MIDWEEK - Beacon Hill Friends House

MIDWEEK returns for a third season on Sept. 14th!

In the Quaker tradition of Midweek (Wednesday) worship, Beacon Hill Friends House brings you MIDWEEK: Experiments in Faithfulness. This is a weekly, one-hour, facilitated spiritual practice with Quaker flavor and an experimental ethos. Each week, a guest facilitator engages us in a unique spiritual practice that is meaningful to them, and that we can bring into our own lives.

Is there a cost to attend?

MIDWEEK is always free and open to the public. If you'd like to support this program, you can make a donation here.

Event accessibility

Beacon Hill Friends House is working on making our historic space accessible to everyone.

Automated Closed Captions will be available for all participants (on Zoom and in-person).
Physical space: This event will take place in our Parlor, which does not have a ground-level entrance. Our primary entrance is up a flight of stairs. If you would like to attend this event but need it to be held in a different space, please indicate so on your registration. On the basement level, we have a single-user, all-gender 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.

Attending events in-person at BHFH (Covid policies and how to get here)

All MIDWEEK practices going forward are offered on Zoom and in-person at Beacon Hill Friends House. If you choose to attend in our space, here's what you need to know:

Covid policies: All in-person attendees are required to be up-to-date on vaccination against COVID-19 and to wear a mask while inside. We ask for proof of vaccination upon entering the building. Masks will be available for those who forget them.
Getting to BHFH: Use the address "8 Chestnut St., Boston, MA, 02108" for navigation. We recommend taking public transit to get here: We are a short walk from every transit line in Boston. If you choose to drive in, paid street parking is available on Charles Street (and on Beacon Street before 6 pm). We also have parking passes available for $9 to the Boston Common Garage.

Questions? Contact our Program Director, Jen, at program@bhfh.org.

Thank you for this soul-stretching series and the delightful geography-defying opportunity to be among Friends.
– Martha Penzer, Burlington, VT

Register for an upcoming practice:

Nov. 30: Allison Kirkegaard | Body Prayer (Hybrid Event)

In this MIDWEEK, Allison will share how she has learned to bring her full self to worship through body prayers—sequences of postures that replace or supplement verbal prayers—despite being physically uncoordinated and feeling uncertain about prayer. We will learn existing body prayers and experiment with creating our own.

Allison Kirkegaard is a convinced Quaker with ties to Pacific Yearly Meeting and Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association. She currently studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School and works in public policy research. Her Quaker work appears in Friends Journal, Western Friend, and obscure Pacific Yearly Meeting policies.

Dec. 7: Lahari Indraganti | Tending Loving-Kindness (Hybrid Event)

In this MIDWEEK, Lahari will offer a meditation based on loving-kindness sprinkled with some poetry on compassion by Mary Oliver.

Lahari Indraganti is a botanist and quaker-curious resident at Beacon Hill Friends House. She cares deeply about building community, sustainability, and mindfulness.

Dec. 14: Cat Green | Creating Truth: Fiction Writing as a Spiritual Practice (Hybrid Event)

From ancient epics to 19th century classics to modern fantasy, fiction has long been a way of exploring the human condition. But what happens to the writer when they invent characters, setting, plot, and all the other trappings of literature? In this MIDWEEK, Cat Green will discuss their fiction writing practice and lead you in several short exercises to unlock the spiritual potential of writing.

Cat Green is a nonbinary Boston-based writer. They currently live in the Beacon Hill Friends House, and last year, served as a Program Fellow for BHFH. Right now, they work at Harvard, but they have several forthcoming publications in small literary magazines and are working on their fourth novel.

Jan. 11: David Coletta and Jen Newman | Exploring Hybridity (Hybrid Event)

The ability to gather in a hybrid capacity — with people attending online and at an onsite location — has been tremendously important in connecting people over the last two years. Whether for events like workshops and lectures, for memorials and weddings, for worship, and more, hybrid gatherings seem to be here to stay.

But how do we deepen our practice of gathering in hybrid ways? Just like the setting of space for an event can be a spiritual practice, so is setting up our hybrid spaces. In this MIDWEEK practice, David and Jen will help us explore how to grow our spiritual skills around hybrid gatherings.

David Coletta, as a teenager in the late 1970s, came to Quakers through the NEYM Young Friends program, and volunteered as staff for another decade. Completing a first career in technology and yearning to focus on people rather than machines, he discovered that the pandemic created the ideal conditions for him to find that work. David’s leading is to serve Quaker meetings and organizations by exploring faithful use of technology that supports worship and community.

Jennifer Newman is a Quaker, theologian, writer, activist, and currently the Program Director at Beacon Hill Friends House. She holds a Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School, and is a skilled facilitator of hybrid gatherings — for BHFH, as well as for New England Yearly Meeting, the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative, and Pendle Hill.

Have a practice to share?

Apply to lead a MIDWEEK

Do you have a spiritual practice you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you! Learn more and apply on the form linked below.

APPLY TO FACILITATE

Support MIDWEEK

While this event is free and open to the public, your donation today will help us continue putting these events on, paying our facilitators for their excellent work, and support all of our other work!

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