Weekly Announcements for May 19, 2023

Annual Session Registration is OPEN!

BYM Annual Session will take place July 31 - August 6 at Hood College in Frederick, MD. Since 1672, Friends in our region have gathered each year to do the business of our Yearly Meeting and to builds the bonds of community with Quakers from near and far. The Spring Interchange is your complete guide to the 2023 Annual Session. And up to date details can be found on the Annual Session webpage. This wonderful summer week filled with workshops, speakers, and plenty of time for play is an important time in the life of our wider Quaker body, and we hope you'll come to Frederick whether this is your 1st Annual Session or your 51st. Together, we are Quakerism - a religious society built with love, tenderness, and Spirit.  

"Deep Hospitality" Weekend at Powell House, June 2-4

What would it mean for our Quaker Meetings to not just build a bigger table but to change the menu? Weekend retreat keynote speaker, Rhiannon Grant, will explore what it means to move, in our communal homes, beyond more chairs and a bigger table to a new menu: embracing deep hospitality and exploring our changing Quaker community as we welcome different forms of theological and social diversity. Co-Convener and Stony Run Friend, Windy Cooler, invites you to share the event poster with your Meeting!

Adelphi Strawberry Festival, June 3

Come one, come all! The beloved Adelphi Friends Meeting Strawberry Festival is back after its Covid-hiatus. Featuring live music; a plant sale; a rummage sale with clothing, books, jewelry, and home goods; children's activities; grilled food; and, of course, the fantastic Strawberry Café - come spend a few hours enjoying the fellowship of Adelphi Friends and their neighbors. Funds raised at the Strawberry Festival support Adelphi neighborhood needs and causes.  

Quaker Spring Gathering, Online & In-Person in Barnesville, OH, June 13-17 

Since 2007, Quaker Spring has been holding radically unprogrammed gatherings where we listen together for God’s living Spirit at work among us. The mid-day Zoom program will feature worship, meetings for discernment, and Bible reading. For those gathered in-person, there will also be time for quiet refreshment, fellowship, singing, field trips, and supporting individuals seeking clearness or support for their ministries.

All fees are “pay as led.' All are welcome!

FAHE Annual Conference: Quakers, Colonization, and Decolonization, June 12-15

The Friends Association for Higher Education will hold its annual conference June 12-15 at Haverford College - just a short drive or Amtrak away from many BYM Friends! This year's conference will feature 50 presenters, including 12 of indigenous heritage, 30 Quakers representing 13 Yearly Meetings across 5 continents, and 10 colleges & universities. 

Thinking About Race: Paul's Letter to American Christians

In 1956, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, gave a sermon entitled “Paul’s Letter to American Christians."

"Oh America, how often have you taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes. If you are to be a truly Christian nation you must solve this problem… You can work within the framework of democracy to bring about a better distribution of wealth. You can use your powerful economic resources to wipe poverty from the face of the earth. God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty."

Column prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR). The BYM WGR meets most months on the first Saturday, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, currently via Zoom.  If you would like to attend, contact the clerk at david.etheridge@verizon.net.

BYM Audio-Visual Skill Share, June 22nd via Zoom

As we move from peak pandemic to a new normal, many Monthly Meetings are beginning to re-examine their hybrid meeting technologies and practices. What AV setups are worth a longer-term investment? How are Friends balancing differing practical and spiritual needs? On June 22nd we'll gather from 6:30pm - 8:30pm by Zoom and split into breakout rooms to share skills, information, and joys & concerns. 

BYM’s committees need new members every year. This year, we especially need new members to bring energy and new perspectives to:

• Program Committee – to plan and carry out all aspects of our annual session
• Stewardship & Finance – for faithfully translating our financial resources into our vision
• Youth Programs – to plan and attend conferences or “cons” for the Yearly Meeting’s middle and high school folks
• Development – to support, renew and enlarge the giving activity that forms an important revenue stream

Are you someone who attends a local meeting, Annual Session, Interim Meeting, camp, Spiritual Formation, or another Quaker activity? Someone who is curious about what our committees do? Maybe you are wondering where your gifts, interests, and skills might most be needed. BYM committees shape much of the work of the Yearly Meeting, and your perspective is needed! 

BYM’s Nominating Committee has care of the process of talking with and nominating F/friends who are interested in joining committees or representing BYM in another organization. Let’s talk! Replying to this message won’t create an obligation for you to join a committee, but it will provide a way to share information and start a dialogue to form new relationships and fresh dialogue that will benefit our faith community.

Please email us at nominating@bym-rsf.org, and one of our members will respond.

More News & Notes

• Don't Forget! Interim Meeting is June 10th!
• BYM Juneteenth Reparations Event, June 14
• Silent Retreat Sponsored by Annapolis Friends, June 23-25
• 2022 BYM Yearbook

To submit your items for the BYM Weekly Announcements, please email Admin@bym-rsf.org. 

Baltimore Yearly Meeting
17100 Quaker Lane | Sandy Spring, MD | 20860 USA
www.bym-rsf.org

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