Westport Meeting News:
NOTICE: Monthly Meeting for Business will be held Sunday, March 19, at 8:00 AM via Zoom. Hope to see you “there,” on screen!
NEEDED: MEN’S HATS AND WOMEN’S/MEN’S GLOVES AND MITTENS: The Pilgrim Church Home urgently needs men’s hats and women’s/men’s gloves and mittens to make available to patrons at their morning breakfast program. Please bring these items to the Westport Friends meetinghouse and leave in the meetinghouse foyer. Barbara Sullivan will deliver them to the Pilgrim Church Home in downtown New Bedford. Questions? Contact Barbara at 774-454-1498.
Ministry and Counsel Committee: The committee will begin working on our Meeting’s State of Society for 2022 soon. The committee welcomes input, in writing, or in person, from Westport Meeting Friends and attenders, on how individuals feel our Meeting faired as we came out of the pandemic in the early spring of 2022 and throughout the remainder of the year. If you would like to email your thoughts, please send your comments to Randy Wirth, HERE.
Newsletter Editor: In 1994, Jean Kennison, due to advancing eye health challenges, asked me if I would consider taking over the Westport Meeting Newsletter. I said “yes,” figuring I would do it for a few years and then pass it on to another Meeting Friend. During that time, as the use of computers and digital formats increased exponentially, our Meeting Newsletter moved from printed monthly formats, painstakingly sent via US Mail, to monthly digital formats that arrived via email. Over time, we incorporated the Newsletter into our Meeting’s website, so that every issue was automatically archived and remained accessible by visiting westportfriendsmeeting.org. In recent years I have found it more efficient time-wise to update the Newsletter each week on a rolling basis, instead of monthly. Doing so has kept content fresher and gives us the ability to easily add content from committees and monthly meeting for business as requested.
After twenty nine years, I still enjoy putting the Newsletter together, but I know, too, that the time is nearing for me to pass this service to the Meeting on to another Westport Meeting Friend. If you, or if you know of another Westport Meeting Friend who might be interested, I am happy to answer questions and explain what’s involved. Choosing the next Meeting Newsletter editor is decided by monthly meeting for business. Ideally, I would like to help the next Newsletter editor transition into the role as needed. That said, I plan to continue until business Meeting names the next editor to continue after me. – Kevin Lee
________
Approved previous minutes of Monthly Meeting for Business may be read HERE.
MEETING CALENDAR:
(All meetings held in person, via Zoom, or hybrid (meaning in-person and via Zoom), as noted)
- Worship each Sunday in meetinghouse and via Zoom at 10am (hybrid)
- Monthly Meeting for Business, Sunday, March 19, at 8am (Zoom only)
- Peace and Social Justice Committee, Mon, March 20, 7pm via Zoom
- Ministry and Counsel Committee, Thurs, March 21, 7pm (Zoom only)
- Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, March 22, 3:30-4pm. Via Zoom
- Buddy Baker-Smith Birthday, March 26!
- Seekers Group, Monday, March 27, 7pm. Hybrid
- Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, March 29, 3:30-4pm. Via Zoom
- NEYM Living Faith Gathering (in-person), April 1, Portland ME. Details HERE
- Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, April, 3:30-4pm. Via Zoom
- Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, April 12, 3:30-4pm. Via Zoom
MIDWEEK WORSHIP, via Zoom, WEDNESDAYS, 3:30-4:00pm. (Kevin sends link day of)
________
Yearly Meeting/Wider Quaker News:
NEYM March 2023 Newsletter, “God’s Glowing Presence,” by Carl Williams (Plainfield Meeting), may be read HERE.
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
- March 25, Hartford, CT: Junior High YM Self-Care Saturday
- March 31–April 2, Cumberland, ME: Living Faith Retreat for Teens
- April 1, Cumberland ME: Living Faith Gathering
- April 3, online: ARCH Foundations Workshop
- April 4, online: Simplifying Committee Structures
- April 4, online: The Life Cycle of Meetings
- April 8, Jaffrey, NH: Best Practices in Nominating
Monthly Check-In for Friends Serving Their Local Meetings
__________
Sandwich Quarterly Meeting News:
- Sat, March 25, SQM Ministry and Counsel, at E. Sandwich Meeting.
- Quarterly Ministry and Counsel:
March 25 in East SandwichSept. 23 in Mattapoiset
- Sat, Sept. 23 SQM Ministry and Counsel, at Mattapoisett
Quaker Programs, Study, Retreats, and Spiritual Nurture:
QuakerSpeak (Our Quaker faith as shared by those who experience it firsthand, every day, via weekly video interviews)
FGC Gathering, “A week of Quaker worship, workshops, and community for all ages.” July 2-8, 2023. Theme: “Listen. So That We May Live.” Details HERE.
________
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
________
Thank you, Friends,
Kevin