Author: pwashburn

Dear Friends,

Please come to the annual gathering of Intermountain Yearly Meeting, our last at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, June 9-16, 2019. The theme will be Faith, Fear, and Our Future.  I hope you can come experience worship, fellowship and business among Friends of all ages from Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, West Texas and maybe even Wyoming.

The Program Working Group and Arrangements Committee have created a rich program of activities, fellowship, learning, spiritual growth and IMYM business.  Keep reading for all the latest activities and details.

New to this newsletter is an article listing the peace and social concerns activities of monthly meetings. As clerk, I get to know about some the events and endeavors of monthly meetings, and I want everyone in the yearly meeting to have a chance to learn and to celebrate the good work of Friends. This is not an exhaustive list, but my hope is that Friends feel a bit less like owls in the wilderness and maybe find activities they can join and support.

I look forward to fellowship with you this summer.

Peace,
Molly Wingate
Presiding Clerk, IMYM

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2019 IMYM Theme and Keynote Speaker

Faith, Fear and Our Future

How is Friends’ faith affected by the world around us? How do we sustain love, faith and hope in our connections to God and each other in these times? What does our faith teach us about overcoming fear? How can walking through fear strengthen our faith? How can Friends of all generations inspire and sustain one another as we face the future together?

Bridget Moix, US Senior Representative and Head of Advocacy at Peace Direct, will be the keynote speaker at IMYM this year. Peace Direct is a London-based non-governmental organization that helps identify, nurture, connect and support individuals doing nonviolent peacebuilding in their local communities around the world. She is a former Director of Casa de Los Amigos Friends Center in Mexico City and currently serves as clerk of the General Committee at FCNL. When she worked at FCNL earlier in her career she responded to the question, “If War is Not the Answer, what is?” with design of the Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict program.

To Bridget, overcoming fear is grounded in hope. Hope is grounded in love and faith. She is inspired to be a “pattern and example” of the power of nonviolence, empowering others, and raising questions about how to understand and prevent violent conflict.

Bridget Moix is a member of Friends Meeting of Washington (DC) and is married with two children. She has a PhD from George Mason University in Peacebuilding. You can read more at www.peacedirect.org and https://www.fcnl.org/people/bridget-moix.

 

Registration Information for the 2019 Annual Gathering of Intermountain Yearly Meeting

Online registration is now open (click this link). Credit cards will be accepted. Many adjustments have been made to make this a clearer and simpler process. Registration will only be available online. Please be generous in helping those who are not computer savvy to register. More details as to schedules, etc are posted here.

APRIL 28 – Final day for regular registration. Registrations after April 28 cause extra work for the registrars, and housing at Ghost Ranch may not be available. We ask for a $50 late fee.

MAY 7 – Final day for payment of registration. Final day for registrations, unless you are commuting. The online link will be removed. Anyone wishing to register after May 7 must contact the registrars.

About Pay as Led

We are continuing to use Pay as Led to finance our annual gathering. We want to remove as many barriers to participation as we can, so that more Friends can contribute to the fellowship and discernment of business at the annual gathering. There is no need for members or attenders to ask monthly meetings or the yearly meeting for financial support. Friends are asked to register for the accommodations they need and then prayerfully consider how much they are led to pay in support of attendance at the annual gathering – either less or more than the real cost which will be provided by the registrar.

Monthly meetings are asked to continue to support attendance at the annual gathering. However, instead of awarding scholarships for attendance to individuals, meetings are asked to send the amount they would spend on scholarships directly to the yearly meeting.  In this way, no one must ask for a scholarship, and everyone will be provided for.

This method of financing the annual gathering worked last year, and the yearly meeting has decided to use it unless if quits working. We had more attendance last year, especially among young adult Friends. If you want more information, please see the article Paying as Led in the most recent Friends Journal.

Early Days Seminars and Regular Days Interest Groups

There will be seminar time in Early Days (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) of approximately three hours each day. Seminars usually are conducted over three days, each with one or more presentations, experiences or trainings on a theme; one- or two-day seminars are also offered.  This year the seminars on Monday and Tuesday will be held in the afternoons to allow mornings for reflection, fellowship, hiking, arts and other activities.  Interest groups meet during the Regular Days, Friday and Saturday afternoons for 1 ½ hours. A list of these offerings is in the Registration packet.

Opportunities and Activities

Monday of Early Days a hike is planned at Pedernal, the iconic mesa loved by Georgia O’Keefe.  This is a full-day but not difficult walk through beautiful forest and meadows with spectacular views of the Chama Valley.

Activities are planned for the evenings:  Monday will be a family-friendly film; Tuesday evening will feature a session on race, inclusion and privilege; Wednesday is the welcome session.  The IMYM Peace and Service Committee is organizing a Thursday evening session where the IMYM representatives to FWCC, FCNL, AFSC, FGC, QEW and other Quaker organizations will offer a program about how their work serves IMYM Friends and relates to the theme, Faith, Fear, and Our Future.  Friday night is Contra Dancing with our own Quaker band, the Contra Band.  Senior Young Friends will again organize Saturday Creativity Night, after a preview presentation about Ft. Lewis College.

