CMM 2018-10-14 Possible Items for Agenda

Here are some possible agenda items for Tenth Month’s Meeting for Worship with attention to Business, which will be on the 14^th of Tenth Month.  Some of the items from Ninth 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]”.

On entering the meeting, avoid falling into conversation.  Take your seat quietly, entering into a receptive silence.  As the meeting moves forward, listen carefully to what others say, that you do not burden the meeting by repetition.  Allow time for quiet reflection after each speaker so that their words may sink in and receive due consideration.  Should you disagree with what has been said, show respect for those who have spoken by offering another viewpoint in a humble spirit.

• Minutes of Ninth 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]
  • NEYM is developing a data protection and information security policy.  Concord Monthly Meeting may wish to revisit its policy as stated at https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/ContactInformationForm [10].  Friends may also wish to view Britain Yearly Meeting’s policy at https://www.quaker.org.uk/privacypolicy [11] and https://www.quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/support-for-meetings/data-safety [12]

Announcements & Events:

Sep 12 (Wed)   6:30 – 7:30 p.m.  Study group using “Friendly Faith & Practice Study Guide” by Joanne & Larry Spears. [13]   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) .  Faith will select an excerpt from our current or revised Faith & Practice.  We’ll 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.

Sep 14 (Fri)   7:00 p.m.  NH Poor People’s Campaign will discuss its next steps at an open meeting at Brookside Congregational Church, 2013 Elm Street in Manchester.  Pizza will be served!  Songs will be sung!

Sep 16 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing: Rich, Kathy U.

Sep 17 (Mon)  12:00 – 1:00 p.m.  Raise up New Hampshire Launch [14]: at New Hampshire State House lawn archway, 107 N. Main Street, Concord, NH.  Raise Up New Hampshire is an initiative to raise the minimum wage, advocate for benefits, adequate health care, paid family leave, and other policies to support working New Hampshire residents to maintain healthy, fulfilling lives.

Sep 17 (Mon)   6:00 p.m.  PSECC meeting at the Meetinghouse.

Sep 17 – Oct 14 (4 Weeks)  Meeting for worship for business: an online course [15] (£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 18 (Tue)   8:30 – 10:00 a.m.  Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice [16] [Joshua 6:1-27 [17]] for those reporting to ICE [18] for deportation that day at the Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street in Manchester.  [Also, see resources at the website [19] sponsored by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.]

Sep 22 (Sat)   9:00 – 10:00 a.m.  All are welcome to join us for Quaker Basics, Week 2: “The Inward Light” at our Meetinghouse, Canterbury, NH.  For paper copies of the readings beforehand, please contact MarkBarker [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: Quaker%20Basics%20booklets) .  You may also download each booklet from our website at https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/Library#QuakerBasics [20].  Please feel free to mark up what ‘speaks to you’ and make notes on your paper copies.

Sep 22 (Sat)  9:30 – 4:00 p.m.  Joint Permanent Board and Ministry and Counsel Meeting [21]: at Mount Toby Monthly Meeting, Friends Meetinghouse, 194 Long Plain Rd, Leverett , MA.  See map: Google Maps (link is external) [22]

Sep 23 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship, followed by potluck and our Fourth Sunday program, a threshing session [23] about the proposed revision to the section on membership [24] in the Faith and Practice of NEYM.  Before the session, Friends should read Jennifer Smith’s reflections on the draft section on membership [25].  If you want a printed booklet of the proposed draft chapter, please contact MarkBarker [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: draft%20proposed%20Chapter%205F%20on%20Membership%20for%20the%20revised%20NEYM%20Faith%20and%20Practice) or download it from https://concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/documents/InterimFaithAndPracticeChapter5F-Membership-bookfold.doc [26]  Closing: Heidi, Kathy M.

Sep 26 (Wed)   6:30 – 7:30 p.m.  Study group using “Friendly Faith & Practice Study Guide” by Joanne & Larry Spears. [13]   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) .  Someone will select an excerpt from our current or revised Faith & Practice.  We’ll 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.

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 [27], will be the featured speaker.  Ticket prices: $50/adult, $25/child 12 and under.  Pay online at https://www.paypal.me/freedomfund2018 [28].  For ticket pickup/delivery: 603-624-7334 or unit2069events [at] gmail [dot] com (subject: Freedom%20Fund%202018%20ticket%20pickup%2Fdelivery) .

