Call to the Annual Gathering of North Pacific Yearly Meeting, 2014
The Transformative Power of Spirit in Community: Finding Light in the Yearly Meeting
July 23 – 27, 2014; Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon
How do we make room for The Spirit to break through?
How can our Yearly Meeting support us in living a Spiritual and mindful life?
How do we support our Yearly Meeting in listening deeply to the Divine
to find the path we’re meant to take?
These are some of the questions we will consider at the 42nd Annual Session of North Pacific Yearly Meeting, July 23-27at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. This is our second consecutive year meeting in this small college town on the edge of the Willamette Valley, and we look forward to our return to the beautiful Coast Range foothills, about a
45-minute drive west of Portland.
Our Friends-in-Residence this year are Ken and Katharine Jacobsen who come to us from Ohio Yearly Meeting. They served as Head-of-School (Ken) and Development Director (Katharine) at Olney Friends School in Barnesville, Ohio, and recently served as Interim Directors at Pendle Hill in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. The Jacobsen’s work in various Quaker organizations over several decades has helped Friends to let go of expectations in order to be expectant; that is, open and ready for the surprises of the Spirit.
One of the functions of the Annual Session is to conduct the business of North Pacific Yearly Meeting. Several surprises of the Spirit over the last few years have called us to seek a more Spiritual manner in which to nurture our community and its structure. We are mindful that the full name of business meeting is Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. Our plenaries this year will include a session hosted and facilitated by Young Adult Friends who will lead us in a worshipful discussion sharing their joys, concerns, and hopes for our Yearly Meeting.
To highlight our connections with the larger Quaker community, We will have a “Quaker Fair” where individuals can have informal discussions with representatives to organizations such as American Friends Service Committee, Quaker Earthcare Witness, Friends World Committee for Consultation, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and Western Friend. This is an opportunity to learn about Quaker action and service in the world. We are excited that Diane Randall, Executive Director of FCNL, and Mary Klein, editor of Western Friend, will both be in attendance and will be sharing first hand the good work of these organizations.
There is much to do in our time together. In addition to considering the business of the Yearly Meeting, there will be worship sharing groups, interest groups, community night and an open mic time. The children, and Junior Friends will be busy with programming geared to their needs and interests. Put all these activities, along with the inter-generational times together, and our 4 days will certainly be full and rich.
Annual Session has been a very important part of my life for many years. I always leave Spiritually nourished by my time worshiping and sharing with Friends from all over the Northwest. I get much inspiration from hearing about others’ lives and learning more about ways that Friends perform service in the world. As this year’s Presiding Clerk, I am excited about the opportunities we have as a Yearly Meeting to seek Light together in fellowship, worship, and business.
Registration information can be found at www.npym.org. We look forward to seeing you in Forest Grove in July for worship, singing, play, and joyous renewal
Tom Rawson, Presiding Clerk
PO Box 1361
Eastsound WA 98245
presiding_clerk AT npym.org