Baltimore Yearly Meeting Workshops 2007

Please indicate your choices in the workshop section of the registration form. Our workshop leaders have worked diligently to prepare a meaningful experience for the participants. They count on our attendance. If you find that you cannot attend the workshop you registered for, please tell the workshop leader directly or through a Program Committee member (with the red dots on their nametags.) Please note that some workshops run more than one day or are offered twice.

Workshops are open to everyone including Young Friends unless otherwise noted.

1. Becoming a Friendly Adult Presence (FAP)

This 3-day workshop will present safety, developmental and programmatic training for youth workers in BYM. This training is mandatory for all FAPs or potential FAPs. Materials will be distributed in advance to all pre-registered participants. This is a 3-day workshop. Limited to 15.

Leaders: Anne Bacon and Laurie Wilner are members of Youth Programs Committee and helped to create this training program for the Yearly Meeting.

2. A Look at Our New Proposed Queries, Advices, and Voices

We will discuss the new proposed Queries on which the Faith & Practice Revision Committee has been working since the fall of 2002. We want to help people take these new Queries, Advices, and Voices back to their monthly meetings, worship groups, allowed meeting, and preparative meetings to discuss them in either small groups or as a whole so that we can get as much feedback as possible. We hope Friends will see this opportunity to expand their understanding of Friends practices and their own faith.

Leaders: Margaret Stambaugh & Sheila Bach have served on the Faith & Practice Revision Committee since its revival. Margaret is a member of Gettysburg Meeting and Sheila is a member of Langley Hill Meeting.

3. Quaker Quest: Simple, Contemporary, Radical, Outreach

What would your one-minute answer be to someone asking "if Quakers believe in that of God in everyone, what about Saddam Hussein?" Quaker Quest is a way of communicating our Quaker tradition with the general public, which enriches the seeker and those doing the sharing. We will present a mini-session and some of the exercises used to prepare a meeting for presentation of a QQ cycle. See Quaker outreach, see Quakerism, with new eyes. For more information, see Friends Journal, February, 2008, p. 20.

Leader: Maria Bradley is a member of Sandy Spring Meeting and FGC Advancement & Outreach, was trained in Woodbrooke, England, by the British Traveling Quaker Quest group, attended a session in London, and co-led an FGC Gathering Workshop with Mary Jo Clogg, a founding member of the Quaker Quest team.

4. The Interface of Love and Grief

This workshop will explore the concept of "soft grief" - grief that is inseparable from love. Through worship sharing, dialog and experiential exercises we will explore the significance of grief in our lives, in regard to both personal loss and social tragedy.

Leader: Maryhelen "Mel" Snyder is a member of Langley Hill Meeting, a family therapist and the author of "No Hole In The Flame," a book about grief and love.

5. How Then Do We Answer?

If "war is not the answer," what then are our answers and how do we present them, to ourselves and to others? We'll revisit the historic basis of Friends' peace testimony, and prayerfully consider what Quaker tradition suggests to us for making peace today.

Leader: Michael Cronin lives in Washington, DC with his wife Ellen. They have been active in BYM for more then forty years.

6. Intensive Journal ® Program for Self-Development

Created by psychotherapist Ira Progoff Ph.D., Intensive Journal method is a leading form of journal-writing for personal and spiritual growth for 40 years. The method is an excellent vehicle to foster understanding and rapport between people, work through powerful issues that can lead to healing, etc. The method is an empowering process, that can build energy and momentum, to take a proactive approach to life and thereby break through feelings of stalemate and indecision. Use the method to clarify and connect with our values, priorities and passions to lead a more meaningful life. Presentation includes program overview and sample exercises.

Leader: Vic Kryston, a certified leader in the Intensive Journal method for 25 years, is an adjunct professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College.

7. Encountering the Other - a cinematic exploration

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" could be called Quaker science fiction. This 1951 Golden Globe winner speaks to issues of the alien in American society, the relationship of the individual to the state, power and the meaning of power, and taking ethical stands that are opposed by the machinery of the state. We will watch the film and then discuss the issues in terms of what love calls us to do.

Leader: AFSC staff

8. Christian Quakers: A redundancy, an oxymoron, or an exotic anachronism?

This is an experiential, participatory workshop. We will alternate between small group and large group sharing. Our first question will be, "What have been our experiences - good or bad - as a Quaker among Christians?" The second question is, "What have been our experiences - good or bad - as a Christian among Quakers?" From this sharing, we will consider our unique gifts as well as our individual needs. Georgia is also working on a written version of her presentation on the Bible and homosexuality. If you want a copy, bring $ 1.00.

Leader: Georgia Fuller is a member of Langley Hill Meeting and has taught Bible among Friends for the last twenty years and has an NITS degree from Virginia Theological Seminary.

