CMM 2020-12-13
Minutes of Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
Concord (NH) Monthly Meeting of
the Religious Society of Friends
Twelfth Month 13th, 2020
Sixteen Friends gathered by Zoom connection and entered into quiet worship. We accepted the minutes of Eleventh Month as posted on the website.
12.1 The Right Relationship working group (Sara, Jonah, Michael, Mark, and Heidi) presented a request for two minutes. We approve the following minute:
Concord Monthly Meeting of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends honors the original inhabitants of this land and we commit ourselves towards both the education and action that will be required to bring ourselves into right relationship with the land on which we meet and the original people whose descendants continue to live among us.
Friends voiced concerns regarding the proposed land acknowledgment, specifically the word “gratitude” and the statement that “the land is unceded.” We feel that the following statement of land acknowledgment requires further seasoning.
The Concord Friends Meeting is located on N’dakinna, which is the traditional ancestral homeland of the Abenaki, Pennacook and Wabanaki Peoples past and present. This land is unceded. We acknowledge and honor with gratitude the land and waterways and the alnobak (people) who have stewarded N’dakinna throughout the generations.
The report of the committee with additional resources is attached.
12.2 Finance Committee: The treasurer requested that we skip the financial report this month and Friends with specific questions or concerns can contact the treasurer.
12.3 The Property committee submitted a written report which is attached. Jennifer asked that people who live closer to the meeting house or are often in the area volunteer to help with furnace cleaning. Training will be provided. Please contact Jennifer if you can help with this. She also mentioned that the people who bought the property across the road are planning to develop it; the first planning board hearing will be on December 22nd at 7 p.m. on Zoom. The board often considers neighborhood concerns and all attenders are welcome. Rich and Greg will get more information on this; we can reach out to them with specific concerns.
12.4 Sara reported on the recent NEYM Permanent Board Meeting. In general, finances are in good shape and we can look forward to some upcoming gatherings.
12.5 Ministry and Counsel: Sara reported on Ministry and Counsel plans for our holiday activities. They need volunteers to do readings and music as part of the Christmas Eve program — please let them know if you want to participate or to request additions to the program. They are planning a fun New Years Eve coffee house style program with different kinds of acts and a time to make predictions for 2021. A written report is attached.
After a brief time of quiet worship, Meeting adjourned, purposing to meet again on the Second Sunday of the new year.
| Submitted by, | Accepted as the Approved Record, | |
| /s/ Heidi Babb, Recording Clerk | /s/ Richard Kleinschmidt, Presiding Clerk |
Right Relationship with Indigenous Peoples Working Group
Land Acknowledgement for Concord Friends Meeting
The Concord Friends Meeting is located on N’dakinna, which is the traditional ancestral homeland of the Abenaki, Pennacook and Wabanaki Peoples past and present. This land is unceded. We acknowledge and honor with gratitude the land and waterways and the alnobak (people) who have stewarded N’dakinna throughout the generations.
References:
- https://indigenousnh.com/land-acknowledgement/
- https://native-land.ca/
- https://nativegov.org/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/
- https://quakerservice.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Land-Acknowledgment-Resource.pdf
Minute to include:
Concord Monthly Meeting of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends honors the original inhabitants of this land and commits ourselves towards both the education and action that will be required to bring ourselves into right relationship with the land on which we meet and the original people whose descendants continue to live among us.
Property Committee Report for 12th month 2020
Property committee report for Meeting for Worship to conduct business 12-13-2020
Our committee has not met since last month’s report. We did have a fall cleanup day that four Friends attended and remove leaf accumulation.
Some interior cleaning will be in order periodically, too though we can just monitor the situation when in the building to clean the furnace.
The furnace cleaning needs to have a schedule created.1 The committee clerk and the note taker have been doing this and a couple others will be added in. This requires a trip from our homes when we may have little other reason to go while we are in shutdown due to the pandemic. Adding in people who live closer to the Meetinghouse (or have reason to travel nearby regularly) would be good though they would need to be trained if they haven’t done it before.
An old electrical generator has been donated (by Heidi) and has been serviced to be sure it runs OK. A number of things about it still need to be worked out by the committee, e.g., a semi-permanent location to keep it. This is something we had considered buying before just to be sure that the Meetinghouse would be safe from a prolonged power outage in winter. We are grateful not to burden the capital budget for that. Once we have figured it all out, we will need to set up a schedule of maintenance.
There is a proposal for a new business in the space across Oxbow Pond Rd. Whether Meeting needs to respond to the planning process is already on the agenda for today. It may be that the visual appearance of the eventual business on this property will need for us to consider landscaping to screen it from view so Friends may want to begin thinking about that.
J. J. Smith, Property committee clerk
1. [After Meeting, the following schedule was agreed:]
| Week in Month on Monday | Cleaner |
|---|---|
| 1st | Jennifer S |
| 2nd | Greg H |
| 3rd | Mark B |
| 4th | Jonah S-M |
| 5th | ? |
Report and Announcements from Ministry & Counsel December, 2020
M&C Notes for Monday. Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. (Faith, Sara, Mark, Ruth, Rich, Betsy, Lucy.)
Because two members had electrical power outages and could not fully participate, most business was postponed and another meeting was set for Friday, Dec. 11 at 10 a.m.
Discussion of Christmas Eve: We decided to propose a semi-programmed event. Sara will write an announcement inviting attenders/members to contribute a poem, song, reading, etc. (about 3 minutes each). We will all review and suggest edits this afternoon, and Mark will send out to the contact list he maintains this evening.
M&C Notes for Friday, Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. on Zoom (Sara, Faith, Ruth, Mark, Rich, Lucy. Regrets from Betsy.)
- We developed this program (only one person sent a suggestion) for Christmas Eve – 2020 with a 5:00 p.m. start time. Ruth will facilitate this, inviting people to waiting worship after each sharing and inviting next person to share after that silence. Sara will announce Sunday and see if others might like to add something. We hope each event will have a different leader.
Event Leader/Performer/Reader “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” composed by Johann Sebastian Bach Greg recording with visuals Christmas Story Ruth – showing book illustrations “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Christina Rossetti who leads? David? “Love Came Down at Christmas” by Christina Rossetti ask for someone to read How Far to Bethlehem ask for someone to read “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with solo leader ? Friendly Beasts with pix/sharing by youth Ruth will ask Heidi about this The Work of Christmas*-—by Howard Thurman Mark ? Or other reader (extended worship to fill the hour) “Silent Night” lyrics by Joseph Mohr Sara on French horn - New Years Eve - Ask for host/MC. Greg will lead a time for making predictions for next year. List of stories or acts and decide order at start of event 7:00–9:00 p.m. (Quaker midnight)
- Order of Greeters/Zoom hosts during the month
Week in Month Greeter/Zoom Host 1st Sara S 2nd Ruth H or Rob S 3rd Mark B 4th Ruth H or Rob S 5th Ruth H Ruth will run a test Meeting with Sara and Mark before their first hosting.
* The Work of Christmas by Howard Thurman
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among others,
To make music in the heart.
Report from Peace, Social and Earth Care Concerns, December, 2020
Committee met by Zoom, 12/05/2020, discussed the increase of COVID at the county jail and the state prison, crowding, lack of hygiene, inability for prisoners to adequately communicate with their support systems. A letter to the Concord Monitor will be developed and presented to the meeting, for improvement and approval.
Minutes of Dover Quarterly Meeting for 2020-11-29
During Meeting, reference was also made to the recent Meeting of Dover Quarter held over Zoom. Please see https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/DoverQuarterlyMeeting2020-11-29.
