Harry Lewis Gracey died on April 19, 2024

Harry Lewis Gracey

FMC member Harry Lewis Gracey died on April 19, 2024, one day after his 91st birthday.

A memorial meeting for worship is being planned at FMC for later this spring. Check back for details.

A Community of Equal Space—and Silence

March 15, 2024, John Bach, FMC member and Chaplain at Harvard University, was interviewed for a Harvard series entitled “To Serve Others and Be Well-Loved: Cultivating spiritual wellness during tumultuous times”. Click here to read the article about John and to watch a 2-minute video clip.

John Bach’s speech at the Aaron Bushnell memorial service

John Bach spoke at the Aaron Bushnell memorial service on the Boston Common on March 9, 2024. Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year old Air Force serviceman, died on February 25 after setting himself on fire outside the front gate of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC. Immediately prior to the live-streamed act , Bushnell said that he was protesting against “what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers” and declared he “will no longer be complicit in genocide”, after which he doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire.

Click here for a video of candle light vigil for Aaron Bushnell. John is the second speaker.

I am happy to be with you this evening as we gather in solemn tribute to Aaron Bushnell, and remembering the genocide in Gaza and the tragic and gut-wrenching list of victims. Like all of you, I’m sure, I attend many protests and demonstrations in opposition to the Israeli savagery in Gaza. My profound gratitude to the 50 some protesters arrested Thursday at South Station. But this is different. We’re here not just to protest, but to mourn and acknowledge Aaron’s sacrifice and the deaths of over 30,000 Gazans.

Could we therefore, please observe a moment of silence as we gather together as a community that understands the importance of being here this evening?

SILENCE

When I was asked to speak I hesitated knowing I’d have a hard time finding any suitable words for such a troubling action like self-immolation, sympathetic as I am for Aaron’s passion and anguish. Yet, I thought, how hard could it be to fill 3-5 minutes? Very hard, it turned out, to find words big enough.

I keep returning to something Dr. King said. He said that people who have not found something to die for run the risk of never having been fully alive.

I come from a generation that has a head start on dealing with self-immolation, dozens of which were occasioned by the American War in Vietnam. These were seen at the time as suicides and dismissed without much thought or introspection. In the mid 1960’s I was sufficiently “woke” to understand the witness of a Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc who immolated himself when not one in fifty Americans could find Vietnam on a map. It was photographed and President Kennedy said “No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one.”

I want to mention two others who immolated themselves; to bring them back to life in our memories, the way I hope Aaron’s name will live in ours.

Nhat Chi Mai, a young Buddhist nun who appeared so happy and serene in the month before her immolation her friends though she had become engaged.

And Norman Morrison, an American Quaker, who brought his one-year old daughter to the Pentagon to focus attention on the children of Vietnam, handed her off, and immolated himself.

The Vietnamese who lived in the Land of Burning Children (napalm, white phosphorus, carpet bombing) understood the sacrifices better than most Americans. They didn’t dismiss it as suicide which proceeds from despair and loss of hope. Trucks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail bringing supplies to the battlefields of South Vietnam carried picture of Norman Morrison on their dashboards.

And I want to add one more name, Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in Rafah.

And now we know the name Aaron Bushnell who said, “I have been complicit in the violent domination of the world, and I will never get the blood off my hands.”

What must have been going through Rachel Corrie’s mind in the split second before it was too late to move? Or in Aaron Bushnell’s mind, in the seconds after dousing himself with gasoline and just before the match was struck?

Maybe something like finding something to die for and being judged to have fully lived in times of pain and horror and freeing themselves from the complicity.

May we ponder the same question and be moved and inspired to respond according to the dictates of our own consciences … and to show up and show up and show up, making certain we do not lose sight of what keeps us truly human and living fully. And may we be nourished by the strength of our community as we continue.

Aaron’s last words were FREE PALESTINE. May we all take up that banner … for Aaron, for the Gazans, for the Israelis, for ourselves.

Russell de Burlo Jr. died February 24, 2024

FMC Member C. Russell de Burlo Jr. died on February 24, 2024 at the age of 99.

Russ was the beloved husband of the late Edith (Thatcher) de Burlo who was also a member at FMC.

Read his obituary here.

