CMM 2018-09-09 Possible Items for Agenda

Here are some possible agenda items for Ninth Month’s Meeting for Worship with attention to Business, which will be on the 9^th of Ninth Month.  Some of the items from Sixth Month may have been carried forward.  Some of the proposed items may need further seasoning.  They are in no particular order at the moment.  [See also http://quakerspeak.com/quaker-decision-making-consensus/ [1]]

During worship, please hold in your heart the following from the “Advices on Corporate Discernment” in the 2014 Interim Faith & Practice of NEYM [2].  Friends are also asked to consider the “Queries on Corporate Discernment [3]”.

Remember that we are only able to act according to our present sense and judgment, in the faith that the light we are given is enough for our needs today.  Let us be humble both with one another, and in anticipating that there may be more and different steps to take tomorrow.

• Minutes of Eighth Month’s Meeting for Worship with attention to Business [4].
• Budget Committee report
  • “How does our Meeting engage its members in the support of the Meeting’s work, its ministry, and the upkeep of its property?” ¹
• Property Committee report
  • “Does our Meeting serve social and economic justice in its uses of property and money?” ¹
• Solar Committee report
  • “We do not own the world, and its riches are not ours to dispose of at will.  Show a loving consideration for all creatures, and seek to maintain the beauty and variety of the world.  Work to ensure that our increasing power over nature is used responsibly, with reverence for life.  Rejoice in the splendour of God’s continuing creation.” ²
• Peace, Social, and Earthcare Concerns Committee (PSECC) report
  • AFSC’s Sanctuary Everywhere [5]
  • FCNL’s #LoveThyNeighbor (No Exceptions) [6]
  • AFSC-NH’s, GSOP’s, and NH Council of Churches’ Immigrant Solidarity Network [7]
• Youth Religious Education Committee report
  • Children and young people need love and stability.  Are we doing all we can to uphold and sustain parents and others who carry the responsibility for providing this care? ³
• Outreach Committee report
  • “Are you patterns, examples; do your lives preach among all sorts of people, and to them?  Do you walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one?” - NEYM 1985 Faith and Practice, Queries 5.4 and 5.5 [8].
• Ministry & Counsel Committee report
  • Query 2. “b) Are we aware of the roles we fill as heirs of the meetings of ministers and elders?  What do we do to support each other in the use of our gifts for God’s work?  Do we actively seek to identify and nurture these gifts in each other?”  NEYM Minute of Exercise, 2015-09-15 [9]

Announcements & Events:

Volunteers to be ready to support Manchester Unitarian Universalist Church as a Level 1 physical sanctuary in the New Hampshire Immigrant Solidarity Network.  There's a sign-up sheet on the easternmost bulletin board.  Here's a list of the support roles needed.

• Day Citizen Companions
• Provide Food
• Provide Transportation
• Offer Entertainment (games or movies)
• Provide Emotional Support
• Provide Language Translation
• Provide Legal Support
• Provide Medical Support
• Raise Funds
• Provide a Gift Card
• Organize other Volunteers
• Laundry
• Other support you could offer

Aug 21 (Tue)   8:30 – 10:00 a.m.  Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice [10] [Joshua 6:1-27 [11]] for those reporting to ICE [12] for deportation that day at the Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street in Manchester.  [Also, see resources at the website [13] sponsored by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.]

Aug 26 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing: Greg, Ruth.

Aug 28 (Tue)   8:30 – 10:00 a.m.  Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice [10] [Joshua 6:1-27 [11]] for those reporting to ICE [12] for deportation that day at the Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street in Manchester.  [Also, see resources at the website [13] sponsored by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.]

Aug 31 (Thu)   6:00 – 7:00 p.m.  Study group using “Friendly Faith & Practice Study Guide” by Joanne & Larry Spears. [14]   Printed booklets for each session are available in the meetinghouse or from MarkBarker [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: Friendly%20Faith%20%26%20Practice%20Study%20Guide) .  This will be an 'open' session where Friends will bring texts/songs/stories/other focused on the Testimony of Integrity.  We were thinking we’d start with a centering silence, then each person can share as they are moved, with silence in between during which others can add reflections if they are so moved.

Aug 31 - Sep 3 (Fri-Mon)  Exploring Art as a Practice of Faith Quaker camp for adult artists of all media over Labor Day Weekend at Friends Camp, South China, Maine.  Registration opens June 1^st and closes August 15^th at http://Art-Camp.org [15] or e-mail ArtCampRes [at] gmail [dot] com; follow on @artcampres and #artcamp2018.

