4^th Sunday

This Sunday we will be having fun after potluck - playing 2 truths and a lie.  It could get interesting!  Plans are in the works to switch up our camera for the event so that Zoomers will get good close ups.  You'll want to look for those facial twitches and other tells.  As someone with FBI interrogation training, your editor can sniff out a lie pretty quickly.

“Love’s Gonna Carry Us” – Singalong Concert

Sunday, April 16, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. — to benefit Asylum Seeker Support Fund

Suggested donation: Adults $25, ADVANCE TICKETS and more info: www.riseupandsing.org/events

Featuring Annie Patterson and Peter Blood, creators of Rise Up Singing and Rise Again songbooks which have created a quiet revolution of group singing across North America.  This concert offers the rare opportunity to meet the creators of these popular songbooks and experience their gifts of nurturing community and resilience through song.   Click here for the event poster.  Please share on social media and be in touch with Sara to help with arrangements.

Land Acknowledgment

Greg found this article on NPR quite interesting in light of the Meeting's land acknowledgment. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/15/1160204144/indigenous-land-acknowledgments

Nominating Committee

It’s Time to Reflect on Your Gifts (and we don't mean Christmas gifts)

Nominating Committee will be contacting all active members and attenders in the next 2 weeks about how they envision using their gifts in service to the Meeting.  Please give prayerful consideration about the joys and blessings and challenges you have experienced in your current role(s) and how you might feel led to participate in the life of Concord Friends Meeting.   To remind you of committees and their responsibilities check out this page on our website: https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/Contacts

Heidi Babb, Elaine Bello, Rich Kleinschmidt, Ruth Heath

Minutes

The draft minutes for the February and March 2023 meetings for worship with attention to business are available at https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/2023-02-12_CMM_Minutes and https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/2023-03-12_CMM_Minutes or via https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/Minutes_of_ConcordMonthlyMeeting

For corrections, missing documents, and/or clarifications of the minutes, please reply to Clerk, Concord Friends Meeting clerk [at] concordfriendsmeeting [dot] org.

Midweek Worship

We have heard that the time of midweek worship may be moving around a bit. Friends should check with Lucy, Rich, or Matt prior to planning to attend at the announced time.

Speaking Truth to Power: The Role of Storytelling in Quaker Advocacy, FCNL staff: Mwan Kamwendo)

April 2, 12:30-1:30 p.m. following a pot luck lunch. This program is being advertised widely so we should expect guests and additional participants via Zoom (see link below). Registration is required. Here is the correct link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcpfuisrDwsHdEWph9KZz2TI_XNlhn9BdL-

Learn how to frame and tell your story as an impactful advocacy tactic. We all have stories to tell and a moral voice to share about the change we want to see in our society. The content of this workshop is applicable to any communication with Congress or Legislature, including media advocacy and virtual lobbying. Our practice topic will be peace building, but the activity will apply to any kind of advocacy topic. Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7787573202

GCIC Lenten Luncheons

Dates: Thursdays: March 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30; Time: 12:00-1:00pm

Ticket Price: The ticket price will be $7.00 per luncheon. More details on the luncheon speakers will be coming soon!

YOU ARE INVITED…to attend the 2023 Lenten Luncheon series sponsored by the Greater Concord Interfaith Council. Last chance.



March 30 The Passover Seder. Presenter: Rabbi Robin Nafshi of Temple Beth Jacob in Concord, NH. Rabbi Robin will teach about and present a Passover Seder as celebrated by Jews around the world. Participants will have a chance to read the story, eat the ceremonial foods and share lunch. No knowledge of Hebrew or Judaism is necessary to participate.

Locations: All the Lenten Luncheons will be held at Christ the King Parish, 72 South Main St. in Concord, in the Parish Activity Center adjacent to the church (enter the parking lot from Thorndike St.)

NEYM Living Faith 2023-04-01

Dear Friends,

We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the upcoming Living Faith gathering, which will be held on Saturday, April 1, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Friends School of Portland in Cumberland, Maine.

Whether this is your first chance to attend or you’re a returning Living Faith participant, we hope you’ll consider being part of this latest experiment with Living Faith. Your presence will enrich us all. We encourage Friends to register early, registration is capped to meet the site’s capacity.

The Living Faith gathering is an opportunity for Friends new and old (and the Quaker-curious) to get to know one another, hold multigenerational worship together, participate in interactive workshops, eat tasty food, share the different ways we experience and live our faith, and build community. Age-appropriate youth programming and childcare will be available, in addition to some parts of Living Faith programming being intergenerational, such as worship. More about a teen-specific offering below.