Bruce Steiner died February 8, 2024

FMC Member Bruce Watson Steiner died on February 8, 2024, at the age of 92 after a short illness.

Read his obituary here.

NEYM April Newsletter

Blue Sky Group

Blue Sky Bits

An occasional newsletter of interesting little bits we hope you will enjoy!

Blue Sky Bits #001, March 10, 2024
Blue Sky Bits #002, March 24, 2024
Blue Sky Bits #003, April 4,2024
Blue Sky Bits #004, April 21, 2024

Blue Sky Group – FAQs and more

What is the Blue Sky Group? What are you doing/deciding?

Friends Meeting at Cambridge (FMC) is a vibrant community, and our community has been stressed by factors that have weakened virtually all communities in the past several years. One way that FMC is experiencing the effects of our challenging times is that we are currently without a presiding clerk for the Meeting (This means that we have no one in place to attend to certain administrative tasks or to lead discernment about Meeting business). For now, the Blue Sky Working Group has been tasked with helping us to find our way forward with Spirit.

The proposal for the Blue Sky Group that was brought to Meeting for Business in Worship in September, 2024 can be read in its entirety here.

The three main responsibilities of the group are:

Determine which business before the Meeting is essential and how to respond. This may include appointing business sessions and temporary clerks for those sessions if/when needed.
Add members to the Blue Sky Groups as needed.
Plan and carry out threshing sessions, group meetings, presentations and other activities with the goal of helping the Meeting community grow in love, trust, and joy.

We have been asked to carry out these responsibilities until at least June of 2024 when the process will be reviewed.

Who is on the Blue Sky group?

When the Blue Sky Group was approved at the September 24, 2023 Meeting for Business in Worship, Nominating committee named five members (indicated by *), though they had hoped to find more. The group itself was tasked with expanding to include other members who represent different Meeting demographics. The current list of members, as of January 2024, is:

Jennifer Hogue*, clerk
Tom Sander*
David Myers*
Betsy Roper*
Gail Rogers*
MaryGrace Menner (YAF)
Eva Whittaker (YAF)
Tanzania Roach (Zoomer)
TylaAnn Burger

blueskygroup@fmcquaker.org

Why is it called Blue Sky?

The nominating committee dubbed this working group “The Blue Sky Group” to indicate, symbolically, a number of characteristics, including: openness, hopefulness, and promise, among others.

How can people outside the group engage?

Our aim is to engage everyone at FMC in the work of Blue Sky: finding our way forward with Spirit. The group is exploring options for engaging FMC virtually and in-person through a variety of activities and opportunities. We frequently use the FMC listserv and announcements at the rise of meeting to share about these.

We are always interested in feedback and suggestions. People can put written input in one of the Blue Sky boxes in the foyer of the Friends Center, or email us at Blueskyresponse@fmcquaker.org or blueskygroup@fmcquaker.org or contact any of us individually in person or by phone or email. Our names appear regularly in the announcements.

We are also seeking elders for our meetings and events. We recognize the importance of elders in the Quaker tradition as people who ground our gatherings in prayer and Spirit. There is more information with the online sign-up https://signup.com/go/xZRnNHU that has been published in the weekly announcements since November. It is important to us that our work be grounded in Spirit and as transparent as possible.

Can you go to the group with any concerns you may have gone to a Clerk for? If so, how do you contact the group? If not, what should you do instead?

Although Blue Sky has been tasked with discerning which of our business is crucial and how to accomplish it in the absence of a clerk/clerks, we are clear that we are not and must not become de facto clerks. Part of the power of this time in the life of the Meeting is to have a collective experience of being without a presiding clerk and without regular Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business.

If we are contacted with a concern that, in the past, would have gone to the clerk, we will do our best to respond or communicate that concern to a committee that can respond to it. It is likely that some of the things that clerks have done in the past simply won’t get done or will take significantly longer to get done at this time. Emails sent to clerk@fmcquaker.org or clerks@fmcquaker.org receive an automatic reply and are forwarded to Blue Sky. You can also reach the Blur Sky group directly at blueskygroup@fmcquaker.org

What have we been up to so far?

