Category Archives: Events

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

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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.

End-of-Life Interest Group, New England Yearly Meeting

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New England Yearly Meeting is hosting a monthly resource group from January to May on end of life issues.  Details and registration information follow:

Join New England Friends for an End-of-Life Interest Group. We seek to explore spiritual, emotional, and practical aspects of facing our final days.

We will meet via Zoom 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. on the second Thursday of the month for 5 months, starting on January 12th. 

Facilitated by Patti Muldoon, NEYM’s Aging Resources Consultation and Help (ARCH) Coordinator. 

This series is offered free of charge.

Click here to register.

If the group is at capacity and you are seeking to register, email arch@neym.org to join the waitlist.

Questions? Email arch@neym.org

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

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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?”

Prayer Vigil with a Concern for the Families Losing Shelter Due to the Ending of the Emergency Assistance, at the Statehouse, December 7, 2022, 9:30 to 11:00

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An announcement form Peace and Social Concerns Committee.

There will be a prayer vigil with the concern for the families losing shelter due to the ending of the emergency assistance which has been paying to shelter families in hotels which is being held at the statehouse on December 7th, here is the essential information.

The vigil will be from 9:30 – 11:00 if you can stay for the whole time. The Statehouse will be crowded and parking will be scarce, plan on allowing time to find parking.  If you would like to ride with me I have room for 2 – 3 people.

Please sign up so we will have an idea of numbers. https://www.facebook.com/events/514397463980578?ref=newsfeed

Portland Friends Meeting adds: Also, as a reminder, there will be a zoom call on the 7th in the evening for PFM to consider how we might be called to respond to this crises.  Mary Tracy will re-send this invitation closer to the date.

A detailed instruction sheet follows for the vigil.

IMPORTANT  INSTRUCTIONS for Vigil and Witness on Dec. 7

If you plan to come to the State House in Augusta for the “Neighbors Need ME” Prayer Vigil and Public Witness on December 7th at 9:30:

●       Please contact your state representative and your state senator via email BEFORE December 7 just to let them know you will be there.  It will be a very busy day at the State House, as all 186 legislators are being sworn in and will likely have family members with them.  You are letting them know about your participation in the prayer vigil/public witness so that when they see our group in the Hall of Flags, they will know what we are there to pray for and bear witness to, and that a constituent of theirs is present. 

To get the name and/or email address of your state representative, click HERE.

To get the name and/or email address of your state senator, click HERE.

Sample email:

Dear Representative [or Senator] ________,

I am a constituent of yours from [name of town] and wanted to let you know I will be at the State House on December 7 as part of the Neighbors Need ME Prayer Vigil and Public Witness in the Hall of Flags.  As a person of faith/goodwill, I feel compelled to bear silent, prayerful witness to the impending humanitarian crisis our neighbors in Maine face if they lose their housing when rental assistance programs end, eviction moratoria are lifted, and emergency hotel accommodations close their doors.  All this is happening while our state’s shelters and warming centers are full beyond capacity, and winter weather is settling in.  On December 7, I will join with other faithful people from across Maine to pray that the Legislature and the Governor work quickly to develop humane and practical solutions that are coordinated statewide before it is too late.

Signed: _________

●       Faith Participants are invited to wear the colors of Advent, a season of yearning, hope, and expectation in the Christian tradition: blue and/or purple. 

●       If you are a person of goodwill, we invite you to wear red—a red scarf, a red shirt, a red coat– for we seek to “love our neighbors” wherever they are and however long they have been in Maine. 

●       Try to arrange to carpool with others traveling to Augusta. Because it is swearing-in day, it is likely the State House parking garage will fill up early, as will the lots immediately adjacent to the building.  You may need to arrive 45 mins early.  It is difficult to tell how much time to allow because of the swearing-in.  parking info

●       When you enter the State House, be prepared to wait in line to go through the security checkpoint where you will be asked to remove your shoes before walking through a metal detector.

