by WebPost | Mar 4, 2020 | Announcement, Baltimore Yearly Meeting
The BYM Reparations Action Group is excited to announce our upcoming Spring workshops. This is a three part workshop series designed to learn about our history as an institution, discuss potential ways to work toward repair and reconciliation within and outside of our community, and to build a toolbox for action and forward movement as individuals and a collective. You will walk away from this series with a deeper knowledge and understanding of our roles in the larger system and with the skills to prompt direct action toward repair in your community.
This course has a sliding scale fee of $150 – $300, which is required at the time of registration. The fees cover the cost of our workshop facilitators. If you are unable to pay the minimum of $150 please contact Nikki Richards for further details. Black Friends, Indigenous Friends, and other Friends of Color do not need to pay for this workshop; it is free to attend.
This three-part series is designed so that the second workshop builds off of the first, and the third workshop builds off of the second. Therefore, in order to get the most out of the series we are asking Friends to commit to attending all three.
The course will be delivered at various Meetinghouse locations in the Baltimore/ DC /VA area on the following dates:
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- Saturday April 4, 2020 (11-4pm)
- Saturday May 2, 2020 (11-4pm)
- Saturday May 30, 2020 (11-4pm)
To register for this event, please click the following link and fill out the form in its entirety; please remember to pay at the end. For any questions or concerns please reach out to me separately and we can discuss.
LINK TO SIGNUP: https://forms.gle/DNEj1NeoFwNFH9Wn7
by WebPost | 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 WebPost | 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 WebPost | 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 WebPost | 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.
