To request log-in information for Zoom Worship: Zoom [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: %E2%80%9CWorship%E2%80%9D%20Zoom%20Link%20Request) .

“In the context of Quaker worship, it is perfectly appropriate for any person

In the congregation to speak a timely word from the Lord.”



~ Richard J. Foster (1942-present)

A Christian theologian and author in the Quaker tradition.

The Meeting's Annual Spring Party was held on June 1^st after the rise of Meeting.  We headed over to Heidi's home with our potluck items and the YRE Committee will be bringing the Spring Baskets filled with treats.  The youth made these baskets and the special "Quaker Love Eggs" you'll find in them.  Heidi lives on a lake so some came prepared to swim or canoe/kayak.

As we mentioned last month, a few of us have been in contact with Friends from Northeast Kingdom MM regarding their decision to take a “Jubilee Year” from NEYM.  This meeting feels that they have struggled over the years to bring a greater focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and NEYM’s decision to hold our 2025 sessions at UMASS Amherst was the piece that caused them to step away from NEYM for the period of one year. (If you are not aware, a pro-Palestinian protest at that campus was ended with a harsh police response.)  Midcoast Monthly Meeting in Maine has also opted to take a Jubilee year in support of NEK Meeting’s action.  Since that time, two other monthly meetings have responded with minutes of their own.

Rich, Rob and I met with the presiding clerk and M&C clerks of NEK MM, and witnessed their pain and sorrow.  Whether you agree with their action, we felt called to hold presence for them and hear what they had to say.  They expressed deep appreciation for our care and we hope to remain in contact with them over the next year.  Even though it was their decision to step back from NEYM, it feels important to me that we help to hold the door open to a return to fellowship and community.

I do not know what, if anything our meeting will choose to do. However as promised, here are the documents that I have received on this topic.  Please take a look at them and hold this situation in your heart over the next few days.  I want to be clear that I am not suggesting or advocating for any type of response.  I just feel that I want to lift up this situation for our discernment and care.

We’d love to get a few more friends on the closing schedule!  If you can spare 20 minutes after meeting once every 6 weeks or so, please let me know.  It’s an easy way to provide a much needed service to the container that holds our sweet community.  Mostly we just sweep, vacuum, and pretend to clean the bathroom.  I mean clean the bathroom.  Please email me at HeidiB [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org.

https://www.many-roads.com)" src="/sites/CMM/Newsletters/2025/06/2025-06-Quaker_definition_350px-logo.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 250px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: right;">

At our Spring Party on June 1^st, a few of us got together to talk about a Quaker Basics course to start possibly on Tuesday evenings for one hour at the beginning of July.  We have run this course four or five times over the years using reading materials that are available on the Meeting’s website at https://www.ConcordFriendsMeeting.org/Library#QuakerBasics. 

The readings will be printed as half-letter-size booklets for each participant, so they will feel free to carry them with them, make notes, and highlight passages.  Some past participants have kept their copies for years afterwards.

The Quaker Basics course will meet for six one-hour sessions to discuss the readings for that week.  However, we will not necessarily meet for consecutive weeks, so we can accommodate times when participants may be away for holidays or other reasons.

If you wish to join the course, please email MarkB [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: CMM%20Quaker%20Basics%20course) .

I am hoping a number of Friends will make the effort to reach their Senators before they vote on Thursday on this terrible bill. Those who feel that being transgender is just a mental disorder that needs treatment continue to say that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone treatment is too experimental and unproven. Interestingly, this was the stance of Utah legislators a few years back but their Governor persuaded them to commission a thorough study of the evidence. That was done by people with no axe to grind. The published results confirm what all the mainstream medical and psychological organizations have said. The treatments are not harmful and improve the psychological well-being of transgender youth.

Here is a media report on that study which contains a link to go to the entire study if one wishes to see it:

https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/plentiful-data-no-regret-utah-review

The report is quite lengthy. There is a conclusion on page 90 & 91 of the report that states the positive benefits of this kind of care quite clearly.

"CONCLUSIONS

The conventional wisdom among non-experts has long been that there are limited data on the use of GAHT in pediatric patients with GD. However, results from our exhaustive literature searches have led us to the opposite conclusion."

Thanks for thinking about this and trying to persuade our state Senators to do the right thing for these children.

This year's lecturer was a Friend from NY who has done much with New England Friends. 

