by Web Posts | Aug 23, 2026 | Activity, Adult Spiritual Education, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Current, Spiritual Formation
Adult Spiritual Education is resuming Spiritual Formation this fall!
We are all pilgrims on a journey, taking different routes to the same destination. We are all seekers on a quest, searching for that which is greater, and our relationship to it, hoping to arrive at the Ground of Our Being. Along the way, we encounter other pilgrims and share the experience in moments of sacred intersection that feed our spirit, deepen our experience, strengthen our resolve, and build community. This is the Spiritual Formation Program. And we invite you to journey with us.
There are many ways to get involved:
- Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Spiritual Formation Retreat is in September, weekend of September 11-13 at the Claggett Center in Adamstown, MD. Scholarships are available through the Adult Spiritual Education Committee. Registration closes on August 24th.
- We invite you to participate in Spiritual Formation here at Richmond Friends Meeting with “large group” discussions and “small group” opportunities to build spiritual friendships offering mutual support and accompaniment.
- There is also the year-long online program offered through Zoom to Friends throughout the Yearly Meeting also offering large and small groups. (October-May)
If you wish to participate, a table at Potluck will be sponsored by Adult Spiritual Education Committee on September 27th. We hope you will join us to learn more!
by Diane Bowden | Jul 26, 2026 | Activity, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Faith & Practice, Ministry and Worship
On Sunday August 30, at 12:30 PM (rise of meeting), there will be a Listening Circle to consider the topic of “prejudice and discrimination” as it is discussed in Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice. Sections of Faith and Practice covering that topic will be revised soon. Each meeting has been asked to offer suggestions about the revision. While our specific purpose is to help shape the revision, we anticipate a rich time of sharing among Richmond Friends.
This document has relevant text from both the 1988 BYM Faith and Practice (2025 version) and the 2013 BYM Resource on Faith and Practice. You may want to review these texts, or bring this topic to your committee or working group in advance of the August 30 Listening Circle. Ministry and Worship welcomes input from individuals and committees in addition to our Listening Circle.
by Diane Bowden | Feb 15, 2026 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, BYM Camps
Richmond Meeting is one of 40 Monthly Meetings that make up the community of Friends known as Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM). BYM is made up of Meetings in most of Virginia, DC, and Maryland, as well as parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We hold our week-long Annual Sessions once a year in the summer along with several one-day Interim Meetings throughout the year to do business together.
Most recently, we had a called Interim Meeting on January 31 to finish some vital time-sensitive business. There were just two items on the agenda. The first was to approve the 2026 budget. This was achieved in a relatively short amount of time.
The second item was a return of the report from the BYM Quaker Camps Governance Study Group. The report and its associated proposal for restructuring our camps’ governance was presented with an apology for the previous Interim Meeting in November when the proposal was presented without appearing to have addressed concerns raised at threshing sessions and without responding to concerns raised in the face of the Meeting. Those concerns were then addressed. The Yearly Meeting was able to then approve the minute for the Yearly Meeting to create an LLC, owned by the Yearly Meeting, to be called BYM Quaker Camps LLC, and that the study group continue working through the next Interim Meeting to assist with the creation of the initial Board of Directors and to draft a resource manual on matters to be considered by the new board.
by Diane Bowden | Mar 18, 2025 | Activity, Baltimore Yearly Meeting
Quaker Camps
We encourage all those interested in attending camp to register as soon as possible since camps fill up. Children who do not attend Quaker meetings are welcome to attend camps as well, so children may invite their friends and cousins! C&C has $500 for every child who attends. Please contact Anna Best or Al Best if you have any questions about Quaker camps.
Celebrating Neurodiversity
April 13th, 2:00-3:00pm EDT on Zoom
“How do we as Quakers welcome and support families and children living with neurodiversity?”
