Category Archives: Announcements

Interested in Traveling to Cuba in Spring 2025?

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Are you interested in traveling to Cuba to visit our sister meeting in Velasco? Or are you interested in supporting those who go? We’re  excited to share that Durham and Portland Meetings will be sending a delegation to visit Velasco Cuba in early Spring 2025 as a part of the Puente de Amor between New England Friends and Cuban Friends. 

If you are interested in going or helping those who go, or just want to find out more, please contact Fritz Weiss (rossvall.weiss@gmail.com, 802-299-7660)  by January 1.

The Portland/Durham/Velasco Sister Meetings committee will organize an informational session in January to talk about details. Members of the delegation we sent in February 2023 will be with us.

Donations to the Food Security Project for Bolivian Families

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UPDATE 23.11.20 from Emma Condori Mamani, Director of FIBC

 I am writing to you to share the joy about our successful Seed Potatoes Food Security Project done through Friends International Bilingual Center. Bolivian young Friends and I were able to distribute the seed potatoes until Nov. 11th, 2023. With the favor of God, 309 Bolivian families who live in the highland, received 125 pounds of seed potatoes per family. We, Bolivians, thank God with all our heart for this service work project. Also, we thank Friends who donated for this food security project. We bless Friends who have prayed for us, and they are still praying for the rain now. We are grateful to God for giving love and courage to Bolivian young adult Friends who did volunteering work for this project. And our gratitude to our Friends who support us to run the FIBC by giving donations, so we can do work to take care of others.

We will continue working on this Food Security Project if God opens the way to do this work. Families are happy because they were able to sow the potatoes this year. They will have to wait for the harvest until next March, though.  Meanwhile, there is a need for food to sustain their families. So, we will start distributing potatoes, oil and sugar to families in January, 2004 as part of our third stage of the Food Security Project.

There are four brief articles as reports in order to share the wonderful stories and the photos about this seed potatoes project. The Seed Potatoes reports can be read on our website: “Projects button”. Quienes somos | FIBC (centrobilingueinternacionalamigos.org). Enjoy reading them! 

We send our gratitude to the Durham Friends Meeting for their generosity by supporting our Food Security Project with $1,300. And blessings to all of you. 

Emma Condori Mamani, Director of FIBC

+++

ORIGINAL POST 23.07.19. At its July 16, 2023 business meeting, Durham Monthly Meeting approved a donation of $500 from our Charity Fund to the Food Security Project for Bolivian Families. This can be supplemented by additional personal donations.

Friend Emma Condori Mamani, the Director of the Friends International Bilingual Center of Bolivia, brought the message to Durham on July 16th, and attended our Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. She shared details about the FIBC’s  emergency food project for Indigenous communities in the Bolivian Highlands.

If other Friends are led to contribute, earmarked donations made payable and mailed to Durham Friends, received by August 1, will be included in one check.  An overview about the project plus contact information are found in the flyer.

We are grateful to Emma for her ministry and to New England Yearly Meeting for making it possible for Emma to travel among Friends and meetings in New England, as she is the Bible Half Hour presenter at our annual sessions in August.

Bolivian-Young-Friends-and-FSProject-flyer-1Download

“Why Peace with Justice? Reflections on a Quaker Delegation to Israel/Palestine” with Steve Chase via Zoom on November 12, 2023

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On November 12, from 7-9 PM, Steve Chase (formerly of Putney Meeting) will present his reflections and observations from his summer trip to Israel and Palestine with Max Carter. 

His most recent article in Friends Journal can be found here:

Speaking Up for Palestinian Rights Now

Steve is also the author of the Pendle Hill Pamphlet 445, “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions? A Quaker Zionist Rethinks Palestinian Rights” as well as “Letters to a Fellow Seeker”.  All are welcome.

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions? A Quaker Zionist Rethinks Palestinian Rights

Please register for this event at  https://lu.ma/wl2whc5y

This event is sponsored by the Israel-Palestine Resource Group of New England Yearly Meeting which is under the care of the Permanent Board.  To contact us, please write to israel-palestine@neym.org.  Our resource page is available here:https://neym.org/israel-palestine-resource-group

We hope to see you on November 12.

