Category Archives: Quaker Organizations

World Quaker Day, October 6, 2024

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World Quaker Day 2024: October 6 — from Friends World Committee for Consultation

In August 2024, around 500 Quakers from 53 countries met for the World Plenary Meeting in South Africa and online to tend to FWCC business, surrounded by worship and fellowship.

This World Quaker Day, Sunday 6 October 2024, Friends everywhere are invited to find out and share what happened at their local Friends church or meeting:

The epistle and a weaving document with a prayer that brings together the different plenary conversations are all available in the conference languages, KiSwahili, Spanish and English.

“God has no hands but ours, no feet but ours, no lips but ours, so we keep imagining a better world. I am because you are. I am because we are. I see you. We belong to each other. We are still here. We are one.”
—from the World Plenary epistle

“God of love and grace, we are a beautiful and broken people, living in a beautiful and broken world… Grant us the strength to seek each other’s forgiveness, and the love and  courage to hold both pain and possibility in our hearts.” —from the weaving document prayer

The Young Adult Friends epistle, relating the experience of 46 18-35 year-olds who gathered four days before the World Plenary and who formed a new World Executive Committee of Young Adult Friends, is also available in the conference languages.

The epistle will be read at a semi-programmed online meeting for worship  hosted by the Europe and Middle East Section, and an event in Uganda organised by the Africa Section. Both are open to all.   

Friends may also want to take part by singing from the World Quaker Songbook. To learn the tunes, listen to Quaker and musician, Amy Duckett Wagner sing the songs on our YouTube channel.

Finally, Friends who wish to engage more deeply with the themes discussed at the World Plenary can watch the videos of speakers’ prepared ministry also on YouTube.

Friends Camp Newsletter, September 2024

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https://files.constantcontact.com/a7d3c7c8001/493c5cab-8a5d-40e0-b67a-5eef33389ab9.jpgDear Friends Camp Community,
Another summer at Friends Camp is complete! We are still reflecting on all the fun and remarkable moments from the last 3 months. This summer saw lots of picturesque days on China Lake, many new friendships made, delicious camp meals, opportunities for growth, and nearly endless laughter. There were 435 campers, and each one of them brought something unique to our community. Though some things about camp remain the same from year to year, the campers and staff present during each unique session are what truly make it special.
As always, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who helps make camp possible. We are lucky to have a wonderful network of support coming from families, volunteers, Friends, donors, and more. Thank you especially to everyone who has donated to our campership fund — your contributions continue to provide the opportunity for us to bring as many kids to camp as possible. We hope you enjoy this newsletter!
Warmly,Anna HopkinsCamp Director(207) 877-4302director@friendscamp.org2025 Session DatesSee below for the session dates for summer 2025. Registration for a single session per camper will open on Saturday, November 2nd at noon. We anticipate spots being available for some campers who would like to attend multiple sessions, and there will be the opportunity to register for a second session from any remaining spaces on Saturday, November 16th. Information about tuition rates will be finalized in October; we expect a modest increase in tuition.Common Ground FairFriends Camp is available for cabin and tenting space on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights during the Common Ground Fair, Sept 19-21. Space is filling up quickly on Saturday evening, but there is still plenty of space on Thursday and Friday. Learn more about details and rates on our website, and click here to register for your stay.2024 Family FeedbackThank you to all the campers and families who filled out evaluations about their time at camp this summer!
Your feedback is valued because it helps inform our understanding of this summer at camp and what to keep or improve on for future summers. Most notable from our 2024 surveys so far is that 100% of respondents made a friend at camp!
2024 Family SurveyCamp Committee Interest FormAre you interested in playing a larger role in the Friends Camp community? Friends Camp is always looking for people who have valuable skills to lend to our committee or sub-committees, soon or in the future.
The Friends Camp Committee is part of the governing structure for Friends Camp with specific duties and responsibilities delegated to it by New England Yearly Meeting. The sub-committees include Finance, Health & Safety, Development, Personnel, Buildings & Grounds, and Nominating.
The Friends Camp Committee is made up of 10- 15 members, including both Friends and non-Friends who care deeply about Friends Camp. Please fill out the form below if you are interested in becoming a member of the committee or a sub-committee.Fill out the interest form hereCamp Activities for Back to SchoolAt our end of session fire circle, many campers often talk about wanting to bring the camp spirit home with them. Here are a few activities that we do at camp that you can share with friends, family, peers, or coworkers that can help it feel like Friends Camp is with you year-round!Young Friends October RetreatThe Young Friends fall retreat is happening October 18 – 20, 2024 at the Portland Friends Meeting. The theme for this retreat is the costumes we wear. Read more below and click the link to register.
Each year on the last day of 10th month (October), people across the country don costumes and assume new identities in celebration of Halloween. Though early Friends did not observe this tradition, many Friends today do. But what about the costumes that we try on, both intentionally and unintentionally, during other times of the year? How do the costumes that we wear affirm and how do they obscure our identities? How do the early Friends customs of plain dress and “clothing ourselves in righteousness” resonate with our spiritual practices and traditions today?
Join Young Friends for a weekend of silliness, deep conversation, and reflection at Portland Friends Meeting. You can register for the retreat here.Friends Camp BrochuresDo you know of a local place where some Friends Camp brochures might shine? We have informational brochures that can be placed around New England to spread the word about camp to new families. Libraries, community centers, cafés, Meetinghouses, and churches are all great spots for these brochures to live. (Or another place near you that you think would be good!) Fill out this form if you have a local spot where you could post some fliers!      

