Copy
Bellingham Quaker E-News, Sept 23, 2015                           View this email in your browser 

Sun., Sept 27, 2015
Silent Worship: 10:00 AM

Explorations Academy 1701 Ellis St.
 (Click for map)
No Second Hour 
Extended Social Time
Meeting Tasks for this Sunday:

Care of Meeting: Sharon T.
Key - Lorina H.
Setup help -Rachael Van D.
Greeter - Karen S.
Snack - Dorothy D. 
Kitchen -Jeanine H.
Kitchen help - OM LFZR ??? could not read
Baby care - vacant
Children's Teacher - vacant

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

 

Calendar for Bellingham Friends
 
When
Wed, Oct 7, 7– 9pm 
What

Where
Midweek Worship

Mary Ann P.'s home

One hour worship + one hour worship sharing/ check-in. Friends gather for midweek worship on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays each month.
 
When
Tue. Oct 13, 7-8:30 pm 
What

Where
Book Group

Sharon T and Don R' home 

The Book Selection for October is
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.  This will be the Whatcom Reads selection early next year. Contact Susan R if you would like to have a copy of the book (she will have a library book club kit)
 
Group Discernment Workshop
Dorsey Green & Ann Stever

Whidbey Island Friends Meeting


Sat, Oct 24, 2015
9 am - 3:30 pm
(Bring dish for potluck lunch)
Location: Unitarian Universalist Congregation SR 525, 2 mile north of Freeland on Whidbey Island

Group discernment - making Spirit-led decisions together - ha been an essential part of Quaker community lif fo 350 years.  Everyone contributes, not just clerks.  In this day-long workshop, join Whidbey Island Friends to consider:
  • Why does goroup discernment matter to Friends?
  • How can we all paticipate helpfully in Sprit-let decisions - clerks, members and attenders?
  • How can we prepare ourselves for weighty decisions?
  • When have you experienced the Spirit in group decision-making?
To register, contact:
Toni Grove
tgrove@whidbey.com
360 221-6748
From Ministry and Counsel:
 
We ask Friends to hold the question of Bellingham Friends' meeting-place
in the Light. We are approaching the time when our Meeting will need to
accept for seasoning the purchase of Bell Tower Studios as a home for our
spiritual community, or decide that we are not Spirit led to purchase this
building at this time. Our Meeting for Worship for Business October 11 will
be the opportunity for this decision. Because of our contract with the
sellers, we need to make a decision at this point, although even if we
accept it for seasoning, it would still be possible to change our minds
during the seasoning period ending at our November MfWfB. The ad hoc
Exploratory Committee will have additional information for us next week,
regarding the outcome of inspections and the conditional use permit
process. There will be a Question and Answer period with members of the
committee after our potluck on October 4

****
Please honor our shared silence in worship by planning to arrive before 10 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Please enter the hallways outside the worship room quietly, as voices carry. Please silence cell phones and arrange belongings before entering, and keep comings and goings during worship to a minimum.
 
Thank you, Friends.


Our initial five-month, online/on-campus program, Answering the Call to Radical Faithfulness, was a successful pilot. The program includes four short training residencies at Pendle Hill, weekly readings, online learning activities, and fieldwork projects in each participant’s community. We still have a few spaces for our upcoming session starting in October and we would like your help to finish recruiting, admitting, and orienting this new cohort.
 
Does this program interest you? Might it interest others you know who are called to spiritually prophetic activism and organizing? If so, for more information, visit our website at www.pendlehill.org/learn/radicalfaithfulness or forward this message to anyone you know who might want to become more bold, effective, and spiritually grounded in their activist work for peace, social justice, and sustainability. You can also contact Steve Chase, the program director, at schase@pendlehill.org or 610-566-4507, x123. Scholarships are also still available.
Opportunities for Friendly Activists

Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015
RE Sources Sustainable Living Center
2309 Meridian Street,
2
nd floor around back

3:30 pm social time, 
4:00 pm start

 Chaos Protests World-wide [even in Bellingham!] on Sunday, 11/29/15:

Where, when, and how will 10,000 ‘Hamsters participate?

Concern of the Month for September:  
Friends Ugandan Safe Transport Fund
(formerly Friends New Underground Railroad)  
This program organized by Olympia Monthly Meeting supports those Ugsndans who are aiding LGBT Ugandans fleeing their homeland subsequent to uganda's passage of the 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Act.  Many individuas have been kicked out of their homes, universities and schools, jobs, denied shelter and healthcare, abandoned, beaten, imprisoned, and even killed.  But they have hope of reaching safety with the help of Friends ugandan Safe Transport Fund click here for more information

****

PYM AS 2015 – Quaker Earthcare Witness Statement

A Statement has been developed by Quaker Earthcare Witness, the Quaker United Nations Office, and Friends Committee on National Legislation for their joint presence at events during the UN Climate Summit in September 2014. click here  to read the statement.  
Social and Environmental Concerns will be bringing this to Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business.  Please consider whether Bellingham Friends are led to add our name as a signatory. 
 
