Piedmont Friends Spring Retreat 2021 / April 9, 10, 11 / “Cultivating the Garden of Diversity and Inclusion”
Registration opens March 1, 2021 / Sessions (via Zoom)
REGISTRATION: https://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/jdlZ0t0dW4 (Opens March 1)
INFORMATION: Piedmont Friends Spring Retreat Webpage (https://www.fgcquaker.org/cloud/piedmont-friends-fellowship-and-yearly-meeting/events/2021-pff/pfym-spring-retreat-and-pfym)
Friday evening, April 9; 7:00-8:30 / Friends Gathering
The Friday evening session includes a ROLL CALL of meetings, including a time to honor the native people whose land our meeting houses are on. Friends will participate in a Zoom “ice breaker” activity, led by John Shuford and Deborah Bromiley (Raleigh Friends Meeting). Friends will get to know and deepen their connection to each other through meaningful sharing, in a series of break-out rooms with small groups.
Saturday morning, 10:00-11:30 / Healing the Illusion of Our Separateness: Cultivating the Garden of Diversity and Inclusion. Author of What Color is Your Soul?, Niambi Jaha-Echols will lead us into an exploration of how we, as Friends, can:
- Uproot colonialism from the Quaker soil, “re-membering” our spiritual oneness,
- Plant the seeds of inviting more people of color to be our allies in the world we seek, moving from feeling vulnerable to being vulnerable,
- Re-imagine Piedmont Friends as a blooming, flourishing society including the diversity of our world.
Saturday afternoon, 1:00 to 2:00 / Intergenerational Art Activity— Hamsa ~ Zen Pen. A session specifically focused for children and their adults. Adults with childlike curiosity are welcome. Come with a piece of paper, a pen and your own hand. The Hamsa Hand is an ancient Middle Eastern symbol of the Hand of God. Through many religious traditions, the Hamsa Hand has been an artistic expression of our relationship with the Spirit. Join Sunny Davidson (Raleigh Friends Meeting) as she leads us in a virtual experience with Hamsa art.
Saturday afternoon, 2:30 to 4:30 / Piedmont Friends Yearly Meeting Sixth Annual Sessions— All are welcome to the afternoon session, which will conduct the business of the Annual Sessions in a Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. (An agenda and reports will be available in advance.)A fter a movement-to-music break, the session will include worship sharing on the query: “What is most on my heart as we cultivate the garden?”
Sunday morning meeting for worship, 9:00 to 9:45 / Friends Worshiping
ALL Friends are invited to join unprogrammed Meeting for Worship. Toward the close of worship, Ron Echols will fill our space with the healing tones of singing bowls. He will be focusing on creating a harmonious vibration, with perhaps a slightly dissonant tone to remind us of our work in cultivating our garden of diversity.
Niambi Jaha-Echols Niambi is an Author, Inspirational Speaker, Cultural Agility Strategist, Cultural Intelligence Specialist, and Spiritual Alchemist and has spent the past 30 years working as a Transformation Advocate. She is the Principal and Lead Consultant for Cross-Cultural Agility, LLC where she trains, coaches and consults individuals and corporations on issues supporting cultural intelligence and new pathways to inclusion. Niambi’s passion is helping others to transform their mindsets and personal stuck points so that they can deepen their connections to all of humanity. https://www.niambijaha-echols.com/about.html
Rod Echols is a Certified Sound Therapist, based in Chapel Hill. www.soundtohealth.com He combines the Spiritual, Scientific and practical aspects of sound and vibrations to assist individuals and groups into states of wellbeing.
Quaker Books of FGC has created a special page for Piedmont Friends for our spring retreat:
https://quakerbooks.org/collections/piedmont-2021 What Color is Your Soul? and other books of special interest to our community are highlighted on this page. Using the discount code “Piedmont” at checkout, Friends will receive a 10% discount for the entire bookstore from March 1 through April 18.