Publications Videos
Videos of Walton & Michener Lectures
The SEYM Publications Committee is offering these videos on a ‘Donate-As-Led’ basis. Please donate to help cover our costs!
Tending the Soil of Our Faith Community
The 2026 Michener Lecture with Susan Taylor.
Speaking from the silence and from her experience, Susan Taylor will lead us in exploring what contributes to the vitality and the power of Quaker community grounded in Spirit. As the soil in which a seed is planted influences greatly the health of a plant, so to do the elements of the foundation of a faith community contribute to its health. What soil is necessary for a flourishing Quaker faith community?
Simple, Brave, & Outlandish: what challenge can your Meeting meet?
The 2025 Walton Lecture with Daquanna Harrison.
Daquanna Harrison challenges us to meet the moment with bold action, and to reach down deep to be empowered by our love for others and for God. Sharing stories from Black history and the experiences those who have been harmed constantly throughout our history, Daquanna warns that it is time to prepare for what’s coming, to be ready to do more. Who among us is ready to be a Harriet Tubman? Love calls us to protect and stand up for those who are being harmed. How deep is your love? For other people? For the Divine?
As the Good Shepherd: Leading & Being Led as Friends
The 2025 Michener Lecture with Adria (Gulizia) DiCapua.
What does being faithful in listening and following the leadership of the Spirit in our Quaker Meetings and communities look like? How can we prepare ourselves to have faith in God to lead us into the future? What could it look like to move forward in response to the Spirit’s leading, resisting the urge to trust in our own skills and capacities and instead resting in divine presence and power?
Let It Burn: A Call for Attention to the Fires of Our Faith
The 2024 Michener Lecture with Ann Jerome
Some say these are the end times for the Religious Society of Friends; others see a wealth of germinal openings in the challenges among and around us. Meanwhile, the world’s urgent needs require a steadfast spiritual foundation for our response. What kindling and cordwood are available for us today as we tend the fires of our faith?
Deepening at the Root: Tending the Source of Our Worship & Witness.
The 2023 Walton Lecture with Christopher Sammond.
The problems facing us today, climate disruption, resource depletion, species extinction, white supremacy and endemic racism, to name but a few, are vast, multifaceted, and complex. We cannot live in the midst of them, do nothing, and be fully spiritually alive. And our own best ideas alone will not be adequate to address them. If we are to have a meaningful impact, and not burn ourselves out, we need to be clearly and powerfully led.
Welcome As You Are: Seekers, Finders, Sharing The Journey
The 2023 Michener Lecture with Joel Cook
Whoever you are, however you are, you are invited to and welcomed at the Divine banquet table.
In this 2023 SEYM Michener Lecture, Joel Cook shares stories from his own life, the Bible and other sources: stories of how all are welcome to abundant life in the Spirit, and loved just as we are; stories of restlessness, seeking and finding, of shadows, transformation, and belonging. To truly welcome everyone, we must share our stories of our spiritual journeys with each other — so that all can know they are not alone in their struggles, and that they are loved and welcome just as they are.
Wonder & Welcome: Holding Our Family of Friends in the Light
The 2022 Walton Lecture with Windy Cooler & Melinda Wenner Bradley.
We want a vibrant multigenerational community, but what stands in the way? What lights the way? What stories do we carry about our families, our meetings, and our faith that invite or discourage our wonder, our welcome, and our inclusion of all ages in community?
Do Ye Not Know That Ye Are the Temple of God?
The 2022 Michener Lecture with Nancy Fennell
What does it mean for us, as individuals and as Quaker meeting communities, to be “the temple of God?” A temple is a place of worship and a place to serve under the leadings of God. Nancy Fennell shares spiritual practices that help both individuals and the community be ‘temples;’ and how our meetings can be, and are called to be, places of gathered worship, witness, service, love and compassion.
What Now? Interruption, Integration, & Transfiguration
The 2021 Walton Lecture with Emily Provance.
We’re in the midst of a time that’s anything but normal. We’re doing things differently, like it or not, and almost all of us are grieving: grieving loved ones, grieving predictability, grieving the condition of the world. We’re also hoping: hoping to reunite with dear ones, hoping for growth and new opportunities, hoping for something that feels like normal.
Seeking the Seed: Embracing Wholeness, Experiencing the Divine
The 2021 Michener Lecture with Dr. Petra Doan
In this talk, Petra Doan shares reflections from her own search for integrity and wholeness that led to a transformational gender journey, and draws lessons for others seeking to strengthen their connection to the Divine (the Seed) for spiritual transformation and life enrichment.