Off to PYM as a blogger

It was about this time last year when I decided to start this blog - and then I realized that I could not begin blogging while at Yearly Meeting. It's too hectic and I have too much responsibility as the assistant to the clerk of the children's program committee (aka "wife"). I'm not on the nominating committee's list, but I nonetheless take the responsibility seriously.

So seriously, in fact, that I am going to plug the children's program right now. All children's programs. If you're going to a Quaker gathering soon, whether that be PYM or another yearly meeting, I strongly recommend that you try to volunteer for a few hours with the children there.

You could do this for entirely selfish reasons. For example, if you have a difficult session in the plenary, maybe you could use a couple of hours of art or sand tray therapy. As in painting with preschoolers or building and smashing sand castles - very therapeutic! If you get tired of sitting inside all day, perhaps you could commune with God and nature at the playground or on a nature hike. If you are relatively new to Friends, perhaps you would learn some interesting Quaker history with the middle school Friends. If you are finding yearly meeting expensive, and you have gifts and experience in this area, find out if the program still needs paid staff. If you are interested in this at Pacific Yearly Meeting, read this from Chris M. If nothing else, it could become fodder for your blog!

If you carry a concern for the spiritual nurturing of the Religious Society of Friends, one way to gauge the health of the Yearly Meeting is to find out what the young people really do when they're together. Find out how young people experience being Quakers. You will gain a better sense of what is being taught to the next generation of Friends. Don't assume its just what you've always heard, good or bad, or that it will be like your own experiences of religious education.

I always enjoy spending time with the children's program. But this year, lo and behold, I have become known as a blogger. In fact, I have been invited to speak to the Junior Yearly Meeting about blogging. I'm a little bit scared that half the teens will know way more than me about the technical part of blogging and the other half will just not want to hear about it at all. But I'm going to invite them to consider blogging as a spiritual practice. I'm also going to talk about convergent Friends, because I can't help it. This is one of the true fruits of blogging for me.

I am still fleshing out my two hour session. One of the questions I want to work in: If it were illegal to be be a Quaker, would there be enough evidence to convict you? But I am interested in other bloggers' experience.

If you were telling Quaker teens about blogging, what would you say?

If you are a Quaker teen, what would you want to hear about?