The FGC Gathering Committee will be using the meetinghouse Saturday December 7, 9am-5pm. Some will be arriving Friday and needing overnight hospitality on Friday and Saturday nights. Here are the needs:
I also need a volunteer to pick up a carton of coffee / bagels Saturday morning and take to the meeting and set up in ante room behind worship room (where bulletin board is). RFM will reimburse. I will be setting up a table on Friday with cups, etc.
Beth Morrison announced two upcoming events – RE’s Christmas program will be held at Rise of Meeting, December 8, and the annual Family Christmas, a program for families, is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, December 21.
Please join us tomorrow, 11/17 after Meeting for Business for our fundraising lunch for the Unitive Justice Re-Entry program. Come learn about this unique program—to be taught by two men who were imprisoned for violent crimes, transformed their lives in prison and are now powerful voices for Justice as Love (aka Unitive Justice)—and an attorney “in recovery.” Returning citizens will learn Unitive Justice theory and advanced circle facilitation skills to take to the communities to which they are returning. Addressing conflicts before the police are called will avoid convictions and disrupt the cradle to prison pipeline. A delicious and hearty meal will be served. We look forward to seeing you there.
Capital Brass Quintet Recital on November 20th
On Wednesday, November 20th at 7 pm, Capital Brass Quintet (featuring RFM attender Martha Purvis) will present a short recital at Richmond Friends Meeting. Music was selected with Quaker themes in mind. There will be pieces written by Bach, Mahler, Irving Berlin and several others. Please come out and enjoy an evening of music in the meetinghouse.
This Sunday is a busy day- but come, drop in, even if you can’t come for the entire time.
Central Virginia Sanctuary Network is hosting their annual fall event at Temple Beth-El. Join us for delicious tamales, a silent auction, and the opportunity to learn more about how to support those in your community! We have tables available for interested organizations.
Contact Jase Hatcher at jase@virginiainterfaithcenter.org for more information.
Please join us for a special meeting on the evening of Friday, November 1, from 7 to 8 p.m. to remember and celebrate the lives of our dear treasured Friends who have worshipped together with us.
The idea for this came from a query at a couple of different planning meetings earlier in the year, asking when folks felt particularly welcomed by Meeting. Out came these wonderful stories about people who have been part of Richmond Friends Meeting over the years, many of them long since passed away.
So, we thought, what if we created a space where we could share stories and reflections about people who have shaped this Meeting and our own lives? We had the idea for a special Meeting for Worship for Remembrance, held by Adult Spiritual Education and Ministry and Worship. We think it’s a wonderful way to keep alive the spirit and work of those who have come before us in this meeting community, whether we are old-timers or newcomers.
Richmond Friends Meeting House
4500 Kensington Avenue
Richmond, VA 23221
Listen. Dialogue. Eat. View.
Monacan Chief Kenneth Branham will speak on Monacan history, including the former capital of Rassawek, and the importance of federal recognition.
Learn what you can do to support these concerns
Light supper included – Free
7:30 film at Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival, Byrd Theater
Purchase tickets at theater in Richmond
Sponsored by the Baltimore Yearly Meeting
Indian Affairs Committee
Indianaffairs@bym-rsf.org
Friends, The committee on Ministry and Worship is sharing the sad news that Mike Jeffrey died on Tuesday evening, October 1st. He was at home surrounded by family and friends. The memorial meeting will be held on Saturday, October 19th at the Meeting House at 2:00 PM with a reception following. All are invited.
MESSAGE FROM NOMINATING COMMITTEE 10/2019
Nominating Committee is in the process of recruiting for Richmond Meeting Committees and Positions for 2020.
The following update shows the committees and positions that still need to be filled:
Attenders and members can participate on these committees:
Hospitality (Need 2)
Library (Need 2)
Peace and Social Concerns (Need 1-2
Spring Retreat (Need 2)
Work Camp (Need 5+)
Clearing Committees: Oversight (1); Usage & Promotion (1)
You need to be a member of RFM for the committees below:
Adult Spiritual Education (need 2)
Care and Counsel (need 5)
Ministry and Worship (need 1-2)
Nominating (Need 2)
Positions needed (membership not required)
American Friends Service Committee Representative
If you are so led to join one of these committees please contact Clarisse Harton, Clerk of Nominating Committee:
Twelve students and 2 teachers from Carolina Friends School will be camping out at RFMstarting Friday, October 4, and leaving earlySunday morning, October 6. They will be attending events in Richmond. This is their year using our facilities.
