by WebPost | Feb 17, 2025 | Activity, Adult Spiritual Education, Vocal Ministry
All of us have struggled with whether to stand up and give a message during Meeting for Worship. The Adult Spiritual Education (ASE) Committee is sponsoring a workshop to help us think about this struggle, by using the pamphlet, "On Vocal Ministry" by Barry Crossno and J. Brent Bell, which is available free to anybody who wants one. Here are two paragraphs to get you started:
Vocal ministry is a spiritual practice. That’s fortunate because, as with any practice, there is a body of knowledge and experience to turn to. In this pamphlet, we’ll lay out some principles found in that body of knowledge which can guide Friends in giving vital vocal ministry. By “vital vocal ministry” we mean messages that take the community of faith deeper into what is helpful, loving, challenging, and timeless. As George Fox said, “Friends, meet together and know one another in that which is eternal, which as before the world was.”
Meeting for worship is at the heart of Quaker faith and practice. Although our personal direct experience of the Divine is central to our individual spiritual lives, it is in communal worship that we gather together to hear the Voice that has spoken through the generations and still speaks today.
Copies of the Pendle Hill Pamphlet #460 are available in the RFM worship room foyers.
To reach as many people as possible, we are offering two similar workshop sessions:
- In person in the community room, Sunday, March 30, 9:30 am - 10:45 am
- On Zoom, Saturday, April 5, 10 am - 11:15 am
During both sessions we will be discussing the same questions which can be found at the end of the pamphlet, "On Vocal Ministry". Childcare is available on Sunday, March 30th at 9:15 am. Contact Monica Shaw with questions or concerns.
by WebPost | Feb 17, 2025 | Adult Spiritual Education, Bible Study, Reading between the Lines
The Adult Spiritual Education committee will host a one-hour Reading Between the Lines (formerly Bible Workbench) on First Day (Sunday), March 2, through Zoom, from 9-10 am. We will discuss Mark 9: 2-9: when what we think we know becomes a question; when our perceptions are challenged; when what we have now experienced has to make a difference; when we try to “pin down”—too early—new vision; when we try to make “small dwellings” for a “larger life” (paraphrased from The Education Center, Charlotte, NC). The facilitator will send the Zoom link through the Newslist several days before the meeting.
by WebPost | Jan 19, 2025 | Adult Spiritual Education, Bible Study, Reading between the Lines
The Adult Spiritual Education committee will host a one-hour Reading Between the Lines, on
Zoom, starting at 9 am, on Feb. 2, 2025. We will discuss John 1: 43-51: recognitions beyond
surfaces; the witness of one person leading to another “unlikely” person; the unlikely parts of us
that have something valuable to say… The facilitator will send out the zoom link through the
Newlist a few days before the meeting.
by WebPost | Dec 13, 2024 | Adult Spiritual Education, AFSC, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Earthcare, FCNL, Quaker House
The Fourth and final session of Quakerism 101 will be held at the Meetinghouse on January 26 at 9:30 am.
Topic --"Quakers in the Wider World."
Kelly Kennedy will facilitate beginning with a PowerPoint including maps of Quakers in Virginia, the nation, and worldwide. With the help of three Friends with deep experience in organizations such as Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Friends General Conference, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and Friends in Unity with Nature, we'll look at how Quaker values drive their work and their outcomes.
Bring your coffee and join us Sunday January 26, at 9:30 in the Community Room. Childcare will be provided at 9:15.
by WebPost | Jul 21, 2024 | Activity, Adult Spiritual Education, Announcement
Join us on Sunday, September 22, in person from 9:15-10:30 am in the Community room. In this session we'll be exploring Quaker Process. Friends make decisions about how to tend to Spirit, how to care for each other, how to nourish ourselves and our families, how to contribute to the wider communities of city, nation, all nations, and the earth. We make these decisions without the ease of hierarchy, majority vote, and, for unprogrammed friends, without clergy or paid staff. In this session, we'll explore the process we use in moving forward.
The program will focus on two practices fundamental to Friends in making spirit-lead choices and for acting: Committees and Business Meeting. As part of this session, we'll focus on terminology that may not be familiar to newcomers.
It's our hope that longtime Friends will be refreshed and refocused in Quaker process and that new attenders will come to feel comfortable in the Society of Friends and Richmond Friends Meeting.