hen I moved to Boston in 1995 one of the aspects of urban life I looked forward to was a critical mass of Quakers, a large enough number of Friends to both offer and participate in a wide range of religious education and spiritual formation programs. I wasn't disappointed. There were more lectures, courses, retreats, and events than I could ever attend. Before long I was not only a participant, but serving on the Quaker Studies Committee as the stipended coordinator (registrar, publicist, liaison, chief cook and bottle washer) and as a course leader.

Our committee members come from different monthly meetings and some of us drive an hour to attend committee meetings. Our program receives some funding from Salem Quarter that helps us keep our tuition low and the staff members at the Beacon Hill Friends House provide us with bookkeeping assistance. We offer scholarships to Friends and interested inquirers. And when childcare is requested we offer to pay for the cost of that care within the home of the registrant.

Each year the Committee comes up with five programs in various general categories: spirituality, Quaker testimonies, Bible, and the history of the Religious Society of Friends. Each year as we spend time in prayer and discernment names rise up for us of possible course leaders. Some of those leaders are living in the Boston area, and some travel in from various communities in New England. Each year as we grow the number of participants we become a little more ambitious. This year we have invited British Friend John Punshon to lead a Friday night and Saturday workshop on "Christ in Quakerism."

In recent years our Saturday workshop topics have covered prayer, discernment of leadings, poetry, taking our Quaker spirituality to work, racism, peacemaking, clerking, the Bible, re-imaging Jesus, children's spirituality, spirituality and art, and ecumenism. We also offered evening courses in three to five sessions. Some of these courses covered Friends' understanding of Jesus, Robert Barclay, liberal and radical Friends of the nineteenth century, science and the spiritual life, God and human suffering, schisms among nineteenth century Friends, and a five-part course on Friends' understanding of ministry, leadership, and spiritual authority!

What did I learn in Boston that I believe can be of value to you, even if your monthly meeting is the only one in town or in a much larger region? A great deal. I have that confidence because I moved here from a Midwestern state and a yearly meeting where I knew that the ministerial gifts of Friends, though further flung, were equally rich. Sharing resources can be done just as well across a state as across a large city. We could only afford to invite John Punshon, for instance, because he was already coming to the US to lead a Pendle Hill conference. Your logistical concerns may be a little different than ours, but Friends are all good at problem solving (like finding a parking space in Cambridge!).

Would your monthly meeting be willing to appoint a representative to an urban or regional Quaker Studies Program? Could you all gather once a month to conduct your business? Are there names that rise up for you of Friends in your area (big or small) who are seasoned ministers and leaders or who only need encouragement to lead a course? If your region is too large for an evening series, could you offer a Saturday workshop? Offer home hospitality to Friends who travel from a distance? Coordinate car pooling? Organize a potluck to follow the course? Offer a forum before or after Sunday worship that features the course leader(s)-for those who could not attend the Saturday workshop (and those who did!)? How about creating a Saturday course and taking it on the road to a few monthly meetings within your yearly meeting?

Traveling around the U.S. with the FGC Religious Education Committee, I am often impressed by how much alike we Friends are in our concerns and our gifts. God has raised up these gifts for the benefit of our meetings and communities. If you are filled with a spiritual yearning for more adult religious education programming, as so many of us are, you may be sitting next to a Friend who is willing to share his/her experience and knowledge in an inspired course offering-or maybe that Friend is you!

For the worship group or small meeting:
Have we requested that Friendly visitors from nearby meetings attend our meetings for worship? Do we sometimes visit other meetings for fellowship and support? Have we asked for outside support from the FGC Traveling Ministries Program to provide spiritual yeast, education, or other ministry?

For the established monthly meeting:
Are we fostering the education and growth of nearby worship groups or small meetings? Do we provide outreach or inreach by including them in our activities? Are our quarterly meetings providing opportunities for fellowship and mentoring?.