Make a Gift to Friends Camp 

Singing for Shepherds, Worship via DFM, September 15, 2024

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Here is some background to September 15 Worship presentation regarding Singing for Shepherds — Leslie Manning

Sunday, September 15, 2024
9 a.m–6 p.m. Eastern // 6 a.m.–3 p.m. Pacific

You’re invited to a joyful, hopeful drop-in Zoom event. Participate as a whole meeting, as a Sunday school group, as a family, or as an individual Friend. You can come anytime and leave anytime. Appropriate for all ages!
 
During this day-long gathering, we’ll focus on two missions among pastoralist people in Kenya: Samburu Friends Mission and Turkana Friends Mission. We’ll hear stories about these missions, watch videos, and look at photographs. We’ll sing hymns together, pray for the missions and the people, and have a little fun with trivia. Depending on when you come, you might hear a Scripture-based message, join a prayer, see photographs of the missions, watch videos about the missions, participate in a trivia game, or sing a hymn. The activities will switch often. If you come for a whole hour, you might encounter as many as nine different elements.

We’ll also set a goal for $1000/month in new contributions to these missions. Why monthly commitments rather than one-time donations? Because these two missions bear remarkable fruits. They create church communities, run schools, provide health care, give scholarships, and deliver emergency feeding interventions, and yet it’s perpetually difficult to raise the necessary monthly funds to keep them going. We pray for the opportunity to change that as a global community. Every commitment will help, no matter how small.
 
All are welcome to participate in the event, and the hope is to have a Spirit-filled, brimming-with-love celebration of stories of faithfulness. If your Meeting or church has Zoom capability, you can join all together during your social hour or religious education time or even for a half-hour period as part of your business meeting agenda. Or join in as an individual, couple, or family. Please come.
 
Register here to receive a Zoom link:  tinyurl.com/singingforshepherds. Registration is free. You’ll receive the link to participate right away, but if you lose it, don’t worry. It’ll come again a week before the event, and the day before,  just to make sure everyone has it.

Still have questions? We have a question-and-answer page here.

