2024 Annual Sessions Workshop & Morning Group Sign-Up

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Please be sure to register for Annual Session before signing-up for workshops. Morning Worship Groups take place Weds-Sat, 8:15am to 9:15am (in-person only). Workshops take place Thurs, Fri, and Sat, 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Workshop descriptions are available here.

Hybrid Workshops

The following workshops will be offered in a hybrid format - both on-site at Hood College and simultaneously on Zoom for Friends joining from home. These workshops are each listed twice - with check-boxes to choose either the On-Site section or the Zoom section. Please be sure to choose the correct section so we can plan set-up appropriately. Everyone who signs up for a hybrid workshop, whether they select the in-person or Zoom section, will receive the Zoom link just in case your plans to attend on-site change.

(Thurs) Renewing the Quaker Testimony of Justice in the 21st Century
(Fri) Friends Testimony of Equality and Retrospective Justice
(Sat) Lowering Racial Barriers
(Sat) Sacrifice Zones and Environmental Justice
(Sat) Reproductive Justice: Abortion & Quaker Values

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Morning Worship Groups
Weds-Sat, 8:15am - 9:15am
In-person only

Worship Sharing

Worship Sharing for Families with Children

Bible Study

Experiment with Light

Chanting

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Thursday Workshop Selection
2:00pm - 4:00pm

T1. (On-Site) RENEWING THE QUAKER TESTIMONY OF JUSTICE IN THE 21st CENTURY - This workshop will examine how Justice is becoming the preeminent Quaker core value in the 21st Century. We will look at Justice as a Testimony for Quakers since the 1650s and also envision how Friends are renewing and expanding this vital Testimony in the present and in the coming decades. Jim Fussell (Langley Hill) is a student at Earlham School of Religion and a member of Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice Committee. He has led workshops at BYM and FGC and recently taught Quaker History and New Testament at Friends Theological College - Kaimosi in western Kenya.

T1. (Zoom) RENEWING THE QUAKER TESTIMONY OF JUSTICE IN THE 21st CENTURY

T2. ADDRESSING TOPICS OF CONCERN TO LOCAL MINISTRY COMMITTEES - A discussion of common themes that arise in this year’s State of the Meeting reports. Topics may include theist and non-theist Quakers, building community in our meetings and listening to Spirit in Meetings for Business. Facilitators: Greg Robb (FMW) & Eileen Stanzione (Patapsco)

T3. WRITING WORKSHOP FOR ALL AGES - Hesitant Writers Encouraged! Let your life speak through the written word! Modeled off the workshops that helped Belize Friends produce our book about Belize, this is a workshop for writers of all ages! We will generate an expansive, safe environment in which to create a draft of a short story, poem, or essay. Facilitator: Nikki Holland

T4. HEALING OUR WOUNDED LANDS - Our lands, especially farms, have suffered from agricultural misuse and neglect, resulting in soil degradation and erosion, which have prevented the soils from producing to full potential. In the long term, poor soils will affect our food supply, leading to world hunger. Agriculturists and farmers have found ways to mend the abuses of the past in order to fill the basic need of food. Facilitator Ben Friton is the director of The Reed Center.

T5. RIGHT RELATIONSHIP - In this experiential workshop, we'll explore histories of harm and power dynamics on a personal level, with an eye towards what "making things right" can look like. On this foundation we'll then explore what this might look like on a societal level. Facilitator: Nathan Kleban

T6. QUAKERS AND VOTING RIGHTS: WHAT YOU CAN DO - We’ll talk about the current state of voting rights in the United States, including on-the-ground issues and consequential voting rights litigation, and we’ll talk about some of the basic mechanics of citizen participation in supporting voting rights and how Friends can become involved at the local and state levels. Facilitator: Megan Gall

T7. FORGING A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE OF ANTI-RACISM - Join us as we consider and share our experiences of anti-racism as a spiritual practice. What do we understand to be a spiritual practice? What does Quaker historical and current experience teach us about putting core beliefs into action? What impediments arise – in oneself, in one’s meeting – to living out in the world the truths written on our hearts, that there is that of God in each of us? How can each of us start where we are and grow in faithfulness to this conviction? Racism and Othering are often at the core of that which shuts out the Light, and cultivating a practice of uncovering and shedding racism can help us individually and as a community of Friends. Facilitators: Barbara Bezdek (Homewood) & Beth Haw (Richmond)

T8. MONTHLY MEETING CLERK CONNECTION - Monthly Meeting clerks/assistant clerks will engage in worship- sharing & conversation around the following queries: What are your greatest joys in clerking? Your greatest challenges? How are we guided by the Spirit? What does it mean to be a servant leader? How do we foster the Meeting's work for peace and justice? Facilitators: Sarah Bur (Homewood), Betsy Tobin (Frederick) & Meg Meyer (Stony Run)