The mission of Circles RVA is to “offer a relationship-based model to empower individuals and families to permanently move out of poverty and thrive by engaging the strengths, goodwill and existing resources of the community and focus on the collaborative ownership of solutions to break the cycle of poverty”. Circles RVA is an area of focus for the Peace & Social Concerns Committee. As part of our support we are providing four dinners for their weekly meetings.*
Our third meal for Circles RVA will be on September 24. Mark Skolnick will be collecting donations to cover the costs for this meal. If you would like to help with the serving of this meal, please contact Rhonda Ligon or Verna Boos. *(RFM has made the commitment to support these four meals for Circles RVA).
Baltimore Yearly Meeting Queries on Peace (2013 Resource for Faith & Practice)
How does my life reflect “the virtue of that life and power which takes away the occasion for war”? Where there are hatred, division, and strife, how are we instruments of reconciliation and love? How do our lives illustrate our understanding of the basis of our peace testimony? As we work for peace, are we nourished by peace within and among ourselves? How do we regard those we believe have harmed us or others? How does this affect our spiritual lives?
Peace Voices (2013 Resource)
We must be prepared to make the same heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. There is no task that is more important or closer to my heart. Albert Einstein, c. 1930
It is not our Quakerism, or our pacifism, or our knowledge, or skill, or emotion that overcomes hate and violence. We shall surely fail if we become proud of our virtue and traditions and become vain in our witness. We shall fail if we think the power that may move through us is our own. The power is not ours, it is God’s…. The foundation is faith in the power of God’s love to transform us and our society and to bring justice to the poor and the oppressed. Our task is to act, as best we understand what we are led to do, in obedience to that power. Mary Lord, 2002
The meeting room at Richmond Friends Meeting has a new hearing assistance system for use during meeting for worship. The system picks up vocal messages and sends amplified audio signals to individual listeners using one of three methods:
1. FM Receivers: A new FM system has replaced our old one. This system transmits audio to FM receivers. We currently have four FM receivers. You can use a receiver with either an ear speaker, headset, ear buds, or a “neck loop” (used with hearing aids with T-coils). In general, the FM receivers are the simplest way to use the system. Some experimentation may be required to choose the optimal speakers for your ears. If you have hearing aids, you can try using an FM receiver with an “over-the-ear” headset. We will not make earbuds available; you can bring your own (generic earbuds cost $5-15, custom-molded ones are more expensive). 2. Cellphones with Wi-Fi: The new system can send (“stream”) vocal messages to any device receiving Wi-Fi, typically a cell phone. Streaming audio to a cell phone allows you to connect to hearing aids using a Bluetooth connection. The cell phone needs to be set up with an app, connected to the audio server, and set to turn off cell phone reception. 3. Hearing aids with a T-coil: A hearing aid with T-coil can receive audio directly from the “loop” under the floor. This method uses the loop we have had for many years. Note: A hearing aid with a T-coil can also be used with an FM receiver and neck loop. Reception is likely to be better with an FM receiver/neck loop than with the floor loop.
Once we start using the Wi-Fi audio system, those present in meeting for worship are likely to be aware that Friends using hearing assistance are setting up and adjusting cell phones. In the past, cell phones have not been in use during worship. Phone service will be turned off on cell phones used for hearing assistance during worship. With the adoption of the new system, the guidelines for Friends offering a vocal message during worship have not changed: stand if you are able to, and speak your message loudly and clearly to the facing bench or center of the room. The new system cannot compensate for messages offered in a very quiet voice. Also, the closer you are to a microphone, the better the amplification through the hearing assistance system will be. Friends familiar with the hearing assistance system will be available at rise of meeting occasionally to provide help with setting up and using both the FM receivers and cell phones connected to Wi-Fi. Individual help will be available on request. For more information contact Denna Joy, Scott Morrison or Jim Thoroman. If you have special needs or concerns with regards to hearing assistance at Meeting, please contact Care and Counsel.
