JYM Elementary Retreat at Woolman Hill, Sept 17-19, 2010

Staff Notes

 

Dear Friends,

My goodness…another JYM Retreat year begins…beginning our 22nd or 23rd year, I’m not sure! Together we are Gretchen Baker-Smith, Carol Baker, our Exalted Kitchen Wizard (as dubbed by Wendyl who cannot be with us), Anne Anderson,  David Baxter, Paula Rossvall, Martha Scwhope, Sara Gove, Theresa Oleksiw and Curly. We especially welcome David Coletta and Althea Greenstone who will be staffing with us for the very first time! (Althea is a JYM alum!) Welcome David and Althea! We also welcome Ellie Matos who will be Junior Staffing with us again.  Very cool!

So you know, Wendyl’s dad, Jack, is scheduled for some serious upper spinal surgery on Sept 10, which is why Wendyl won’t be able to be with us. We are, however, enormously blessed by the talents and generosity of Carol Baker, who as most of you know, cooks frequently for the Junior High Retreat Program that Gretchen coordinates.  I don’t know what it is, but every time that I think my time has arrived to begin cheffing at retreats, somebody just beats me to it! (Thank the good Lord!)

We need one adult staffer to offer to assist Carol with kitchen duties. Please let me know if you feel this calling tugging from within. (If not…we can help you become clear!)

Like other times, Theresa will be bringing a van load of children down from Maine on Friday. She will also be gone during the day on Saturday to attend a wedding and will return late on Saturday night.  

As of right now it looks like we will have about 25 children attending this retreat.

Theme:  "Making room for God"

So where and how do you, and we, make room for God, Spirit, and that of the Holy Spirit within our lives on a regular basis? Are we aware of God minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, or less frequently? Does it matter how much or how little we are “mindful” of that of the divine at work in our lives? We will explore this theme together at our first fall retreat, on Woolman Hill!  

Staffers might find it useful to read parts of our Book of Faith and Practice, especially “The Spiritual Message of Friends,” (pages 60-72) for some (common) grounding on where NEYM Friends are with the overall topic of our Quaker Faith. In addition, or instead of, dust off your own spiritual values and experiences and come prepared to share a bit of your own journey.

Please remember to utilize the JYM Retreat Library during your Small Group discussions. Many of the books we carry will touch upon these topics.  An alphabetical listing of our collection and summaries are available on our site at www.jymretreats.org.

Our three small groups are: 

·        Keeping God In My Day

  1. There are no readily visible sign-posts out there that say, “God this way!” So how do we remain mindful of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives day in and day out?
  2. People say that they pray…but to whom or what? Do we have to pray “to” something or someone or will the Spirit just know it’s me praying? Is there a right way or wrong way to pray? What is prayer anyway?
  3. Is there a good or better time of day to pray or feel closer to God, or Jesus or the Spirit?

·        Roadmaps to God

  1. Can I feel connected to that of the Spirit in other ways besides praying? (Perhaps children can make a list of all the many ways they, or others feel connected to the presence of God?)
  2. What about using or being involved and present to art, music, touch, walking, or just seeing? Can these be ways of being connected to the Spirit that are just as effective as more traditional forms of prayer?
  3. My so-called “roadmap” to God seems to have hit a dead-end. What if you’ve tried and tried and just keep feeling nothing at all? (Ouch! Please help children to know that this happens to many people, if not most people at one time or another.)

·        Who makes room for God?

  1. Are there certain people in your life, either at meeting, school, within your family or elsewhere where we just seem to sense that these people seem closer to God? (Can some in your group name these people?) What is it about them that you seem to notice? Do you see them praying? Do you just sense or “feel” that God is near to them?
  2. Consider some of the more traditional ways that people experience God being present to them, such as in churches, meetinghouses, on sacred grounds outdoors, sitting alone or among many, many people. Do these all “work?” How do we know? Is one method “better,” quicker, or more “direct” than another?
  3. Consider some of the “untraditional” methods that people use to experience that of the Holy in their lives, such as yoga, meditation, hymn singing, trance-dancing, speaking in tongues and healing touch, to name just a few.  Anyone in your group have experience with any of these spiritual disciplines? (You could spend a week on this…but you have just 45 minutes!) 

Please look for T.L.C. Sheets in your Staff Notebooks when you arrive. Having completed a thorough psychological profile of all staffers, I’ve matched your particular (peculiar?) skill-set with the following Staff Assignments.

Staff Assignments:   (This is the fun part!)

(Note: If your name is not mentioned above, it just means that you’ll be expected to do everything else!)

Friends are reminded that further info and details on all of the above staff duties are available on our Web site. Once there, go to “Staff Toolbox.” It’s all there. Study up, there’ll be a quiz!

In Spirit, In Peace,

Kevin