T9. INTRO TO QUAKER THEOLOGY - Quakerism has a rich and distinct theological tradition - yet many of us feel unsure of what Quakers believe beyond the SPICES. In this session, we will explore the core aspects of historic Quaker theology - and how those beliefs are expressed, and sometimes differ, across the worldwide body of Friends today. This session welcomes Friends from across the spectrum of beliefs (and non-belief!) and will invite participants to explore how their own theologies shape and support their work for justice in the world. Facilitator: Sarah Gillooly (Adelphi)

T10. RESPONDING TO DIFFERENCES IN OUR MEETINGS - Responding to Differences in Our Meetings - Differences aren't necessarily bad. We can learn from them and deal with them creatively. This workshop will focus on role plays of types of differences in Meeting and how to respond in helpful ways, drawing on Quaker spiritual practices, and in this way, letting our lives speak. Facilitators: Bob Rhudy (Patapsco) & Joan Liversidge (Sandy Spring)

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Friday Workshop Selection
2:00pm - 4:00pm

F1. (On-Site) FRIENDS' TESTIMONY OF EQUALITY AND RETROSPECTIVE JUSTICE - Friends treasure our Testimony of Equality, yet we live in a world shaped by structures that promote and protect inequality, poverty for some, and privilege for others. Let’s consider ways that we as Friends and Meetings can share our material resources, skills, and networks to promote justice, equity, and equality. Facilitators: Marcy Seitel (Adelphi) & Phil Caroom (Annapolis)

F1. (Zoom) FRIENDS' TESTIMONY OF EQUALITY AND RETROSPECTIVE JUSTICE

F2. IN WHAT WAYS ARE OUR ANTI-RACISM QUERIES TRANSFORMING YOUR WORSHIP COMMUNITY? - Friends will share how our anti-racist queries are being practiced in their Meetings, Worship Communities, and committees. What decisions, discussions and discernments were impacted by considering these queries? Have these queries helped to create a more inclusive and belonging community? Facilitator: Michael Wallace (Bethesda)

F3. QUAKER COUNTER CULTURE DURING McCARTHYISM, 1947-1962 - The 1950s were a decade of incredible pressure to conform, yet in BYM and elsewhere many Friends were resisting conscription and war taxes, refusing to swear loyalty oaths, as well as challenging racial segregation, and weapons of mass destruction. This workshop will examine Quakers doing this and WHY! Facilitator: Jim Fussell (Langley Hill)

F4. RESOURCES FOR BEFRIENDING THE END OF LIFE - A Tender Time: Quaker Voices on the End of Life is an invitation to readers to let our later years and final days be a living testimony of our values. Do you want to talk about these difficult topics, but don’t know how to start? Are you afraid of what lies ahead of you, or wonder if there is a Quakerly way to live through your aging and dying? This workshop will introduce our book’s resources through real stories of how Friends have let their lives speak when facing similar issues, explain complex medical and legal terms, and offer practical help to you and your meeting. We show examples of various personal and meetings’ activities, and encourage you to find ways these resources fit your meeting's needs. Facilitators: Patti Nesbitt ( Sandy Spring), Kristin Zimet & Lisa Allen (Midlothian)

F5. EMBRACING ECO-SORROW: STRENGTH, SOLACE, and OUR VOICE - As awareness and acceptance of the realities of climate change have grown, so has the experience of deeper climate-related grief, loss and other emotions. Seeking truth through our loves and connections, we will sensitively explore some contexts related to eco-sorrow and some tools for expression, sharing, finding strength, solace and our voice. Facilitator: Barb Adams (Richmond)

F6. RIGHT SHARING - An experiential workshop based on the John Woolman quote, "May we look upon our treasures, and the furniture of our houses, and the garments in which we array ourselves, and try whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions, or not." Facilitator: Nathan Kleban (Right Sharing of World Resources)

F7. THE MAGIC OF FAITH & PLAY - Hands-on first day lessons that are inviting, interactive, and ready to implement upon available training. We expect to have a sample lesson of this approach that energizes our kids to go out and serve justice. Facilitator: Nancy Moore Goren (Stony Run)

F8. ECUMENICAL DECADE OF REPENTANCE - Rise Up for a Just and Flourishing Planet - Decrying the climate emergency as an ethical, moral, and spiritual crisis, manifested in a fixation on profit, the World Council of Churches declared an Ecumenical Decade of repentance and action for a just and flourishing planet. Learn how Friends can accelerate efforts to protect God’s creation and promote just and sustainable communities. Facilitator: Kallen Benson (Annapolis)

F9. QUEER THEOLOGY & QUAKERISM - Learn about the history and core concepts of queer theology and explore how these ideas can shape the future of Quakerism. We will engage the work of major queer theologians, including Linn Marie Tonstad, Patrick Cheng, and Marcella Althaus-Reid. Facilitator: Jim Webner

F10. ACTIVISM FOR PEACE/JUSTICE ACROSS GENERATIONS - Walking together on different paths - As we face multiple crises – genocidal war in Palestine, escalating climate change, increasing authoritarianism, rollbacks of civil rights -- what can Friends say . . . and do? This workshop invites activists confronting injustice and violence from perspectives of different generations and life experiences to explore how to learn from and support each other. Facilitators: Jonathon Gross & Leslie Sussan (Bethesda)

