Leslie Manning Recorded in Ministry

At the January 27, 2024 gathering of Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, Leslie Manning was recorded in Ministry. She had been recommended by Durham Friends Meeting. The Quarterly Meeting acted after hearing the report of a visiting committee composed of Maggie Fiori, Fritz Weiss, Kim Bolshaw, and Mia Bella D’Augellia.

Recording of Ministers varies among Yearly Meetings. A useful history of the recording of Ministers among Friends can be found here.

Durham Friends Meeting has four other recorded ministers: James Douglas, Edwin Hinshaw, Martha Hinshaw Sheldon and Carol Marshburn.

Falmouth Quarter to meet Saturday, January 27th at Durham Meeting, 11:30 to 5 pm.

UPDATED 24.1.30 Minutes of the session can be found here.

UPDATED 24.1.24 Agenda and Materials for the Quarterly Meeting gathering can be found here

You are invited to attend the Falmouth Quarterly Meeting from 11:30 to 2:45 at Durham Friends Meeting. 

We will have a simple Meal available 11:30 to 12:30.

Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business will begin at 12:40 and conclude by 1:25. The agenda and two proposed minutes are at this link.

To attend the business meeting by zoom, use this link: durham meeting zoom link. The password is 1775

We are excited to welcome Brian Drayton, who  will lead a program and discussion, entitled “There is a Spirit which I feel… James Naylor’s Last Words” from 1:30 to 2:45.

“There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thoughts to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it, nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world’s joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places in the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.”

An opportunity to stay for the second session of the webinar, Returning to the Land, “Seeing with a Native Eye”  from 3:00 to 5:30, a four part program that Peace and Social Committee of Durham Monthly Meeting is offering .  Readings for this session are available at this link: returning to the land

EARLIER POSTING:

Falmouth Quarter will meet on Saturday January 27th at Durham Meeting.

The draft schedule follows.

11: 30 gather and simple lunch

12:45 opening worship and brief business meeting

1:30 – 2:45  Program focused on James Naylor’s last statement facilitated by Brian Drayton:

“There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thoughts to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it, nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world’s joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places in the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.”

Those who wish to can stay for the Program hosted by Durham’s Peace and Social Concerns Committee:

 3:30-5 pm: “Returning to the Land: Seeing with a Native Eye.”

Advent Message 4 to Velasco Friends from Falmouth Quarter Friends, December 2023

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Velasco,

This is the week we light the candle for Love and remember the family in the stable in Bethlehem.  Then, as now, their homeland was occupied. Then, as now, their children were threatened.  And yet I imagine that when Joseph and Mary held their baby, they felt their hearts filled with more love then they could ever have imagined being possible.  Spirit holds each of us, rocks each of us, loves each of us with more love than we can possibly imagine.  “For unto all of us a child is born, unto all of us …”

With love and great gratitude to share this season with the Iglesia de los Amigos en Velasco.

___________________________________________________________________________

Queridas hermanas y hermanos de Velasco,

Esta es la semana en la que encendemos la vela por el Amor y recordamos a la familia en el establo de Belén. Entonces, como ahora, su patria estaba ocupada. Entonces, como ahora, sus hijos fueron amenazados. Y, sin embargo, me imagino que cuando José y María cargaron a su bebé, sintieron que sus corazones se llenaban de más amor del que jamás hubieran imaginado posible. El Espíritu nos sostiene a cada uno de nosotros, nos mece a cada uno de nosotros, nos ama a cada uno de nosotros con más amor del que podamos imaginar. “Porque a todos nosotros nos es nacido un niño, a todos nosotros…”

Con mucho amor y mucha gratitud de compartir esta temporada con la Iglesia de los Amigos en Velasco.

Advent Message 3 to Velasco Friends from Falmouth Quarter Friends, December 2023

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Velasco,

Our prayers and love to you this third week of Advent.  Tomorrow we would light the candle of Joy and remember the joy felt by the shepherds when the angels came to them with the amazing news.  One of the last poems published by Wendell Berry (a favorite poet of mine) has these lines:

“He sees the shepherds on their cold hill by night, / the sky flying suddenly open over their heads,/the light of very heaven falling upon them, / the angels descending, slowly as snow, their singing / filling far and wide the dark. “On Earth / peace, good will.” … He thinks of the distance, the hard hungry / journey of a pilgrim … /  … towards the almost forgotten / light beyond the polluted river, the blasted mountain, / the killed children, the bombed village,/ beyond and beyond is the shepherd-startling, ever staying light. .. / he sets out”.  May we, in these challenging times in Cuba and in Maine remember the shepherd’s joy and journey together towards that light.

With Love

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Queridas hermanas y hermanos de Velasco,

Nuestras oraciones y amor para ustedes en esta tercera semana de Adviento. Mañana estaremos encendiendo la vela de la Alegría y recordando el gozo que sintieron los pastores cuando los ángeles vinieron a ellos con la sorprendente noticia. Uno de los últimos poemas publicados por Wendell Berry (uno de mis poetas favoritos) tiene estas líneas:

“Ve a los pastores en su fría colina por la noche, / el cielo volando repentinamente abierto sobre sus cabezas, / la luz del mismo cielo cayendo sobre ellos, / los ángeles descendiendo, lentamente como la nieve, su canto / llenando a lo largo y ancho la oscuridad. . “En la Tierra / paz, buena voluntad”. … Piensa en la distancia, el duro y hambriento / viaje de un peregrino… / … hacia la casi olvidada / luz más allá del río contaminado, la montaña devastada, / los niños asesinados, la aldea bombardeada,/ más allá y más allá está el pastor- sorprendente, siempre luz. .. / se pone en marcha”. Que nosotros, en estos tiempos difíciles en Cuba y Maine, recordemos la alegría del pastor y caminemos juntos hacia esa luz.

Con amor

Advent Message 2 to Velasco Friends from Falmouth Quarter Friends, December 2023

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Velasco,

Tomorrow we will light the second candle of Advent – the Candle of Peace.  In Maine this is a season of darkness and cold.  We will have only 9 hours of sunlight today; there is a little snow on the ground.  I imagine Joseph and Mary travelling to Bethlehem through the dark. Today on that road they would be travelling through a war zone. Peace seems to be more of a dream then a promise.  And I am reminded that God often speaks to us through our dreams. May we know that we are all travelling on that long road in the same direction with peace in our hearts with the certainty that Spirit is with us and the kingdom is before us.

With Love

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Queridas hermanas y hermanos de Velasco,

Mañana encenderemos la segunda vela de Adviento: la Vela de la Paz. En Maine ésta es una estación de oscuridad y frío. Hoy tendremos sólo 9 horas de luz solar; hay un poco de nieve en el suelo. Me imagino a José y María viajando a Belén en la oscuridad. Hoy por ese camino estarían transitando por una zona de guerra. La paz parece ser más un sueño que una promesa. Y recuerdo que Dios a menudo nos habla a través de nuestros sueños. Que sepamos que todos estamos recorriendo ese largo camino en la misma dirección con paz en el corazón desde la certeza de que el Espíritu está con nosotros y el reino delante de nosotros.

