Lunar New Year 20 - Interfaith Practice

 We are in the midst of the Lunar New Year!

Happy Year of the dragon! 

photo by Rutpratheep Nilpechr on unsplash

Did you know that Lunar New Year is not just celebrated in China? Countries that celebrate Lunar New Year include Vietnam, Korea, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, and the Okinawan community  in Japan. It is called Seollal (Korea), Tet (Vietnam), Losar (Tibet), and Tsangaan Sar (Mongolia).

As a lower school community, we embrace the opportunity to learn about this celebration.

My hope for my students is that they learn to approach every new opportunity with curiosity and openness. Rather than notice differences or ideas of shock or strangeness, imagine holding space for wonder! 

As a way to encourage this approach, I have created an extended thinking routine of sorts. It is our interfaith dialog and education thinking routine. We use this routine throughout the year with each new observance or tradition, each new opportunity for interfaith exploration and wonder. Teachers are free to adapt, simplify, or chunk the thinking moves in the routine in any way that makes sense for their learners. Our hope is that teachers will settle on a version that they can use again and again, making this interfaith routine, routine.

We often begin with a story. It may be a story that is read by a member of the community or the teacher. It may be a story that a member of our community shares from their own personal history or identity.

You might use this story Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin

:

Grace Lin

Exploring the Lunar New Year, a thinking routine:

As you reflect upon the Lunar New Year story…

What is important to know about the Lunar New Year?

What feels familiar?

What surprises you? What is unexpected?

 

Further thinking about a point of view and the connectedness to our Quaker identity/the faith or non-faith based elements of our community’s identity:

Whose perspectives are being represented? How do you know? 

Whose perspective might be missing? 

In what ways might this connect to Quaker ideas or practices?

In what ways might this connect to your own story?

Further thinking about the relevance of all of this in the larger community or in our world:

Why might hearing these stories or learning about these traditions be important?

What role do these ideas play in our families? In our community? In our world? (Why might learning about this be important?)

 

Always great questions to ask:

What connections can you make?

What do you wonder?

How does the idea of light connect to the Lunar New Year? To our Quaker identity? To each of us?

What do you do with this thinking routine? Some options...

• use the queries to guide a conversation
• write about your thinking in response to the queries
• paint or draw or create an artful representation in response to these queries (painted reflection journals)
• use a query as a chalk talk prompt

Want to learn more?

• Read about thinking routines.
• Read about interfaith dialogs/education.
• I highly recommend reading Out of Many Faiths by Eboo Patel.

This interfaith thinking routine is adapted from the See Familiar Surprise Wonder routine.

Reflection on my pilgrimage to 1652 Country

The view from Pendle Hill

“Why do you make this trip?” 

Friends Council Quaker Pilgrimage: One Educator’s Reflection 

By Denise Coffin

Earlier this summer, I traveled to the north western part of England, often called 1652 Country, to learn more about the beginnings of Quakerism. I met up with a group of people who I would join on this pilgrimage, and the first thing one of my fellow pilgrims asked was, “Why do you make this trip?” 

We began by boarding a bus at the Manchester airport and heading north to a small town between lakes and mountains called Grasmere. As we drove on, the cities became smaller, the roads turned from highways to roads to narrow little lanes, lined with hedgerows and stone walls, and the landscape opened up. The green fields somehow grew greener, sheep were scattered on the hillsides, mountains became the background, the sky became bluer, and the clouds were enormous and fluffy. We left “today” behind and entered yesterday’s small villages of stone buildings and old shop fronts. This first “step” in our pilgrimage might have been a metaphor for the journey we were taking. Grasmere, apart from the hikers with telescoping walking sticks and waterproof gear, is a village back in time. We could envision early seekers going about their own journey here.

Why do I make this trip? I am drawn to the story of Quakerism. I am curious about the people who were so sure about their faith and the way to access it, at great risk to themselves. I am a teacher, and I feel called to learn about those people and the events that led up to and played a large role in this story. I make this trip so that I can take the story back and share it as a spark for my young learners and the part they’ll play in their own journeys. The trip itinerary provided us with the opportunity to do just that. 

