Category Archives: Events

Christmas Offering To Go to Ramallah

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By Clarabel Marstaller

The offering taken at our Christmas program, December 22, will go to Friends School in Ramallah, Palestine. The Girls School was started first, the result of a girl in Ramallah asking Eli Jones (visiting from South China, Maine, in 1869) if he would open a school for girls in Ramallah (a small school for boys existed in Ramallah at that time). Schools were started in homes and in 1882 a building was completed — which was the start of the Friends Girls School. Meanwhile, a boys’ school was held in a home in Ramallah. In 1914 a building was in place. However, it was used as a hospital during World War I, first by the Central Powers and, as England prevailed, by English troops. In 1918 it began serving its original purpose. Today the girls’ school is the Lower School and the boys’ school the Upper School, both coed. New England Friends were very much involved in the early years of the schools. Joyce Ajlouny, director of Ramallah Friends School, visited our Meeting a few years ago. The schools are very up-to-date in their academic and technological life, thanks to their value in the Mideast. Our offering will help them meet the challenges they face.

Swap Before You Shop on Dec. 1

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By Brenda Masse

Special Events will be hosting the Durham Friends annual Re-Gifting Swap on Sunday, December 1, during refreshment time after Meeting for Worship. Please bring GENTLY used items to swap and get a jump-start on your holiday shopping! It is a great way to save the earth and your wallet! See Brenda Masse for further details.

Christmas Potluck and Program

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By Dorothy Hinshaw

The Christian Education Committee would like to announce that the Christmas Potluck and program will be held on Dec. 22, Sunday evening, at 5:30 p.m. The Christmas tree 2013snow date will be the next day, Monday. Supper starts at 5:30 p.m. and the program at 7 p.m.

Reminders

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Contemplative Prayer Group will be meeting on the second Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at 24 Cedar St., Brunswick. There will be a Christmas Eve worship service at 7 p.m. on Dec. 24.

Prayer on Civil Discourse – Nov. 1

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On Nov. 1, the Maine Council of Churches will be holding a day of prayer on civil discourse for the election. MCC invites congregations across Maine to participate in a public prayer service to promote civil discourse and prayerful discernment in public life the weekend before Election Day. For more information, please contact: info@mainecouncilofchurches.org or call 207 772-1918.

Kenyan Crafts Marketplace

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A Christmas Crafts Fair Selling Kenyan Made Goods to benefit the Kakamega Orphans Project

Saturday November 9th 10:00 to 2:00 St. Jude’s Church 134 Main Street, Freeport

Handbags, scarves, woven bowls, carved wood animals, Christmas tree ornaments, nativity scenes, soapstones and more…. Great Gifts! St. Jude’s is located on the corner of Main and School Street, Freeport across from the post office. Parking in the rear. For information, please call 318-8531 or email: sukierice@comcast.net

Clerking Workshop

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By Daphne Clement
Margaret Cooley, Clerk of New England Yearly Meeting Ministry & Counsel, will lead a clerking workshop on Sunday afternoon, March 10. This gathering is open to all Meetings in the Falmouth Quarter (or anywhere in Maine if you don’t mind traveling). The goal of this workshop is to help us facilitate our Committees and Monthly Meetings in a more gathered and Spirit-Led way.
Where: Durham Friends Meeting, 532 Quaker Meeting House Road, Durham, ME 04222.
For Whom: All Meeting and Committee Clerks now serving and for anyone who thinks they might ever become a clerk serving their Meeting.
When: Durham Friends gather for waiting Worship at 10:25 a.m. (we are semi-programed). Workshop participants are welcome to worship with us. We will then serve a simple lunch (soup and bread) and gather from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
If you have questions or require hospitality please contact Daphne Clement at 207-353-6354.

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting at Durham July 28

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By Margaret Wentworth
The schedule for the upcoming meeting of Falmouth Quarterly Meeting is quite different from the usual. We
will be meeting here at Durham but we won’t be starting in the morning as we normally do. This is the schedule for
the day:
12:30 p.m. Soup and snack
1:00 p.m. M&C
2:00 p.m. Worship
3:00 p.m. Business
4:00 p.m. Play! Bring a canoe or kayak to paddle Runaround Pond, |
or wear sturdy shoes to hike Cox’s Pinnacle
5:30/:45-6:45 Picnic begins
7:00 p.m. Program with Ray Sirois: “Enlightened by the Science of Climate and Water
— Empowerment for a Sustainable Future”
These times are flexible except the 7 p.m. start of the evening program. Please join us for what promises to be
an enjoyable and memorable day.

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting

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By Margaret Wentworth
Falmouth Quarterly Meeting will meet at Portland meetinghouse on April 28. The schedule is:
 8 a.m.Ministry & Counsel (M & C members from all meetings are invited)  10 a.m.Meeting for Worship  11:15 a.m. Meeting for Business Noon(ish) Lunch, provided by Portland Friends 1:30 p.m.Program concerning prison reform, with emphasis on the problems of solitary confinement. There will be a video.
There will be a youth program on sustainability facilitated by Wendy Schlotterbeck. We will be watching a movie and building stick sculptures. Childcare will be provided.
Quarterly Meeting gives us all an opportunity to meet and worship with Friends from other meetings, and can be a great time of fellowship and inspiration! Do plan to come for all or part of the day.

