Page 3 – Lake Erie Yearly Meeting

Fitting Space to Spirit – A&O webinar set for Nov 6th

19 October 2024

Categories: Committees, Events and Opportunities, Monthly Mtgs, News

Recording of this event now available here.

LEYM’s Advancement and Outreach Committee organized an online event focused on the challenges of Fitting Space to Spirit. The event was held online via Zoom Wednesday November 6, 6:30-8pm.

Rent? Own? Something else?
Join our LEYM panelists from North Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Detroit to hear perspectives on all the ways Friends are trying to right-size the community and the physical plant, followed by time for questions and discussion. Email susanloucks@gmail.com of the LEYM Advancement and Outreach Committee for questions.

Access the session via this Zoom Link
Meeting ID: 898 6708 4094
Passcode: 948148

Friends Peace Teams to Host Online Global Gathering Nov 13-16

17 October 2024

Categories: Events and Opportunities, Peace and Justice

Friends Peace Teams is hosting a global gathering November 13-16 online to share and celebrate what has been happening among their network of peacemakers in the last year. You can see all the details and register here. The theme this year is Justice and peace are possible! What sustains your faith in justice and peace in the face of violence and war?

Friends Peace Teams is a Spirit-led, non-hierarchical network of Regional Teams that share justice and peace work in their regions, supported by Yearly Meeting Representatives and Local and Global Support Teams collaborating on a Global Coordinating Team.

Friends are being invited to participate in a variety of ways, the easiest being by attending one or several of the online Zoom sessions where you can hear reports from team members working in the various global regions. Each session is offered twice to accommodate different time zones. Languages offered: English, Kiswahili, French, Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, Indonesian, and Korean. You can register here for the various sessions offered below.

Session 1 – Regional Teams Update: African Great Lakes / Europe and Middle East
Wednesday, November 13 8:00am-10:00am EST or 12:00pm-2:00pm EST
Session 2 – Regional Teams Update: Peacebuilding en las Américas/ North America
Wednesday, November 13 7:00pm-9:00pm EST or Thursday, November 14 12:00pm-2:00pm EST
Session 3 – Regional Team Update: Asia West Pacific
Thursday, November 14 7:00-8:15 pm EST or 2:00am-3:15am EST
Session 4 – FPT Global Celebration! Support Teams and Quaker Yearly Meetings Sharing
Friday, November 15 7:00pm-9:00pm EST or Saturday November 16 9:00am-11:00am EST

Other ways to get involved include hosting a discussion of the latest issue of PeaceWays with your Meeting or community group to help prepare for the annual sessions. Also, Friends are being invited to share their response to the theme.

Respond to the Theme: Justice and peace are possible! What sustains your faith in justice and peace in the face of violence and war? What brings you hope, joy, and resilience? You can send a 2-3-minute video or 240-word statement with your name, age, country, and sessions you plan to attend to: peaceministries@friendspeaceteams.org Subject: FPT Theme Response

Within LEYM, our Friends Peace Team Representative is Don Buckingham. He has offered to collate and share our theme reflections at the gathering during Session 4. He would like short one or two sentence responses to the theme sent to him via donabuckingham@gmail.com

World Quaker Day October 6th

1 October 2024

Categories: Events and Opportunities, News

October is here, and with it comes World Quaker Day. This is a wonderful opportunity to deepen our understanding of what it means to be a Friend and to connect with others in the Quaker community.

Here are a few ways to celebrate:

Share Your Quaker Journey: Talk about what being a Friend means to you with others in your Meeting or folks in your life.

Visit Another Meeting: Experience Quaker Worship in a different setting. You could visit a Quaker Meeting or Church near you or explore a Meeting in another State or Country online (see FWCC listings here). Use the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) directory to find Meetings and Churches around the globe. Learning more about Friends Worship practices is a great way to strengthen spirit.

Attend a Weekday Meeting: Some Friends hold Midweek Worship. This is a great way to connect with Friends on a different day. FGC offers the Quaker Finder directory as another tool for finding Friends.

Let’s celebrate World Quaker Day by connecting with each other and deepening our understanding of our beautiful traditions.

Digital Version of Annual Records posted

25 September 2024

Categories: Annual Sessions, News

Dear Friends,
At Annual Sessions last summer, we agreed to try posting a version of the LEYM Annual Records online with no contact information (other than for those Friends who have agreed to be the contact person for their Monthly Meeting or Worship Group). Thus, the version posted in the LEYM website has no Directory section.