AFSC Briefing, June 29, 3:30pm, Friends School Portland

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Invitation:

A conversation with Joyce Ajlouny, General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee, and

Keith Harvey, Director, AFSC Northeast Region

Saturday, June 29, 2024, 3:30 p.m., Friends School of Portland, 11 US-1, Cumberland Foreside, ME

Learn about AFSC’s life-saving aid in Gaza, support for immigrant rights, and ongoing commitment to confront injustice and promote healing among the Wabanaki communities in Maine.

(Click here for driving directions listed on the school’s website.)

Please RSVP by June 21

This is a rare opportunity to hear first hand about some crucial and desperately needed work bringing our Quaker witness to life in the world.

Keith Harvey, AFSC’s Regional Director, will update us on AFSC’s work in the Northeast, especially its advocacy on immigration and the rights of indigenous peoples in Maine. Joyce Ajlouny, AFSC’s General Secretary, will speak about AFSC’s work globally,  including an update on the work our Meeting has been supporting in Gaza. 

Please help us in spreading the word, and RSVP’ing at this link: https://secure.afsc.org/a/conversation-afscs-joyce-ajlouny 

Also, we welcome some help! We could really use 2 set-up helpers, 2 break-down helpers, and those of you who feel led to hold this very important AFSC mission and presentation in the light, to do so in person. If you can be one of those helpers, please contact Becky (steelebecky@gmail.com) or Doug (douglas_mccown@yahoo.com).

FWCC’s Quaker Connect Program

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Durham Friends is considering applying to participate in FWCC’s Quaker Connect Program. (FWCC is Friends World Committee for Consultation, the organization that links Friends across the globe.)

Members of Durham Friends are encouraged to read these materials and participate in discussions around whether the Meeting should consider seeking to participate.

The three paragraphs below give a brief overview of the program. More information can be found on the Quaker Connect website.

Quaker Connect helps Friends meetings and churches to try new experiments and learn from each other how to connect the depths of our Quaker tradition and the breadth of our Quaker community with the living reality of our local context under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Quaker Connect will be a structured network of Quaker meetings across the branches of Friends
in the Americas. Each participating local meeting will nominate one to three Friends to join a cohort
of other energized Friends in virtual workshops over a two year period. At the heart of the program,
each meeting will choose one signpost of renewal that is lacking in their meeting, one Quaker,
Christian, or FWCC practice to address the need, and take three months to try the experiment, and then initiate further experiments. Robust evaluation and communication processes are essential parts of the program. Quaker Connect is designed to adapt and seed the continuing revitalization of the Religious Society of Friends.

In the United States, the project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Thriving Congregations
Initiative. An additional $200,000 grant from the Thomas H. and Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund
will extend the program to Friends outside of the United States—from Canada to Bolivia—and
enhance collaboration among Quaker organizations to support the growth and vitality of the
Society of Friends.

AFSC Save the Date, June 29, 2024, 3:30 pm

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Save the date!

A conversation with 

Joyce Ajlouny General Secretary, AFSC

Keith Harvey, Director, AFSC Northeast Region

Saturday, June 29, 2024, 3:30 p.m.

Friends School of Portland

11 US-1, Cumberland Foreside, ME

Learn about AFSC’s life-saving aid in Gaza, support for immigrant rights, and ongoing commitment to confront injustice and promote healing among the Wabanaki communities in Maine.

Stay tuned for more details

Setting Priorities for FCNL, Sunday, April 14, Noon

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From Peace and Social Concerns Committee:

We know elections matter, and we know that our voices matter.  That is why Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) asks us to identify the top priorities that they will focus on in the next Congress, convening in January, 2025.

On Sunday, April 14 at 12 noon, our Peace and Social Concerns Committee will lead us in a meeting wide discussion and discernment. If you cannot attend, in person or by Zoom, please reply to this email (durham@neym.org) with your thoughts.  