Following these evening programs, Junior Young Friends will welcome adult Friends at the Cantina for ice cream, foosball and ping pong along with intergenerational board games and organized singing.

The Senior Young Friends Listening Session will take place on Friday afternoon with a topic to be determined.

Friends in the Arts at IMYM

Friends in the Arts is planning workshops, projects and art opportunities at the Arts Center. Friends are invited to share their gifts, skills and inspiration to lead or assist the coordinators.  There will be a painting workshop, a leader for dance/physical movement, participatory music, and a group art project.

If you have ideas for Arts Center activities, would like to offer an arts-related activity or workshop, or want to join with Friends in the Arts as a volunteer in the Arts Center, please contact Caroline Rackley, IMYM arts coordinator, at designultd@newmexico.com.

 

Remembering Our Time at Ghost Ranch

The IMYM Clerk is working with young Friends to organize a plenary session on Saturday afternoon on Leaving Ghost Ranch and Looking Forward to Fort Lewis College: an Intergenerational Celebration.

The Program Working Group and Friends in the Arts expect to provide opportunities for us to remember and be grateful for our time at Ghost Ranch as we move on to Fort Lewis College.  Please start thinking about your stories, photos and mementos.

There will be a presentation about what to expect at Ft. Lewis College on Saturday night before the Contra Dancing.

IMYM Bookstore 2018

The bookstore at Intermountain Yearly Meeting’s annual gathering aims to serve Friends by providing:

• A set of resource publications supporting the theme, keynote address, seminars & interest groups
• A marketplace for IMYM artists, crafters, and musicians to sell their creations
• A place to read the IMYM Documents in Advance (replies to queries, reports, epistles, proposed minutes, etc.)
• A gathering spot for small group activities (information sharing, committee meetings, piano playing, etc.) outside of bookstore hours
• A shipping address for Quaker organizations sending materials to the yearly meeting sessions

If you are a seminar/interest group leader and would like us to stock a particular title, contact the bookstore coordinator (David Nachman, dnachman@mac.com) by 4/13/2018. We will order the requested items through the FGC Quaker Bookstore online, and it will arrange to have them shipped to Ghost Ranch.

If you are an IMYM author, artist, or musician and would like us to display your creations for purchase, please plan to set up in a space 30” front to back and no more than 36” left to right. Clearly label the prices and prepare an envelope with your name on it so Friends can leave payment. These sales will work on the honor system – bookstore volunteers won’t record your sales or handle your money.

Reminders for Monthly Meeting Clerks from the Presiding Clerk

• Each year, monthly meetings send their state of the meeting reports to the Presiding Clerk who compiles them for a state of the yearly meeting report.  Please have your meeting’s report sent to clerk@imym.org by May 6, 2019.
• If you have Memorial Minutes of Friends who have died this year, please share them with the Yearly Meeting.  They will be included in our Documents in Advance, and we will have a time early Friday evening to share Memorial Minutes. Send Memorial Minutes by May 6, 2019 to clerk@imym.org along with a suggestion for who from your meeting would like to read (3 minutes max).
• If your meeting has new people serving as clerk or as representative to IMYM, please send the names and contact information to  clerk@imym.org.

Fall 2019 Queries Summation

• About the schedule for our Annual Gathering

“We envision the annual gathering as a time for worship and fellowship, when younger and older people exchange ideas of the ‘durable satisfactions’ of life and, under a sense of Divine Presence, explore ways to experience and share them – precious times of living and loving, praying and learning.”  (Paraphrasing Clarissa Cooper in her 1974 history of IMYM)

Some years ago, we expanded the annual gathering of Intermountain Meeting to be a full week by including “early days” into the schedule. Early days begin on Sunday afternoon run through Wednesday morning.  For three days, we offer multi-meeting workshops where we can dive deeply into topics. The early days also provide additional time for restorative hiking, bird watching, and socializing, and for our children to mingle in a Quaker community. But they add expense for those attending and taking a week away can be difficult.

“Regular days” begin with committee meetings on Wednesday afternoon and go through worship on Sunday morning. Regular days include plenary meetings for our welcome, our speaker(s), for the Senior Young Friends Listening Session, for meetings for worship for business and for meetings for worship. Worship sharing, interest groups, committee meetings, and evening activities fill our time together.

As we prepare to move to a new location and in response to concerns voiced in our evaluations, it is time to reevaluate the schedule of our annual gathering, particularly the Early Days.  Please tell us your thoughts about the role of Early Days in the yearly meeting. Possible questions to consider include the following, but please go wherever Spirit leads you. Please be sure to include all populations in your meeting, including Senior Young Friends.

• Do we want to continue having the Early Days for four days?
• Are we done with Early Days?
• Would we like them to become part of the regular days of the annual gathering?

