Pilgrims and leaders together struggled with the fact that this pilgrimage was not representative of Friends from the Americas and Europe and Middle East sections. With a solid majority of the pilgrims self-identifying as "non-theist," the relatively liberal Northwest Yearly Meeting churches that we visited stretched us with their explicitly Christian basis and self-understandings. I was impressed with how the pilgrims stepped up to this challenge and really engaged with the rest of the Quaker family tree, even while they themselves were fairly homogenous as a group.

From the Young Friends in Residence program.

By Liv Henry, 19, Baltimore Yearly Meeting. Read by Stephen Dotson. From Spirit Rising: Young Quaker Voices. "I eat leaves. Onlookers have been disturbed by the six-foot-two giant of a girl swooping down to pluck at the undergrowth with a casualness usually reserved for nose-picking or public spitting.

E.g.: What gifts do you recognize in the young people in your faith community? How do you name those gifts? How can the community as a whole receive these gifts?

From the recent gathering in Wichita KS

At this conference, I was reminded that dead trees and living flesh share ideas quite differently. One advantage of this conference was the ability to dialog with people with different viewpoints and allow them to challenge and sometimes affirm my own view.

The seeds that were planted this weekend must be tended and nurtured, or they will not grow. We look forward to the joy of continued labor, and to the fruit that our branches will bear. Before these seeds could be planted, we had to be plowed up through striving and struggle. We had to be broken and made tender. We were. We ask God to continue to break our hearts from all that breaks His heart, to continue to open our eyes. We have begun.

One advantage of this conference was the ability to dialog with people with different viewpoints and allow them to challenge and sometimes affirm my own view. I found that there was much common ground as well as argument.

I have found that certain people have an axe to grind against organized religion and identity groups... I try to keep in mind the pain they are experiencing and I hold them in the Light, hoping that they will process their discomfort in constructive ways. If I can keep in mind my own past behavior, then I can empathize with those who sow seeds of discord and disunity, while also not allowing them the ability to divide and foment disunity. My own story is that of the Prodigal son. For reasons I cannot understand and may never, God told me that I had a purpose and a role to serve.

Also present among all in attendance was a strong sense of vulnerability and a willingness to be unguarded and honest. Friends believed this was one of the major strengths of the gathering and all in attendance benefited greatly from this display of trust. Present as well was the willingness of Friends to contribute and participate in worship, which made the gathering even richer.

As a young person who travels in the ministry, I found it was easy for me to get traveling minutes, and not very difficult to get money, but it was harder to find spiritual nurture. So I decided to interview other young Friends who travel in the ministry to find out what kinds of spiritual nurture are most helpful to them.

Taxation, financial and environmental regulation, immigration, war and other issues of public policy, are hugely important. But they are only part of the picture. Real reform or revolution will also require us to live differently each day; to be a different kind of people. I think that most of us, liberal and conservative, don’t yet live as though we were citizens of the society we envision; the free and just society, the beloved community, the Kingdom of God.

This gathering may prove to be the most diverse cross-branch event for Young Adult Friends since at least the 1960s. To date, we have at least two registrations in from nearly every Yearly Meeting in North America. We are forecasting that Friends from Evangelical Friends Church; pastoral Meetings in Friends United Meeting; and Friends General Conference will participate in roughly equal numbers. This is an incredible opportunity for Friends from across the spectrum to come together and engage with what the Spirit is calling us to today.