It’s weed season and that means it’s time for Meetings for Weeding! We will hold our first weeding event on May 31 from 9-11. The RFM garden team will be there and we’d love to have you join us. It’s a great way to meet people and get out your frustrations on pesky weeds.
The Adult Spiritual Education Committee will host a one-hour Reading Between the Lines (Bible Workbench)—through Zoom— on June 1, starting at 9 am. We will discuss Acts 16: 16-34: gifts that are honored; gifts that are being distorted or used to make money for others (or to serve their egos); awkwardness in wanting to halt these behaviors when we see them; examining our motives; disentanglement, freedom, hope, and help when we have handled something badly. The facilitator will send the Zoom link through the Newslist a few days before our conversation. Â
Spring Retreat!
On Sunday, May 25th at Kensington - There will be Nursery care and an all ages group here at the Meeting house for those families not planning to attend the Spring Retreat at The Clearing.
Detailed information regarding activities at Spring Retreat are in the May email to parents and caregivers. Sunday morning, at the Clearing, following 15 minutes of intergenerational silent worship, children will split into two age groups. RE has planned activities planned for Saturday morning and the retreat committee has intergenerational activities planned for Saturday afternoon.
We are grateful to share this space and find joy, healing, and worship for whatever amount of time you can. As always, thank you to everyone who has signed up to help both with the Spring Retreat & the children’s programming there. It truly is a community effort.
Willow Working Group
During the May Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business, the Religious Education committee presented an idea that came forth from one of our children, Margaret Garrett, about a new working group. The Willow Working Group was enthusiastically approved by our Meeting. The purpose of the Willow working group is for children ages 9-17 to be actively engaged in the life of the Meeting. This is a child-led group assisted by adult sponsors and plans to meet during First Sunday coffee hour each month. The willing adult sponsors for this group are Elizabeth Price and Julie Allinson. If your child is interested in joining this group, please contact Margaret Garrett (via Shannon Garrett's contact info in the directory) or one of the RE sponsors.
Playground Policy: With the warmer weather, we want to remind families of our playground policy and rise of meeting procedures. At the rise of Meeting, all children (ages PreK-17) are returned by teachers to parents in the meeting room. The parents may then dismiss their own children at their discretion to play on the playground with the understanding that there will be no supervision provided by RE volunteers. Please talk with your children about this policy so they understand the importance of adult to adult transfer here at RFM.
Summer Committee Led Lessons: Each Sunday from June 15th to August 31st, a committee presents children with an experience related to the work of that committee. It’s a fantastic way for children to learn about the role of committees in our Meeting life. The Care & Counsel committee will kickstart these summer sessions on June 15th.
Faith & Play Training: The next Faith & Play training opportunity will be in June in Greensboro, North Carolina. More information may be found on the Faith & Play website. https://quakerfaithandplay.org/playing-in-the-light-greensboro-june-27-29/
To assist with immigration guidance and updates, here are two resources. There are more, but these two are referenced by other sites on immigration justice, and provide help on this non-static concern. These sites are the National Immigration Law Center https://www.nilc.org/ and the Immigration Legal Resource Center https://www.ilrc.org/. Â