●       After clearing security, walk straight past the welcome center to the main corridor of the building, then turn either right or left to take the stairs or elevator to the second floor and the Hall of Flags.  Look for our group, including many clergy wearing vestments, and many participants wearing red or the Advent colors of blue/purple.

●       As noted, this will be a very busy day at the State House.  Crowds will be bustling through and across the Hall of Flags as legislators go to caucus meetings; bells will begin to ring loudly when the House and Senate are being called to convene; there will be a busy swirl of activity and noise all around us as we pray silently in the midst of it all.  We invite you to learn from our Quaker siblings who practice the art of stillness and silence in prayer.  Our silent, prayerful witness will be a striking contrast to what is going on all around us.  And that’s kind of the point!

●       If anyone asks you why we are there, or what we are praying for be prepared to briefly answer – for me I’ll say something about the families in Portland being evicted because the Emergency Rental Assistance funds are ending and that in Maine we don’t expect families to sleep outside in the winter.  You can direct them to the Neighbors Need ME website and Facebook page for more information.  You can also invite them to speak to Rev. Allison Smith or Rev. Peter Swarr, two of the key organizers of this coalition who will be present at the vigil.

●       If you are approached by the media, please direct them to Rev. Allison Smith or Rev. Peter Swarr.

●       If you would like to read more about this crisis as a way to get informed, and a way to inform your prayers, we recommend the report by the Commission to Increase Housing Opportunities in Maine by Studying Land Use Regulations and Short-term Rentals https://legislature.maine.gov/doc/9239 , in particular Recommendation #7 on page 21.

●       During the vigil, you should receive a stamped postcard to fill out and mail to Governor Mills as soon as you get home.  It will let her know you were present at the vigil, and that you’re a person of faith and/or goodwill who is deeply concerned about the housing crisis facing your neighbors in need.  Ask the Governor to work with the Legislature to immediately develop a statewide coordinated response plan instead of the current patchwork of local municipalities trying to manage this dire emergency on their own.  We need State leadership in this crisis!

Again, for our Witness to be as effective as possible, please do three things:

  1.  Contact  your state representative and your state senator via email BEFORE December 7 to let them know you will be there.  Ask them to immediately respond to this dire humanitarian crisis with a State-wide coordinated response for our neighbors who need housing and assistance in difficult times.
  2. Contact Governor Mills as soon as you get home to ask her to develop a State-wide coordinated plan because our neighbors all over Maine are suffering and need our help. 
  3. Ask your friends and family to contact their legislators and the Governor. 

Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools: Facing Our History and Ourselves, November 15, 7-9 pm [Updated]

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sponsored by New England Yearly Meeting, Beacon Hill Friends House and Friends Peace Teams

UPDATE: The recording of The Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools: Facing Our History and Ourselves, as well as guidance for its use, is now available at: https://bhfh.org/the-quaker-indigenous-boarding-schools-facing-our-history-and-ourselves.

Register here for this hybrid event.

Financial Basics Webinars with Everence, October 26, November 2, 9, 16, 2 pm and 8 pm

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Everence, partnering with New England Yearly Meeting, is offering a series of webinars designed to support you in your personal finance journey. Everence is a faith-based stewardship agency, grown from a Mennonite tradition, which supports New England Yearly Meeting and its members who are seeking to integrate their faith and values with their finances. Everence provides charitable, investment, insurance and banking services for both individuals and organizations. Webinar dates and topics include:

·         Oct. 26: Understanding Medicare: Hear about how (and when) to sign up for Medicare; what it covers (and doesn’t cover); Parts A, B, C and D; and plans that supplement Medicare.

·         Nov. 2: Estate Planning Basics: Learn how an estate plan can ensure that your wishes for family and financial assets will be carried out upon your death. Hear about the key elements of an estate plan, including wills and trusts, powers of attorney and life insurance. Discover key stewardship questions to be asking as you prepare your plan.

