Dear Friend,
This went out on my NEW Newsletter. If you would like to be added to the list of Young Adults and Families for New York Yearly Meeting, let me know.
On the recent survey, many of you indicated that
you would like to know about what is happening in the Yearly Meeting, as well
as what opportunities there are for committee work, fellowship and
conferences. I also heard from a lot of
people that they are looking to know others YAF and Families. You told me that you wanted to hear about
what I was doing as well. SO, I will be
sending out e-blasts to keep you informed of all the great things that are
happening in NYYM. Please let me know if there is something that you would like
to know, that I can address. I hope this
helps to include more people, especially those not on Facebook, in the wider
conversation.
There is so much going on! I am excited to share it with you!!
Happy New Year!
Gabi Savory Bailey
Young Adult Field Secretary,
NYYM—nyym.yafs@gmail.com
IN THIS NEWSLETTER
· What is going on with other YAF and Families in NYYM?
· Where has Gabi been?
· Upcoming conferences at Powell House and Pendle Hill
· YAF Spotlight on Kirsten Mandala, Chatham Summit MM,
NJ
What’s going on with YAFs and families in the Yearly
Meeting?
15th Street MM- Friends under 40 (anyone is invited) meet once a
month after Meeting for Worship, choose a local eatery (inexpensive preferably)
and walk to lunch. It is a very informal
gathering, for fellowship and food.
Brooklyn MM-
Young Adult Friends meet for a potluck once a month at the home of one of the
YAF from the meeting. There is time for
food, worship and fellowship. At least
once a year there is also a gathering in the old Quaker cemetery in Prospect
Park, Brooklyn, for a picnic, and sometimes worship. They also organize hikes, and other
excursions outside of the city.
Ithaca area MM
-- YA Friends gather once a month at Burtt House, a property owned by Ithaca Monthly Meeting, in Ithaca. They have a potluck and fellowship.
Rochester MM family worship--This is a monthly opportunity for semi-programmed
Worship for people of all ages.
Brooktondale worship group--This group is under the care
of Poplar Ridge Monthly Meeting. They meet the first Sunday of the month
at either the home of one of the members or at a community center. People of ALL AGES are welcome. The format
will be very simple. It will start with a query, prayer, scripture, poem or
song to help lead us into worship together. Then we will sit together and
share as led until 5PM.
Princeton area worship group --Friends gather at the home of one of the members for
worship once a week.
NJ/AFRM family worship and potluck--This fall, five families with children ranging from 18
months to high school age, met for worship sharing, a potluck and
fellowship. We had the worship sharing
in the nursery, all we welcome to participate.
The younger ones of us popped in and out. It was a great opportunity to meet other
families, and get to know each other a little better. We hope to do it again.
All Friends Regional Meeting Arts Day--All
Friends Regional Meeting experimented with forging and nurturing friendships
among Friends across the region and generations by conducting an Arts Day at
Chatham Summit Monthly Meeting one late Saturday afternoon and evening in April
of 2012. It was a resounding success with 48 children and adults attending,
many of them young families. Artists from various meetings oversaw
mini-workshops in sculpting, fabric construction, origami, book-cover making,
and beaded jewelry making. A show and tell, potluck and singing finale
capped off a very enjoyable arts day. One parent said she felt like she had
been on vacation and a child asked if we could do it every week!
Have something great happening in your neck of
the woods? Let Gabi know! If you have questions, or are interested in
any of the opportunities listed above, contact Gabi Savory Bailey (nyym.yafs@gmail.com) and I will get you the information. There is good stuff happening in our Yearly
Meeting, Let’s hear it!!
Where have I been Since Summer Sessions? Where am I going?
· Princeton to
elder for a YAF-- I had the pleasure
of supporting a YAF in his ministry this Summer. It is a gift to me to see such faithful
work.
· Chatham
Summit MM for gathering of All
Friends and NJ Families -- This fall, five families with children ranging from
18 months to high school age, met for worship sharing, a potluck and
fellowship. We had the worship sharing
in the nursery, all we welcome to participate.
The younger ones of us popped in and out. It was a great opportunity to meet other
families, and get to know each other a little better. We hope to do it again.
· Powell House
Cultivating Ministries weekend This was a wonderfully rich weekend, and there were
several YAF in attendance.
· Saratoga MM where I led a program about the work I am doing, the
survey I conducted, and how to think differently about YAF and Families in our
Meetings, Regions and Yearly Meeting.
