Bellingham Friends Meeting weekly E-News, January 28, 2015

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Sunday, February 1 - Second Hour:

Potluck!

Meeting Tasks for Sunday, February 1:

Care of Mtg - Judy H
Key - Don G.
Setup help - Don R
Greeter - Wendy Beach
Snack - n/a
Kitchen - Mark H.
Kitchen help - Karen Steen
Children's Teacher - vacant

Please contact Carole Teshima at knitpearl68@gmail.com to fill a vacant spot or to volunteer on a semi- regular basis.

Announcements from Friends

Visitor Coming!

Janine Bruton
(our former clerk) will be visiting in Bellingham the weekend of Feb 21 to 22, and she plans to come to Meeting Sunday Feb 22.
Susan Richardson will host a potluck in her honor while she is here; check with Susan to RSVP and for details.

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A visitor to our meeting two weeks ago (Tom Butts) brought us
Greetings from Port Townsend Meeting!

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Another Special Visitor on the Way!

Jay Thatcher and Katherine Spinner
work with NPYM's Youth Committee and
have offered to visit our Meeting to share ideas for First Day School activities and to
support worship communities in programming for children and youth.

They will be in the area March 6 to 16, but have committed to Port Townsend for Sunday Mar 15 (and the previous Sunday is Meeting for Business).

Any Friends interested in meeting them should contact Susan R as soon as possible
so that she can set up a time. Please let Susan know what other times you could meet with them.

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Anyone interested in a
Couple Enrichment Workshop in Bellingham?

Please contact Don Goldstein (671-1395 or dnx6309@gmail.com).
See the January Metamorphosis for more information about the workshop.

Coming in the Metamorphosis

(Each month’s Metamorphosis is available on our website (www.bellinghamfriends.org ) the Wednesday following Meeting for Business. A few of the many offerings in the current issue are:

December:

Update on Friendly Water for the World

January:

Couples Enrichment Workshop report
Friends Committee on National Legislation

Upcoming Second Hours

February 8: Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business - Committee Clerks and Friends, send reports, etc. to Susan R and Judy H by Thursday, Feb 5 for distribution prior to meeting.
Feb. 15: Worship Sharing about our Experience of Quaker Worship, facilitated by Virginia Herrick.
Feb 22: Quakerism: Experience It! Session 4: Discernment

Bellingham Friends Calendar of Events

Tues., Feb 3, 6-7:30 pm
Social and Environmental Concerns Committee
Contact Judy Hopkinson if you would like to attend

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Weds., Feb 4, 7-9 PM
Midweek Worship

at
Mary Ann Percy's home

(1 hr worship + worship sharings and/or check-ins).
Friends gather for midweek worship on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays each month.
Future dates will be on Feb 4, 18, March 4, etc.

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Tuesday, February 10 7 - 9 pm
Book Group
at
Sharon Trent and Don Reinke's home

This month's Selection:
Boys in the Boat

This is also the WhatcomReads selection and there are many author events etc in February, plus it's an amazing story, (and the book club always has nice snacks -just sayin')

Get your library copy NOW from Susan Richardson

Susan has a book club kit from the library and with more copies available.
Contact her by email at boghill@earthink.net

CORRECTION!

The link for the Bellingham Friends listserve at the bottom of the E-News was broken.

BUT now it is fixed
so feel free to try again!

Celebrating Nature

BIRD MONTH EVENT in BELLINGHAM:

Thursday, Jan 29 through Sunday, Feb 1
12 - 5 pm
"Unlocking the Mysteries of the Snowy Owl"
will be the theme of a monthlong exploration of snow owls and other winter migratory birds
Whatcom Museum's Syre Education Center,
201 Prospect St. Entry is $5.

http://www.whatcommuseum.org

Query of the Month

Seek to know an inward stillness, even amid the activities of daily life.
Do you encourage in yourself and in others a habit of dependence
on the Spirit’s guidance for each day?
Hold yourself and others in the Light, knowing that all are cherished.

Adapted from Britain Yearly Meeting Little Red Book, #3

Quakerism: Experience It!

Readings for QEI: Some are online, some are not.

To access the ones on line, click here and go to the folder titled
"Xtra Readings, Pamphlets, Articles, Charts, Papers" then go to the file titled:
"Reading Materials Compilation.pdf"

Readings for February 22 - Session 4: "Discerning God's Will: 'Gospel Order'"

Here's the description of the session + readings, from the curriculum:

What is "gospel order"? What is the relationship between the Meeting and its members? Where do discipline and nurture come from in the Meeting? Are there ways that you feel the Meeting oversees your activities? Do you think your Meeting should be more or less involved in your personal life?

Study:

Sandra Cronk, "Gospel Order: A Quaker Understanding of Faithful Community," pp. 4-44.
Fox, Journal of George Fox, pp. 577, 666-668.
Michael Sheeran, Beyond Majority Rule, pp. 19-43, 92-99.
John Punshon, Encounter with Silence, pp. 29-35.
(Short of Time? Read Cronk, pp. 4-8, 17-20, 32-38; and Sheeran, pp. 19-34, 38-43.)

Reflection: Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 3, 4:32-5:42
(Short of Time? Read Chapter 5.)
Quakerism: Experience It!

From Ministry and Counsel:

Wonderful news! Maya Hatten-Beck is doing well at Ronald McDonald House.