Con Amor

Advent Message 1 to Velasco Friends from Falmouth Quarter Friends, December 2023

From Falmouth Quarter NEYM to Velasco Friends, Cuba Yerarly Meeting

We sent this Greeting to Velasco Friends today, our hope is to send one each week of Advent.

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Velasco,

Our prayers and love to you this first weekend of Advent.  Tomorrow we will light the candle of Hope – remembering Mary’s song where she says that the new life she is bringing into the world will ”lift up the lowly and fill the hungry with good things.”  Today our community is witnessing to this hope in two ways.  During the day, there is a peace vigil in a store that sells assault rifles proclaiming the vision of our country free of these weapons and the fear that they represent. This evening Portland Meeting will gather for the annual advent celebration in which the children walk a spiral path carrying a candle and lighting their candle in the center, walk back and choose where to place their candle along the path.

In this advent season, as we hope for the light that is already here and wait for the miracle that has already happened, may we each carry our candle of hope and place it where it will illuminate the path.

In Love

——————————————————————————————————————–

Queridas hermanas y hermanos de Velasco

Nuestras oraciones y amor para ustedes este primer fin de semana de Adviento. Mañana encenderemos la vela de la Esperanza, recordando el canto de María donde dice que la nueva vida que ella trae al mundo “levantará a los humildes y colmará de bienes a los hambrientos”. Hoy nuestra comunidad es testigo de esta esperanza de dos maneras. Durante el día se realiza una vigilia de paz en una tienda que vende rifles de asalto proclamando la visión de nuestro país libre de estas armas y el miedo que representan. Esta tarde, la reunión de Portland se reunirá para la celebración anual de Adviento en la que los niños caminan por un sendero en espiral llevando una vela y encendiendo su vela en el centro, regresan y eligen dónde colocar su vela a lo largo del sendero.

En esta temporada de Adviento, mientras esperamos la luz que ya está aquí y esperamos el milagro que ya sucedió, que cada uno de nosotros lleve nuestra vela de esperanza y la coloque donde ilumine el camino.

En Amor

Fellowship Potluck for Visiting Friends at Portland Friends Meeting, September 28

Portland Friends Meeting invites us to a fellowship potluck and conversation to welcome three traveling Friends on Thursday, September 28, 2023, 4:30 pm

The traveling Friends are Gail Melix (Sandwich MM), Buffy Curtis (NYYM), and Paula Palmer (Intermountain YM). There will be materials about their ministries, and the conversation will be offered by whomever of them has energy to contribute.

This invitation is especially made to Friends from Falmouth Quarter, and therein neighboring meetings. Joiners are welcome to come for part or the entirety, and at any point in the offerings. 

The fellowship potluck will be held at the Portland Friends Meeting House, 1837 Forest Ave. For guidelines including health/ Covid details, please scroll down this page to review .

Fyi, for potluck contributors who also will attend the convo, please place dishes downstairs beforehand, if possible.

4pm: Doors open – Beth & Brad

4:30pm – Ministry Conversation (casual): Meeting Room – Beth & Brad

5pm to 6:30pm – Fellowship potluck: Basement – Genna & Mey

6:30pm – Clean-up – Everyone!

Falmouth Quarter to Meet, October 28, 2023, 9:30 to 2:00 pm, Windham Friends Meeting

All are invited to the October gathering of Falmouth Quarter on October 28th at Windham Friends Meeting.

Love Boldly, Share Deeply

UPDATE (posted October 23, 2023)

Love Boldly, Share Deeply

Falmouth Quarter will meet on October 28th from 9:30 – 2 at Windham Friends Meeting

The schedule for our time together is:

9:30  – Gather 

10:00 – Meeting for business: The Agenda will be: 

·       Receive Treasurer’s report.  (treasurers report)

·       Approve the 23-34 budget and specify this year’s donations.

·       Confirm the dates for 2023-2024 Quarterly meetings.

·       Consider what program to bring to the Quarter in January.

·       Receive Durham’s recommendation to record Leslie Manning’s gifts in ministry. NEYM Faith and Practice recommends naming several Friends to visit with Leslie and to bring this recommendation back to the quarter. 

·       Approve nomination of Dennis Redfield and Doug Bennett to the Beacon Hill Friends House Corporation. 

·       Share news from each meeting. 

 If you have additional items for the business agenda, please forward them to Fritz Weiss @ rossvall.weiss@gmail.com.

11:30 break, brown bag lunch.  

12:30 Afternoon program: Sharing experiences from the 2023 annual sessions of New England Yearly Meeting – especially the two plenaries.

— a plenary with Joseph Bruchac (an Abenaki storyteller) & Jesse Bruchac (an Abenaki language teacher), and 

— the Bible half-hours with Emma Condori Mamani, a Bolivian Friend who spoke recently at Durham Friends Meeting. 

–       A plenary with Anna Fritz (cello) (examples of her ministry are available at: https://annafritz.com/

2:00 Wrap up, closing worship.  

ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Falmouth Quarter will meet on October 28th from 9:30 – 2 at Windham Friends Meeting

We invite you to come and share about the life and spirit in your meetings.  Our hope is that our entire time together is a time of worship, with laughter, business, connections and handcrafts.  

Windham meeting is preparing for their annual craft fair and would welcome donations of homemade items, knitting, or crafts for the fair.   Those who knit or crochet are encouraged to bring your materials and work on projects while we meet.  Windham is not welcoming White Elephant items this year. 

Our schedule is: 

9:30  – Gather in worship – Singing,  connection, perhaps some Juice and coffee and snacks and sharing

10:00 – Meeting for business to approve the budget, approve donations for the year, to confirm the dates for 2023-2024 Quarterly meeting, consider what program we might like to bring to the Quarter in January and to share news from each meeting.  If you have additional items for the business agenda, please forward them to Fritz Weiss @ rossvall.weiss@gmail.com.

11:30 break, potluck lunch.  There is a stove and microwave to heat up items and an electric tea kettle to heat water.

12:30 Sharing experiences from the 2023 annual sessions of New England Yearly Meeting – especially the two plenaries.

— a plenary with Joseph Bruchac (an Abenaki storyteller) & Jesse Bruchac (an Abenaki language teacher), and 

— the Bible half-hours with Emma Condori Mamani, a Bolivian Friend who spoke recently at Durham Friends Meeting. 

–       A plenary with Anna Fritz (cello) (examples of her ministry are available at: https://annafritz.com/

2:00 Wrap up, close worship.  