Sep 30 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing: Pat, Faith.

Oct   2 (Tue)   8:30 – 10:00 a.m.  Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice [16] [Joshua 6:1-27 [17]] for those reporting to ICE [18] for deportation that day at the Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street in Manchester.  This will be followed by the Sanctuary Support Network [29] 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 [30].    [Also, see resources at the website [7] of the NH Council of Churches.]

Oct   6 (Sat)   9:00 – 10:00 a.m.  All are welcome to join us for Readings for Quaker Basics, Week 3 [31], “Meeting for Worship” at our Meetinghouse, Canterbury, NH.  For paper copies of the readings beforehand, please contact MarkBarker [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: Quaker%20Basics%20booklets) , who will leave five paper copies in the lobby.  You may also download each booklet from our website at https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/Library#QuakerBasics [20].  Please feel free to mark up what ‘speaks to you’ and make notes on your paper copies.

Oct   6 (Sat)   5:00 – 8:00 p.m. NH Peace Action Dinner, with Charmaine White Face, an activist from the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation) in North America.  More information here [32].

Oct   7 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing: Mark, Gini.

Oct   7 (Sun)  11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.  World Quaker Day [33] at Weare / Henniker Meetinghouse [34], 529 Quaker Street, Henniker, NH.  As a follow-up to the 250^th anniversary of the town of Henniker, Weare / Henniker Quaker Meeting is sponsoring a “visit to the Quaker District” both the Quaker Meetinghouse and the Quaker schoolhouse nearby on Quaker Street.  At the meetinghouse you can learn about life of Quakers in Henniker and the world. Several local Friends will be ready to answer questions you might have about Quakers plus offer games for kids – historic and present-day Quaker styles as well as refreshments.  At the schoolhouse, you will find a former student sharing about the school 
and a mural of life of people in the district in 4 seasons done by the late Willa Brigham, an artist from Henniker.

Oct   7 (Sun)  12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.   Immigration 101 at Wesley United Methodist Church, 79 Clinton Street, Concord.  Immigration 101 is a program sponsored by The New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees and The Granite State Organizing Project on the history of immigration policy and our current situation. Eva Castillo is the primary presenter. Eva brings years of experience and community engagement to her knowledge of immigration policy and law and how it affects the lives of many here in New Hampshire.  For further details, go to http://nhchurches.org/sept-22-immigration-101-in-nashua/ [35].

Oct 10 (Wed)   6:30 – 7:30 p.m.  Study group using “Friendly Faith & Practice Study Guide” by Joanne & Larry Spears. [13]   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) .  Heidi will select an excerpt from our current or revised Faith & Practice.  We’ll 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.

Oct 14 (Sun)  10:00 a.m. – ~2:00 p.m.   Worship, followed by potluck and Meeting for Worship with attention to Business.  Closing: J.J., Sara.

Oct 14 (Sun)  11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  Immigration 101 at Congregational Church of North Barnstead, 504 North Barnstead Road, Center Barnstead.  Immigration 101 is a program sponsored by The New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees and The Granite State Organizing Project on the history of immigration policy and our current situation. Eva Castillo is the primary presenter. Eva brings years of experience and community engagement to her knowledge of immigration policy and law and how it affects the lives of many here in New Hampshire.  For further details, go to http://nhchurches.org/sept-22-immigration-101-in-nashua/ [35].

Oct 16 (Tue)   8:30 – 10:00 a.m.  Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice [16] [Joshua 6:1-27 [17]] for those reporting to ICE [18] for deportation that day at the Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street in Manchester.  [Also, see resources at the website [7] of the NH Council of Churches.]  (Sugrat and Eric M. have check-ins at 11:45 a.m.)

Oct 17 (Wed)   6:00 – 6:45 p.m.  Mid-week Meeting for Worship at the home of Bevan Tulk.

Oct 20 (Sat)   9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Youth Forum on Race and Racism at Manchester Community College [36], 1066 Front Street, Manchester, NH Churches, please send your high school and college-age youth to this “interactive, youth-led, and youth-focused forum with a goal of developing an awareness and understanding about ways to continue changing the narrative around race and racism in New Hampshire and to achieve racial equity in our local communities statewide.” This forum can change the conversation on race in New Hampshire for a generation to come--IF you recruit our youth to participate in it!  Sponsored by ACLU-NH. Register online here by October 6 [37]!

