Our series Mysticism: Living from the Inside Out will be presented virtually on Saturday mornings at 9:30 am. These programs will be recorded and put on the RFM website for later viewing. Contact the presenter if you have a questions about the session or the references. We will send the link for each program through the Newslist on the Friday before the session.
September 26: German Benedictine Abbess: Hildegard of Bingen. Barbara Hulburt presenting Hildegard of Bingen (12th century) was an extraordinary woman and mystic whose writing still speaks to us today. Her mystical visions led her to a profound understanding of spirituality and she was a preacher, advisor, and spiritual guide to many. In this program we will see what Hildegard has to say to us about spirituality as a reflection of the “living light.”
October 10: American Peace Activist: Mildred Norman, Peace Pilgrim. Marjorie Bertolino presenting Peace Pilgrim (1908-1981), born Mildred Lisette Norman, was an American spiritual teacher, mystic, pacifist, vegetarian activist and peace activist. In 1952, she became the first woman to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in one season. Starting on January 1, 1953, in Pasadena, California, she adopted the name “Peace Pilgrim” and walked across the US for 28 years, speaking with others about peace. She was on her seventh cross-country journey when she died. Suggested reading is “Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words” available free by request at https://www.peacepilgrim.org/to-receive-free-peace-pilgrim-book
October 24: Anderson Johnson, Visionary Artist of Virginia. Catherine Roseberry presenting “I’ve heard of folk art – but what’s visionary art?” Before I talk about Anderson Johnson (1915-1998) this fall, it might be helpful to be introduced to the confusing nomenclature surrounding the form commonly known as folk art. It’s messy, inconsistent, sometimes used interchangeably and a lot of times not. The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore has a good, relatively short commentary about this debate accompanying their mission statement (http://www.avam.org/stuff-everyone-asks/what-is-visionary-art.shtml). If you’re so moved, read the top of the page through “Can’t trained artists also hear their own voices?” Then for fun poke around their website, especially the section called “Our Visionaries.” Mr. Johnson isn’t here, but a lot of folks are. If you want a preview of his work, here are two versions of his Queen of Sheba paintings.
November 7: Contemporary Mystics in Action. Howard Garner presenting It is a mistake to think of mystics as people who spend their days meditating in isolation from the world’s problems. In this session we will study the work of two modern-day mystics who live from the inside out and are making a difference in the world. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan friar and the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is the author of over 20 books, including “Yes, And…” He is an internationally known speaker and contributor to several publications on daily spiritual practice. Thich Nhat Hanh is a Buddhist Zen master exiled from Vietnam in 1973 for his peace activism. He is a beloved teacher, scholar, peace activist, and poet, having written over 100 books, including “Living Buddha, Living Christ.” He is the founder of Plum Village, near Bordeaux, France, a Beloved Community with over 200 Buddhist monks in residence.
November 21: “Mystical Union”: Synthesis and Integration. ASE Committee facilitating Where we put it all together.
From Joe Ball for the Spiritual Foundation planning group:
“The heart of Spiritual Formation is the intimate sharing that takes place in small group.”
Juan Whittington
“Our Spiritual Formation Program offers practical ways for seekers to deepen their personal spiritual experience while building community. No matter where you are on your journey, the Spiritual Formation Program meets you there.”
From “Sacred Intersections: Spiritual Formation Program,” Baltimore Yearly Meeting
The focus for RFM Spiritual Formation this year will be Practical Quaker Mysticism. Readings will include but not be limited to two Pendle Hill pamphlets: John Yungblut, “Speaking as One Friend to Another: On the Mystical Way Forward” and Rex Ambler, “Mind the Oneness: The Mystic Way of the Quakers.” [Pamphlets will be provided by Adult Spiritual Education]
As in the past, each small group of 5-7 people will meet once a month, and all participants will meet in a large group once a month.
Because of the topic and the richness of the ASE program on “Mysticism: Living From the Inside Out” which will take place from September 12thto November 21st, we will start Spiritual Formation in early September this year to coordinate with and build on the ASE program.
If you have any questions about Spiritual Formation, please contact Joe Ball at jball@newarka.edu.