Questions, ideas, comments or concerns can be forwarded to the co-coordinators of Falmouth Quarter:

Fritz Weiss (rossvall.weiss@gmail.com) and Wendy Schlotterbeck (wendy.schlotterbeck@gmail.com)

Georgetown Family Campout, June 10-11, 2023

Durham Friends Meeting and Falmouth Quarterly Meeting invite one and all to a family campout June 10&11, 2023. We will gather on the weekend of June 11-12 at Betsy Meunch’s beach house in Georgetown.

All are invited to come to as much of the weekend as you are able.  There is level space for camping looking out on the water, a private beach.  We will feast, have a campfire, and play; and we will have our spring meeting for sharing the states of our meetings, and the ministry that is rising among us.  Sunday we will worship as a whole community outdoors.

Questions? Rossvall.weiss@gmail.com ; Wendy Schlotterbeck@gmail.com

Report on the All Maine Gathering, May 8, 2023

At the All Maine Gathering on 5-8-23, we invited Friends to share concerns and queries that they hoped to have brought back to Monthly Meetings.  If a Monthly Meeting engages with any of these concerns and would like to share reflections, please send your reflections to either Fritz Weiss (rossvall.weiss@gmail.com) or Wendy Schlotterbeck (wendy.schlotterbeck@gmail.com) for FalmouthQuarter, or Carole Beal (carolebeal@gmail.com) and Janet Hough (janet.hough5@gmail.com)  for Vassalboro Quarter and we will forward the reflections to all the meetings in Maine.

The following concerns are shared.

  • The Eli and Sybil Jones Ramallah School Scholarship Fund of Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting is raising funds to continue to support scholarships as they have for over 12 years.  Checks can be sent to Cynthia Harkleroad, Treasurer, Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting, PO Box 69, Bowdoinham ME 04008-0069.  Please note “Ramallah Friends School” in the memo line.
  • Friends across Maine are invited to take a 1 to 3 hour turn at the Quaker Table in the Social-Political Action area of the MOFGA’s Common Ground Country Fair, held September 22-24 in Unity, Maine. Sometimes we pose or post queries and listen, often we answer questions about Quakers, we offer brochures and stickers, we discuss Friends’ faith and practice, we hear about fairgoers’ experience with Friends Camp, Quaker schools, other meetings around the region, etc. As a theme for posters and connection to Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association values, sometimes we use Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy, from Quaker Institute for the Future or Joanna Macy’s, Active Hope. Three hours in a day earns a free pass to the Fair for that day. Often there are two people at the table at a time. FMI please call, text or email Mark Rains, cell 207-500-9131, mainerains@gmail.com
  • The Friends Committee on Maine Public Policy would like the attached one page summary shared with all meetings. This faithful group has been advocating with the Maine legislature on Government for decades and continues to do good work.  It is not clear where the next generation to carry this witness will come from.
  • Queries on the experience of Responding to a Call.  Throughout Saturday in the conversation and worship the theme of responding to a call was present.  We heard about the powerful response of Friends at All Maine to the invitation to visit Kakamega was still echoing in people’s lives, and had resulted in the remarkable work that is continuing through the Kenya Rising organization.  We invite Friends to share with each other their experience at being nudged, called or whispered to – Where the call comes from? How does it feel ? How do we discern that it is from God or Spirit and not from other human motivations? How did you respond? What barriers and resistance did you feel?
  • Finally, from the morning worship, we are reminded of Marge Nelson’s advice to Friends: “Our job is to kiss frogs.”  (ask someone who attended for more context.)

Love Fritz Weiss, 23.5.12

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting Minutes, January 28, 2023

Present

Brunswick: Marian Dalton, Christine Holden

Durham: Kim Bolshaw, Wendy Schlotterbeck, Leslie Manning, Susan Gilbert (Regrets, Mey Hasbrook)

Portland: Fritz Weiss, Sue Reilly, Ann Dodd-Collins, Sydney McDowell, Andy Grannell, Dorothy Grannell, Wayne Cobb

Southern Maine: Louise Sandmeyer

Windham: Julianne Moore, Janice Beattie (pastor), Penny Loura (clerk), Nancy Dolittle, Betty Davis

Theme: These are challenging times; what is before us is difficult.  Our focus is paying attention to what is exercising us, what we are feeling passionate about or called to. 

Song:  Lift Every Voice and Sing, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEjUVV4_-2w

Wendy Schlotterbeck led us into open, waiting worship with a passage from John Lewis’ memoir, Walking With the Wind, in which he wrote about a childhood memory and Beloved Community.

Following open worship we chose one of four breakout rooms and had almost 50 minutes to read or view the prompt and share our reflections.

ROOM 1 Sailing in the Fog- read and share reflections https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XxHmfEExRvFbFc8oftgSV9MDUKaCMbml/edit

ROOM 2 Praying with clay or markers https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uauG2caHYlyAepKyXlckLiyou7_pgL_DXcj6CYmMvhQ/edit#

ROOM 3 Praying with Poetry https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dx708p_HjFprmScXl1P96cdw7A8rWX81lmgwTfslyAw/edi

ROOM 4 Movement as prayer- Parable of the trapeze https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWvV5N4hOGc

Following a short break, Wayne Cobb introduced the proposed “FQM Minute on the Inherent Right of Tribal Sovereignty of the Wabanaki”.  (Attached)   A similar minute has already been approved by Vassalboro Quarter.  Several questions and concerns were raised.  It was pointed out that this minute does not support a specific bill; it acknowledges and supports the sovereignty of the Wabanaki Tribes and Nations within Maine and supports bills that will come before the Maine Legislature that would recognize and implement tribal sovereignty.  More information is available on the Wabanaki Alliance website, https://wabanakialliance.com/, and Wayne is willing to answer questions, wcobb2@gmail.com.

WE APPROVED THE MINUTE.

Recognizing that by doing so we are also committing to further action as opportunities arise.

Wayne Cobb will send the updates on Wabanaki issues that he currently sends to Portland Friends Meeting to all the meetings in Falmouth Quarter.

We closed with a period of worship, expecting to gather again at the All Maine Gathering on May 6, 2023.

Minute on the Inherent Right of Tribal Sovereignty Of the Wabanaki People and the Support for Bills before the Maine State Legislature that would Recognize and Implement Tribal Sovereignty

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, January 28, 2023, 9:30 to Noon

I hope you will be able to join Falmouth Quarter as we meet on zoom on Saturday.  Falmouth Quarter is the gathering of the five quaker meetings in southern Maine.

Our focus is paying attention to what is exercising us, what we are feeling passionate about or called to. 

We will also consider the minute on indigenous sovereignty forwarded to the Quarter by Portland and Durham Friends. – Fritz Weiss & Wendy Schlotterbeck

Here is the zoom link (it is the regular worship link for Durham Friends).

