Westport Meeting News:
Note: Daylight Savings Time begins at 2 AM Sunday morning, March 13! Be sure to move your clocks ahead one hour before going to bed! (Or, put another way, don’t be among the one or two Friends who think they’re arriving a few minutes before worship starts only to realize that worship is ending!
Please Note: The scheduled Second Hour Discussion on NEYM’s revised chapter on ministry and counsel, and pastoral care, scheduled for this Sunday, March 13, is postponed to a future date to be announced. With Daylight Savings Time beginning, which sometimes impacts attendance at worship, and our Meeting’s desire to enjoy the return of providing hospitality and fellowship tomorrow in the Community House after worship, it seemed wise to reschedule this discussion to a later date.
Hospitality/Fellowship is returning, beginning this Sunday, following worship in the meetinghouse and via Zoom. Thanks to John for setting up tables beforehand, and thanks also to Cate, Randy, and John who are colaborating on refreshments to be offered!
Last week’s “Bread Day,” led by Gretchen Baker-Smith, was a terrific success, at our Meeting in the Community House, and around New England Yearly Meeting.
Gretchen has typed up into one document the colorful sticky note responses to the queries that were posted on the Communuty House walls at Westport Meeting’s Bread Day event, Read them HERE.
Westport Friends can view photes that Buddy took HERE.
To view photos taken in other meetings around New England, look HERE.
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Request for Prayer:
John Calvi, A Vermont Friend who has been active in ministry for decades, as a healer, activist, organizer, teacher, and author, has suffered what he describes as a mild heart attack while traveling in California. John, who has lead calls for prayers for other people for decades, is asking that Friends hold him in prayer at this time.
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.
MEETING CALENDAR: (All meetings held via Zoom, in person, or hybrid (meaning in-person and via Zoom), as noted)
- Worship each Sunday in meetinghouse and via Zoom at 10am (hybrid)
- Second Hour Discussion: March 13, 11:30 – 12:30. Faith and Practice Pastoral Care revision (See above)
- Seekers Group, Mon, March 14, 7-8:30 PM (Hybrid)
- Midweek worship, Wed, March 16, 3:30-4pm (link sent day of, Zoom only)
- Ministry and Counsel Committee, Monday, April 4, 7pm. Zoom only.
- JYM Retreat, March 18-19, “We knead each other,” via Zoom
- Monthly Meeting for Business, March 20, at 8 AM (Zoom Only)
- Peace & Social Justice Committee, March 21 at 7pm (Zoom only)
- Seekers Group, Mon, March 28, 7-8:30pm. (Hybrid)
- JHYM (Hoped for!) Retreat, April 1-3. Details TBA
- NEYM Permanent Board, Sat, April 2, 9am-1pm (Zoom only)
- NEYM Meeting leaders call, Tues, April 5, 7pm. via Zoom.
- NEYM Ministry and 3rd Spiritual Life Gathering, April 9, Portland Friends Meeting (hybrid, info HERE)
- Clean Up Westport (COW), Sat, April 9, 9am – 1pm. (More details soon)
- Young Friends In Person Spring Retreat, April 22-24, in Portland, ME Details
- BOOK FAIR: July 9-17
- NEYM Annual Sessions, Castleton, VT, August 5-11 (Hybrid – tentative)
MIDWEEK WORSHIP, via Zoom, WEDNESDAYS, 3:30-4:00pm!
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Yearly Meeting/Wider Quaker News:
NEYM Faith and Practice Revision Committee: Draft chapter for review and discussion on Ministry and Counsel committees at the monthly meeting level; [Our Meeting’s M&C committee will be reviewing this document, but all Friends are encouraged to review this draft copy as well. Click HERE for the link. (Also, please see annoucement above under “Westport Meeting News.”
New England Yearly Meeting Newsletter, “What Do I Want To Give Myself To?,” March, 2022, by Maggie Edmondson, pastor of Winthrop Center, ME, Friends Church, can be read HERE.
Introduction
For BIPOC Friends
Nurturing Faithfulness
Ministry and our meetings
YAF Retreat
Support for addressing racial justice
Black Quaker Lives Matter film festival
Film: Hunger Ward
Spring ahead
Images from Bread Day
James Varner honored by University of Maine
Worship & technology at your meeting
Maine Friends share worship with Cuba
Quaker witness
Bill Kreidler in print
Passage of the month from Faith & Practice
Quakers in the news
A last word
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Protecting Our Children: Child Safety in Quaker Meetings. March 15 and 17, 2022. Sponsored by the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative. Details and registration HERE.
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Third Gathering on Spiritual Life and Ministry for Friends in New England, April 9, 2022. This event will be held, in person, at Friends School in Portland, ME, and virtually, on Zoom. Additional information may be read 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.
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Recurring virtual events
- Daily at 8 a.m., Beacon Hill Friends House: Meditation practice
- 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
Sandwich Quarterly Meeting News:
From Deena Kinsky, SQM Newsletter Editor:
West Falmouth Peace and Social Order 2nd Sunday lecture series. These will be Sundays from 12-1:00 on Zoom, and registration is required. Check with Brenda Nolan nolanbab@gmail.com if you’d like to register or be put on a mailing list:
- March 13: Walking Humbly, Quakers + Right Relationship
Leslie Manning, Clerk, NEYM Permanent Board will speak about her experiences with incarcerated people and their loved ones; her work with the Reparations (for Native Americans) group for New England Quakers and what she has learned about being an ally, standing with and learning from marginalized communities. And, she wants to hear your experiences as well.
- April 10: The Beloved Border Humanity and Hope in a Contested Land
Miriam Davidson a prize-winning Quaker journalist with over 30 years reporting on the borderlands is based in Tucson, Arizona.
Miriam will discuss her new book on border issues. Published in September 2021 by the University of Arizona Press, The Beloved Border describes the work of Quaker researchers and activists, as well as, the influence of Quaker ideas like sanctuary and nonviolence, in helping shape the future of the U.S.-Mexico border region.
- Sandwich Quarter Meetings for Business
-April 23 at New Bedford (State of Society Reports for 2021 are to be presented at this meeting)
-July 23 at Westport (currently under review for switching with W. Falmouth Meeting)
-October 22 at W. Falmouth (currently under review for switching with Westport Meeting)
- SQM Ministry & Counsel
-March 26 at E Sandwich Preparative Meeting
-September 24 at Mattapoisett
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Closing:
Be gentle
when you touch bread.
Let it not lie
uncared for, unwanted.
So often bread
is taken for granted.
There is so much beauty
in bread-
beauty of sun and soil,
beauty of patient toil.
Winds and rain have
caressed it,
Christ often blessed it.
be gentle
when you touch bread.
-Author unknown
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Thank you, Friends,
Kevin