In the meantime, we encourage you to sign up by sending me the following information:
· Name
· Preferences for Small Group meetings:
· Morning, afternoon, or evening?
· Weekday or weekend?
· Zoom or in-person (with appropriate social distancing as needed)
· Willing to serve as a small group leader: Yes/No
N ADULT SPIRITUAL EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY This Saturday, July 11, 2020 Beginning promptly at 9:30 am on Zoom Log-in will be open at 9:15
Led by Howard Garner and Barbara Hulburt
In this time of stressful isolation, we participated in a 40-day mindfulness meditation course online. The sessions were only ten to twelve minutes long and provided an opportunity to practice relaxing, breathing, and being present. We valued these experiences and have continued to practice almost daily.
Our experiences with mindfulness meditation led us into meaningful discussions that explored two big questions that we invite you to consider on Saturday:
Is mindfulness meditation a spiritual practice?
And if it is, how does it differ from Quaker worship?
During this session, we will provide an opportunity for you to experience a short mindfulness meditation led by Tara Brach (who was one of the teachers in the course we took). You can learn more about mindfulness practice and Tara by going to her website tarabrach.org. This is not required reading.
Following the mindfulness meditation you will be given an opportunity to discuss your experience with others. We will also share our answers to the questions.
The link to the Zoom session will be sent to you on Friday. We are waiting until then so it won’t get buried in your email. We hope you will join us.
Are you being led to set aside a time of retreat in the new year?
Catherine Cox (RFM Fall Retreat leader) and Rita Willett will be leading a small Quaker contemplative retreat at Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville VA on February 7 to 9.
This retreat is a program of the School of the Spirit Ministry. Information and registration at http://www.schoolofthespirit.org/virginia-retreat/
<http://www.schoolofthespirit.org/virginia-retreat/>
Quakers and non-Quakers are welcome – feel free to pass this information along or come with a friend.
The brochure and flyer are attached.
Note: This contemplative retreat was inadvertently scheduled the same weekend as BYM Women’s Retreat – some Friends are already committed that weekend.
If you are not attending the BYM retreat, consider this opportunity to enjoy a quiet weekend of reflection in the Abbey’s retreat house.
Join us on March 10, at 9:30 am, when we will share poems and hot chocolate together. ASE will supply the hot chocolate and you will bring a poems to share.
The Adult Spiritual Education committee will host a one-hour Bible Workbench on Sunday, March 3, starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Community Room. We will discuss Luke 9: 28-36, 37-43: times of preparation, confirmation, commitment and (again) confirmation. Liminal spaces. Here is a question from the materials we use (from The Education Center’s “Reading Between the Lines”): “What is it to be weighed down with sleep, but still awake? What things might one see, hear, say or do in this state that one might not when fully awake?” Depending on the context, what are both the costs and/or the gifts of being in this state? You don’t have to read the scripture in advance in order to participate.
Please join us on Sunday morning, February 24th at 9:30 for the next ASE session focused on writing: The Body and the Lyric.How does reading a poem out loud deepen and extend our understanding of it? What happens if we “speak” the poem as if we had “written” it–or as if it were something inside of us that we’re discovering consciously by speaking it out loud? What are the differences–and similarities–between an “author” and a “speaker?” Facilitated by Leslie Shiel, we’ll hear, read, speak, and discuss several poems published by a variety of poets.
The ASE session, How Quakers Talk About God, previously announced for October 22nd is being rescheduled to be a part of the Living the Quaker Life Series beginning in February.
The Adult Spiritual Education Committee has planned a series of sessions for the Fall that will allow members of our community to share their spiritual journeys, interests, and gifts. Mark your calendars and plan on attending as many as you can. The sessions will be held in the Community Room and will begin at 9:30 and conclude by 10:45 in time for Meeting for Worship.
