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).

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

4th Sunday Program – Sunday, May 28

Kathy U. just got back from Morocco and Elaine has wonderful memories of having been there.  This Sunday they will be sharing stories and photos.  We hope you can be there!

Minutes of Meeting for Business, May 7 at 12:30 p.m.

The draft minutes for the May 2023 meeting for worship with attention to business are available at https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/2023-05-07_CMM_Minutes or via https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/Minutes_of_ConcordMonthlyMeeting.

MEETING FOR LISTENING: The Spiritual Life in our Local Meetings at Concord Friends Meetinghouse

A full-day, hybrid event June 24, 2023

Friends are most in the Spirit when they stand at the crossing point of the inward and outward life. And that is the intersection at which we find community. a place where the connections felt in the heart make themselves known in bonds between people, and where the tugging and pullings of those bonds keep opening our hearts.

- (Parker Palmer, A Place Called Community, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #212, 1977)

JOIN US FOR A GATHERING OF FRIENDS IN NEW ENGLAND CARING FOR THE NURTURE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE AND MINISTRY IN OUR LOCAL FAITH COMMUNITIES.

Together, we will:

• Dream together,
• Identify the resources meetings have to offer each other,
• Explore themes in State of Society reports and trends from statistical reports, and
• Discover what’s possible now.

Background:

As you know, our yearly meeting’s primary purpose is to support monthly meetings, to be a vehicle to share resources and experiences among and between us in order to better understand our life in the Spirit and to be able to listen more closely to the Teacher. With that in mind, at yearly meeting annual sessions last year, we decided to hold a “Meeting for Listening.”

Our first “Meeting for Listening” is scheduled for JUNE 24, 2023. It will be a FULL-DAY, HYBRID GATHERING where Friends can gather in different ways: on-site at Concord (NH) Meeting, in local clusters connected via Zoom, as well as individually via Zoom.

We gather to share with each other—to reflect on where Spirit is alive in our local worshiping communities. These insights and reflections will both inform programmatic planning in the year ahead and our annual Funding Priorities.

And while that’s all very serious, don’t be misled. We are looking forward to a day of joyful worship, celebration, and discovery.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN.  Whether you plan to participate via Zoom or gather with others, you can register for this free-of-charge event at NEYM.org/Meeting-for-Listening.  If you plan to attend on-site in Concord, please register by June 1^st.  This will help us comfortably accommodate everyone.

Are you led to host a local cluster in your area? If, rather than travel to Concord, you are interested in inviting area Friends (for example, your Quarter) to gather at your meeting’s location in a regional cluster to participate in the gathering together connected via a shared device or system, we would love to support you in doing so, as much as we are able. Contact us (mc-clerk [at] neym [dot] org and Nia [at] neym [dot] org) to begin a conversation.

Looking forward in faith, Carl Williams, Ministry and Counsel Clerk and Nia Thomas, Program Director

COVID Information from other Meetings

As a follow-up to last week's Meeting for Business and the subject of COVID protocols, here is an interesting read on the practices of 14 Meetings around our Quarter and the Yearly Meeting.  It contains much food for thought.

Child Care Program News:

The Child Care committee has concluded that our building is not ready for a child care program unless there are some improvements around fire safety. This is based on conversations with the Canterbury Fire Chief who must sign off on the plans.  The comittee plans to bring a proposal that is still in the making to Meeting for Business in June. There are two main items and several smaller issues. Our fire alarm system is not up to snuff and the wall between the mechanical room boiler and the Fellowship Room may need to be improved to hold back a potential fire.  The committee members remember well our planning for the building on Oxbow Pond Rd. and the Meeting’s strong sentiment that the building should be used regularly, not just on Sundays. They are hopeful that we can overcome these issues and move ahead. Stay tuned

An Invitation from the Presiding Clerk and Clerk of Sessions Committee:

Friends around New England and beyond—you are invited to the 363^rd Annual Sessions of New England Yearly Meeting, August 4–9, 2023!