Mary Mendez-Bonnell
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/630795763
Passcode: Friends
To call in by phone: 929-205-6099; Meeting ID: 630-795-763
by Diane Bowden | Jan 19, 2025 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, BYM Camps, Children and Religious Education
BYM Camp registration is open. Financial assistance is available. Please contact Anna Best or Shannon Garrett with questions. You may also visit bymcamps.org for more information. If you know of a child who may enjoy attending camp, RE encourages you to engage with families directly.
by Diane Bowden | Dec 4, 2019 | Announcement, Baltimore Yearly Meeting
February days lurk cloudy and cold, but warm friendship, lusty singing, good food, and sweet silence will prevail at the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Women’s Retreat,
February 7-9. It will be held at Pearlstone Retreat Center in Reisterstown, MD, north of Baltimore. Registration is open
https://www.bym-rsf.org/events/ymevents/women20.html. You need to make a $100 deposit to reserve a spot. The full cost varies from $240 to $300 depending on housing choice; scholarship help is available from our Meeting (Adult Spiritual Education Committee) and from BYM. Young Friends (14-17) are welcome, with a sponsor. Maybe this Retreat could be on the top of your Christmas wish list . . . .
Go to the web address above for lots of information. Please contact Barbara Myers (
bmyers@vcu.edu) if you have questions.
by Diane Bowden | Nov 21, 2019 | Announcement, Baltimore Yearly Meeting
by Diane Bowden | Jul 31, 2017 | Adult Spiritual Education, Announcement, Baltimore Yearly Meeting
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
by Diane Bowden | Jan 7, 2017 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Committees
This year, as in past years, Baltimore Yearly Meeting is asking each monthly meeting to write a Spiritual State of the Society report.
The queries below are from BYM and are offered to help us reflect on our experiences as a faith community.
Meeting member and attenders are invited to gather on 2nd Month/February 18 to reflect on these queries through worship sharing. We welcome every voice.
- What are your greatest joys as a Meeting? What leadings does your Meeting feel most strongly? What challenges and troubles are you facing? In what ways is the Meeting less than you might wish it to be?
- How does your Meeting nurture the spiritual life of members and attenders? How deep are your Meetings for Worship? Are Meetings for Business held in a spirit of worship?
- Is your Meeting as diverse as you would like it to be? How well do you attend to the needs of newcomers? Do Friends of all ages feel fully a part of the Meeting community?
- Do you engage with other Meetings through visitation or shared projects? What message would you like to share with others in Baltimore Yearly Meeting, and with Friends around the world?
- How do you put your faith into action for justice in the world? Are you aware of the encouragement of the Working Group on Racism within our Yearly Meeting? How has that awareness shaped your work for justice?
- Has your Meeting made any witness to your community or the wider world as a result of the recent Presidential elections?
by Diane Bowden | Jun 22, 2016 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Testimonies
(From the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Working Group on Racism)
“For far too long, society has treated minority groups from a deficit analysis, focusing on what they lack rather than what they add. Institutions have reacted to racial tensions instead of proactively creating inclusive spaces. We have taught people how to adjust to an unacceptable status quo instead of sharing the legitimate means to challenge injustice. By not taking the time to listen to people, we have let efficiency trump listening and allowed limited diversity to supplant real equity at the table, at the lectern, and in the boardroom….
“We all have good will, but we must move beyond good will. Universities can help improve a sense of belonging by setting clear goals, fostering inclusive environments, and challenging negative stereotypes about certain groups. We have to create structures that ensure participation of minority groups in decisions. We need to model and teach the competencies of deep listening and respectful dialogue across differences. We must also determine how to work cooperatively to transform deeply embedded practices that have created barriers to belonging.”
Excerpts from an article by Julio Frenk, “Why We Need a ‘Scholarship of Belonging’,” published in the May 20, 2016, Chronicle of Higher Education. Julio Frank is president of the University of Miami and former dean of Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Locations vary to allow access to more Friends. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge, david.etheridge@verizon.net.
by Diane Bowden | Apr 27, 2016 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting
Theme: Discernment and Action in Spiritual Community
Spend Some Time With Friends This Summer! Retreat and plenary speakers will offer their various insights into the theme. Workshops and interest groups will educate and challenge us. Business sessions will carry on the work of the Yearly Meeting. Our children will learn and grow and have fun together, and adults will share a week of sharing and getting to know one another in spiritual community. Registration opens soon here. August 1—August 7, 2016, Hood College, Frederick, MD
by Diane Bowden | Apr 8, 2016 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting
Registration is now open for the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Spiritual Formation Program Spring Retreat.