Don’t forget to register https://lu.ma/wl2whc5y.

It’s the only way to connect on Zoom.

— From Leslie Manning, Durham ME and 3 Rivers Worship Group, Convenor

Woman’s Society Minutes, October 16, 2023

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Announcement: Woman’s Society will meet next at 7pm on November 20 at the Meetinghouse, with zoom participation as an option.

Minutes, Durham Friends Woman’s Society October 16, 2023

Present: Qat Langelier, Dorothy Curtis, Kim Bolshaw, Nancy Marstaller

  1. We plan to hold our next meeting in person at the meetinghouse, with zoom as an option, Monday November 20 at 7 PM.
  2. We are sending thinking of you cards to several Friends.
  3. We just received the new Blueprints, but not everyone has them yet. Kim read a program from the ’21-22 Blueprints: Cynthia Steele’s In the Midst of it all, His Eye is on the Sparrow. Cynthia is now president of the USFWI.

She spoke of working as a nurse during the pandemic, and shared scripture verses that helped her during that time. Those verses spoke of seeking and accepting God’s blessings, and the opportunities we have to rest in God if we feel anxious or overwhelmed.

Friends had different reactions to the restrictions imposed by the efforts to control the pandemic. One liked the time to work outdoors and be with children, while another felt crowded in her small home with children and visitors staying for a time. Relationships could be strained at times, leading to misunderstandings, and it was hard to watch when family members were not as careful as hoped. We agreed with the reminder from a Friend: We need to be friends of each other, as well as Friends of the Truth/Jesus.

  • Dorothy read her Triennial travel minute, which was signed by Cynthia Steele. She will make a copy for our minutes binder.
  • Dorothy just finished a quilt for Skai Soltys- newborn son of Tess Marstaller and Jaime Soltys. Tess is Nancy’s niece. Nancy mailed the quilt today, as they live in San Francisco. Another recent quilt Dorothy made was for Cindy and Paul Wood’s son; he and his wife recently had a baby boy.

Qat mentioned that both her sons still love and care for their quilts!

  • The treasurer’s report was accepted. We have received money toward 1 membership and 3 Blueprints and a late auction payment. The $800 earned from the auction has been sent to the LACO Food Pantry. $46 was paid for Blueprints and their postage.

Membership dues for USFWI are $10 this year. Blueprints plus postage is $6.50. We have $185 in our account. From the $200 given in memory of Kitsie Hildebrandt we approved donating $50 each to SASSMM, Wayfinder Schools, and New Beginnings.

  • Nancy will lead the program next month.
  • We will pray especially for friends with health concerns.
  • Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.
  • On Saturday Oct. 14 the USFW-Northeast region met on zoom with 12 present. They shared their experiences at the Triennial. No date or place has been set yet for the spring meeting.
  • The October Tedford meal was chili, cornbread, vegetarian soup, fruit, cider, and ice cream.
  • Dorothy closed the meeting with this poem by Grenville Kleiser:

THANK GOD

Thank God for dawn,

The songs of birds,

Sophia’s House Worship Move to Zoom for October 27

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Because of the terrible, tragic shootings in Lewiston, Maine

From Leslie Manning, Clerk of Durham Friends Meeting:

Our regular Sophia’s House worship is scheduled for tomorrow at 10:30. Sophia’s House is in Lewiston, we will meet on ZOOM ON the Durham Friends site.  Durham is in Androscoggin County, and we pray for the safety of all.

If any of you want to talk or pray before then, please feel free to contact me.  As some of you know, I was the regional coordinator for an anti-gun violence group in northern New England and worked closely with communities, survivors and loved ones.  I was based in Lewiston, and my heart is heavy.

Please join us in prayer.

Blessings, Leslie

 All are welcome.

Threshing Session This Sunday, Noon to 1:15pm

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From Nominating Committee, Linda Muller, Clerk

We are a smaller group and still have work to do together….

Friends are reminded to enjoy your bag lunch then gather in the worship room by 12 noon on this coming Sunday, October 22, 2023.

This THRESHING SESSION will be centered on the query:

Can we SIMPLIFY our committee structure in order to do the work of our beloved Meeting together?

