Westport Meeting News:
Monthly Meeting for Business will be held this Sunday morning, Dec 18, at 8:00 AM via Zoom. The weekly email contains the Zoom link for business and a second link for worship beginning at 10 AM. Friends will consider for approval the Nominating Slate for 2023. A draft copy of the 2023 Slate may be viewed HERE.
Christmas Eve Service 2022
Please join us for our traditional Christmas Eve Worship Service at 7 PM in the Meetinghouse, or on Zoom! Christmas Hymns, selected readings and a period of silent worship are traditional parts of this special worship service. All are welcome to attend! For those with us in person, fellowship with light refreshments and punch will follow in the Community House.
What to bring? We ask that Friends bring sweets and goodies to share during
Fellowship. Our traditional punch and coffee will be provided by Meeting.
Can you Help? Volunteers for clean-up are needed to help put away tables and chairs,
clear dishes and put the hall and kitchen to rights, following hospitality. (We expect that
parents with younger children need to head home following fellowship.)
Christmas Day: Like other years when Christmas day falls on a Sunday, M&C will also recommend to business meeting that the meetinghouse will remain open for regular worship at 10am on Sunday, but no hospitality will follow worship. Zoom worship will be continue to be offered like every Sunday, but it will not be connected to the anticipated number of limited Friends present in the meetinghouse. (This is because we will not have anyone present that day able to run the Zoom electronics necessary in the meetinghouse. We apologize.)
Westport Writes Program: Westport resident and member of Allen’s Neck Meeting, Midori Evans, creator of the Westport Writes program, announces the following: “The winter prompt is here! The winter season of Westport Writes runs from December through January, with a Writers Gathering on Jan. 14th at 1 pm in the Macomber Friends Community House and a Library Reading on Thursday, Jan. 26th at 6:30 pm. We’re also looking forward to displaying some of the middle school student work at the library during the month of January.” For an update on the Fall season, click HERE.
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Approved previous minutes of Monthly Meeting for Business may be read HERE.
MEETING CALENDAR:
(All meetings held via Zoom, in person, or hybrid (meaning in-person and via Zoom), as noted)
- Monthly Meeting for Business, Sunday, Dec 18 at 8am (Zoom only)
- Worship each Sunday in meetinghouse and via Zoom at 10am (hybrid)
- Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, Dec 21, 3:30-4pm. Via Zoom
- Christmas Eve Service, Dec 24, in Meetinghouse 7pm. Fellowship to follow. (Hybrid)
- Christmas Day: Sunday, Dec 25, meetinghouse open for worship and Zoom. (See above)
- NOTICE: Community House Hall closed Dec 26-31 for floor maintenance
- Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, Dec 28, 3:30-4pm. Via Zoom
- Seekers Group, Jan 2, at 7pm. (Hybrid) Potter House and Zoom
- Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, Jan 4, 3:30-4pm. Via Zoom
- Peace and Social Justice Committee, Jan 8, 8:30 – 9:45 AM, Hybrid
- NEYM monthly check-in for Friends serving their local meetings, Tues, Jan 10, 7pm (See below)
- Book discussion, hosted by Peace and Social Justice Comm., Sunday, Jan 22, 11:30 AM
MIDWEEK WORSHIP, via Zoom, WEDNESDAYS, 3:30-4:00pm. (Kevin sends link day of)
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Yearly Meeting/Wider Quaker News:
NEYM December 2022 Newsletter, “Bring Pie” by Sarah Gant, may be read HERE.
Support for Quaker Parents
The Life Cycle of a Meeting
Embracing Spiritual Gifts
Facing Our History
Faithfulness Groups Workshop
Faith & Practice Revision
New Book on Eldering
Friends Camp Video
Stewardship Resources
Got Photos?
A Last Word
Recurring virtual events
- Daily at 8:30 a.m.: Daily Worship at Pendle Hill
- Weekdays at 10:30 a.m., Portland Friends Meeting: Waiting Worship
- Daily at noon: International Meeting for Worship
- 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
Other events coming soon
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- December 18: Racial Healing Among Quakers: Drop-in Conversation & Support
- January 7: Extended Worship Opportunity
- January 12: End-of-Life Interest Group begins
- January 13–17: Young Friends Midwinter Retreat
- January 21: Opportunity for Friends in Gospel Ministry
- January 22–26: Beyond Diversity 101
- January 26: Gifts & Leadings—Service & Nomination
- January 27–29: Junior YM Retreat
Monthly Check-In for Friends Serving Their Local Meetings
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Sandwich Quarterly Meeting News:
- Sat, Jan 28, 2023, SQM Business,- hosted by Martha’s Vineyard Friends. Zoom only.
- Sat, March 25, SQM Ministry and Counsel, at E. Sandwich Meeting.
- Quarterly Ministry and Counsel:
March 25 in East SandwichSept. 23 in Mattapoise
- Sat, Sept. 23 SQM Ministry and Counsel, at Mattapoisett
The recently completed presentation of “The Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools: Facing Our History and Ourselves,“ hosted by Beacon Hill Friends Meeting, may be viewed HERE: Friends who wish to view the recording are asked to follow their guidelines for use.
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Quaker Programs, Study, Retreats, and Spiritual Nurture:
The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope (Quaker Weekly podcast by Pendle Hill)
QuakerSpeak (The Quaker religion told by those who experience it firsthand every day through weekly video interviews)
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Closing:
We make a pause
amid many voices—
Some innocent and some seductive,
Some violent and some coercive,
Some forgiven and some genuine,
And some not.
Amid this cacophony that pulls us
In many directions,
We have these old voices of your prophets;
These voices attest to
your fierce self,
your severe summons,
Your generous promise,
Your abiding presence.
Give us good ears,
Perchance you have a word for us tonight;
Give us grace and courage to listen,
to answer,
to care,
and to rejoice,
That we may be more fully your people.
From Hearing Better Voices, “Prayers for a Privileged People”,
by Walter Brueggemann
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Thank you, Friends,
Kevin