BHFH Ernest and Esther Weed Memorial Lecture 2021 - Knitted Together: Mystical Experience and Community Discernment (Hybrid)
Our annual Ernest and Esther Weed Memorial lecture, endowed in honor of longtime BHFH Directors Ernest and Esther Weed, features a prominent interpreter of Quakerism speaking on a topic of interest to Friends in New England and beyond.
For 2021, our speaker is Sarah Gant, with the lecture: "Knitted Together: Mystical Experience and Community Discernment."
Quakerism offers an invitation to mystical union with the Divine. But how do practitioners enter into this space of transformed consciousness? And, emerging from it, how does one discern how to live in relationship with that experience?
The 2021 Ernest and Esther Weed Memorial Lecture takes a quick romp around the cultural shifts and practices that shaped Christian mysticism, the context of early Quakerism, and the role of community in accompanying those engaged in this profound journey now.
While mysticism is not unique to Quakerism, the idea that the discernment of the authenticity of experience rests in community, is unique. How do communities find the unifying love to take on this discernment with care and wisdom?
This year, the Weed Lecture will be in a hybrid format - on Zoom and online. We have limited capacity in person, so register early in order to get a seat. Once we run out of in-person spots, we will start a waitlist. All registrants will have access to the Zoom information.
Sarah Gant (Beacon Hill Friends Meeting, Boston) served on NEYM Permanent Board from 2007–2019, and as clerk from 2016–2019. She recently clerked the Ministry and Spiritual Life Working Group of Permanent Board and currently serves on the NEYM Ministry Transition Team as well as her meeting's Ministry & Counsel and oversight committees for Friends carrying ministry. She has an M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School.
Accessibility
For Zoom attendees
Closed captioning will be provided for this event.
Please indicate on your registration if there is anything else we can do to make this event more accessible for you.
For in-person attendees
This event will take place on our ground-floor level (in our Meeting Room)
Our primary entrance is up a flight of stairs and we have a sidewalk level entrance to our ground-floor level that can accommodate small and standard size wheelchairs (the turning radius is too small for large motorized chairs). We also have a small, single-occupancy 100-year-old elevator (about 3 ft deep and 2.5 feet wide) that can access all floors.
On the ground-floor level, we have a single-user, gender-free bathroom with wall-mounted handrails and ample space for chairs and/or aides. We are not a scent-free space but tend to be low-scent.