"...let Eternal Light penetrate the darkness . . . that surrounds us."
- Hans Albrecht addressing the 1933German Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends

lmost two years ago, Linda Jeffrey and I decided to present to Woodstown Monthly Meeting our plan for a peace center within the Woodstown Meetinghouse. After receiving the blessing of the Woodstown Meeting and a room for the peace center, we began to chart the course the peace center would follow. Linda and I arrived at the decision to form a peace center through different routes. For Linda, the establishment of a peace center was almost a natural outgrowth of her work as the clerk of the Peace and Social Justice Committee, as an alternate NGO representative, and her strong opposition to bullying that culminated in an article on bullying, which appeared in the Journal of Emotional Abuse. For me, it was the result of an extensive mental and physical journey that covered about 1700 miles in three weeks and led me to another dimension of the Holocaust: the activities of the Society of Friends in Nazi Germany. My travels took me to the Friends Meetinghouse in Bad Pyrmont, Germany and to Frankenau, Germany, where I was given access to Prof. Hildegard Feidel-Mertz's personal library.There I read the original correspondence of Hans Albrecht, the clerk of the German Yearly Meeting from 1927 to 1947.

During the planning stages of the peace center, I presented a few firesides on the activities of the Friends inside Nazi Germany, and in April, 2001, we hosted a type of Yom Hashoah at Woodstown Meeting, where Mrs. Martin Niemoeller, the widow of Pastor Martin Niemoeller, one of Hitler's personal prisoners, and Sol Finkelstein, a concentration camp survivor, related their experiences.Their discussion underscored the basic premise of the Peace Center: promotion of peace and resolution of conflict.

The goals of the Salem County Peace Center at Woodstown Friends Meeting focus upon reducing bias, bigotry, discrimination, and intolerance; providing training programs in these areas for teachers and the community; establishing a library of resources for review and loan to area schools and the community; coordinating organizations involved in fostering peace; and providing a neutral location for conflict resolution. Most recently, Zalphia Wilson-Hill gave a wonder-fully informative PowerPoint presentation on the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.The choir of the Morning Star Baptist Church played an integral role in this presentation. In the fall, the Peace Center will host Rev. Dave Bailey, the director of Ranch Hope, a residential and counseling facility for disturbed teenagers. Rev. Bailey will discuss peace and dealing with violence in schools.

It is hoped that the Peace Center will reach out to and help people from varied backgrounds. In the tradition of Rachael Davis Dubois, we intend to form conversation circles that will build bridges and establish common ground. May we all come to realize, respect and value diversity, which, after all, is essential to our spiritual unity.

hat should Friends in the unprogrammed tradition teach about the Bible? about Jesus? I often hear these questions asked. Certainly, we should teach the classic narratives and poetry and the discursive passages which have spoken powerfully to people in every generation for thousands of years. The really big question, I believe, is not what to teach, but how. Friends have long said we should read scripture in that Light in which it was written. I believe this means reading prayerfully with deep honesty, integrity, and compassion, and with vulnerable humility. If we so read scripture, I think we would be surprised with each new reading. The Bible contains words about the Word, but is not that Word itself. Friends are clear about this. But God can use those words like a marvelous trickster to open up new places within us. The religious educator helps provide environments for this opening and offers opportunities for others to share with the community the measure of Light, or Truth, given them through their prayerful engagement with Biblical texts.

In many cases, though not always, it helps to embark on scholarly study, or at least to benefit from the scholarship of others .This is both a what and a how. With any given passage, it frequently helps to understand the context, the audience, and the author's perspective and purpose. Just because we read with our hearts doesn't mean we read with empty heads. I sometimes hear Friends say we should only teach that in the Bible which can be objectively verified as historically accurate. This, I think, misses the point of scholarship and the point of scripture, as well. To only teach objective truth in scripture would save a lot of time, particularly when it comes to Jesus, but we would lose infinitely much. Even if we were to attempt to teach what scholars believe is objectively true of Jesus, which scholar's truth list would we teach? The Jesus Seminar, for example, has done admirable work, but even they are not in agreement among themselves. Should we teach only the 18% of the sayings attributed to Jesus which the majority of people in the Jesus Seminar ("scholarly consensus" by vote) considers to be Jesus' own words?