Of the questions asked about Early Days the easiest one to answer is the second one.  Most meetings felt that they are not ready to put down the Early Days. Many spoke of the importance of having fellowship for the youth and for adults. And the oft’ repeated desire to make the most of the travel time to be together also underscored the importance of Early Days for many. A few meetings noted that having the Early Days is taxing for the planning people and officers of the meeting and the focus of the annual gathering should be on the business of the yearly meeting. It may be time to lay down Early Days or at least move the Ft. Lewis without them to make the move easier.

The other queries about Early Days and the queries they provoked range widely. I encourage representatives to read the full texts in this folder. But a few summary lines can be gleaned. Waiting until we have some time at Ft. Lewis before we change the schedule is a common thread. There were many possibilities suggested for changing the schedule, including moving the time for seminars to the later part of the annual gathering. This schedule would speak to the complaint that that those who arrive on Wednesday for the business meetings and children’s programs feel left out. This schedule will allow for everyone to arrive at the same time, and those who chose to can stay for seminars. Another suggestion for the schedule was to have the youth hold their own “early days.” Maybe we could have just one Early Day to kick things off and then several days for seminars after the business meetings. Another suggestion is for the registration to be simplified by having half week and full week registration as FGC does.

Several recognized that taking a week off for the annual gathering is not an option for some families, and there is an added expense (though the cost is mitigated by Pay as Led). Some suggested having business meetings in the afternoon and seminars in the morning and run the whole gathering as a combination of early and regular days. Others were concerned about the financial costs of using pay as led for the early days. Is that sustainable? Some won’t come for early days at Ft. Lewis College whereas they would come to Ghost Ranch.

• About Pay as Led

We have discerned that we will continue using Pay as Led to finance our annual gathering for the foreseeable future. Using this method, Friends prayerfully consider how much they wish to pay for their room and board at the gathering. And then pay as they are led by Spirit – either more or less than the actual cost. This first year of using this method, we had 10% more attenders, 51% more young adult friends and came within 4% of covering all of our costs. As we plan for next year, your feedback will be very helpful.

• How did your monthly meeting experience pay as led?

In general, pay as led was a positive experience. Many said that they were appreciated that they didn’t have to ask for a scholarship. Others liked that they could come because of it, and still others were glad that more people could come to the annual gathering.  However, several commented that the registration process was confusing. Other were unclear if pay as led applied to campers and meals at the cafeteria. A few worried if pay as led is sustainable. Generally, Friends felt this was a reasonable first-year experiment. We should keep pay-as-led. And we should be clearer about deadlines and responsibilities for payment.

This year we created an equalization fund to cover our costs by asking monthly meetings to contribute the amount of money they normally spent to support those attending the annual gathering. Going forward, are there other ways your monthly meeting would like to pay for it?

• Would your meeting rather add to your assessment payments than make a separate contribution to the equalization fund?
• Would you like to encourage individuals in your meeting to support the annual gathering?
• Do you have other ideas?

Most meetings commented that they were fine with the current system or really did not want to increase the assessment to support pay as led. There were a variety of reasons for this, including keeping the finances of the annual gathering separate from the yearly meeting, clearer bookkeeping for monthly meetings, not burdening monthly meetings that do not send anyone to the annual gathering.

Few were willing to encourage individuals to support pay as led instead asking them to contribute to their own monthly meeting for the purposes supporting attendance at the annual gathering. One idea for fundraising was to hold an auction of crafts and other stuff at the annual gathering to raise money for the equalization fund.

• About relationship between IMYM and MM. 

Do you have any concerns about how your Monthly Meeting relates to the Yearly Meeting (not just the Annual Gathering) throughout the year? Are there programs or other things you wish the Yearly Meeting could offer or provide?

Have a visiting Friend travel to all the regional meetings with information about what meetings are doing in social justice.

Encourage intervisitation

Support Traveling Ministers to bring knowledge and a breath of fresh air to smaller meetings.

We need a way to record our Friends with gifts o ministry at the Yearly Meeting Level so that friends can call upon “subject area experts.”

We could have a a caravan of Friends to travel around and visit meetings to address a specific concern.

Welcome a way to have a coordinator to support and facilitate faith-based social action.

Offer a weekend clerk’s retreat for IMYM clerks.

Yearly Meeting Newsletter

Create an information packet for establish an identity as a conscientious objector.

The relationship between IMYM and MM is one way. MMs respond to IMYM with attendance

Bring in a Brinton Visitor, perhaps.

Use the model of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and get the youth together during the year. Maybe get a b us and gather them all up to attend a meeting.

Are meeting’s involvement with tmusic and dance at the annual gathering is important.

Clerks of committees might travel to monthly meetings and regional meetings helping to support efforts to revitalizine meetings at all levels.

We are grateful for the energy, efforts, skills and dedication that many Friends contribute to leadership and support of the yearly meeting’s activities.

Zip file of documents from all meetings who responded:  
Fall Queries 2018 – Responses + Summary (401 KB)

Individual meeting responses (clicking will download a document):

Albuquerque 
Boulder
Colorado Springs
Durango
El Paso + Las Cruces
Flagstaff 
Ft. Collins
Gila
Moab
Mountain View
Pima
Santa Fe
TMM