·         Nov. 9: Basics of Investing: Learn the basic principles of investing, including hearing about the various types of investments, the power of compounding, managing risk and diversification. Along the way, consider the role your faith plays in making decisions about investing.

·         Nov. 16: Maximize Your Generosity with a Donor Advised Fund: Explore how this flexible “charitable checking account” can help you streamline your charitable giving. Find out about the many types of assets than can be gifted and how a DAF can help you manage both the gifting process for tax purposes and the distribution component of when you want to support the organizations you care about.

Each event in this “Webinar Wednesday” series is offered at 2 and 8 p.m. For more information or to register, click on the title links. If you have questions, contact Everence Stewardship Consultant Lyle Miller at lyle.miller@everence.com.

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, October 15, 2022

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[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 2022 Meeting for Healing Schedule, Portland Friends Meeting (with update)

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Update: In November and December, there will be an in-person option at the Durham Friends Meeting on the 1st Thursday of the month. Doors will open at 6:45p.m. For questions, contact Mey Hasbrook.

Fall Meeting for Healing schedule: 7PM on 1st & 3rd Thursdays (mostly)

The Portland Friends will hold its Meeting for Healing this Fall, on Zoom, on 1st and 3rd Thursdays at a slightly different time: 7:00 pm. (For September the Meeting for Healing will be on 2nd and 4th Thursdays.) You are welcome to join worship for part of the time or to worship with us without the Zoom connection. The Divine connects us all.

Fall Meeting for Healing schedule, Thursdays at 7PM

September 8 & 22

October   6 & 20

November  3 & 17

December  1 & 15

If you have any questions or need the Zoom link, please feel free to reach out to

Chris Davis: goblinshark@gmail.com or

Beth Bussiere-Nichols: beth.bussiere@gmail.com

Meeting for Worship for Healing is an old Quaker tradition. Our goal with this meeting is to focus on the physical and spiritual illnesses of the current world. It’s not intended to be the same as a full meeting for worship but instead is meant to be focused on communal prayer. We are often blessed with a time of deep silence. Messages may arise but should be de-centered from our ego.

An invitation to Worship in clamorous times. We are living through a time when we are inundated with words.  We invite you during worship to sink deeply below the political messages, below the personal efforts to put things into words, down to the Silence, down to the Living Waters, down to the Source that connects us all.

All are welcome!

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

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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.

World Quaker Day, October 2, 2022

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How to join World Quaker Day worship with Friends around the world
Please find below the details of the host Quaker meetings and Friends churches from each Section welcoming visitors on World Quaker Day, including the links to join them. If you encounter any technical difficulties with your connection, please refer to Zoom support here.

All times are given in the time zone of the host meeting/church location. To convert to your local time zone, please use the World Clock Meeting Planner.

Africa Section
Lang’ata Friends Church, Nairobi Yearly Meeting
Programmed worship with pastoral leadership
Sunday 2nd October at 3 pm East African Time
Link will be posted on the World Quaker Day website soon

Asia West Pacific Section
Australia Yearly Meeting
Unprogrammed worship followed by breakout room discussions
Sunday 2nd October at 3 pm AEST
Register here for Zoom link

Europe and Middle East Section
Disley Quaker Meeting, Britain Yearly Meeting
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 10.30 am BST
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 331 243 767

West Somerset Area Meeting, Britain Yearly Meeting
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 10.30 am BST
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 872 7266 8050

Beccles Quaker Meeting, Britain Yearly Meeting
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 10.30 am BST
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 838 8955 3770
Hastings Quaker Meeting, Britain Yearly Meeting
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 10.30 am BST
Zoom Meeting ID: 552-187-7961 | Passcode: 708168
Frandley Quaker Meeting, Britain Yearly Meeting
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 10.30 am BST
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 865 2798 0954 | Passcode: 608583

Hereford Local Meeting, Britain Yearly Meeting
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 10.30 am BST
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 838 2588 9153 | Passcode: 584482

