Epistles from Previous Years
1990-1991 Epistle
To Friends Anywhere:
We Western Young Friends met for our sweet 16th annual New Year's Gathering at Camp Myrtlewood in frozen Oregon. We arrived through rain, sleet, and dark of night to be welcomed by light, warmth, old friends and new. We were also welcomed by our caretakers, John and Margaret Jones, who put in extra effort to keep the camp open despite a frozen water system.
We were immediately taken up with the collective spirit of various activities, including the longest Virginia Reel in Quaker history, music good and bad, a dissection of a giant chinook salmon found dead in the creek, baking cookies, a massive game of Truth or Dare, and the inevitable drums, dancing, backrubs and juggling.
Daily worship sharing groups held in cabins with blasting heaters helped to center us spiritually and get to know new faces. Both seriousness and silliness pervaded in these meetings, and they felt good. Various interest groups and workshops held our attentions, soothed and edified. Meetings for the healing arts, women, juggling, near-death experiences, ěAdult Children of Quakers,î massage and role-playing games, stimulated our intellects and unleashed our spirits. Perhaps the most popular workshop dealt with questions of personal space and emotional boundaries. This meeting was called by our Nurture Committee in response to concerns of some members of the gathering that the open loving nature of our group sometimes causes uncomfortable feelings to surface. The women and men attending felt supported and rewarded by the experience.
Fears of a repeat freeze-out and concerns that the timing of our gathering interferes with the holiday vacation of our caretakers led to the formation of a site committee to look into a new location for our future gatherings. This relocation may occur as soon as next year.
As a gesture of appreciation to the camp, on New Year's Eve day, we helped clear a lawn of stones, and used them to build a peace cairn as a token of our mutual desire for a peaceful resolution to the Persian Gulf crisis. A special Young Friend traveled from New York to spend a day with us and conduct a session on draft counseling. Our thoughts of peace were also shared after a group Blue Moon Howl with songs and games.
Out of the 66 of us, seven were under the age of 14. A small group of children, but a vital one. Hat-making, finger-painting, singing and a skit (ěThe King who Played with Puppetsî) put on for the entire gathering rounded out the week for our youngest attenders.
New Year's Eve brought us all together when the festive mood was already apparent as we sang Happy Birthday to Cedra and shared radish puns along with the birthday cake. A talent show showcased songs, stories and dancing before we met in front of the fireplace for a hopeful silent meeting until midnight, when we broke loose with a glorious cacaphony of dancing, singing, cheesecake and bell-ringing far into the morning.
We leave for home once again rejoicing and renewed, bolstered by new connections and old friendships.
In Peace,
WYF New Year's Gathering
1990-1991
1992-1993 Epistle
To Friends Everywhere:
After a year of anxious wondering whether our Gathering would ever find a new site matching our exacting specifications, the way finally openedóacross a narrow, swinging suspension bridge. The bridge, which some traversed in the rain and hail, some without flashlights, became our metaphor. The way that opens may demand acts of courage and faith, yet leads to spiritual peace, here manifested in the intentional community of Shenoa, in Philo, California.
ěShenoaî is a Native American word meaning ěwhite bird of peaceî and the community of Shenoa shares our ideals of living in sustainable harmony with the planet. We felt blessed to have found such a welcoming place, our first gathering in a new location after nine years at Camp Myrtlewood in Oregon.
Our schedule, shortened by one day to reduce expenses, was packed with interest groups and worship sharing, work projects for the camp, and long walks in the redwood grove, a thousand-year-old Meeting for Worship. Meetings for Business, bread baking, juggling, Capture the Flag, music, games and circle-dancing rounded out our week.
We celebrated the transition from 1992 to 1993 with an evening of group play, a circle ritual, and fireside Meeting for Worship. Our worship settled into a deep silence. As the fire dimmed, disembodied voices shared songs, joys, pain, gratitude, and messages of hope and love. We blended our voices in the harmonies of tolling bells to ring in the new year.
We numbered 58 souls this year and spanned three generations. Babies and children were prevalent among us. They were accepted in our midst, held in our arms, and spun on the floor. The children had a full program this year, complete with mask-making and a room of their own.
We returned to our lives across the sturdy bridge, renewed in spirit and looking forward to the way ahead.
WYF New Year's Gathering
1992-1993
2000-2001 Epistle
To Friends Everywhere,
Greetings from the Western Young Friends New Years Gathering. We met at the Wellspring Renewal Center near Philo in Northern California, where clear sunny days led to nights bright with frost and stars. A total of 67 people, aged 3 weeks to 70 years, shared in our community between December 28th, 2000 and January 2nd, 2001.
At first, we did not fit together very smoothly as we tried to acknowledge and meet the sometimes conflicting needs in our community. But as the gathering progressed, we found ways to balance and honor these differences, and some of the rough edges were gently rubbed away. On New Year's Eve, it seemed appropriate to drop smooth river stones into a bowl of water to represent the things we wanted to release, as well as selecting other stones representing things we wanted to bring into our lives. There were also small groups who walked, sang, and shared in their own ceremonies of release. Then we settled into meeting for worship, accompanied by the occasional coos and cries of our youngest attenders. As the children drifted off to sleep, our worship deepened, becoming a clear pool, with enough space for each of us to be heard and send our ripples out.