For more information, go to:
https://bym-rsf1-org.presencehost.net/events/spiritform/
by Diane Bowden | Jul 1, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting
Letter to Baltimore Yearly Meeting from the Clerks Regarding the Shoemaker Grant3rd Month, 17, 2015
Dear Friends of Baltimore Yearly Meeting,
As your clerks, we are delighted to announce that the Shoemaker Fund has awarded Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) a major grant to support our Growing Diverse Leadership in BYM initiative. This grant and the program it supports provide an enormous opportunity for our Yearly Meeting to live more fully into our vision and our Quaker values in truly exciting ways. Below are links to additional documents that provide full details. In this letter, we want to underscore that the vision for this program has evolved and become bigger and broader. This effort is not just about our camps. It will engage and benefit the entire Yearly Meeting. Therefore, at Interim Meeting on 3/21/2015 at Patapsco Friends Meeting, we will be asking the Yearly Meeting to affirm the plans as they stand today, including the expanded involvement of BYM.
The grant application process has involved ongoing, iterative consultation with the Shoemaker Fund, which has been remarkably constructive, challenging us to think bigger and explore how the whole Yearly Meeting could be involved. This collaboration has revealed a remarkable alignment between the Fund’s mission and our Yearly Meeting vision.
With the energetic and insightful leadership of young adult camp alumni, the Growing Diverse Leadership in BYM program started in 2010 with a clear focus on our camps. They produced impressive results in a few years, increasing the diversity of both campers and staff at Camp Catoctin as well as developing other key program elements to support that. With that success, they initiated the idea of applying for a major grant to expand those efforts beyond Catoctin.
After several iterations, in January, the Fund came back to us again, asking “but what is the Yearly Meeting actually going to do—not just the camps, but the whole Yearly Meeting, its committees, and its local Meetings?” How will we try to engage campers, alumni, and their families in the life of our Yearly and local Meetings? And how will we measure the results? So along with your General Secretary, Development Director, and Alison Duncan, as clerk of the Camp Diversity Working Group, we brainstormed specific actions the Yearly Meeting is already engaged in and others that we could take. In early February, we then submitted an addendum to our original proposal. In doing so, we, your clerks, tried to be mindful and faithful to the aspirations already articulated through BYM’s Vision Statement and the implementation recommendations—aspirations that we felt sure the Yearly Meeting shared as a whole. We also understand that the work done under such grants is constantly evolving as we learn from our experience; we have many details to work out.
Now we are asking, does BYM affirm the broader vision for this effort? To that end, we want to share some key language from the February addendum:
Broadly speaking, our proposed program seeks to address two issues that have long been a perplexing concern for the Religious Society of Friends and BYM. First, how can our Meetings at all levels be more inclusive and welcoming to all and build multi-cultural community? Second, how can we encourage and sustain participation by young adults and develop them as leaders now and for the future? …
We in BYM have been particularly inspired by how our camp diversity program has produced impressive results that have been so elusive for Friends until now. We have much to learn from this developing effort. This grant would present a tremendous opportunity for the whole Yearly Meeting to draw from and build on this leadership from Young Adults and find ways to integrate the successes of the camp diversity program into what we do as a Yearly Meeting. At the same time, we have the opportunity to strengthen the connections between the camps and the Yearly Meeting and deepen the unity of the BYM community as a whole. We are clear that this program promises to be a catalyst for transformational opportunities for the whole Yearly Meeting in addition to its camping program.
- More specifically, let us review and clarify our broad expected outcomes, which include:
- Increased diversity at camps, in local Meetings, and the Yearly Meeting…
- Attendance at local Meetings by people who have developed a Quaker identity at BYM Camps, …
- Strong relationships between young adults and local Meeting members resulting in continued or increased young adult participation in local Meetings.
- Increased participation in local Meeting and Yearly Meeting committees and leadership roles by people from underrepresented groups such as young adults and people of color.
- A Yearly Meeting, local Meetings, and camps with increased vitality and cultural competency, helping them thrive for years to come and be patterns and examples for other Meetings and the world.
The addendum then lists several specific actions we could take, in these broad categories, some of which are already underway through the work of our standing Committees, even before we applied for the grant:
- Helping our Meetings be Welcoming and Inclusive
- Connecting Campers and Alumni to Meetings
- Engaging and Supporting Camp Alumni and other Young Adults in Committee Work
- Leadership Training
- Evaluating and Measuring Outcomes
Finally, in describing the relation of the Yearly Meeting and its committees to the new staff person (the Outreach and Inclusion Coordinator-OIC), to be hired with grant funds, we wrote
We are clear that the work we are undertaking is the work of all of us and could never be done or sustained only by staff. We fully understand that the role of the OIC is to help facilitate the work by all of us. …Through the efforts described here and others yet to be discerned, BYM is committed to exploring how the rest of the Yearly Meeting needs to contribute to this work. What we are contemplating is no less than a profound culture change that will permeate all we do and change us forever. Our Quaker witness demands no less.