South Belfast Meeting, Ireland Yearly Meeting
Unprogrammed worship, followed by social time in breakout rooms afterwards. Young people especially welcome.
Sunday 2nd October at 10.45 am BST
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 461 319 5026 | Password: 143412
Landline dial in: 0330 088 5830 and enter 419667037#

Finland Yearly Meeting
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 1-2 pm EEST (Eastern European Summer Time)
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 443 072 2720 | Passcode: Kveekar1

Friends House Moscow
Meeting for Worship to pray for peace in Ukraine
Sunday 2nd October at 5 – 6.30 pm BST / 7 – 8.30 pm Kyiv / Moscow
The room will be open from 4.30 pm BST for Worship Sharing on the theme: Becoming the Quakers the World Needs.Zoom link | Meeting ID: 416 500 5614 | Passcode: 182805

Section of the Americas
Iglesia Evangélica Amigos Central de Bolivia / Bolivia Central Friends Yearly MeetingWorship service with all the churches in the district 9.30 am-12.30 pm BOTActivities (including dance as a form of worship) with young people, adults and children from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm BOTTo join, please send a Facebook friend request to ‘Junta Trimestral Distrito La Paz’. The celebration will be broadcast live on their Facebook page.

Three Rivers Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting, USA
Semi-programmed worship
Thursday 6 October at 9.30 am Eastern Daylight Time (USA) with time for fellowship after. Consecutive translation will be available in English and Spanish
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 884 8212 5397

Winnipeg Monthly Meeting, Canada Yearly Meeting
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 10.45 am CDT (Central Daylight Time)
Zoom link
Jamestown Friends Meeting, North Carolina Fellowship of Friends, USA
Semi-programmed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 11 am Eastern Daylight Time (USA), with Zoom available from 10.30am for fellowship
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 899 9387 4643
Palm Beach Meeting, Southeastern Yearly Meeting, USA
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 10.30 am Eastern Daylight Time (USA)
In person: 823 No A St, Lake Worth, Florida, followed by potluck lunch. All welcome!
Zoom link

Lake Forest Friends Meeting, Illinois Yearly Meeting, USA
101 West Old Elm, Lake Forest, IL 60045
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2nd October at 10.30 am, Central Time (USA)
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 666 266 529 | Passcode: 936489
Fifteenth Street Monthly Meeting, New York Yearly Meeting, USA
Unprogrammed, hybrid worship
Sunday 2 October at 11 am Eastern Daylight Time (USA)
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 215 310 4074 | Password: 15221

Portland Friends Meeting, Maine, USA
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2 October at 10.45 am Eastern Daylight Time (USA)
Zoom link
Charleston Friends Meeting (WV), Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association (SAYMA), USA
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2 October at 10 am Eastern Daylight Time (USA)
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 851 6961 5099 | Passcode: 065719

Pendle Hill
Unprogrammed worship
Sunday 2 October at 08.30 am Eastern Daylight Time (USA)
Zoom link | Meeting ID: 432 071 090 | Password: 081885

Please feel free to share this information with other Friends who may be interested in joining another Quaker group for worship on World Quaker Day.

More information here.

Helen Clarkson Memorial Service, August 2 at Noon

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Helen Cornelia Clarkson (Pratt), at the age of 96, passed away peacefully in her beloved home on Flying Point overlooking Casco Bay on Saturday, July 16, 2022.

She was born on August 21, 1925 in Somerville, MA, the oldest child of Albert Pratt and Marion Cornelia Pratt (Dwelley). The family became part of the Durham Friends community in 1930 when they moved to Brunswick, ME, where Helen and her sister grew up on a farm on the Lunt Road.

On August 2, at noon, her family is having a celebration of her life at the Durham Friends Meeting. All are invited to attend in person or on zoom. There will be a reception after at the Muddy Rudder in Yarmouth. Please RSVP to her daughter (Joyce) if you plan to join the family at the reception
(joclarkson@icloud.com). 

Helen had a full and wonderful life, spanning wondrous events in history, and to the very end of this chapter on Earth, was an avid reader, maintained an unforgettable sense of humor, and an unwavering love for her family and friends, past and present.

