Westport Meeting News:
Memorial Service for Barbara Wicks: Barbara Wicks, age 94, passed away on November 19, 2023. Barbara, and her late husband, Robert Wicks, were members of Westport Friends Meeting for many years. Barbara also attended the nearby United Methodist Church, or “Point Church,” as locals call it, located at 1912 Main Road, Westport, MA, 02791. A memorial service will be held for Barbara Wicks on Sunday, May 26, at 1:30 PM.
State of Society: Westport Friends Meeting State of Society was approved with minor edits by monthly meeting for business on April 21, 2024. Friends may read the document HERE.
Property Committee is pleased to report that the meetinghouse chimney and flashing was repaired on April 16. Not cheap, but a job well done and badly needed.
And, following two-plus years of trying to either replace or rebuild the Community House front door, circa 1934, a rebuild, refitting, with new jamb sections, new stainless steel hinges, new locking mechanism, and installation of up to code crash bar and ADA approved levers and new ADA approved access threshold, the front door now works wonderfully. Last piece to do: Fill a few holes, prime and paint the refurbished door inside and out. If you’re a good painter and would like to do this “crowning” chore, speak with Kevin!
The editor is waiting for news. Any news…related to our Meeting. Don’t be shy! 🙂
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)
- Ministry and Counsel Committee, May 13, at 7:00 PM via Zoom
- NEYM Meeting Leaders Call, Tues, May 14, 7pm via Zoom. Details
- Monthly Meeting for Business, Sunday, May 19, at 8am via Zoom
- Meeting for Worship, Wed, May 15, 3:30-4pm via Zoom
- Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, May 22, 3:30-4pm via Zoom
- Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, May 29, 3:30-4pm. via Zoom
- Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, June 5, 3:30-4pm
- Seekers Group, Monday, June 7 at 7 PM
- NEYM/JYM Retreat at Westport, June 14-16
- Peace & Social Justice Committee, June 23 at 8:30 AM, HYBRID
- Monthly Meeting for Business, Sunday, June 30, at 8am via Zoom
SAVE THE DATE:
- NEYM Annual Sessions, Aug 2-7, 2024, at Castleton U., Vermont
- Sandwich Quarterly Meeting at Westport, Sat, Oct 26, 2024
MIDWEEK WORSHIP, via Zoom, WEDNESDAYS, 3:30-4:00pm. (Kevin sends link day of)
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New England Yearly Meeting/Wider Quaker News:
NEYM’s May 2024 Newsletter may be read HERE.
Growing Community
Friends Camp Work Days
Help find the next Sessions site
Register for Meeting for Listening
USFW Northeast Region gathering
Gathering for Friends with a concern for Gospel ministry
Quaker Spring is coming!
Other events coming soon
Sessions announcements!
Puente de Amigos
Concord Friends
Right Relationship Resource Group
Black Quaker Project celebrates Paul Robeson
For K-through-8th-grade youth
Our hopes for this newsletter
Quakers in the news
A last word
- Every Tuesday, online: FWCC Prayer for Peace
- Every Thursday, online: Meeting for Worship with Attention to Peace in Palestine and Israel
- May 4, China, ME: Volunteer Day at Friends Camp
- May 7, online: Quaker Connect Information Session
- May 9, online: End-of-Life Reflection Group
- May 10–12, Woolman Hill: Quaker Families Retreat
- May 11, Canterbury, NH: Permanent Board
- May 11, Framingham, MA: Quaker Faith and Practice in a Time of Divisiveness
- May 17–19, hybrid: Stoking the Fire
- May 24–26, Poughkeepsie, NY: USFW Northeast Region spring gathering
- June 1, Canterbury, NH: Meeting for Listening: the Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings
- June 6, Cambridge, MA: An Introduction to the Foundations of Reconciliation Leadership
- June 7–9, Wellesley, MA: Young Friends Retreat
- June 8, Durham, ME: Gathering for Friends with a Concern for Gospel Ministry
- June 14–18, Deerfield, MA: Quaker Spring 2024 Summer Gathering
May 14
June 11
July 9
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Sandwich Quarterly Meeting
Meeting for business:
July 27 at New Bedford
October 26 at Westport
Meetings start at 10:00 am– most likely hybrid, but will be coordinated with each meeting. Meet for coffee and greetings at 9:30
SQM Ministry & Counsel
September 28 at Mattapoisett
Meetings start at 10:00 am.
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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)
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Closing:
Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean— the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down— who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
– Mary Oliver, Poem 133,”The Summer Day,” 1992
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Thank you, Friends,
Kevin