So, Friends, are we ready? Can BYM affirm its commitment to this program that will help us fulfill our vision to be inclusive and welcoming to all, to teach and nourish Quaker ways for this and future generations, and to witness to our shared experience of the infinite Love of God?
In Love and Light,
Ken Stockbridge Tasha Walsh
Presiding Clerk Clerk of Interim Meeting
by Diane Bowden | Jul 1, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns
… from Waking Up White — and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving, 2014
Author Debby Irving will spend two days at Friends School of Baltimore in September. Over the summer, Trustees and faculty of Friends School, and perhaps also parents and students, will read Waking Up White in anticipation of her visit. The book is divided into 9 parts and 46 short chapters. Titles of some of the parts give a sense of what she covers: “Childhood in white,” “Midlife wake-up calls,” Why didn’t I wake up sooner?” “Inner work,” “Outer work,” and “Reclaiming my humanity.” Each chapter ends with queries to answer or a statement to reflect upon, and she encourages readers to journal their responses and reflections. Here are the queries at the end of chapter 6, “From Confusion to Shock:”
“The late historian Ronald Takaki referred to the history taught in American schools as ‘The Master Narrative,’ the version of history told by Americans of Anglo descent. Think about what you did not study. Did you learn about Lincoln’s views on enslaved black people? Anti-immigration laws of the nineteenth century? America’s laws regarding who could and could not gain citizenship? The Native Americans who had once lived on your town’s or school’s land?”
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday, except July & August, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, usually at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. In June 2015, however, it will meet at Adelphi Friends Meeting. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge.
by Diane Bowden | May 19, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns
In March 2015 the Clerks of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and of BYM Interim Meeting announced that the Yearly Meeting had accepted a grant of $250,000 from the Shoemaker Fund to address, in part, “…how can our Meetings at all levels be more inclusive and welcoming to all and build multi-cultural community?” They explained, “What we are contemplating is no less than a profound culture change that will permeate all we do and change us forever.”
The BYM Group on Racism is looking forward to helping all of us in the Yearly Meeting discern how to live up to these commitments. One guide that can be helpful is a chart entitled “Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization” and developed by the Crossroads Ministry of Chicago, Illinois, https://www.churchpublishing.org/media/5205/ContinuumAnti-Racist.pdf.
That chart describes what an organization looks like at each of six points along that continuum. The chart does not tell us how to move along that continuum. We all must discern that together. It does, however, help us understand where we are now and the changes needed to move us to the next point on the continuum.
A beginning query: where would you place your Monthly Meeting now along this continuum?
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, usually at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. In May and June 2015, however, it will meet at Adelphi Friends Meeting. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge, david.etheridge@verizon.net.
by Diane Bowden | Apr 19, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Topics
Richmond Friends gathered for a half-day on 21st day, 2nd month, 2015 to consider the spiritual state of our meeting in a worship sharing format, centered around queries provided by Baltimore Yearly Meeting. Approximately twenty Friends participated.
Richmond Friends Meeting is a thriving community. Reflecting on 2014, we notice that much of the work we have done in prior years has come to fruition. This is especially seen in our meeting’s unity on marriage equality, our prison ministry, and our child safety policy. These are the results of our patience, love, and peaceful presence. We are grateful for the way our meeting trusts Spirit-led Quaker process.
We cherish our integration of spirituality and action. It’s “how,” not “what,” we do. This Light shines most brightly in our social justice work. We nurture personal leadings, some of which have grown into educational programs and actions supported across several committees. Our meeting sustains the work that Friends do in the world.
We note our strong willingness to join and contribute to committees, as well as just lend a hand whenever needed. Inter-committee cooperation and collaboration is strong. This has led to creatively exploring topics such as privilege and the environment. Our meeting was inspired to consider these topics deeply and to commit to action within the larger community.
