Notes from the Clerk 03-19-25
Schedule this Sunday, March 23, 2025
Early Worship is at 8:30 both in person and online. Later worship at 11:00. Connections (adult education) at 9:45. Religious Education for children at 11.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86303480382?pwd=ZWhxeGZMYzl2aCtEYXF0aXNIUWhOdz09
Meeting ID: 863 0348 0382
Passcode: 584838
Connections this Sunday: Spiritual State of the Meeting Part 2
Connections this Sunday is our second State of the Meeting discussion, to hear the draft report from Ministry and Worship Committee and share our responses. Please join us for a time of meaningful dialogue about our spiritual life together (hybrid).
Sunday, March 30 — 5th Sunday Singing in the Community Room. Please come with your voices and songs you would like to sing! (in person only)
PACEM March 22-April 5
Friends, our support for PACEM starts on Saturday, March 22. Reminder: we will NOT be in the Meeting House this year. Church of our Savior has graciously invited PACEM to use their house for the rest of the season. It is a comfortable place and much more spacious. To get to it, turn off Rio Road on to Huntington Road. On the right there will be a parking lot in front of the church. After the church there is another parking lot. There is a sign that says Food Bank and another that says Overflow Parking. You turn in here and park. As you enter this parking lot the house is on the left. PACEM staff arrives at 5pm, so the only folks who may need a code to get in are the cleaning crew. Rosemary Gould will see that you have it.
There are still opportunities to serve. As of this writing, the following spots are open:
· Tuesday, March 25: Serve and clean up
· Saturday, March 29: Overnight
· Tuesday, April 1: Dinner drinks (sweet iced tea is popular)
· Wednesday, April 2: Main dish (please help Friend Susan Beers with this task)
· Wednesday, April 2: Serve and cleanup
· Thursday, April 3: Dessert
· Thursday, April 3: Serve and clean up
On two nights there will be mending. If you have an additional evening activity to share with the women, please add it to the calendar. You could do manicures, music, puzzles, whatever you think of that will be relaxing. There is inconsistent attendance at evening activities, so please do not be disappointed if you don’t have lots of women involved. Many of them are often tired and just want to eat and lie down.
You can sign up using this link: https://signup.com/go/PUigD.
Questions/concerns: Contact Cindy Cartwright or Linda Goldstein.
Quaker Action, a Faith-based Response Working Group
We invite Friends and others in search of a faith-based response to the evolving political situation to join the Working Group on Quaker Actions. We have met twice and have focussed the immediate need to protect our immigrant neighbors and to raise awareness of the lives that will be lost as a result of the defunding of medical programs for HIV, TB, and malaria. All are welcome. If you would like to join our mailing list and get updates about future meetings, contact Jim Webb (jlwebb@colby.edu).
CFM Spring Retreat on April 12
Mark Your Calendars! The Ministry and Worship Committee is planning a Meeting Retreat for April 12 at Camp Holiday Trails. An ad-hoc committee is working on the schedule and programming. Any member or attender should feel free to suggest programming and/or activities. Currently, there are plans for hiking, lunch, dinner, and time around a campfire. The planning committee includes Dianne Bearinger, Robert Fudge, Peggy Pearl, Cynthia Power and Tom Stephens. A contact with any of them will get your ideas to the group.
FCNL Update
Please consider joining us Friday, March 28th at 2:00 PM for a Zoom lobby visit with J.C. Jain, Sen. Kaine’s senior foreign policy advisor, for a discussion about the catastrophe in Gaza and the need for the US to stop supplying arms and instead to fully restore funding for the main humanitarian aid organization in the region, UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.) For more information on why this is of critical importance, see https://www.fcnl.org/sites/default/files/2025-01/UNRWA Legislative Ask 1-23-25.pdf If interested, please RSVP to Carol Herrick at herrickcd@aol.com, providing your full name and what city/town you live in, info that staffers like to have ahead of time. We expect a good number of participants as we’ve reached out to several other faith based groups as well. But every additional participant only amplifies our vital message!
Interfaith Witness Wednesdays at the U.S. Capitol
FCNL, Sojourners, and other faith partners partners are organizing a bipartisan series of faithful witness events at the Capitol every Wednesday in March. These multi-faith gatherings will call on Congress to exercise greater moral courage in upholding its Article 1 powers and preventing executive overreach. These vigils will remain nonpartisan while speaking truth to power, highlighting what’s at stake and the communities already affected. They will feature faith leaders from diverse traditions offering inspirational prayers, reflections, and calls to faithful action.
A Request from Barbarie Hill
Your newsletter editor is trying to update the birthday list. Please check the current list here to see if you are included. If not, please email BarbarieHill@gmail.com with your day, or write it on the clipboard at the meetinghouse. Thanks! Birthdays
The Big Friendly Read is Back!
CFM Library Committee is once again pleased to host the Big Friendly Read on April 27, 2025. We invite all members of the Meeting community to read Friend Bettyjoyce Nash’s book Everybody Here is Kin. We will come together during the Connections hour to discuss this novel, and we’re thrilled that Bettyjoyce will join us for the conversation. Books are available at the public library, New Dominion Bookshop, the publisher https://madvillepublishing.com/product/everybody-here-is-kin/, and CFM library.