Oct 20 (Sat)   5:00 – 9:00 p.m. AFSC Annual Dinner, with Annelise Orleck, author of “We are all fast food workers now,” the global uprising against starvation wages, will be the guest speaker at the Concord Unitarian Universalist Church.  Find out more and order your ticket on AFSC’s website [38].  If you use Facebook, please visit the AFSC NH Program event page [39] and share it with your friends.

Oct 21 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing: Greg and Ruth.

Oct 24 (Wed)   6:30 – 7:30 p.m.  Study group (at the home of Bevan Tulk) using “Friendly Faith & Practice Study Guide” by Joanne & Larry Spears. [13]   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) .  Someone will select an excerpt from our current or revised Faith & Practice.  We’ll 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.

Oct 25 (Thu)   6:00 p.m. potluck, program 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. The Church-Run Indian Boarding Schools - How Quakers are wrestling with their Legacy, with Paula Palmer at Concord Quaker Meetinghouse.  Learn more about the past history of how the Indian Boarding Schools were run and the effects of forced assimilation.  Paula Palmer has researched this topic from a Quaker perspective as part of a truth and reconciliation process.  6:00 potluck (contribute if you can - there will be plenty) 7:00 - 9:00 presentation.  Free, but donations welcome.  PSECC is sponsoring this and looking for overnight hospitality for Paula and companion - contact Sara Smith. sara [dot] rose [dot] ssmith [at] gmail [dot] com (subject: Hospitality%20for%20Paula%20Palmer%20%26%20companion)

Oct 28 (Sun)  8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.  Sharing Practices of the Spirit at Shaker Village will be an interfaith event “Sharing Practices of the Spirit: For ourselves, our communities, our world” beginning at 8 a.m. with coffee and pastries and finishing by 2 p.m.  This is co-sponsored by our Meeting, Canterbury United Community Church, Shaker Village, and Church of the Woods.  We will have our Meetinghouse open and a presence there, but the other groups will not be holding services at their locations.  Ministry and Counsel has been working on this and encourages people to attend.  This is a great opportunity to experience the wider faith community of Canterbury.

This special day of worship and spiritual exploration is a chance to experience spiritual practices from a variety of beliefs and traditions.  There will be 2 workshop times, as well as an interfaith worship time in the Shaker Village Chapel.  It will conclude with a potluck lunch. There is a children’s program.  Our meeting is leading two of the workshops, “Songs of the Spirit” (led by Ruth) and “Reflective Reading and Sharing [40]” (facilitated by Ministry and Counsel).  Other choices are Tai Chi, Yoga, Thomas Merton Contemplative Walk, Nature Walk with Ruth Smith, Discovering Faith Through Shaker Music, Creating Beauty to Heal the Earth, Harvesting Seeds of Hope.  Registration is free - please register online at https://kairosearth.org/church-of-the-woods/upcoming-events/sharing-practices-of-the-spirit/registration/ [41].  For complete information on workshops and the schedule go to https://kairosearth.org/church-of-the-woods/upcoming-events/sharing-practices-of-the-spirit/ [42].

Oct 28 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing: Pat and Faith ; Boiler Cleaning: JJ.

Oct 30 (Tue)  12:00 p.m.  [received Monday, October 29 at 5:27 p.m.] [The] vigil for Etty Tham has been CANCELLED because her hearing in federal court has been dismissed.  Etty is now waiting, in detention, for the Bureau of Immigration Appeals to rule on her Motion to Reopen her case.  Please spread the word to anyone who was planning to join us in Concord tomorrow.

It would be wonderful if you can send a note of encouragement to Etty to lift her spirits while she waits for a decision on her motion.  You can send an email message via Rev. Sandra Pontoh who will forward it to her daughters to bring on their visits to their mother.

Send to: icsdovernh [at] gmail [dot] com, and put 'For Etty Tham' in the subject line.

Thank you for your ongoing support for Etty and her family. Your continued prayers are a blessing to them.

Peace.

