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2006-2007 Student Epistle Describes an Extraordinary Year
Dear F/friends,
Greetings from the Pendle Hill class of 2006-2007. As we look back over the landscape of the time we have spent together, there is so much we could say.
We were nourished and nurtured. We discerned and discussed. We worked together and worshipped together. We carry a hope to take our transformed selves and an understanding of how to really be in community out into a world that yearns for what we have found.
Worship, work and study were at the core of our time together. For many, morning worship was the centerpiece of the day and provided a grounding in Spirit for the day’s work and study. We recognized that for some, timing, and work or family responsibilities, made attendance at morning worship difficult. We struggled to discern other possible corporate worship times but were not able to find an alternative. We also found spiritual sustenance in weekly experiences of Meeting for Prayer and Healing, Wednesday worship sharing and in the body practices of yoga and Self-Breema.
We rejoiced in the loving guidance given to Epilogue by our Friends in Residence where we enjoyed story, song and poetry and, during spring term, read The Little Prince. Our winter Friends in Residence offered us ‘Rooted in history’, a series of discussions where we were invited to reflect on current issues in Quakerism, by looking at them in an historical context. Our Fall Friends in Residence brought us the gifts of music, massage and the work morning song conducted like never before!
We were blessed with the loan of a canvas labyrinth from the Earlham School of Religion, which meant we could walk it inside despite the weather. We also witnessed the rejuvenation of the permanent Pendle Hill labyrinth, with potatoes, bamboo and wildflowers to adorn its walls, inviting another form of worship and meditation. We were blessed by the loving attention of our spiritual nurturers who journeyed beside us throughout our transformations.
In our class times we were led in explorations of Quakerism as radical faith, varieties of prayer and discernment of our calls. Through the art classes we explored grounding in clay and stone, sacred words and images in book arts, and claiming the creative path. The Social Action Social Witness (SASW) scholars, along with others began the Fall with a term long class seeking the deeper meaning of activism. The Psalms class asked ‘what are the songs that faith communities sing of communal rejoicing and lament and what do they say to us today?’ A series of classes, one each term, explored the integration of mind, body and spirit, through the principles of yoga. The Gardening class started this year’s garden and explored our relationship to the production of the food we eat. In spring term many of us struggled to articulate our beliefs in the What Canst Thou Say class. We were blessed by many dedicated and spirit-led teachers who helped us deepen our roots and extend our branches.
One of the gifts of Pendle Hill is living in community with fellow students and teachers. It often felt like class stretched well beyond the two and a half hours allocated on any given day and reached into our worship, work and conversation time. This provided a rich opportunity to explore our learnings more fully and to practice integrating those lessons into our lives on a daily basis.
We flowered in our diversity, bringing unique gifts and perspectives to create a rich garden of delights. Over the year our resident student community totaled thirty three plus five family members. Eighteen students plus all of the family members stayed three terms, three stayed two terms and twelve, one term. The diversity of our resident student community is reflective of the world. We hail from all parts of the globe: Korea, Kenya, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Malawi, England, and many areas of the United States. We are Quakers with diverse experiences, Baptists, Catholics, Non-denominational, Christian and Non-Christian. We range in age from 3 to 84, which includes the four children of resident students whose presence blessed us. Young adults took leadership in all aspects of our community, bringing depth, vitality, playfulness and new perspectives to our life and work together. What we did and do agree upon within this diversity, is that Spirit has graced us with each other as we work to live in Community.
With a monthly series entitled Faith in Action, the SASW students raised the Pendle Hill community’s consciousness by lifting up topics such as the Alternatives to Violence work at Chester High School, sustainability and ecology, and the many forms of racial, class, gender and economic discrimination in the world today. The impact of discrimination and systemic racism has been the subject of an on-going dialogue. A workshop in which we examined the intent and impact of our communications created communitywide awareness of the divergence that can occur between what we mean and what is heard. We strived to continue thoughtful and loving growth in our communications with one another.
Two racism Forums, held in conjunction with the Pendle Hill Board’s Racial Justice Committee, gave our community deeper insights and powerful witness into the work that is being done here at Pendle Hill at all levels. It does not get any closer than right here in our own backyard, when one of the interim Co-Executive Directors and the Dean courageously and compellingly shared with the full community, a series of events, the challenges they faced, and the reconciliation process necessary for loving and continued growth.
