Category Archives: Events

Friends Committee on Maine Public Policy, October 16, 2025, 4-6 pm

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From Shirley Hager, regarding the Friends Committee on Maine Public Policy (FCMPP):

Please save Thursday, October 16, 4:00-6:00 p.m. for a fall FCMPP meeting on Zoom.

Maulian Dana Bryant, Executive Director of the Wabanaki Alliance, will be our guest to share highlights of what the Alliance would like to achieve in the upcoming legislative session, and also to talk about the importance of Question #1, on the ballot this November, for Wabanaki communities and for all of us. This is an opportunity to get revved up and focused on upcoming important issues, and to have your questions answered.

Members of the Episcopal Committee on Indian Relations are invited as well.  I have included several of them in this email and invite them to spread the word on their committee.

Stay tuned for further details of the meeting, and for the Zoom link, a bit closer to October 16.

Best wishes to all amidst this beautiful fall weather.

Shirley — Shirley N. Hager

https://www.thegatheringsbook.com; And now an audiobook! https://utorontopress.com/utp-audio/ (click on book image)

Please include a request for anyone wanting to join us who are not on the FCMPP list to email me at: shirley.hager@maine.edu, so that I can send them the Zoom link and meeting details closer to the meeting date.

250th Anniversary Celebration – October 4 and 5, 2025

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Our Meeting is celebrating its 250th year as a worshiping community on the weekend of October 4 and 5.  

Saturday (October 4) will feature a Tribute to Quaker Activism, featuring the film “Citizen George” which presents the life and work of Philadelphia-based contemporary Quaker activist George Lakey, a nonviolent revolutionary who has worked his entire life for justice and peace, guided by his ideal of societal transformation, with community singing to open our time beginning at 6:30 PM.

Sunday (October 5), which is also World Quaker Day, will open with worship at our usual time of 10:25 AM and will also be available on Zoom. Our prepared message will be given by Doug Bennett, a member of Durham Friends and President Emeritus of Earlham College, a Quaker institution in Richmond, IN. This will be followed by a luncheon and celebration (and possibly more singing).

All are welcome to any and all of this celebration. Instructions for attending Sunday Worship via Zoom are available from our website durhamfriendsmeeting.org

For questions or more information, please contact durham@neym.org.

Picnic for Kirenia Criado Pérez, Thursday, July 24, 5 to 7 pm

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From Portland Friends Meeting:

Please join us for: a picnic on the Eastern Prom of Portland to celebrate the visit of Kirenia Criado Pérez, a member of Cuba Yearly Meeting and pastor at Havana Friends Church.

When: 5 to 7 pm, Thursday, July 24th

Where: Near the playground of the Eastern Prom in Portland.  

Food: Bring your own picnic or enjoy one of the many food trucks.

Parking:  There is plenty of street-side parking in front of the playground and adjoining basketball courts.  (See photo above.)

Seating:  Please bring a blanket or chair.  We’ll have a few extras to share.

Accessibility:  There is a 10-foot hill from the sidewalk down to the picnic area.  To the left of the playground is a gentler ramp.

Need Assistance?:  Bart, Brooke, and others are available to help you get from your car to the picnic spot.  Just give us a call at Bart’s cell phone: 207 899 5937.  You may also alert me ahead of time.

Falmouth Quarter to Meet July 19, 2025

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[UPDATED] Falmouth Quarter will gather at Wendy Schlotterbeck’s home at 79 Skillings Corner Rd, Auburn, Maine on July 19th.

Our summer quarterly meeting is a time for community, for visiting, for conversation, for play and for catching up.  Wendy’s house has a big backyard, big deck, fire pit, and a frog pond. It is ¼ mile from Lake Auburn with hiking trails and kayak possibilities for before or after. 

Our plan for this meeting is:

·       10:00 Arrival – singing, greeting,

·       10:30 Worship and Meeting for business with two agenda items:

o   Three meetings in the quarter have approved minutes supporting and celebrating transpeople. Does the quarter endorse any further action?

o   We need to name a representative to the Maine Council of Churches by October – will someone join the naming committee to bring a name forward in October.

·       12:00 Lunch – food will be prepared, please augment with potluck offerings.