September 24 The Modern Plague: Voices and Images of the Early AIDS Epidemic
Presenters: Betsy Brinson and Kathy Yost Benham
October 8
Beyond the Comfort Zone: Three Years in Budapest
Presenter: Tom Ilmensee
Note: The following session has been rescheduled for the series starting next February. How Quakers Think About God
Presenters: Dan Shaw, Don Miller, and Howard Garner
November 12
Memento Mori: On Life and Death
Presenters: Michael Pierce and Lynda Perry
December 10
Restoring Our Collective Spirit, One Circle at a Time
Presenter: Sylvia Clute
The Baltimore Yearly Meeting Spiritual Formation Program invites its participants into a deeper spiritual experience through retreats, spiritual community, reading spiritual classics, and individual spiritual practices.The opening BYM retreat is September 8-10 (Friday evening through Sunday lunch) at Priest Field Center in West Virginia; car pools will be organized.If you would like to learn more about the Spiritual Formation Program or register for the opening retreat, visit the BYM site: https://www.bym-rsf.org/events/spiritform/
The Spiritual Formation Program at the local RFM level includes a monthly large-group meeting that includes everyone. In addition to the large group meeting, most people join a small spiritual friendship group of 4 to 6 members who meet once a month to share spiritual journeys and daily spiritual practices.
Our first large group meeting will be held on Sunday, October 1, from 5-7 PM.
Our series focus will be “How has a Weighty Friend in each century of Quakerism found spiritual nurture?How do this Friend’s writings and stories speak (or not) to my condition?”We will focus on one Friend each month. The main text is Quaker Spirituality, edited by Douglas Steere, 1984 edition (or the briefer 2005 edition by HarperCollins Spiritual Classics). We will also read the Pendle Hill Pamphlets Margaret Fell Speaking by Hugh Barbour, and Reclaiming the Transcendent: God in Process by Thomas Gates.(See attached Calendar.)
From October through May, the monthly large group Spiritual Formation meetings will be on the 1st Sunday of the month from 5-7 PM beginning with a shared potluck.
If you wish to explore the possibility of joining Spiritual Formation at Richmond Friends Meeting, you are encouraged to contact Mary Fran Hughes-McIntyre or Ellen Arginteanu.
Please complete the form and submit electronically, or print out your form and return to meeting’s Adult Spiritual Education mailbox, by September 22, 2017.In addition, paper copies are available at the meetinghouse.
In recent months, Adult Spiritual Education sessions covered the history of splits and schisms in Quakerism, showing the Richmond Friends Meeting’s positions over the years.
On June 25 at 9:30am, Ministry & Worship Committee will continue this discussion. ASE will provide a quick recap, from George Fox until, after the 1967 death of its pastor, Richmond Friends Meeting switched from being a pastored, programmed meeting into the unpastored, unprogrammed meeting we are today. Then M&W will launch small discussion groups where all can share our individual beliefs and how they operate within a loving and very meaningful — if not always totally unified — meeting community.
Sponsored by the Peace and Social Concerns and Adult Spiritual Education Committees of the Richmond Friends Meeting (Quakers)
WHEN: Sunday, April 30th, 12:30 PM
WHERE: Richmond Friends Meeting, Community Room 4500 Kensington Avenue, Richmond (Please park on Commonwealth Avenue)
FORUM PARTICIPANTS:
1) Linda Rabben, PhD.., author, and anthropologist who has written several books including Give Refuge to the Stranger: the Past, Present and Future of Sanctuary” and Sanctuary and Asylum.; attender at Adelphi Friends Meeting.
2) Lana Heath de Martinez, (M. Div, Union Theological Seminary), “Welcoming All Coordinator” from Virginia Interfaith Center (VICPP), Legislative Coordinator for Virginia Coalition of Latin American Organizations (Vacolao) during 2017 General Assembly. Lana is supporting/facilitating efforts of the VICPP Circles of Protection Sanctuary Network – Central Virginia.
3) Jennifer L. West, J.D., from UNC School of Law, Immigration & Nationality Attorney at Law Offices of Hyder and Overas, Richmond, Va, since 2002, member American Immigration Lawyers Association.
This forum will focus on:
**a history of the Sanctuary movement, specifically sanctuary provided by congregations and individuals, including the more recent Sanctuary movement of the past decade;
**information about ICE detentions in the Richmond area in recent years and under the current administration; Circles of Protection Sanctuary Network (VICPP)
**support and care for the vulnerable, undocumented, immigrants who have been detained or deported and their families; Power-of-Attorney clinics;
**and the legal aspects of providing Sanctuary as a congregation and/or an individual Faith communities have been mobilizing around the Sanctuary Movement and have been considering how best to protect, care for, and be allies with the undocumented, detained immigrants, and the families and loved ones of those deported.
