Bellingham Friends Meeting Weekly E-News, January 7, 2015

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Query of the Month - From Great Britian Yearly Meeting Advices and Queries #42
We do not own the world, and its riches are not ours to dispose of at will. Show a loving consideration for all creatures, and seek to maintain the beauty and variety of the world. Work to ensure that our increasing power over nature is used responsibly, with reverence for life. Rejoice in the splendour of God's continuing creation.

Click here for a recitation of this query from Great Britain Yearly Meeting

2nd Hour, January 11, 2015
Meeting for Worship with Attention To Business
Clerks and Friends:
Please email any reports, member concerns, etc. to Susan Richardson (clerk) and Judy Hopkinson (recording clerk) by Thursday evening so they can be distributed to interested Friends before Sunday.

Meeting Tasks for Sunday, January 11, 2015

Care of Meeting: Don Goldstein

Key Person: Carole Teshima

Setup helper: Karen Steen

Greeter: Wendy Beach

Snack: Stephanie and Tim Manzo

Kitchen: Carole Teshima

Kitchen helper: Vacant
Children's Teacher: Vacant

Please contact Carole Teshima at knitpearl68@gmail.com if you would like to volunteer on a semi- regular basis or if you would like to fill any of the vacant tasks this Sunday.

Upcoming Second Hours:

January 18, 2015:
Quakerism: Experience It! The Meeting
(Virginia Herrick to lead)
see below for list o readings
We need a volunteer or two to give their
biographical sketch of a famous Friend.
Please contact Virginia if you are interested
in doing yours Jan. 18.

January 25
Discussion of State of Society Report
M&C would like committees to bring their state of the committee
reports and thoughts to that 2nd hour

Quakerism: Experience it! Readings for Jan 18

NOTE: Virginia has a pdf document with these readings, but it cannot be inserted in E-news for technical reasons. Please contact her directly if you would like to have the readings in pdf format. If you have a hard copy of the readings, please read them early : ) and pass them on to someone who needs them if you can.

Queries, Readings, and Reflection Questions for Session 3

January 18, Quaker Meeting Has Begun

Queries: What is the purpose of Meeting for Worship? How does prayer fit into worship? How can one prepare for and center into worship? How do you prepare for worship?

Readings for study: “That of God in Everyone, Crauderueff, Course Packet, pp. 57-59

Journal of George Fox, Fox, pp. 262-263.

Encounter With Silence, Punshon, pp. 11-28, 74-91.
Beyond Majority Rule, Sheeran, pp. 3-7
Quaker Strongholds, Caroline Stephen, pp. 16-21
“Deciding to Speak in Open Worship,” Course Packet, p. 60
(Short of time? Read Sheeran, pp. 3-7; Punshon, 11-19)

Readings for Reflection: (If you are short of time, just read these)

Kelly, The Gathered Meeting, Course Packet pp. 79-84
Gospel of John: Chapters 3 and 4

Reflection Questions for Session Three (You may have a copy of these if you attended session 2)

1. Have you experienced the presence of God in Meeting for Worship?
If so, describe the feeling. If not, do you know why not?
2. How does prayer enter into your worship?
When do you pray? Why do you pray?
3. Have you ever spoken in Meeting?
If so, why did you? If not, why haven't you?
4. What makes a speaker turn into a "Preacher of the Word of God"?
5. What do you put into and get out of Meeting for Worship?
6. What meaning do you find in these ideas and sentiments?

expectant silence

"I go for 'the silence.'"

unprogrammed worship

"It was great until someone broke the silence by speaking."

Calendar for Bellingham Friends Events

Tuesday, Jan 13 at 7 pm Book Group
This month's book:
"End of Your Life Book Club"

This month's location:
home of Don Goldstein and Wendy Beach.

Wednesday, January 14, 7 - 9 PM. :
Midweek Worship

at Mary Ann Percy's home
(1 hr worship + worship sharings and/or check-ins).

After this time, midweek worship will move to the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays each month. Future dates will be on January 21, Feb 4, 18, March 4, etc.

Announcements from Bellingham Friends

State of Society Report Time

Ministry and Counsel reminds committee clerks to be preparing State of Society reports for their committees this month, in preparation for submitting them next month to whoever is writing up the SOS report for Meeting.

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Willed Body Program Contact Information

Lorina Hall has gathered the following contact information
at the request of several Friends:

Univ of Washington School of Medicine
Department of Biological Structure, Willed Body Program,
Box 357420, Seattle, WA 98195-7420
tel no 206 543 1860, or 206 598 3300.

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Need some help getting the New Year off to a good start?