·       12:45 gather for singing and for a facilitated time for sharing stories

·       2:00 closing worship

·       Yard games – badminton, croquet, (can anyone contribute corn hole?)SAVE THE DATE:

Kirenia Criado Pérez Potluck, July 25, 5 to 8pm

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Kirenia Criado Pérez, a member of Cuba Yearly Meeting, pastor at Havana Friends Church, and professor of New Testament and Greek at Matanzas Theological Seminary Is coming to New England to share her message in the daily Bible Half Hour at NEYM’s annual sessions.  Before sessions, she will be traveling among Friends in New England and will be in Portland and Durham on Thursday July 24 and Friday July 25. 

At Durham Friends Meeting, there will be a potluck supper and conversation with her on Friday, July 25, 5 to 8pm.

Her schedule for those two days is below, from Fritz Weiss.  All in Falmouth Quarter are encouraged to participate in some of the following.  Participation is particularly encouraged among those who might like to travel to Cuba on one of the next delegations to come and learn more about our relationship and the current situation in Cuba.

Thursday July 24

Kirenia will arrive from Dover Meeting in the morning.

Est: 11:00 Visit to Friend’s School with members of the Sister Meeting Committee – I hope that Sara Primo and Brooke Benson with Doug McGown (board member and fluent Spanish speaker) will present the school to Kirenia & maybe do some initial brainstorming about how the school might be able to support the Puente relationship. Sue and Sydney will come

Est 12:30 Lunch at Portland Pie in Falmouth, with as many of the sister meeting committee members as can make it. Friends who have travelled to Cuba are invited to join us – please RSVP

2:00 Program / Forum at PFM – There will be an invitation to this specific event later with more details. Please be aware that we will not be talking about the politics in our country or in Cuba, doing so would violate Kirenia’s visa and put her at risk.

· Short history of Puente (Fritz)

· Kirenia sharing with translation (Sue and Bart)

· Q&A

· Worship with Songs

· Drinks and snack

Est 4:00 wrap up

Break

5:00 – 7:00 + Community celebration, potluck picnic on the Eastern Prom by the payground (Rain site PFM meetinghouse) – A specific invite to all will be sent out separately – The hope is that all of our community is represented.

Friday July 25th

AM –Kirenia will visit Friends Camp,

Mimi and Maggie (recent travelers) will show her around, introduce her.

Hopefully Anna B (camp director) will be able to consider possible ways the camp can be involved in the Puente relationship.

Lunch at Camp

PM Fritz to drive Kirenia to Durham – 5-8 Durham potluck and conversation

Home to Fritz & Paula’s

Saturday July 26th

There is an opportunity for breakfast before we drive Kirenia to Hanover NH. If you are interested in this please let me know.

Maker Cafe at Durham Friends, June 19, 2025, 5:30-8:00 pm

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Thursday, June 19, 2025

5:30  Learn Ukulele for Absolute Beginners

6:30  Live Music with Meg McIntyre and Carlos Cuellar

5:30-6:30 Learn Ukulele for Absolute Beginners with Craig Freshley

  • If you are ukulele-curious but don’t know the first thing about how to play one, this session is for you.
  • We’re going to learn three chords and three songs in one hour: a folk song, a kid song, and a rock song.
  • No experience necessary.
  • No theory. No scales. We’re gonna jump and strum some tunes!
  • Advance sign up required.
  • Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot (note if you will bring a ukulele or if you would would like us to loan you one), or with any questions.

6:30-8:00 Maker Cafe with Live Music

Free & Open to the Public.

No advance sign-up required. Just show up.

Dinner and drinks available for donation.

Bring a project to work on if you like.

We’re the place where it’s cool to make stuff while you hang out.

Meagan McIntyre, violin, has appeared in concert at notable venues such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Jordan Hall in Boston and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Known for her versatility, she enjoys exploring a wide variety of musical styles. In addition to her regular participation in the new music concert series Vigourous Tenderness and regenerative arts company Hogfish, she has performed on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show with pop singer Halsey and Indie rock musician St. Vincent. Meagan is a member of the innovative and genre-crossing Amarantos String Quartet who bring their collaborative chamber music to diverse audiences and venues. She served on the faculty at both the Institute of Art Education in Porto Alegre, Brazil and the Portland Conservatory of Music. She studied at New England Conservatory and Indiana University at Bloomington. Meagan plays a Pierre Louvet, 1752 violin crafted in Paris.