Some more specific questions we might consider:

**Are there committees that can be combined, like Finance and Trustees?  If so, should those names be required to have membership in the Meeting?

**Do we need a separate Nominating Committee, and should it require membership?

**Do we need a formal committee for Peace and Social Concerns, or does it function more like a work group with various interest groups that can be voluntary (not nominated).  Should clerk be a member of Mtg?

**Similarly, do we need a formal Library Committee, or is it a work/ interest group? Does it require nomination?

**Do we need a Communications Committee, or rather discreet tasks taken on by individuals (i.e., Webmaster, Newsletter Editor, Friends Note organizer )?
(At this moment, with (newly) no newsletter editor, perhaps we want a trial of having a weekly bulletin instead (an expansion of This Week at DFM)? Do we need a back- up webmaster?)

The more threshing the better so come if you possibly can.  We’ll keep it to an hour, or an hour and 15 min.

And thank you for considering,     — Nominating Committee Clerk, Linda M

Quakers Opposing Zinc Mine near Katahdin; Rally in Bangor October 23

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From Shirley Hagar and the Friends Committee on Maine Public Policy (FCMPP):

Andy Burt will be giving testimony at this hearing in Bangor on Monday, October 23 opposing the Pickett Mine on behalf of FCMPP and in solidarity with the Penobscot Nation and Houlton Band of Maliseets.

She notes opposition from the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) and adds: I’m hoping we can alert Friends to the importance of the hearing in Bangor where I’ll give our FCMPP testimony. There are links for folks to sign up and more info. NRCM will be offering vans from Portland, Brunswick and Augusta (buses if required) and pizza at the Cross Center for the rally. I have permission to table and pass out info on Q6 at the rally. 

Apparently Wolfden has put together a strong legal team but lawyers for NRCM, the Penobscots and the Maliseets look forward to the cross examination. Very important to have a large showing of community opposition. 

Be great if quarterly meetings could get the word out. NRCM is the hub organizing the rally.

Below are two documents: 1) the flyer announcing the hearing and rally on October 23, which includes a link to sign up, and 2) a fact sheet on the proposed mine. The Wolfden company has been turned down once by the Land Use Planning Commission and now they are back, but NRCM believes that their proposal is no better and contains empty promises.

This is it. This is our chance to tell decision-makers that mining in the Katahdin region is not worth the risk. 

The Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) has scheduled an October 23rd public hearing in Bangor for the zinc mining proposal at Pickett Mountain. Join us for a rally before the hearing to send the message that this is the WRONG mine in the WRONG place by the WRONG company. Bangor Rally & Hearing: The Katahdin Region is No Place for a Mine 
Monday, October 23 
Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor 
Rally starts at 5:15 p.m. 
Hearing starts at 6:30 p.m. 
Sign Up
This is our best chance to demonstrate the overwhelming public opposition to a mine in the Katahdin region. We know the company, Wolfden Resources, will be there and will bring its supporters to try to tip the balance in its favor.  Join us for a rally and pizza at 5:15 p.m. before the public comment session begins to hear from speakers and to show your opposition. Then at the public comment session, you’ll have an opportunity to speak to the LUPC in person and share why you oppose this mining proposal.  Find more information to prepare your comments on our website — we’re happy to help you with talking points if needed.   This new hearing date in Bangor was scheduled after more than 50 Maine legislators sent a letter urging the LUPC to make the hearings more accessible. This dangerous mining proposal is important to Mainers far outside the immediate region where the mine would be located — and we need to show that to the LUPC. I hope you’ll join us on October 23rd. Sign up here!Sincerely,  
Melanie Sturm
NRCM Forests & Wildlife Director
P.S. If you can’t attend the hearing, you can submit a written comment opposing the mine to the LUPC using our action alert.
pickett-mountain-facts-2023Download

Durham Meeting Contemplative Prayer Group

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[Updated February 2025] On Monday mornings from 9:00am through 9:30am you are welcome to join us for prayer.  The Zoom details are below. Come a little early to greet, gather, and share prayer requests.

During this period of prayer, we experience a corporate attention to God through silence, intercessory prayer, exercises of gratitude and communion with each other.  Though we are not tied to a particular order of practice, we include a brief time for greetings, prayer requests, followed by waiting worship, and close with fellowship and final thoughts.