Plants for the Woman’s Society Yard Sale

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Wow, what an early spring we are having! If you are dividing/growing plants and have extra, please consider donating them to the yard sale. We have pots available in the horse-shed. This year’s sale will be on Saturday, May 26, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. We ask that you bring plants no earlier than May 20, and you may bring them up to the morning of the sale. Please label with type, color if you know it, and any special growing considerations (shade, sun, vigorous spreader, etc.). Thanks for all your past support. If you have questions, see Nancy Marstaller.

Spring Gathering of New England USFW

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By Dorothy Grannell, of Portland Meeting and USFW-NE
The Spring Gathering of United Society of Friends Women – New England is being held at Durham Friends Meetinghouse on Saturday, May 12.
The schedule is:  10 a.m. Welcome  10:15 a.m. Worship  11 a.m. Program (Several women who
have returned from the 6th World Conference of Friends at Nakuru, Kenya, will speak.)
 12 p.m. Business meeting, including: Plans for gathering at NEYM Sessions and fall gathering; previous minutes and other items from officers of USFW; decide on special appeal for next newsletter; news from Cuba and other women’s groups in New England.
 12:30 p.m. Lunch
4 of 6
 1:30 p.m. Program continues  3 p.m. Closing
All are welcome!

Yard Sale!

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By Angie Reed
The Woman’s Society annual yard sale is right around the corner. The date this year is Saturday, May 26. As usual, it runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is a major event in the calendar of the Meeting and Woman’s Society. It takes the whole meeting to pitch in and work together to make this event the success it always is. A signup sheet for volunteers will be hung closer to the date.
Donations will be gratefully accepted beginning Sunday, May 13. We have a large gathering at the Meetinghouse on Saturday, May 12, and there just won’t be room for donations until Sunday.
It is now time to think about clearing out those knick-knacks that have been stored away … or, perhaps, still usable items from the children’s array of playthings, or from the utensil drawer of the kitchen. Books and other media are welcome.
Your imagination has no bounds, with one
exception: We cannot stress enough, please do not donate things that are not smaller than a small microwave. This year we are putting out the word more than ever before. This means, among other things, no furniture. We cannot take microwaves either. Most, if not all, of them are still on the table at the end of the day. This policy and notice have been made stronger because large items have been donated despite our annual request.
This yard sale is primarily organized and run by the female members of the Meeting who have difficulty handling large items. Often, Women’s Society gets charged a disposal fee to get rid of large items which decreases revenue raised by this yard sale.
If people with donations have any questions or concerns about this, please see a Woman’s Society Member.

Seder Supper

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Ministry and Counsel and Christian Education April 5, at 6 p.m. All are welcomed. Families will be co-sponsoring a Seder Supper on Thursday, especially are invited.

Reading Group Starts New Round

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By Daphne Clement
The reading group will start up again, this time to read the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. The meetings will be on
Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. at the meetinghouse and will begin on April 4. Contact Daphne if you are interested or for more information: 353.6354

Message on Palestine

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Markus Schlotterbeck will be giving the message on Sunday, April 22, about his experiences in Palestine. A potluck follows meeting that day. Markus will also be speaking following the meal.

DFM Sends Aid to Brunswick UU Church

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At the July Monthly Meeting we decided to send $1,200 to the Brunswick Unitarian Universalist Church to help the rebuilding of their church following the fire on June 6th that destroyed the entire rear of the sanctuary.  We also discussed that Friends be invited to contribute to that endeavor.  If you are so  moved, donations may be mailed to:

Unitarian Universalist Association,

Northern New England District,

Brunswick Fire Fund,

10 Ferry Street #318,

Concord, NH 03301.

To donate online, http://uuworld.org/news/articles/184523.shtml

For more information, please see:

http://www.nned.uua.org/

Rally Day: Sunday, September 11

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By Wendy Schlotterbeck

Rally Day marks the beginning of the new year for Children and Youth activities at Durham.  Activities start early on Rally Sunday with the kid-chefs cooking up breakfast for the meeting.  Come join us right from the start of our new year.

Breakfast creation 8:45 AM – kids who like to cook, come help!!

Breakfast 9:30 AM Open to all

Program 10:00 Come learn what’s happening in Christian Education

Meeting for Worship 10:25 – Inter-generational, kid friendly service – no Sunday School.

Schedule 2011 – 2012:

This year we will have three age groups meeting on different Sundays.

As usual, childcare will be provided for babies and toddlers.

Elementary Grades (preschool age through grade five) meet 1st and 3rd Sundays beginning at 10:25 AM.  We will be using the Godly Play curriculum.

The middle school age group (grades six – eight or nine) will meet 2nd and 4th Sundays beginning at 10:25am.  The curriculum will be announced shortly.

Passages, the high school group, will meet 1st and 3rd Sundays, beginning at 10:15 AM.