She requested that in lieu of flowers, a donation to Bates College for the Vernon A. and Hellen Pratt Clarkson (’46) Scholarship, mailed to Bates College, Office of College Advancement, 2 Andrews Road, Lewiston ME 04240.

Cuba Trip: Date Change and Travelers Needed!

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The dates of our trip to Cuba to visit our sister meeting, Velasco, have had to be changed. The trip will now be in February 2023 and include visiting Cuba Yearly Meeting, which is from February 16 to 20.

There are three Friends from Portland planning to go. Two of our Durham Friends who hoped to travel no longer can, so we are looking for two or three more who want to. Let Nancy Marstaller know if so. Thanks!

Meeting for Healing with Portland Friends, July 21 and August 18

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Friends are invited to gather for an experimental hybrid worship this summer. Portland Friends Meeting convenes a recurring Meeting for Healing using Zoom on select Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The Durham Friends Meeting House will be open by 7:15 p.m. on July 21 and August 18, for synchronizing via the Owl system.  For questions, contact Mey Hasbrook.

Meeting for Worship for Healing is an old Quaker tradition. Our goal with this meeting is to focus on the physical and spiritual illnesses of the current world. It’s not intended to be the same as a full meeting for worship but instead is meant to be focused on communal prayer. We are often blessed with a time of deep silence.  ~from Portland Friends Meeting

Land Acknowledgement Program via Pendle Hill, August 9 and 11

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Peace and Social Concerns Committee calls attention to this coming program at Pendle Hill:

To register, click here

Living on what was another peoples’ homeland through their coerced removal carries with it a generational responsibility to recognize and honor their history and their legitimate claim to places where we live. Recognizing that preparing a land acknowledgment is a first step towards creating right relationship with the land and its native peoples, we will review:

  • the Euro-colonial principles and means used to take Turtle Island from its original inhabitants;
  • sources for identifying accurate local native history;
  • ways to correctly identify and contact culturally affiliated tribes; and
  • current land-return movements in the United States.

We undertake this review centering the ultimate goals of writing land acknowledgments, including relationship building, identifying and restoring erased history of local sites, and returning land to native peoples.

"Land Acknowledgement," a two-part webinar presented by tom kunesh

To enhance your experience of the webinars, consider consulting the following resources:

1961 – Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

1986 – Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. Some excerpts can be found here: africaspeaks.com/reasoning/index.php?topic=5770.0;wap2

2009 – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The danger of a single story: youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg (19 minutes)

2012 - Tuck & Yang, “Decolonization is not a metaphor”: clas.osu.edu/sites/clas.osu.edu/files/Tuck%20and%20Yang%202012%20Decolonization%20is%20not%20a%20metaphor.pdf

2018 - Liz Nicholson, “Quakers are Colonizers”: quakervoluntaryservice.org/quakers-are-colonizers/

2019 Decolonizing Quakers – Seeking Right Relationship with Indigenous Peoples: decolonizingquakers.org

The resource list from Summer 2020: https://pendlehill.org/fall-conference-2020/working-towards-right-relationship-resources/

Leader(s)

tom kunesh and twelve siblings were born to a Standing Rock lakota tribal member mom and a white lawyer dad, and grew up good-and-catholic in Minnesota on what had been dakota & anishinaabe contested land. He joined the Navy for adventure and the GI Bill, became a linguist, served in the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, and Spain, and studied religion. He works today at being a dad, protecting and educating about indigenous sites in Tennessee, attends Nashville Friends Meeting, and hangs out at the intersection of religion, decolonization, atheism, and quiet.

For more information, click here.

Falmouth Quarter Summer Gathering, July 16, 2022

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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.

“Rise Up Singing” Authors Coming to Brunswick, July 9, 2022

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There will be a Sing-Along Concert with Quaker folk singers Annie Patterson and Peter Blood on Saturday, July 9* from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at Growing to Give in Brunswick**.