June 2023: Outgoing clerks ask Nominating Committee to find a team of people to help Meeting move forward in the absence of a presiding clerk or clerks team

September 2023: MBW approved the Blue Sky Working Group Proposal as well as the first five members of the group

October 2023: Blue Sky Group introduced itself at the rise of Meeting. The group shared its DRAFT principles and an email address for contacting them with suggestions and asked for responses to three queries (Blueskyresponse@fmcquaker.org ) This information was also published in the weekly announcements.

November 2023: Blue Sky Group published a link in the announcement sheet for folks interested in eldering to join our meetings: (https://signup.com/go/xZRnNHU) The group also organized a hybrid event to build community and to consider a few essential business items. Jan Nisenbaum was our clerk of the day.

December 2023: Blue Sky Group organized a brief, joyous time of business with singing before simple lunch. Elizabeth Claggett-Borne was our clerk of the day.

January 2024: Blue Sky Group planned a conversation over Simple Lunch for people to get to know one another and ask questions about Blue Sky. That lunch will be followed by an All Clerks and Conveners Meeting to consider ways to collaborate on our shared goals. Our contact information and eldering sign-up continue to be published in the announcements. We hope to publish a newsletter and a web page this month.

“Yani and Leo’s Thatched Mayan House” by Katy Cullinan

The Truth Shall Set You Free Book Review by Lynne Weiss

Lynne Weiss wrote a book review for Friends Journal on The Truth Shall Set You Free: The Story of a Palestinian Human Rights Lawyer Working for Peace and Justice in Palestine/Israel, a memoir by the nonviolent activist Jonathan Kuttab.

Click here to read Lynne’s review and to buy the book.

Follow Lynne at https://lynneweisswriter.com/.

Green Initiatives/Electrification Project

Green Initiatives and Meeting House Electrification Project

On Sunday, January 7, members of the Trustees Committee presented information about a plan to replace the old oil burning furnace in the Meeting House with a clean electric heat pump system. Click here to see the presentation from that forum. Click here to read our report.

We have a contractor lined up and the next step is to work out how to pay for this. The committee has some reserve funds, but the project will also need some of the Meeting’s unrestricted invested funds. We are working out the details of that funding and will likely require a community meeting in February to go forward.

If you have any questions contact Mark Webster or David White at trustees@fmcquaker.org

Beacon Hill Friends House Digest
April 23, 2024

Be a Volunteer!

Share your time and talents while getting to know your community better, volunteer!

The Memorial Meetings Committee welcomes volunteer help with memorial services, which most often take place on Saturdays. Assignments include handing out parking permits, greeting attendees, mic spacing, set up and plating prep for the reception. For more information, contact Toni Lydecker / SaraSue Pennell at memorials@fmcquaker.org.
There is an on-going need for volunteers to help with First Day School on Sunday mornings and childcare during various meeting events including Forum and Afterthoughts and non-Sunday events as well as summer childcare. Our child safety policies require that all volunteers complete a child safety screening process including a background check. Volunteers working with children typically do not work alone except with parental permission. For more information, contact Lauren Mawe at adminmanager@fmcquaker.org.
Fellowship & Outreach Committee welcomes volunteers to help with greeting before and after Sunday morning Meeting for Worship. Volunteers arrive at 10:00am and greet worshipers until they enter worship at 10:35am and then greet newcomers after announcements until 12:00 pm. For more information, contact Holly Lapp at fellowship@fmcquaker.org.
The Simple Lunch Team welcomes occasional and regular volunteers to help with Simple Lunch food shopping, meal prep, meal setup and meal cleanup. Our Simple Lunches include a vegan soup, salad, bread and hummus. Cooks especially needed. Prep begins at 8:30 am. For more information, contact Tom Sander / Alasdair Post-Quinn at simplelunch@fmcquaker.org.
Refreshment volunteers are needed to help with making coffee, setting out beverages/snacks and cleaning up refreshments. Training provided. Some volunteers bring food donations; others use food provided by FMC. Typically volunteers work as a team with at least one experienced volunteer as part of the team. Occasional and regular volunteers are needed. For more information, contact Holly Lapp at fellowship@fmcquaker.org.
Several committee/groups are designing new and updated brochures. Volunteers are sought to help with brochure layout and graphics. Contact Amy Mercure at office@fmcquaker.org.

