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Camden Friends Join Princeton and Falls Meetings in Part II: Deepening and Strengthening Our Meetings

By Linda Simpson
On October 30, 2005, Camden Meeting Friends embarked on Part II of our spiritual journey towards deepening and strengthening the life of our meeting. We met with Arlene Kelly and Kate deRiel from PYM working group on Deepening and Strengthening Our Meetings. Arlene led us through the first part of this process last year, and Kate deRiel, joined us as Camden Meeting facilitator through Part II of our journey.

At this meeting, Friends discussed the impact of the survey completed by the meeting last year. Arlene explained the role of the "scouts" who will attend a series of four retreats with members of Falls and Princeton Meetings over the next two years. Their job will be to "go ahead on the journey, seeking the path' and then report back to the meeting after each retreat. Later we broke into smaller groups and responded to the three following questions:

  • What is your vision of a deep, gathered meeting for worship? If newcomers were to come in, what would you want them to experience?
  • If Camden wants to grow into that deep experience, what will the meeting have to do? What are some obstacles to achieving that depth?
  • What does Camden have to offer the other meetings at the retreat? What does it do well?
  • The first retreat, entitled Our Monthly Meeting: A Community of Faith, will be January 20- 22 at Princeton Meeting. Attending will be scouts Allison Richards, Paul Bender, Joanne Freed, and Linda Simpson, as well as clerk of Ministry and Worship, Sally Boswell. John Shuford will be there as well, as one of the facilitators.

Retreat activities will commence at 5:30 P.M. on Friday, January 20 and conclude after meeting for worship on Sunday. January 22. Tom Gates will be leading the retreat centered on the central text "The Gathered Meeting" by Thomas Kelly.

The following retreats are scheduled for April 21-23, 2006 (Our Monthly Meeting: Creating Community) and October 20-22, 2006 (Our Monthly Meeting: Living Community). The fourth retreat will be scheduled at some date in 2007.

There will be opportunities for one or two Friends from our Meeting to join the scouts at these retreats. If one of them holds particular interest to you and you would like to attend, please contact Mary Lou Bateman.

In preparation for the first retreat, the Adult Class will be reading and discussing the "The Gathered Meeting" beginning at 9:45 on December 18 in the Annex, and will continue reading and discussing the text on January 22. On January 29, we will convene with the Scouts to discuss The Gathered Meeting with them and they will share with us the insights and ideas that they glean from the retreat the previous weekend. Pamphlets will be made available to all members and attenders, and all are encouraged to join us in reading and/or discussion as we move forward on our journey together as a community of faith.

  • Click here to read "The Gathered Meeting" by Thomas Kelly


    Posted by: Dana Kester-McCabe |