2021-07-30 Announcements for

Concord Friends Meeting

[1]

The Meeting Calendar

Day	Date	Time	Event
Sun	Aug 1	10:00 a.m.	Worship in Song in Fellowship Room followed by Meeting for Worship (both blended) followed by a picnic at Bear Brook State Park. For Zoom link, email Zoom [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org (subject: %E2%80%9CStory%20Telling%E2%80%9D%20Zoom%20Link%20Request) .
Thu	Aug 5	7:00 - 8:00	PM Mid Week Meeting (no Zoom)
Sat–Thu	Aug 6 – Aug 12		NEYM Sessions (virtual)

Bear Brook Picnic THIS Week

Planning on August 1 after the rise of Meeting. (gathering around 12:30). Hoping for better weather with lots of good conversation. There is a small chance of rain but we will use a canopy. Bring a dish to share and your own plates and utensils for the potluck. There is also a beach at the picnic area, which is opposite the toll booth (sadly not a Phantom Tollbooth). They call it the Catamount area. So if you want to wade in the water, you can do that too. Sara for Ministry and Counsel.

Thinking About Attending NEYM Annual Sessions?

(Nearly) Last Call!

New England Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions is happening via Zoom Saturday, Aug 7 through Thursday, Aug 12 afternoon. It includes opportunities not only for worship and business but fellowship, spiritual nurture, and learning about various social actions and ministries that New England Quakers are supporting. Schedule is at: https://neym.org/schedule-and-registration-information [2]

You can register for only parts of it, or all of it, and you only need pay what you are able or 'led' to pay.You must preregister before the event to get the links to it. https://neym.org/schedule-and-registration-information [2]

Events include:

Plenary Saturday afternoon- A conversation between the two organizers of a cross cultural exchange (The Gathering) between Maine indigenous people and descendants of European settlers - of special interest to us as we try to build relationship with local indigenous folks.
Bible Half Hours (daily at 8:30am) followed by half hour of worship - by Jay O'Hara, a Friends deeply led to climate activism
Plenary Monday evening: John Calvi, who has followed his leading to express the spiritual gift to releasing pain from trauma for 38 years.
Tuesday evening - Hanifa Nayo Washington who has been combining arts, healing, and activism to make the world a better place for more than 20 years. She is co founder of a healing justice initiative.
"Home Groups" (small groups that meet daily for 1 to 1 1/2 hours with guided spiritual sharing - similar to our own small groups)

If you plan to attend Saturday Welcome ceremony and afternoon plenary, Sara and Ruth invite you to join them in the Meetinghouse to experience it in fellowship (bring a bag lunch). Please email sara [dot] rose [dot] ssmith [at] gmail [dot] com or ruthmheath [at] comcast [dot] net if you can will attend with us Saturday between 10AM and 2:30PM. It is also a time to ask questions, reflect on what we are experiencing besides listening together.

Business at Yearly Meeting Sessions will include:

Further discernment on our relationship to Friends United Meeting (FUM) in light of their employment policy that is perceived as anti LGBTQ
Whether we are ready to send the Letter of Apology to Native Americans (we have discussed this at our own Business Meetings
Whether to endorse AFSC's No Way to Treat a Child campaign
Consider the Personal Spiritual Practices chapter for the new Faith and Practice https://neym.org/texts-currently-under-discussion [3]

We would love to welcome you.

For all or any part of Sessions this year—we hope you will join us.

Are you puzzled over the Advance Documents for NEYM Sessions? Have questions about some of the processes that are happening?

Contact Sara Smith to help us pick a time to have a Friendly Info session. We are available on either Tuesday, Thursday or Friday evening of next week to answer some questions. JJ is going to share something about FUM -there are lots of different things in the advance documents about it.

They are available at https://neym.org/advance-reading-and-business-materials [4]

We can do this easily on Zoom so reply to sara [dot] rose [dot] ssmith [at] gmail [dot] com with dates you are available. - Sarah

Solidarity Walk for Immigrant Justice

--HELP is NEEDED with 9/23 Lunch Preparation!

Each year activists for immigrant justice complete a 3-day walk to the ICE detention facility in Dover to bring awareness to the need for greater justice in our state system. The Epsom Democrats are hosting lunch on day-2 of this year’s Solidarity Walk for Immigrant Justice. We'll offer bagged lunches on Thursday, September 23rd for 30-50 Immigrant Solidarity walkers. We hope to set up at the Epsom Library but are waiting for final confirmation of the location.

Volunteers are needed to donate funds to purchase food & paper goods, shop for supplies, and prepare lunch items. The lunches will include a choice of wraps and sandwiches, fruit, chips, cookies and canned/bottled beverages. Help is needed with advanced sandwich/wrap preparation and cookie baking, both of which can be done in your own home. There will also be a group prep event at the home of Kim Gillis in Epsom, on the morning of 9/23. Support for set-up and clean-up at the at the lunch are needed too! Please contact Kim Gillis at kgillis [at] live [dot] com or (603) 892-4271 for more information or to pitch-in on this worthy cause! All aspects of hosting the lunch offer fun opportunities to be of service in community and support immigrant justice, so please join us in whatever way you can!

Announcements by Sara Smith (send corrections to me)