JHYM Retreat Staff Notes
Feeling Light Within, I Walk
JHYM Retreats
* May 2-4, 2008 * Portland Friends Meeting
WE ARE: Kara Price Bachand, Carol Baker (as our Exalted Food Wizard!), Buddy Baker-Smith, Gretchen Baker-Smith, Sara Hubner, Martha Schwope, and Carolyn Stone,
AND Eileen Johnson joining us on Saturday morning for the rest of the weekend.
WE ARE DEEPLY BLESSED, TOO, to have Dee Kelsey ‘s ministry and gifts organizing and caring for the service projects again this year,
AND and to have Susan Lavigne, Tom Antonik, and Emily Kelsey all stopping by at various points throughout the weekend to lend hands, presence, and laughter.
WE ARE so covered in
grace and love! Thank you for your generous hearts and spirits and
solid youth ministry work. More than ever, I am aware that this
ministry would not happen, literally, without you. The experience of
having so many step forward a couple of weeks ago with energy and
affirmation was uplifting and truly humbling.
JOINING US
are 35 JH’ers, one of whom has never attended a JYM or JHYM Retreat, and
two more first time sixth graders rising up from JYM. Almost every
JH’er who has been part of this retreat year is coming, and they have so
much to celebrate. It has been a challenging but very rich and
awe-filled year. The community they have created is due to awesome
staffers, courageous hearts, and God’s Grace.
The JHYM Retreat program’s goal is to provide a safe and trusting community in which we seek to find that of God in ourselves and in each other. Our charge, as ministers of the Spirit, is to help our young people create a sanctuary. What I appreciate more as the years go on, is just how rare and astounding a “safe and trusting spiritual community” truly is for young teens. What we “do”, with the Grace of God, is provide them with an experience in building a spiritually grounded community that they then take with them, and hopefully build on, for years and decades and a lifetime to come.
* Work gloves for the outside service projects (as many pairs as you have)
* Rakes and hand clippers (labeled)
* Number of seatbelts in your vehicle available for the Saturday Service Project
* Your estimated arrival time Friday evening.
Arrival: I will be arriving with one JH’er around 4:30pm. Registration is at 7pm. I know some won’t be with us until after 8pm, so hope a few who can arrive by 6:30.
Wrap-up: Sunday Morning
Worship is at 10:30, followed by announcements and lunch. I anticipate
we’ll be out by 1 or 1:30pm. We need all staffers to stay until cleanup
is done, if at all possible – this way we will all get on the road
sooner. Thank you!
DIRECTIONS TO PORTLAND ARE ON
OUR WEBSITE.
Staff Mentors and Mentees:
I thought it might be helpful to pair veteran staffers with first-timers for this retreat. Not every pair is going to be together in small groups – I just think it would be helpful for Friends to have someone to check in with throughout the weekend. Dee recently taught me this fun but useful query when supporting someone: Are you still smiling? And if not, what do you need, or how can I help shift things, so that you return to smiling?
* Kara and Merritt
* Carolyn and Steve
* Sara and Barbara
Our theme, “Feeling Light Within, I Walk” comes from a little drawing and quote which Kevin Lee had on a JYM retreat flyer many many moons ago. Originally, I chose it because it felt fitting as an end of the year theme – one that honored all that we’d discovered and kindled within each other and then took as we walked out into the wider world – the summer, Young Friends, tomorrow. A year ago, I had trusted that we would get to this weekend having discovered and reaped so much as individuals and as a community. And, indeed, our 8th Graders are ready to walk on – with our love and support all around them.
But, as I have held this theme in prayer in preparation for this retreat, I have been considering it in other ways, too. Early Friends invite us to honor and cherish the awesome reality of that of God within. The Light that is never extinguished is always as close as our breath and always available, if we but fully turn our hearts and minds to it.
Zen Buddhists (which I have been reading a lot of lately) also encourage us to embrace our own nobility (in wisdom and illumination) and that of all living things and trust that all we need is within.
Why is it so hard for us to believe that that Seed of Love resides within? How can we help reflect this Love and Light onto others? What transpires in our hearts and lives in those times when we are able to trust that Light and walk gently and cheerfully with it? What helps us to faithfully and peacefully walk in the Light wherever we may be?
My hope and prayer, is that our JH’ers will leave this last retreat of the year with these lines from Walt Whitman singing in their hearts:
I am larger, better than I thought,
I did not know I held so much goodness.
Small Groups will meet twice over the course of the weekend: Friday evening, and Saturday morning. We will be divided into 4 small groups – with 9 JH’ers and 2-3 staffers for each group. You’ll be in the same small group for the weekend.
Tell them that they are to draw
an image to go with the statement that you are going to say. Warn them
that they aren’t going to have very long to complete the image, so they
should work on getting the main idea quickly.
Using the nouns below, complete
the sentence: “If the Inner Light were a color, what would it be?”
Work your way through the list, leaving out ones you think really won’t
work, and adding ones that come to mind (the list below is just to get
you started).
Give them 5-30 SECONDS to
complete each drawing – they will soon get the idea that they can’t
possibly finish a Van Gough painting in that amount of time.
When everyone’s papers are pretty full, stop and go back over all of the words and let them share their images with each other. Hopefully, what should happen is that they will begin to talk about the concept of Inner Light without even knowing it.
Color flower piece of furniture hat
Shape animal Tshirt body organ
Dessert symbol fruit
Weather toy
Thanks to Tracy Blanford who shared this activity with us years ago!
******************************
Start with a round of check-ins, including any thoughts on what was shared during Opening Worship. Take whatever time you need for this.
♥
Use the following questions in a discussion. You could do it in a spirit of Worship Sharing, or you can have it be more interactive -- whatever you feel will work best in your group.