We on Publications & Archives Committee hope you find this useful. The online version is posted for viewing (and download if you wish) at the new LEYM Annual Records page: https://leym.org/annual-records/

The paper version won’t go to the copy shop for another nine days or so. If you notice errors in the online version, please contact Jeff Cooper (cooperdaub@hotmail.com) asap, and perhaps there will be time to correct these in the print version. Paper copies are distributed in multiple copies to Monthly Meetings, where interested Friends can pick up a copy. If you need to have a paper copy mailed directly to you, please contact Jeff at cooperdaub@hotmail.com

Happy reading!

Jeff Cooper
Publications and Archives

Annual Records

25 September 2024

Categories: Annual Sessions

Beginning in 2024, LEYM will be offering a digital version of our LEYM Annual Records document, sans contact information other than for those Friends who have agreed to be the contact person for their Monthly Meeting or Worship Group. In some browsers, the web-based PDF reader has search enabled (see magnifying glass icon in upper left corner of document frame) so you can quickly jump to items of interest.

LEYM Annual Records

2024 Annual Records (Web Edition)

2024 LEYM Annual Records for Web v2 Download

GPQM Fall Meeting coming Sept 21

6 September 2024

Categories: Events and Opportunities, GPQM, News

Quakers in Michigan are invited to Kalamazoo on Saturday, September 21, for the Fall Meeting of Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting. There will be a business session in the morning at the Kalamazoo Friends Meeting, followed by a picnic lunch and tour of a house that was once on the route of the Underground Railroad in nearby Schoolcraft, Michigan. Feel free to share this with your meeting.

That same weekend the Kalamazoo Meeting is celebrating its 70th anniversary on Sunday, Sept. 22. Friends who wish to stay for that celebration can reach out to Linda Mills to request hospitality with Friends.

GPQM Fall Meeting Schedule:

10:00 am Worship, Kalamazoo Friends Meeting, 508 Denner St., Kalamazoo MI 49006

10:30-Noon Business Meeting

12-12:30 pm Travel to Dr. Nathan Thomas House, 613 E. Cass St., Schoolcraft MI 49087

12:30 pm Picnic Lunch: Bring your own basket

1:30 pm Program on the Underground Railroad in this part of Michigan and the role of the Thomas House (led by members of the Schoolcraft Historical Society and Kalamazoo Friends Meeting)

More about Schoolcraft and the Thomas House:

Schoolcraft is a small town about 15 miles south of Kalamazoo Meeting, on Rt. 131. The home of Dr. Nathan Thomas served as a “station” on the Underground Railroad. Dr. Thomas, the first doctor in Kalamazoo County and a Quaker who avidly supported and led abolitionist efforts in Michigan, first built the house in 1835 on the corner of Cass St. and Centre St. Between 1840 and 1860, it is estimated that Dr. Thomas and his wife Pamela Brown Thomas sheltered between 1,000 and 1,500 fugitive slaves on their way to Canada. Dr. Thomas built a new house in 1868 and the original house was moved to its present site on Cass St. east of U.S. Route 131. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

In Light and Love,

Peggy Daub, Communications Coordinator, Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting

Fall Bulletin Now Available

30 August 2024

Categories: Bulletin, News

Thanks to the work of Bulletin Editor Christopher Farrand and our various contributors, a new issue of the LEYM Bulletin is now available online. As always, the current and back issues of the bulletin are available via the leym.org/leym-bulletins page. Hard copies of the issue have been put in the mail and should arrive soon to Monthly Meetings.

The issue features a welcome from our new Clerk Joe Mills, epistles from LEYM as well as one from the FWCC World Plenary just held in Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as highlights from our June Yearly Meeting, the LEYM Financial Report, news from various Monthly Meetings, a report from the revived Peace and Justice Committee and news of upcoming events.

Mystical Experience & Quakerism Weekend Retreat set for September 6-8

12 July 2024

Categories: Events and Opportunities, News

Connect with the LEYM Spiritual Formation Program
Please join LEYM Friends for the start of our 9 month program where we explore and practice deepening our spiritual connections together through a Fall & Spring retreat and by participating in small spiritual groups throughout the 9 months of the program.

As the kickoff of the 2024-2025 LEYM Spiritual Formation Program, friends are being invited to gather at the Weber Center in Adrian Michigan September 6-8, 2024 for a retreat exploring Mystical Experience and Quakerism with retreat leader Don McCormick.

