Friends: Western Young Friends New Year's Gathering is the spiritual retreat that I look forward to the most every year. Having time to worship and look inward, reconnecting with old friends, meeting wonderful new people, and having the space to listen and be heard, to follow those emotional threads, is so important. It's something that I too rarely get in my busy life.
One of the other highlights of my year is the annual backpacking trip I take with my dad and sister Faith, often to the Sierra. For me, the mountains also offer space and time to reflect, to clear my mind of the city's cobweb of nonsense. That's why I'm so excited about the retreat center our dedicated site committee found for us. The idea of Gathering in warm cabins in the Sierra in the winter blows my mind but that is exactly what we are going to do. So dig out your snow chains, and if you're feeling really adventurous pack your snow shoes. This year we're going to be worshipping in the Sierra!
All the details and online registration are on our website: www.newyearsgathering.org
Also sign-up on our Facebook page to see who is going, invite your friends, and join the dialog about this year's gathering:
www.facebook.com/events/394661767304267
In addition to inviting your friends and forwarding this email on to any Quaker email lists you are on, we are also asking Friends to adopt their local meeting and make sure that all the attenders who are interested find out about this gathering. Please email Faith or me to let us know if you can adopt your meeting.
In the light,
Michael Eastwood
PS: Don't forget, 2014-2015 is going to be the 40th New Year's Gathering (give or take a year or two depending on who you talk to) and we're inviting everyone who has ever attended to come back for a grand reunion at Camp Myrtlewood, so mark your calendar!