· Fall
Sessions
· Nine
Partners RM—I was thrilled to do a
program for Nine Partners RM focusing on Knowing each other better, and building
intergenerational community.
· Dover
Randolph MM—I visited with Friends at
their monthly Breakfast Forum and we talked about the work I am doing and the
interview project I am conducting.
· 15th
Street MM (twice!)— Both times I was
supporting the faithful work being done at that meeting. 15th Street has started an under
40 gathering once a month at a local eatery.
The other time was an intergenerational discussion on gifts and
leadings. Both were rich and well attended!
Would you like me to come to your Meeting,
or Region? Would you like someone to
support the work that is already being done there? I am eager to travel to do a program, support
an existing program, or simply sit and listen.
Contact me at nyym.yafs@gmail.com
Upcoming Powell House and Pendle Hill weekends
www.powellhouse.org
Silent
Retreat: Dwelling Deep - An Extended Meeting for Worship, January
18-21 with Linda Chidsey, Carolyn Moon
During this extended weekend, Friends are invited to enter
more fully into the silence and to experience the deeper rhythms in which we
might live. This retreat will include the opportunity for solitude, individual
and corporate worship, silent meals, and "active" silence. There will
also be opportunities for individual and group spiritual reflection. Come and
simply BE with God; listen and attend to the Divine stirrings of the soul.
Clerking:
Serving the Community with Joy & Confidence, with Arthur M. Larrabee February 1-3
This will be an opportunity for new, experienced, and
potential clerks of Friends' meetings and committees to meet and think together
about the role of presiding clerk. It is expected that each person will leave
the weekend with new energy and enthusiasm for being a clerk, feeling well
grounded in both the theoretical and the practical. There will be handouts,
exercises, and opportunities for experience sharing. Among other topics, we will consider: The fundamentals of a Quaker meeting for
business. What is the "sense of the
meeting," and how is it different from consensus? What is the meaning of
"unity? "Standing in the way," and how can we think about it? Techniques
of "good" clerking. Dealing with difficult situations.
Winter Wonderland, February 15-17
Come play with family and F/friends during an unprogrammed
weekend. You'll be sojourning at Powell House. We will feed you at regular
intervals and be here to answer questions . . . but otherwise, your time is
your own.
Sound good?
Who knows what the weather will be, but you might want to
go cross-country skiing, ice skating on Lea Pond, snow shoeing, sledding, walk
to the bird sanctuary, reading, doing puzzles, playing games, just sit in front
of the fire with a cup of something warm. Remember to bring your own equipment
for skiing, skating, etc.
Cost: One person, $60/night; Two people, $100/night;
Family, $150/night. Includes all meals and snacks. Look carefully at all of the
options for registration.
Creativity
& Spirituality, February 22-24, 2013
Co-lead by many creative and Faithful Friends!
If art leads you to a deeper spiritual journey or your
spiritual journey leads you to be more creative, or if you just want to explore
the relationship between creativity and spirituality, this retreat is for you.
Through all the forms of creativity we find opportunities
for deepening our spiritual journey. In a creative community we will delve into
the interrelationship between creativity and spirituality through a variety of
art forms: quilting, weaving, sculpting with clay,
painting with watercolors, knitting, crochet, or photography. Each
area will be led by a specialist, and the time will be rich with worship and
creating. The weekend culminates with a whole group sharing of our creative
process and our creations.
This weekend has become one of our most popular so in
2013, we're offering a 2 house retreat and adding musical
expression as a venue. Do you enjoy singing? Do you like to
"jam?" We have some wonderful musicians ready to come and create, so
come join us. Bring your instrument and see what Spirit brings together.
Upcoming Family weekend May 10-12—SAVE THE DATE!
More info is coming!
This will be a weekend for entire families to participate together in
sessions.
Upcoming Pendle Hill
weekends
Spirit-Mind-Body Practices for Wholeness Jan 11 - 13, 2013 Amanda
Kemp, Kevin Greene, Amy Ward Brimmer, and Walter Hjelt Sullivan
As you live, work, and
walk your spiritual path in the world, cultivate self-care practices that
support your mind and body. Explore yoga, qigong, t’ai chi, the Alexander
Technique, and Breema®.
Helping Teens Engage Racial Justice Work Jan 18 - 20, 2013 Lisa Graustein
Experimentally explore a
10-session curriculum designed by facilitator Lisa Graustein to help teens
better understand how racism impacts our lives and what each of us can do to
bring about racial justice and healing.