Registration is Closed

Teaching and Learning Methods at the Retreat

There will be frequent sharing in small groups, as well as discussion in the group as a whole. Short video clips will also be shown. Most of the program will be interactive—with discussion, people sharing their experiences, worship sharing, and worship.

In the Workshop

Participants will learn about mystical experience and Quakerism. They will have the opportunity to share their experiences and discuss questions they have. The workshop emphasizes perspectives on mysticism from contemporary Quakerism and psychology.

Some Concepts that Will Be Clarified

The difference between mystical experience, mystics, and mysticism
The main types of mystical experience
Nature mysticism
Group mysticism
Triggers of mystical experiences
Current research on mystical experience.

Questions That Will Be Addressed

The questions that you bring to the workshop will be addressed. The following questions will also be addressed:

Are all mystical experiences focused on God or the Spirit?
Are Quakers mystics?
Is Quakerism a mystical religion?
How do Quakers judge mystical experiences?

Issues in Mystical Experience

Do mystical experiences change people’s lives?
Are there racial or gender issues in mystical experience?
Do mystical experiences lead to ethical behavior or a greater concern for social justice?

A Vision of the Future
At the end of the workshop, we will work together to create a vision of the future of mystical experience in Quakerism, including what we want to keep seeing in the future and what would we want to see changed.

About the Retreat Facilitator

Don McCormick is a member of Grass Valley Friends Meeting in California. He was a professor for thirty years and taught (among other things) psychology of religion. His interests include Quakerism & mystical experience, mindfulness and Quakerism, religious diversity in the workplace, expressing Quaker spirituality in our work lives, and Quaker spiritual autobiography. He leads workshops on these topics. He regularly writes for Friends Journal, and his article “The Mystical Experience: Reclaiming a Neglected Quaker Tradition” was the second most-read Friends Journal article of 2021. He can be reached at donmccormick2@gmail.com.

Get the Retreat Brochure Here.

AVP Workshops Offered in Ann Arbor this August

9 July 2024

Categories: Action, News, Peace and Justice

A message from the Peace and Justice Committee of Ann Arbor Friends Meeting

Dear Friends,
YOU ARE ALL INVITED TO ATTEND ALTERNATIVES TO VIOLENCE (AVP) TRAININGS in Ann Arbor!

Two Alternatives to Violence Project training sessions, one Basic (Aug 9-11) and one Advanced (Aug 16-19) have been scheduled, co-hosted by the Justice Action Group, and the Peace and Justice committee of Ann Arbor Friends Meeting, and ICPJ, with AVP Michigan and Jaye Starr of the muslim community.

See these links for information on AVP and registration information: Alternatives to Violence Project USA (avpusa.org) and AVP Michigan (avpmichigan.org).

The Justice Action Group feels these workshops speak to many of the questions surrounding the value and creation of community-based safety — a focus that grows from our engagement with the development of an alternative to police response here in Ann Arbor.

Both workshops will be held in the fellowship room of Ann Arbor Friends’ meetinghouse. See below for details and registration.

Basic Workshop August 9 – 11
This Alternatives to Violence Project basic workshop will be held by the Peace & Justice Committee and Justice Action Group of the Ann Arbor Friends Meeting in partnership with AVP Michigan at the Friends Meeting House (1420 Hill St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104) August 9-11. Facilitation will be provided by Jaye Starr & Maryam Ashraf.

Friday August 9: 9am – 6pm
Saturday August 10: 9am – 6pm
Sunday August 11: 2pm – 6pm followed by light dinner together

Participants should bring a water bottle, lunch, a journal and pen and dress in comfortable clothing. Snacks, coffee, and tea will be provided. The planning group will have some child care, and will be running this series only in English. They can help arrange hosts for those who would like to come from out of town.

Basic Workshop Registration Link and More Information: Register Here

Advanced Workshop August 16 – 19 (same hours as Basic training)
For advanced registration contact Jaye Starr below.

Everyone is welcome to the basic workshop, even if you’ve done it before. The advanced workshop is only open to those who have done a basic at some point, though it doesn’t have to be the Aug 9-11 one. The advanced builds on the basic really beautifully scaling up to think on a larger scale about how we build a culture of justice-based peace in the world.

You are welcome to invite others to join as well, and if you have any questions, please contact Cassie Cammann (cassie.cammann@gmail.com) or Jaye Starr (jaye.starr.boz@gmail.com).

PS. Both trainings will limit attendance to 20 people, in person.

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27 June 2024

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