9. Love, Recognition, and Human Equality: U.S. Quakers in the 21st Century World

This workshop will use small-group discussions, socio grams, and other interactive ways to explore the linked themes in my upcoming (May 2008) book Re-engage! America and the world after Bush, including: Global Inclusion, human security, fairness in the global economy, human rights, climate change, and global balances. How might our emphasis on love and our profound recognition of the equality of all humans give U.S. Quakers a distinctive role as our country adapts to the challenges and openings of the decades ahead? This is a two-day workshop. Please attend both days. YFs 16 and older are welcome.

Leader: Helena Cobban is a member of Charlottesville Meeting and currently friend in Washington with FCNL

10. The Capacity to Love and Be Loved: A psychological point of view of the strength of love

Psychologists have identified "the Capacity to Love and Be Loved" as one of the character strengths most connected to happiness. It is also shown up as a common character strength in the best leaders. In this workshop, let us consider how this character strength is developed, strengthened and used. We will explore ways to express love and ways to accept love. Participants may want to complete the VIA Strengths Survey at authentichappiness.com, but it's not a requirement.

Leader: Tasha Walsh, known as the Core Happiness Coach, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, who works with people to integrate positive psychology and strengths into their life and work.

9. Love, Recognition, and Human Equality: U.S. Quakers in the 21st Century World

11. Just Peace Circles: Restorative Dialogue and Deep Listening

This restorative and holistic approach to peacemaking relies on deep listening and collective wisdom to resolve problems, strengthen relationships and build stronger, more loving communities. Said to be a process "beyond mediation." restorative dialogue builds on Quaker process, traditional peacemaking, and the values and principles of restorative practices. Bring personal concerns or those of the Society of Friends as examples that can be used for practice. As Gandhi admonished us to "Be the change we want to see in the world", we are called upon to "be" the beloved community and restore balance to ourselves, our communities and our environment. This workshop is also offered on Saturday.

Leader: Bette Rainbow Hoover is a member of Sandy Spring Meeting, and has been teaching peace building through conflict resolution, meditation, and spiritual practice for many decades.

12. Walking Our Talk: Diversity in Our Meetings and Becoming More Aware of Our Cultural Blinders

Why do white people/white Friends sometimes 'feel defensive when talking about race'? And what can we do about this? This workshop will consider these questions. We will look at actions already developed or proposed by the BYM Working Group on Racism as well as work done to date within monthly meetings. We will then look at what further actions monthly meetings - and individuals - can take, so that we more readily see racism when it occurs and feel more able to confront racism wherever we encounter it.

Leaders: Elizabeth DuVerlie, a member of Stony Run Meeting in Baltimore and Clerk of the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR), is an experienced facilitator and a mediator; Mel Snyder is a psychotherapist, her meeting's liaison with the WGR, and has given workshops and written articles and other materials on overcoming racism.

13. All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres...

What role does music play in your spiritual life? Come and share your thoughts and feelings about music and your spiritual life, and feel free to bring any instruments, sheet music, or recordings that you may feel especially led to share.

Leader: Josh Humphries is a member of Roanoke Meeting.

14. Bottled Water and the Quaker Testimonies: Can They be Compatible?

Americans spend $15,000,000,000 a year on bottled water. The world spends $15,000,000,000 a year to develop and to provide potable water to the developing world. The petroleum used to make the plastic bottles would fuel 100,000 US cars for a year and 80% of those bottles go to land fills. 3,000 children die each day from polluted water. We will use the Testimonies to examine our role and to set a new direction.

Leader: Byron Sandford is Executive Director of William Penn House, a Texan with roots in the Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas and southern New Mexico.

15. Opening Hearts and Minds about Sexual Orientation and Marriage Equality

Given the ongoing tension among BYM and FUM Friends over the issues of sexuality diversity and marriage equality for same gender couples, we Friends need to find a way to bridge the gap of understanding and then see what Love will do. This workshop uses the L.A.R.A. (Listen, Affirm, Respond, & Add) technique of interpersonal communication to engage in trans formative dialogue around divisive issues. Using vignettes developed by Bonnie Tinker, a Portland, Oregon Friend, in her "Love Makes a Family, Inc." training program, the participants will learn to dialogue with each other as if they were on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, and communicate so that love will win out. Limited to 30.

Leader: Joe Izzo is a member of Friends Meeting of Washington and serves on the BYM Ad Hoc Committee on Gender and Sexual Diversity Concerns. He trained with Bonnie Tinker in a week long L.A.R.A. workshop at the 2005 Friends General Conference Summer Gathering.

16. Love In The Work Of Our Hands

Knitting, crocheting, spinning, quilting, tatting, lace making, braiding and other fiber crafts can offer an opportunity for silence and spiritual growth as well as for creating something beautiful for yourself or others. How does this work enrich your spirituality? How does the creativity involved affect your life and your relationships with others? Bring your current project to work on, and come spend time together with other creative people as we explore the deeper meanings we find in the work of our hands.