Address: Growing to Give Farm, 30 Coxon Road, Brunswick, ME

It’s a fundraiser to help grow food for people in need. Advance tickets are required.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Individuals, 18 and below in age, are FREE.

Visit https://growingtogive.farm/ for details more information about the farm and to see the poster for this event.  Hope to see you there! – Craig Freshley

*Rain date is July 10.

Georgetown Ocean Paradise Gathering, June 18-19

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Yea- the school year is almost over and summer is upon us!!
Please come join Durham Friends in Georgetown at Betsy Muench’s ocean paradise! We are invited anytime on Saturday, June 18 AND Sunday June 19. 

Saturday is a day for play.

On Sunday, Falmouth Quarter Friends have been invited to join us! We will hold a family friendly Meeting for worship on the beach at 10:30 and the rest of the day is at your pleasure! 
Let me know your plans if you can, but come anyway and surprise us if you decide to come last minute!!(wendy.schlotterbeck@gmail.com)

Directions are at the end of this message- I will fasten a balloon by the driveway! Everyone is warmly invited. Betsy loves to share this beautiful place with us and it is a lovely gift. Wendy Schlotterbeck’s cell# is 513-9187. The house phone is # 371-2237

Note: Durham Monthly Meeting for Business this month will be June 26, not June 19.

What to bring?

1. Bathing suit, towel and sunscreen.

2. Change of clothes, jacket  and bug spray.

3. Food- bring a picnic lunch, drinks and snacks- there is water at the house.

4. Mask- please bring a mask to wear if you use the bathroom inside Betsy’s house, and wear one outside if you wish.

5. Betsy has several kayaks, life jackets… to share but feel free to bring your own.

6. Friends! We welcome your friends.

7. As always, please come only if you are Covid symptom free to keep our community safe.

8. If it’s bad weather we will likely cancel- call Wendy if in doubt.

Directions to the Holt-Muench property at 710 Bay Point Road in Georgetown:

Take Rt. 127 south from where it crosses Rt. 1 in Woolwich (just across the river from Bath, Maine) and follow it 8.8 miles to Georgetown center. On the right, after you pass the Georgetown Pottery, post office, Country Store and firehouse, Bay Point Road will turn off just before you start down the hill. After about 3 miles Bay Point Road will cross a marsh and make a fairly sharp bend to the left, then start watching for a white feldspar driveway on the left. Our mail box may or may not be out on the right. After you turn in to the driveway a white sign on a tree to the left of the gate says Holt. Follow the driveway down to the end and park on the feldspar circle by the house. Total distance is about 12 miles from Rt. 1. 

LACO Food Pantry Benefit Car Show, June 4, 2022

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The annual LACO (Lisbon Area Christian Outreach) car show will be held Saturday, June 4th from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Shiloh Church in Durham (12 Beulah Lane). Shiloh Church is one of the LACO partner churches (as is Durham Friends Meeting).

Proceeds of the car show benefit the LACO Food Pantry. Breakfast and lunch available. Margaret Copeland writes, “I hope people will come at lunch time since that is when we make most of our money.”

Please direct questions to Margaret Copeland.

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

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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.

ZOOM Link:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85930886777?pwd=V29mNGk2WFJGNU03VmtaY1UzWW5kUT09

Meeting ID: 859 3088 6777
Passcode: 754382
One tap mobile
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+16465588656,,85930886777#,,,,*754382# US (New York)

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Meeting ID: 859 3088 6777
Passcode: 754382
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k2dvLCJVx

Rally for Clean Drinking Water for Passamaquoddy Citizens of Sipayik, April 11, 10am at the State House

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The Durham Friends Meeting Peace and Social Concerns Committee encourages participation:

Rally for Sipayik Water and LD 906

The rally starts at 10, but you can attend the preparatory session with Wabanaki leaders and Wabanaki Alliance staff starting at 8:00 a.m. in the back room of the Cross Building Cafeteria (in the basement), and plan to stay after the rally to lobby your legislators:
The public water supply delivered to the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik contains high levels of carcinogens and is brown at certain times of year. Over the years, the state and a neighboring town have impeded tribal attempts to access water located on tribally-owned lands to bring clean water to a new elementary school and the larger community. LD 906 would remove those barriers, provide financial assistance to the local water district, and help the Passamaquoddy Tribe access clean drinking water at Sipayik. 