Pendle Hill

We began by hiking Pendle Hill. I have hiked this hill before and George Fox is right in describing the walk up as “so very difficult.” To me, that’s an important detail, one that I connected with more on this year’s climb than on my past climbs. We were dropped off near a farmhouse at the base of the steep part of Pendle Hill. For Fox, the climb would have begun farther down the hill. For me, the climb began with a swift pace. The group initially climbed together with some pilgrims opting to stop at an early plateau to take in the views. The rest of us continued towards the top. 

It’s difficult to hike straight up. I found my pattern of climbing for a bit, stopping to look up at the distance I had yet to climb, and then turning around to gasp at the incredibly beautiful view! Squares of green fields outlined by tiny stone walls, dotted by tiny sheep, mountains rising and dipping, all of it surrounded by the biggest sky. I did eventually summit (last) and joined the waiting group where we took seats along a stone wall for a brief and spontaneous Meeting for Worship. How could we not?! The wind was fierce and invigorating. The sun shone. We were joyful and amazed. For George Fox, this was a tough hike. He was drawn to Pendle Hill for some reason that we may speculate about but do not know the real reason why. He tells us that reaching the top is a bit of a transformative experience. He tells us that what he needs to do next is revealed to him on Pendle Hill. I feel similarly inspired. The beauty is remarkable, and the terrain is green brush and grass, rough stone paths, and the driest, dustiest dirt. In the past, I always looked out at the view, but on this trip I also looked down as I walked. There were wild blueberries growing, and, at the advice of a fellow pilgrim, a few of us hiking together ate a handful “for our health.” Another pilgrim picked up trash on her way down. A few of us stopped just feet away from a sheep who looked up at us with the sheepiest of smiles. I held a rock in my hand and noticed that it was jagged and dusty and warm. You can feel history here. For me, Pendle Hill was magical, the best way to launch our journey. 

Brigflatts Meeting House

One of my favorite parts of this trip was visiting many local meetinghouses. At every meeting, local Quakers shared the history of their meetings, of their meetinghouses, of their members and membership. As a teacher of young children, I get to share the practice of Meeting for Worship with them and their families each year. Many grown ups believe that it must be difficult for young children to sit quietly for such a long period of time. The truth, however, is that I find the younger students much more able to sit and listen to their still small voices than the older children and than their grown ups! My kindergarteners and I have Meeting for Worship in a variety of places, and we often try to notice the character of the silence. Is it a fidgeting, moving of legs, breathing kind of silence? Is it an outside kind of silence with birds, passing cars, wind? Is it a very still silence with barely a noise at all? We reflect on what kind of silence suits the emergence of what kinds of messages. We check in with our hearts, bodies, and brains around which silence works best for each of us as we hear our inner voice (however we define that in our respective faiths) and let those messages settle in for our growth. 

Experiencing the silence of each of these meetinghouses, some new, some old, some very old, was powerful for me. At Brigflatts Meeting, the silence had already begun as we entered. The meeting room at Brigflatts Meeting is incredible. Old wooden floors, windows set in deep stone walls, wooden benches, some with cushions and some without, a second level balcony. The elder benches are on a riser between the windows and the door. Early members brought their dogs when the meetinghouse was first built in 1675, and there was a place for them to wait while their people worshiped. A table in the center stood with a beautiful vase of flowers. George Fox had come here. Everything was old, dark wood, stone, worn with time, uneven, beautiful. The silence was somehow old, too. It was impossibly still. The messages were beautiful. They were full of the joy of the large gathering of Friends. There was a connection to the troublemaking that early Quakers were known for and the need to make good trouble again for the sake of today and the future. Why do I make this trip? I make this trip because the intersection of joy and social justice and action and community are so important for and needed today. I traveled to England in order to bring that back for my own community, for my students, and for myself. So that I can reflect upon what that might look like for a group of elementary students at a Quaker school. 

