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God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.
– Rainer Maria Rilke
Dear Friends,
A few weeks ago I was with a group of Friends sharing insights from our spiritual journeys. One person reflected on exploring the distinction between “believing” and “knowing.” This kindled a spark in me, and it continues to burn.
There are many things I believe–ideas, principles, concepts, values. I try to live in ways consistent with these beliefs. But they’re constantly changing, falling away, proving incomplete, being reshaped. I’ve learned this countless times. And yet I find myself striving for certainty, rightness, resolution, even (sometimes) purity.
And then there are those few, simple things that I know—inevitable as gravity, inescapable as grace. I taste them sometimes, even in this blessed, broken world filled with desperation, despair and distraction. In these moments, it’s as if the Truth of these knowings is living through me. I rediscover my place in God’s vision of right relationship and liberation for us all.
And yet it seems most of the experiences that bring me alive happen somewhere beyond belief, and before knowing. They need my participation. They flare up, moment by moment, on the unmarked, wonder-drenched, fear-filled way home. Finding the Way on this shadowy pilgrimage–and losing and finding the Way again–my faith continues to be born.
For me, faithfulness happens in the space between, where willfulness becomes willingness. May each of us–if we choose–find ourselves more and more in this unknown country, at the limits of our longing. May we find each other there, more fully alive.
Hand in hand,
Noah Merrill
Secretary
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers) |
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Families enjoying sunshine and conversation at Sessions, August 2017
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Annual Sessions is Coming!
August 4–9, 2018
Castleton University
Castleton, Vermont
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Other events coming soon
- June 10, 2018, Durham, ME: United Society of Friends Women
- June 16, 2018, Hanover, NH: Clerking Workshop
- June 22, 2018, Amherst, MA: Workshops on Keeping Meeting Records and Archives Tour
- July 6–9, 2018, Chester, CT: Beyond Diversity 101
- July 28, 2018, Salem, MA: Called Meeting for Worship, Salem Harbor Power Plant
- Aug 4–9, 2018, Castleton, VT: Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions
- Aug 17–19, Powell House, Old Chatham, NY: Quaker Religious Education Collaborative Conference & Retreat
- Aug 31–Sep 2, 2018, South China, ME: Art Camp 2018
Upcoming Quarterly Meetings
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Living a Life Centered in Spirit
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| Fran Brokaw (Hanover, NH) writes about her Quaker faith, following a call, and finding herself in an unexpected place. “God did not just give me a leading, God showed me an opening, and kicked me in the butt to make sure I knew that I was supposed to go that way.” Read Fran’s story. |
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Louis Cox (Burlington, VT, Friends Meeting) writes: “…I wasn’t looking for some kind of weekly meditation…to counter the stresses of a busy and noisy world. I was intrigued by the opening silence in Quaker worship…as an important tool in my lifelong quest for wisdom and Truth…”
Read more from Louis’ essay.
Photo: Jean Schell |
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Your Input Needed:
Help Design Our New Website!
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| In order to better lift up the life and ministry of Quakers in our region, we’re working with a team of web developers to create a new, more focused, functional, connecting and inspiring neym.org–the website of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends.
Have an experience to share about using the current website? Your answers to three questions on this user survey would be a great help. Thanks in advance! |
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Bringing the Work of Parker Palmer to
New England Friends
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| Liana Thompson Knight (Durham, ME, Friends Meeting) has been studying with Parker Palmer’s Center for Courage and Renewal and is now a “Facilitator-in-Preparation.” Liana is eager to share her learning with New England Quakers, and invites conversations about how she might help encourage the life of local meetings and other Friends communities. Read her invitation here. |
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Quaker Religious Education Collaborative:
You’re Invited!
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Image: Beth Collea
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- How do we take the lessons of Quaker religious education beyond the meetinghouse?
- Where do life-long spiritual formation and activism, outreach, and Quaker parenting intersect?
The Yearly Meeting is offering four half-scholarships! Ask your local meeting to invest in the ministry of Quaker religious education by supporting your attendance, too.
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Announcing Spring Legacy Grant Awards
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| The NEYM Legacy Gift Committee has announced the spring round of grant awards for both the Future Fund and the Witness & Ministry Fund. Find out what exciting projects we’re funding in this cycle. |
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FCNL Advocacy Corps: A Reflection
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| This month, Steven Whinfield (New Haven, CT, Friends Meeting), NEYM representative to Friends Committee on National Legislation, shares his experience of the gifts of getting to know a member of the FCNL Advocacy Corps from a different generation than his own. Read his story. |
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Digital Ministry? What’s That?