Sharon Trent is on the mend from her bout of pneumonia.

Please hold Rob, Suzanne and Sarah Dillard in the Light as they mourn the passing of Rob's mom, Louise Z. Dillard, who died Dec. 30 at her Seattle home.

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To honor and nurture our precious silent worship together, please plan to arrive before 10 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Please enter the hallway outside the worship room quietly, as voices carry. Please silence cellphones and arrange belongings before entering, and keep comings and goings during worship to a minimum.
Thank you.

Looking ahead to wider quaker gatherings:

PNQM Spring Quarterly Meeting – April 24-26, Ellensburg, WA: Theme: Lift Every Voice – Music & Spirituality

Friends General Conference (FGC) Gathering of Friends – July 5-11, Western Carolina Univ., NC

North Pacific Yearly Meeting (NPYM) Annual Session - July 15-19, Whitworth Univ., Spokane

Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) Fall Steering Committee Meeting:October 22 - 25 at Ben Lomond Quaker Center near Santa Cruz, CA

Bellingham Friends are reminded that they may contact Ministry and Counsel for assistance reaching clearness about attending, and/or availability of financial assistance for attending any Quaker event.

Announcements from the Wider Community

World Issues Forum

“Are We Off the Climate Precipice?”
This is over, but several of you asked for a link to the video of the presentation, so here it is:

http://vimeo.com/117539867

Dahr Jamail, independent, award winning journalist
12 Noon-1:20pm, Fairhaven College Auditorium

Between 150 and 200 species are going extinct every single day. We are likely to begin seeing periods of ice-free Arctic by as soon as this coming summer, or the summer of 2016 at the latest. The 14 hottest years on record have all occurred in the last 16 years. August, September, and October of 2014 were each the hottest months ever recorded, respectively, and 2014 is already tied with the hottest year ever recorded. All this and we are only .85C above pre-industrial temperatures. Have we already gone off the climate precipice? What can we expect in the climate disrupted future, and what should we do now?

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Energy & Climate: the defining issue of our time
a six – part workshop series
Thursdays, Jan 22nd – Feb 26th

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
at RE Sources Sustainable Living Center (above The RE Store)
2309 Meridian St, Bellingham (map)
FREE

Learn about the single most defining issue of our time: energy and climate. From nuclear to photovoltaic, get an overview of the geology, history, and physics of these complex systems. Each topic may be attended as a stand-alone class. These courses are free and open to the public. No registration necessary.
For more information:
http://www.re-sources.org/events/workshops-events

Jan 29 Wind energy
Feb 5 Coal power
Feb 12 Photovoltaic & other solar
Feb 19 Nuclear power & weapons
Feb 26 Climate change

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January 28, Noon-1:20pm,

Fairhaven College Auditorium
World Issues Forum

“Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State"

Wayne Au, Associate Professor in the School of Educational Studies at the University of Washington Bothell; an editor for Rethinking Schools.

Public education is currently seen as one of the last great “prizes” for proponents of neoliberalism as a large market for potential profit. In this talk, Professor Wayne Au analyzes how the neoliberal restructuring of the state relative to public education has resulted in a shift from democratic government to an increase in non-democratic network governance by corporations, non-profit organizations, and philanthropies. Drawing from his upcoming co-edited collection, this talk offers a framing for the rise of neoliberal network governance in education and shares different examples of social network analyses illustrating such governance in the U.S. Chile, and elsewhere.

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Western Reads & Whatcom Reads Presents:
Faculty Panel Discussion

The Boys in the Boat:
The History & Politics That
Changed the World

Thursday, February 5
4-5:30pm, Academic Instruction West 204
7-7:30pm, Village Books, Fairhaven
This event will be live streamed on WWU's Ustream Channel

AND

Whatcom Reads Presents:

The Story Behind "The Boys in the Boat"
Thursday, February 12
Bellingham Public Library
6:00pm - 7:00pm

Come hear Judy Rantz Willman, daughter of Olympian Joe Rantz, speak about the genesis of "The Boys in the Boat, tell several stories about her dad and her family, and reflect on why the best-selling book is having such an intense effect on readers all over the nation.

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Saturday, February 21, 2015

League of Women Voters special Event

Living on the Brink:

Women's Economic Security in Whatcom County

Doors open at 9:30; Program is 10:00 – 12:00
Bellingham Technical College , Bldg. "G"
Settlemyer Family Hall
3028 Lindbergh Avenue. Free parking.

The League of Women Voters® of Bellingham/Whatcom County invites the public to a special presentation sharing the findings of their study on women’s economic security in Whatcom County and an opportunity to start a community dialogue about the implications. Guest speakers include Sheri Emerson, Associate Dir, Opportunity Council; Kirsten Barron, Attorney, Barron Smith Daugert; and Kerri Holferty, Whatcom Community College.

General Information:

Ways to connect with Friends: click on the links below for

Please contact Allen Stockbridge by email cleanairguy@gmail.com if you have any trouble connecting to either the Facebook account or to the Yahoo group.
And - See the October Metamorphosis for more information

Bringing snack? You may make this a contribution to Meeting, or, if you would like to be reimbursed, please write your name and "please reimburse" on your receipt/s and put in the Donations box. Thank you!

Posting items to the website calendar? Contact Virginia Herrick (vherrick@q.com) if you need help