“We may all feel at times that we stand alone and are helpless as single individuals to influence issues that we have a driving desire (leading) to improve and/or change. Please recognize that if you accept this invitation to provide input to FCNL you will be joining hundreds of others pushing for a better world. The success of FCNL’s 80 years of advocacy work has always depended on persistence, patience and the support of caring people (examples: 2016 US-Iran Nuclear Agreement, 2023 repeal of 2002 Iraq War Authorization, 2024 advocacy for passage of Bill S.1723 Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act).” 

On April 14 we will prepare a message from Durham Friends, letting FCNL know what is most important to us right now. Please help us do that by attending our meeting or sending your thoughts by email. 

Here’s a list of current priorities, feel free to add yours under Other Issues

Economic Justice:

Sustainable Energy and Environment:

Justice Reform and Gun Violence Prevention:

Just Migration:

Native American Concerns:

Middle East Policy:

Nuclear Nonproliferation:

Pentagon Spending:

International Peace Building:

U.S. Wars and Militarism:

Voting and Elections:   

Other Issues:

Letter Writing Party for Maine Gun Safety, via Zoom, February 29, 7pm

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Portland Friends Meeting (and others) invite us to participate in a Zoom Letter Writing Party for Maine Gun Safety — to be held on Leap Day, February 29, 2024.

Here are the details:

(to avoid zoom bombing you’ll have to quickly take a moment to register)

  • Not sure what to say in your letter? We’ll send you a template you could use, or you can write your own if you feel inspired! More materials HERE.

Come spend an hour with Quakers and others throughout Maine by writing letters to your legislators, Janet Mills, or the newspaper, to promote the four priorities of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition.

Make it even more of a party by invite friends to join you in person at your home, and then log on together!

Can’t make the party? That’s ok, you can write a letter on your own time. Attached is a Letter to the Editor Toolkit, and you can also use that to help you reach out to Janet Mills or your legislator. Find your legislators here: https://nrcm.salsalabs.org/mainelegislatorlookup/index.html.

Also, we’re attaching a list of high-priority legislators who could use more nudging on this issue. Most of them are outside of Greater Portland (although one is in part of Westbrook and Windham). But please take a few minutes with the list, and if you know someone who lives in one of these towns, please reach out to them to contact their legislator, and invite them to this zoom party. This is how the work gets done!

Hosted by members of Portland Friends Meeting and Durham Friends Meeting, open to all!

Rob Levin and Heather Denkmire and Valerie Todd and Leslie Manning

Questions: email rob@roblevin.net.

“Walking in the World as a Friend,” from QREC, 2nd Mondays in 2024 @7:30pm

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an invitation from the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative:

Walking in the World as a Friend Discussion & Practice Group
Please join us for a free Online Practice & Discussion Group sponsored by Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC). We meet monthly to enrich adult Quaker Religious Education for ourselves and our meetings/churches.Each month will open with worship and a message from the book Walking in the World as a Friend: Essential Quaker Practices. Then we will hold worship sharing to hear from each person, followed by a discussion on any questions, reflections, or implications for us as Friends and our witness in they world, then close with worship. We may discuss practices, such as journaling, spiritual companions, and faith and practice or scripture study, that help us and our meetings/churches.We are using Walking in the World as a Friend for reference. You may purchase the book at CourageousGifts.com or download the PDF HERE for free. You may also watch the videos on YouTube.
Monday, January 8, 2024 7:30pm Eastern US Time
Experiences of Living in the Spirit and the role of a Minister (pp 27-30 or relevant videos)
Monday, Febuary 12, 2024 7:30pm Eastern US Time
Experiment with Spirit and the Role of the Steward (pp 35-37 or relevant videos)
Monday, March 11, 2024 7:30pm Eastern US Time
Essential Quaker Structures as an Ecology of Practices (pp 45-58 or relevant videos)
In 2024, we plan to meet the second Monday of the month in January, February, and March and take a one-month break in April. We expect to continue this pattern of 3 months on and 1 month off through 2024. This is spiral curriculum. Every time we engage the themes, we bring more to the reflections and go deeper.

REGISTER HERE