Please join Passamaquoddy Tribal leaders and citizens, the Wabanaki Alliance and supporters next Monday, April 11 at 10 AM outside the State House in Augusta for a Rally and March for Clean Drinking Water for the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER 

WHERE: Park at the State Office Building Parking Garage for free. Walk across the street to the outdoor area between the Burton M. Cross Office Building and the State House. 

WHEN: Monday, April 11 from 10 AM – 12 PM.

WHO: All are encouraged to attend! Masks are no longer required in the State House, but we ask that all Lobby Day participants please still wear a mask when indoors and make the best decision for your health and those around you when outside.

WHAT: A rally and march to show widespread support for clean drinking water for the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik. Please consider staying after the rally to lobby your State Senator and State Representative! We’ll give you the instructions and materials you need. 

Please click here for homemade sign guidance and remember to register here if you plan to attend.

Clean-Up Day, April 23, 10am to noon and noon to 2pm

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Trustees are planning an outdoor work day. 

When: Saturday April 23, 10-12 and 12-2.  Come for the morning or afternoon; bring a picnic lunch.

What:  Cleaning up the outdoor area around the meethinghouse.

Tasks will include: raking, cleaning up sticks and branches, cleaning up behind the horse shed, bucking up fallen trees as needed, washing outside windows.

Please bring a rake, clippers and/or hand saw, tarps for moving leaves.  Also gloves. Dan will bring a small chain saw.

Worship Sharing on the Peace Testimony, April 2, 4pm

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Peace & Social Concerns invites you to a 

Worship Sharing on the Peace Testimony

 April 2 at 4:00 p.m. EDT, via ZOOM (prior registration required).

Friends are invited to join to share their thoughts and discernment about the Peace Testimony of Friends and how the events in Ukraine have affected them.
Hosted by Quaker House, in Fayetteville, N.C. (near Fort Bragg).

Please note: an RSVP is required to receive Zoom connection details.

Quaker House is hosting a second Worship Sharing session on Saturday, April 2 at 4:00pm EDT. Friends are invited to join to share their thoughts and discernment about the Peace Testimony of Friends and how the events in Ukraine have affected them. The Worship Sharing will be unprogrammed and we will wait for messages to rise from the silence. As a time of
worship, we will not record the session.

If you wish to participate, send an email to wayne.finegar@quakerhouse.org or call 910-323-3912 and the connection information will be sent to you. This will allow us to have a sense of how many will be joining in worship. After the time of worship, we will discuss next steps in this discernment. Some options already suggested include:

  1. Additional worship sharing opportunities.
  2. More formal presentations from Friends who have written or spoken on these topics (suggestions of names with contact information are very welcome).
  3. Discussion groups (probably with smaller numbers) focused on topics of interest. These might well
    include materials for review prior to the sessions.
  4. Activism sharing with a focus on how to achieve real change in an era of social media.
    Friends are encouraged to bring other suggestions for consideration

Bread Day, Saturday March 5, 9:30 am to 2:00 pm

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Youth ministers Maggie Fiori and Gretchen Baker-Smith invite Friends of all ages from across the Yearly Meeting to gather with their local meetings – in person or virtually – to bake, laugh, and consider what yeast and bread have to tell us about Spirit and community. You can read more about it here.

Saturday, March 5: Durham Bread Day- please come via zoom or in person!!

