Author: Breeze Richardson
Dear Friends,
I would like to invite those from throughout Illinois Yearly Meeting to consider whether your First Day School program would like to conduct ‘Meeting Meeting Friends’ monthly and share your experiences here?
As we continue to build community at 57th Street Meeting by intentionally taking the time for Meeting adults to spend time with and meet Meeting children, I realize it might be an exciting
exercise for this pursuit to expand to across Monthly Meetings as a way for today’s Quaker children to learn more of the Quaker adults in their midst.
Or perhaps there is another kind of First Day School lesson that is needed?
Are there other resources for the exploration of community and intentional community building that can be pointed to from here? (please add a Comment below & share!)
As a mother of young Quaker boys, I am aware of my desire that they learn Quaker philosophy and testimonies, and am working to identify lessons that aim to teach Quakerism apart from Judeo-Christian thinking. ‘Meeting Meeting Friends’ is my first attempt at creating this within my own Meeting, bearing witness to how Friends are living their Quakerism as one way to model our ideals and life principles.
How have other parents and mentors worked to teach of Quakerism with their young(est) Friends? Might you share more here?
“Meeting 57th Street Friends” is a special project at 57th Street Meeting (Chicago) that took place Oct 2010 – March 2011 where non-parent adult Friends visit with the Meeting children each month to share their reflections on Quaker life & identity today by exploring something they hold dear. A childhood memory, a story, a life lesson or a life passion – by sharing our experiences across the generations we are living in community. Learning from each other about our lives is a way to move towards better understanding and our testimony to peace.
Perhaps I could ask this another way: How does your Meeting help the children better know the adults (and vis versa)? I’m sure there are many answers, small and large, and if we were to collect some here it might be very helpful to First Day School facilitators far and near.
Southern Illinois Quaker Meeting is small enough so that we all get to know the children intimately, all four of them. We each take turns teaching them too. After First Day School the kids come upstairs and sit with us in silence for ten minutes. Once a month we hold a sing-a-long with guitars and a fiddle. Our kids are always close by and we love to pass the babies around from lap to lap.