Carlos Cuellar had been performing and composing music for 40 years. He studied music at Antioch College in Ohio and has taken workshops with various jazz artists. His group The Franklin Street Arterial opened for Gary Burton Quartet at City Hall and appeared on various radio and television shows. Their album continues to sell in the US and Europe. He plays in folk & jazz groups and also performs his original music. Carlos has also recorded music for television commercials and corporate and non-profit videos.

We’re taking July and August off – see you in September!

NEYM Event, June 21: Meeting for Listening – The Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings

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[Updated 25.6.10] NOTE from Fritz Weiss, Falmouth Quarter co-clerk: We will be hosting a “local cluster” at Portland Friends Meeting for the Meeting for Healing event described below. We will be zooming into the event together starting at 9:00AM.  Please let Heather Denkmire know if you plan to attend for all or part of this event by replying to this email. 

This event does coincide with Portland Pride – the parade will be starting around 1:00, so Friends may choose to come to the local cluster for the morning. For Falmouth Quarter. Love Fritz

Meeting for Listening: The Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings, A full day, hybrid event, Saturday, June 21, 2025

Friends are most in the Spirit when they stand at the crossing point of the inward and outward life. And that is the intersection at which we find community. a place where the connections felt in the heart make themselves known in bonds between people, and where the tuggings and pullings of those bonds keep opening our hearts. (Parker Palmer, A Place Called Community, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #212, 1977)

Join us for a gathering of Friends in New England caring for the nurture of spiritual life and ministry in our local faith communities. Together, we will:

·       Dream together

·       Identify the resources meetings have to offer each other

·       Explore themes in State of Society reports and trends from statistical reports

·       Discover what’s possible now

Our Yearly Meeting’s primary purpose is to support monthly meetings, to be a vehicle to share resources and experiences among and between us in order to better understand our life in the Spirit and to be able to listen more closely to the Teacher. With that in mind, we began holding an annual “Meeting for Listening.”

Last year, there was a strong sense of deep sharing, of drawing together. We left the day having heard about our unique challenges. We also shared the many places we face common obstacles and celebrate common joys.

Our next “Meeting for Listening” is scheduled for June 21, 2025. It will be a full-day, hybrid gathering where Friends can gather in different ways: on site at Hartford (CT) Meeting, in self-organized local clusters connected via Zoom, or individually via Zoom.

We gather to share with each other—to reflect on where Spirit is alive in our local worshiping communities. These insights and reflections will both inform programmatic planning in the year ahead and our annual Funding Priorities.

This year, we will focus on how meetings across our region are leaning into community. Participants will have the opportunity to explore three themes related to this leaning in:

·       Renewal, including welcoming and integrating new attenders and new perspectives, religious education, and visibility in our local communities

·       Loss, including smaller numbers, leadership changes, aging membership, and the resulting need to rethink care for buildings, resources, and meeting functions

·       “These times,” including the spiritual condition of Friends in relation to the world, witness and engagement, discerning individual and corporate leadings, and the role of eldership.

Registration is now open. Whether you plan to participate via Zoom or gather with others, you can register for this free-of-charge event at neym.org/Meeting-for-Listening. If you plan to attend on site in Hartford, please register by June 12th if you can. This will help us comfortably accommodate everyone.

Are you led to host a local cluster in your area? If rather than traveling to Hartford, you are interested in inviting area Friends (for example, your Quarter) to gather at your meeting’s location in a regional cluster to participate in the gathering together, connected via a shared device or system, we would love to support you in doing so, as much as we are able. Contact us (mc-clerk@neym.org and Nia@neym.org) to begin a conversation.

Looking forward in faith, Carl Williams, Ministry and Counsel Clerk, Nia Thomas, Program Director

Durham Friends Meeting Plant Sale, May 2025

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May 2025 Plant Sale! hosted by the Woman’s Society

DATES: Our annual plant sale will start in May, with set-up starting Wednesday, May 21. The official start of the sale is Sunday, May 25, and will continue 2-3 weeks, unless we run out of plants more quickly.

SETTING UP: Please bring any perennials or seedlings you can donate and label them. There are pots available in the horse shed if you need any.

PROCEEDS: Plan to peruse the plants for something you might like. As usual, we will ask for donations, which will be used to support charitable work.

Any questions? Check with Dorothy Curtis, Kim Bolshaw, or Nancy Marstaller.

