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.