Topic: Falmouth Quarterly Meeting
Time: Jan 28, 2023 09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2814426094?pwd=REtES3Q3K0loZDBvTkFwS3RoVzRXdz09

Meeting ID: 281 442 6094
Passcode: 1775
One tap mobile
+13092053325,,2814426094# US
+13126266799,,2814426094# US (Chicago)

FQM Minute on the Inherent Right of Tribal Sovereignty of the Wabanaki

Minute on the Inherent Right of Tribal Sovereignty Of the Wabanaki People and the Support for Bills before the Maine State Legislature that would Recognize and Implement Tribal Sovereignty

Members of Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) unite in urging full support by the Maine State Legislature for bills that encompass the consensus recommendations reached in 2020 by a Task Force composed of Maine legislators, State officials and Wabanaki leaders, i.e., bills that acknowledge and support the sovereignty of the Wabanaki Tribes and Nations within Maine.
The terms in the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act (MICSA) and the Maine Implementing Act (MIA) have proven disastrous for the Tribes. These bills are designed to address those wrongs. For example, they would correct a fundamental denial embodied in the 1980 federal Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act (MICSA) that has prevented Wabanaki Tribes in Maine from benefiting from over 150 federal laws passed during the last 40 years, laws that were designed to assist and support Tribal health, safety, well-being and self-determination. As a result, Indigenous peoples in Maine suffer from disadvantages not found in any other state.
Unlike the 570 federally-recognized Tribal communities on lands outside of Maine, Wabanaki Tribes and Nations contend with restrictions and complicated regulations imposed by the Maine Implementing Act (MIA). Tribal communities outside Maine are subject to Federal Indian Law. Current bills before the legislature would make Federal Indian Law applicable to Tribes and Nations within Maine. It should be noted that Federal Indian Law, while supporting greater Tribal self-determination, enables states to enter into productive relationships with Tribal nations that not only benefit the Tribes, but also the surrounding non-Native communities and the State. It has been shown time and again, throughout the country, that when Tribes are prosperous the surrounding rural communities prosper as well. This bill is our opportunity to create this reality for Wabanaki communities and for Maine as a whole.
The current situation imposed by the State on Wabanaki peoples is morally and ethically wrong.
Wabanaki communities only want what Tribes in other states enjoy—greater freedom to control their own destiny and to thrive. The bills addressing the shortfalls of the MICSA and the MIA provide the means to make this possible.
This Minute reflects the Quaker testimony of the sacredness of all individuals and our witness to support the inherent rights and dignity of Indigenous communities.

Falmouth Quarter to Meet January 28, 2023, 9:30 to noon on ZOOM

SAVE THE DATE

Falmouth Quarter will meet on January 28, 2023 from 9:30 to noon on zoom.

We are creating a space to share our Passions – What is exercising us, upsetting us, firing us up.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled

We invite you to think about the concerns which are alive for you and to think about these queries

·  “What are you called to, what are you upset about, and how are you filled?”

·   “How do I recognize this passion, this hunger and thirst as a spiritual condition?”

·   “ What is the meeting called to, what is the meeting  upset about and how is the meeting filled?”

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, October 15, 2022

[Updated] Falmouth Quarter will meet on October 15th from 10:00 – 1:30 at Durham Friends Meeting.

We invite you – all of you – to come to share about the abundance you have found in these hard times. 

We are imagining our entire time together as a meeting for worship, with sharing, art, laughter, reading, cider, and business. 

The schedule for our time together is:

10:00 – gather in worship – Singing,  fellowship, perhaps some Juice and coffee and snacks and sharing

10:30 – Brief meeting for business to approve the budget, approve donations for the year, to confirm the dates we will be meeting and to consider what program we might like to bring to the Quarter in January. 

              During the business meeting, those who would rather make cider will be setting up and operating the cider press.  The books that Durham meeting has been donating to pre-schools and early elementary classrooms will be out for reading.

11:00 – We will be making windsocks with an invitation to inscribe the wind socks with messages about where we have felt God moving in our meetings and in our lives.  There will be times of open sharing of these messages.  Each meeting is invited to think about what the meeting will share and inscribe upon their windsock.  Cider making will continue, book reading will continue.

12:30 – Picnic lunch – bring something to share or bring your own.

1:30 –  Wrap up; close worship. Please take your windsocks home to fly them from your porch, or from your meeting house so the wind can spread the messages to the world.

 “We didn’t find what we were looking for, but look at what we found.” (Wendall Berry)

Fall Gathering, Vassalboro & Falmouth Quarterly Meetings, September 10, 2022

Falmouth Quarter is invited to join Vassalboro Quarter at Friends Camp on September 10. The event will be in-person at Friends Camp, 8:30 am – 3:30 or 4pm

Friends Camp address: 729 Lakeview Dr, South China, ME 04358

We are so excited to offer (everything being favorable) the chance to be together in-person at Friends Camp.

Saturday, Sept. 10: In-person
After two years away, we are having a physical gathering.
We encourage Friends to bring someone with them, perhaps someone who has yet to experience gathering at Friends Camp.

Schedule:

8:30-9:00 Gather

9:00-12:00 Shared worship around queries.

12:00-1:00 Lunch: Vassalboro Meeting will bring the main dishes and Friends are asked to bring breads, salads, and desserts. We will be eating outside. All 18 yr olds and younger are free.  All others donate as led. Please let us know several days in advance if young children will attend.

1:00-3:30 or 4:00 Small groups to discuss various areas of concern. Ending with Meeting for Worship.

There are many concerns in the United States and around the world that speak to Friends. One timely effort is “An Urgent Call to the Religious Society of Friends” regarding the threat to our democracy.
Please see the linked information about “The Call” as it will be part of the Saturday program.

Falmouth Quarter Summer Gathering, July 16, 2022

Falmouth Quarter will gather on July 16th (the third Saturday in July) at Ed and Dot Hinshaw’s Camp at Labrador Pond in Sumner! The summer gathering is a time for celebrating our community, and catching up on all that has been happening in our meetings and our lives this year.  This will be an outdoors, in-person, no zoom party.

The camp has a beach, some kayaks, & space to play. Friends are invited to come from 10:00 – 4:00.  We will gather for a whole community worship at 11:00 followed by a brown bag lunch. there are things to do for the Young Friends, and for families and children. 

All are welcome! We would like a rough idea who will be there; please let us know if you plan to come.  Or just come.

Rain date is Sunday, July 17.

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting Minutes, April 16, 2022

Co-convenors: Wendy Schlotterbeck, Fritz Weiss; Clerk: Fritz Weiss

Twenty five Friends from all five Meetings in Falmouth Quarter with one visitor from Lawrence Meeting gathered on April 16, 2022 for the Spring Quarterly Meeting. Two Friends sent regrets.

 Martha Sheldon offered an opening prayer noting that we are gathered together to hear stories from our lives, our hearts and our souls.

FQ 2022-1. Land Acknowledgment: We are in the homeland of the Wabanaki, the People of the Dawn. We extend our respect and gratitude to the many Indigenous people and their ancestors whose rich histories and vibrant communities include the Abenaki, Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot Nations and all of the Native communities who have lived here for thousands of generations. We make this acknowledgement aware of continual violations of water, territorial rights, and sacred sites in the Wabanaki homeland.

