Concord Friends Meeting

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

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The Seed, or Grace of God, is small in its first Appearance, even as the Morning Light; but as it is given Heed to, and obeyed, it will increase in Brightness, till it shine in the Soul, like the Sun in the Firmament at its Noon-day Height. ~ Elizabeth Bathurst, 1655-1685

The Meeting Calendar

Please socially distance for all indoor events and mask when not eating or drinking (more info [2]).

Day	Date	Time	Event
Saturday	June 24^th	9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.	NEYM Conference Meeting for Listening. Concord MM hosts this hybrid event (see below)
Sunday	June 25^th	10:00 a.m.	Meeting for Worship. For Zoom link, email Zoom [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: %E2%80%9CWorship%E2%80%9D%20Zoom%20Link%20Request) . Closing: Wendy L and Betsy M. With Children: Greg and TBD. Spring Party at the Ingraham's after Meeting
Wednesday	June 28^th	9:00 a.m.	Midweek Meeting for Worship
Sunday	July 2^nd	10:00 a.m.	Meeting for Worship. For Zoom link, email Zoom [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: %E2%80%9CWorship%E2%80%9D%20Zoom%20Link%20Request) . Closing: James F. and Rich K. With Children: TBD.

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 [3]. 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

The Golden Rule Visit

Visiting The Golden Rule [4] as it sails up the coast spreading the word on building peace through Nuclear Disarmament, is a good excuse to visit Portsmouth. If you go on Saturday, you can also go to a great Pride Festival at Strawberry Bank, near its docking place. Showing support for Pride as the LGBTQIA community faces increasing hate is really important!

https://nhpeaceaction.org/event/golden-rule-peace-boat-to-visit-portsmouth/ [5]

A Day of Extended Worship, June 24, 2023, 9:00 a.m. — 12:30 p.m.

An Invitation To A DAY OF EXTENDED WORSHIP

Starksboro Friends Meeting, Saturday, June 24, 2023 9:00 am-2:30 pm,

430 Dan Sargent Road, South Starksboro, VT 05443

In earlier times Friends would often worship for hours fully expectant and deeply patient for the Living Presence to do its work in the gathered body of Friends. These gathered experiences were core to Quaker convincement, personal transformation, and prophetic challenges to the cultural behaviors in the places where Quakers lived.

Modeled on a twenty-five-year practice in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, these are opportunities for NEYM Friends to experience a full day of Quaker worship. In June we will be meeting in the historic South Starksboro Friends Meetinghouse. We hope that many Friends will join us.

To register and for questions, please contact Michael Wajda (mfwajda [at] gmail [dot] com) (484-639-3356) or Jean Rosenberg (jrosenbe [at] middlebury [dot] edu) (802-388-6453).

Click here for more information

Get Ready to Party! (from YRE Committee), June 25, 2023, 12:30 p.m.

Although we've been praying and trusting that this coming Sunday is not a total washout, we now see the forecast is for 90% chance of rain from Noon-3pm. A final determination will be made Saturday morning and an email will be sent to those who RSVP'ed ( it's not too late... you can still do that). So watch your email Saturday morning.

Sheryl can host the party on July 9 (but that is Meeting for Business) and also on July 16. So it is likely the rain date will be July 16.

If we do have a party this Sunday (miracles do happen...) there will NOT be coffee fellowship at the Meetinghouse since we are leaving soon after announcements for the party. There will be coffee and tea there.

Here's what to bring:

Plate and Utensils (we'll bring cups and napkins unless those are easy for you)
Potluck item to share with utensil to serve (good idea to label with masking tape)
A lawn or folding chair (if you can)
Something to add to baskets (bring to Meetinghouse and leave in left kids room)

Sheryl's home has three outdoor covered areas in which to sit. We are planning on setting up a large tent for food and another covered place to sit.

Questions? Call Ruth at 603-724-4343

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 [6]

Childcare Planning Committee Update

We are disappointed to have to report that we have hit a significant snag in our planning. We have heard from the fire marshal that the boiler and the pellet bin must be separated from the rest of the building with a one hour rated fire wall. That includes the room's north, east and west walls. The ceiling and south wall are not included since the other side is the exterior. This could be configured in some different ways, but such modifications would be a considerable expense because it would need to be done by a contractor, not by our volunteers.

The committee is looking into options but accomplishing the work in the next two months as well as getting approval for a much larger expense seem like nearly insurmountable obstacles. We will keep you informed as our work continues.

This Week's Quaker Podcasts

Contributed by Jonah:

New England Yearly Meeting! Annual Sessions advanced documents were read in this feed last year, and various other NEYM events pop up from time to time. https://quakersofnewengland.buzzsprout.com/ [7]
Ireland Yearly Meeting had at least one season of interviews about about past and present Quakerism, under “The Friendly Podcast” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-friendly-podcast/id1647960618 [8].

Weare/Henniker Friends — Summer Solstice Sing & Pie Social

6:30 pm, Sunday, June 25^th - Solstice Sing & Pie Social

Come sing with us again!!! We’re continuing our new tradition of singing old favorites (hymns, folk songs, etc.) as a

Summer Solstice version of our annual Carol Sing.

All ages are invited and welcome!

For more information call 603-995-4311.

Henniker Quaker Meetinghouse at 529 Quaker St.

(in the historic district of Henniker).

From Past Issues:

June 2023 Minutes from Meeting for Business
NH Pow Wows
COVID Information from Other Meetings

Minutes of Meeting for Business

Dear Friends,

The minutes for the June 2023 meeting for worship with attention to business are available at https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/2023-06-11_CMM_Minutes [9] or via https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/Minutes_of_ConcordMonthlyMeeting [9].

For corrections, missing documents, and/or clarifications of the minutes, please reply to web clerk, Concord Friends Meeting <webclerk [at] concordfriendsmeeting [dot] org (subject: CMM%20Sixth%20Month%20Minutes) >.

With love, and peace, and tenderness,

Mark

New Hampshire Pow Wows

Here is a fun and interesting way to develop your relationship with the local Native American community. The link takes you to a listing of all the Pow Wows in NH this summer. Sara and JJ are going to the Alstead one (15 Mechanic Street) and then to the Keene concert with the Concord Chorale at 3.

https://calendar.powwows.com/events/categories/pow-wows/pow-wows-in-new-hampshire/ [10]

COVID Information from other Meetings

As a follow-up to last week's Meeting for Business and the subject of COVID protocols, here [11] is an interesting read on the practices of 14 Meetings around our Quarter and the Yearly Meeting. It contains much food for thought.

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