On Sunday, April 12, at 9:30 in the Community Room, Adult Spiritual Education and Peace and Social Concerns will hold a Worship Sharing Circle on “Spirit and the Environment” using Joanna Macy’s essay “The Greening of the Self” (found in the anthology Spiritual Ecology, edited by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee) as a focus. We’ve been given permission to print 50 copies, which will be available on the table below the bulletin board in the foyer.
The Adult Spiritual Education committee will hold a one-hour Spring Equinox Bible Workbench, on Sunday, March 22, at 9:30 in the Community Room. We will discuss Jeremiah 31: 31-34. You don’t need to read the scripture in advance, or be Christian or knowledgeable about the Bible in order to participate. We follow the guidelines/contexts/questions shaped by the Educational Center’s Bible Workbench Series (edited by D. Andrew Kille): What is happening in this story? Where is the story alive and happening in the world around us? How is this story my own internal story? Where does it live in my life?
March is the month that Thrifty Quaker will donate sale proceeds to Quaker House. You can drop off items yourself at Thrifty Quaker in early March. Or you can bring them to meeting on Sunday, March 1 and Sunday, March 8 and we will deliver them to the store for you.
Obviously, the more gently used items we have donated, the better the inventory. And shoppers at the store will find great bargains while reusing our earth’s resources.
Thank you for encouraging Friends to support the store, and support Quaker House at the same time. For more info about Thrifty Quaker and the good work that they do, visit their website at www.ThriftyQuaker.com.
Employment numbers are up. Gas prices are down. Stock market is up. It seems like the hard times are over… for me maybe, or you. But, in Richmond, where 26.3 % of its residents live below the poverty line, many go to bed hungry and many children go to school without breakfast to carry them into their day.
For this reason, Peace and Social Concerns committee is sponsoring a food drive for Fan Free Clinic in March. Because FFC provides so many services; medical assistance, mental health counseling and aides testing, every donation they receive for their food pantry and every clean paper bag saves money they can spend on these other needed services. A box of cereal or pasta, a jar of peanut butter or pasta sauce, a can of tuna or salmon won’t make a dent in your grocery bill, but could feed a family of four for a day or two. So hold these people in the light and keep them from being hungry by participating with us in our Spring Food Drive. Every bit helps. We will also accept money to give to Fan Free Clinic; no amount is too small.
Meeting began with silence at 11:00 am. Forty-four (44) members and attenders were present. Barbara Myers was greeter. Mary Julia Street from Ministry and Worship sat on the facing bench to hold Meeting in the Light. Doug Reed, Shea Allen Moore, Laura Wead, Kaylee Wead, Mike Callahan, Jim Mustin and Carol Hendricksen were welcomed as first-time attenders to MWB. Tracey Cain read the Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) Queries on Spiritual State of the Meeting.
Religious Education: Catherine Roseberry announced that the BYM Junior Young Friends Conference will be held at RFM the weekend of March 14-15, 2015.
Peace and Social Concerns: Clerk Denna Joy announced: (1) The film “Five Broken Cameras” will be shown on Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 5:30 pm at the Meetinghouse. This showing is in conjunction with the Richmonders for Peace in Israel and Palestine. Discussion will follow the showing. (2) On March 1, 2015 and March 8, 2015, “gently used” items will be collected for donation to The Thrifty Quaker to benefit Quaker House. A Friend noted that The Thrifty Quaker is also collecting items for box lunches for school children. (3) March is the food drive month for the Fan Free Clinic. Food items will be accepted each Sunday in March. Friends are encouraged to donate.
Adult Spiritual Education: Betsy Brinson announced the following: (1) The ASE Winter Series “Spirit and the Environment” will have events on Sundays March 1 and April 12, 2015, from 9:30 to 10:45 am. The March 1 program on Nature and Spirituality will be led by Lynn Domina, writer and poet. The April 12 program will be a presentation by Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy. Copies of an essay that will be discussed will be made available before the event. All are encouraged to attend. (2) On March 8, 2015, from 9:30 to 10:45 am representatives from Quaker House will present a program on conscientious objection. At 11:00 am, a presentation will be made to Young Friends.
Website Committee: Dan Shaw reported for the committee: (1) The committee will investigate installing wireless internet (Wi-Fi) capability at the Meetinghouse, including costs, maintenance, how it would work, and what equipment might be used with it for presentations and other activities. The information will be provided to Monica Shaw (ASE) to share with committees that might want to propose uses of Wi-Fi at the Meetinghouse. In response to questions, Dan stated that no decision has been made about bringing Wi-Fi into the Meetinghouse and that ASE has agreed to provide funds for Wi-Fi, if the Meeting approves installation at some future time. (2) Dan described the sections of the currently functioning and usable RFM website. He also described access to committee folders on Google Drive, including the password. A member of the website committee will meet with each committee to explain how to use the committee folders. In the near future, a Meetinghouse calendar will be added with available dates and times.
Care and Counsel: Barbara Myers announced that the committee is accepting applications for scholarships to Quaker Camp. She encouraged all families to send their children and to apply for scholarships. March 31 is the deadline for applications.
Ministry and Worship: Tracey Cain made two announcements: (1) On Saturday, February 21, the committee will hold the annual Spiritual State of the Meeting meeting. Bagels and coffee will be available at 8:30 am, and Friends will gather and share from 9:00 am to noon, before sharing a potluck lunch. All Friends are encouraged to attend and share thoughts and reflections from the past year. Tracey emphasized that in addition to the importance of the resulting report to BYM, the report allows our Meeting to reflect on the past year and discern what it means for the spiritual life of our Meeting. (2) The Ministry and Worship Committee and the Adult Spiritual Education Committee will hold a Winter Retreat at The Clearing on Saturday, February 28, 2015. Lynn Domina, a poet and teacher, will lead a day of spiritual and creative expression through writing about nature and spirituality. You do not have to be a writer to attend or experience the retreat; all are encouraged to attend. Tracey handed out registration forms to interested Friends. Friends can also register by sending Tracey an email.
Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Bronwyn Hughes distributed copies of the final 2014 financial report and asked for questions. As forecast last month, although contributions were lower than budgeted, a year-end surplus resulted because of lower-than-budgeted building maintenance costs. Several Friends expressed appreciation for the clarity of the report. The Clerk expressed gratitude for the work of the previous treasurer, the current treasurer, and the Financial Stewardship committee.
First Month 2015 MWB Minutes: Approved, with two spelling corrections.
Clerk’s Business: (1) The Clerk announced some neighborhood concerns about the use of the Meetinghouse that arose beginning last summer. Recently, an employee of the city informed us that a formal complaint about zoning violations was filed. The Clerk, clerk of Building and Grounds, and the Trustees are waiting for an official letter of notification from the city informing us of the specific violation with which we are charged. The Clerk stated she had no definitive information or answers to questions to share yet, and asked if any Friends wished to comment. After a number of comments, she stated that in addition to whatever actions Meeting decides to take with respect to the zoning issue itself, we will also want to engage our neighbors constructively to share how we are stewards of our building and to learn how we can be better neighbors. She may form an ad hoc committee to explore this. More information about the situation will be brought forward in the future. In closing, the Clerk encouraged us to respect that of God in everyone, even those who seem to attack us. (2) The next potluck lunch is at rise of Meeting on Sunday, February 22, 2015. (3) The Letter of Support for Rita Willett’s ministry as a teacher in School of the Spirit, approved by Meeting at 12th month MWB, is being finalized and will be shared with the Meeting community.
All business being concluded we settled into silence until the rise of meeting was signaled from the facing bench.
Barbara Hulburt, Clerk
James Thoroman, Recording Clerk