We value inclusivity in Meeting for Worship. We have a growing awareness of the challenges around hearing and mobility and we have been identifying ways to better accommodate these needs. We recognize the gifts that shine through our different expressions of the Light.
Although there are fewer children and young adults in our meeting, we value the gifts they bring to the life of the meeting. We see that, from young to old, Friends are encouraged to expand their involvement in the wider Quaker Community, through FGC, BYM, and BYM camps.
Smaller groups within our meeting flourish. Spiritual Formation, Spring Retreat, Men’s Retreat, Work Camp, and Friendly 8’s are eagerly attended, providing opportunities for Friends to get to know one another and deepen spiritually. Our new website supports both a reaching in and a reaching out for our meeting.
2014 has felt like a good solid year for Richmond Friends Meeting. We seek to maintain balance individually and as a meeting between outreach, nurturing our measure of light, and caring for one another. We remind ourselves to be humble and listen deeply. We trust Spirit-led Quaker process as we face emerging issues in the coming year.
Approved at Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business, 19th day, 4th month, 2015
by Diane Bowden | Apr 18, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Children and Religious Education
An update on BYM summer camps: there are still openings for campers at Shiloh and Opequon this summer! In particular, there are may openings in the last session at Shiloh and the middle session at Opequon, There are even some work grant spots available! Please register your child, your grand child or anyone 9-14 years old who would benefit from a spirit based, off the grid week or two in the woods! Check out the BYM camps website http://bymcamps.org/ or contact Brooke Davis at 288-0180 or bmdavis1@verizon.net for more details.
by Diane Bowden | Dec 17, 2014 | Adult Spiritual Education, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Minuted Decisions, Worship
Editor’s Note: The following report was accepted at business meeting on 16 November, 2014.
Following 2013 Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) annual session, Richmond Friends Meeting (RFM) learned that the BYM Faith & Practice draft was not approved and the committee was laid down until a new committee could be formed. RFM felt a responsibility to look at the 2013 Faith & Practice draft and provide feedback to BYM. The Clerk of Meeting, Barbara Hulburt, created an ad hoc committee in First Month 2014, to look deeply at F&P and report back to business meeting. The committee met five times over the year.
The committee felt the reading and reflection on F&P was spiritually deep and rewarding. We read each section of Faith and Practice with the following queries as our guides: How does this speak to me? How do I think this speaks to my meeting?
Overall, we feel a deep respect and gratitude to the Friends who worked for 10 years to bring this draft to us all. We appreciate the breadth and depth of the undertaking. There is much that resonates with us as a group, we felt the Vision Statement’s use of the many metaphors for Quaker Spirituality inclusive and welcoming. We also liked several sections: Simplicity, Aging, Integrity and Listening. We liked the inclusive wording and appreciated the diversity in the Voices sections. The queries that are deeper and open-ended engaged our hearts and minds (versus the yes-no queries).
It reads as if different sections have different authors with different perspectives. Careful editing might smooth out these differences while not eliminating the varying thoughts and experiences. We also found some sections, like Education, were too wordy and too theistic.
We were particularly sensitive to the discussions and the advices and queries that speak of “God’s will” and “worshipping God together,” and “Quaker beliefs.” As these wordings embrace a spiritual perspective that implies an exterior God directing things and a Christo-centric creed, non-theists experience discomfort and may be led to feel like second-class Quakers. For guidance in re-writing and editorial work, we would refer to page 149 which states: “Baltimore Yearly Meeting is without binding creed. Its beliefs are based on its Judeo-Christian heritage and adherence to the Spirit of Christ, the inward Light, the Divine Seed, and That of God in everyone.
At this point of our exploration we recommend the continued editing of the F&P. We do not want the essence of Quakerism diluted, but ask for language that is authentic and meaningful to the diverse spectrum of Quakers today. We feel there are many expressions that are satisfying to theists and nontheists alike, such as Inner Light, Inner Teacher, that of God in everyone, Spirit-led, and others. We feel that inclusive language does not require the removal of God, Christo-centric voices and Biblical passages from F&P, but we do feel that it should not contain language that makes some Friends feel excluded. When these terms are used, the context should be that of the inward teacher, the inner light, etc. When used that way, they become interpretable to all of us.
