2006 Epistle of New York Yearly Meeting

Seventh Month 23–29, 2006

The theme of the 311th session of New York Yearly Meeting was "Unleashing the Blessed Community," and we knew the Power and Presence of God among us. The agenda was full, the weather hot and humid; yet our meetings for worship with a concern for business were consistently tender and gathered. Friends were repeatedly moved by the ministry and reports of individuals and committees. A spirit of listening, holding, gratitude, and awe prevailed. This epistle highlights some of the actions taken and gifts received as we lived the love and power of being the blessed community. As one Friend said, "We meet to worship, to seek love and truth, and we rise up changed."

Our community gathered on Sunday evening as the rain clouds fell away from a gentle red sunset over Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. We witnessed the fruits of our efforts to involve young Friends and young adults in our yearly meeting. Energized by the Spirit and open to joy, our youth led us in singing and participatory worship. In her message about the blessed community, a young adult Friend reminded us that to "quake" is to be terrified, to be in the presence of power that you can almost taste, to be moved to tears. We experienced the importance of recognizing, loving, and caring for one another: the wee wiggly ones, the older ones, and those in between.

Our general secretary shared the good news that for the first time in the fifty years since the uniting of our New York Yearly Meeting we have a growth in membership. Although challenges remain, two years ago we said "yes" to faithfulness and we are experiencing the fruits of hearing this call. The seed was cracked open last summer. We were called to make a commitment to recognize and eliminate racism in our midst. This year there were several workshops and worship sharing groups on racism and racial healing. At the close of a business session we were challenged to acknowledge white privilege by a series of queries on large placards. Several Friends wore vests with the message Joyfully Anti-racist throughout the week, eliciting comments and opportunities for discussion.

With music and spoken word, Niyonu Spann, our plenary speaker, led us to see the fetters that hold us from the blessed community and gave us tools for letting go and restoring the wholeness that our ancestors want us to achieve. As Quakers we have a heritage of the Underground Railroad, which contrasts with our heritage of having the backbench reserved for people of color in our meeting houses. "Shocked? Get over it!" Niyonu told us. Unleash the fetters of fear, guilt and shame that keep us from the blessed community. We strive to move beyond racism but it remains. Niyonu urged us to see what the backbench is today – to face 360-degree truth with love and to have the courage to change.

In our Bible study sessions, "Where are We Going and Who Is In Charge?" we explored the journeys and travails of biblical communities and individuals. How do these stories mirror our own? Who has the power and influence? Are we truly listening to the Spirit?

Our community heard an unusually large number of memorial minutes. The lives of these dear Friends and the sharing of our memories about them moved us deeply, inspiring us to carry the fruits and wisdom of their lives into ours. Our grief over the loss of two young adult Friends was deep.

As we've been listening to the real needs of the Yearly Meeting, committees have been laid down and new concerns have emerged. Conflicts within our meetings exist. Many of the ways we deal with conflict weaken our center and sap our energy. Our Conflict Transformation Working Group was approved as a standing committee and continues its Spirit-led work helping us to enter the process of conflict transformation and to be a witness to the world.

"How is God calling us to be in community with respect to gender identity and sexual orientation among us?" This was the query for our threshing session, where we told and heard our personal stories with gender issues. The youth especially have opened the way for us with their witness to the Light present within everyone.

The 11th–12th grade Friends brought forward a minute regarding behavior among Friends that was disrupting their sense of community. Their use of Quaker process strengthened our unity and trust as a yearly meeting.

Our work this past year has included both caring for our community and reaching out into the world. Young adult Friends told us how they are taking Quaker testimonies into their work in midwifery, Theater of the Oppressed, permaculture, and Teach for America and with Nicaraguan homeless children. A mission team, just returned from Aceh Province, Indonesia, told about their ministry in areas still devastated by the tsunami and thirty years of civil war. They delivered donated school supplies, led Alternatives to Violence Project workshops, and arranged college training for early childhood teachers with funds pledged by individual Friends at our April Representative Meeting.

Our yearly meeting representative to Quaker Earthcare Witness invited us to enter a deeper understanding of the oneness of all and to expand our testimony of love for one another to embrace a radical love for all creation.

Our delegate to the Quaker Initiative against Torture conference spoke passionately of her life-shifting experience. The horrible things done and witnessed by U.S. military personnel are not simply acts of spontaneous brutality arising in the moment. Rather, our government teaches torture and has done so for the last fifty years. "We are capable of torture, and we Americans are all responsible."

An addition to Faith and Practice was the amendment of Query 9 on civic responsibility naming the abolition of the death penalty. Continuing our historic tax witness, an amicus brief has been filed asserting the individual's right for the conscientious objection to military taxation.

Early in our week a visiting Friends United Meeting missionary taught us this call and response she learned in Kenya: "God is good… All the Time… All the Time… God is good." Near the end of our sessions we affirmed: "The blessed community is here… All the time… All the time… The blessed community is here!"

In Friendship,

Linda B. Chidsey
Clerk, New York Yearly Meeting