Additional information: contact Sally Gudas at seatide1@gmail.com, (804)399-8342.
Finger foods, snacks, and drinks will be provided.
The RFM Peace and Social Concerns Committee is aware that the current U.S. administration is going forward with plans to increase the number of deportations of the undocumented and expand the scope of these deportations. Our Quaker testimonies of equality, community, and integrity cause us to hold in the Light the impact on the undocumented immigrant community of an unjust immigration system that harms people’s human and civil rights and tears families apart, and children from parents.
At our March P&SC Meeting, we had a brief presentation on the topic of Sanctuary by Lana Heath de Martinez, staff member of the Virginia Interfaith Center (VICPP). Lana is supporting/facilitating efforts of congregations throughout the State of Virginia as they learn about how to provide Sanctuary to these undocumented immigrants facing deportation.
To further educate ourselves and the Meeting about the needs of the immigrant community and all the aspects of Sanctuary, the Peace & Social Concerns Committee is co-sponsoring with Adult Spiritual Education an Educational Forum about Sanctuary to be held April 30th, at the Rise of Meeting in the community room. Light finger food, snacks, and drinks will be provided. We have invited the following participants to date:
1) Linda Rabben, PhD., attender at Adelphi Friends Meeting , author, and anthropologist who has written several books including “Give Refuge to the Stranger: the Past, Present and Future of Sanctuary” and “Sanctuary and Asylum”. Dr. Rabben conducts presentations about Sanctuary.
2) Lana Heath de Martinez, (M. Div, Union Theological Seminary) and Welcoming All Coordinator from Virginia Interfaith Center (VICPP)
3) Immigration Attorney (name not yet confirmed).
Sanctuary – brief history:
The practice of Sanctuary has a long history as a tradition of religious communities during situations of human despair. From the ancient Hebrew communities, the Christian churches of the late Roman Empire, to the church of England in the late medieval period, churches provided refuge to those fleeing governmental punishments for a variety of reasons. In the US, the first time that a practice surfaced similar to sanctuary was the Underground Railroad that developed to help slaves flee their masters in the South and find safety in homes and congregations far away.
In the early 1970s, again church communities provided sanctuary within their churches to conscientious objectors who had been drafted to the War in Vietnam.
In the 1980s, refugees fled from Civil Wars in Central America to the US, but the US did not recognize them as political refugees seeking asylum. The Sanctuary Movement protected some of these refugees while protesting this practice with the US government; at the time, the US was directly supporting the Central American dictators and death squads. The Sanctuary Movement’s efforts at the time resulted in including Central Americans in US asylum laws in the 1986 immigration reform law.
Neighborhood raids by Immigration enforcement in the US escalated beginning in 2006 and the New Sanctuary Movement evolved from coalitions of congregations in major cities throughout the US.
The Sanctuary Movement Today
Under the Obama Administration rising rates of deportation continued and congregations recommitted themselves to Sanctuary.
Before the November 2016 presidential election there were approximately 400 congregations engaged in the work of sanctuary across the nation — since the election that number has doubled as communities of faith across the nation, due to concerns that the number and scope of deportations is being greatly expanded.
In addition to the monthly Bible Workbench, Bible Study takes place each month on the 3rd Sunday at 9:45–10:45, using these questions from the Friends General Conference pamphlet Friendly Bible Study: What is the author’s main point in the passage? What new light do I find in this reading of the text? Is the passage true to my experience? What are the implications of the passage for my life? What problems do I have with the passage?
We meet in classroom #1 (next to the library). The meeting newslist publishes the passages for each month’s study.
This coming Sunday, January 15, 2017 at 9:30 am in the Community Roomplease join us for this important session on Earthcare Witness. This is the session that was cancelled last week due to the snowstorm.