A performance from a touring South African youth choir raised our awareness of the challenges with HIV/AIDS in their country. Their joyful and spontaneous singing after Meeting for Worship added a new dimension to the notion of “make a joyful noise unto the Lord” that morning. Evangelical Friends from three Philadelphia-area Guatemalan Friends churches joined our worship twice, adding vibrant testimony in song and vocal ministry.
Our experience was further enhanced and broadened by the many sojourners, workshop participants and other visitors who came to Pendle Hill. Our connections between Pendle Hill and the wider world were expanded significantly and deeply by the richness of those who shared a briefer time with us.
We came, we engaged, we transformed and were transformed. We took ownership of the quality of our community to meet our spiritual needs, coming to respect our own role as well as the roles of others at Pendle Hill. We made Resident Community Meetings into engaging community building opportunities. Our nominating committee asked one student to be clerk of the meeting, two other students to serve as a clerk-support committee and one student to serve as recording clerk. Each of these Friends brought with them different Quaker clerking experience. We recognized that our community wasn't like a monthly meeting because the resident community exists within an organization whose mission is broader than the resident community. We could have input and impact but the authority for many decisions and policies resided with the staff or the Pendle Hill board. We came to see the community meetings as meetings for learning. At each meeting, we used a portion of the time for an activity that served as an opportunity to grow community. The content of the activities rose organically and included the ‘agree/disagree game’; a visioning exercise; a discussion around conscious communication; a concern for contemplation and community cohesion and an exercise to prepare us for leaving Pendle Hill. Concerns that were raised in the business portion of our meetings included: extending the time of Meeting for Worship, making Pendle Hill more child-friendly and improving our energy efficiency and recycling. We brought ideas and concerns from these discussions to staff and the resident community and implemented changes. We are grateful to our clerking team who helped guide us in this process, which was a valuable part of our experience.
The Board invited us to participate in the process of finding and hiring a new Executive Director for Pendle Hill. We had the opportunity to meet the finalists for the position when they visited for their final interviews. We also got to hear these four impressive Quaker leaders each speak about their visions for our beloved Pendle Hill. We are excited about the gifts Lauri Perman is bringing to her new position of Executive Director!
The Spirit flourished among us in story, song and art. Many people came to Pendle Hill with creative projects in mind for their time here. We are a community of singers, storytellers, knitters, weavers, bookmakers, crane folders, potters, stone carvers, mandala drawers, dancers and so much more. We had the opportunity to practice skills we already had and to delve into new areas of exploration. We have used these forms to help us tell stories: our own and those of others who have touched us. We have learned from each other and been guided by the Spirit as we explored many different media. We have pushed our boundaries and tried new things and many of us have found our own ways to claim our creative paths.
We came together for drum circles, soul sessions and dance parties and shared what was in our hearts, our souls and our bodies. We joined our voices for the chorus in fall and spring, gospel choir, Taize worship, sacred chant, and many mornings during Meeting for Worship.
We had fun. It is perhaps easy in a place of contemplation, study and community, to feel the weight of the world and forget what it is to relax and have fun . . . but we wouldn’t know. The gatherings we had in honor of playing and not taking ourselves too seriously helped us build community and deepen our connections with each other and with the Spirit. There were many organized activities: bonfires, funky hair day, sleepovers in the barn and Log nights, where we came together with the intention of having fun. There were many times when Spirit swept us up (quite literally in the broom hockey game on the Brinton House pond) and giggled with us as we played and laughed, over meals, during ping-pong, on the basketball court and late into many nights in many places across campus. Living together we were present with each other through the good, the bad and the ugly and were able to find the love and humor in all our experiences.
Now having read this far, we leave you a gentle but powerful caution: it is easy to want to sample and participate in so much abundance. There is a lot to experience here. Be aware that busy-ness, over commitment, trying to find alone time and living in the here and now as opposed to the “what next?” are all real challenges. We had to learn to be patient with ourselves, to be loving and loved, and to be aware of Spirit with us and available to us at all times.
We are grateful to the whole staff which helped feed our bodies, souls and minds through thoughtful attention to their jobs and by holding this place sacred now and for the communities that will form here in the future. We are grateful to the General Board and the Board of Trustees for their loving service and commitment to Pendle Hill.
This is our experience that we have shared with you. Yours will be totally different – it will be whatever you make it. Be brave, be gentle, be slow, be loving. Breathe and Listen. Receive this time and let it be yours.
With much love, light and friendship,
The Pendle Hill class of 2006-2007.
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