Thanks for all your help and support!

The 1943 Booker Quilt Returns to Durham Friends Meeting

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For many years — more than I know — members of Durham Friends Meeting have made quilts to be given away. In recent years, the quilts have been given to the parents and grandparents of newly-born babies associated with the Meeting. They have also been made and gifted for other reasons. One of those quilts recently made it’s way back to Durham Friends, a gift in return of Faye Passow, an artist in Minnesota. (You can learn more about Faye here and here.) The quilt had originally been made for and given to her grandparents. We are very grateful to Faye Passow for this gift.

“I am the daughter of Lydia Passow (Booker), who was the daughter of Harold and Jennie Booker, who were members of the Durham Friends Meeting. When my mother a teenager their house burned down and they went to live with an aunt, whose house also burned down. During that time this quilt was created for them by members of the community. I believe but am not sure many were members of the Meetinghouse.

“I currently have this quilt and have no descendants to pass it to and am thinking that it might be of interest to either the Meetinghouse or a local historical society. I am writing to you first as I think you may know many of these names or their relations and might suggest the proper place for this quilt.

“…  The quilt was put together in 1943. The names on the quilt are:

Please forgive any spelling errors. The names are stitched in and not always readable.”

Here is the quilt, being shown in the Meetinghouse. Two of our quilters, Dorothy Henton Curtis and Angie Henton Reed are holding it.

In a further message, Faye Passow provided a photo of her Booker family.

“I’m sending a photo of the Booker family. Harold, upper left, would be my grandfather. Jennie Booker sits below him. Mabel Russell was my great aunt, married to Fred Russell. Mary Tarr is most likely the Mary Booker of the quilt square. She is my great aunt also, sister of Harold. She was married in 1944, so after the quilt was created. She died in 1994. The unknown men in the photo are probably Harold’s brothers: Ralph Howard Booker and Raymond Phillips Booker. Harriet Booker was married to Ralph.

“My grandfather’s parents were Eugene Loring Booker and Sarah (Sadie) Rowena (Cox) Booker. She is likely the Sadie you refer to. Born 1868, died 1928.

“Barbara (Russell) Weldon and Doris (Russell) Dupal are the only close relatives remaining that I know of in Maine. One of Doris’ children is married to a Reed, which I believe there is a firewood business in Durham related to the Reed family.

“Also – Ella M Brown, another name on the quilt, was my grandmother Jennie’s mother. 

“Minnie Winn was probably Margaret (Brown) Winn, daughter of my grandmother’s brother Hugh. He worked at Worumbo for 50 years and apparently was known affectionately as “Jumbo” for his large size. My grandfather was an electrician at Worumbo.

“Mildred Winn was probably the wife of Carl, son of my grandmother’s brother Hugh.

“There is also an Aunt Jennie on the quilt who may be Jennie Lind (Brown) Douglas, aunt to my grandfather.

“My mother was prolific at searching out family genealogy and wrote a book on Booker and Brown ancestors. She was a member of the DAR, Colonial Dames and the Mayflower Society. She also as a side, was interested in Shiloh as a phenomenon and I have a couple of books on that subject.”

Maker Session and Café, April 17, 2025

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Make a Terrarium with Kim Bolshaw

Live Music with The Peterson String Band

5:30-6:30 Learn How to Make a Terrarium with Kim

  • Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
  • There might be a materials charge; details provided when you write to sign up or inquire.

6:30-8:30 Maker Cafe with The Peterson String Band

  • Free and open to the public. No sign up required.
  • Bring a project to work on. Some knitting, stitching, writing, reading, drawing, coloring, carving, or whatever you want. And if you don’t bring a project that’s okay too.

Maker Session and Cafe, Thursday, March 20, 5:30 to 8:30 pm

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ABOUT the Maker Cafe at Durham Friends Meeting

Thursday, March 20, 2025: Make a Hand Broom with Ezra Smith (please pre-register)

5:30-6:30 Learn How to Make a Hand Broom with Ezra Smith

  • Advance sign up required. Space is limited to 12, then we start a waiting list. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
  • All supplies provided. $10-$20 donation is collected on site.
  • Ezra is a woodworking teacher at Maine Coast Waldorf School.