* Do you cherish that of God within you? How, in what ways?
* How do you stay in touch with your Inner Light?
* How do you rekindle it if it’s dim – or out?
* What helps you weigh or trust the Inner Light within you with how those around you are speaking or acting?
* How does your body and/or spirit feel when your Inner Light is clearly pointing the way?
* Does being kinder and gentler with yourself help you be more so with others?
Can you give an example from your life?
♥
Then. Put on some music, and invite everyone in your group to pair up and try to paint each other’s Inner Light in silence with the watercolors and supplies provided. (Oh, I can hear you now – some of you will love this and some will be saying “HUH?”) It would be wonderful if everyone felt comfortable with us hanging all of these portraits downstairs for the rest of the weekend – ask them about this. Assure JH’ers that there is no right or wrong to this, but that it is a gift to the person being painted to be truly and deeply looked at – and a gift to the person who has been given permission to look! – and that is the main goal here. Not the artwork.
♥
Other Program Details
Kinda-Sorta Business
Meeting Late Saturday Morning: Okay, maybe not Quaker Process
that the Faith & Practice Revision Committee would approve of, but
none-the-less, group discernment! First we will describe all of the
service projects and have everyone list their first four choices. After
this, we will have a group discussion, led by Kara Price Bachand, and
supported by Buddy and others, on the JHYM Program at Sessions,
especially ideas and possibilities for JHYM’s Afternoon Choices program.
SERVICE PROJECTS: On Saturday afternoon we will be going out into the Portland area to lend our hands and hearts in a variety of ways. Dear Friend Dee Kelsey has, once again, organized these opportunities for us, and I cannot adequately express my awe and gratitude for the prayer, patience, and gifts of organizing which she brings to this work. She starts months in advance, contacting organizations and individual Friends, trying to match needs with time lines/teen attention spans and abilities/available cars/safety concerns/feedback from previous years – and with enormous good humor and love, delivers this Saturday afternoon experience to our JHYM community with neat folders, maps, and grace. Her generosity and talents are incredible. Please join me in thanking her at every opportunity.
This year’s opportunities include helping to prep the evening meal at a local soup kitchen, doing yard and garden work (including moving a stone wall!) for various Friends and the Portland Friends School, helping a Portland Friend pack boxes for a future move, and working on knitting and sewing projects to be donated. I am hopeful that all JH’ers and staffers will get either their first or second choice of service projects.
We’ll head out for these
at 1:30pm and aim to return at 4:00 or 4:15.
Quiet Hour outside in the
back yard with Gretchen: As long as it’s not raining, this
Portland tradition will happen again for those who wish to join me.
(Trust me: Staffers love this. The Meeting House is almost empty, and
you get to take real naps inside!)
Saturday Evening: We will break into two groups: The 8th Graders will have a discussion on going into Young Friends in the fall with Kara, Merritt, Tom Antonik (hopefully) and Emily Kelsey. This program time could include sharing a YF song or two, and possibly a YF game. (Hint: “Spanking Yoda” was a big hit last year.)
Simultaneously, the 6th and 7th graders will joyfully -- and quickly -- work on creating special Quaker Oats Box gifts (a requested tradition at this point) to present to the 8th graders at the Circle of Affirmation, which will immediately follow.
Last year’s Circle of
Affirmation was really a beautiful evening of extended sharing in
friendship and community – I anticipate this year’s will be also.
Sunday Morning: I believe that Portland Meeting has Business Meeting on the main floor on Sunday morning, which means that we have to have that floor and the top floor completely cleaned up and ready by 8:30AM. Ouch. We did it last year – so we know it’s possible! (I’ll bring Dark Chocolate Espresso Beans for staffers who need them….)
We will have breakfast at 8:30 and then sing and have our closing circle and traditional round of Big Wind Blows in the basement until Worship starts at 10:30.
Once again, the amazing Carol Baker has volunteered to be our cook for the weekend, assisted in her meal planning by daughter Hannah. As is our practice, each small group will take a meal to assist preparing and cleaning up. Anyone lacking something to do at any time is always welcome to check in with Carol and see how you can help. Thanks!
For over a year now, JHYM
Retreats has had a Quiet Room available throughout the retreat for
JH’ers who need a break. It’s become a lovely haven – and, no,
staffers, you can’t all be people of presence there all weekend
J
but I do encourage you to stop by and help to nurture and preserve the
space. I am tentatively thinking about using the front “parlor” on the
first floor for this.
“FREE TIME”
Junior Highers want free time, but most of them want it with structure so that they can be in community. This is my mantra: “free time” is not staff free time. All of us on staff need to initiate group games (Apples to Apples, Egyptian War, JYM Ball, Graveyard Tag), inspire craft projects, encourage the creation of new Who’s Who Book pages, and engage stragglers into the mix in any ways we feel led – or the young people themselves lead. With JH’ers, it can be especially important to gently, continually nurture inclusivity. Please consider your gifts and leadings – and go for it!
Staff Assignments
Retreat Nurse: Barbara and Merritt
Craft Table Elder: Martha
Name Tag Czar: Merritt
Photographers: Buddy, Sara
Service Project Master Planner: Dee
Service Project Snack Packing Queen: Carolyn (you know how to count, right?)
Service Project Transportation Coordinator: Steve (not hard – don’t worry!)
Group Game Leaders: Buddy, Eileen, Kara
Exalted Food Wizard: Carol
Baker – with much thanks and love!
Final note
Do know, dear Friends, my gratitude and love for each of you. I am really looking forward to our weekend together in community and ministry. Travel safely and be well.
Gretchen Baker-Smith
JHYM Retreat leader
508-997-0940 (h) * hellogretchen@gmail.com * 508-287-6441 (cell)