ASE has funds available to those attending Quaker gatherings. If you plan to attend Friends General Conference (FGC) Gathering and/or Baltimore Yearly Meeting Annual Session and you require financial aid, email Ellen Arginteanu with a request stating what event you plan to attend and the amount you request. Scholarships up to $500 are available.
ASE is delighted to announce the return of its fall series: “Books that Nurture the Spirit.” In these sessions, members of our community who have been deeply touched by a particular book will explore how the book connects to their spiritual journeys. Participants will be given opportunities to do the same, whether they have read the book before the session or not.
We will offer four Zoom sessions, Saturdays from 9:30 to 10:30/10:45, as follows:
Saturday, September 24: Tao Te Ching led by Steve Humphrey, facilitated by Allen Lee
Saturday, October 8: Black Like Me by John Griffin, led by Paul DiPasquale, facilitated by Howard Garner
Saturday, October 22: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, led by Susan Singer, facilitated by Rita Willett
Saturday, November 12: This Day, Collected and New Sabbath Poems by Wendell Berry, led by Janet Thoroman, facilitated by Barbara Hulburt
Remember that it is not necessary to have read the books in order to participate fully in these sessions!
The Baltimore Yearly Meeting Spiritual Formation Program invites its participants into a deeper spiritual experience through retreats, spiritual community in the local meeting, and individual spiritual practices.
· Richmond Friends will carpool to the BYM Fall Spiritual Formation Retreat Sept. 9-11, 2022 at beautiful Shepherd's Spring Outdoor Ministry Center in Sharpsburg, MD.
· The Spiritual Formation Program is founded on a daily spiritual practice of each person’s choice.
· All RFM participants gather in person or virtually for 3 large group meetings: Program opening (October 2), midway (January 15), and closing (May 5) from 5 to 7pm. Those in person at RFM will end with a 6:30 potluck.
· From October 2022 through May 2023, Spiritual Formation participants build community through committing to a monthly small group (virtual or in person), or to a spiritual friendship pair. Small groups, usually 6 to 8 members, meet once a month to share spiritual journeys and support one another in a daily spiritual practice. Or a participant may form a spiritual friendship with one other person. Themes of the small groups will be:
o The Creative Process as a support group for people who grow spiritually through dance, music, photography, painting, poetry, etc. (facilitated by Cas Overton)
o Spiritual Companion Group
o “Middle Third“ Group (young adults around 25 to 45, child care provided, facilitated by Katie Will and another Friend)
o Spiritual Friendships (groups of 2)
Our first large group meeting will be held on Sunday, October 2 from 5-7pm as an introduction to the process, for organization of small groups and dyads, and for sharing spiritual journey resources.
For more about the Spiritual Formation Opening Retreat, visit the BYM site: http://www.bym-rsf.org, click “Events,” click “Spiritual Formation.”
To register, you can use either the on-line form (https://forms.gle/BJGTn4mCWfXJggtq8) or the paper form available at the meetinghouse. Please register by September 25, 2022.
Adult Spiritual Education reminds Friends that scholarship funds are available for attendance at Friends General Conference and Baltimore Yearly Meeting Annual Session. Please contact ASE’s clerk, Barbara Hulburt, or any other member of ASE to request these funds
Adult Spiritual Education is delighted to announce that one of RFM’s own — Dash Shaw, a celebrated graphic artist, animator, and filmmaker — will be presenting a session for us on Saturday morning, July 23rd from 9:30 to 10:30. We are honored to have Dash, son of Monica and Dan Shaw, who grew up in the Meeting and has since received many accolades and won numerous awards for his work. He will talk with us about his research and theprocess of making his graphic novel, Discipline, about a Quaker soldier in the war between the States. Discipline was published by the New York Review Comics and named one of the Graphic Novels of the Year by both the New York Times and the Guardian.
We encourage you to read the book before the session, but Dash’s presentation will be engaging whether you have had the opportunity to read it in advance or not. There are two copies in the library and Discipline is also available to purchase at Amazon and Barnes & Noble online