Can’t do it right now? Check here later to learn about our constantly changing list of volunteer needs at FMC. Some needs are on-going, some are one-time.

Visioning Group Survey Summary

The Visionng Group

“There was a realization that the very unnamable and experiential mystery of Meeting for Worship holds us together and from this flows the love, community, and service which sustain us.” (FMC Epistle 2010)

We were fortunate, at the beginning of the pandemic, to have Zoom already available, so no Sunday worship was missed. When we opened the meeting house that summer we began having hybrid worship. We have worked hard to make it the best possible experience. Some feel that all events should be hybrid to include those who cannot come in person, that to do otherwise is not inclusive. This has been the goal for four years, but we have never discerned this goal as a community. We learned that there are also Friends who find it difficult to worship with the technology. Some have stopped coming to worship.

In January 2023, Ministry and Counsel formed the Visioning Group to explore with the community how to meet this challenge. The focus of the group is to meet as best we can members’ desire to have meaningful worship experiences. It is now composed of a variety of Friends from our community–some who attend on Zoom and others who attend on site. Current members are Walker Bristol, George Campbell, George Capaccio, Susan Davies, David Doms, Cynthia Knowles, Afroze Mohammed, Michael Shanahan, Sandy Sweetnam. We planned a process like that addressing the masking/COVID issues. There were three Listening sessions. We then developed this survey so that we could reach as
many as possible, knowing that many do not speak in groups and worry about expressing what they perceive to be unpopular opinions. We are experimenting with various combinations which might occur once a month, with hybrid on other Sundays. We hope to bring a proposal for discernment by Meeting for Worship for Business which will provide options for all to feel “the experiential mystery of meeting for worship”. What is God asking of us?

Click here for a Summary of the Visioning Survey.

Click here for a recording of the Visioning Survey Summary

Larry Dudley Memorial Meeting for Worship

FMC member Lawrence “Larry” Dudley died peacefully on November 29, 2023.

A hybrid Memorial Meeting for Worship to celebrate his life took place on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at 2:00pm followed by an on-site reception at FMC.

To participate using Zoom click this link or provide the Meeting ID: 783 475 1861 and Passcode: 1652 (if requested) on Zoom.com, the Zoom app, or after calling # 1-646-558-8656 .

Read his obituary here.

Tapestries by Marina (Minna) Rothman (Friends Room)

A solo exhibit by Marina (Minna) Rothman, “Fenestra in Aeternum” is showing in the Friends Room until the end of April 2024.

The exhibit is open for public viewing on Tuesday – Friday 10:00am – 2:00pm at Friends Meeting at Cambridge, 5 Longfellow Park (near Harvard Square, on Brattle Street across from the Longfellow Museum). Please ring the buzzer to be let in. If you message Marina before coming, she can meet you at the there for a private tour.

P.S. The Friends Center is a mask friendly venue.

Thanks.

Minna Rothman
www.MZRStudio.com
FB: Minna Rothman
Instagram: minnarothman

Ian Harrington Died December 24, 2023

Dear FMC Community,

It is with such great sadness that I write this email this morning. Yesterday, we learned that our much loved member Ian Harrington had died suddenly on Sunday, December 24. Ian and Holly have been at the heart of our FMC community for decades and Ian’s presence with us will be greatly missed.

Holly has been in Kentucky to be with her mother who passed away this past Wednesday. Holly had spoken with Ian on Saturday afternoon and became concerned when Ian did not make Peace & Social Justice and Fellowship & Outreach announcements at the end of Meeting for Worship on Sunday morning. She asked the police to do a wellness check and they found that Ian had died on the kitchen floor. There was no sign of a struggle and it seems as though he died quickly and peacefully. His death date has been officially recorded as 12/24/23.