FQ 2022-2. The agenda for this quarterly meeting was to receive reports from those in the quarter with recognized ministries, to receive and forward memorial minutes and to receive the state of society reports.

FQ 2022-3. Elizabeth Szatkowski (Portland) has been recognized for her ministry working with people from marginalized populations and advocating to change the inequities created by classism, racism and poverty. Much of her work has been with people facing homelessness, mental illness, addiction and trauma. She practices deeply seeing that of God in each person and reflecting that back to them in an active way to contribute to their empowerment and self-actualization. She was granted a denomination endorsement by Falmouth Quarter in 2018 to support her work supervising the chaplains, social workers, and bereavement department at Hospice of Southern Maine. In this role she works to create and hold space in a medical model organization for psycho social and spiritual experiences.  Elizabeth  reported that the way her ministry was used this year was not something she really welcomed. In her chaplaincy role at Southern Maine Hospice, she found herself supporting a beloved colleague through her hospice journey.  This colleague had developed an aggressive cancer unexpectedly. Elizabeth found this both hard and rich, as she witnessed her colleague growing and helping others grow; helping her friends to be present and celebrating her mortality.  Elizabeth stated that she felt able to receive Spirit, share with others and make space in a public workplace for this to happen. Elizabeth has a ministry support committee from Portland which has been important in her faithfulness.  She closed with a quote from Anne Lamott: “I do not understand the mystery of grace — only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.”

FQ 2022-4. Leslie Manning reported for Maggie Fiori’s (Portland) Ministry Care Committee.  Maggie will be sharing about her ministry on zoom on May 9th; we are all invited.  Maggie’s ministry extends beyond her work with the Young Friends of New England Yearly Meeting to include an invitation to Friends to meet each other with love where we are and encourage us to move towards where we need to go.  Friends shared how they have experienced Maggie’s ministry in both her work with Young Friends and in her broader engagement with Friends in the world.

FQ 2022-5. We received the State of Society from Windham Meeting read by Julieanne Moore – The report noted that the meeting has met the challenges of the past year with Faith Gratitude and Perseverance.  The report is attached to these minutes.

FQ 2022-6. Report from Janice Beattie (Windham) on her ministry – Janice reported that she has been called to pastoral ministry at Windham Meeting for 25 years, noting that “God brought me to it, I did not plan it.” The ministry is expressed through the community as everyone contributes in their own way. Janice expressed gratitude for all the community gifts and talents and noted that “God is always in the lead.”

FQ 2022-7. In their reports, Windham noted that they had joined the other meetings in Falmouth Quarter in advocating for the Tribal Sovereignty legislation which is before the Maine legislature.  We shared that the bill had been approved by both the house and the senate and has been forwarded to the Governor.

FQ 2022-8. In her report on her ministry, Leslie Manning (Durham) asked us to consider what Friends mean by “ministry”. She shared her call to service among Friends, to build up, nurture, and challenge faithfulness among friends and to help us realize our prophetic vocation. Leslie reported that after decades of supporting those who have experienced violence, she is finding herself accompanying incarcerated women who have been perpetrators of violence.  She provides care, advocacy and support to the women, their families and the staff who work with them.  Leslie expressed appreciation for Durham Meeting which is appointing a support committee for her.

FQ 2022-9. Southern Maine Meeting has not written a State of Society this year. Sarah Moore reported that the meeting feels God’s presence mostly through the connections and care for each other in their small meeting.  Southern Maine is meeting together outside when the weather allows.

FQ 2022-10. We received and heard the Memorial Minute for Linda J Lyman read by Sarah Moore. The minute will be forwarded to the Yearly Meeting.

FQ 2022-11. Craig Freshley (Durham) shared that after more than 20 years of conceiving and writing, his book Together We Decide is being published.  The book is grounded in a lifelong concern for bringing people of different opinions together in dialogue. When Craig first encountered Friends at Durham meeting, he realized that the Quaker process of listening and discernment was a powerful tool for this work.  Durham meeting has provided concrete and spiritual support for the book project and for the “Make Shift Coffee House”  project which brought people together for conversations among Republicans and Democrats across the polictical divide.  In order to finish the book, Craig has had to let the coffee house languish. His hope with the book is to bring Quaker principles into the mainstream.  Craig shared his fear of being too attached to the success of the book and a fear of seeing the work as an expression of his own ego.  He also shared his awareness of and gratitude for the privileges he has of being white, relatively affluent and male which made it easier for him to do this work.

FQ 2022-12. Martha Sheldon, reported that she continued to feel that her recording in the ministry has life. She feels a deep conviction and purpose for supporting, nurturing and leading worship, and for supporting, sustaining and challenging communities.  Martha emphasized the importance of the clearness process in recognizing ministry, and the importance of recognizing the breaks we receive due to our privilege.  She also noted that she was recorded in the ministry at a time when many churches did not generally recognize or support women in ministry.  The carrying of ministry involves both being open to opportunities and every so often taking breaks. Martha has moved to Northern Ireland, she reports: “Clarity of purpose and ministry callings are, as yet, not manifest in Northern Ireland.   I continue to be present for ministry opportunities at Durham via zoom.  Before the move my ministry included my work with autistic children and their teachers.  All are welcome to visit [Ireland]!  [To share} conversation, healing walks, cobweb removing windy days, reflection…..” She is looking forward to the next stage of her ministry with exhilaration and with uncertainty.

FQ 2022 -13. Brunswick Meeting did not write a state of society report this year.  The meeting is coming together in person again at 10:00 on Sundays at the Curtis Public Library in Brunswick and welcomes visitors. It is a joy to be together again.  Brunswick expressed gratitude for the support they receive from the wider Quaker fellowship.

FQ 2022-14. We received three memorial minutes from Portland Meeting and will forward them to the Yearly Meeting.

  • Arthur Fink
    • Ed Robinson
    • Anne Harwood

FQ 2022-15. Diana White has been recognized by Portland Meeting in 2021 as carrying a ministry of healing.  Diana was diagnosed with cancer in early 2020. When her cancer had been treated and her scans were clear, she asked what she was to do with the life she had been given. Diana’s profession was nursing and nursing instruction, with an interest in supporting families and working in the community. She has continued to deepen her spiritual focus in her healing work as she is developing her gifts, and working regularly with a group of Nashviille Quakers who are Reiki practitioners.  Diana shared that part of living with serious illness is learning to live each day fully. She shared that she has recently developed slow growing metastatic cancer in her lungs, while feeling healthier than she has for years.