As Quakers, we have no creed to recite, no confession of confess, no rituals to undergo that will reliably bring us into the fullness of membership. But we do have a rich and inspiring tradition; we each other; and we have the Spirit. . . which, we are promised, will “lead us into all things.” Thomas Gates, 2004
Richmond Friends Meeting is a diverse community of seekers. We welcome all who wish to explore Quaker principles, testimonies, and way of worship. If you wish to consider membership after attending Meeting and participating in our community, the following may be helpful as you continue on your quest: First, we suggest that you attend Meeting for Worship on a regular basis, become involved in committee work, and participate in Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business in order to understand fully the meaning of the commitment to become a member. Second, prospective members are encouraged to become familiar with Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice. Other Books to consider reading are: The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction by Pink Dandelion and Friends for 350 Years by Howard Brinton. These books are available in our library and through the Friends General Conference bookstore, https://quakerbooks.org/. If you are then led to seek membership, submit a letter to the Clerk of Meeting saying why you wish to request membership in the Richmond Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends. If you like, describe the journey that led you to seek membership. The clerk will submit your letter to the Care and Counsel Committee, which will form a Clearness Committee to discuss with you your application and your readiness for membership. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask any member of Care and Counsel for guidance.
Midlothian Friends are hosting at their meetinghouse an orientation session with the DC Detention Visitation Network (DCDVN)onSaturday, June 29 from 2:00 to 4:00. Other Quakers fromCharlottesville Friends Meeting and Richmond Friends Meetingare also invited. The Midlothian Friends Meetinghouse is located at 900 Preservation Rd, Midlothian, VA 23113.
DCDVN offers friendship and support to immigrants held in detention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Maryland and now, after several years’ effort, in Farmville Virginia. The orientation on June 29th will focus on DCDVN’s program for social visits to detainees, many of whom are held for months with no visits from family or friends. Many family members live far from Farmville and can’t afford the time away from work or the cost of a visit. Others are undocumented themselves and afraid to visit an ICE facility. Some detainees are simply estranged from their families. Visits from community members can give them a “break,” boost their morale, and help refocus their emotions on positive relationships while in detention.
Jim Bell of Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Peace and Social Concerns Committee, and a two-year DCDVN volunteer in Maryland will lead the orientation. The session will be informal and cover many aspects of how to visit detainees: what to do, what not to do, proper attire, conversation starters, etc. All questions will be welcome.
You don’t have to be fluent in Spanish to visit a detainee!
We invite you to join with Friends and other like-minded people. For more information, visit the DCDVN website (https://dcdetentionvisitation.org/visitation-program). Jim suggests that you complete the short volunteer form before you come to orientation. If you have questions, contact Lucretia Farago of Midlothian Friends at 804-658-9021 or lsfarago@gmail.com.
The Richmond Peace Education Center is holding a two-day conflict resolution training at Richmond Friends Meeting August 20-21, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.You can learn more about it here.This is exactly the kind of program that the Adult Spiritual Education committee can provide scholarships for. If you are interested in attending, please contact lyndafleetperry@gmail.com to request a scholarship.
We call on people of good will from all over the Richmond region, and across the Commonwealth, to join us on Tuesday, July 9, 9 a.m.-10 a.m., at the Bell Tower on the Virginia State Capitol grounds, for a unity vigil to demand action to stop gun violence. Following the vigil, we will join the Votes and Laws Rally on 10th & Bank Street.
Richmond Branch NAACP and Richmond Peace Education Center, with Armstrong Leadership Program, Together We Will Henrico, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.
Our new 50th Anniversary t-shirts are debuting at North Carolina Yearly Meeting – Conservative in McNeil 1028 (UNC-Wilmington)!
They will be available on our website on Tuesday, July 16 (ie, when I get back to Quaker House).
The countdown is on to September 21, 2019, when we come together in Fayetteville to hear from people we have helped in the past and current and former directors. We hope you’ll join us! See or contact Kindra for tickets.
Quaker House 50th Anniversary Celebration Luncheon.
