The Worship and Ministry Committee of Albuquerque Monthly Meeting invites you to attend our new twice-a-month online Wednesday evening Meeting for Worship. These will be held on the first and third Wednesdays from 7:00 to 8:20 pm, beginning November 15th, 2023. Be sure to use the correct Zoom link as they are different from one another.
We are inviting members from meetings within IMYM to join us, which will enable us to have fellowship beyond just the annual gathering. Please feel free to forward this email to Friends who might be interested in attending.
The format of this meeting is as follows: unprogrammed worship for one hour (7:00-8:00 pm) and then introductions, sharing of joys and sorrows, brief announcements, and time for fellowship. We request that you enter the meeting in silence. The first person to open the link will begin expectant worship. Participants will automatically be muted as they join. Please unmute only to give vocal ministry and then re-mute during the first hour.
Should you need help during the meeting, use Chat to send a direct message to the Host, who can be found under the Participant tab. Please avoid use of the chat for any other purpose during the worship hour, as many find it distracting.
Contact Henry Selters (505-985-4981) or Lynn Huxtable (505-688-2583) with any questions. We hope to see you there!
“Most Quakers still don’t know our history as participants in this enterprise of forced assimilation of Native people,” Paula Palmer says. “So the first thing that we have to do is learn the truth.”
In this video, Paula discusses Friends’ role in the traumas inflicted on the indigenous peoples of North America since the arrival of European colonists—particularly in the administration of boarding schools where Native children were forced to abandon their heritage and embrace the ways of White Christian culture, where they would never be truly accepted as equals.
Although it’s easy to “shake our fingers” at previous generations, Paula warns us that retroactive judgment isn’t enough—Quakers today need to hold themselves accountable as well. “As we think about work that we do today as Friends,” she says, “we need to examine our own attitudes and make sure that ways that we are trying to do good in the world are not also coming out of a sense of superiority.”
Applications are now open for the 2024 season of this 10-week residential study program on Pendle Hill’s beautiful 24-acre campus.
Do you find yourself seeking space and community in which to share the daily rhythm of learning, work, and worship? Pendle Hill’s Spring Term offers a greenhouse – a protected space for Friends and other seekers to bring leadings, ideas, questions, and other seeds of the “already but not yet” – to nurture these visions into being, through the daily rhythm of study, work, and worship in community. Learn more about this program and all it has to offer, and reach out ot admissions@pendlehill.org with any questions.
Below is a copy of our latest education program update email, and you can also find a full list of upcoming opportunities on our website.
At our annual meetings in 2021 and 2022, IMYM approved minutes that state:
“IMYM urges individual Friends and monthly meetings to watch for this bill (Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act,S. 1723) and to urge their congressional representatives to support it. IMYM further urges Friends to learn the history of the Quaker Indian schools and consider ways to support Native-managed healing processes, including programs to teach Native languages and prevent youth suicide.”
To implement the second point: IMYM’s 2022 Keynote Speaker, Ernest House, Jr., of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, told us about a new charter school on his reservation in Towaoc, Colorado. The Kwiyagat Community Academy “envisions a future where the graduates of the school will have a strong grounding in Nuchiu (Ute) culture and language while incorporating modern perspectives as contributing members of the Ute Mountain Ute community.” Learn more on their website: https://utekca.org
This school is much in need of financial support. We can implement the IMYM minutes by sending donations to: Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (please be sure to write “For the Kwiyagat Community Academy’ on the memo line). Mail to:
Friends, let’s give a warm welcome to the 2023 IMYM Annual Gathering Plenary Speaker: Jon Watts of QuakerSpeak and TheeQuaker Project. Jon, a Quaker songwriter and video creator, has produced over 220 videos and brought 3.5 million plus eyes to the Religious Society of Friends. We asked Jon to join us in our quest of Becoming the Quakers the World Needs Today and his keynote, interest group, and Young Friend sessions will help us rise to the occasion. Intro text block
Jon Watts is a member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, which holds his ministry under its care. He is a Quaker media creator and spiritual entrepreneur. As a songwriter, Jon toured the world sharing stories of the Early Friends and his own spiritual journey growing up in a Quaker intentional community and attending the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program at Guilford College.Trailing text block.
*Photo Credit to A Colorado Wildflowers Guide, Blanket flower photo by Sweet Babeejay
After years of seeking, George Fox’s spiritual transformation occurred when “I heard a voice which said, ‘There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition’ and when I heard it my heart did leap for joy.” It is the experience and practice of Friends that this spiritual transformation can happen to anyone and everyone during silent, expectant worship, regardless of the words used to represent “Jesus.” The reality of this experience is the heart of Quaker light and life. Through communal expectant worship we can experience this connection and transformation. Of course, in the 21st century, the world is considerably different from (that of) George Fox’s day. We have more “noise” and distractions as a result of many factors including consumerism, mass media, social media, and rapidly progressing technological change.
