Westport Meeting News:
Annual Sessions 2021:
“Westport Monthly Meeting will be gathering to celebrate Annual Sessions online at the Community House on Saturday August 7th. The opening is scheduled from 10am to 1130am, followed by a meal break and time to enjoy each other’s company locally. Plenary will begin at 1 and run until 2:30. We will again enjoy each other’s company locally from 2:30 to 5:30, followed by another meal break from 5:30 to 6:30. From 6:30 to 7:30 we will again be online for the closing.
All are invited to join us for all or part of the scheduled events. You can bring your own bagged lunch and/or supper and/or something to share. Water, coffee, and tea will be provided. There will be some interactive events online so having your own device may be useful, but shouldn’t be necessary.
Please contact Pamela Terrien via text at 774-526-5439 or via email at mizzskeeter@gmail.com if you plan on attending or have any questions.” – Pamela T.
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.
MEETING CALENDAR: (All meetings via Zoom Unless Noted)
- Peace & Social Justice Committee, Sunday, Aug 1, 8:15-9:45 AM
- Worship each Sunday in meetinghouse and via Zoom at 10 AM
- JYM Pre-Sessions Retreat, Aug 1-4. Details
- Seekers Group, Monday, Aug 2, at 7 PM. (Gretchen sends link)
- Midweek worship, Wed, Aug 4 , 3:30-4 PM. (link sent day of)
- SAVE THE DATE: NEYM Annual (virtual) Sessions, Aug 7-12, 2021. Preliminary details
- SAVE THE DATE: Exploring Spiritual Practices, Sept 7 – Nov 16, 2021 (Details below)
MIDWEEK WORSHIP, via Zoom, WEDNESDAYS, 3:30-4:00 PM!
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Yearly Meeting/Wider Quaker News:
Gretchen’s JYM-JHYM latest bi-weekly newsletter of July 20, 2021, contains programming and retreat info for young people, parents and Friends in general. This issue also includes preliminary info about the post-pandemic structure of NEYM’s youth programs in the school-year ahead, can be read HERE.
NEYM Newsletter: Grounded in Blessing, July 10, 2021, may be read HERE.
Introduction by Honor Woodrow
Annual Sessions is coming!
Exploring Spiritual Practices
Save the Date: Next Gathering on Ministry and Spiritual Life
Proposed chapter for Faith & Practice
Poem: “Trauma Tree”
New QuakerSpeak video
Right Relationship resource group news
Friends coalition for racial justice
Quaker parenting resource
What’s new in the Archives
Roadmap for action on Climate Change
Quakers in the news
Exploring Spiritual Practices, Sept 7 – Nov 16, 2021:
A helpful note from NiaDwynwen Thomas, NEYM’s Faith and Practice Leadership Coordinator, detailing this upcoming course:
“This fall New England Quakers, in partnership with the Beacon Hill Friends House, are offering a ten-week online course called Exploring Spiritual Practices: Meditation, Prayer, and Presence. The lead teacher and course designer is Marcelle Martin, a deeply experienced Quaker teacher and author and founder of the Nurturing Faithfulness program. The course runs from September-November on Tuesday evenings.
This course would be a great fit for people in your meeting who are newer to Quakerism and are seeking to “dive deeper” into their understanding and spiritual practice. This course would also be a great fit for more seasoned Friends who are looking for an opportunity to renew and grow in their practice with others. From registrations so far, we have seen a lovely mix of experience.
The course is designed to be flexible–something you can really dig into if you have more time this fall or something you can just spend 3 or so hours a week on if you are juggling other commitments. This course is also something that individuals can participate in on their own (connecting with other participants via an online classroom tool), or that partners or self organized small groups in local meetings could participate in together, reflecting on the sessions and practices with each other at a time they choose during the week.”
Interested Friends can learn more by watching this short video or by reading the detailed description on the registration page here.
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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.
- Daily at 8 a.m., Beacon Hill Friends House: Meditation practice
- Mondays at 3 p.m., Facebook Live: Singalong Concerts
- Sunday–Thursday at 9:30 p.m. Calming Pajama Party
- Alternate Thursdays at 4 p.m., Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL): Thursdays with Friends
- Thursdays at 7 p.m.: Taizé worship
- Thursdays at 8 p.m.: Parents’ Tea-and-Chat
- Alternate Tuesdays at 7 p.m.: Support for Friends Serving in Local Meeting Leadership Roles
- Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. Open Heart Worship Group
Events coming soon:
NEYM Annual (virtual) Sessions, Aug 7-12, 2021. Preliminary details
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:
A Step Along The Way
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw
*This prayer was composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, drafted for a homily by Card. John Dearden in Nov. 1979 for a celebration of departed priests. As a reflection on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bishop Romero, Bishop Untener included in a reflection book a passage titled “The mystery of the Romero Prayer.” The mystery is that the words of the prayer are attributed to Oscar Romero, but they were never spoken by him.