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Meeting Tasks for this Sunday:
Care of Meeting: Larry T.
Key - Magaret H.
Setup help -vacant
Greeter - Joanne C,
Snack - None, Please!- lots left!
Kitchen -Mark H
Kitchen help - Don R.
Baby care - vacant
Children's Teacher - vacant
Please contact Carole Teshima at knitpearl68@gmail.com to volunteer on a semi- regular basis.
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Upcoming Second Hours:
Sept. 27 - Quarterly Meeting, extended social time
Oct. 4 - Potluck
Oct. 11 - MfWfB
Oct. 18 – “39 Questions for White People”
Oct. 25 - “39 Questions for White People”
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Calendar for Bellingham Friends
When
Tonight
Wed, Sept 16, 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)
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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
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From Ministry and Counsel:
We ask Friends to hold our whole Meeting in the Light. We are already a few weeks into a 120-day contract within which we hope to discern whether purchasing the Bell Tower building is a Spirit-led choice.
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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.
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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.
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Opportunities for Friendly Activists
Good Work, Friends!
It appears that peace has prevailed, and the Iran Nuclear Deal will survive.
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Special Request for
Baked Goods
for
Whatcom Peace and Justice Center's
International Day of Peace
fundraiser
On Saturday, Sept 19th at 7 pm
(see large pink announcement at bottom of newsletter)
Please consider bringing baked goods, savory or sweet for the bake sale at the International Day of Peace Event and Fundraiser on September 19 at the Majestic. Anything easily portionable would be most welcome! If you would like to help, please contact Janet Marino at janet@whatcompjc.org
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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
You may donate online at the link above or donate at meeting on Sept 20 th.
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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.
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Announcements from the Wider Community
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The Future of Housing in Whatcom County:
Affordable, Innovative - Can We Have Both?
Saturday, September 19, 2015, 10 am - Noon
Bellingham Public Library,
Central Branch - Downstairs Lecture Room
Doors open at 9:30 am for coffee and light refreshments
The League of Women Voters invites the Public to a program examining the kinds of housing Whatcom County will need and why affordable housing for everyone matters to our community
Local experts will share information and perspective on current plans and creative possibilities for meeting our housing challenges - Panelists will include:
Paul Schissler,
Community Development Planner,
Paul Schissler Associates, Inc.
Rick Sepler, Director,
Planning & Community Development,
City of Bellingham
Greg Winter,
Director,Whatcom Homeless Services Center
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
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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.
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Clearness Meeting for Bellingham Friends regarding Bell Tower Studios
Your Measure of Light is Essential!
Friends, we have worshiped and labored together and in groups to determine whether purchasing the Bell Tower Studios is a Spirit-led choice for our Meeting. But clearness about our choices remains elusive. Some Friends have spoken at length; others little or not at all. Our Exploratory Committee has done an exemplary job of gathering information and sharing it, and answering as many of our questions as possible. They are amazing and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts.
Now is the time for all of us to come together in an extended time of worship, prayer and sharing in which to speak lovingly of all we hope for our Meeting, and what doubts we hold about our current choices. Whether you believe the Meeting is led to make this purchase or not is tangential to the goal of being in Unity together in the Light. Once we are in Unity, the decision will arise naturally.
Ministry and Counsel asks Friends to join in an extended time of worship, sharing, and threshing after Meeting this Sunday, September 20. Please bring a brown-bag lunch and plan to stay as long as the Spirit leads us to hear one another fully. There will be time in a focused worship sharing/brainstorming adaptation, and time for threshing afterwards. There will be breaks for worship and coffee! Please bring your Light and join us in opening our hearts to one another.
~M&C
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Looking Ahead to Wider Quaker Gatherings:
Pacific Northwest
Fall Quarterly Meeting
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.
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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!
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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
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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.
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Friday Peace Vigil
When
Every Fri, 3:45pm – 4:45pm
Where
104 W Magnolia St, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA ()
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.
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