Maggie Fogarty, Co-Director of the NH Program

American Friends Service Committee

Prayer Vigil for Etty Tham at South Congregational Church, 27 Pleasant Street, Concord.  Please come to spend an hour in prayer for the release of Etty Tham from the Strafford County jail.  Etty Tham is an Indonesian grandmother who has been in Strafford County jail for nearly four months.  She has received a stay of deportation for several reasons including the danger of return to Indonesia, caring for her family in the US and also for her own health concerns.  Even though she is not being deported, she is still being held in jail.  We are praying that she can leave jail and return to her family.  Etty is a member of New Life Community, a Foursquare Gospel church in Portsmouth.  You can read more about Etty here: https://action.groundswell-mvmt.org/petitions/stop-the-deportation-of-etty-tham [43]

Nov   1 (Thu)   6:30 – 7:30 p.m.  The Study group (at the home of Bevan Tulk) is POSTPONED and we’ll meet with Bevan for meeting for worship instead.  When we have more information, we’ll reschedule the study group using  “A practical mysticism : how Quaker process opens us to the promptings of the divine” by Betsy Meyer.  We‘re hoping to meet every other Thursday.  Thanks to Betsy and Kathy Urie, we have two signed copies in our Library.

A practical mysticism : how Quaker process opens us to the promptings of the divine [44]

Meyer, Elizabeth [45]

262.09606 M6124P 2018 [46]

Wallingford, PA : Pendle Hill Publications, October 2018. Pamphlet (PHP 453). 36 pages.

discernment [47], business meetings (Quaker) [48], clerk of meeting [49], clerking [50], discussion questions [51], meeting community [52], meeting for business [53], meeting for church affairs [54], meeting for worship with attention to business [55], Quaker process [56], sense of the meeting [57], unity [58]

189 x 130 x 04 mm; ($7.00 from Pendle Hill Bookstore. 338 Plush Mill Rd, Wallingford, PA 19086, United States; 2018-10-21); both copies signed by author

Pendle Hill Pamphlet (453) [59]

We’ll 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.

Nov   4 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing: Rob Y and Kathy M ; Boiler Cleaning: Rob Y.

Nov   4 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  West Epping Friends Annual Meeting will take place at the Meeting House, 10 Friends Street, Epping, NH.  Breaking with  past tradition, the annual meeting will be at 10:00 a.m., which is our regular meeting for worship time.  Just a reminder - the Meeting House is a historic, pristine building with no plumbing, bathrooms, or running water.  We hope to see you for the Annual Meeting!  Love, Bridget Rogier.

Nov 10 (Sat)   Noon – 4:00 p.m.  FCNL Advocacy Training.  Have you ever wanted to be more effective at lobbying our Congressional Delegation for peace and social justice?  Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a 75-year-old Quaker lobby in Washington is having a workshop and forming a local team in our area.  Sign up in the attached flyer for November 10^th at the Concord Meetinghouse: potluck at 12, workshop from 1-3, childcare provided.  At the advocacy workshop you will learn how to influence our members of Congress and their staff through face to face conversations, drive the media coverage you want to see, and build our strategic team.  Teams will receive monthly continuing support.  Register at https://act.fcnl.org/event/advocacy-teams/390 [60].  Learn more at www.fcnl.org/updates/advocacy-teams-37 [61] or contact Sara Smith, Sara [dot] rose [dot] ssmith [at] gmail [dot] com (subject: FCNL%20Advocacy%20Training) .

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 [62].  Please download and print one out, fill it in, and pass it to Kathy Urie.  You can find it at Youth Worker Screening Form [62].  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!

Volunteers to be ready to support Manchester Unitarian Universalist Church as a Level 1 physical sanctuary in the New Hampshire Immigrant Solidarity Network.  Contact MarkBarker [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: Volunteering%20for%20sanctuary%20support%20at%20U-U%20Church%20in%20Manchester) .  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

In August 2017, we published a statement in response to the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia [63].  Please also see “Such a Time as This: A Response to Hate and Violence [64]” as well as the “2017 Epistle of New England Yearly Meeting [65]”, Ruby Sales’ Plenary Message [66] on NEYM’s Youtube channel, and the audio recordings of the 2017 Annual Sessions Bible Half-Hours by Marty Grundy [67] focusing (exegeting [68]) on Romans 12:2 [69].  Draft booklet of Bible Half Hour texts [70].

^1. See https://www.pym.org/faith-and-practice/guidelines-and-procedures/general-queries/nurturing-our-community/ [71]

^2. See http://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/1/ [72] № 42

^3. See http://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/1/ [72] № 24