CMM 2021-05-09

Minutes of Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business

Concord (NH) Monthly Meeting of

the Religious Society of Friends

Fifth Month 9^th, 2021

Seventeen Friends gathered by Zoom connection and entered into quiet worship.  We accepted the minutes of Fourth Month as posted on the website.

We opened with a brief period of Worship.

05.1  Nominating Committee: The clerk of Nominating Committee presented a list of recommendations for the coming year.  We no longer need to nominate a friend to NEYM M&C due to internal changes in NEYM.  Greg volunteered to serve on the Technology Committee as a third person, noting that they will have a heavy work load in coming months.  We are reminded that Friends are welcome to assist committees even if not officially serving on this committee.  We had some discussion about the role of the Recorder, since the nominee lives out of state and travels a great deal.  Mark assured us that we do have an electronic space to store this information and he is comfortable that the system will be effective.

The number of members for the Nominating Committee was questioned; previously four people served on the committee and currently we are only putting forward three names.  Kathy responded to the questions, explaining that Nominating Committee is unclear as to how to proceed.  One friend mentioned that in the past we have had as many as 5 on this committee.  We urge Nominating Committee to consider adding additional people in the coming months due to the importance of this work to the meeting as well as its intensive work load.

There are two changes to the committee’s recommendations: Thomas H. Is remaining on the Property Committee and we are adding Greg H. to the Technology committee.  We approve the report of the Nominating Committee as amended.

05.2  Treasurer’s Report: The Treasurer provided an overview of the Financial Report.  Our financial status remains about the same as last month.  The biggest change was our $5,000 gift to Woolman Hill.  We are very healthy financially and the Treasurer appreciates the generosity of past donors.  We accept the financial report as given.

05.3  Budget Proposal: Jonah shared an overview of our proposed budget for the new fiscal year.  The line items for committee expenses are all what the committees requested, in many cases carried over from the last year.  We are removing the Asylum Seekers support from the budget.  Data Usage is a new line item in the budget based on the need to conduct hybrid meetings for worship.  A fairly small increase in donations and the addition of projected prior year funds (approximately $900) will balance the budget. We are in good financial health overall.  We approve the budget as presented, recognizing that we will make changes in the future.  A complete report is attached.

05.4  Pandemic Response Team: Jennifer presented a report from the Pandemic Response Team.  She reminded us that a year ago we empowered this committee to make decisions regarding use of the meetinghouse while COVID remains an issue and they now seek discernment from the meeting on whether vaccinations should be required to enter the meetinghouse.  The Pandemic Response Team is comfortable reopening the meetinghouse under the following guidelines:

• Windows need to be open for full airflow.
• Masks must be worn indoors and outdoors when less than 6 feet apart.
• Social Distancing of 6 feet must be maintained.
• The fellowship room will not be reopened however we could offer hospitality outdoors.
• We will continue to disinfect surfaces.

The Pandemic Response Team has lost two members and is now comprised of only Jennifer and Wendy.  They ask for new appointments from the meeting.  Betsy M. and Rob S. (if willing) will be appointed to this committee.

We had 22 responses to a recent survey on reopening the meetinghouse.  Our responses to the question whether we should require vaccinations to attend in person were highly varied; 14% said Yes, 27% said No, and the remainder was uncertain.  We heard about the importance of continuing to be socially distanced and masked due to the potential failures of some vaccines, and are reminded of the importance of remaining vigilant and aware of current rates of infection in our community.  We are asked to consider our testimonies of simplicity, integrity, and community in our discernment.

Bearing this in mind, we require that only people with vaccinations and masks attend in-person meeting; as we “let our yeas be yea and our nays be nay,” we will not require proof of vaccination; we need to remember that we are each responsible for the safety and health of our community.

We will defer conversation about reopening in-person First Day School until next month.

05.5  Ministry and Counsel: The clerk of Ministry & Counsel let us know that we will begin an in-person mid-week worship and hybrid meeting for worship as soon as the electronics are ready.  Comcast is scheduled for an installation next Friday so we may have a cable connection by the end of this week.  The Permanent Board of New England Yearly Meeting is offering a new program to help monthly meetings with their ministry.  The are full-day programs offered twice a year.  A complete Ministry & Counsel report is attached.

05.6  Youth Religious Education: The Youth Religious Education committee did not offer a vocal report but their written report is attached.

After a brief time of quiet worship, Meeting adjourned, purposing to meet again on the Second Sunday of the Sixth month.