Join us!

Durham Friends is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2814426094

Passcode: ask if you don’t know it: dougb AT earlham DOT edu

Dial by your location
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
Meeting ID: 281 442 6094
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbozXBQ0OI

“Travelling in Palestine and Israel: Listening to the ‘Living Stories'” at Brunswick Meeting, October 15, 2023, Noon

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Earlier this year Petra Doan and Liz Kamphausen Doan joined a Friends Council on Education study trip to Palestine and Israel. They shared their experiences with MidCoast meeting earlier this summer, but Brunswick Friends have invited them to share  again in Brunswick for anyone interested.

After meeting (which begins at 10:00 in the Morrell Meeting Room of Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick) we will provide soup and invite any attenders to bring a small lunch item to share. The presentation is expected to begin at approximately noon. 

Note: this conflicts with Meeting for Worship for Business at Durham Friends Meeting

Upcoming Pendle Hill Programs, Fall 2023 and Spring 2024

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Pendle Hill (a Quaker Retreat Center outside Philadelphia) calls our attention to a few opportunities this fall and this spring. Anna Hill, their bEducation Engagement Coordinator writes:

I’m reaching out to connect about a few upcoming Pendle Hill programs—I especially want to highlight two upcoming fall workshops focusing on Faith and Practice, Deepening at the Root with Christopher Sammond (Oct 5-9) and Friends’ Decision-Making and Clerking with Steve Mohlke and ,O (Nov 17-19). 

Deepening at the Root 

Friday, Oct 5, 4:30pm – Sunday, Oct 9, 12pm, 2023 

Through experiential exercises, small group sharing, large group processing, and worship, this on-campus workshop with Christopher Sammond explores opening to the divine Source in worship, vocal ministry, and leadings for action. We will create a community of deep trust and openness, opening us into deeper communion with each other and the Divine Source. 

Friends’ Decision-Making and Clerking: Participating in Meetings for Business with Joy and Confidence 

Friday, Nov 17, 4:30pm – Sunday, Nov 19, 12pm, 2023 

This is on-campus workshop with Steve Mohlke and ,O is an opportunity for both new and experienced clerks of Friends’ meetings and committees to meet and think together about the role of presiding clerk in the spiritual practice of meeting for business. This workshop will address racism in the context of Friends’ decision-making; we will be lifting up processes that seek to liberate the Spirit among all participants.

The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope (Podcast)

Join Quakers, seekers, and host Dwight Dunston for Season 3 of Pendle Hill’s podcast as we explore the 

practices that enrich our connections to ourselves and to each other: How do we cultivate relationships in spiritual community? How do these relationships and practices support our work for liberation and justice and transform our sense of what is possible? Join the conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! 

The 2024 Spring Term. I also want to let you know that we will be hosting two information sessions for the 2024 Spring Term, our 10-week residential study program March 1-May 10, 2024, in October and November. At the link above, you can find FAQs, faculty information, and more.

Applications are now open for the 2024 season of this 10-week residential study program on Pendle Hill’s beautiful 24-acre campus.

Do you find yourself seeking space and community in which to share the daily rhythm of learning, work, and worship? Pendle Hill’s Spring Term offers a greenhouse – a protected space for Friends and other seekers to bring leadings, ideas, questions, and other seeds of the “already but not yet” – to nurture these visions into being, through the daily rhythm of study, work, and worship in community. Learn more about this program and all it has to offer, and reach out ot admissions@pendlehill.org with any questions.

Spring Term Info Session (October) Oct 11, 2023, 7:30pm-8:30pm ET via Zoom 

Spring Term Info Session (November)  Nov 11, 2023, 2pm-3pm ET via Zoom 

Falmouth Quarter to Meet, October 28, 2023, 9:30 to 2:00 pm, Windham Friends Meeting

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All are invited to the October gathering of Falmouth Quarter on October 28th at Windham Friends Meeting.

