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 | Aug 18, 2020 | Announcement, Archive, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, COVID-19, Spiritual Formation
Friends, you have heard about the upcoming moi spiritual formation program at RFM - an opportunity to deepen our spiritual understanding and practice, as individuals and as a community. Baltimore Yearly Meeting's spiritual formation program serves as an umbrella for local spiritual formation groups - like the group at RFM - across the yearly meeting. BYM offers a fall and spring retreat each year to support and enhance the spiritual formation experience in local meetings. The 2020 fall retreat will be online Sept 18 and 19 - information below or at https://t.e2ma.net/message/ky9c5h/0igo71cThe retreat will be led by experienced facilitators Amy Schmaljohn and Alan Evans. It's an opportunity for a time of retreat and a chance to connect with Friends across the yearly meetingThe retreat fee will be "pay as led" so cost should not be a barrier. All are welcome at this retreat - whether or not you are able to participate in Richmond's Spiritual Formation program over the coming year.
For information about the upcoming year-long spiritual formation program at RFM, please contact Joe Ball at jball@newarka.edu
Contact me if you have questions about the BYM weekend retreat - it's under the care of BYM Ministry and Pastoral Care committee, where I serve as a member.
Rita Willett
by Diane Bowden | Aug 6, 2020 | Activity, Adult Spiritual Education, Announcement, Archive, COVID-19, Spiritual Formation
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 12th to 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
· Willing to serve as a Zoom host: Yes/No