CMM 2018-12-09 Possible Items for Agenda

Here are some possible agenda items for Twelfth Month’s Meeting for Worship with attention to Business, which will be on the 9^th of Twelfth Month.  Some of the items from Eleventh Month may have been carried forward.  Some of the proposed items may need further seasoning.  They are in no particular order at the moment.  [See also http://quakerspeak.com/quaker-decision-making-consensus/ [1]]

During worship, please hold in your heart the following from the “Advices on Corporate Discernment” in the 2014 Interim Faith & Practice of NEYM [2].  Friends are also asked to consider the “Queries on Corporate Discernment [3]”.

On entering the meeting, avoid falling into conversation. Take your seat quietly, entering into a receptive silence. As the meeting moves forward, listen carefully to what others say, that you do not burden the meeting by repetition. Allow time for quiet reflection after each speaker so that their words may sink in and receive due consideration. Should you disagree with what has been said, show respect or those who have spoken by offering another viewpoint in a humble spirit.

• Minutes of Eleventh Month’s Meeting for Worship with attention to Business [4].
• Budget Committee report
  • “How does our Meeting engage its members in the support of the Meeting’s work, its ministry, and the upkeep of its property?” ¹
• Property Committee report
  • “Does our Meeting serve social and economic justice in its uses of property and money?” ¹
• Solar Committee report
  • “We do not own the world, and its riches are not ours to dispose of at will.  Show a loving consideration for all creatures, and seek to maintain the beauty and variety of the world.  Work to ensure that our increasing power over nature is used responsibly, with reverence for life.  Rejoice in the splendour of God’s continuing creation.” ²
• Peace, Social, and Earthcare Concerns Committee (PSECC) report
  • AFSC’s Sanctuary Everywhere [5]
  • FCNL’s #LoveThyNeighbor (No Exceptions) [6]
  • AFSC-NH’s, GSOP’s, and NH Council of Churches’ Immigrant Solidarity Network [7]
• Youth Religious Education Committee report
  • Children and young people need love and stability.  Are we doing all we can to uphold and sustain parents and others who carry the responsibility for providing this care? ³
• Outreach Committee report
  • “Are you patterns, examples; do your lives preach among all sorts of people, and to them?  Do you walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one?” - NEYM 1985 Faith and Practice, Queries 5.4 and 5.5 [8].
• Ministry & Counsel Committee report
  • Query 2. “b) Are we aware of the roles we fill as heirs of the meetings of ministers and elders?  What do we do to support each other in the use of our gifts for God’s work?  Do we actively seek to identify and nurture these gifts in each other?”  NEYM Minute of Exercise, 2015-09-15 [9]
  • NEYM is developing a data protection and information security policy.  Concord Monthly Meeting may wish to revisit its policy as stated at https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/ContactInformationForm [10].  Friends may also wish to view Britain Yearly Meeting’s policy at https://www.quaker.org.uk/privacypolicy [11] and https://www.quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/support-for-meetings/data-safety [12]

Announcements & Events:

Nov 13 (Tue)   12:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon   The Sanctuary Support Network [13] meeting in the basement parish hall of Blessed Sacrament Church, 14 Elm Street, Manchester where there will be refreshments.  This meeting is very important!  We will prayerfully consider what steps to take as a network to make more effective our resistance to proposals to penalize any legal permanent residents who access benefits they are entitled to such as food stamps; calls to end the automatic granting of citizenship to anyone born on US soil; etc.

Nov 18 (Sun)  8:45 for 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.   Ministry & Counsel Committee meeting.

Nov 18 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing: Rich and Kathy U ; Boiler Cleaning: Rich.

Nov 20 (Tue)    9:00 – 10:00 a.m.  Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice [14] [Joshua 6:1-27 [15]] for those reporting to ICE [16] for deportation that day at the Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street in Manchester.  We have signed the pledge to stand with our immigrant neighbors.  If you have not seen a copy of the revised solidarity statement, it can be found here [17].  [Also, see resources at the website [7] of the NH Council of Churches.]

Nov 25 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship, followed by potluck and “Green Burial [18]” discussion led by Bevan Tulk; open to the public.  Closing: Greg and Ruth ; Boiler Cleaning: Greg.

Dec   2 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing: Dave and Penny ; Boiler Cleaning: Dave.

Dec   4 (Tue)   8:30 – 10:00 a.m.  (First Tuesday) Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice [14] [Joshua 6:1-27 [15]] for those reporting to ICE [16] for deportation that day at the Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street in Manchester.  This will be followed by the Sanctuary Support Network [13] meeting at St. Anne - St. Augustin, 382 Beech Street, Manchester where there will be refreshments.  We have signed the pledge to stand with our immigrant neighbors.  If you have not seen a copy of the revised solidarity statement, it can be found here [17].  [Also, see resources at the website [7] of the NH Council of Churches.]

Dec   9 (Sun)  10:00 a.m. – ~2:00 p.m.  Worship, followed by potluck and Meeting for Worship with attention to Business.  Closing: .

Dec 11 (Tue)  4:00 - 6:00 p.m.  Voices of Faith invites you to their kickoff session at the NH UCC Conference office, 140 Sheep Davis Road in Pembroke.  This is a chance to go over together the state legislative overview for 2019.  Using faith-rooted discernment around a moral economy, we will decide together how to focus our energy in legislative advocacy.

Dec 16 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing:  ; Boiler Cleaning: .

Dec 23 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing:  ; Boiler Cleaning: .

Dec 30 (Sun)  10:00 a.m.  Worship.  Closing:  ; Boiler Cleaning: .

First Day School Help:  If you would like to be a helper in the children’s program, and have not yet filled out the Youth Worker Screening Form [19].  Please download and print one out, fill it in, and pass it to Kathy Urie.  You can find it at Youth Worker Screening Form [19].  We need one helper each week.  Look for a sign-up sheet on the left bulletin board this Sunday.  And thank you!  The children thank you too!

Volunteers to be ready to support Manchester Unitarian Universalist Church as a Level 1 physical sanctuary in the New Hampshire Immigrant Solidarity Network.  Contact MarkBarker [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: Volunteering%20for%20sanctuary%20support%20at%20U-U%20Church%20in%20Manchester) .  Here's a list of the support roles needed.

• Day Citizen Companions
• Provide Food
• Provide Transportation
• Offer Entertainment (games or movies)
• Provide Emotional Support
• Provide Language Translation
• Provide Legal Support
• Provide Medical Support
• Raise Funds
• Provide a Gift Card
• Organize other Volunteers
• Laundry
• Other support you could offer

In August 2017, we published a statement in response to the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia [20].  Please also see “Such a Time as This: A Response to Hate and Violence [21]” as well as the “2017 Epistle of New England Yearly Meeting [22]”, Ruby Sales’ Plenary Message [23] on NEYM’s Youtube channel, and the audio recordings of the 2017 Annual Sessions Bible Half-Hours by Marty Grundy [24] focusing (exegeting [25]) on Romans 12:2 [26].  Draft booklet of Bible Half Hour texts [27].

^1. See https://www.pym.org/faith-and-practice/guidelines-and-procedures/general-queries/nurturing-our-community/ [28]

^2. See http://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/1/ [29] № 42

^3. See http://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/1/ [29] № 24