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of Quaker House. Fifty
years ago Dean Holland, a Vietnam era soldier, hitched-hiked to Chapel Hill
Friends Meeting and asked for help in getting a conscientious objector
discharge from the military. After his plea and questions by our meeting, he
proclaimed, "Quakers need to be in Fayetteville." At that, Bob Gwyn
and others from our meeting, as well as other local meetings, formed Quaker House.
CHFM has been a prominent supporter of this Quaker witness for peace ever since.
In honor of this anniversary, Quaker House is sponsoring a
Celebration Luncheon on Saturday, September 21, 2019, 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM, at
the Fayetteville Holiday Inn I-95 (1944 Cedar Creek Road). The celebration will
feature a panel of those who have benefited from Quaker House, past and present
directors, and our GI Rights Hotline and Domestic Violence counselors; a
feature presentation by Monisha Rios, a military sexual assault survivor who
Quaker House helped; the debut of newly made Quaker House films
"Conscientious Peacemaking Since 1969" and "Stories of
Gratitude;" live music; and food!
Getting tickets in advance is encouraged to help estimate
attendance, but they will also be available at the door. Prices are $0-$10 for
Limited Income; $25 for Actual Cost; $50+ Contribution Level; and free for
service members and veterans.
For more information or reservations go to
qpr@quaker.org, call Quaker House at 910-323-3912, or contact Curt Torell
(curtnpatty@aol.com or 919-968-2174) particularly for carpool arrangements
The Clearing Building & Grounds Committee is having a Clearing Workday on Saturday, March 30. Everyone is invited to join us out at The Clearing starting at 9:30 am. Bring a lunch, work gloves, clothes appropriate for working outdoors, sunblock, bug repellent, a hat, and/or whatever else will help to sustain you for the day. Tools are welcome as well, especially clippers, hand saws, and other implements that might be useful for clearing trails and campsites. You may want to label your items so they are easy to keep track of.
The address is 14006 Genito Rd, Amelia Court House, VA 23002, which now works quite well in Google Maps!
The Clearing Building & Grounds Committee is having a Clearing Workday on Saturday, March 30. Everyone is invited to join us out at The Clearing starting at 9:30 am. Bring a lunch, work gloves, clothes appropriate for working outdoors, sunblock, bug repellent, a hat, and/or whatever else will help to sustain you for the day. Tools are welcome as well, especially clippers, hand saws, and other implements that might be useful for clearing trails and campsites. You may want to label your items so they are easy to keep track of.
The address is 14006 Genito Rd, Amelia Court House, VA 23002, which now works quite well in Google Maps!
Open to all – on March 27 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm a presentation on: Friends House – retirement living – “community through caring”. Join the Aging Group as Barbara Brubeck the Friends House Residential Living Director shares information about the community, services, amenities and activities available at Friends House. This retirement community in Sandy Springs, MD founded on Quaker values is open to seniors of all backgrounds and abilities, and has a mission to build a community through caring.
On March 17, our fundraiser lunch after business meeting will benefit GraceInside, a privately-funded prison chaplaincy program. Please join us for a delicious lunch after Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. For more information about GraceInside go to graceinside.org.
Join us on March 10, at 9:30 am, when we will share poems and hot chocolate together. ASE will supply the hot chocolate and you will bring a poems to share.
Richmonders for Peace in Israel and Palestine Showing the Film “Occupation of the American Mind”On March 10that 1 pm,in the Community Room, Richmonders for Peace in Israel and Palestine will be showing the film “Occupation of the American Mind”. Richmonders for Peace in Israel and Palestine (RPIP) is a diverse group committed to working together and with others to support a just and lasting peace that ends the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Adult Spiritual Education committee will host a one-hour Bible Workbench on Sunday, March 3, starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Community Room. We will discuss Luke 9: 28-36, 37-43: times of preparation, confirmation, commitment and (again) confirmation. Liminal spaces. Here is a question from the materials we use (from The Education Center’s “Reading Between the Lines”): “What is it to be weighed down with sleep, but still awake? What things might one see, hear, say or do in this state that one might not when fully awake?” Depending on the context, what are both the costs and/or the gifts of being in this state? You don’t have to read the scripture in advance in order to participate.