The informed person knows that scholarly consensus does not equal the Jesus Seminar or any school of thought. Each scholar has his or her "take" on Jesus, arguing convincingly that Jesus was a social revolutionary, rabbi, failed prophet, spirit person, or something else, based on research and subjective personal experience and theological biases and worldviews. There are scholars who point out that the only things we can know for certain about Jesus is that he lived in Palestine, was crucified by the Romans, and was the focus of a religious movement considered a cult at the time. Our RE lessons on Jesus could be reduced to a ten-second blurb! Regardless of one's personal Biblical politics, I believe it is helpful to explore all the far edges from time to time to benefit from the full range of scholarship. I believe it is also important, however, to keep in mind that the point of scripture is NOT objective history, but something else, something very dear to Quakers: human experience of the Divine.

Interpreting scripture is as ongoing a process as interpreting ourselves. We may not always be conscious of it, but do we not all rework our own life stories and memories, our own self definitions, our own communities' stories? Similarly, we reinterpret scripture in every generation (and who knows how many times within the life span of one generation!), yet it remains alive and vital and relevant- and when we engage scripture with our whole selves open to God and to each other, the Spirit may use the text to open up new places within us. As someone once said-I wish I knew who-all stories are true ...and some actually happened! One of the Bible educator's main jobs is to listen for Truth in any given story (at home) and then invite others into that story (in the classroom).What the Spirit opens for each person fits that person's condition at the time. We each hear as much of the Truth as we are ready to receive.

Even as we focus on the liberating and healing Truth in scripture, the religious educator is wise, I believe, to be aware of, and sensitive to, how scripture has been used as a weapon, how the scriptures have been used to repress and suppress Jews, Blacks, women, sexual minorities, and others. We may need to remind ourselves and others that the shortsightedness and failures of others, even of the Biblical writers themselves, need not prevent us from discovering anew truths about ourselves, our relationships, and God which can be opened up to us through the texts. In a sense, we can view all Biblical narratives as stories which attempt to express felt spiritual realities. The educator is challenged to help readers read beyond the cultural baggage of the ancients (and our own!), feel safe enough to engage in open and honest exploration, and focus on the Word which the words of scripture point to. When this happens, I believe those spiritual realities shine through. And let us always be attentive to the activity of the Spirit in our reading, for if any are to read with understanding, if any are to hear the Word in the words, there must be Light.

he amazing thing about Quaker worship is that people with no prior Friendly experience often form worship groups. Sitting in silence really does not require extensive practice. In this simple fashion many worship groups have been formed, but only a few become full fledged meetings. What is the missing yeast that would help them rise?

A few years ago a new worship group in Kenosha (Wisconsin) contacted Lake Forest Friends Meeting (Illinois) asking us to help them evolve into a monthly meeting. They had already created a vision statement that was quite impressive. I asked myself what I could do to help them fulfill their vision of becoming a monthly meeting. To provide the necessary grounding for meeting formation, I volunteered to teach them Quaker practice and history in an adult education program. My commitment to being their traveling elder took two years to complete with offering a class every few months.

The course we used was "Silent Worship-Quaker Values" by Marsha Holliday. The curriculum covers the Quaker basics like the peace testimony, famous leaders, the practice of the business meeting, and vocal ministry. Usually the class consisted of six to seven people plus an occasional Friendly Visitor from Milwaukee Meeting. The discussions about Quaker culture and history were always lively and challenging. The attenders were among the most attentive students I have ever taught .They listened and imbibed deeply because they wanted to become Friends.

These newcomers reminded me of my own early days just after crossing the threshold of a Quaker meeting. I was eager to learn everything I could about the Society of Friends. Fortunately there were elders who would receive and teach me. I am pleased that Kenosha Worship Group had the courage to ask our meeting for support. On our part, we learned the value of reaching out to small worship groups so that there will always be new people asking us "What do Quakers believe?"

ike many meetings, Palm Beach Meeting has sometimes had difficulty getting adults to commit to teaching children's First Day School long term. The meeting came up with a creative way to lessen the number of lesson preparations without compromising quality or consistency. And their plan includes a simple, but effective, feature which helps connect children to other Friends in the meeting and to the world outside the meeting community!

