You are invited to join us June 15-18, 2023 for Lake Erie Yearly Meeting’s Annual Sessions, held at Ashland University. Visit leym.org/annual for all the details.
GPQM invites you to Early-Spring Gathering, April 8, 2023, on Zoom
Join us on Zoom for a Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting Early-Spring Gathering from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Saturday, April 8, 2023. We will share a program, Friendship, and one item of business. The Zoom link can be obtained by writing us at gpqmcommunications@gmail.com .
Our presenter, Desiraé Simmons, will speak on Black Lives Matter—What Are We Called to Do? Desiraé is co-director of the Interfaith Center for Peace and Justice in Ann Arbor.
Since moving to Ypsilanti from Boston, she has co-hosted a resistance march focused on the love, resilience, and history of activism in the community; organized for affordable housing, keeping a school within the Ypsilanti Community School district, and a Community Benefits Ordinance; ran for City Council as a nonpartisan candidate; and she currently holds leadership positions within the Washtenaw County Democratic Party and serves on a citizen committee for housing affordability and accessibility. (See bio: https://www.icpj.org/blog/about/bios/)
Our plan for the day:
- Worship
- Report on Michigan Friends Center
- Presentation by Desiraé Simmons on Black Lives Matter – what are we called to do?
- Small group discussion
- Lunch socializing
- Closing worship
2023 Business Sessions
Our Annual Business sessions are scheduled for June 15-18, 2023 at the LEYM Annual Meeting. Zoom access will be provided for remote participants via links provided below.
Business Sessions Schedule
- LEYM Executive Committee Meeting
Thursday, June 15 1:30pm-3:00pm EDT - Opening Welcome, Business and Rollcall Session
Thursday, June 15 7:30pm-9:00pm EDT - MFW w Attention to Business
Friday, June 16 10:30am-12:00pm EDT - MFW w Attention to Business
Friday, June 16 1:15pm-3:15pm EDT - MFW w Attention to Business
Saturday, June 17 1:15pm-3:15pm EDT - MFW w Attention to Business
Sunday, June 18 8:45am-9:30am EDT
2023 Annual Sessions – Ashland, Ohio
Navigating Anew is our 2023 Theme. We’re all excited to finally be gathering together again in person. We find ourselves in changing times in the world and in our Quaker meetings. With all this change, navigation isn’t on autopilot but becomes a conscious task, whether it is finding the way from dorm to dining hall or finding our way toward being an inclusive body of Friends. Navigation also involves a careful discernment of how we are led and how we can keep true to a spirit-led path as new ways open. Workshops, bible study and shared worship can help. Please plan to join us on June 15-18 2023 for LEYM’s Annual Meeting. Discovery awaits!
Representative Meeting: All are Invited March 11th
Representative Meeting is about Representation! Join us virtually OR in person in Toledo for a hybrid meeting on Saturday, March 11. In the morning, there will be opportunities for Friends from all LEYM Monthly Meetings to have conversations in groups and as a whole about what is rising in their Meetings – challenges, gifts, leadings that might resonate with others. There might be space to talk with other people wrestling with new forms of First Day School or innovating hybrid approaches to programming. Bring what’s on your mind! Whether or not you’re “officially” a representative for your Meeting, you are welcome.
During the afternoon, we will have meeting for worship with attention to business – always rich and good to see how Spirit is moving us collectively. We hope to see you there.
The In-Person Meeting will be at The Victory Center, 3166 Republic Blvd. N., Toledo, OH 43615, hosted by Broadmead Meeting. A light breakfast and lunch will be offered for those who register in advance. A donation of $10 for meals will be appreciated. Friends attending in person and wanting lunch and/or overnight hospitality should register by February 25 using this form. For later registrants, there are restaurants ten minutes away.
Online Meeting will also be happening via Zoom. See the Representative Meeting page for details about online registration, links, etc.