Love Boldly, Share Deeply

UPDATE (posted October 23, 2023)

Love Boldly, Share Deeply

Falmouth Quarter will meet on October 28th from 9:30 – 2 at Windham Friends Meeting

The schedule for our time together is:

9:30  – Gather 

10:00 – Meeting for business: The Agenda will be: 

·       Receive Treasurer’s report.  (treasurers report)

·       Approve the 23-34 budget and specify this year’s donations.

·       Confirm the dates for 2023-2024 Quarterly meetings.

·       Consider what program to bring to the Quarter in January.

·       Receive Durham’s recommendation to record Leslie Manning’s gifts in ministry. NEYM Faith and Practice recommends naming several Friends to visit with Leslie and to bring this recommendation back to the quarter. 

·       Approve nomination of Dennis Redfield and Doug Bennett to the Beacon Hill Friends House Corporation. 

·       Share news from each meeting. 

 If you have additional items for the business agenda, please forward them to Fritz Weiss @ rossvall.weiss@gmail.com.

11:30 break, brown bag lunch.  

12:30 Afternoon program: Sharing experiences from the 2023 annual sessions of New England Yearly Meeting – especially the two plenaries.

— a plenary with Joseph Bruchac (an Abenaki storyteller) & Jesse Bruchac (an Abenaki language teacher), and 

— the Bible half-hours with Emma Condori Mamani, a Bolivian Friend who spoke recently at Durham Friends Meeting. 

–       A plenary with Anna Fritz (cello) (examples of her ministry are available at: https://annafritz.com/

2:00 Wrap up, closing worship.  

ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Falmouth Quarter will meet on October 28th from 9:30 – 2 at Windham 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 handcrafts.  

Windham meeting is preparing for their annual craft fair and would welcome donations of homemade items, knitting, or crafts for the fair.   Those who knit or crochet are encouraged to bring your materials and work on projects while we meet.  Windham is not welcoming White Elephant items this year. 

Our schedule is: 

9:30  – Gather in worship – Singing,  connection, perhaps some Juice and coffee and snacks and sharing

10:00 – Meeting for business to approve the budget, approve donations for the year, to confirm the dates for 2023-2024 Quarterly meeting, consider what program we might like to bring to the Quarter in January and to share news from each meeting.  If you have additional items for the business agenda, please forward them to Fritz Weiss @ rossvall.weiss@gmail.com.

11:30 break, potluck lunch.  There is a stove and microwave to heat up items and an electric tea kettle to heat water.

12:30 Sharing experiences from the 2023 annual sessions of New England Yearly Meeting – especially the two plenaries.

— a plenary with Joseph Bruchac (an Abenaki storyteller) & Jesse Bruchac (an Abenaki language teacher), and 

— the Bible half-hours with Emma Condori Mamani, a Bolivian Friend who spoke recently at Durham Friends Meeting. 

–       A plenary with Anna Fritz (cello) (examples of her ministry are available at: https://annafritz.com/

2:00 Wrap up, close worship.  

Questions, ideas, comments or concerns can be forwarded to the co-coordinators of Falmouth Quarter:

Fritz Weiss (rossvall.weiss@gmail.com) and Wendy Schlotterbeck (wendy.schlotterbeck@gmail.com)

The Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools: Facing Our History and Ourselves, September 10, 2023, 12:30 to 2:30 pm

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The Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools: Facing Our History and Ourselves; A presentation by Paula Palmer, Gail Melix, and Andrew Grant on Sunday September 10 from 12:30 to 2:30. 

Join us in the Durham Friends Meetinghouse. We will gather as a community to participate in this event by Zoom. Bring a picnic lunch.

Peace & Social Concerns

Time of Remembrance for Kitsie Hildebrandt, July 30, 1 to 4pm, Orr’s Island

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From Kitsie’s family, posted on her Caring Bridge site:

Hello Family and Friends, 

We will be hosting a time to gather and remember Kitsie on Sunday, July 30th from 1pm to 4pm at the Orr’s Island Schoolhouse. 

You all are invited to stop by anytime between 1pm and 4pm on July 30th to share memories of Kitsie and celebrate her life. This will not be a formal service, so please, come as you are at a time that works for you. 

We will have lots of pictures of Kitsie through the years, some of her artwork, and lemonade to share. 