FQ 2022-16 Jay O’Hara began his report reading an excerpt from Dr. King’s letter from a Birmingham jail where Dr. King expressed his grave disappointment with the white moderates who are more devoted to order than to justice.  Jay has been recognized for a prophetic outward ministry confronting the climate crises.  He is feeling strongly that he is also called to the uplift and rejuvenation of our Religious Society of Friends. He feels that there is a role that Quakers have in the transformation of the world which is so necessary now. This year Jay has felt at a crossroads. His confidence was shattered and he has been reeling from this experience. He has had two concrete expressions of his ministry over the past year – offering the Bible half-hours at the 2021 annual sessions of New England Yearly Meeting and a public trial with four colleagues for their action blocking a coal train bringing coal to the Bow power plant in New Hampshire.  Jay described his current condition as lonely, confused, distanced and unsettled, but trusting in God’s presence and praying for the rejuvenation of ministry in ways that are clear, humble and perhaps powerful and different from the past.

FQ 2022-17. Theresa Oleksiw shared the story of how she recognized and accepted her calling to ministry and a brief summary of how God is working through her. Theresa described her experience of being called using the phrase from Rufus Jones as “the warm intimate Touch of a guiding hand.”  This Touch began with a clarity that she was to take a break from her career as a city planner and go to Music School. However, once she had earned her degree in music, she was unable to find another job in city planning in spite of her training, experience, connections and credentials. Instead, there were opportunities to work in youth ministry and to begin writing.  The intimate touch seemed to be consistently guiding her to the writing.  In accepting the call, Theresa’s spent her savings and found herself with her child living in poverty.  At times she was lonely, frustrated and angry with God.  However, once she finally accepted that this was the path she was to travel, she was able to get funding from a number of sources. Theresa shared how she felt most clearly seen by the impoverished women she met and shared stories and dinner with at community dinners. She had to learn to trust the inner voice and the inner guide in the face of people who judged her for her poverty.  She is continuing to write and share the stories of those she has met in her journey, to share with food banks handbooks she has written and to advocate for the disposed in Maine.

FQ 2022-18. The State of Society report from Portland Meeting is attached to these minutes.

FQ 2022-19. We closed with Prayer grateful for the remarkable and varied ministries alive in the quarter.

Attachments: State of Society reports from Windham, and Portland. (Durham’s State of Society is not yet finalized and will be shared with the quarter when it is ready.

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Windham Monthly Meeting of Friends, State of Society Report 2021

            In considering the content of this report, three words came to the forefront: FAITH, GRATITUDE and PERSEVERANCE. Faith is the trusting in our Creator and His abilities and His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which mankind is justified or saved. We stand by Him as faithful believers and loyal members of His house of worship, ready to serve our calling by way of our gifts and talents as His children, ready to meet the challenges and to endure.  Gratitude is feeling or being thankful, which comes from the benefits received by way of our Creator, Redeemer and friend, through life experiences and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Perseverance is a steady course of action or purpose or state of circumstances, to hold on, to continue on course and to maintain in spite of difficulties … tenacity.

            Scripture gives us plenty of examples of this:  i.e., Abraham’s consistent faith was rewarded (Genesis 12:10) and Daniel gives an example of being faithful regardless of circumstance (Daniel 3:16-18).  Faith!

            When the giving of thanks is an integral part of life, we find that our attitude toward life will change, i.e., being more positive, loving, gracious and humble. (Ps 92:1,2). Gratitude!

            Because Christ lives in us, as believers  we can remain courageous and hopeful and endure the hard times.  It’s our faith revealed: True Christians vs. fair-weather believers.  Perseverance!

            Our meeting has been confronted with many challenges in recent years, among which are a shrinking congregation (due to losses by way of deaths, relocations, illnesses) and the upkeep of a historic Meetinghouse.  The Pandemic and other situations have affected everything from participation to finances which affect us personally and as a group. 

            We are meeting all this with faith, gratitude and perseverance, remaining faithful to God’s provision, to a desire to continue as a Meeting for worship, and to being open to ways to continue on.  We seek opportunities to introduce the community to our past history and ways, keeping in touch with the greater Quaker community as much as possible via Falmouth Quarterly Meeting ZOOM meetings, annual contact with our Quaker Ridge brethren, and continued support of the Girl Scout Troop that gathers in our Meetinghouse weekly.  We remain prayerful with sharing Bible Study times and being grateful for opportunities to work together to increase our finances by replacing the semiannual bean suppers with a Christmas Fair in the fall.  We recently received a grant from the Obadiah Brown Benevolent Fund for needed repairs to the building addition which are scheduled to begin the end of May.  We welcome guests to our times of worship throughout the year and are thankful for God’s ever present help through the work of the Holy Spirit.  One of our new attendees was responsible for drafting a letter to the Maine Legislature and Governor Mills voicing our support of LD1626,  the Maine Indian Tribes request for more autonomy.  We accept all this as God’s presence among us.

            To quote Charles R. Swindoll: “God designed us to live in friendship and fellowship and community with others.  That’s why the church – the body of Christ, is so very important, for it is there that we are drawn together in love and mutual encouragement.  We’re meant to be a part of one another’s lives .”         

            This concludes the review of our thoughts and outlook as for the State of our Society here in Windham, Maine, for the year of our Lord 2021,

                                                                        Respectfully submitted, Janice L. Beattie, Pastor,

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Portland Friends Meeting, State of Society Report 2021

A Rough Draft Year

Last year as the pandemic continued, we gathered to listen to God in new ways. Spirit is alive and singing amongst us, sometimes by its joyful presence, or too often by the sensation of its absence. We know that to be a community of faith is to piece together glimpses of God that each of us receives until together we see the whole, and this is hard to do right now. It’s hard to see God’s whole vision for us when we can’t find a way that we can gather all together that works for every person. Sometimes, finding ways to be together as one and feel Spirit’s presence takes so much creativity and energy and hope that we get tired or lonely, and we forget our unconditional belovedness.

Sometimes Spirit’s presence (or our awareness of it) flows with ease and grace, even while the pandemic continues to surprise and disappoint us. Hope rose through the spring that vaccination would open the door to join together again in our Meetinghouse as a gathering of Faith. Our opportunities for whole meeting worship on zoom made us grateful to be able to hold worship during the pandemic for those able to be there, and sometimes Spirit would burst forth through the computer screen. We experimented with hybrid worship, but found that there was not life in it for us. This fall we had the gift of outdoor intergenerational worship and fellowship gatherings at Friends School of Portland. We were grateful for the chance to be with so many families that we have missed for the last few challenging years. The trees swayed and the clouds sashayed with joy. Some of us found just what our hearts needed in the sanctuary of a small group, often in person, like faithfulness groups or a weekday worship or a spontaneous opportunity for fellowship, where we could nurture fresh connections with each other and the Divine. Too many of us have not been able to find a way to be present with our community and this pains us.

As the cold weather arrived, we moved to zoom for first Sundays with the whole community invited to worship together to do business and to be in waiting worship. We are experimenting with nurturing new fluid small gatherings, hoping to build new connections even as we are separated.

Spirit nudges us to continue to engage in big questions even in these times when it can feel hard to hold the center. We’re not yet sure what these questions are but we’re working on finding them. We feel invited to explore: What is our purpose as a community? What is our role in the wider community? What is our responsibility to our  neighbors?  Two examples are our work with Family Promise helping to provide support for our neighbors in need of housing, and another is advocating for sovereignty for our Wabanaki neighbors.