6:30-8:30 Maker Cafe with Live Music by Fanning the Breeze

  • Free and open to the public. No sign up required.
  • Bring a project to work on. Some knitting, stitching, writing, reading, drawing, coloring, carving, or whatever you want. And if you don’t bring a project that’s okay too.
  • Fanning the Breeze is Michael Fenderson and Bobbi Goodwin. They are two teachers who love sing-alongs and anything that pulls community together for good work and fun!  They were recently spotted at the annual Thompson’s Ice cutting day in South Bristol.

5:30-6:30 Make a Hand Broom with Ezra Smith

All supplies provided (donation collected on site).

Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.

6:30-8:30 Maker Cafe

Live Music Fanning the Breeze

Hot drinks, snacks, and light supper available. All ages, genders, and beliefs welcome. No Charge for thr Maker Cafe, donations welcome

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Please bring a project of your own to work on. Some knitting? Mending? Painting? Sculpting? Crafting? Carving? And if you don’t bring a project, that’s okay too.

Please don’t bring your phone or other screen-based devices. This is an offline place where we try to connect with

Maker Session and Cafe, Thursday, February 20, 5:30 to 9:00 pm

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ABOUT the Maker Cafe at Durham Friends Meeting

Thursday, February 20, 2025:

**Mend Clothes with Emily Bell-Hoerth

**Live Music by Craig Freshley and Frederik Schuele

5:30-7:00 Learn How to Make a Shashiko Embroidered Patch with Emily Bell-Hoerth

All supplies provided ($7-$14 donation collected on site). Bring your clothes to mend! And sewing tools you may have. Mending helpers will be on site to assist with all mending projects.

Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.

6:30-9:00 Maker Cafe

Live Music by Craig Freshley and Frederik Schuele

Hot drinks, snacks, and light supper available. All ages, genders, and beliefs welcome. No Charge for thr Maker Cafe, donations welcome

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Please bring a project of your own to work on. Some knitting? Mending? Painting? Sculpting? Crafting? Carving? And if you don’t bring a project, that’s okay too.

Please don’t bring your phone or other screen-based devices. This is an offline place where we try to connect with what we’re doing and who we’re with.

Durham Friends Retreat, Saturday February 8, 9a.m.

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Please join us for a Meeting-wide retreat, open to all, on Saturday, February 8th beginning at 9 a.m. and ending no later than 3 p.m.

With worship, small group discussion and artistic expression, we will examine how to prioritize the work and good functioning of the Meeting given our current numbers, and reaffirm our commitment to one another as a Meeting and as Friends. And have fun in the process!!

Lunch will be provided.

It is a great opportunity to listen and learn together and to connect with our beloved community. If you can only come for part of the day, just come!! We welcome you!

Please let us know if you will attend by emailing durham@neym.org. Everyone is needed!

About the Maker Sessions and Maker Café

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Each month, we are holding Maker Sessions and Maker Cafes at our Durham Friends Meetinghouse, generally on the the 4th Thursday of each Month. Each such event is publicized on the DurhamFriendsMeeting.org website and also on the MakerCafe.org website.

Here at Durham Friends Quaker Meeting, we’re trying to provide a welcoming, offline place for folks to hang out, learn, and connect. We want to share our Meetinghouse with a wider community. We want to help neighbors meet neighbors and help people learn how to make things, together.

A US public health advisory was published in 2023 called Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation. Among many other factors, the report highlights how screen-based technology negatively impacts social connections. Further, the growing political divide has spooked many of us to stay home and not engage with our neighbors. In response to these trends, we’re trying to help people get out and get together more. With neighbors. In our historic Meetinghouse.

Maker Sessions (5:30-6:30) are held prior to each café and require advance sign-up and typically a materials fee. All materials are provided and you go home with something you made.

Maker Cafes (6:30 to 8:30) are free although donations are accepted for the food, drinks, and for the musicians. The Maker Café is run entirely by volunteers. Please join us.

For questions or to volunteer, please contact Craig Freshley: Craig@Freshley.com.

Maker Session and Cafe, Thursday, January 23, 5:30 to 9:00 pm

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ABOUT the Maker Cafe at Durham Friends Meeting

MAKER SESSION: Learn How to Make Prayer Flags with Nancy Marstaller, 5:30 – 7:30 pm on Thursday January 23, 2025

Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.

For this session, $5-$10 to be collected on site.

