Download a pdf file of Spark

Contents

Articles

• By Willpower or Grace?, by Steve Mohlke
• What Forms You?, by Mary Kay Glazer
• Formation and Risk, by Callid Keefe-Perry
• Children's Spiritual Formation, by Melinda Wenner Bradley
• Help in Finding One's Way, by Christopher Sammond
• On Spiritual Accompaniment as a Calling and in a Vocation, by Lu Harper
• Tending the Garden, by Emily Provance
• NYYM Forum: you can comment on these articles in the Comment box at the end of each article. Start a conversation!

Meeting for Discernment

Saturday, February 27, 2016
Westbury Meeting, 550 Post Rd. Westbury, NY 11590

9:00: coffee and signing in
9:30: worship begins

Meeting for discernment is a chance for extended worship among New York Yearly Meeting Friends, a chance to hear and experience what is rising in our meetings and in our selves. It is a way to bring our meetings together and to get to know each other better. Come and let your voice and your spirit participate. The meeting is a full day, with lunch provided in between. The snow date is Saturday, March 5.

Save the date!

Around Our Yearly Meeting—Yearly Meeting news

Notices

Around Our Yearly Meeting

Meeting News

Rochester Meeting: I’m Not Racist, Am I?

On November 15, Rochester Meeting showed the film I’m Not Racist, Am I? and held a facilitated workshop afterward. They hoped to create a brave space for more authentic and meaningful discussions on racism that encourages them to recognize and dismantle it. The film follows a group of a dozen teenagers learning to live together. You can watch a trailer at this link, notracistmovie.com, and a talk-back with Quakers in 2014 on YouTube.

News & Announcements

Tending the Garden—NYYM offers spiritual nurture workshops

The Yearly Meeting’s Spiritual Nurture Working Group is offering spiritual nurture programs to meetings and individuals on the following 12 topics: Sacred Journeys, Opening to Deeper Worship, Vocal Ministry, Experiential Quakerism, Discernment, Pastoral Care, Spiritual Support and Accountability, Prayer, Quaker Toolbox, Forgiveness, A Deliberate Faith, and Sense of the Meeting. To learn more, visit nyym.org/?q=SpiritualNurturePrograms. To ask questions or schedule a retreat, contact Lu Harper (luharper@gmail.com) or Anne Pomeroy (apomeroy10@gmail.com). See also Emily Provance's article on Tending the Garden.

White Privilege Conference 2016

April 14–17, 2016, Philadelphia, PA

New York Yearly Meeting is a co-host of the 2016 White Privilege Conference and has formed a task group to help with its planning and to facilitate participation by NYYM Friends. Friends General Conference is also a co-host and offers discounts for registrants, a Quaker hospitality room for fellowship and worship, and home hospitality for Friends attending the Conference. For more information, visit nyym.org/?q=WhitePrivilegeConference.

Grants for the study and practice of mysticism

The Elizabeth Ann Bogert Fund for the Study and Practice of Christian Mysticism invites proposals. Deadline for proposals is March 1, 2016. Grants are announced by July 1. Grants up to $1,000 are made to individuals, groups, or institutions without denominational, cultural, racial, or national preference or age restrictions. The Fund is administered by Friends World Committee for Consultation–Section of the Americas. For more information, download a brochure or email Kenneth Henke at kenneth.henke@ptsem.edu, or write to Princeton Seminary Library, 25 Library Pl., Princeton, NJ 08540.

Follow the NYYM clerk on Instagram

The Yearly Meeting clerk Lucinda Antrim invites you to follow her (ymclerk) on Instagram. She posts when she’s out and about in Quakerdom. You can see where’s she’s been—lovely, loving places, and they’re everywhere in our Yearly Meeting!

Oakwood School chooses new Head of School

The School’s Board of Managers has unanimously named Chad Cianfrani as Oakwood’s 38th Head of School. Chad Cianfrani has served Oakwood for over a decade, most recently as Associate Head of Operations and Technology and Interim Head of School. For more details visit oakwoodschool.org.

For Friends Involved in Interfaith Work:

March 4–6, 2016, Stony Point Center, Stony Point, NY

You are invited to a weekend retreat of worship sharing, reflection, and conversation on “How do we as Friends enrich interfaith work and how does that work enrich us?” The weekend is sponsored by the Community of Living Traditions at Stony Point Center and the Dialogue Institute of Temple University. We offer a subsidized rate of $40 (double occupancy) for the full weekend for the first 12 registered participants (not including travel). Contact kitty@stonypointcenter.org or 845-786-5674, ext 121 for questions or to register.

FUM’s Chain of Prayer

Link your meeting to another Quaker meeting in meaningful, intentional prayer from January 1 to Pentecost, May 15. Visit fum.org for details and to receive your information packet, poster, and an updated Daily Prayer Guide.

Toward Racial Healing—high school leadership forum

Monday, February 15 – Wednesday, February 17, 2016

The NY State Council of Churches is sponsoring a trip for high school students to the United Nations. The group will study at the United Methodist Seminar Office and tour the UN. The cost of $385 covers lodging, travel by chartered bus, lunch on Tuesday and Wednesday, and breakfast Tuesday. Students will need to bring money for dinner Monday and Tuesday, and for breakfast on Wednesday. Click the following to download the UN trip flyer and the trip application.

Notices

New Members

J. Robert Frick — Bulls Head-Oswego
Karen Taborn – Morningside
Robert Baird Kendall – Manasquan
Vicki Lynn LaBella – Manasquan

Marriages/Covenant Relationships

Beth Gill & Mark Harper, members of Chatham-Summit, on October 10, 2015, under the care of Chatham-Summit

Deaths

Esther Darlington, member of Ithaca, on July 10, 2015
Ellen Flanders, member of Albany, on September 23, 2015
Laurence Jaeger, member of Brooklyn, on July 29, 2015
Elspeth Rhodin, member of Ithaca, on August 20, 2015
Ian White, member of Fredonia, on May 22, 2015