Every afternoon, we gathered as we wished for afternoon tea and shared our impressions on the day’s experiences. We connected, laughed, shared, supported, asked questions, and became friends. This pilgrimage is more than a tour of Quaker history. It is the group that makes the pilgrimage as much as the places we visit; maybe more so. We stood in the churchyard in Sedbergh and heard the story of George Fox preaching to a gathered group while being encouraged to go into the church because “that is where the preaching happens.” Fox replied that “church is in the people, not the buildings.” It was perhaps a necessary belief for Quakers who did not and could not have buildings. For me, that idea was even more meaningful as my fellow pilgrims quickly became my teachers, guides, supporters, and friends. Notifications from our shared text chat group continue to pop up on my phone throughout the day as a friend shares a resource, an idea, a message, some photos. Messages that my new friends shared at Meetings, along with ideas that were talked about during our bus rides, fill my journal. We were a group of seekers. We might have each answered the question, why do you make this trip? differently, and that is what made the trip even more valuable to me.

Firbank Fell

Why do I make this trip? Our group was able to meet and hear from local Quakers at each of our stops. We heard about what life was like in that part of the world at the beginning of Quakerism from Ben Pink Dandelion and Wendy Hampton at Clitheroe Meeting. We met David Boulton, the author of a fascinating history of Quakerism at Brigflatts Meeting where a Friend shared a bit more about George Fox and the early seekers as they traipsed across the fields and headed to Firbank Fell. We heard from an amateur/expert embroiderer at Kendal Meeting where we learned of a special Quaker stitch created by Anne Wynn-Wilson for the tapestries that are on display there at the Quaker Tapestry Museum. During our visit with Lancaster Meeting, a local Quaker shared her research around the role of Quakers in the history of enslaved people and the truth about whether and how Meetings might have benefited. The ideas and history that she presented, along with her driving mission of providing reparations, became a call to action for all of us. In what other ways have Quakers participated in or benefited from such harmful practices? How can I/we repair relationships, provide reparations, and change systems that continue to reinforce these inequities and injustices? I make this trip to hear from Friends about what is being revealed to them and how they are continuing to answer these questions and take action. 

Quaker Tapestry

I am still marveling at the ways in which this trip tended my brain, body, spirit, and heart. My brain is full with stories, new friends, and action-provoking ideas. My body is stronger (and a bit wearier) from hiking, walking, and carrying my gear. My spirit is grateful for the opportunity to travel as a seeker, not completely sure of what I was looking for, but now knowing that I found so much. My heart is happy to have found a new community, to have been given the gift of this pilgrimage. I feel a renewed call to the Quaker education and identity of my school. That is why I make this trip.

Read the full story here on the Friends Council on Education website.

A Query from the kindergarteners...

At our school, classes take turns writing queries to share with the larger community. We write queries to illuminate issues that bubble up as we learn and grow together. It may that we are personally experiencing something that sparks an idea for a query or it may be that inspiration comes from outside - from what might be happening in our neighbors, cities, or the world.

To begin the year, my kindergartners (the Marigolds and Dandelions) brought the idea for our first query. Here is a brief description of that process...

We took on a large job to end our week and wrote the first Query of the school year. I shared with the Marigolds & Dandelions that I was in need of a class to volunteer to write the first query of the year. A query is a Quaker kind of a question. It gives us something to think about and use as a tool to help us as we seek ways that we might grow, help each other, or help our community. I told them that I was listening last week as they shared ideas about our stories, played with each, and worked to solve a difference in opinion around a block building. I noticed some interesting and beautiful ideas that felt like the beginning of a query to me. A few friends in the block corner were working together and I heard one Marigold say, “If we work together, we could do it better.” During a read aloud, another Marigold shared her idea about cooperation and said, “We can do it on our own and we can do it together.” This line between being independent and being capable despite our small physical size and being able and open to someone else's ideas is one that we will "walk" all year long in our kindergarten journey. 

I wrote their words on the white board. Friends added their own thoughts and ideas. The trend towards being able to do stuff for ourselves but also exploring working together kept going. I told the Marigolds & Dandelions that if I rearranged their words so that they ask a question, we might have a pretty good query. I wrote “Even though we can do it on our own, what might happen if we do it together?” The children thought about whether we should ask what might happen vs. what could happen. The difference in words was briefly debated. 

