Concord Friends Meeting

The Meeting Calendar

Sun   May     23  10:15 AM  Meeting for Worship (blended) followed by a 4th Sunday program at 12:30:  Apology to Native Americans - a listening session  Zoom Link

Thurs  May  27  7:00 - 8:00 PM Mid Week Meeting (no Zoom)

Wed Jun 2 - Sat Jun 5         Bear Brook State Park Camping trip   

Sun Jun 27- Sat July 3        Friends General Conference (FGC) (virtual)

Blended Meetings Begin This Sunday!

We are delighted to welcome Friends back to the meetinghouse for worship in person beginning this Sunday.  Zooming in will continue to be an option as usual.  There are some restrictions noted below so, please read carefully. Bear with us as we work out the technological kinks and work to minimize their impact on worship space.  Your feedback to Ministry and Counsel about the worship experience and the Tech Committee about how tech solutions are implemented is most welcomed.

Guidelines from the Pandemic Response Group

(expect updates, sometimes without notice)

1. Only people who are fully vaccinated should be in the meetinghouse.  That is to say, everyone who attends in person should be willing to affirm they are vaccinated.  
2.  All windows in the worship space will be open when people are present.
3. The fellowship room and kitchen will not be used except for access through the space to bathrooms, storage spaces, etc.  No lingering.
4. Masks will be worn at all times indoors and also when outdoors if closer than 6 feet to people not from the same household.
5. Eating was not discussed but JJ believes that means eating needs to be outside.

Coming out of their pandemic cocoons the, storytellers have decided to take a break until the fall. We'll have some summer adventures to share by then no doubt!

The Thursday evening book group will be reading  All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson.  From the dust cover (it's only available in hardcover, was just published in late 2020): "Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward.....These women offer a spectrum of ideas and insights for how we an rapidly, radically reshape society.   Intermixing essays with poetry and art,All We Can Save is both a balm and a guide for knowing and holding what has been done to the world, while bolstering our resolve never to give up on one another or our collective future. "  It is available at Gibson's for $29 or on Kindle.  The first meeting for discussing it will be Thursday June 10 at 7pm.   Please contact Ruth Heath  ruthmheath [at] comcast [dot] net  if you are interested in joining us or have questions.

Items below this line have all been published previously.

Other Book Groups

One of the book groups is finished with Braiding Sweetgrass. They plan on switching their meeting time to Thursday mornings from 9-10 am. but there will be no meeting on June 3rd. They will start reading How to be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi. on May 20, on Sara's link. Contact Sara to join in or for more information. Newcomers welcome!

The Monday morning (10-11:30) book group will be finished in about three weeks. This group likes to go slow and read the text closely! We are leaning toward reading The Gatherings, By Shirley Hager and Mawopiyane ( the collective from the Gatherings) but also considering My Grandmother's Hands. We welcome newcomers too. contact Sara.

Trauma Tree

Sara shared a poem, Trauma Tree, at meeting last week.  You can read the poem and see her photo of the tree on Mt. Kearsarge here [1]. 

4th Sunday is this week!

Some Resources on Indigenous People Issues

The following list of resources, provided by Sara, is commended to you.  The listing will appear again over the next three weeks since it may take some time to take them all in.  Do read the "Apology" [2] before 4th Sunday if you can.

Moral injury and Quaker Boarding Schools- This has a Quaker Speak video and Friends Journal article, both by Paula Palmer, embedded. Since she also reads the article, it too can be listened to as a podcast. This would be a good overall intro to the subject of the apology from a quaker perspective. copy and paste link.

https://jeffkisling.com/2021/02/19/moral-injury-soul-repair-and-quaker-indian-residential-schools/?fbclid=IwAR0irjH_O4OjPpNwo2OSg8uMwD-zctbDg2tLCwqWSawAUf2Uq8O72S1fcZA [3]

• Thanksgiving address video: https://danceforallpeople.com/haudenosaunee-thanksgiving-address/haudenosaunee-thanksgiving-address-20/ [4]
• Mascots and Monuments in NH: https://indigenousnh.com/mascots-and-monuments/ [5]
• What about the Hannah Duston Site? https://www.unityparkndakinna.net/ [6]
• ExhibitatStrawberryBanke Museum: https://www.strawberybanke.org/dawnland.cfm [7]
• Abenaki Trails project: https://www.abenakitrails.com/ [8]
• copy of the Apology: https://neym.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/Apology.pdf [2]
• Series of videos of the Doctrine of Discovery given by Lisa Graustein https://neym.org/recordings/news/invitation-2019-annual-sessions-plenary [9]
• Indigenous NH A collaborative working on Indigenous issues in NH https://indigenousnh.com/ [10]

Dover Quarter Meeting

Dover Quarterly Meeting gathers again on Sunday, May 30^th at 12:30 pm. The Zoom link is at the end of this email.

The draft agenda includes:

• Introductions
• Approval of January 31 minutes (attached)
• Treasurer’s report
• NEYM Letter of Apology
• Update on Dover Sanctuary Renewal project
• Brief reports from recorded ministers in Quarter
• Additional updates from meetings

Please let me know if there are other items you would like included. I am looking forward to being with you on May 30.

– Jeremiah

Minutes of April Meeting for Business

Draft minutes for Fourth Month 2021 are now on the website at https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/2021-04-11_CMM_Minutes [11] or via https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/Minutes_of_ConcordMonthlyMeeting [12]

In love, and peace, and tenderness,

Mark