Representative Meeting returns to an online-only format this year. We’ll gather starting at 10 am on Saturday March 9th. It’s an important meeting opportunity for us as we move toward our June 13-16 Annual Meeting without having a rising Clerk ready to step in at the end of Susan Loucks term. There’s plenty to talk about!

The session will be divided into two blocks of time, with a break for lunch in-between. We ask that people planning on attending fill out out a quick registration form here to help us with role call and record keeping. See Schedule and Zoom access information below.

About Representative Meeting

LEYM holds a Representative Meeting in the spring to handle business that has arisen since the previous Annual Sessions and to consider and season matters for the next Annual Sessions. Representative Meeting may make decisions concerning any matter except those specifically reserved for Annual Sessions (see Policies & Procedures Manual), and may forward any matter to Annual Sessions with a recommendation. 

Monthly Meetings are encouraged to have at least two people from their MFW in attendance so that at least a few Friends from each meeting will attend, participate, and report back. A representative comes with knowledge about his or her meeting and its concerns, but is not bound by instructions. Representatives need to be open to the leadings of the Spirit, just as they would be in any Quaker business meeting. Members of standing committees and officers of the yearly meeting are expected to attend. In addition, any member or attender within LEYM who wishes may participate.

March 9, 2024 Zoom Access:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85827416349
Meeting ID: 858 2741 6349

General Schedule

10-12 pm –  Meeting for Business.  We’ll be catching up on what’s been happening across the YM, hear what’s been going on in planning for this summer (for all ages), and hear about activity on other committees – including a look at the draft budget for next year. 

12-1 pm Lunch Break

1-3 pm – Structures Exploration.  We’ll imagine we were starting the YM from scratch (but with an eye towards our visioning work), and chart out: 

• Where are the places that feel most important to put our collective energy? 
• Where are the places where we ourselves are wanting to put our individual energy? (no commitments – but useful to chart relative to what’s above!) 
• We’ll also do some open-minded thinking about the clerk’s role: What are the most important aspects of the role? What assumptions can we play with that might open new possibilities? 
• We’ll end with time for worship and – if we’re ready – discernment. 

We are looking forward to Tuesday, February 20 at 7pm, when the Ann Arbor Meeting will present a Quakerism 101 session on Guides to Faith and Practice written by Friends (get flyer here). The session will explore the history of how our non-creedal society came to create and use such documents; the experience of Friends who have created, developed, and revised these guides; and how they are maintained as living documents as meetings grow and change. The session will include an interactive exercise in which small groups will review passages from various Faith and Practice guides and experience the process of spirit-led discerning together as might be done in developing such a guide. 

Advance materials for the small group sessions are available at Q101 Materials Feb 20. These are not required reading for participation, but you may find them useful. The Zoom link is the same as always: https://tinyurl.com/quaker101
Meeting ID: 876 3794 4768 Passcode: 84448
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Both new and seasoned Friends, teens and adults, can connect at these gatherings as we share and explore our knowledge, understandings, and questions about the Society of Friends.

Future scheduled sessions include the following:

• March 21 (Thursday): What Friends Believe (offered by Kalamazoo)
• May 16 (Thursday): Introduction to Quaker Service Organizations (offered by Red Cedar)

For more information on the Quakerism 101 series, check out it’s home page here.