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| Sponsored by an NEYM Legacy grant, Kathleen Wooten writes an email newsletter, ePublishers of Truth–with lots of information and resources for Friends meetings. Read the latest issue of Kathleen’s newsletter or contact Kathleen to learn more about her exploration of digital ministry. |
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Podcast: On Carrying a Concern
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If you haven’t heard an episode yet, Callid and Kristina Keefe-Perry (Fresh Pond, MA Friends Meeting) are hosting a regular podcast, On Carrying A Concern, sharing stories of New England Friends in public ministry, funded in part by a Legacy grant from New England Yearly Meeting. New episodes released weekly–listen here. |
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Video: Supporting Ministry and Ministers
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Two dozen Friends met at Mt. Toby Meeting in Leverett, MA on June 2nd to explore supporting ministers and ministry in local meetings.
Couldn’t attend the workshop? Watch video from the day including the plenary panel and discussion on the Yearly Meeting’s YouTube channel, thanks to Kathleen Wooten. |
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Celebrate, Visit, Worship with Cuban Friends
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Image: Friends United Meeting
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Friends United Meeting has opened registration for the Living Letters: Cuba Yearly Meeting 118th Anniversary Trip planned for November 10–19, 2018. Every year Cuban Friends celebrate the 1900 arrival of Friends on the island. But remember—registration closes June 13!
Note: This exciting event is distinct from NEYM-sponsored travel. For information about the Puente de Amigos (Bridge of Friends), New England Yearly Meeting’s ongoing ministry of relationship and visitation with Cuba Yearly Meeting, click here. |
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| The General Bookstore at Annual Sessions is looking for consignments! The consignment area sells greeting cards, music CDs, handcrafts, clothing, and other items produced by New England Friends. If you have merchandise to sell, please contact the Consignments Coordinator. |
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Video: Amesbury Friends Meetinghouse
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| Christine Green (Amesbury, MA, Friends Meeting) produced this short video for the “Amesbury Treasures Tour,” part of Amesbury’s 350th Anniversary celebrations. |
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Invitation from Baltimore Friends
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| Baltimore Yearly Meeting has extended a warm invitation to Friends who would like to attend their annual sessions as part of BYM’s Intervisitation Program, July 30–August 5, 2018. Financial assistance is available! Read more details here. |
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| James Varner (Orono, ME, Friends Meeting) at the Poor People’s Campaign rally in Augusta, Maine, on May 14. |
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News of New England Friends sharing and acting from their faith in the past month:
- Rob Spencer (Concord, NH, Friends Meeting) was interviewed by WMUR TV at a demonstration protesting immigration policy
- Arnie Alpert (AFSC-NH) helped organize a march protesting treatment of NH state psychiatric unit patients.
- Many Friends are participating in the Poor People’s Campaign, and several were arrested in recent demonstrations, including those from New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.
- John Bach (Cambridge, MA, Friends Meeting) was among those arrested protesting nuclear weapons at Hanscom Air Force Base.
- Bill Graustein (New Haven, CT, Friends Meeting) was recently honored by the local branch of the NAACP.
- Beacon Hill Friends Meeting and Beacon Hill Friends House raised $1,350 in the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute Walk for Peace on May 13.
- This month’s issue of Friends Journal includes articles from Edith Maxwell(Amesbury, MA, Friends), Maggie Nelson and Arthur Fink (both of Portland, ME Friends), and Peterson Toscano (who describes the support his ministry received from Hartford, CT Friends)
Are you aware of Friends or Friends Meetings featured in the media? Email us so that we can share the news! |
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Sessions Anchor Group Facilitators Needed
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| If you’re planning to attend Annual Sessions in August, we need volunteer Anchor Group facilitators. Anchor Groups gather daily for small group conversations about the theme and experience of Sessions. If you have served before, or would like to try—perhaps with a more seasoned co-facilitator—please contact Leslie Manning, Clerk of Sessions Committee, at sessions@neym.org.
There are lots more opportunities to volunteer at Sessions. When you registeryou’ll be asked whether you wish to volunteer and what kinds of jobs you’re available for. |
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Beacon Hill Friends House Seeks Full-Time
Quaker Action Program Manager
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| Beacon Hill Friends House seeks a Quaker Action Program Manager to lead the expansion and day-to-day management of our programming to advance social justice and the traditional Quaker values of peace, integrity, faith, community, and social responsibility. Includes residency in a 22-member community, salary, and generous benefits. Details are available here. Applications requested by Friday, June 15! |
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Putney Friends Meeting 
What does thee say?