CMM 2024-01-14

Minutes of Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business

Concord (NH) Monthly Meeting of

the Religious Society of Friends

14^th of First Month 2024

Fifteen Friends gathered for Meeting for Worship to attend to business, in person and by Zoom.  We opened with a brief period of quiet Worship.  The clerk read us a quote from New England Yearly Meeting's 2015 Interim Faith and Practice about Quaker Meeting business process,

Our business meetings begin and end with worship, framing the work at hand with centered awareness in the divine presence.  Although the business to be addressed requires attention to facts, details, and varying options, we seek to remain spiritually grounded throughout the discernment process.  Our decisions do not rely on majority rule, but rather on a unity found through calm attention to the Light Within.  The Spirit may speak through anyone present, and it is our task to listen and speak with humil­ity and to trust in the Spirit’s guidance.

– New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, 2015 Interim Faith & Practice [1], Chapter 3 "Corporate Discernment in Meetings for Business", Introduction ¶2, page 62.

Minutes of Twelfth month 2023 [2] were approved as posted on our website.

01.01  Property Committee:  The clerk of property committee reported about three things verbally and by a written report on our Zoom screen.  The written report will be posted with these minutes.  Friends accepted the report.

01.02  Greater Concord Interfaith Council:  The clerk of M&C reported that they were appointing Jennifer S as the interim representative to Greater Concord Interfaith Council as our current representative had felt the need to withdraw. Friends accepted the report.

01.03  Meeting Retreat:  The clerk of M&C also asked for reactions to the idea of holding a Meeting retreat to help deepen the spiritual life of the Meeting. Some Friends responded positively to the need for Friends to help with planning this. The majority of Friends present indicated that they are interested in having this retreat happen.  Greg H will convene this group.  Other Friends can contact Greg if they wish to be a part of the group to plan this.

01.04  Treasurer’s Report:  The clerk of Finance committee presented the report of the first seven months of this FY.  Income was $18,950 and expenses were $13,982.  The balance sheet was also explained.  These reports are attached.  Friends accepted the reports.

01.05  Fundraising Committee:  The fundraising committee reported an update on raising the funds to cover the cost of the new heating system and the fire safety expenditures.  There is anticipation that contributions earmarked for this project, grants, sale of parts of the old heating system and the pellet fuel, and the anticipated return from the Federal government of 30% of the cost of the heating system installation will cover most of the expense.  The balance is a bit less than the $20,000 we felt could come from our reserve funds that had been designated for replacement of this major equipment.

01.06  Conflict in Israel and Palestine:  PSECC committee brought a statement on the conflict in Israel and Palestine, citing our opposition to all forms of war.

The original statement was considered and adjustments were made.  Friends approved the first paragraph of this statement and the embedded statement from Friends Committee on National Legislation.  We approved the first paragraph following the FCNL statement with adjustments to the wording to reflect that one side of the conflict is not a country and beginning the third paragraph with an introductory clause that says “Based on our Quaker belief that war is not the answer,”.  But we were not clear about urging our Federal congressional delegation to support enactment of two pieces of legislation regarding the U.S. government's role in sending armaments that fuel the ongoing violence in Gaza, and the question of whether there are war crimes being committed with weapons supplied by our country.  Friends are reminded that we need to reflect on our own complicity in what fuels the violence that is aided by arms supplied by our country.  What canst thou say to help stop the ongoing humanitarian horror in Israel and Palestine?

The approved statement is:

In holding to our Quaker longstanding testimony against all forms of war and the need to address the root causes of war and other conflicts especially through diplomatic means, we endorse the following statement from the Friends Committee on National Legislation:

We are heartbroken by the violence in Israel and Palestine.  As Quakers, we deeply mourn the loss of all lives and pray for those who have lost loved ones due to this latest escalation.  We unequivocally condemn Hamas’ attacks and inhumane treatment of civilians and call for the release of all hostages. We also condemn Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza that has claimed thousands of civilian lives.  More war and weapons won’t bring peace.  In the face of growing violence, lawmakers must push for a permanent ceasefire and address the root causes underlying this explosion of violence.

Based on our Quaker belief that war is not the answer, we urge the US Government and the parties in conflict in Israel/Palestine to diplomatically work for an immediate and permanent ceasefire that respects the human rights of both sides equally and that would include the release of hostages and immediate medical care of the same.

We closed with gratitude to PSECC for their work on this and a few moments of quiet reflection together, purposing to meet again on the second First Day of Second month 2024.

NB. The Income & Expenses Sheet was created with two decimal points, which were removed for readability, the cents being unimportant to the overall understanding.  This can have the effect of throwing off any given sum by a dollar due to compounded rounding.  —  Prepared by Greg Heath and Chris Haigh.

Property Committee Report [15]

January 2024 [15]

Backup Power:  A concern that should be addressed is what needs to happen if there is a power outage.  We currently have use of a small generator that we think would support three electric resistance heaters by bringing in extension cords from it.  We have been doing monthly tests to make sure that it works.  We think that could make at least the fellowship area comfortable for us in an outage and keep the plumbing from freezing in a prolonged one.  We need to explore the implications for the childcare program that rents space from us Monday through Friday.  Greg H has been our main contact with them and will discuss their expectations with them.  We need to know what our obligations are as their landlord and what we feel is the right thing to do.  Automatic transfer types of larger gasoline generators are pretty expensive.  Oxbow Solar continues to look into battery backup.  Oxbow has needed to delay deciding to do this and still needs to consider whether this makes business sense.  The Meeting would need to have a new agreement with Oxbow for the resiliency service which might be limited enough to still require availability of a generator.  The parameters of such an agreement would need to be negotiated.

Recycled Paper Products:  The committee clerk recently became aware of a mail order business that ships toilet paper and paper towels that are 100% recycled and uses half their profits to fund sanitation and clean water in poor communities in other countries.  The clerk decided to buy some to try out and is happier with it than with the slightly less expensive 100% recycled paper from Market Basket.  There is now some of that newer product in the mechanical room and it will be put out for use.  Friends can let Jennifer S (or other members of property committee) know how they feel about these products.

Meetinghouse Ventilation:  We continue to worry about whether the Meetinghouse ventilation is optimal for preventing spread of respiratory disease.  The committee clerk got an informal email consultation with the head of NH ASHRAE [16] who was reassuring that we are likely doing an adequate job, given the sizing of our system and the results we have gotten with a cheap CO₂ monitor that the clerk bought early in the pandemic.  There have been some concerns about whether that monitor is reliable enough and sometimes no results have been available for a while.  The consultant also recommended periodic recalibration and checking an additional air quality measure rather than just CO₂.  After the last committee meeting, the committee clerk found one from the manufacturer that the consultant recommended for $85.  The committee needs to decide if we should buy this now.