Yahara Friends Meeting
“Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself.” —Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion
Yahara Friends Meeting serves the Madison, Wisconsin area. Please join us for Meeting for Worship, Sundays 10:30-11:30 a.m. We meet at 551 West Main Street, on the second floor. Please call 608-242-9029 for more information.
See the Madison Monthly Meeting web site for information about another Madison, Wisconsin, Friends (Quaker) Meeting.
A description of our Meeting and our Yearly Meeting
Yahara Friends is a Preparative Meeting under the care of West Branch Monthly Meeting, Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative). A Preparative Meeting forms with the intention of becoming a Monthly Meeting. Membership for Yahara Friends is held in West Branch Monthly Meeting. Yahara Friends first worshipped together in January, 2002 and began to hold monthly business meetings that September. We became a Preparative Meeting in July, 2003 after gaining clearness with a committee from West Branch Monthly Meeting, then making a written request to the Meeting which was approved.
In Iowa, Conservative Friends separated from Iowa Yearly Meeting in the 19th century at a time when evangelism was spreading across the United States. They attempted to conserve early practices of Quaker faith at a time of sweeping changes. They espoused a primitive Christianity and gave primary attention to the Leadings of the Inward Christ. Conservative Friends developed as rural family groups, putting significant resources into preserving their culture. They did this, in part, through the formation of Quaker elementary and secondary schools. Plain speech and dress were also expressions of this culture.
Conservative Friends’ business meetings are known for “ ‘Slowness’ and a tentativeness which sacrifices efficiency because of a search for divine guidance and because of sensitivity to the scruples and hesitations of others.” (In American Quakers Today, Wm. P. Taber, Jr., 1966). It is this disciplined submission to the Spirit in corporate discernment, and formal tenderness toward others, that moved our group to seek affiliation with Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative).
Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) meets annually on the campus of Scattergood Friends School, a boarding high school under the care of the Yearly Meeting. Scattergood, which is near West Branch, Iowa, was founded in 1890 and it has been a primary witness of the Yearly Meeting. IYM(C) is also active in Friends Committee on National Legislation, Friends World Committee for Consultation, the American Friends Service Committee, and other organizations working for justice and peace.
Three Friends organizations in which Yearly Meetings hold memberships are Friends General Conference, Friends United Meeting, and Evangelical Friends International. At this time, Conservative Yearly Meetings (Iowa, Ohio and North Carolina) do not have a joint organization. Conservative Yearly Meetings maintain close bonds through inter-visitation at Yearly Meetings and sharing of epistles.
Meeting for worship, Sundays 10:30-11:30 a.m. Meeting for worship is a time when Friends come together, center down into a living silence, and wait. We listen and seek unity with that divine spirit which lives in us and in all of creation. In an experience of unity with the Divine, an adult or child may feel led to speak. Sometimes no message is shared at all and the silence itself fills with Love and Truth. Children attend meeting for worship for the first half-hour. We hold them in our loving care as they learn of the Spirit with us. Children may engage in quiet, solitary activities such as reading in order to center and listen. After a half hour children attend First Day School lessons. Nursery care is available as needed. Worship time is closed by the clerk with shaking of hands. If you are visiting our meeting, please sign our guest book and let us know if you would like someone to contact you.
Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business, First Sunday of the month, 11:15 The clerk directs our attention and we move seamlessly into business after about 45 minutes of our regular worship time. As we attend to business the clerk gathers the sense of the meeting and records our decisions in the form of minutes. Minutes are written while the meeting continues to worship, holding the concern or the clerks in the Light.
Reading and discussion of Queries from the Discipline of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative), Normally on the Sunday before meeting for business, following worship -- We read a Query from the Discipline and record our responses. Query discussion is one way we take stock of how we put our faith into practice.
Other Sundays after Meeting are sometimes used for educational or social activities.
Attenders are welcome to join us in our monthly potluck and game night, typically starting 5:30 p.m. the evening before Meeting for Business (First Sunday).
551 West Main Street, #214, Madison, WI 53703
Clerk: Ken Lawrence, 608-242-9029 Assistant Clerk: Penny Majors Treasurer:
Steve Deatherage Updated November 5, 2008 |