Two options:

  1. For those who feel comfortable gathering in person-with masks:
    1. Gather at 9:30 at our Meeting house kitchen. 
    2. Join the NEYM zoom link at 10, for a short check-in and meditation with others from around New England! https://zoom.us/j/96433956342?pwd=OXhtVGZJMlJHRVhzcTlYV09YSVg0Zz09
    3. Make bread together using our own choices and ingredients.
    4. Join the zoom during sharing times while the bread is rising and baking. (Singing, games, stories…) NEYM zoom ends at 2pm.
    5. Take photos and upload them to the shared site!
    6. Some of us will deliver bread samples to some older Durham Friends who live alone.
  1. Stay in your own kitchen and bake bread!
    1. Join the NEYM zoom link at 10 for a short check-in and meditation with others from around New England! https://zoom.us/j/96433956342?pwd=OXhtVGZJMlJHRVhzcTlYV09YSVg0Zz09
    2. Make bread of your choice, stay on the zoom link or come and go as you please.
    3. While your bread is rising and/or baking, join the zom link for singing, games, stories. NEYM zoom ends at 2pm
    4. Take photos and upload them to the shared site.
    5. If you’d like- share some bread with a neighbor or friend or just enjoy a yummy slice of homemade bread knowing many other Friends are also enjoying their delicious creation.

ZOOM Plan for Gretchen’s Kitchen

March 5, 2022, 10AM-2PM

https://zoom.us/j/96433956342?pwd=OXhtVGZJMlJHRVhzcTlYV09YSVg0Zz09

Meeting ID: 964 3395 6342

Passcode: 326033

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,96433956342# US (Washington DC)

+13126266799,,96433956342# US (Chicago)

TimeSegmentWhat
10:00Welcome, explain the day. Hello’s to each other!
10:10 Introduction Message & Meditation from Gretchen
10:20 Start Bread – all are welcome to make any kind!
11:00Dough will RiseFrom here on out, we will bob and weave with what we do… I expect people to come and go, come late, etc. We will likely read some picture books and possibly people will have stories.. We may also have breakout room optional conversations or Whiteboard Drawing collaborations. Perhaps we’ll sing with different people leading.We will encourage everyone to send photos or thoughts or short videos to share.
2:00Done, celebrate goodbye!
After this time, I’m available by text! But I will be helping my Meeting with their bread day so will be off this zoom. GBS #508-287-6441

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

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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

Friends World Committee for Consultation Meeting, March 12, 2022

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 The 2022 FWCC (Friends World Committee for Consultation) Section of the Americas Meeting is coming online March 12th; registration is open now. The theme is: “Hope and Resilience: Drawing strength from our Quaker faith.”

The bilingual gathering is a great opportunity to witness the true diversity of Quakers in the Americas.

Learn more at: https://fwccamericas.org/_wp/event/2022-section-meeting/

FCNL Seeks Input on Legislative Priorities, February 23, 2022, 7pm

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Friends Committee on National Legislation wants to hear from the members and attenders of Friends Meetings all around the country as they set their priorities for the coming year.  They are asking what we believe should be emphasized in their work this year. Our answer to that question will then be combined with the views expressed by the members of other meetings.

What do you believe should be given priority by FCNL this year? Peace and Social Concerns Committee will gather the views of our membership and will transmit them to FCNL in Washington. The Committee has called a special meeting for this purpose, to take place online on Wednesday, February 23, starting at 7:00 p.m.

Please join us as we discuss these matters. If you are unable to participate then but wish your views to be considered, please share them with Cush Anthony or another member of that Committee.

FCNL’s areas of activity normally include such things as:

  • Promote peacebuilding and the prevention of war
  • Promote nuclear disarmament
  • Seek a reduce arms sales abroad
  • Work for a fair and equitable justice system
  • Advocate for fair treatment of American Indians
  • Support equal access to elections for all
  • End gun violence
  • Establish fair national economic policies
  • Meet the basic human needs of all people
  • Address the climate crisis
  • Strengthen environmental protection laws

If you plan participate by coming to the meeting on February 23, or if you are unable to come but desire to have your ideas considered at that meeting, please contact Cush at cush@maine.rr.com and he will send you the details.