Spiritual Books
Book Exchange Table
Hot Chocolate and Poetry
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.
Bible Workbench
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.
The Body and the Lyric
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.
We Face The Dawn
Join us at 9:30 am on February 10th for a discussion of the book, We Face the Dawn with the author, Margaret Edds.
ASE Schedule Change
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.
Adult Spiritual Education Programs for the Fall of 2017
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
Spiritual Formation Program 2017-2018
Registration is open!
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.
Link to online registration form: Click here.
Calendar: RFM S F Calendar 2017-18
Registration form to print: RFM SF Reg Form-2017-18 To Print
The Quaker Splits III: What Keeps Us Together
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.
Providing Sanctuary: A Forum – More Information
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.
Educational Forum on Sanctuary
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.
Friendly Bible Study
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.
A Friendly Reminder from Adult Spiritual Education
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.
Cancellation and Rescheduling of Adult Spiritual Education Session
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.
A Friendly Reminder from Adult Spiritual Education
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.
Register Now for FCNL Spring Lobby Weekend
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.
A Friendly Reminder from Adult Spiritual Education
Sunday, November 13, 9:30 am
The Chrysalis Institute’s Spiritual Paths Program
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.
Please Register for the Fall Retreat at The Clearing
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.
You may register online using 2016 Fall Retreat Registration.
Or contact a member of Ministry and Worship with the following information:
Name(s) of attendees
Phone
Joining us for morning coffee, etc. [ ] Yes [ ] No
If childcare is needed, please list names and ages of children.
Please include any other information you want to share.
Spiritual Formation Program 2016-17
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:
http://quakerspiritualformation.org/
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 link to the online registration form is here.
Upcoming Adult Spiritual Education Sessions
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.
A Friendly Reminder from Adult Spiritual Education
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.
June 26th ASE Event Cancelled
The session on Friends General Conference to be led by Michelle Bellows will NOT be held June 26th. It will be rescheduled sometime in the fall.
Pendle Hill Online Course “Exploring the Quaker Way” – Registration Open Until June 5
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.
Request for Feedback from the Adult Spiritual Education Committee
Friends:
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.
Adult Spiritual Education Committee
The link below opens the feedback form:
Sixth Session of Living the Quaker Life
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.
Bible Workbench
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?
Fifth Session of Living the Quaker Life
The fifth session of “Living the Quaker Life” will be held this coming First Day, April 10th, in the Community Room and will begin at 9:00 am. Coffee and tea will be available prior to the start. Please note the assigned readings in Faith and Practice 2013 for the session, below. Also, be assured that all are welcome to participate. This week we study “How we organize ourselves and how we conduct our business.” See you on First Day!
Session: How we organize ourselves Barbara Hulburt pp. 25-33
and how we conduct our business Randee Humphrey pp. 37-42
Sharing the work pp. 94-48
Quaker Process Howard Garner, ASE pp. 99-102
How we make decisions pp. 147-148
“Living the Quaker Life” is a six-session series being held on the 2nd and 4th First Days in February, March, and April from 9:00 to 10:45. The series is designed for long-time members, attenders, newcomers, and especially anyone who is considering membership. Above are the topics, the presenters, and the member of the Adult Spiritual Education (ASE) committee who will be facilitating the session. Please note the pages that are being assigned for each week in the Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice 2013. Other readings may be assigned by the presenters.
Bible Workbench
The Adult Spiritual Education committee will hold a one-hour Bible Workbench on Sunday, April 3, at 9:30 a.m. in the Community Room. We will discuss John 20:19-3– the desire to be believed, the ability to express doubt, the difficulty in trusting that something can be good or possible, and the experience of feeling incredulous. 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?
Fourth Session of Living the Quaker Life
The fourth session of “Living the Quaker Life” will be held this coming First Day, March 27th, in the Community Room and will begin at 9:00 am. Coffee and tea will be available prior to the start. Please note the assigned readings in Faith and Practice 2013 for each session, below. Also, be assured that all are welcome to participate. This week as we study “Appreciating whence we came,” it’s appropriate to remember that Quakers believe that every day is holy. The “high holy days” of other denominations are not the same for us. See you on First Day!
Session: Appreciating from whence we came Mary Julia Street
Pages 1-17 in Faith & Practice
Our history Donny Lloyd
Our place in history Betsy Brinson, ASE
Our elders
“Living the Quaker Life” is a six-session series being held on the 2nd and 4th First Days in February, March, and April from 9:00 to 10:45. The series is designed for long-time members, attenders, newcomers, and especially anyone who is considering membership. Above are the topics, the presenters, and the member of the Adult Spiritual Education (ASE) committee who will be facilitating the session. Please note the pages that are being assigned for each week in the Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice 2013. Other readings may be assigned by the presenters.
Bible Workbench
The Adult Spiritual Education committee will hold a one-hour Bible Workbench on Sunday, April 3, at 9:30 a.m. in the Community Room. We will discuss John 20:19-3 — the desire to be believed, the ability to express doubt, the difficulty in trusting that something can be good or possible, and the experience of feeling incredulous. 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?