Announcements from the Wider Community

Tuesday, September 29, 2015
League of Women Voters
Election Forum 

6:30-8:30pm    
Bellingham City Council Chambers
210 Lottie Street
Bellingham, WA 98225

Port of Bellingham Candidates
   * Robert Briscoe
* Gary Jensen 
Bellingham School Board Candidates
* Jono Manion
         * Quenby Peterson 
Jail Facilities Sales and Use Tax 
* Pro & Con Speakers


Tues, Oct 6 6:30 - 8:30 
LWV election forum
Bellingham City Council Chambers
Presenting candidates for Whatcom County Executive and Whatcom County Council

Sat, Oct 10, 10 am - 12 noon
LWV Election Forum
Bellingham City Council Chambers
Presenting Pro and Con Speakers on Initiatives and Charter Amendments


For more information:
 www.lwvbellinghamwhatcom.org/

 
****

Whatcom Museum

HELMI'S WORLD: SYMBOL, MYTH, FANTASY

June 27 - October 11, 2015, Lightcatcher Building

   Helmi’s World presents 65 artworks—paintings, drawings, prints and ceramics—    drawn from the Whatcom Museum’s collection of her work, which numbers 250      objects. Some of her finest pieces are highlighted, including paintings of                petroglyphs from Central Washington, watercolors of Lummi masked dancers, and linocut prints based on the Makah Wolf Dance experienced at Neah Bay. The exhibition suggests the complexity of Helmi’s vision by displaying some of her most unusual artworks, where images and symbols from a variety of cultures converge. The influences of Mark Tobey, Pablo Picasso, Scandinavian Folk Art, and Judeo-Christian and Buddhist iconography are also explored

 World Issues Forums/Paths to Global Justice

Fall Quarter 2015

Coordinator:  Shirley Osterhaus   Shirley.osterrhaus@wwu.edu 
Click here for more information

October 7, Noon-1:20pm, Fairhaven College Auditorium.  “The State of Hate: The Threat of White Nationalism in a ‘Post-Racial’ America”  

Devin Burghart, vice president of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights (IREHR)) 

The horrific massacre in Charleston, South Carolina was the most recent in a long list of white nationalist atrocities.  Find out all about the state of hate in an eye-opening talk that goes inside the white nationalist movement.

Upcoming Second Hours:
Sept. 27 - Quarterly Meeting, extended social time
Oct. 4 - Potluck and Q&A with members of ad hoc Exploratory Committee
Oct. 11 - MfWfB
Oct. 18 – “39 Questions for White People” 
Oct. 25 - “39 Questions for White People” 
Looking Ahead to Wider Quaker Gatherings:

Pacific Northwest
Fall Quarterly Meeting
THIS WEEKEND
September 25th - 27th

Theme: “Encounters with Quakerism”
Online registration and related documents for the Fall 2015 session of Pacific Northwest Quarterly Meeting are now available.  To register and/or download the documents go to pnqm.org  and click on the link(s) displayed near the top of the page.
 
(The information packet and registration forms are also available as attachments from Don Goldstein, dnx6309@gmail.com or 671-1395.  A few hard copies will be available at meeting as well, beginning August 23rd.  The early registration deadline is (or was, actually) August 23rd and the final registration deadline is September 13th.  Call or email Don for further information or if you need assistance in registering.
 
**** 
Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW)
October Gathering and Steering Committee meeting
will be held at

Ben Lomond Quaker Center, CA, 
October 22 -25, 2015

QEW has two face-to-face meetings each year to allow our committees and working groups time to meet, conduct business, listen to presentations, and for fellowship and worship. We are meeting in a restorative redwood forest in the Santa Cruz mountains, and we will plan plenty of time outdoors to enjoy this spectacular location.

Our theme this year is Spiritual Deepening Enhancing Our Work. From the inner light where heart, connections, relationships, intelligence, and understanding merge, we will seek to deepen our inner sources for effective action. There will be time for words and for worship, embraced in the sacredness of ancient redwood forests, to open space for heartfelt action. We are delighted to announce that our program this year includes a presentation by Joanna Macy (to learn more about her work, see http://workthatreconnects.org/the-work-that-reconnects/#more-1146

We especially encourage west coast Friends to join us to learn more about QEW. Our sessions will start about 5 PM on Thursday. A draft agenda will be posted on our website when it is available. We usually conclude after lunch on Sunday.

Scholarship funds are available for QEW Steering Committee members and for Young Adult Friends – please reply to this email to request support.

Please visit this link

 for more information about the meeting and/or to register.  

Please note, the cut off date for registration is October 15. So please register today, 

**** 
Pacific Northwest Quaker Women's Theology Conference
July 15-19, 2016

Canby Grove Christian Center
Canby Grove, Oregon
Theme: Naming the Gifts of the Living Presence
September Metamorphosis is on the way! 
Click here 
to find it online

A Feature article on the 2015 Quaker Earthcare Witness Statement noted above will appear in the September issue of Metamorphosis
Events/ Opportunities Recommended by Friends:
From Nan Macy
Saturday, October 3
Seattle WA

This one-day (Sat 10/3) Seattle conference, Weaving our Strengths may be of interest to friends.  Note that beloved Quaker singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer
will be performing the night before.  Tickets can be purchased for just the conference, just the concert, or both.

