Westport Meeting Newsletter July 2, 2021

July 2, 2021
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Westport Meeting News: 

FELLOWSHIP AND REFRESHMENTS FOLLOWING WORSHIP RESUMES! Gorman Reilly, clerk of Hospitality Committee, will be heading up efforts to begin bringing light goodies, coffee, tea, and related refreshments for Friends to enjoy during fellowship after worship on Sunday. Can you help? If so, email Gorman HERE, or call her at 917-495-9107.

Westport Meeting Potluck & Campfire Sing, July 10! ALL ARE WELCOME–PLEASE COME!  It has been a challenging year to say the least! As our Westport Friends community cautiously emerges from the pandemic, Monthly Meeting for Business has enthusiastically endorsed Gretchen’s vision of coming back together to celebrate, sing, enjoy a potluck supper and gather around a campfire on our Meeting property. July 10 is chosen specifically because it would have been the opening day of our Annual Book Fair, which as we know, is cancelled again this summer.

So instead of lugging boxes of books on July 10, come to this event and wrap your hands and heart around some good food and fellowship among one  another, and enjoy lawn games, badminton, bubbles, and a campfire too? ! Friends will start gathering at 5 p.m. with the plan of sharing supper at 6, but come when it works for you and your family. Potluck dishes that don’t require cooking on site are encouraged! Westport Meeting’s potlucks are always generous and varied, so don’t stay home because you aren’t able to cook. Come anyway! Have a guitar or harmonica to help accompany singing? Bring it, too! Questions? Want to help? Email Gretchen or call her at 508-287-6441. 

Midweek worship will continue to be offered each week on Wednesdays at 3:30 PM. Please note that the link for midweek worship is not the same as our regular worship on Sunday. A link for joining Midweek worship (which is the same link each week) will be emailed each week on Wednesday mornings. To insure security, we never post Zoom links on websites or portals visible to the general public. Questions? Contact Kevin Lee.
 
Help with Zoom Connections: Instructions for connecting to worship each Sunday, and Monthly Meeting for Business each month, is HERE.

MEETING CALENDAR: (All meetings via Zoom Unless Noted) 

  • Worship each Sunday in meetinghouse and via Zoom at 10 AM
  • Seekers Group, Monday, July 5, at 7 PM. (Gretchen sends link)
  • Midweek worship, Wed, July 7 , 3:30-4 PM. (link sent day of)
  • Westport Meeting (in-person) Cookout & Campfire Sing, Sat, July 10 (Details above)
  • Peace & Social Justice Committee, Sunday, Aug 1, 8:15-9:45 AM
  • SAVE THE DATE: JYM Pre-Sessions Retreat, Aug 1-4. Details
  • SAVE THE DATE: NEYM Annual (virtual) Sessions, Aug 7-12, 2021. Preliminary details

MIDWEEK WORSHIP, via Zoom, WEDNESDAYS, 3:30-4:00 PM!

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Yearly Meeting/Wider Quaker News:

A request from Noah Merrill, NEYM Secretary:

From: Noah Merrill <ymsec@neym.org>
Date: June 13, 2021 at 1:27:01 PM EDT
Subject: Request to share an important opportunity for service

Dear Friends serving as clerks and meeting contacts,

I hope this message finds each of you well in this time of transition and change, finding opportunities for both rest and nourishment alongside the responsibilities you carry on behalf of our Friends communities.

I’m writing with a time-sensitive request for your prayerful consideration and counsel, if able.

As many of you are aware, Friends from across New England and beyond will gather for Annual Sessions online from August 7-12, with the theme “A Time for Healing: How Are You Called?” More information about Sessions is posted here (updated frequently), and an announcement of the opening of registration will be sent in the coming week. I hope very much that Friends from your meeting will be led and able to participate in whatever way works for you.

This year, as part of responding to God’s call to grow toward inclusivity, equity, and wholeness, New England Quakers are seeking to increase particular opportunities for those of us who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (sometimes described with the acronym “BIPOC”) to gather for mutual support and connection around the shared activities of Sessions.

In support of this work, we are seeking a Friend who identifies in this way to serve as a host and stipended organizer for these opportunities, with support from other staff and volunteers. We’re trying to reach out widely in hopes of connecting with Friends who may not otherwise hear of this important opportunity for service. 

A detailed description of the role and responsibilities is posted with other current service opportunities here. Might you or another Friend in your meeting be a good match for this service?

We’d be very grateful if you would take a few minutes to listen for a prompting of the Spirit: Is there a Friend who is part of your local meeting who might bring the experience and gifts described, with whom you might share this opportunity, or to whom you’d suggest we reach out to invite them to consider this possibility? 

Friends interested can contact me directly iva email HERE.  at noah@neym.org.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide.   

in faith and service,

Noah Merrill
Secretary
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)

________

Resources for spiritual growth and education offered by our Yearly Meeting: *

Friends, though we are living in challenging times these days, many individual Friends, monthly meetings, Quaker organizations, and our Yearly Meeting as a whole, are offering an amazing array of opportunities to expand our knowledge and improve our practice as Friends in a variety of ways. Check out the following links and see what we are being offered! Also, take a few minutes and explore additional programs offered by NEYM by visiting the Events page HERE.

Gretchen’s JYM-JHYM latest bi-weekly newsletter of June 24, containing programming and retreat info for young people, parents and Friends, can be read HERE. 

“The Spring Must Be Opened:” NEYM June 2021 Newsletter featuring Jan Hoffman, may be read HERE

In NEYM’s June Newsletter:

Introduction by Jan Hoffman
Training for committee clerks
Sessions is coming!
Right relationship workshop
Proposed chapter for Faith & Practice
Unexpected blessings
Right Relationship resource group news
Responding to the call to racial justice
Quaker parenting resource
Resources for online and hybrid gatherings
Tech Corner
What’s new in the Archives
Roadmap for action on Climate Change
A new book from Brian Drayton
The difference between a welcoming and an inclusive space
Television visits the former Meeting School
New website for The Gatherings
Quakers in the news

Recurring virtual Quaker events:

Events coming soon: 

Connect, Learn, Explore, and Be in Service among Friends Regionally and Globally.

Check out an array of Quaker schools, camps, retreat centers, other yearly meetings and Quaker organizations listed on NEYM’s website.

Closing:

“What is Real?” asked the rabbit one day, when they were lying side-by-side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?“
 
“Real isn’t how you were made,“ said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become REAL!”
 
“Does it hurt?” asked the rabbit. “Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real, you don’t mind being hurt.“
 
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?“
 
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except by people who don’t understand.“
 
– Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit 

 

Thank you, Friends,
Kevin Lee 

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