F11. A FARM TOUR: FRIENDS MEETING SCHOOL - Tour Friends Meeting School and farm. Len McGinnis raises vegetables and poultry on the farm at Friends Meeting School, where he engages students with nature, teaches about sustainable agriculture, and supports healthy lunches and a local food bank. Facilitators: Deborah Haines (Alexandria), Len MCGinnis, Chris Kimberly

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Saturday Workshop Selection
2:00pm - 4:00pm

S1. RISING UP AND PRACTICING THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT - In 2023, BYM revised the introduction the life of the spirit in our Faith and Practice. How to speak of these powerful lived practices? Biblically: the in-breaking of the peaceable kingdom/reign of God? The SPICES values? A single value: justice? Presentations from Faith & Practice Committee, sharing from participants, discussion. Facilitators: Jim Fussell (Langley Hill) & Ann Riggs (Annapolis)

S2. THE SPIRITUAL PRACTICE OF GRIEF & LOSS - Dealing with the world, be it on a global or personal level, means dealing with loss. This workshop is for anyone who is grappling with loss--of a loved one, a pet, a relationship, a job, an opportunity or a set of beliefs. Facilitators: Debby Churchman (FMW) & Kathy Powell (FMW)

S3. CONVERSATIONS WITH THE OTHER: SPEAKING WITH THOSE WITH OTHER POLITICAL VIEWS - A workshop on communicating with those with whom we vigorously disagree on political and other issues. They can't really believe that, can they? But they can and do. Presenting them with the "facts" in verbal "gotcha" is rarely helpful and often detrimental in moving forward. To have a democracy we have to learn (and relearn) to work together, which we can only do if we can communicate. Practice at questioning, listening and getting past believing our view is the only view. Facilitator: JE McNeil (FMW)

S4. SEEKING PEACE IN YOUR COMMUNITY - The Executive Director of Quaker House will suggest strategies that local meetings can use to advance the Peace Testimony through a variety of outreach projects that can be adapted for the needs and interests of the meeting. Facilitator: Wayne Finegar (Sandy Spring/Fayetteville)

S5. THE GIFT OF COMMON GROUND: NURTURE SOCIAL JUSTICE BY LETTING LAND SPEAK - Individual action - “Let your life speak” is powerful, but rapid social justice requires the catalyzing, energizing and restorative power of common ground: safe space to gather in community, share, ground, and find peace. How have Friends historically nurtured social action by letting our land speak? How are we called today? Facilitators: Kimberly Benton (Annapolis) & Debbi Sudduth

S6. VOCAL MINISTRY: OUR COMMUNAL ENCOUNTERS WITH SPIRIT - Part of advancement and outreach is living our lives and sharing our truth in such a way that people enter the doors of our Meetinghouses. And another part of advancement and outreach is making sure our Meetings are vital, welcoming, and transformative communities that people want to join. This workshop will be a space to talk about our experiences of spirit-led vocal ministry and how we can nurture, expect, and anticipate vocal ministry that will deepen our experiences of the divine and help grow our Meetings. Facilitator: Jim Citro (Patapsco)

S7. BECOMING INTENTIONALLY INTERGENERATIONAL - Most monthly meetings have asked themselves how they can attract younger people and families with children. We'll take a look at small and manageable ways to meet the needs of younger folks by bringing the generations together and building a stronger and more vibrant community for all. Facilitator: Meghan Goldman (Goose Creek)

S8. (On-Site) LOWERING RACIAL BARRIERS - Many BYM local Meetings have small groups (sometimes called “Change Groups”) addressing racial justice and lowering racial barriers in their Meetings. Friends doing this work will share with each other what they have been doing, what they plan to do, and the challenges they face. Facilitators: David Etheridge (FMW) & Pierce Hammond (Bethesda)

S8. (Zoom) LOWERING RACIAL BARRIERS

S9. (On-Site) SACRIFICE ZONES AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: What Can Quakers Do? - Through film resources, discussion with a panel of impacted community members in the BYM region, and an interactive map, we will explore environmental injustice - when polluting/toxic projects place an inequitable burden on marginalized communities, damaging the environment, health and heritage, and rob citizens of their civil and human rights. Facilitators: Barb Adams (Richmond) & Carl Benson (Annapolis)

S9. (Zoom) SACRIFICE ZONES AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: What Can Quakers Do?

S10. (On-Site) REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE: ABORTION & QUAKER VALUES - The U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade has led to great uncertainty. The BYM Peace & Social Concerns Reproductive Justice Working Group invites Friends to consider evolving medical issues, racial justice, emerging law, and Quaker values. We expect a lively discussion. Facilitators: Katherine Cole, MD (Adelphi), Taylor Stanton, Catherine Nnoka (FMW) & Victor Thuronyi (Adelphi)

S10. (Zoom) REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE: ABORTION & QUAKER VALUES

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