Thank you all for your love and support, we feel it and it helps, 

Sarah, Bill, Willis, Lori, and Matt

Orr’s Island Schoolhouse info: 1594 Harpswell Islands Rd., Orr’s Island, ME 

Notes: When parking, please be sure not to block the Fire Station, which is right next door. Car pooling is encouraged because parking is limited.

Ancient York Lodge Contributes $1000 for Dorothy Curtis Travel to USFWI Triennial in Kenya

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Wayne Ackley joined Daniel Henton in making an announcement at the end of Meeting for Worship on June 18. The Ancient York Lodge of Masons # 155 (Lisbon Falls) gave Dorothy Curtis a check for $1000 to support her travel to the United Society of Friends Women Triennial Gathering July 2-8 in Nakuru, Kenya.

Wayne had made the motion to the Masonic Lodge, and it was approved unanimously. Dan is the Lodge Master; Wayne is the Lodge Deacon. (And it was Wayne’s first visit to Durham Friends Meeting.)

Meeting members (most especially Dorothy) voiced their gratitude to the Masonic Lodge for their generosity. Dorothy leaves for Kenya on June 27.

Meeting for Listening: The Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings, June 24, 9am to 3pm

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On June 24th, “Meeting for Listening: The Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings” is an opportunity for Friends across New England to reflect together on the spiritual life in our local meetings:  to dream together; to identify the resources meetings have to offer each other; to unpack themes in State of Society reports, as well as trends from statistical reports; and to explore what’s possible now.

From 9am to 3pm, Friends can gather together in-person or Zoom in. You can register for the event here online. There will be a local cluster participating at Midcoast Meeting House in Damariscotta, ME.  This is a smaller group of Friends connected to the other participants via a shared Zoom connection.  If you are interested in participating from this site, please contact clerkmfm@gmail.com.  If you plan to attend on-site in Concord, please register by June 20th, if possible.

Meeting for Listening: The Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings

Saturday, June 24, 2023, 9am to 3pm, Concord Friends Meeting (NH) and also via Zoom from Midcoast Meeting.

​Join us for a day of worship, prayer, celebration, and discovery. Come together to explore the gifts and paths that our meeting’s challenges have offered us the past year. Let’s see where Spirit is alive in our communities. 

​We will reflect on the life in our local meetings to see where we can inform the Yearly Meeting on how to best support local meetings through programmatic priorities.

​Together we will:

  • ​Dream together
  • ​Identify the resources meetings have to offer each other
  • ​Unpack themes in State of Society reports as well as trends from statistical reports
  • ​Explore what’s possible now

​A guiding quote for the day will be the following:

​“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 tugging and pullings of those bonds keep opening our hearts.” (Parker Palmer, A Place Called Community, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #212, 1977)

​This meeting will be planned and hosted by the clerk of Ministry and Counsel, the clerk of the Meeting Accompaniment Group, and by the Program Director.

​Participants can participate in this event on-site at Concord (NH) Meeting, via Zoom, or gathered with a local cluster connected via Zoom.

​There will be a local cluster participating from Midcoast Meeting in Damariscotta, ME. If you are interested in participating from this site, please contact clerkmfm@gmail.com. 

​ If you plan to attend on-site in Concord, please register by June 20th, if possible. This will help us comfortably accommodate everyone.

​We are looking for volunteers who are willing to serve as event greeters and tech assistants. If you are interested in volunteering, email Nia (nia@neym.org).

​Questions? Suggestions? To contact the gathering hosts, email Carl Williams (mc-clerk@neym.org)

​Covid Precautions for this event

​All in-person participants over the age of 4 years must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 (with boosters strongly encouraged for all eligible). Friends are encouraged to test at home before the event.  Stay home if you are experiencing Covid symptoms. Participants who have recently tested positive must follow the CDC guidelines for isolation and exposure. Masks are optional and the choice to mask will always be respected. There will be indoor and outdoor dining spaces.

Eden Grace Has Passed Away

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[Updated 23.6.13, and again 23.7.19]

Any who wish to attend Eden Grace’s Memorial Service at 1 PM on Saturday, July 22 over Zoom are invited to gather together at the meetinghouse.  The link is 

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82075151413?pwd=OFJhZUUwUGZTZ08zbitoeERhODJ5UT09

Meeting ID: 820 7515 1413; Passcode: 301733

Eden Grace, a resident of Maine, a member of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting, a longtime key staff member at Friends United Meeting passed away at the end of May at a hospice center in Scarborough.

