by WebPost | Oct 11, 2019 | Announcement, Care and Counsel, Worship
Please join us for a special meeting on the evening of Friday, November 1, from 7 to 8 p.m. to remember and celebrate the lives of our dear treasured Friends who have worshipped together with us.
The idea for this came from a query at a couple of different planning meetings earlier in the year, asking when folks felt particularly welcomed by Meeting. Out came these wonderful stories about people who have been part of Richmond Friends Meeting over the years, many of them long since passed away.
So, we thought, what if we created a space where we could share stories and reflections about people who have shaped this Meeting and our own lives? We had the idea for a special Meeting for Worship for Remembrance, held by Adult Spiritual Education and Ministry and Worship. We think it’s a wonderful way to keep alive the spirit and work of those who have come before us in this meeting community, whether we are old-timers or newcomers.
by WebPost | Dec 2, 2017 | Announcement, Worship
A special meeting for worship will be held on Christmas Eve, December 24, from 5 to 6pm. Join us at 4:30pm for singing.
by WebPost | May 1, 2015 | Adult Spiritual Education, Topics, Worship
May 18 at 7:30-8:30 PM in the Meetinghouse
Chanting is a way of centering into awareness of Spirit. We sing short songs out of the silence, and repeat them until the sense of the group ends the chant. Friends will gather into silence in the mode of worship sharing–much like we do at BYM Women’s Retreat. Have some chants in mind, and anyone may start a chant. This is the first time we’ve done this. If it goes well, we’ll do it again–perhaps regularly.
by WebPost | 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 WebPost | 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.
