2023-05-05 Newsletter of

Concord Friends Meeting

A Monthly Meeting in Dover Quarter of New England Yearly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends

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The Meeting Calendar

Please socially distance for all indoor events and mask when not eating or drinking (more info).

Day Date Time Event
Sun May 7 10:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship (hybrid) followed by potluck and Meeting for Business.  For Zoom link, email Zoom [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: %E2%80%9CWorship%E2%80%9D%20Zoom%20Link%20Request) . Closing: Mat & Wendy; With Children: Wendy, Sharon, and Faith.
Sun-Fri May 7-12   Yard Sale Donations can be left at Meetinghouse
Fri May 12   Afternoon Set Up for Yard Sale
Sat May 13   Yard Sale
Sat May 13 8:00–10:00 a.m. “History and Practice of Friends in North America”
Fri-Sun May 19-21   Friends Camp Spring Work Weekend

NB. Midweek Meeting is not scheduled.  Please be in touch with Rich, Lucy or Matt if you are interested in attending.


Yard Sale News – Saturday, May 13

Collecting Items for the Sale:  Starting Sunday May 7, we will be collecting items for sale, tables offered for loan, and easy-ups offered for loan.  Please leave items in the Fellowship Room.  If you want to bring items during the week, just let us know and we will give you the code for getting into the building. Please have everything at the meetinghouse by 3:00 on Friday the 12th.  There will be a crew starting to set up then.

Bake Sale:  Don't forget that an important part of this event will be the bake sale.  Start baking anytime and freeze items.

And thank you for thinking about excess items you may find around your quarters and setting them aside for the May 13 sale. Proceeds will go toward building financial stability and food security for a family in Kenya through Kenya Rising.


Advance Documents for Meeting for Business this Sunday, May 7 at 12:30 p.m.

Finances: Statement of Operations, Balance Sheet; Outdoor Child Care Program MOU v.4 Plans; Minutes from last Month; Nominating report will be presented on Sunday since details are being worked out still.


The End of our Fiscal Year

If you have spent money on behalf of committees and have not yet been reimbursed, please gather the documentation you are able and submit to Bookkeeper [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org ASAP. Our fiscal year ends May 31. Certainly appreciates the many donations that come to us through in-kind expenditures that don't get reimbursed. We do find it helpful to know what our actual expenses are.


News of Friends:

Mark B reports that he is recovering well and appreciates all the support.


Small Groups on Zoom

Life in the Spirit Groups:  Life in the Spirit Groups: Several people have expressed an interest in forming a new group. Could you be interested? Contact Greg if you might be. Background: at the start of the pandemic a number of group formed to help us maintain and deepen connections. Ministry and Counsel has heard from a few people who would like to have such an opportunity again. Groups could meet over Zoom or in person and be planned to work around the schedules of those interested. The theme is intended to be personal sharing focused on our lives in the spirit.


African Friends in North America – Saturday, May 13, 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. (Eastern)

The African Friends in North America Committee (AFNA) is rescheduling our event featuring Max Carter and the History and Practice of Friends in North America.

All Friends are welcome to participate in both virtual workshops: Registration is free! Click on the links below to sign up!

Saturday, May 13 from 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. (Eastern)

Max Carter, a recorded Friends minister and member of New Garden Friends Meeting (North Carolina Fellowship of Friends) will join us to lead a presentation on the History and Practice of Faith in North America.  Max retired in 2015 after 45 years in Quaker education as the William R. Rogers Director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies at Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C.  Raised in Western Yearly Meeting in Indiana, he received his undergraduate education at Ball State University, his seminary work in campus ministry at Earlham School of Religion, and his PhD in American Religious History at Temple University. 

Max has served in youth ministry at West Richmond Friends Meeting in Indiana, taught at the Ramallah Friends School, Earlham College, in Philadelphia's Quaker secondary schools, Guilford College, and served as an adjunct at Wake Forest School of Divinity.  Max's courses at Guilford College included Quaker history, Quaker theology and spirituality, Quaker testimonies, and current topics in Quakerism. 

Among his publications are two books on campus ministry, a memoir of his work in Palestine and Israel, and numerous devotionals, journal articles, and encyclopedia entries.  With two cousins, he has a forthcoming book through Friends United Press on the work of his great-aunt Annice Carter, who was a Friends missionary in Palestine and Kenya for many years.  Max continues to live in Greensboro with his wife Jane, also a retired Quaker educator.

Register here before May 12: https://host.nxt.blackbaud.com/registration-form/?formId=864595ca-2afc-4856-8543-5d2cf1f9f8a5&envId=p-M_GkrVpRD0SYAnp6yU24pg


Spring Work Weekend: Friday, May 19 - Sunday, May 21

Mark your calendars - our annual work weekend is just around the corner!  Work weekend is happening May 19 - 21, at Friends Camp in South China, ME.  Volunteers (that could be you!) come to camp to help us with raking, painting, clearing pathways of sticks & branches, moving furniture into place, and much more.  Come prepared for physical labor, and to help us get camp ready for the summer.  Please use the button below to register, and to find some more details.  Families are welcome to attend and work, but we do not offer a children's program or childcare during this weekend.

Register to volunteer


This Newsletter

Dear Friends,

If you have information to share via this Newsletter please have your information submitted to ConcordFriendsNewsletter [at] gmail [dot] com by 5:00 PM on Thursdays.  Items should begin with a headline followed by text that can be copied and pasted without editing.  Please remove any formatting if you are able.  Also, please keep postings directly related to the Meeting or activities and groups supported by the Meeting, or personal news to share.

Typically the announcements will go out by Friday.  It is our intention to acknowledge receipt of all submissions.  If you don't receive an acknowledgment we probably have not seen your message, and it would be helpful if you followed up with us. 

The Newsletter Gmail account is owned by Wendy, but it is also used by Greg.  Look for the signature to be clear who the actual sender is.  And finally, it's best to keep your Zoom links in a handy place in case the announcements are not sent in a given week.

Greg Heath / Wendy Lapham, Newsletter Editors


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