NB. The Income & Expenses Sheet was created with two decimal points, which were removed for readability, the cents being unimportant to the overall understanding.  This can have the effect of throwing off any given sum by a dollar due to compounded rounding.  —  Prepared by Greg Heath and Chris Haigh.

NB. The Balance Sheet was created with two decimal points, which were removed for readability, the cents being unimportant to the overall understanding.  This can have the effect of throwing off any given sum by a dollar due to compounded rounding.

Do we have the resources to support our obligations? No

Variable Assets Less Current Liabilities and Replacement Reserve = ($555)

Nominating Committee Report to

CONCORD MONTHLY MEETING OF FRIENDS

MEMBERS PROPOSED IN

LEADERSHIP ROLES AND COMMITTEE SERVICE 2021 – 2022

(1^st of 6^th Month 2021 — 31^st of 5^th Month 2022)

1. Romans 12:3-8 (NRSV)
2. 1^st Corinthians 12:4-31 (NRSV)
3. Isaac Penington in Quaker Faith & Practice of Britain Yearly Meeting, passage 10.27
4. Beatrice Saxon Snell in Quaker Faith & Practice of Britain Yearly Meeting, passage 12.08

Report and Announcements from Ministry & Counsel

May 2021

1. June Party: We will have our traditional Meeting picnic on the June Fourth Sunday.  Details TBD
2. In-person worship: We would like to discuss in-person worship (with a Zoom option) this coming weekend’s Business Meeting.  Ministry and Counsel is in favor of having this kind of worship with details based on the Pandemic Response team recommendations.  Sara would like to be replaced as part of the team and as a liaison from Ministry and Counsel to the team.  Betsy agreed to be the replacement.  The Pandemic Response Team will bring results of the survey and the question of vaccination to the Meeting for a decision.  All these decisions are subject to change based upon the community transmission level.
3. Hybrid Worship: We would like to include Hybrid worship as soon as the technology can be arranged.  There are still many questions to resolve on how to handle this. Ideally it would start the same day as in person worship does.
4. Midweek Worship: We are also announcing that midweek worship (without electronics) will start when we have been given permission to use the Meetinghouse.  The rules we use for Sunday worship should be used at mid-week worship.  Thursday at 7 is the designated time.
5. Nominating: We thanked Ruth for her service for the past several years.
6. Fourth Sunday ideas:
   
   1. May: Apology to Native Americans – by Ad Hoc group
   2. June: Summer Party with a rain date of Saturday before or next Sunday.
   3. July: We decided we would have a party rather than a program on July Fourth Sunday. Detail TBD
7. NEYM Sessions Preparation: We are hoping to offer an other-than-Sunday preparation time for Sessions.  We hope this will give people a chance to talk about questions they might have regarding Advance Documents etc.  Sara will offer this at a time TBD about a week before sessions.  We are looking into the idea of having a group/pod gathering in a local space to Zoom into Sessions.

Youth Religious Education Report

YRE Report May 2021

The YRE Committee met to plan the Meeting party, June 28 and discuss a few other issues.

Party: We have two possible locations.  We assume the party will be outside but people will enter the home for using the bathroom.

We have these suggestions and/or questions for the COVID team and the Meeting:

1. Assuming a potluck, we recognize we need some precautions around handling serving utensils.  We recommend using hand sanitizer before and after using the utensils.  We can put some at both ends of the table.
2. Everyone should bring their own plates and utensils.
3. Everyone should bring something to sit upon while eating or chatting.
4. Everyone should be masked while getting food or sitting within 6 ft of others.  Or should we just ask for masking generally?
5. We can either balance on our laps (an old pre-Meetinghouse tradition we practiced for 40 years in the day care center) or ??
6. We’ll ask people to RSVP so host can have an idea of numbers and so we can have the correct number of…
7. Baskets! We plan to have ‘spring baskets’ which we might call “solstice baskets’ since it is no longer spring.
   
   1. People can bring some treat to go (individually wrapped) into each baskets)
   2. We always have gotten a confetti filled egg to crack on someone’s head (unexpectedly).  Can we safely do this if masked?
   3. Children will be involved in making the baskets, either at home or in person at the Meetinghouse (if it opens and if they come).

Christine: We also have news from Christine that she passed her exams and will be entering Form 1 (9^th grade) in August.  Her letter to us will be available through the newsletter.

First Day Program at Meetinghouse: We are reaching out to parents to ask about their comfort with their children attending First Day School.

We wonder if we can reassure them that adults working in class will be vaccinated?  It is our recommendation that we require this, just as we require them to have a background check.  Does the Meeting agree?