2020-02-28 Announcements for

Report and Homework from Sunday Feb 23^rd Program on Racial Reconciliation.

James McKim, our facilitator, has provided us with the PDF that he used as a slide show through the program and it is provided to you through the link that follows.  You can use it for review purposes and to help with the homework, or if you were unable to attend, you can follow the embedded links to short videos he presented.  This can help you catch up with attendees.  Don’t be daunted by it’s length.  The PDF is full of large images rather than text.  (For a copy of the PDF, please send an e-mail to Info [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org.) 

Here is our homework for our next session on March 22^nd.

1. Write down at least one (1) example of a microaggression for each box on slide 16
2. Notice when you have or see implicit bias and record to share with the group during our next gathering
3. Notice when you see a microaggression and record to share with the group during our next gathering

James plans to do a quick review of the concepts in the first program (see implicit bias [“Peanut Butter, Jelly and Racism” and “An Introduction to Unconscious Bias”] videos and microaggressions video), delve into the homework results attendees bring, and then move into some new territory.  We hope you will be able to attend.  Attendance at session one is not a prerequisite.  Everyone is welcome.

Click here to read James’ biography.  James writes of his program: "The paradox of persistent inequalities [between races and genders] amid improving racial and gender attitudes has led to a search for factors underlying ongoing discrimination and ways to create welcoming communities.  This program explores those factors and ways to minimize the impact of implicit bias in our interactions and decision making toward inner peace and creating a welcoming community.  During this highly interactive program we will discuss the following questions:

• What is The Growth Mindset?
• What are Gracious Spaces?
• What is Unconscious Implicit Bias?  Why do we have it?
• How does it manifest (e.g. Microaggressions, white privilege)?  Why is it a problem to have?
• How can we overcome implicit bias and white privilege to create a more welcoming and beneficial world individually and collectively?"

We recognize this first workshop with James is only a beginning and we expect it to be an ongoing process. We expect to be doing the second workshop in this series March 22^nd. Please save the date.

Ministry and Counsel

Fundraiser for Arnie Alpert Action Fund

Join us March 7^th at 7 p.m. at the Meetinghouse for a celebration of Arnie Alpert’s 39 years working for peace and justice at AFSC-NH.  Special guests Renny Cushing, and Barbara Keshen will share stories of working with Arnie to end the Death Penalty in New Hampshire.  A concert by acclaimed musician Steve Schuch of Night Heron Music will follow.  Donations will go toward the Arnie Alpert Action Fund, which will support future projects of AFSC-NH. Please RSVP to Events [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org.

https://www.afsc.org/aaafund

Quaker Basics meetings

“Quaker Basics” is a series of six informal, one-hour meetings to learn from one another through reading selections from Faith and Practice of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and New England Yearly Meeting.  The selections have been collected into six separate booklets that are available on the “Library” webpage on this website, but the MarkWBarker [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: %E2%80%9CQuaker%20Basics%E2%80%9D%20booklets%20of%20readings) (facilitator) will print copies for participants to mark up, underline, and dog-ear during their preparation for each meeting.  After opening with a brief period of worship, we begin with responses to the question “What spoke to you?”  We will close the meeting with another brief period of worship.  At the end of each meeting, we will agree the time and the venue of the next meeting.

Finance Committee and Budget Preparation

Committees are asked to get their budget requests to the Finance Committee by March 23^rd.  A draft budget should be before the Meeting for consideration at the April Meeting for Business.  All requests should be made by email or in writing.  Verbal requests for budget requests made to some members of Finance Committee will be forgotten.  Alas.  Our email address is FinanceCommittee [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org

Lenten Luncheons

LENTEN LUNCHEONS, 61^st Annual Series, Sponsored by Greater Concord Interfaith Council

Location: Concordia Lutheran Church, 211 N. Main Street (across the street from the Kimball Jenkins School of Art)

Price per luncheon: $7 (all proceeds go to local area non-profits)