Barb Adams is our Meeting’s representative to Quaker Earthcare Witness, and in this session she will help us explore our intimate relationship with the earth. Through interactive experiences, personal discussion, and sharing, we will examine our emotional connection to our planet and the larger cosmos. Barb will guide us in using our own experiences of nature to understand the vital importance of living within the earth’s carrying capacity. Barb will bring some essence of Joanna Macy’s teachings from her presentations at this year’s Friends Conference on Religion and Psychology.
Tomorrow’s session on Earthcare Witness, is cancelled due to the weather and will be rescheduled for next Sunday, January 15, 2017 at 9:30 am in the Community Room
We hope you can join us for this important session.
This coming Sunday, January 8, 2017 at 9:30 am in the Community Room
Please join us for this important session on Earthcare Witness.
Barb Adams is our Meeting’s representative to Quaker Earthcare Witness, and in this session she will help us explore our intimate relationship with the earth. Through interactive experiences, personal discussion, and sharing, we will examine our emotional connection to our planet and the larger cosmos. Barb will guide us in using our own experiences of nature to understand the vital importance of living within the earth’s carrying capacity. Barb will bring some essence of Joanna Macy’s teachings from her presentations at this year’s Friends Conference on Religion and Psychology.
The Friends Committee on National Legislation is now registering for their next Spring Lobby Weekend to be held March 18-21, 2017. The topic will be “Dismantling Income Inequality.”
The program is basically three days of workshops and one day of lobbying, urging members of Congress to:
Support a jobs program for the 21st Century
Modernize our unemployment system for today’s workforce
Stop taxing single people and people under 25 into poverty
For full information and to register, go to fcnl.org … Click on “Action & Events” then “Events” then “Spring Lobby Weekend.”
Registration is only $50, an inexpensive lodging may be available at the hostel, but that may be already fully booked. The RFM Adult Spiritual Education Committee encourages participation, particularly by younger Quakers, and will provide scholarships to this event, up to $400 per person, available to members and attenders of our meeting age 40 and under.
Presenters: Michael Pierce and Mary Fran Hughes-McIntyre will discuss their experiences in the Chrysalis Institute’s inaugural Spiritual Paths program; Elaine Kiziah, Ph. D. a faculty member in the upcoming program, will also join us and lead an experiential exercise; other faculty and staff from the program will be in attendance and available to answer questions.
Sunday, November 27, 9:30 am
Living the Quaker Life: Quakers and Christmas
Presenters: Barbara Myers and Howard Garner will facilitate a discussion of Quaker values and the biggest national holiday of the year. Participants will be have the opportunity to explore their own family traditions and to share how their Quaker values are lived during this season of the year.
Ministry & Worship and Adult Spiritual Education are offering Fall Retreat at The Clearing on Saturday, October 29, from 9:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. We encourage Friends to car pool. Coffee and bagels will be available as we gather. The program, “Becoming the Blessed Community through Conscious Inclusion,” will begin at 9:30am. The presenter, Corey Roberts, will explore what inclusion and diversity means to Richmond Friends Meeting through queries and worship sharing. This program is planned for anyone twelve years of age or older and we hope for the voices of our younger friends. The pot-luck Lunch is being organized by ASE. We encourage Friends to car pool. Indicate below if child care is needed.
The Baltimore Yearly Meeting Spiritual Formation Program invites its participants into a deeper spiritual experience through retreats, spiritual community, reading spiritual classics, and individual spiritual practices.
You are invited to participate in the Spiritual Formation program at Richmond Friends Meeting for 2016-17. Registration is open through September 18th.
The Spiritual Formation Program at the local level includes a monthly large-group meeting that includes everyone. In addition to the large group meeting, most people join a small group of 6 to 8 members who meet once a month to share spiritual journeys and daily spiritual practices.
Our first large group meeting will be held on Sunday, October 2 from 5-7 PM.
We will focus this year’s program around ‘Quaker Speaks’ videos which explore the core questions of our faith. Integrating the video with readings, books, articles and worship sharing.
From October through May, the monthly large group Spiritual Formation meetings will be on the 1st Sunday of the month from 5-7 PM beginning with a shared potluck.
