Baltimore Yearly Meeting Young Adult Friends Epistle
To Friends everywhere,
We, the Young Adult Friends of Baltimore Yearly
Meeting, have gathered together three times since the
2006 BYM Annual Sessions.
In December, we met at Langley Hill Friends Meeting
in McLean, VA for a weekend of fellowship, worship,
and education. We had a good time experimenting
in the kitchen, with some tasty results. Ruth Flower
from Friends Committee on National Legislation led a
workshop on maintaining hope in the face of adversity.
As we spent time in Tom Fox’s home Meeting, many
Friends in our community were reminded of the deep
connection we had shared with him.
In May, we traveled to Eastland Preparative Meeting
of Little Britain Monthly Meeting for a service project
repairing the Ballance Meeting House. In addition,
Linda Coates led a workshop on the history of Friends
in the Little Britain area. Young adult Friends from
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) joined us in this
weekend, and we discussed the differences in our young
adult Friends programs and what we can learn from
each other. We enjoyed meeting with our neighbors
from PYM and we hope to arrange other fellowship
opportunities in the future.
We write to you now from Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s
2007 annual sessions, where we have met as a group and
with the larger BYM community. As part of the Yearly
Meeting program, we organized an interactive history
program and scavenger hunt for all ages. Young Adult
Friends dressed as Isaac Penington, Robert Barclay,
Catharine Evans, and Sara Cheevers and gave out clues
to young treasure hunters. It was a great success.
Our Yearly Meeting is struggling with some serious
issues, including our relationship with Friends United
Meeting and concerns about our own youth programs.
Two BYM Young Adult Friends are currently traveling
to Western Yearly Meeting (FUM) as part of BYM’s
Intervisitation program and we look forward to hearing
back from them about their experience with Friends
from a different tradition. We have also enjoyed the
fellowship of two young adult visitors from other FUM-
affiliated Yearly Meetings during these sessions.
During the past year, some Friends in BYM have
expressed concerns about how the Young Friends
program handles difficult or dangerous situations.
Many of us were recently involved in the Young
Friends community, and we know how important that
program can be in the lives of high
schoolers. We have worked to find
ways to support Young Friends and
their program during this time of
conflict.
At our spring conference, a YAF
committee was formed for the
purpose of writing a minute in
support of same-sex marriage. This
committee met several times and
brought a draft minute to Annual
Sessions. Although our community
is united in support of same-sex
marriage, we had some difficulty in
finding the right words to express
it. After much discernment, we
approved the following minute.
We, the Young Adult Friends of Baltimore Yearly
Meeting, are led to speak to the question of same-sex
marriage in our Yearly Meeting. We have found that the
value of a relationship is not determined by gender, but
by the presence of mutual love and respect. As a group,
our members are in many different places with regard
to the formation of long-term partnerships. While some
of us are just starting to form these relationships, others
are already deeply committed.
We have felt great joy in seeing members of our
community marry under the care of their Meetings,
and we strive to provide ongoing support for these
relationships. However, it grieves us that discussion
of same-sex marriage is so painful to many Friends
within our Yearly Meeting, and that not all marriages are
equally recognized by the Monthly Meetings in BYM.
We wish to work together with Friends to find unity on
this living issue. We trust that with good process and
in God’s time, we will.
Young Adult Friends,
August 2007
