps of faithfulness, and desiring deeper worship.
    Sponsored by Friends United Meeting. Visit the Stoking the Fire website on FUM.org for more information.

Passages

New Members

Madeleine Wilken — Wilton

Deaths

Beatrice Kimball, member of Farmington, on February 9, 2016
Charles McLoud Larsen, member of Ithaca, on July 17, 2015
Dana Raphael, member of Wilton, on February 2, 2016