Thursdays, 12:00pm to 1:00pm

• March 5 - New Tools for Addressing the Opiod Crisis: Speaker - Jeffery Stewart, Concord Fire Dept.
• March 12 - Living with Alzheimer's Disease: Speaker - Marjorie Burke, author of Melting Ice - Shifting Sand
• March 19 - Spiritual Care at Concord Hospital: Speaker - Rev. Dr. Kate Morse, BCC, Chaplain
• March 26 - Creation Justice/Caring for God's Creation: Speaker - Jennifer Oliver, Chair of Creation Justice Green Team
• April 2 - Sharing Our Faith with Our Children and Grandchildren: Panel Discussion with - Rev. Jonathan Hopkins (Concordia Lutheran); Rev. Carlos Jauhola-Straight (South Congregational Church); and Haley Judd, Director of Faith formation and Youth (Christ the King)

Mass Incarceration

There will be a presentation on Mass Incarceration, by Jeanne Hruska of the ACLU on March 28^th, at 1:00 p.m., at the Meetinghouse.  She will talk about the current use of incarceration as a response to every situation, which unfairly punishes those who cannot pay bail.  She will discuss Sentencing Reform, Bail Reform, Restorative Justice, Mental Health Court, and Drug Court, as well as other aspects of the issue.

From the minutes of our last Meeting for Business:  “PSECC would like the meeting to anchor the start of community-wide education and action. Friends approved.”  This program is the beginning of that project.

Minutes from Meeting for Business:  Follow these links for the minutes to our last meetings for business.  /2020-02-09_CMM_Minutes and https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/2020-03-08_CMM_Minutes.

Message about “The Bible as a Door to Spiritual Transformation” workshop from Peter Blood-Patterson:

Dear Friends,

I am leading a retreat March 20-22 at Woolman Hill with Adria Gulizia, a Friend from New York YM - whom some of you may recall as one of the plenary speakers at NEYM annual sessions in 2018.

This weekend will not be Bible study in the sense of talking about the Bible, who wrote a passage, or what at meant when it was written.

Instead we will seek to become a listening community together, where we can open our hearts and allow God speak to us as we read and hear passages in the Bible that were powerful in the lives of early Friends – and have special significance for many Friends today.

We anticipate this to be a rich weekend both for those who have a long journey with the Bible and also for those with little or no experience with it.  I hope you can join us – or pass this along to others who might find it helpful.

http://woolmanhill.org/upcomingprograms/bible-as-door-to-transformation/

In God’s love,

Peter Blood-Patterson

Here are some examples of passages we may spend time with: 

• 1 Kings 19:9-13  The still small voice (or “a sound of sheer silence”)
• John 1:1-13  What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
• John 4:19-24  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (The Woman at the Well)
• Romans 12:2  Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.  
• 2 Corinthians 10:3-5  The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Early Quakers were very fond of the Letter of James. James ch. 3 talks about “taming the tongue”. James ch. 4 talks about how wars arise from greed (quoted in the 1660 Peace Testimony).

Building Uses of Note

• Most Mondays - Zen group 6 – 9 p.m.
• Third Sundays after Meeting – Dances of Universal Peace
• Saturday, March 21, All day – NEYM Legacy Committee Meeting
• Saturday, March 28, 1:00 p.m., Mass Incarceration
• Saturday, April 18, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., NEYM Clerking Workshop

(1^st Tuesday) Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice

Jericho Walk [Joshua 6:1-27] 9:00 – 10:15 a.m. for those reporting to ICE for deportation that day at the Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street in Manchester. This will be followed by the Sanctuary Support Network meeting at Blessed Sacrament Church, 14 Elm Street, Manchester where there will be refreshments. We have signed the pledge to stand with our immigrant neighbors. If you have not seen a copy of the revised solidarity statement, it can be found here. [Also, see resources at the website of the NH Council of Churches.]

(3^rd Tuesday) Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice

Jericho Walk [Joshua 6:1-27] 9:00 – 10:15 a.m. for those reporting to ICE for deportation that day at the Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street in Manchester. We have signed the pledge to stand with our immigrant neighbors. If you have not seen a copy of the revised solidarity statement, it can be found here. [Also, see resources at the website of the NH Council of Churches.]