January 26-28, 2024, with Sandy Kewman and Anne Pomeroy
An in-person program
Do Friends Meetings experience cycles of life? What are members of the Meeting community called to do in response? What opportunities do these cycles bring?
Last spring, Anne Pomeroy and Sandy Kewman wrote an article for Western Friend called ‘The Life Cycle of a Quaker Meeting.’ The article spurred much interest and discussion, and Sandy and Anne decided to deepen this conversation at a weekend program here at Quaker Center.
You can read the article here:
https://westernfriend.org/magazine/on-loss/life-cycle-of-a-quaker-meeting/
At this weekend retreat, we will look at the Lifecycles of Meetings through the lens of community care, which is based on listening for Spirit, and trusting in that. We will present a working description of Care of Community and together we will explore how this care is manifesting. Throughout the lifecycles of a Meeting there are many pivot points that often present themselves as conflict, and in fact can lead to deeper listening for Spirit. Our understanding of these lifecycles of Meetings is held in the framework of Continuing Revelation. We will listen together for how Spirit is showing up in our meetings, and how we are led to deepen our personal relations and our collective relationship with Spirit. We understand the Quaker way as an embodied faith tradition and will be paying attention to messages arising in our bodies. We are also holding the door open to explore how we as a community have dealt and have not dealt with racism in our Meetings.
Join us at Ben Lomond Quaker Center on January 26-28, 2024, to worship, listen and share in these explorations.
Covid precautions. We will ask all participants to take a rapid Covid test before they leave home to come to Quaker Center, and to stay home if they feel unwell or have been recently exposed to Covid. If you’re unable to take a Covid test, we will have some here that folks can take upon arrival, before entering into the lodge or warmly greeting others. At the retreat, masks will be very welcome, but not required. We will strive to enable outdoor dining for those who wish.
About the presenters
Sandy Roske Kewman is a learner under the tutelage of four young grandchildren, a seeker within the Quaker way of justice and liberation for all people. She is imagining and learning what care of community might look like and longs to do so with other Friends and non-Friends alike. She worships most frequently at Sacramento Friends Meeting.
Anne Pomeroy is a Quaker spiritual director and a member of New Paltz Monthly Meeting in New York Yearly Meeting.
Click here to register!
…”there is a faith that is primarily trust. This kind of faith expects to be guided by a unifying presence that enlivens each moment, breaks all borders, gathers us into communion with one another, and addresses us in all we meet. . .”
– Jim Corbett, Goatwalking (1991)
