“Testimonies to Mercy” is a seven-part traveling series based on the lecture Better Than Good: Seven Testimonies for Quaker Caregiving (available on YouTube), given at Pendle Hill in June of 2021 by Quaker practical theologian and public minister Windy Cooler. The lecture inspires communities to thrive in creative, curious, inviting new ways. Lived experiences of rupture, shame, and injustice are met with component parts of mercy, the antidote to shame. We are invited to imagine how to reconnect and rebuild our lives together through education, the time to be tender, emotional separateness and openness, equality, truth, lament, and hospitality. These are the pieces of a testimony to mercy. Each retreat in this series is led by Windy and a co-presenter from Quaker public ministry. Some of our co-presenters are familiar faces in the Quaker world and others are lesser known. All are excellent, powerful presenters and retreat leaders with whom you will be invited to co-create and engage, as a cohort. These retreats can either stand alone or Friends may elect to attend multiple sessions in the series. The first two sessions have already happened. The rest are as follows and are offered on Zoom.
- November 11th-12th Kody Hersh, (Zoom), Emotional Separateness and Openness
- January 6th-7th Khalila Lomax, (Zoom), Equality
- February 10th-11th Martin Kelley, (Zoom), Truth
- March 10th-11th Anthony Kirk, (Zoom), Lament
- June 2nd-3rd Susan Wilson and Rhiannon Grant, (Powell House), Hospitality
For details: www.powellhouse.org or call 518-794-8811.