After September 11th, the regular Sunday School schedule begins:

September 18: Godly Play and Passages

September 25: Middle School

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting is July 24 in Portland

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By Margaret Wentworth

Falmouth Quarterly Meeting will be held Sunday, July 24 at Portland Friends Meeting.  The schedule is:

9:00 AM    Register and refreshments

9:30 – 12:30 Program, Part I

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch, provided by Portland Friends

1:30 -3:30 Program, Part II

3:30 – 4:30 Wrap up

4:30           Falmouth Quarterly Meeting

5:00           Meeting for Worship with Portland Friends

6:15           Potluck supper

 

The program, “Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream”, facilitated by Young Adult Friends, is given in preparation for Yearly Meeting sessions, and is related to the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) World Conference to be held next year with the theme “Being Salt and Light: Living the Kingdom in a Broken World”.

 

Four questions are considered:

  • Where are we?
  • How did we get here?
  • What’s possible for the future?
  • Where do we go from here?

 

If possible, participating in both parts of the program is important, Childcare will be provided if requested by July 15.  A donation of $10 for the FWCC Travel Fund is requested, but not required.  Make checks out to Portland Friends Meeting, earmarked for FWCC Travel Fund.  This will help Latin American Friends attend the Conference.

 

For more details, please contact:

  • Andy or Dorothy Grannell (878.8698)
  • Linda Johnston (933.4922)
  • Margaret Wentworth (725.6935).

 

This will be a long day, but it promises much food for thought and positive action!

2011 Annual Woman’s Society Yard Sale

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Jo-an Jacobus

This year’s annual Woman’s Society Yard Sale raised a record total of $1,789.75.  Customers and sales volunteers alike were pleased with the new pricing system for Jumble items.  Customers were invited to offer an amount they thought their choices were worth rather than all items being priced.  Only the more obviously “priceable” items received a price tag.

Syretha Brooks’ energetic and warm sales style was missed in the kitchen this year.  The food was still as delicious as ever but I, for one, missed Syretha bringing trays out to the parking lot to entice us inside.

There were books galore, clothing to dress countless families, the beginnings for many a craft project and plants to “seed” many gardens.

The money raised was placed in Woman’s Society reserves to fund local, regional, national and international programs that the Woman’s Society sees helping to make a difference in the world.

Durham Young Friends Activities

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Please join DYF (Durham Young Friends) on Children’s Day Sunday, June 12 for Meeting for Worship.  That is Children’s Day Sunday and they have care of worship that morning.  A picnic will follow with food, games and activities.

DYF and all of Durham Meeting are warmly invited to the Annual Campout taking place June 17 – 19, at the summer home of Betsy and Stuart Muench in Georgetown.  Even if you can’t stay overnight, come for a few hours during the day for kayaking, swimming, beach activities, singing and wonderful conversation.  Please contact Wendy Schlotterbeck for more details.

Durham Meeting Hosting LACO Benefit Dinner

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From Durham’s LACO Team

Durham Monthly Meeting is hosting a Pork Roast and Strawberry Shortcake Dinner to benefit the Food Pantry of Lisbon Area Christian Outreach (LACO). to be held on Saturday, June 25 at 5:30 pm at the meetinghouse.  The menu is pork roast, vegetarian baked beans, cornbread, a variety of salads, and dinners at Durham are never complete without our luscious strawberry shortcake.

The LACO Food Pantry serves hundreds of people every month, people who otherwise cannot afford to put enough food on the table for their families.  Donations of food and money are vital for the success of the Food Pantry. Many people in our community depend on it and the numbers of those in need have increased greatly over the last two years and continue to rise.  Come join us for a delicious meal while helping LACO help so many others.

Tickets:           In Advance    At the Door

Adults                          $10                  $12

Seniors & Teens          $8                    $10

Family of 5                  $25                  $30

Children                      $5

For more information and tickets, please call Daphne Clement, pastor, at 353.6354.

Yard Sale 2011 in May 28

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By Angie Reed

The Annual Woman’s Society Yard Sale will be Saturday, May 28, 8-1. This is Memorial Day weekend, and please plan to share some time with us that weekend. Remember, please save your “yard sale” items to donate.  They can be dropped off at the meetinghouse no earlier than Sunday, May15. Plants can be dropped off up to the morning of the sale. Plant pots are available in the vestry and horse shed. Unsold donated items larger than a small microwave are the responsibility of the donor and must be removed if unsold. Volunteer sign-up sheets are up.  Sorting and pricing will take place during the week before (see sign up sheet for times). Sign up now for your favorite volunteer spots.

Invitation from the Pastor: Join Adult Sunday School to read Four Doors for Worship

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Beginning May 1st – 9:30AM

During the month of May we will read Bill Tabor’s Pendle Hill Pamphlet Four Doors for Worship at Sunday School, please join us.

Synopsis This essay describes four doors as thresholds into the heart of worship.

About the Author William Taber (1927-2005) grew up in Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative). He taught at Olney Friends School for twenty years, and at the Pennington Boys and Moses Brown Schools. He later taught Quaker history, practice and spirituality at Pendle Hill. Ohio Yearly Meeting recognized Bill Taber’s gifts in the ministry in 1966. These gifts centered on his ability to translate spiritual experience into everyday