Leader: Kit Mason recently added spinning and dyeing wool to her skills, in order to make thoroughly original socks, shawls and other knitted and crocheted creations.

17. Eco-Justice: Social Justice for the Environment

How can Quakers address social injustice with love? Eco-Justice is about trying to address the inequities that result from human settlement, industrial development and facility siting. The eco-justice movement has educated and assisted communities in organization and mobilization to take charge of their lives, their communities and their surroundings. Eco-Justice is a way of trying to address power imbalances, lack of political enfranchisement, and redirect resources so that citizens can live in healthy, livable and sustainable communities. This workshop will talk about how Quakers can use the principles of eco justice to address social justice inequities.

Leader: Barbara Williamson is consulting clerk of Quaker Earthcare Witness and uses eco-justice models in working with minority communities in the mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions of the U.S.

18. Clerking: An Opportunity to Try What Love Will Do

All are welcome to join in an exploration of the joys of clerking. From preparing an agenda, to gathering the sense of the meeting and more, friends will benefit from shared understandings and experiences of how our "peculiar," spirit led practice of doing the business of our society has guided and sustained us for over 350 years. This workshop is also offered on Saturday.

Leader: Lamar Matthew is past clerk of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, York Monthly Meeting, and various other communities.

11. Just Peace Circles: Restorative Dialogue and Deep Listening

18. Clerking: An Opportunity to Try What Love Will Do

19. On Being Gathered: Outreach and Visitation Among Friends

What does it mean to be a "gathered people"? How can visiting among Friends help stitch together our far-flung meetings? Who is it that is being gathered, and who is doing the gathering? If you are hungry for a deeper experience of Quakerism, one way to find it is by visiting different meetings. Visiting gives us a chance to expand our horizons, to share our concerns, open our hearts and to experience anew the Spirit that draws us toward unity. Come share your own experiences, and explore how visitation and spiritual revitalization can support each other.

Leader: Deborah Haines served for six years as clerk of Friends General Conference Advancement Outreach Committee, and is now clerk of BYM Advancement & Outreach.

20. White in a Multicultural Society: Making Whiteness Visible

When we think of race, many of us focus on people of color. As the dominant culture, whites think of themselves as the norm, with other people being the different ones, the ones with a race. As a result, whites have a hard time seeing white culture. This workshop will consider the question, what does it mean to be white in a multicultural society? Participants will view the film Making Whiteness Visible and have an opportunity to reflect on how they view whiteness.

Leader: Patience Schenck is founder and former clerk of the Working Group on Racism.

21. Love, HIV and Diversity

Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, people have selectively responded to the issue often along religious lines, and rarely crossing those lines. The goal of the workshop is to provide participants an opportunity to look at the issue of HIV/AIDS as a vehicle for promoting peaceful dialogue, collaboration and action that also promotes global unity and deepens respect for those with whom we might disagree. The workshop will be based on the experiences of the facilitator's work in Evangelical communities.

Leader: Brad Ogilvie, Program Coordinator, William Penn House. For the past eight years, Brad lived and worked in conservative Wheaton, IL, doing HIV prevention and service work that engaged people from across religious, political and geographic divides with a spirit of love and respect.

22. What is Love Doing Within Friends United Meeting?

In Light of the diversity among Friends in North America and the world, what will be our Quaker contribution to the Peaceable Kingdom? Learn about BYM's lntervisitation Program and envision what love can do for Friends in the 21st century. Meet out visitors from other parts of FUM. Dialog with out members who have visited Great Plains, Indiana, New England, New York, North Carolina, Southeastern, and Western yearly meetings and west coast monthly meetings. Give your personal response to the query of early Friends, "How does Truth prosper among you?"

Leader: Georgia Fuller and the Intervisitation Committee

23. What Love Can Do: A personal and community interactive exploration

A co-active, interactive process that will allow participants to explore the meaning and perspectives of the William Penn quote; "Let us then try what love will do." Using techniques and exercises from life coaching, the group will explore the possibilities and challenges of manifesting Penn's vision and its implications for our individual lives and for our shared life as a community and for our role as citizens of the world. Limited to 12.

Leader: Nancy Jo Steetle is a certified co-active coach, specialized in facilitating clarity and vision and action for individuals, businesses, and non-profit organizations in transition.

24. The 35% Solution

Caring for Creation calls Quakers to make changes in the way we live. If 35% of the U.S. population reduces their personal energy requirements using the recommendations in this workshop, we can reduce our nation's emissions to the level the Kyoto Protocol targeted while individually saving money.

Leader: Barbara Williamson

25. Gay, Quaker, and Christian: What's a Friend To Do?

Presentation/discussion led by Peterson Toscano, Friend, playwright, performer, and survivor of the "ex-gay" religious movement.

Leader: Peterson Toscano