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Bellingham Quaker E-News, Aug 5, 2015                           View this email in your browser 

Sun., August 9, 2015
Silent Worship at 10 AM
Second Hour:  Meeting for Worship
with Attention to Business
Committee Clerks:  
Please email reports to Judy H. by
Thursday night 
Meeting Tasks for this Sunday:

Care of Meeting: Joanne C.
Key - Lorina H.
Setup help - Karen S.
Greeter - Larry T.
Snack - vacant
Kitchen - unknown - was it you?
Kitchen help - Judy H.  
Children's Teacher - Virginia H. 
 
Please contact Carole Teshima at knitpearl68@gmail.com to volunteer on a semi- regular basis.
Calendar for Bellingham Friends
 
When
Wed, Aug 5, 7– 9pm (Tonight!)
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, Aug 11, 7– 9pm
What

Where
Book Group

Joanne C.'s home 

This week's book is The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kid, which is a fictionalized account of the story of Sarah Grimke and a slave she was given as a child, her becoming Quaker, and her role in abolition. It is a Library kit and a wonderful read, and the book that inspired Joan to present the Grimke sisters as a QEI biography. To get a copy, contact Susan R.


 
When
Sat. Sept 12, 2pm -
Sun Sept 13, 2 pm
What

Where
Annual Retreat

Camp Lutherwood 

See full information at the bottom of the newsletter.
From Ministry and Counsel:
 
Please hold Carole Teshima in the Light, as she recovers from knee surgery. Friends who are available to help with errands or meals, pleaselet Virginia Herrick know of your availability and she will coordinate if  Carole needs any help. At this time she is mostly needing to rest a lot, she says!

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We ask Friends to hold our whole Meeting in the Light. We are already a couple of 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.

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Remember, our Meeting is seasoning Ministry and Counsel's recommendation that Jessica Bee's membership in Bellingham Friends Meeting be approved this Sunday!

Thank you, Friends.
Opportunities for Friendly Activists
From your Social and Environmental Concerns Committee

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SUPPORT THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL 
 
A huge vote on war and peace is right around the corner. 

Take action when it
Matters Most

click here
and follow the instructions (very easy) so that Friends Committee for National Legislation (FCNL) can help you send a message to your legislators. 

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Support Low Income Housing Residents
Residents of Washington Square Housing are mounting a campaign to ask our Senators to use their influence to pass HR 233: Tenant Income Verification Relief Act of 2015
 
H.R.233 would reduce the burden on persons living in low-income housing by requiring income  verification (and the completion of 27 pages of paperwork!) only once every three years instead of every single year .
A Petition will be available for your signature at Meeting for Worship for the next several weeks.  
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Do you want to prevent drilling for oil in the Arctic?
Join activists nation-wide in their final push to put a stop to Arctic drilling before there is a chance for another oil spill disaster.
Call the White House
(202 -456 -111) 
and tell the President to put a stop to Arctic oil drilling.
 
Metamorphosis has a new format! 

Click here 
to find it online
The feature article on the Elders in the July issue is the first in a two-part series.  Not only is it informative, its a great read.  
Don't miss it!  
 

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.

Upcoming Second Hours:

Aug. 16 - Proposal for BFM Decision-making Process/F&P Draft Chapter on Discernment
Experience FGC - the Gathering from the comfort of your own home!


You can view all the 2015 FGC Plenary sessions including

Parker Palmer
 (this one will be available a little longer)
Click here
for access to all 2015 FGC gathering Plenary sessions
Looking ahead to wider Quaker gatherings:  

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

if you are thinking about attending these or other Quaker meetings and are deterred by the expense, don't forget many Quaker gatherings offer financial aid and the Meeting has our own scholarship fund as well. Contact clerk of Ministry and Counsel, Virginia Herrick, for more information. 
From Outreach and Welcoming
Ever been puzzled about Quaker jargon?

The Outreach and Welcoming Group (OWG) is pleased to announce its publication of “A Quaker Glossary, with Some Notes on How Things Got That Way,” originally drafted by Howard Harris several years ago and recently augmented and edited by OWG Clerk Don Goldstein.  Here are a couple of sample definitions:

Continuing revelation ---- The belief that God (or the spiritual dimension) can speak directly to people today just as tradition says happened in earlier times.  Also called “ongoing revelation”

Lay down ---- To terminate a committee or activity when its work is completed, no longer felt necessary, or is not sustainable with the resources available.

The entire glossary may be read or downloaded by clicking on the following link: BFM Quaker Glossary .  A few paper copies will also be available at Explorations Academy beginning about mid-August.  Feedback to OWG about the glossary, including suggestions for definitions of additional Quaker-jargon words and expressions, is welcome by contacting Don at dnx6309@gmail.com.
AFSC Suggested Action on Immigration Reform

AFSC is organizing a week of action against immigration detention, starting August 10. Specifically, the week is centered around asking Congressional Representatives to sign on to legislation that would end budgetary language that requires Immigration to pay for a certain number of beds in immigrant detention facilities each day. Removing these so-called "bed quotas" would be a major step towards ending immigrant detention, as it would take the guaranteed funding that is making private prison companies so profitable.
Your Social and Environmental Concerns Committee is considering how we might participate.  Meanwhile here is a short video that explains the problem:

Several additional AFSC-suggested youtube videos on the topic are available here

Announcements from the Wider Community
 
 Concert in Elizabeth Park
Thursday, 6 pm



SUMMER PARK CONCERT SERIES:
Bellingham's Columbia neighborhood at Elizabeth Park.
Every Thursday through Aug. 27.
http://www.cob.org
6:00 pm - 8 pm
Free concerts sponsored by The Eldridge Society, in partnership with Bellingham Parks and Recreation. Hot dogs will be available for purchase, and all are encouraged to recycle and compost. Donations to enable The Eldridge Society to continue to pay the performers will be gratefully accepted at the concerts.
 
Update on work of the Ad Hoc Meetinghouse Committee
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 twice. 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.
Bellingham Friends Meeting Annual Retreat 2015

September 12 - Sept 13
The 2015 BFM Annual Retreat will take place at Camp Lutherwood, on Lake Samish just south of Bellingham, beginning about 2 pm on Saturday, September 12th and ending about the same time on Sunday, September 13th.  Most, if not all, of us will be staying overnight in one of two modern lodges with beautiful lake views and cozy kitchens/small meeting areas.  Camping space is also available.   
 
This year’s annual retreat includes time for several simultaneous interest groups from 7:30 to 8:30 pm on Saturday evening.
 
Request for Proposals
for
Interest Groups at 2015 BFM Retreat
 
The Retreat Planning Committee (Mary Ann Percy, Carole Teshima, Wendy Goldstein, Mark Hersh, and Don Goldstein) invites Friends to develop short proposals (1-2 paragraphs) for interest groups that somehow connect with our overall retreat theme of “Spiritual Deepening” and submit them to the committee not later than August 15th.  Depending on the number and nature of the submissions, we expect to select between 3 and 6 proposals for inclusion in the retreat, and will announce the list of interest groups selected by about September 5th.  The assumption is that you are willing to facilitate any interest group that you propose.

Interest group activities could be either individual (e.g., sharing a poem to express your experience of spiritual growth) or something requiring a group process (e.g., improvisation exercises).  Your proposal should include a sentence or two explaining how your activity or subject matter relates--for you--to Spiritual Deepening.

Send proposals by email to committee clerk Don Goldstein or deliver them in hard copy to any committee member. 
Questions?
Contact committee clerk Don Goldstein at dnx6309@gmail.com
or 671-1395.
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