We’re doing hard work on an empty belly. We are hungry for connection. We’re praying to receive the nourishment we need each day to put one foot in front of the other, together.

Portland Friends Meeting is being shaped and reshaped by the Ever-changing  and the Eternal.

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting Gathering, April 16, 9am to noon

Falmouth Quarter will meet on April 16th on zoom from 9 – noon.  We will be celebrating ministry and the life of the Spirit in our meetings throughout the morning in each of the concerns before us.

We will hear Memorial Minutes sharing the lives and witness of Friends we have known and loved.

We will hear the State of Society reports, sharing our experience of Spirit in the life of our meetings.

We will hear reports and sharing about and from individuals with recognized ministries in Falmouth Quarter.

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Save the Dates! Falmouth Quarterly Meeting: April 2, April 16, May 7

Dear Friends
Falmouth Quarter is planning three events for the spring.  They are:

April 2, Quarterly Family gathering – a time to play with mud and seeds and visit and eat together – probably 9 – 1, location and more details to follow

April 16th – The regular quarterly meeting.  In the spring we hear from those in the quarter with recognized ministries, we hear and forward state of society reports, and we hear and forward memorial minutes.  I hope that meetings can reach out to those with ministries and consider how they would like to report; we will be on zoom, so there are opportunities for creative sharing. – the plan is to meet from 9 – noon.

May 7th – the all Maine Gathering – Falmouth Quarter is responsible for hosting this event.  We expect to be in person, we expect to share a program and to celebrate our community together.  location and more details to follow.
for now, please put these dates on your calendar & let us know if you would like to be part of planning…

love Fritz Weiss & Wendy Schlotterbeck – co-coordinators of Falmouth Quarter

Report from Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, January 15, 2022

Falmouth Quarter met on January 15, 2022 virtually; 34 Friends attended from all five meetings in the quarter, with one guest from Farmington Meeting.

We shared news from our meetings:

Windham reported that they had held their annual Christmas Fair which was a great success.  They have some necessary building repairs and have applied for a grant from the Obadiah Brown Fund for support to help with these repairs.  The meeting has been actively involved in lobbying for the passage of LD 1626 for Wabanaki Sovereignty.   The meeting is small, but members have known each other for most of their lives and there is deep community at Windham.

Brunswick returned to meeting on zoom in December.  The zoom meetings are smaller than the in-person ones were.  There have been 2 – 3 new attenders joining Brunswick since the summer. The zoom link for Sunday worship will be shared with the list serve so that others from the quarter might join them.  Brunswick has appreciated visitors from Falmouth Quarter at worship.  

Durham is in the process of figuring out how to do hybrid meetings. There have been two trial runs with the owl camera.  There were two successful outdoor in-person events in December involving families. The Peace and Social Concern committee has a program in which they are giving social justice books to teachers in four communities and to refugee families in the community. Over 70 books have been given to refugee families. One of the books that has been given, What is Given from the Heart, was read to those gathered as a part of the program for this meeting.

Portland Meeting is intentionally forming Ministry Care Committees to support Friends who are engaged in ministries – there are at least six active committees supporting a range of ministries.  A small group formed by Ministry Care committee is naming these groups and supporting their work. Sunday worship at Portland is virtual again and is evaluating this decision on a week to week basis.  Briefly the meeting had had both an in-person worship in the meetinghouse and a zoom worship. The meeting is also beginning a discernment process for how the meeting stewards its resources.

We remembered Linda Lyman from Southern Maine who recently died. 

The program for this January’s meeting was focused on the gift economy.  After an icebreaker, we gathered with the song Love will Guide us sung by K J Williams (Durham); after worship, Jay O’Hara (Portland) provided an overview of the principals of the gift economy as outlined in Lewis Hyde’s book The Gift. This is a way to think concretely about how spiritual energy moves through material things.  Jay shared four principles – 1.) Gifts move – they are not received and held on to, 2.) Gifts are consumed or used, 3.) Nothing is owed in return, and 4.) Trust the gift. These principles move the focus from the value of the material resources to the relationships that frame our decisions about material resources.

Ingrid Chalufour (Durham) read the book What is Given from the Heart by Patricia C. Mckissack and illustrated by April Harrison. Friends reflected on where they saw themselves in this story.  This is one of the books Durham has given to teachers and families in their Social Justice Enrichment Program.

After a break to wiggle, Friends shared concrete examples of ways they have experienced Gift Economy. The group then broke into smaller groups and considered a specific decision a meeting might be faced with about the use of its funds, considering each choice from the perspective of the gift economy. The following queries were offered to guide the discussion: How have we responded to the multiple gifts that we have received? What is our responsibility to individuals who donated money for a specific project? How is our response informed by Friend’s testimonies of community, stewardship, integrity? Who is the recipient of the gift of each choice? How does each choice reflect an attitude of generosity and sufficiency?  How do they reflect an attitude of scarcity?

KJ led us in the song Thanksgiving Eve and we closed in worship.

Falmouth Quarter will meet, via Zoom, January 15, 2022, 9:30am

Falmouth Quarter will meet, via zoom, at 9:30 on January 15, 2022. 

We know that God promises us that we experience an abundance of blessings and gifts AND we know that this knowledge of the generosity of the spirit can be challenged when we consider our funds, our budgets, our assets and our money.

Falmouth Quarter invites you to come and discover the gift economy. We will share stories of engaging with money as a gift, confident that there is enough for all; stories from our experience, from folklore, from children’s books and from scripture.

We invite you to this opportunity to begin to explore our spiritual relationship to our material assets.

PLEASE, come to Falmouth Quarter via zoom on the morning of January 15.   All are welcome and all have wisdom. The Zoom link is below

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Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, October 23, 2021, 10am to 12pm

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting will gather via zoom on Saturday October 23, 2021 from 10 – 12.

The zoom link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84328194455?pwd=dHJNdTVhR3BXQ0Z3OU9qZ2ZzL1U1dz09

The October meeting is a business meeting focused on the essential work of the quarter and on sharing news from the constituent meetings.  The essential work of the quarter is caring for each meeting, nurturing the ministry rising among us and strengthening our beloved community.  All are welcome, and all enrich us.

  • We will hear from each meeting – the joys, concerns and life that each meeting is experiencing.  Please name a person to report and consider Where is spirit leading you /your meeting? Where is the energy in your meeting?
  • We will hear from the annual sessions of New England Yearly Meeting.  The presiding clerks letter is attached.  I specifically draw your attention to the minute and letter endorsed concerning the impact of the US policies on Cuba as we will consider whether we should send a similar letter to the Senators from Maine.
  • The Yearly Meeting has also approved a letter of apology to Native Americans. The letter with a word of caution is attached. This is a concern that Friends in Maine have carried for some time and there may be updates on our work towards right relationship.
  • Falmouth Quarter will be hosting the All Maine Gathering this year on May 7th.  The planning for this could begin now.  I’m personally expecting that by May we could gather in person and would be happy to reserve the Friends School Campus for this event.
  • If there is time, I hope we might consider how the quarter will hear from and support those Friends among us with recognized public ministries.
  • There is some more mundane business – a budget, archives etc. as well.