Does the Quaker way (continue to) speak to our “condition?”
Come to Annual Gathering to experience (our beloved) community, relax, have fun, and together learn how to become the Quakers the world needs today.
Annual Gathering 2023 registration is open at imym.org.
The Way Forward Working Group
I began my term as interim presiding clerk in September 2022, with my term ending at the rise of Annual Gathering 2023. During this time, with the help and support of many Friends (thank you!), we have managed to continue much of the work of the yearly meeting. My other goal has been to facilitate a vision for IMYM’s future. If we accept that our yearly meeting is important to us, what do we want it to be? We have a wide range of options to consider, including: An entirely online, virtual community? A yearly meeting providing a wide range of services and support to our monthly meetings? A yearly meeting that supports and engages with the broader Quaker community of organizations? The Representatives Committee formed and has charged the Way Forward Planning group to discern a future for IMYM. The purpose of this work is for IMYM to come to unity on a shared future vision and structure at Annual Gathering 2024. The Representative’s Committee has developed an outline for an operating plan to complete the day-to-day management of IMYM through the rise of Annual Gathering 2024. My concern as Interim Presiding Clerk is that no one is in place and prepared to develop and do the detailed work of this outline.
In Light & Life,
Jerry
*Photo credit to Judi Dressler (Boulder Friends Meeting) for the stunning Sandhill Cranes image.
Annual Gathering Registration is NOW OPEN!!!
Featuring Keynote Speaker: Jon Watts of QuakerSpeak
Friends, come one, come all, to Intermountain Yearly Meeting Annual Gathering 2023, online and in-person at Ft. Lewis College, Durango, Colorado. Please join us Wednesday, June 21st through Sunday, June 25th. We’ll come together for daily worship sharing, meeting for worship with concern for business, awesome youth programs, excellent interest groups, all-ages special events, fellowship with friends, rejuvenation, and FUN, FUN, FUN.
Monthly Meetings – soon check your postal mail for a special care package with an eye-catching event poster (to hang in your Meetinghouses) and event “tickets” you can share with your community to help encourage a full and lively Annual Gathering 2023.
The IMYM Peace and Social Justice Roundtable
The IMYM Peace and Social Justice Roundtable provides an online space for IMYM community members to share and discuss their personal, Meeting, or Worship Group peace and social justice interests, concerns, and projects. Please ZOOM with us on the last Saturday of every month at 2pm mountain time (Denver). Open to ALL Friends! Click HERE for more info!
Host Family Needed
We need a Host Family for our Heberto Sein visitor. IMYM hosts a delegate chosen by Mexico City meeting at our Annual Gathering each year. Ernesto de Jesús is our Heberto Sein visitor. IMYM needs a host family to assist with Ernesto’s participation in IMYM’s Annual Gathering. The host job is to provide hospitality to Ernesto as needed. This includes picking up at the airport, providing food and lodging for a day or so, transportation to and from Durango and the Annual Gathering, providing transportation back to the airport after the end of the Annual Gathering.
For more information contact Jerry Peterson, clerk@imym.org303-726-8960.
Friends World for Consultation (FWCC), Section of the Americas SOUTHWEST REGIONAL GATHERING VIA ZOOM MAY 6, 2023, 11 am Denver Time, 2 hours.
Traveling minister Emily Provance will help us explore the challenges of meeting via computer. Can we sense the “Presence of the Room” when the room has no walls? How do we maintain unity? The meeting will be conducted in both English & Spanish. All Friends are welcome. Click HERE for more info.
Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)75th Anniversary Celebration
This June, we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in New York. Since its inception, QUNO has worked with diplomats, UN officials, and community members to implement the original vision of peace and human rights enshrined in the United Nations’ Charter. Our commitment to lifting up diverse perspectives, insights, and concerns has led Quakers to be seen as trusted partners who create the space for new and creative solutions in response to global challenges. Click HERE for more info!
Traveling minister Emily Provance will help us explore the challenges of meeting via computer. Can we sense the “Presence of the Room” when the room has no walls? How do we maintain unity? The meeting will be conducted both in English and Spanish. All Friends are welcome.
The IMYM Peace and Social Justice Roundtable Regularly Meets the last Saturday of each month, 2pm MT (Denver)
ZOOM in and share peace and social justice concerns and projects—yours and your Meeting’s, too.
Join with other Friends and find suggestions to take to your Meeting for seasoning.IMYM Friends are active in immigration justice, race and gender equality, rights of indigenous peoples, nuclear disarmament, health care for all, and more.
Let’s share our leadings, priorities, and resources!
These discussions offer an informal and simple means of advancing peace and social justice communication and cooperation.
Thank you to Jamie Newton (Gila), Anne Remley (Boulder) and IMYM Representatives Committee for initiating this positive new project.