Sep   4 (Tue)   8:30 – 10:00 a.m.  (First Tuesday) Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice [10] [Joshua 6:1-27 [11]] for those reporting to ICE [12] for deportation that day at the Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street in Manchester.  This will be followed by the Sanctuary Support Network [16] meeting at St. Anne - St. Augustin, 382 Beech 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 [17].  [Also, see resources at the website [13] sponsored by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.]

Sep   6 (Thu)   10:00 a.m.  Premiere screening of NHCADP’s documentary video, “NH Law Enforcement Veterans Confront the Death Penalty,” will take place in Concord. There’s still time to register if you have not already.  The free press/public event will take place this Thursday, September 6 at 10 AM at NHTI in Concord, in the Grappone Auditorium [18]. [#11 on Campus Map [19]] After the screening of the documentary, there will be a Q&A session with press and the public, followed by a meet and greet with finger food.  Space is limited, and preregistration is required.  Help us make a splash by going to this page to register [20] as soon as possible.

Sep   6 (Thu)   6:00 – 7:00 p.m.  Study group using “Friendly Faith & Practice Study Guide” by Joanne & Larry Spears. [14]   Printed booklets for each session are available in the meetinghouse or from MarkBarker [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: Friendly%20Faith%20%26%20Practice%20Study%20Guide) .  Aside from reading the booklet, no preparation is needed.

Sep   8 (Sat)   8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.  Mindfulness in Society.  at NHTI Campus, Concord, NH.  Keynote address: Congressman Tim Ryan.  Workshops with Margaret Fletcher, Sharon Salzberg, Charlie Hartwell, and Richard Brady.  $109 registration includes continental breakfast and lunch.  More information and online registration: http://www.nhti.edu/mindfulness-society [21].

Sep   8 (Sat)   9:00 – 10:00 a.m.  All are welcome to join us for Quaker Basics, Week 1 at our meetinghouse, Canterbury, NH.  For paper copies of the readings beforehand, please contact MarkBarker [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: Friendly%20Faith%20%26%20Practice%20Study%20Guide) .  You may also download it from our website at https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/Library#QuakerBasics [22].

Sep 17 (Mon)  12:00 – 1:00 p.m.  Raise up New Hampshire Launch: at New Hampshire State House lawn archway, 107 N. Main Street, Concord, NH. 

Sep 17 - Oct 14 (4 Weeks)  Meeting for worship for business: an online course [23] (£75.00 or approx. $98.58 ):  Meetings for worship for business are one facet of Quaker worship; but what is actually going on in a meeting for worship for business?  Why do we do what we do?  What is the spiritual underpinning?  This course is for all Friends, to help you to understand our decision making process better.  Friends ‘on the bench’ as well as clerks can benefit from the course which will help you to understand more about deepening our experience of worshipful discernment as a group.

Sep 29 (Sat)  6:00 – 10:00 p.m.  Manchester NAACP Annual Freedom Fund Dinner: at Brookside Congregational Church, 2013 Elm Street, Manchester, NH.  Debby Irving, author of Waking Up White [24], will be the featured speaker.  Ticket prices: $50/adult, $25/child 12 and under.  Pay online at https://www.paypal.me/freedomfund2018 [25].  For ticket pickup/delivery: 603-624-7334 or unit2069events [at] gmail [dot] com (subject: Freedom%20Fund%202018%20ticket%20pickup%2Fdelivery) .

First Day School Help:  If you would like to be a helper in the children’s program, and have not yet filled out the Youth Worker Screening Form [26].  Please download and print one out, fill it in, and pass it to Kathy Urie.  You can find it at Youth Worker Screening Form [26].  We need one helper each week.  Look for a sign-up sheet on the left bulletin board this Sunday.  And thank you!  The children thank you too!

In August 2017, we published a statement in response to the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia [27].  Please also see “Such a Time as This: A Response to Hate and Violence [28]” as well as the “2017 Epistle of New England Yearly Meeting [29]”, Ruby Sales’ Plenary Message [30] on NEYM’s Youtube channel, and the audio recordings of the 2017 Annual Sessions Bible Half-Hours by Marty Grundy [31] focusing (exegeting [32]) on Romans 12:2 [33].  Draft booklet of Bible Half Hour texts [34].

^1. See http://www.pym.org/faith-and-practice/queries/11-stewardship-of-resources/

^2. See http://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/1/ [35] № 42

^3. See http://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/1/ [35] № 24