Schedule for Saturday, March 11:
Registration & simple breakfast …..9:00 AM
Meeting for worship …………………….9:30 AM (Hybrid/blended meeting begins)
Greeting & Announcements ……….10:00 AM
Morning program……………………….10:15 AM
Lunch ………………………………………12:15 PM
Meeting for business ……………………1:15 PM
Adjournment by ………………………….4:30 PM
Winter Bulletin Now Available
The Winter LEYM Bulletin is now available in PDF with paper copies soon arriving at addresses for monthly meetings and worship groups. You can see all the recent issues here: leym.org/leym-bulletins
This issue includes a clerk’s message about activism through Spirit; information about both Representative Meeting (coming up on March 11) and Annual Meeting (June 15–18); a description of group sessions on “Digital Issues Awareness”; reports from FCNL, Olney Friends School, and the Fall Youth Retreat; and more.
Please note that the deadline for submissions for the Spring 2023 issue is March 15. That issue will include registration materials (due May 10) and much information about Annual Sessions, June 15-18 at Ashland University.
Jeff Cooper & Peggy Daub, co-editors
BulletinLEYM@gmail.com
Call for Workshop Proposals for Annual Meeting
Enthusiasm is running high among LEYM Friends for meeting in person once again for our Annual Meeting. We’ll be gathering at Ashland University in Ohio, June 15-18, 2023, an earlier date than we have become used to. Our theme this year is “Navigating Anew.” The Program Committee is hard at work preparing our schedule of activities, and we could use your help. Please consider offering that workshop you have been saving for the right opportunity, and share the attached call for workshop proposals with other Friends who might have gifts to share with the larger body. Workshop proposals are due by February 22nd.
Here’s the full call for proposals.
New Series: Digital Issues Awareness for Friends
As part of our ongoing Interest Group Series, LEYM is offering a new series of workshops focusing on digital and online practices of possible concern for Friends.
The three Saturday afternoon (2:00-3:30pm) workshops will be held January 14, February 11, and March 4th. See descriptions below. Presented by LEYM’s Digital Communications Facilitator, the sessions will draw heavily on the work of some smart and engaged online groups keeping their fingers on the pulse of our modern web.
NEW SATURDAY WORKSHOP SERIES: DIGITAL ISSUES AWARENESS FOR FRIENDS
Mis/Disinformation Awareness for Friends of the Truth
What happens when we increasingly rely on social media and the web for nearly all our information? What information do we see, and what do we miss? How do we know if a picture or a tweet is genuine or truthful? This session explores what misinformation and disinformation is, why it’s shared and how it spreads. Find out how we Friends take part through our many clicks, likes and shares.
Presenter: LEYM Digital Communications Facilitator Bill Warters
Saturday January 14, 2023 2:00-3:30 pm
Check out the slides and recording from this session on the Interest Group page.
UnFriendly Persuasion: Digital Dark Patterns Awareness
At their essence Dark Patterns are features of interface design crafted to trick users into doing things they didn’t mean to, ultimately benefiting the business or website owner in question by pushing their priorities over the users’ intent. This workshop seeks to raise awareness of some common design tricks and help Friends stay on course as they navigate the modern web.
Presenter: LEYM Digital Communications Facilitator Bill Warters
Saturday February 11, 2023 2:00-3:30 pm
Zoom Access Link Meeting ID: 826 7274 6215 Passcode: leympje
Data Brokers and Modern Surveillance: Dangers for Marginalized People
Our online practices leave trails of data that companies rely on to make a profit. After reviewing some of the many kinds of data being collected, we’ll turn to an exploration of some of the ways data is being used to the detriment of marginalized groups. For instance, mass incarceration and criminalization have gone high-tech with facial recognition, license plate readers, and electronic monitoring systems all becoming more common. Local and federal police as well as immigration control increasingly have access to vast commercial databases to track and trace people, often while circumventing individual civil rights. Based on these concerns, citizen groups in many cities are now pushing for laws governing the surveillance technology used by their local police departments. Join Friends at this workshop to learn more.