In the 2025 Swarthmore Lecture, Emily engaged with the challenge of how people can live and cooperate in community, especially when those communities are not ones that we have chosen.  Emily presented a testimony of community drawn from books of discipline used across Friends’ theological spectrum and in many parts of our global community.  In her lecture Emily offered a “sense of the meeting,” using the collective wisdom of our immensely diverse Society to suggest how all people—Quaker and not—can survive and thrive as an immensely diverse humankind.

We have published a resource to accompany Emily’s lecture which includes a written version of the spoken lecture and all 92 minutes written as part of the lecture.  You can find this on our website: www.woodbrooke.org.uk/swarthmore  Read more about Emily’s Lecture here.

Emily’s lecture took place as part of Britain Yearly Meeting 2025 on Saturday 24^th May from 7:00-8:15 p.m. (2:00-3:15 p.m. Eastern Time).  The lecture was live-streamed on the Woodbrooke YouTube Channel.

In April of 2025, I spent some time in the West Bank with a group from Friends United Meeting and Friends World Committee for Consultation, Europe and Middle East Section.

I’m happy to share stories from our time there, and I’m adding this post to my website (http://quakeremily.wordpress.com/).

Next scheduled online report: Wednesday, June 18, 2 p.m. NYC time, (7 p.m. London time).

In this hour-long online gathering, I’ll be sharing stories and experiences of recent travel to Ramallah Friends School, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the Tent of Nations.  All are welcome, including your non-Quaker family, friends, and neighbors.  Register here: June 18^th Emily Provance Online Report

The vigil for a ceasefire in Gaza continues every Thursday from Noon-1 p.m.  The vigil meets at (the northwest corner of) North Main Street and Park Street in Concord) on the plaza in front of the State House.  Make your own sign, use one provided, or just stand in silent witness beside others.  This is coordinated by NH Peace Action.  We suggest that people make signs that convey something about justice for Israel and Palestine.

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 tuggings 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
• Discover what’s possible now

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, we began holding an annual “Meeting for Listening.”

Last year, there was a strong sense of deep sharing, of drawing together.  We left the day having heard about our unique challenges.  We also shared the many places we face common obstacles and celebrate common joys.

Our next “Meeting for Listening” is scheduled for June 21, 2025.  It will be a full-day, hybrid gathering where Friends can gather in different ways: on site at Hartford (CT) Meeting, in self-organized local clusters connected via Zoom, or 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.

This year, we will focus on how meetings across our region are leaning into community.  Participants will have the opportunity to explore three themes related to this leaning in:

• Renewal, including welcoming and integrating new attenders and new perspectives, religious education, and visibility in our local communities
• Loss, including smaller numbers, leadership changes, aging membership, and the resulting need to rethink care for buildings, resources, and meeting functions
• “These times,” including the spiritual condition of Friends in relation to the world, witness and engagement, discerning individual and corporate leadings, and the role of eldership.
• 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 Hartford, please register by June 12^th if you can. This will help us comfortably accommodate everyone.

Are you led to host a local cluster in your area?  If rather than traveling to Hartford, 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.

Now that summer is right around the corner, it's a great time to start looking ahead to NEYM's Annual Sessions, which will be held at University of Massachusetts, Amherst from August 1st-6th. We are excited to announce that as of June 2nd, registration is now open!

Considering coming to Sessions for the first time? WONDERFUL! The Young Friends community at Sessions will be even more awesome with you as a part of it. Read more about the program here and don't hesitate to be in touch if you have other questions.

Note that this year we will be piloting a new "placement" program for Young Friends at Sessions. Once you have completed your Sessions registration please fill out this short (2-3 minute) survey to select your placement and offer any feedback you have to share.

All Sessions registrations are strongly preferred by July 15^th; after that date our ability to guarantee housing through University of Massachusetts Amherst is greatly reduced. You can register 24/7 online at http://neym.org/sessions.

Quakers in New England will gather in August for the 365th year—for worship, spiritual nurture, fellowship, and discernment of our shared calling.

Again this year there are two ways to attend Sessions: in-person at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and via Zoom.

We encourage Friends to read the details on the Yearly Meeting website before registering.

Register to Attend on Campus

Register to Attend Online

Copyright ©2025 New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers), All rights reserved.

There are other online Meetings for Worship that are generally available to Quakers, unlimited by geography, if that would be of interest.  Some of those are listed here.