Whites
Confronting Racism and Working for Racial Justice Jan 25 - 27, 2013 Ali Michael and Sarah Halley
In a supportive
environment, white people will increase their understanding of racism, build
their skills for racial justice work, and create a concrete action plan.
Clerking Feb 8 - 10, 2013 Deborah
Fisch and Deborah Shaw
Develop your clerking
skills with two Friends with years of experience clerking their monthly and
yearly meetings.
With Quaker and biblical
scholar Doug Gwyn, explore Jesus’s conversations with such figures as
Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the blind man, Pontius Pilate, and Mary
Magdalene, and see how early Friends experienced these conversations.
How did early Friends
respond to the lyrical and erotic Song of Songs – the biblical book of love
poetry?
Explore the richly textured themes of
freedom, liberation, and commitment that arise from Jewish and Christian
stories, enriched by a Quaker context.
There are funds available to help make conferences
possible! PLEASE contact me, Helen Garay
Toppins ( office@nyym.org) or the clerk of
your Monthly Meeting to find out how to get financial assistance. Questions about Transportation? Let’s talk.
I bet there is a solution!
Spot light on a NYYM Young Adult Friend,
Kirsten Mandala, Chatham
Summit MM, NJ
How did you come to
Quakerism and why did you stay? I grew up in Quakerism, as my parents brought me to Meeting regularly.
I stayed mostly because of the people I was exposed to. The caring, activist
community was a stark contrast to most of the other communities in my life.
Even before I learned to appreciate the spiritual side in Quakerism, I
recognized that the people I met through Quakerism shared a value system that I
cared deeply about, which often led them to do incredible work.
What Quaker work have you
done, or do you do? After years of attending monthly and yearly
meeting, I started engaging with Quakerism outside of the traditional worship
setting. In 2009, I received a grant to work with a Quaker organization, the
African Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI), to teach conflict resolution to youth
and start a children’s library. In 2011, I returned for a summer to help expand
the library system. After graduating college in 2011, I accepted a job at the
Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO), which represents Quaker concerns at the
United Nations.
What is a gift of
Quakerism for you? Quakerism was instrumental in shaping my value
system. I was raised with a deep appreciation for nonviolence and social
justice, which has informed my academic studies and career path. I knew from an
incredibly early age that I wanted to devote my life to peace work so I studied
political science in college to build an intellectual framework that would
support this, travelled and volunteered extensively, and worked on the
Peacebuilding program at QUNO upon graduating. Quaker values are integral parts
of me, and I have no concept of the person I would be without them.
What is a challenge of
Quakerism for you? There is a very difficult tension between
tolerance and a strong belief system. It is hard to see the light in
individuals who commit atrocities, and difficult to balance understanding in
the face of violence or prejudiced.
What did you do for
QUNO? What did you love about it? How did you start working with
them? I worked as a Program Assistant for the Quaker
United Nations Office from Aug 2011-Nov 2012. It’s a really fantastic one-year position
that allows recent college graduates who are interested with Quaker values
engage with peace work at the UN. The program was recommended to me and seemed
a natural fit for my interests, so I applied for the position spring of my
senior year in college. I loved it because it gave me the opportunity to be a
fly on the wall during policy discussions. After years of studying political
science and working with more grassroots peace organizations, it gave me a very
real introduction to the world of macro-level politics of peace. I now have a
much deeper understanding of how different levels of peace work reinforce each
other, and a better grasp of the field of peacemaking.
What will you be doing in
Rwanda? I’m heading to Rwanda for the next year to
work with the African Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI), a small Quaker non-profit
that focuses on grassroots peacebuilding in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
Over the course of the year, I will be working with AGLI on a variety of
projects related to reconciliation, trauma healing, and the Children’s Peace
Libraries. Since the 1994 genocide and its violent aftermath, Rwanda has made
laudable economic progress, but true reconciliation lags behind. With few
nationally comprehensive restorative justice or resolution programs, it’s hard
to overstate the importance of the grassroots-level workshops sponsored by AGLI
since 2001. While I will be helping with AGLI’s Healing and Rebuilding Our
Communities program (which conducts trauma-healing workshops for adults), most
of my focus for the year will be on youth. I will be working on expanding our
Children’s Peace Library system, hopefully opening a fourth library branch in
the north. The Libraries are meant to be centers for peace education, so I will
also be conducting conflict resolution workshops for youth.
Interested in helping support Kirsten’s work
in Rwanda? Email me and I will get you
her info. Nyym.yafs@gmail.com