Ellie Caldwell, of Palm Beach Monthly Meeting, writes, "Our First Day School of about seven to fifteen children has tried successfully for the last year to have the same teacher for the first three weeks of the month. The fourth or fifth First Day is spent writing letters to ailing Friends or on issues of importance to the children such as peace and animal rights. After worship and potluck, adults join the children at the letter writing table to write letters as prompted by FCNL or other letters on local issues."

As always, each teacher has her or his own style. Keeping the same teacher for several weeks is helpful for both the children and the teachers. The children do not have to constantly adjust to new personalities and new styles. Adults and children have the opportunity to develop relationships. Consistency is provided by having letter writing each month, even though adult leadership changes. After worship, the letter writing activity becomes intergenerational. This provides opportunities for sharing, cross-generational relationship building, and mentoring. What a great idea!

ould your Religious Education Committee, and other interested adults, like to spend an evening with the FGC Religious Education Committee in worship, dialogue, and sharing? Would your monthly meeting like to have the FGC RE Committee develop and present a program that addresses your meeting's specific RE needs and concerns? If so, that is entirely possible!

Three times each year (January, April, September) the FGC RE Committee is hosted by a monthly meeting while we conduct our business. Between 15 and 25 committee members attend and enjoy home hospitality provided by our hosts. We gather on Friday evening and attend to our agenda until Saturday dinner, when we join with our hosts in a potluck dinner followed by an evening program covering some aspect of religious education among Friends. On Sunday morning we meet again for an hour to two hours to conclude our business and then we adjourn to join our hosts in worship.

In the past few years, we have provided evening programs on teaching the Bible in First Day School, religious education for middle school and high school- aged youth, adult religious education, creating First Day School programs, and developing the skills of religious education teachers, among others. Let us know your specific needs and we are happy to share our experience and gifts with your meeting!

Dear Unprepared,
If it is any consolation, you are not alone. Often meetings without children don't begin to think about the roles of children in their meeting and the meeting's responsibilities to the children until they suddenly find a child in their midst. Then it may be too late. That visiting child or family may not return. There is no need to panic, however. You are beginning to think about how to be prepared, and this is a great sign! There are some simple, basic, and painless things your meeting can do now.

You did not mention whether you have an adult First Day School program in place. If you do, and I hope you do, it is always helpful to have a religious education committee to help assure a balanced program and to help identify and/or train and support teachers. Such a commit-tee can help the meeting discern and articulate their vision of religious education and their sense of where and how they are being led. When children begin attending your meeting, and they will if you remain healthy and vital, it would be very helpful to have a committee already functioning.

With or without a committee, your meeting can arrange to have two adults prepared each week to lead a children's FDS lesson. One adult could be prepared to facilitate learning for young children. Another could be prepared for middle and high schoolers. In cases like yours, it helps to have lessons prepared which are not tied to specific dates. I suggest you have in place either non-seasonal lessons or create new lessons several times a year. This way, the same person could be prepared for several months at a time with only one lesson plan to prepare. It entails a minimal amount of work, but it could make a lot of difference when a child-or group of children!-walks through your doors.

An initial lesson need not be elaborate-and probably should not be. Children are people with needs, interests, fears, loves, hungers, insights, and hopes just like anyone else. If your meeting is suddenly blessed with children, get to know them. Share with them, invite sharing, be yourself. When children attend your meeting some day, try not to think of their presence as a problem or a challenge. Children in meeting offer countless opportunities for growth in the Spirit. Children and adults have much to learn from and about each other. Children have much to teach us adults about God. Be prepared, but also be humble and ready to listen.

Whether or not you have an adult FDS program in place, it helps to have some soft toys or appropriate children's books available for those times when children may be in meeting for worship for extended periods. It is probably best for children to sit with their families, but they may need such aids to help them through the hour. A classic book to have available is We're Going to Meeting for Worship, by Abby A. Hadley, with drawings by Diane Edwards La Voy. It is available at QuakerBooks of FGC for $5.

Now, why have there been no children in your meeting for a long time? This is a hard question, and one which I notice you did not ask. It is my hope that you are asking that question and looking for the answers. This question is more than I can address here, but please give it some prayerful consideration. I wish you and your meeting well as you prepare yourselves for children in your meeting.
         Thy Friend, Lucretia