A memorial service for Eden will be held on Saturday, July 22 at 1pm, under the care of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting in Boston.  There will be Zoom access; details will be posted here when available.

“God freely gave us the life of Eden Grace. Freely,” her husband Jim posted a few days after she passed. “This realization overwhelmed and enveloped me last night in a period of wakefulness. God had no obligation to give us this life. Like all of God’s gifts it was freely and abundantly given.”

Eden gave a message at Durham Friends on September 6, 2020 titled Telling the Truth About Whiteness. A collection of her essays can be found here.

From 2013 to 2020 she was Director of Global Ministries at FUM. Prior to that, she served FUM in Kenya.

Georgetown Family Campout, June 10-11, 2023

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Durham Friends Meeting and Falmouth Quarterly Meeting invite one and all to a family campout June 10&11, 2023. We will gather on the weekend of June 11-12 at Betsy Meunch’s beach house in Georgetown.

All are invited to come to as much of the weekend as you are able.  There is level space for camping looking out on the water, a private beach.  We will feast, have a campfire, and play; and we will have our spring meeting for sharing the states of our meetings, and the ministry that is rising among us.  Sunday we will worship as a whole community outdoors.

Questions? Rossvall.weiss@gmail.com ; Wendy Schlotterbeck@gmail.com

Discussion with Former Penobscot Nation Chief Barry Dana, May 22, 6pm at Curtis Library

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Recommended by Peace and Social Concerns Committee:

Arts Are Elementary Presents:

A Discussion with Former Penobscot Nation Chief Barry Dana

Mon. 5/22 at 6:00pm

Curtis Library, Morrell Meeting Room

Arts Are Elementary is pleased to bring Former Chief of the Penobscot Nation, culture preservationist, long time educator, artist, and professional basketmaker Barry Dana to Brunswick. He will lead an open discussion about Wabanaki history and culture.

George Lakey Events in Maine

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“George Russell Lakey (born November 2, 1937) is an activist, sociologist, and writer who added academic underpinning to the concept of nonviolent revolution.[1] He also refined the practice of experiential training for activists which he calls “Direct Education”.[2] A Quaker, he has co-founded and led numerous organizations and campaigns for justice and peace.” That is from George Lakey’s wikipedia page

George will be making a number of appearances in Maine over the next few weeks, including a session at the All-Maine Quaker Gathering on May 6 in South China. Here is the full itinerary:

  • April 21: Maine Calling with Jennifer Rooks
    Friday April 21, 11 AM-Noon, Maine Public Radio
    Streaming thereafter on mainepublic.org
     
  • May 3: College of the Atlantic Workshop:
    “Effective Action for Social Change: A Workshop with George Lakey and Sue Inches”
    Wednesday May 3, 2:15-4:00 PM
    Gates Auditorium
    Open to the public
     
  • May 3: Jesup Memorial Library, Bar Harbor
    “Finding Hope in the Face of Polarization and Climate Change”
    6:30 PM
    Open to the public
  • May 4: Wilson Center, Orono
    Thursday Dinner and Dialogue Series
    6:00-8:00 PM
    For more info:  Click
    Open to All
     
  • May 6: All Maine Quaker Gathering
    “Quaker Stories, Past, Present and Future”
    South China Community Church, 9:00-4:00 
    246 Village St, South China
    Open to Quakers and the “Quaker curious”
    Registration: durham@neym.org
     
  • May 7: Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick
    Finding Hope in the Face of Polarization and Climate Change
  • An Intergenerational  Conversation
    4:30-6 PM
    Open to the public

All Maine Gathering, May 6, 2023

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THE ALL MAINE GATHERING WILL BE HELD ON MAY 6TH. 

The All Maine Gathering (our first since the pandemic) will be held on Saturday, May 6 from 9-4 at the South China Community Church (formerly the South China Meetinghouse, home meeting of Rufus Jones).  Our presenter will be Quaker activist and teacher, George Lakey, whose most recent book is Dancing With History.