Nancy will provide all materials and instructions. You will be able to take home prayer flags that you made yourself. The Prayer Flags Maker Session will go from 5:30pm until about 7:00pm when the Cafe starts.

CAFE: 7:00 – 9:00 pm on Thursday January 23, 2025

Hot drinks, snacks, and light supper available. All ages, genders, and beliefs welcome. No Charge, donations welcome

Please bring a project of your own to work on. Some knitting? Mending? Painting? Sculpting? Crafting? Carving? And if you don’t bring a project, that’s okay too.

Please don’t bring your phone or other screen-based devices. This is an offline place where we try to connect with what we’re doing and who we’re with.

Live music by The Peterson String Band!

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, January 25, 2025, 9am

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Falmouth Quarterly Meeting will gather on Saturday January 25th at Portland Friends Meeting (1837 Forest Ave., Portland Maine). Friends are invited to arrive for fellowship at 9:00 for a full day together.

When asked: “What do we most need to do to save the world?” Thich Nhat Hanh replied “What we most need to do is to hear within ourselves the sounds of the world crying.”

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 fellowship.  All are welcome.  Here’s the  zoom link  for those who would like to attend remotely.

The schedule for our time together is:

9:00 arrival, coffee, hot water, bagels and fellowship.

9:30 program – Sharing and exploring, both as individuals and meetings, what these times require. We hope to start by naming what we need, and what are we given.  And then move to considering the question: How we, in this time, can do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Spirit?

11:45 A brief question about the Quarter’s archives. 

12:00 lunch & visiting. – There will be a pot of soup. Please bring whatever else you might need or would like to contribute.  

1:00 Afternoon Listening and Visioning Session on our yearly meeting’s annual gathering (sessions) Recent years have brought many changes, both internal and external, to the context and circumstances surrounding NEYM Annual Sessions. These include increasing costs, diminished capacity to pay on the part of many Friends and families, reduced and shifting patterns of attendance, increased demand for supportive services and capacities, reductions in volunteer availability, and growing awareness of the need to focus and prioritize limited attention and resources.

In light of all of these changes, the Yearly Meeting’s model of programming, logistics, services, and funding for the event of Annual Sessions is in need of review and reimagining. We will hold a facilitated discussion to inform any future plans.

Wreath Making and Maker Café at Durham Friends, December 5, 2025, 5:30 pm

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On Thursday evening, December 5, there will be a hands-on wreath making session at the Meetinghouse. Supplies will be provided (or bring your own). Also a light supper. Also Music!

Wreath making, 5:30 to 7:30

Makers helping all who come: Kim Bolshaw and Wendy Schlotterbeck

Cafe, 6:30 to 8:00

Light supper (feel free to volunteer to make something); Music by Craig Freshley

This will be the first of a series of Quaker Maker sessions on Thursday evenings at the Meetinghouse. Watch this website for further announcements.

Active Hope Reading Group — An Invitation

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From Peace and Social Concerns Committee:

As we all seek to find our own path forward in the current environment, we invite you to join us in reading Active Hope by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. 

We will be meeting on the 4th Sunday in January, February, and March at 9:30 am.

A section of the book will be discussed at each meeting.

To learn more about the book follow this link.

Chris Newell Lecture and Film: When Native Peoples Tell Their Own Stories, November 1, 6:00-7:30 pm

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From Peace and Social Concerns Committee:

A Lecture & Film Screening with Chris Newell

When: Nov 1st, 6 – 7:30 pm

Where: Meetinghouse Arts, 40 Main Street, Freeport

Tickets:

  • $10 for non-members,
  • $5 for members,
  • Free for Teachers & Students (ticket still required)
What is the impact of history and education when more inclusive of Native peoples of this land? How do you bring it into your learning space? Chris Newell will examine these questions and more as he discusses the far-reaching work of himself and his partners at Akomawt Educational Initiative to bring Native content to all areas of education in our society.

The lecture will be followed by a screening of the short film “Weckuwapok (The Approaching Dawn).”

Chris Newell’s book “If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving” will be available for purchase.

TICKETS

For more information about our speaker, Chris Newell, access his biography here!

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, Saturday, October 26, 9:30 to 3:00

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Ubuntu – I am because of your Love*

Falmouth Quarter will meet on October 26th from 9:30 – 3 at Durham 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 fellowship.  All are welcome. 

Please plan on a brown bag lunch.  