I look forward to seeing you again, even on zoom.  We did have a lovely gathering in person in early August and I treasure the promise that we will gather in person again.

Love, fritz weiss, co-coordinator of Falmouth Quarter

Falmouth Quarter: Report from Summer 2021 Gathering

by Fritz Weiss

The summer meeting of Falmouth Quarter is usually a time for connection and community celebration.  There has not typically been a formal program or any business conducted. 

The last time the quarter met in person was in October 2019!  It had been a long time since we have been together.

Nineteen Friends from three of the monthly meetings in Falmouth Quarter and from one meeting in Dover Quarter  gathered together – IN PERSON (!) – on Saturday August 7th ,2021.  

Friends gathered at the Portland Friends Meetinghouse at 1837 Forest Avenue in Portland Maine from about 9:30 am – 3:30 pm.  Together as a quarter we participated virtually in the opening celebration of the 2021 New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM) sessions, had a brown bag lunch outdoors with some shared fruit and cookies, attended virtually the NEYM plenary with Shirley Hager and gkisedtanamoogk (Mashpee Wampanoag) and concluded with some worship sharing.  Our meeting closed when the landscapers arrived and started mowing the lawns.  We did not tire of each other’s presence.

During the period of sharing and catching up with each other, I was struck by how much catching up there was to do; in the past 18 months our meetings have been discovering new ways of being in communion, and we have changed.  There have been milestones in our lives – weddings, moves, new children born. It was good to see each other again.  

A special thank you is due to Chris Fitze who was our technical support person. The connection with the Yearly Meeting events was smooth.  Both Martin Eller-Fitze and Leslie Manning were able to give their reports to the yearly meeting during the opening celebration easily.

Falmouth Quarter will gather again on October 23, 2021 to conduct essential business.  Unless the usual plans change our schedule for the coming year will be to meet on the fourth Saturday of October, January, April and July.

The quarter needs a second co-convener.  Sara Sprogell has laid this service down.  I’ve asked a number of Friends but have not yet found the person led to this work.  Please consider it.  It is a light service with rich rewards.

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting Gathering, In Person, August 7, 2021, 10am-3pm

Falmouth Quarter is invited to gather at the Portland Friends Meetinghouse at 1837 Forest Avenue in Portland Maine from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm, or whatever portion of this period you are able.

August 7th is the first day of the annual sessions of New England Yearly Meeting. Together as a quarter we will be able to participate virtually in the opening celebration from 10 – 11:30, have a brown bag lunch and time for catching up from 11:30 – 1:00.  We can then virtually attend the plenary with Shirley Hager and gkisedtanamoogk (Mashpee Wampanoag) from 1 – 2:30.   The meeting house is well-ventilated when the windows are open, and we will be able to use the meetinghouse’s flat screen TV to connect with these events.

The meeting house is spacious enough to ensure social distancing; and the current guidelines expect Friends who gather in the meetinghouse to wear masks except when speaking.

During the period of sharing and catching up with each other, I expect we will be sharing reflections and observations of how we have changed as faith communities since we were last together.  These times have been challenging.

Please share this invitation with your meeting and let us know if you will come.

Love

Sara Sprogell

Fritz Weiss

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, Saturday, July 25, 10am to Noon

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting asks:  How are we being nourished?

Friends, it’s good to feel nourished, especially in times of heightened concern.  Falmouth Quarter intends to meet on Saturday July 25 for fellowship, spiritual nourishment and worship.  We will use the Zoom format and gather there from 10 to noon.

We invite each meeting to bring a reflection/meditation to share on what you have discovered in this season of virtual community and bring a query that all can respond to.  We are imagining each meeting would share their thoughts and query, followed by worship sharing, repeated six times for all six meetings.

We hope all meetings will feel led to participate in this time to gather, connect, share and worship together as a larger community.  Durham Friends who would like to be involved in any way, please reach out to Sarah Sprogell at sarahsprogell@gmail.com or 319-5077.

In Peace and Gratitude for our gathered communities, Sarah Sprogell and Fritz Weiss, co-conveners of Falmouth Quarter.

Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting, February 2, 2019

All Friends are warmly invited to come together for Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting hosted by Midcoast Friends on February 2. The afternoon program will focus on climate change.

Schedule

8:30 am          Welcome with coffee, tea, and light snacks

9:00 – 10:00   Meeting for Worship

10:00 – 10:15 Break

10:15 – 11:45 Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business and Sharing Joys and Concerns of Our Meetings

12:00 – 1:15  Lunch: Bread and Soups will be provided, others are invited to bring salad or dessert to share.

1:30 – 3:30     ProgramHope made visible over climate change

1:30 pm: Jason Wentworth’s comic routine, Climate change is no laughing matter…or is it?”

2:00 pm: Anne D. Burt’s short solutions film, “Maine Roadtrip to the Future” released in January to all members of the Maine Legislature. (Find out more here: http://www.downtoearthstories.org/ )

2:30 pm: Guy Marsden: Tips and tricks for improving energy efficiency of your meeting and home.

3:00 pm: Q&A and sharing of intentions.

3:30  pm: Join hands in gratitude for the day and adjourn to help clean up.

Hospitality is available at the Friends House in Bath. Contact Diane Dicranian at: dianedicranian@gmail.com Also, Guy Marsden has a guest room available. It’s listed on airbnb, but free to Friends. Call Guy at 207 443 8942 or guy@arttec.netRenewable Rural Retreat

Contact Guy Marsden: 207 443 -8942, clerk@midcoastfriendsmeeting.org

SAVE THE DATE – All-Maine Gathering, for Quakers from FQM, VQM (and beyond) To be hosted by Falmouth QM at Friends School of Portland on May 4, 2019 Falmouth Quarterly Meeting has begun planning for the All Maine Gathering this year on May 4. There will be time for Friends from around the State to meet together for worship, fellowship, and for a program focused on Native Maine Tribes. There will also be time for FQM and VQM to meet separately for business. Ann Dodd (Portland)-Collins and Christine Holden (Brunswick) are heading up the planning team. More information will follow. All are welcome!

Ongoing legacy of Native American Boarding Schools Friends may be interested in this opportunity to learn from Native American researchers about the history and ongoing impacts of the Indian boarding schools, through monthly webinar conversations. This website has info about these and other important resources: boardingschoolhealing.org  (Shared by Paula Palmer, Boulder Friends Meeting. Paula has done extensive research into Quaker Indian Boarding Schools.)
~Janet Hough, clerk VQM