Last year we pioneered hybrid sessions, with some of you attending at Castleton University, and others participating by Zoom. Continuing that successful experiment, our focus this year is building connections, strengthening local meetings, and practicing our faith together. Our schedule has been built with attention to creating time for sitting with old F/friends and making new ones.

Click here for more information

Green Burial Options for Concord Friends Meeting members and attenders

Dave Woolpert is interested in exploring with other CFM members and attenders how to take advantage of a green burial option, either on Meeting property or elsewhere. This topic was discussed several years ago at a Fourth Sunday presentation by someone from another NEYM Meeting.  Now there are green burial sites scattered around the state and elsewhere.  At some point he will bring this to an upcoming Meeting for Business, but anyone having an interest in exploring this with others in the Meeting can contact Dave or either of the Co-Clerks.

Missed Our Work Day?

We've heard from a couple of people who are interested in doing some cleaning or yard work at Meeting since they missed the the work day last Sunday.  There are some important outdoor projects that we've not yet gotten to or finished.

Questions can be addressed to Greg. Tasks: shoveling gravel from the pile pushed up by the snowplow into a wheelbarrow and spread in front of the shed, clipping dead creeping sedum (reddish brown) back and away from the timbers bordering the front garden space, dumping and spreading bags of mulch in the playground.  Indoor work.  And there's always weeding. Those pesky little things!

Thank you.

Reimbursement:

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.  We certainly appreciate the many donations that come to us through in-kind expenditures that don't get reimbursed but we do find it helpful to know what our actual expenses are.

New Books in our Library:

Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, Editor: Jehad Abusalim.  Imagining the future of Gaza beyond the cruelties of occupation and Apartheid, Light in Gaza is a powerful contribution to understanding Palestinian experience.  Gaza, home to two million people, continues to face suffocating conditions imposed by Israel.  This distinctive anthology imagines what the future of Gaza could be, while reaffirming the critical role of Gaza in Palestinian identity, history, and struggle for liberation.  Light in Gaza is a seminal, moving and wide-ranging anthology of Palestinian writers and artists.  It constitutes a collective effort to organize and center Palestinian voices in the ongoing struggle.  As political discourse shifts toward futurism as a means of reimagining a better way of living, beyond the violence and limitations of colonialism, Light in Gaza is an urgent and powerful intervention into an important political moment.

The Wabanakis of Maine and the Maritimes, Publisher: American Friends Service Committee.  This guide provides information and instructional materials on the history and culture of the Wabanakis of Maine and the Maritime Provinces (Canada). The Wabanakis include the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Micmac, and Abenaki peoples. The curriculum was designed for grades 4-8 and is divided into four sections.

1. The first section provides background information on the history and culture of the Wabanakis and the changes that occurred before and after European contact.
2. The second section includes the following lesson plans: How We Look at Others; Mi'kmaq; Time and Place; Legends; Wabanaki Life 500 Years Ago; Wabanaki and European Interaction: 1600-1800; An Invisible People: 1800-1950; and Contemporary Life. Each lesson plan includes suggested grade level, objectives, words to know, background materials, background notes, materials to use in class, and procedures. This section also includes additional instructional materials to supplement lesson plans.
3. The third section includes reading materials on Wabanaki legends; stories from or about different periods in history; interviews with 30 contemporary Wabanaki people from New England and the Maritimes reflecting their family life, educational experiences, culture, and traditional values; and children's essays depicting contemporary Wabanaki life.
4. The fourth section includes fact sheets containing information on Wabanaki territories; material culture; political, social, and spiritual life; and colonial life before the Revolutionary War. This section also includes information on Wabanaki games, doll making, art designs, songs, language, projects with natural materials, fingerweaving, constructing a wigwam, and recipes.

The guide also includes a list of additional resources: periodicals; Native governments, organizations, and institutions; museums; reservation communities; and Native associations. Contents are described for a videocassette recording of Wabanaki pronunciation and songs that accompanies the guide. Contains 89 references, photographs, illustrations, and an index.

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.
• 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 Juliet.  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.

Juliet Curran / Wendy Lapham Newsletter Editors

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