We were encouraged to consider the directions our lives are going, through workshops on creating a simpler lifestyle, a worship fellowship query about paths with a heart, and a ěwheel of lifeî inventory exercise. Gingerbread at midnight, board and card games, creating batiks using flour and water, and spontaneous singing in the kitchen rounded out our sharing together. As the gathering drew to a close, we acknowledged one another with an outpouring of love and appreciation for everyone's gifts and efforts, displayed in family night, nitty-gritty work, and the care we've taken of each other.
Epistle Committee:
Sarah Rose House, Sara Michener, and Sarah Tyrrell
Co-clerks:
Julia Bazar and Paul Ruhlen
2001-2002 Epistle
To Friends Everywhere,
Heaps of young and experienced Quakers gathered in Oregon at Camp Myrtlewood to bring in the new year in silent worship. A friend observed that this annual celebration was more mellow than years past, our only difficulty this year being the occasional late meal. Many members of the group have been active in responding to the crises of the world and a calm retreat was welcomed. Benji Hebner expressed the spirit of the gathering though this poem:
Walking out on the footbridge under looming Douglas Firs who press their ponderous roots into the banks Your eyes follow the moss that clings in clumps around the trunks that bloom in needles toward the tops ëtil in the waiting mist, they're lost. You hear the lapping cackle of the shiv'ring winter brook and close your eyes for though you've never seen this river you can almost taste it's fragrant green before you ever look. It's like that when the silence flows to clear the clutter; you can touch the soundless mutter melting down the groundless fear just like the breeze that sweeps the misty curtains from the trees and lets us see the moon that glows so soft and clear. And when the wind should stop and when the fog that blurs the treetops slithers down along their trunks to drape with damp the puddles and the pathways through the camp and trickles down the shingles to the dark moss covered walls and soaks through all our clothes like rain that never falls and the trees all fade to shadows in the gray, we huddle round the sopping kindling on the ground and press our breath to urge the hiss and crackle that the forest speaks in death. And in that calm and comfort called up by the flames embracing all these fragments of the past we find that warming voice at last that speaks the truth to flickering power in us all. So as you pull your coat around you watching doubtful gray surround you don't despair to see the frigid kiss of mist upon the stream. Although your quaking comes from cold and fear that when the clouds dissolve and disappear they'll wash away that vital, vivid green, keep close. We'll help you hold that flame within your soul and pull together all our timid, flickering fragments to a warm and brilliant whole.
In previous years, we have alternated between gathering at Myrtlewood and Wellspring. Since Wellspring's rates have gone up significantly we will not be able to return to that space next year. We have formed a site committee, and the caretakers of Camp Myrtlewood have invited us to hold the gathering here every year. Although we aren't sure where it will be, we look forward to coming together again at the end of this year.
In the light,
2004-2005 Epistle
To Friends everywhere,
New Year's Gathering was frikkin' awesome!
Twenty-three sexy young Californians gathered in Oregon, and the muddy Camp Myrtlewood. Despite the fact that the gathering was planned two days in advance, and the menu decided on the car-ride up, it was a tremendous success. Facing the organizational challenges before us, we rediscovered our commitment to the gathering. Next year will be bigger and better.
Throughout the week we became a tight-knit group through worship sharing, trust falls, and a high-stakes game involving a paper bag and scissors. Our meals were delicious and frequently interrupted by phone calls from our new local friend DAVE! D! A! V! E! Ad hoc committees were formed - some smart, some stupid, but all necessary to the makeup of the gathering. We brought in the new year in worship filled with tears and transformations, and were surprised at the end to find that it had lasted a whopping three hours. The next day we had the opportunity to sweat out the old year in a sweat lodge led by two attenders. Then we ate in the new year in the form of egg omelets and scrambles. But none of this compares to the greatest miracle of all -- all business meetings were fully attended.
All in all, this was a tight-knit and deliciously cold gathering.
In the light,
Western Young Friends 2004-5
2006-2007 Epistle
To Friends Everywhere,
Young Friends from up and down the west coast gathered at Camp Myrtlewood in southern Oregon, to begin our annual time of reflection on the old year and hope for the new. This year’s celebration was filled with feasting, worship and games – and was punctuated by a wicked dance party. We spent our time with guitar, singing and laughter. Our interest groups ranged from activist videos to hikes through the lush woods to a cooking demonstration featuring ten pounds of chocolate. The days schedules seemed to flow away into companionship in the inglenook and in the kitchen. Insightful worship sharing sessions prepared us for a truly gathered meeting welcoming in the new tear. The moment between 2006 and 2007 passed in cleansing warmth and worship as friends were drawn into a lasting sense of community.
We venture out of this gathering into the New Year with renewed spirits and hearts. And what do we bring with us into 2007?
Snausages.
Western Young Friends New Years Gathering