Special Invite! Carrie Newcomer in Concert 

Join us for an inspiring evening with a Quaker singer/songwriter who"asks all the right questions and refuses to settle for easy answers" (Rolling Stone) Friday, October 2 at 7 p.m. at University Congregational UCC $15 tickets can be purchased as an add-on when registering for the conference or via Brown Paper Tickets

Click here for more information

****

From Dorrie Jordan
First Tuesday of Every month  
at 7 pm
Beginning September 1, and continuing for 9 months

Assumption School Library

2116 Cornwall Ave
Pax Christi, a Catholic peace and justice organization, invites you to join us in reflecting on 

Laudato Si, Pope Francis’s encyclical on climate change.
We will meet monthly on the first Tuesday for 9 months in a program designed by Interfaith Power and Light and the Catholic Climate Covenant.
Prayer, study and action choices
will be incorporated in each meeting.
We begin Tuesday, September 1 at 7 pm  in the Assumption School Library and we will close promptly at 8:30. Looking forward to gathering!



****
From Joan Ofteness


Volunteer with CAST
 a new Interfaith Coalition program   
Interfaith Coalition's mission is to fill gaps in essential human services and to meet the needs of our marginalized neighbors. When CAST, Coffee and Sandwiches Together, food outreach needed a new partner, Interfaith and St. John's Lutheran responded with  enthusiasm for the opportunity to help.
 
CAST began over a decade ago and has faithfully delivered simple meals of soup, sandwiches and hot drinks four evenings a week, prepared and served by committed volunteers. Many of the guests -often more than 50 each night- appreciate the simple fellowship as well as the meal.

Needed: Volunteers to help us make sandwiches on a regular basis. 
Shifts are available Monday through Thursday afternoons, from 3 to 4pm.
To become involved in this marvelous program, please contact volunteer coordinator
Mary Ann O'Hara by calling 360-325-2613 or emailing her at maryann.ohara@gmail.com
Or Contact Joan Ofteness



****
From John Hatten


SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2015
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: PERSPECTIVES, REALITIES, CHOICES
3:00 – 5:00 P.M.

Where: Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship
1207 Ellsworth Street, Bellingham, WA 98225
A presentation featuring
● Phyllis Shacter’s TED Talk: Not Here By Choice –a personal story with new/updated information
● Barbara Green, MSW- an overview of Compassion & Choices of Washington’s  Alzheimer’s Disease/Dementia Mental Health Advance Directive
● Josselyn Winslow – a personal story about caring for an elderly mother and the difficult decisions related to her Alzheimer’s Disease
● Tresa Marriato, Executive Director of Woodway Assisted Living – the last 18-24 months of life for an Alzheimer’s patient
Followed by a panel discussion addressing audience questions & comments
There is no cost for the presentation or documents. Open to the public.
Make your reservation today by calling:
Compassion & Choices of Washington at 206.256.1636
or emailing info@compassionwa.org.

 

Friday Peace Vigil

When
Every Fri, 3:45pm – 4:45pm
Where
104 W Magnolia St, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA (map)
Description
The Nation's oldest weekly Peace Vigil. Paricipants gather weekly at 4:00 pm with signs in front of the Federal Building on the Corner of Magnolia and Cornwall Streets.
At Meeting for Worship for Business on July 12, the Meeting set out several benchmarks related to the possible purchase of a meetinghouse. One was that the purchase price be less than $595,000. A second was that the meeting could proceed to make a non-binding offer to purchase a building at 1430 N. Garden St provided the contingent contract allowed at least 120 days for discernment and study. The third was that Allen Stockbridge was “appointed” to represent the meeting in the transactions and a committee was set up to work with Allen.
Since that date a committee consisting of Larry Thompson, Allen Stockbridge, Sharon Trent, Dorothy de Fremery, Susan Richardson and Joanne Cowan was set up and has met several time. This ad hoc committee has identified a multitude of questions and issues for further study and has divided this work up among the members. 
 
On July 24, our contingent offer was accepted. This gives us 120 days to discern whether this purchase is both feasible and desirable for our Meeting. It is important to stress that no irrevocable decisions have been made.Your ad hoc Committee is taking its job very seriously and recognizes the huge importance of this matter in the future of the Meeting.
We have decided to set in motion a number of communications opportunities that hopefully will allow all Meeting Members and attenders to make their own discernment of the right course of action on this matter.  One part of these communications is the Post-It Board, kept up by Dorothy, which you will see at most Meetings for Worship. Additionally, the Committee will host a number of special meetings to allow members to dialogue and seek clarity. In the meantime, feel free to work with Allen, Larry, or any Ad Hoc Committee member as you build your own clearness on the Meetinghouse matter.
General Information:

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

  1. Bellingham Friends Facebook Page 
  2. Bellingham Friends Meeting website
  3. Bellingham Friends listserve
  • 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.
  • See the October 2014 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