We considered whether or not this was a query that we would feel good about sharing with the whole school community. (We do.) The children immediately began to come up with answers to this big question which suggested it might be just right. And that is how the Marigolds & Dandelions wrote the first Lower School Query of 2023-24!

Query for September 15, 2023

Even though we can do it on our own, what might happen if we do it together?

Marigolds & Dandelions

An added note about our Lower School queries: Classes and groups of children/adults will write queries for the community throughout the year. During this process, the children share their thinking through brainstorming, connecting, being inspired by each other’s ideas, and (in our case) allowing me to sum up, rephrase, and offer some vocabulary advice. Each class has their own process, however there are many similarities, varying by age and developmental phases.

How do we explain Quaker Meeting for Worship?

It's a new school year here on the East Coast of the United States and we have welcomed a new group of students, learners, educators, families, and caregivers to our school community. Some members of our community have Friends school experience and many are experiencing this way of growing, learning, and reflecting together for the first time. As the faculty and staff gather to plan and set our course for the year, the question always arises, "what is Meeting for Worship and how do I teach it?"

Here is some language that we use in our community as a beginning or an opening...

Meeting for Worship at Sidwell Friends Lower School

Sidwell Friends School has Meeting for Worship as a part of its curriculum, believing in its important contribution to the school community. Even the youngest students are taught how to use moments of silence effectively.

 

Quaker Meeting for Worship is silent.  No one leads the group in ceremony.  Quakers believe people can guide themselves toward their own truth, and that silence is the context in which this process can occur.  A first-time observer of an adult Quaker Meeting for Worship might say, “Nothing is happening. They just sit there.” Likewise, a visitor to a Lower School Meeting for Worship might say, “The children are wiggling. They can’t possibly be getting anything out of this.”  Is there more happening than meets the eye?  Is the effort one must make to reach silence worth it?  We believe it is.

 

On e morning each week, the entire Lower School is engaged in meeting for worship for a period of about twenty minutes (the Middle and Upper School also have their dedicated time for Meeting for Worship weekly, for 45 - 60 minutes). During the Meeting for Worship, the teachers or a student clerk will read a current query.  Queries are open-ended questions which are stated simply and have many possible answers. Classes take turns carefully formulating a query for the entire school to consider and reflect upon.  Sometimes the teacher may choose to read a story or poem to their class before or during the silence in order to give the children an idea to focus on.  But the silence is also cherished for its own power. We learn that sometimes the silence is the message.

 

In addition to the weekly Meeting for Worship, each class begins each day with a period of silence.  During these times teachers help children become comfortable with silence and encourage them to make good use of it.  Simply establishing silence for a few moments is quite a powerful accomplishment for any class of 4 -10 year olds. Central to the purpose of a meeting for worship is an acceptance of what another individual believes is important. This idea has a powerful trickle over (trickle on... trickle through... ) effect into other areas of teaching and learning for our students and faculty. Meeting for Worship ends when a previously selected member of the group (student clerk) turns to a neighbor, puts their hand to their chest and then waves at or shakes their hand. We strive to make a purposeful moment of eye contact with our neighbor in order to re-connect ourselves joyfully and with a stronger sense of community.

 

A few details about our Faith & Practice:

 

As Robert Smith describes in The Quaker Book of Wisdom: 

 

“Friends believe that each individual has access to God through the powerful illumination of the light within, they worship in silence, joined in waiting for God to speak to them directly…”  

 

Meeting for Worship is a time for listening to that still small voice for vocal ministry, as opposed to sharing “whatever is on your mind". Quakers are waiting for messages from God that might give the Meeting something to learn or grow from. What aspect of your faith identity might be your still small voice? We hold a long silence between messages to give them (the message) time to “settle.”

  

Notes around our expectations for and of Meeting for Worship:

*Meeting begins as soon as the first person sits down – silence should grow from that.

*We are sharing active silence and expectant waiting as we wait to receive a message that is appropriate for the group – something we can all connect with or learn from.

*The reason we face inwardly is so that no one member of the group is the teacher/minister – we are in community together – we are all potential teachers/ministers.

*Someone will serve as clerk to close the Meeting with the transfer from heart to hand, indicating to others that they should also wave, smile, make purposeful eye contact with each other.