While we have discovered many ways to connect in online and hybrid formats during the Covid pandemic, we feel a need to experiment with this particular opportunity as a fully on-site, in-person gathering, with Covid safety protocols. We hope this will help us to learn again how to be physically present with one another in both formal and informal ways, and to allow those hosting and attending to be fully present with one another and to the Spirit, encouraging us to give our attention to one thing at a time. Many opportunities sponsored by the Yearly Meeting remain hybrid—this is one event among many that we hope will offer important learning and connection for those able and yearning to participate in this way.

New this year is a weekend retreat for teens built around participating in Living Faith together. Youth ages 13-18 are invited to arrive on Friday evening, sleep over on-site on Friday and Saturday nights, and participate alongside adults and families at Living Faith on Saturday. There will be time on Friday and Saturday nights for teens to connect with one another, share what the experience was like for them, and have fun with their peers, with support from a few adult staffers. Contact maggie [at] neym [dot] org (Maggie Fiori) (Teen Ministries Coordinator) for more info.

Sending all best and with hopes of seeing you in April,

Sarah Cushman, she/her

Portland Friends Meeting (ME)

Clerk of ad hoc Living Faith Work Group, New England Yearly Meeting

Register For Living Faith

Learn More About This Gathering

Friends World Committee for Consultation

(FWCC): hybrid Section Meeting on March 23-26, Look here for more information.

Humanitarian Relief in Ukraine

If you have been looking for opportunities to support humanitarian relief for the people in Ukraine, consider this event at the Concord UU Church on April 1.  https://concorduu.org/faith-in-action/voices-united-for-ukraine/   There are separate tickets for a dinner and a concert.  There is also an opportunity to make an additional donation.  Don't wait.  Registration closes on March 27.  Some Friends are recommending contributions to the Mennonite Central Committee (their arm like our AFSC).  Visit this site for more information.  https://www.quakercloud.org/cloud/west-newton-friends-meeting/announcements/ukraine-war-relief

Offerings at Pendle Hill

Dear Friend,

I hope this email finds you well on this first day of spring! I'm writing to forward along Pendle Hill's latest education updates email, and to highlight a few upcoming programs that may be of interest to your meeting community.

As you know, the Pendle Hill Quaker Institute: Beloved Community as Prophetic Witness, is just over a month away!  In response to inquiries about the schedule and structure of the weekend, we're excited to now have a conference guide up on our event page (also attached here).  We hope this can be a space to build community across meetings and organizations, and are grateful for your support in spreading the word about this opportunity.  Philadelphia Yearly Meeting will be providing programming for children and youth participants at no additional cost.

I also want to highlight that Dwight Dunston, host of The Seed and Spring Term faculty member, will be facilitating an afternoon on-campus program on conflict Sunday, April 16: The Truth Is, We're in Conflict! - Exploring Our Relationship to Conflict Alongside the Quaker Testimony of Integrity  Our previous afternoon workshop with Spring Term faculty member Marcelle Martin was an amazing space for folks from monthly meeting communities to come together.  We hope you'll join us!

We also still have spots available in the two featured workshops below, Cafe Darkness: An In Person Writing Workshop for People of Color, April 16-20, and the Work that Reconnects, May 12-14.  Please spread the word! As with all of our programs, financial assistance is available.

If you have not already done so, please add the below events to your meeting's newsletters and calendars, and spread the word as you are led to your F/friends — if you would like flyers to post about any upcoming programs, please let me know, and I can forward them along.

Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions about outreach or education programs.  Thank you for all you do!

Warmly,

Anna Hill

Education Associate

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Pendle Hill

Pendle Hill is a Quaker study, retreat, and conference center.

Our vision is: To create peace with justice in the world by transforming lives.

Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter. Follow us on Facebook.

Upcoming Pendle Hill Education Opportunities

Featured Events

Café Darkness: An In-Person Writing Retreat for People of Color

On Campus: April 16 - 20, 2023

We welcome any writer of color open to sharing and learning with us as we set writing intentions and work within compassionate community to move toward them.  Each day, we set goals, strategize about how to accomplish them, and share the written fruits of our labor.  Come for all or part of the workshop, as you are able.

Register Now

The Work That Reconnects

On Campus: May 12 - 14, 2023

In this program inspired by environmental author, activist, Buddhist scholar, and systems theorist Joanna Macy, we'll develop the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual skills to transform our despair and overwhelm into inspired collaborative action.  Join us for this weekend on campus!

Register Now

Quaker Institute Workshops Announced!

This large Quaker gathering will feature a wide variety of experiential workshops, hosted by a wide range of Friends and Friends Organizations, from Friends Committee on National Legislation, to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, to American Friends Service Committee, to Friends General Conference, and more!  The lineup is now available, so check it out and sign up today!