In the afternoon we will focus on Martha Shelden’s report on her experience as a Friends’ recorded minister and the queries she offers to our meetings.

Love Fritz Weiss & Wendy Schlotterbeck, co-coordinators, Falmouth Quarter

* From FWCC World Plenary this summer

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Materials for nthe October 26, 2024 Falmouth Quarterr can be found here

Agenda October 26th,  2024

10:00 Land acknowledgement:   We meet on land that is a part of the ancestral homelands of the Wabanaki.  We are the beneficiaries of the brutal taking of this land by European Colonists.  We acknowledge this and acknowledge that the Wabanaki are still here. We know and grieve that there are many whose names we do not know, whose stories we will not hear and whose sacred songs will not be sung again.  We are responsible to the land and to our neighbors to attend to what has been damaged and to listen to what they have to tell us. 

  • Sharing news from each meeting 
  • Treasurer’s report (Leslie Manning)  (attached)
  • Receive a report from Diane Dicranian, Quaker Representative to the Maine Council of Churches, with a call for financial contributions from Maine Quakers and Quarters. (see attached report)
  • Approve Budget for coming year (Leslie Manning)
  • Consider approving a Minute from Winthrop Center in support of Shirley Hager and an emerging Wabanaki Elder-in-Residence Program at UMaine attached.  Both Vassalboro Quarter and Falmouth Quarter will be considering this request.  
  • Confirm dates for coming year 1/25, 4/26, summer.
  • Suggestions re January Quarter program.
  • Sharing about the Bible Half Hours from annual sessions (Jessica Eller) 

12:00 Lunch

12:30 Martha Shelton’s letter and queries.  One of the essential responsibilities of a Quarter is to pay attention to and nurture the spiritual health, experience and  ministry in the monthly meetings of the Quarter. Last April Martha Shelden (Durham) submitted a report on her experience as a recorded minister with queries for Friends and Meetings. We set the report aside to engage with more deeply when we had an opportunity.  Our plan for the afternoon is to do that.  

The queries Martha shared are: 

Questions for the Meeting on calling, gifts of the Spirit, vocation, Spiritual journey 

  • Ubuntu.  I am because of your love.  Question for meeting and for self:  Whose love brought you to where you are now?
  • Notice pivotal moments in your spiritual journey, moments in how you walked with God. One of mine was at Wellesley meeting.  ‘You are very intuitive, aware of ministerial’  Thoughts began of going into ed or ministry.  Ministry instead of counselling as I wanted to include God Spirit in the conversation.   – What pivotal experiences have you had that have influenced your life to date?
  • What are your leadings?
  • What fears go in the way?  What successes and joys encouraged you along?
  • Where had the Spirit taken you and where is Spirit taking you now?
  • What music makes your soul soar? When did you smile down to your toes? Who has encouraged you?  To do what?  How?  When?
  • What do others see in you? Does it suit with your own assessment?  
  • Is there a benefit in recognizing the gifts of the Spirit in IYM?  Encouragement?  Allowing for a person to focus on a leading of the Spirit?
  • Why are you a Quaker?
  • Ministry as vocation.  Defines self.  How much is your occupation your identity?  Who are you when no longer in a job?  

3:00 Wrap up, close worship.  

Makers Sessions Planning Dinner, October 4, 5pm

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Maker Sessions — A Planning Meeting, October 4, 5pm

Craig, Leslie, Ellen, Doug, Kim, and Ezra have met a couple of times to talk about “Maker Sessions” — a way build community within and beyond Durham Friends Meeting.

Please join us to share ideas, hopes and aspirations at 5 p.m. on October 4 at the Meetinghouse.

A pot-luck “soup-er supper” will be served.

Details about ideas generated up to this point can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/55fea32z And you can always ask questions or send comments to craig@Freshley.com. 

Listening Session, September 22, after Meeting

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Ministrfy and Counsel announces:

This Sunday, September 22, we will be having a Meeting-wide listening session to continue our ongoing conversation regarding

the use of Zoom technology in the Meetinghouse during our Sunday worship.

We expect to allot1 hour for the discussion, which we will hold after fellowship and the rise of Meeting. Approximately, from 12:00-1:00 pm.

Please bring your thoughts, comments and questions so that we may discern our way forward with this important aspect of our community life!  

Respectfully,Tess Hartford, co-clerk of M&C