Our theme is “Our Quaker Stories”.

All ages are welcome, but we ask that those under 16  pre-register by contacting durham@neym.org.

The church is located at 246 Village St., South China (parallel to Route 202) about an hour and a half from Portland.

Since we in Falmouth Quarter are hosting this event, we ask that you bring something to contribute to our pot luck lunch. For more information, you can contact us at the same durahm@nedym.org with questions.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Further information:

Falmouth Quarter hosts All Maine Gathering

Friday -Saturday, May 5 – 6, 2023 in person.

South China Community Church
246 Village St
South China, ME 04358

The theme is “Our Quaker Stories, past present and future.”

The All-Maine gathering is an opportunity to celebrate our communities as Quakers in Maine, to build relationships and to share and support our ministries. There are some very exciting possibilities. We will have a rich and wonderful time together. We welcome all ages, Quakers and Quaker-curious! Pre-register or just show up! We especially encourage those under 16 to pre-register so we can plan engaging activities for all by contacting durham@neym.org.

Our presenter will be Quaker activist and teacher, George Lakey, whose most recent book is “Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice,” It is a memoir of a Quaker activist and master storyteller on his involvement in struggles for peace, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, labor justice, and the environment. His life will be the subject of a new documentary film.

The schedule for Saturday is:

  • 9:00 Arrival
    • Visiting – welcoming, coffee/tea and snacks will be available
    • Singing in the meeting room
  • 10:00 worship 
  • 10:30 Morning Program – including George Lakey facilitating a whole community conversation, small group focused conversation with themes of Standing on the threshold: finding clarity to say yes or no, and what sustains and nourishes our continuing faithfulness.
  • 11:30 Break and lunch prep
  • 11:45 lunch and visiting 
  • 1:00 Afternoon program An open invitation to share stories of witness, of discernment, of joy and of struggle.  Friends Committee on Maine Public Policy will bring a concern and we expect to hear of Maine Quakers engagement with climate, racial justice and asylum seekers.
  • 3:00 break
  • 3:20 – 4:00 closing worship

! Friday Evening: !

On Friday some Friends will gather at the Belfast Coop parking lot at 123 High St. Belfast at 5:00 PM and share a picnic dinner and will then join the Belfast First Friday Community Dance and Contra Dance.

Here are the details about contra dancing Friday eve:

Belfast Flying Shoes presents the First Friday Community Dance and Contra Dance Series. The evening kicks off at 6:00 with a warm-up session for the All Comers Band, led by Willy Clemetson & Benjamin Foss and open to all musicians, instruments, and skill levels. Tune list available on the website. At 6:30, Chrissy Fowler & Lisa Newcomb call a community dance featuring music by the All Comers Band. The contra dance featuring a guest caller & musicians starts at 8:00 pm. Shoes will fly in the Fellowship Hall of the First Church in Belfast, UCC, 8 Court St, Belfast ME. Community Dance admission is $1 kids & $2 adults; Contra Dance admission is $15 suggested. Masks available for those who wish to wear them. For the BFS community care policy, First Friday FAQ, and more info:www.belfastflyingshoes.org or  belfastflyingshoes@gmail.com.

For Friday overnight accommodations in Vassalboro Meetinghouse with teens or in private homes, contact: Holly Weidner <weidnerholly@gmail.com>

Cuba Delegation Presentation, April 16, Portland Friends Meeting

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At Portland Friends Meeting House this Sunday, April 16th, at the rise of meeting, the Cuba delegation — Hannah Colbert, Kim Bolshaw, Fritz Weiss and I — will be sharing photos, answering questions, and telling stories about our trip.  Please plan to stay and enjoy lunch with us.

If you feel led to bring a dish, here are some of the common ones we enjoyed: black beans and rice, cole slaw (without mayonnaise – and sometimes with grated beets or carrots), salad of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, plantains – fried and mashed, potato salad with hard boiled eggs, and tropical fruits such as pineapple, bananas and papaya.

 It’s not necessary to bring a dish, and of course, anything you might want to bring is welcome!

— From Susan Calhoun of Portland Friends Meeting