View Workshops

All Upcoming Education Programs

• April First Monday Lecture - The River of Life: We Are What We Have Been Becoming - Online:  Apr 3
• Loving, Listening, Learning, Discerning: A Couple Enrichment Retreat - On Campus: Apr 14-16
• Café Darkness: An In-Person Writing Workshop for People of Color - On Campus: Apr 16-20　
• The Truth Is, We’re in Conflict!: Exploring Our Relationship to Conflict Alongside the Testimony of Integrity - On Campus: Apr 16 (Registration coming soon!)
• Pendle Hill Quaker Institute: Beloved Community as Prophetic Witness - On Campus:  Apr 28-May 1 
• Pendle Hill Nature Walk - On Campus: May 7
• The Work that Reconnects - On Campus: May 12-14
• Pendle Hill's Reading Group - Online: May 17
• Continuing Revolution: Nurturing Experiments in Spiritually Grounded Abolition - Hybrid:  June 2-6 
• Kairos: A Spiritual Journey - On Campus: Jun 15-18
• Mediating Trauma Through Creative Expression - On Campus: Jun 23-25
• Aiming for Freedom: Race, Reparations, and Right Paths - On Campus: Aug 7-11

Follow @PendleHillUSA

Season 2 of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope

We are now 2 full Episodes into the second season of Pendle Hill's podcast, The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope. In this season, we're discussing the testimony of integrity.  Listen to our latest episode with eppchez yo-si yes, who takes us on a journey of noticing patterns of faithfulness and patterns of oppression to begin moving through transformations of self and community.  Tune into The Seed wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss these conversations for radical hope!

Apple Podcast  |  Spotify  |  Buzzsprout

Listen Now

Follow @PendleHillSeed

Co-Clerk Heidi writes:

How much do we take for granted in our relatively safe and peaceful lives?  Here is the latest newsletter from Ramallah Friends School.

Did you receive this email forwarded by a friend or posted on social media?

Click here to join Rania’s news list.

March 2023

Dear Friends,

I hope this message finds you well.  Despite the challenges we have faced, I am proud to share that our school has continued to achieve great things thanks to the resilience of our community

I am thrilled to announce that Shadi Khoury, our eleventh-grade student who was detained by the Israeli Occupation forces in October 2022 and later spent forty days in prison cells before being put under house arrest, has started attending school again.  We welcomed him back with a massive celebration, and after school, he returned home as part of his house arrest, accompanied by one of his guarantors to and from school.  Our hope is for a positive outcome in his case.

Our school activities have resumed, and our girls’ basketball team is currently in Jordan for tournaments with other schools.  I am proud to report that they are doing great!

We were also honored to have renowned Palestinian artist Nabil Anani attend an exhibition of our visual art students’ excellent work alongside parents and community members.

Additionally, we are pleased to share that we have received many pre-K to 1st-grade enrollment applications, which is a testament to our school’s reputation and success.  We are grateful to the families who continue to invest in their children’s education at our school.

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of one of our beloved teachers.  Walid Ghazi had been with us for nineteen years, and his contributions to our school, particularly in managing the Model United Nations, will be sorely missed.  He was an essential staff member, and his dedication to his students and his beautiful smile will always be remembered.

Finally, we must acknowledge the difficult circumstances under which we live.  Last week, we had to close the school for three days due to national mourning for the Palestinians who lost their lives.  Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families during this difficult time.  We also ask that you keep our students and teachers in your thoughts, particularly Shadi, who, despite his conditional release, is still uncertain about his future.  We ask for your continued prayers for the safety of everyone in the region and for peace and justice to prevail.  We can make a difference and create a better future for all.

In friendship,

Rania Ma’ayeh

Head of School

head [at] rfs [dot] edu [dot] ps

To Support Rania’s Ministry, donate online here.

You may also mail a check with “Rania Maayeh” designated in the memo line to

Friends United Meeting

101 Quaker Hill Drive

Richmond, IN 47374 USA

Stay updated on the ministry of Ramallah Friends School! Check out the school’s website here, subscribe to the school’s newsletter here, and join the RFS page on Facebook!

This Newsletter

Dear Friends,

If you have information to share via this Newsletter please have your information submitted to ConcordFriendsNewsletter [at] gmail [dot] com by 5:00 PM on Thursdays.  Items should begin with a headline followed by text that can be copied and pasted without editing.  Please remove any formatting if you are able.  Also, please keep postings directly related to the Meeting or activities and groups supported by the Meeting, or personal news to share.

Typically the announcements will go out by Friday.  It is our intention to acknowledge receipt of all submissions.  If you don't receive an acknowledgment we probably have not seen your message, and it would be helpful if you followed up with us. 

The Newsletter Gmail account is owned by Wendy, but it is also used by Greg.  Look for the signature to be clear who the actual sender is.  And finally, it's best to keep your Zoom links in a handy place in case the announcements are not sent in a given week.

Greg Heath / Wendy Lapham, Newsletter Editors

Are you wanting information from past announcements and newsletters?

Visit this page on our web site: Past Announcements and Newsletters

Are you wanting to donate to Concord Monthly Meeting?

Visit this page on our web site for more information: Donations