If you would like to learn more about the Spiritual Formation Program visit the BYM site:
If you wish to explore the possibility of joining Spiritual Formation at Richmond Friends Meeting, you are encouraged to contact Mary Fran Hughes-McIntyre (655-8572) or Janett Forte (227-3053)
Online registration will be available on the RFM website and a link for online registration will be sent on the listserv.
Please complete the form and submit electronically or print out your form and return to meeting by September 18, 2016. In addition, paper copies will be available at the meetinghouse.
The following events will be held in the Community Room and will conclude at 10:45 in time for Meeting for Worship. For more information, click the corresponding event on the Calendar page of this website.
Sunday, August 28 at 9:30 am
Topic: The Radical Christianity of Early Quakers
Presenter: Rita Willett
Sunday, September 25 at 9:30 am
Topic: Clearness Committees: An Amazing Quaker Process
Presenters: Barbara Myers and Monica Shaw
Sunday, October 23 at 9:30 am
Topic: Lobbying for Peace: People Power to Help Extinguish the Middle East Fire.
Presenter:Kate Gould, Legislative Representative for Middle East Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Co-sponsored by the Committee for Peace and Social Concerns.
July 10th Spiritual Book Sharing. This coming Sunday you have the opportunity to share a spiritual book that has affected your life. Those who choose to share will have three minutes to give a summary of the meaning their book has for them. You are encouraged to come and listen and ask questions even if you do not have a book to share. Coffee and cookies served prior to our beginning at 9:30 in the Community Room.
From Lina Blount, Communications and Outreach Coordinator, Pendle Hill:
Please help me spread the word about Pendle Hill’s online learning offering “Exploring the Quaker Way” which starts in mid June 2016 and runs until late August. Registration for the 8 week course is open until June 5.
We believe this new initiative meets a real need within the Religious Society of Friends. Many local meetings increasingly see the importance of robust religious education and deeper spiritual dialog within the wider Quaker community. Yet, several of these meetings do not have the resources necessary to provide engaging, focused study with experienced educators and classmates from a wide variety of Quaker meetings. Our Quaker Studies Online courses are designed for spiritual seekers who want to engage in personal reflection, focused study, and deep dialog within lively communities of learners guided by seasoned Quaker educators.
The goals of this course are to help seekers, attenders, and interested members of Friends meetings: 1) deepen their understanding of the Quaker movement; 2) better understand the spiritual journey common among early and current Quakers; 3) reflect on their own spiritual journeys within this spiritual tradition; and 4) become more familiar with several key elements of building vibrant and caring Quaker meetings. It is designed for people who want to explore these themes through personal reflection, focused study, and deep dialog within a lively learning community gently guided by seasoned Quaker educators.
The course will be co-taught by Steve Chase and Marcelle Martin, along with a few special guest webinar presenters.
For more information about the course and registration, please follow up here.
The Adult Spiritual Education Committee is seeking your feedback on the series “Living the Quaker Life.” If you attended one or more sessions, please let us know how you experienced it and your ideas for the future. Reprints of the form below will be available at Meeting for Worship over the coming weeks or you can print a copy, complete the form, and bring to Meeting.
We are also eager to hear from those of you who did not participate. We would like to have your ideas and suggestions for future programs and series.
We look forward to receiving your feedback and suggestions.
The sixth session of “Living the Quaker Life” will be held this coming First Day, April 24th, in the Community Room and will begin at 9:00 am. Coffee and tea will be available prior to the start. Also, be assured that all are welcome to participate even if you have not attended any of the previous sessions. This week we will study “How We Act in the World.” The assigned readings in the BYM Faith and Practice 2013 are pages 118-123 and 183-185.
The Adult Spiritual Education committee will hold a one-hour Bible Workbench on Sunday, May 1, at 9:30 a.m. in one of the upstairs classrooms. We will discuss John 14: 23-29: a “farewell discourse,” the Advocate, the link between love and behavior. You don’t need to read the scripture in advance, or be Christian or knowledgeable about the Bible in order to participate. We follow the guidelines/contexts/questions shaped by The Educational Center’s “Reading Between the Lines” series (edited by D. Andrew Kille): What is happening in this story? Where is the story alive and happening in the world around us? How is this story my own internal story? Where does it live in my life?
