CMM 2004-02-08

Concord (NH) Monthly Meeting

Religious Society of Friends

Minutes of Meeting for Worship for Business

2^nd Month 8, 2004

Concord (NH) Monthly Meeting gathered in a regularly called Meeting for Worship for Business, on the date above stated, at the Merrimack Valley Day Care Center, Concord, NH Members, Junior Members, Members of Other Meetings and Attenders present were Don Booth (M), Lois Booth (M), Miriam Cameron (O), Graham P. Chynoweth (M), David Freeman-Woolpert (M), Atossa French (M), David French (M), Claire Gillingham (A), Ruth Heath (M), Jeanie Holt (M), Steve Holt, (J), Betsy Cazden (M), Rich Kleinschmidt (M), Zane Knoy (A), Jean London (M), Sara Smith (M), Louise Spencer (M), Rob Spencer (M), and Kathy Urie (A).

The meeting was opened by Presiding Clerk, Graham Chynoweth, at 12:59p.m. with a reading from “Spirited Decision-Making: Arriving at the Sense of the Meeting” as published by Friends General Conference

Announcements:

2004

2.a Mutual Aid Request: Graham, as Presiding Clerk, and Jay, as Clerk of Ministry & Counsel, have reviewed and approved a Mutual Aid Fund request for $105 and will instruct the Treasurer to issue a check for that amount.

2.b Clerk Sharing Group: Graham described the purpose of this group and has included that description at the top of the activity sheet which will be posted each first day before Meeting for Business to let members see what was discussed at the most recent meeting.

2.c Nominating Committee: Betsy Cazden has accepted being appointed to the Finance Committee and being the Clerk of that Committee (see minute 2003.12.2 and 2004.1.3.)

2.d AFSC-NH: Dave F-W reported that AFSC-NH staff did such a good job of politician “bird-dogging” during the recent presidential primary campaigning in N.H. that they have been asked to speak about their process in a number of other states.

2.d Racism Among Friends - Graham reported that no Committee has responded in any programmatic way to the request from NEYM’s Ministry and Counsel Committee that he had presented at the twelfth month, 2003 Meeting for Business (see minute 2003.12.3).

2.e Concord Meeting Representative to Inter-Faith Council: Rachel Goldman is leaving the area this summer so she will not be able to become the Chair of the Concord Interfaith Council, which she was in line to be.

Minutes:

2004

2.1  Approval of Previous Minutes:After a discussion of ways of referring to previously approved minutes, the minutes of the 1^st month 8, 2004 meeting for worship for business were accepted as distributed at this meeting.

Old Business

2.2  Ministry & Council: State of Society - 2003: A draft State of Society report was circulated for review and comment.  Several suggestions for improvements were offered for later consideration by the Committee.  Meeting members and attenders were encouraged to submit any additional suggestions in writing to members of the Committee.  ACTION:The Committee is to present a revised proposed State of Society report at the next Meeting for Business.

NewBusiness:

2.3  First Day Schedule: The Meeting’s experiment with having singing at the beginning of Meeting at 10:00 and going until 11:15 was discussed (see announcement in minutes of first month, 2004.)  Religious Education Committee is concerned about a reduced sense of joy among young attenders during the singing period but appreciates the longer period for First Day classes.  Several members voiced a variety of concerns with the current format.  Junior Monthly Meeting, at its 2/8/2004 Meeting For Business, developed a statement of positive and negative concerns with the new schedule and room location (the statement developed by Junior Monthly Meeting is to be circulated as part of these minutes.)  No change in the current format in place was made, but the Religious Education Committee, Junior Monthly Meeting, Ministry & Counsel Committee,and the song team (Ruth and Jay) are to consider some changes regarding the leadership and freedom of movement during singing time and bring those ideas back to a future Meeting for Business.

The meeting closed at 2:30 p.m. with a period of worshipful silence and hopeful expectation of meeting again next month, second first day.

1  Underlined captions, references to previous Minutes (e.g. “See also Minute 2001.1.1”), “Recording Clerk’s Notes” and the word “ACTION” (with action to be taken in bold type) are inserted by the Recording Clerk for convenience of reader in identifying Minute topics, minuted history of an issue and expectation of action and are not a part of the Minute as approved.