We provide the following examples to show our thought process. A section that troubled the RFM ad-hoc committee was the marriage section and BYM’s definition of marriage, “Marriage, as understood by Friends, is a relationship involving two individuals, God, and the religious community that witnesses, recognizes and supports it.” We offer this in its stead, “Marriage, as understood by Friends, is a Spirit-led relationship involving two individuals and the Friends’ community that witnesses, recognizes, and supports it.”
We understand that Faith and Practice becomes a snap-shot of a time & place of our corporate spiritual journey, and that it will never be perfect or finished. We ask that as the new committee convenes, they hold the following query, found in the Diversity section on page, 71, as its guide: “Are we willing to be in communion with each other, open to our differences yet secure in the one Spirit that calls us all to be Friends?” We are confident that the Friends of BYM can create a document of greater integrity and right relationship.
Richmond Friends Meeting
BYM Faith & Practice ad hoc Committee
Bob Alexander
Diane Bowden
Tracey Cain
Bronwyn Hughes
Don Miller
Elizabeth Smith
by Diane Bowden | Jun 3, 2014 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Worship
The Baltimore Yearly Meeting Spiritual Formation Program
by Diane Bowden | Jun 3, 2014 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Worship
Each year Meeting sends a report to Baltimore Yearly Meeting that addresses the spiritual state of Meeting. The report is developed as a proposal by the Ministry and Worship Committee after a morning retreat with all members and attenders who choose to participate. The proposed report is considered in Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business (MWB). Revisions are made based on suggesions in that business meeting. After holding it over over one month for additional consideration, it is approved at MWB and then forwarded to BYM.
Richmond Friends Meeting–Spiritual State of the Meeting 2013
Approved 5/18/2014
2013 was a year marked by growth out of pain. Our community struggled with a traumatic event early in the year. This brought the Meeting together in a shared awareness of how we really care for one another. The bewilderment and the range of responses forced us to deepen spiritually, and re-build security in the community. In this way Meeting opened itself to being transformed. We sensed a deep and broad knowledge that should we develop a grave need, the Meeting would be there for us and hold us in the Light. There has been an awakening of sorts, a freshness and renewed energy. Our vocal ministry has been rich, and yet not overpowering. We found our spiritual state to be strong, deep and nurturing.
Our ongoing practice of holding business meeting during 11:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship continues to nourish us. Friends’ attentiveness to Spirit as part of our business process provides powerful witness to other Meetings. And there seems to be increased harmony in our coming to unity on actions and minutes. We do not try to rush the Spirit. We are learning to be balanced and engaged. We are patient, but we also know when it is time to act.
Messages in Meeting for Worship have been seasoned by individuals and committees and the Meeting community has responded in a focused, tender and caring manner. Adult spiritual education, the Spiritual Formation Program, and regular retreats, including our first men’s retreat, continue to be a source of rich spiritual flourishing. After deep listening and discernment in Meeting for Worship, these leadings, messages and inquiries have led to broader themes and further investigation. These programs and Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business have given newcomers and attenders a new point of access to the community.
We are prospering. Numbers of those attending Meeting, educational events, and Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business continue to increase, and we are also challenged to be more welcoming to new people in Meetings for Worship. Our committee system works well. Friends speak to their Quaker spiritual life having deepened through the work they do on committees. As embodied spirits, we also appreciate the tangibles provided by the community of caretakers – oiling the benches, hospitality, tending of the garden outside, the library, etc.
We are encouraged that we have many children participating in the life of our Meeting, and we yearn for more Young Friends to be present in Meeting for Worship. We value our children and the vibrancy they bring to our Meeting and we need to continue to find ways to invite youth into the life of the Meeting.
Some of us wonder how we can better live in the world as Quakers. How do we better integrate our social action and spiritual witness? What does it mean to be likeminded? There are signs that we are becoming more open to a diversity of theological perspectives. Messages in Meeting for Worship have changed as Friends become more comfortable in using the language of spirituality. But are we inclusive and respectful to those with different political values, both within and outside our community? Should we be more visible as Quakers in the world? Do we have the courage to wear it on the outside? Can we live the Quaker Way of speaking truth to power – speaking truth in love? There is a calling for greater visibility amongst our Meeting. Finally, as we come closer to discerning our marriage equity minute, five couples previously married under the care of our Meeting, but not legally married in the Commonwealth of Virginia, had legal civil marriages outside the state this year.