Presenter: LEYM Digital Communications Facilitator Bill Warters
Saturday March 4, 2023 2:00-3:30 pm
Zoom Access Link Meeting ID: 826 7274 6215 Passcode: leympje
Spiritual Companioning
LEYM Spiritual Companioning Interest Group
NEW: Got a Concern? Bi-monthly sessions have been scheduled to support LEYM Friends exploring a wide variety of concerns in their lives. Details in this new brochure. Sessions held on the third Sunday of odd-numbered months from 3-4:30pm EST. All sessions will be using the Zoom link found at https://tinyurl.com/leymconcern
2023-24 Schedule of Zoom Sessions
- November 19, 2023 – 3-4:30pm
- January 21, 2024 – 3-4:30pm
- March 17, 2024 – 3-4:30pm
LEYM Friends engaged or interested in the practice of Spiritual Companioning gather online periodically for informal exchange of experiences, questions, and opportunities to practice with others. See the LEYM Calendar to confirm specific dates and times.
WHAT IS SPIRITUAL COMPANIONING?
Spiritual Companion groups are self selected groups of typically 2-4 people. We meet regularly, (every 1-3 weeks), for enough time to give each person about 20 minutes of time to share and receive reflection. Companions set out to discover experimentally what happens when they ask for and follow guidance from their Inner Teachers. Their companions serve as witnesses while each person does their own work. We summarize the practice like this:
Experiment with Spirit in Your Life
- Experiment with being inwardly guided by Spirit to shape and guide your life.
- Keep a log of tests of discernment, feedback, insights and directions.
Meet with Companions
- Meet regularly, every 1-3 weeks for 1-2 hours with 2-4 people.
- Divide the time equally giving each person full attention in turn.
- Stay in Spirit in yourself, relaxed and non-anxious.
- Focus on Spirit in the others; they are good and capable.
Share Your Experiment During Your Turn
- Receive the attention of others.
- Listen inwardly, discharge emotion, and/or speak to your spiritual experience and experiment.
- Ask for and receive reflection and/or feedback.
Support Your Companions to Test Discernment
- Reflect back the words you heard without changing them.
- Offer feedback on if you feel the life and power of Spirit, if it rings true. Not if you liked, agreed with, or understood it. As information, not judgment.
- Document what’s affirmed for one, then for others or for all.
Since the practice of Spiritual Companioning was introduced in Fall, 2020 during LEYM’s Spiritual Formation retreat, four Friends have volunteered to organize and publicize events like this one, at which the three dozen or so practicing companions and those interested in companioning can self-organize and mutually encourage others in growing our experience and skill. We are learners just like you, and would welcome others to join us in this organizing work. If that interests you, please contact one of us.
Barbara LeSage (North Columbus, barbaralesage@hotmail.com), Cassie Cammann (Ann Arbor, cassie.cammann@gmail.com), Mark Hoover (Ann Arbor, mhoover@umich.edu), Joann Neuroth (Red Cedar, jneuroth@gmail.com)
LEYM Annual Records Now Available
The volume of LEYM Annual Records 2022 is now available, containing minutes of Representative Meeting and Annual Meeting, summaries of the plenary address and workshops at the annual sessions, State of the Meeting reports from monthly meetings and worship groups, memorial minutes, and lots of contact information for meetings and those active in Yearly Meeting.
If you wish to have a PDF version sent to you, please contact Peggy Daub at peggydaub@hotmail.com. Paper copies have been mailed to monthly meetings and worship groups and should arrive soon. If your meeting needs to change the number of paper copies received, please let Peggy know.
The detailed and helpful content of the Annual Records would not be possible without the help of many hands. Thank you to all who contributed to this volume!
Peggy Daub, Clerk, LEYM Publications & Archives Committee