Clare Percy (Mary Ann's daughter) will be here tues 1/6-fri 1/9 and available to help out with computer or paper filing needs, organizing, tidying, child or pet care, downsizing, painting and more! Questions or offers? Best to reach her via text at 858.353.8641 or email at e.clare96@gmail.com

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Anyone interested in a
Couple Enrichment Workshop in Bellingham?

Two Bellingham Friends (Wendy Beach and Don Goldstein) recently attended a Couple Enrichment Workshop at Whidbey Island Friends Meeting. They were very favorably impressed with both the workshop and the leaders (Cathy Wallin and Scott Bell from Fairbanks, Alaska).

Couples Enrichment Workshops are opportunities to improve communication between couples through a series of guided exercises, and to develop skills that enable them to better support each other in both their joint and separate lives. New couples and established couples alike enjoy and benefit from well-led Couples Enrichment workshops, and these leaders apparently have the knack to do it right!

Wendy and Don were so impressed with the experience that they want to bring Cathy and Scott to Bellingham for another workshop - possibly in fall of 2015. If there is sufficient interest, Wendy and Don will propose meeting sponsorship and will handle the details needed to make this a reality.

If you and your partner are interested in being part of a local Couple Enrichment Workshop, please contact Don Goldstein (671-1395 or dnx6309@gmail.com).

See the January Metamorphosis for more information about the workshop.

From Ministry and Counsel:

Rob Dillard's mother died Monday afternoon, December 29, at home with her family around her. Please hold Rob and Susanne and the whole family in the Light.

Maya Hatten's bone marrow transplant is showing signs of working, to the joy of family and friends. The family is hoping that soon she'll be well enough to move out of the hospital into Ronald McDonald House.

Bob Butterfield's mom, Eleanor Butterfield has come through surgery and is stable. Please continue to hold Eleanor, Bob and Mimi and the family in the Light.

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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:

Pacific Northwest Quarterly Meeting (PNQM) Silent Retreat – Jan 23-25, Camp Huston, in Gold Bar, WA. Information describing the retreat and instructions for registering are attached below.

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,

January 14, 2015

“On the Brink: Israel and Palestine on the Eve of the

2014 Gaza Invasion”

Alice Rothchild, Physician, author, filmmaker, and longtime activist

12 Noon-1:20pm, at Fairhaven College Auditorium
7:00pm - 8:20, 1220 Bay St, Bellingham (co-sponsored by Whatcom Peace & Justice Center)
On a fact-finding and solidarity visit to the West Bank and Israel during the last three weeks of June 2014, Alice Rothchild, with her careful observation and a deep understanding of the consequences of racism and occupation, documents the honest, heart breaking stories and lives that do not make the evening news. She will share these stories that are essential to understanding the context in which that news occurs.

January 21

“Are We Off the Climate Precipice?”
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?

A reminder that our January meeting is on Wednesday, January 21 at Moles Family Funeral Home, 2465 Lakeway Drive at the intersection of Lakeway, Woburn and Yew Street; parking lot entrance on Woburn.

Also I want to announce, directly to you because this event is right around the corner, that Maureen "Koala", RN, and Cathy BSN RN are offering their outstanding presentation on "The Realities of Advanced Medical Interventions". This presentation was so enthusiastically received during the Art of Death that many requests were made for an encore. Cathy and Koala work in Intensive Care and have years of experience with patients who require full or partial life sustaining measures. They will present in layperson's terms the realities of what these often heroic Advanced Medical Interventions mean to the average person and their families. During the presentation you will see some of the actual equipment used. Questions and discussion will be encouraged. I found this presentation fascinating and valuable as I continue to rethink and rewrite my own Advance Care Directive.

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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.

Poverty and inequality in America, and the impact of women on the economy, are part of our current national dialogue. The Bellingham/Whatcom County League of Women Voters recently completed an in-depth study of women’s economic security in Whatcom County. The results of the study, and implications for our community, are the focus of the League’s program on Saturday February 21.
In 2012 in Whatcom County, one in every six people was living below the poverty line. The study and the program focus on the more than 25,000 Whatcom County women age 18 and older, many with children who depend on them, who are living below 200% of the federal poverty level.

Coming in the Metamorphosis

(Each month’s Metamorphosis is available on our website ( www.bellinghamfriends.org ) the Wed 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

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
Send weekly Enews items to Judy Hopkinson at jd.hopkinson@gmail.com - Please format items more or less like those in the E-news now (short announcements in 3rd person, directed to this audience, with links where possible)
Send monthly newsletter items/stories for the Metamorphosis to Betty McMahon at bettysmokey@hotmail.com

Our mailing address is:
Bellingham Friends Meeting

PO Box 30144

Bellingham, WA 98228-2144

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