Ian had a steadfast life-long dedication to peace and social justice, helping each year to coordinate the Good Friday Peace Witness and the International Day of Peace, as well as Clerking/Co-Clerking the FMC Committee on Peace and Social Justice for decades. He has also been an active participant in many aspects of Friends Committee on Legislation (FCNL) for decades. Ian and Holly’s presence has also been at the heart of the Family Worship Planning Group ensuring that our Family Worship on the First Sunday of each month brings love and Light to intergenerational worship. He was instrumental in bringing Toussaint Liberator to FMC and getting the drumming circle started. Ian was also currently serving on both Permanent Board and the Board of Managers for New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM). Ian has served on the Clerks Team—most recently as Recording Clerk for the Meeting. In the past Ian also clerked First Day School and Nominating Committees and Ministry and Counsel. Holly and Ian served together on Fellowship & Outreach Committee and have coordinated Thanksgiving and Christmas potlucks for many years as times of fellowship for the community. He has been involved with and touched so many parts of our FMC community over the years, his presence among us has been a blessing we will remember with gratitude.

Please hold Holly in the Light as she makes her way back to Massachusetts, as well as Ian’s son Ellery. We will have opportunities to remember and celebrate Ian’s life over the coming weeks and a hybrid Memorial Meeting for Worship will be scheduled at a later date. There will also be opportunities to support Holly and let her know that she is being held by the community with love and care.

Holding Holly, Ian, and the FMC Community in the Light,

Jan Nisenbaum
Co-Facilitator, Pastoral Care Team
Text amended December 29, 2023.

David Bonner died November 10

David Bonner died peacefully in the presence of his family on November 10, 2023, at the age of 86.

Burial was private.

A Memorial Meeting for Worship to celebrate his life is planned for Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 2:00pm followed by an on-site reception at Friends Meeting at Cambridge. Everyone is invited to bring finger food for the reception. Volunteers are also needed to help with other aspects of the meeting and reception.

Donations in his name may be made to: Material Aid and Advocacy Program, 5 Longfellow Park, www.maapma.org or Partners in Health, 800 Boylston St. Suite 300, Boston MA 02199 www.pih.org.

Read his obituary here.

I Pour, I drink

I Pour, I Drink

Mary Gilbert is very pleased to have had an article published in the December 2023 online version of Friends Journal. It is entitled: I Pour, I Drink: The Dedicated Stewardship of a Nontheist. The theme for the December issue is Stewardship. Click here to read the article.

Approved Policy on Reproductive Health and Abortion

How Do You Sleep, Mr. President?

George Capaccio recently had his poem entitled “How Do You Sleep, Mr. President?” published in Countercurrents. It is also a “staff pick” on another site, Znet. The poem addresses our president’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. To read the poem, click here. Countercurrents also recently published his essay entitled “Psycho on the Loose” about the situation in Gaza. To read the essay, you can click here.

Contact: George Capaccio at Capaccio.G@gmail.com

Message from MAAP

Dear Friends

Many of us are supporters of the Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP), which operates out of 5 Longfellow Park. You may be interested to read this op-ed that the MAAP Board has submitted to the Boston Globe. Our unhoused neighbors need our support more than ever!

Where did the empathy go?

Please take off your wet/salty/sandy footwear during inclement weather

During inclement weather, plastic trays will be available in the foyer of both the Friends Center and Meetinghouse. Please put your wet/salty/sandy shoes and boots on these trays when you arrive. You are invited to bring your own alternate footwear but slippers also will be available to borrow.

Water, salt and sand damage our cork floor in the Meetinghouse and our wooden floors and rugs in both our buildings.

Thank you.
The Trustees Committee trustees@fmcquaker.org

Drop-In at Mary Spitzer’s Open Studio

Mary Spitzer is participating in an Open Studio on Saturday, November 18 and Sunday, November 19 from 9:00am-5:00pm at the Lydia Pinkham Building at 271 Western Avenue in Lynn, MA. Mary’s studio is 301e. She and other artists who work in the building will show (and sell) their varied artwork. Mary welcomes all from FMC to visit her at her studio. Among other pieces, she will be displaying new works including “Foothills” (12″ x 12″ x 1″) made from a variety of scrap lumber and “Small Swell” (8″x 8″ x 3″) made from a dogwood branch and a found piece of metal. She also hopes to finish one other new piece made from a large slab of cherry wood.

Small Swell by Mary Spitzer

Foothills by Mary Spitzer

Holly Hatleberg wins medal in ballroom dancing

Holly Hatleberg (17) and her ballroom dancing partner Christopher Affonso recently represented United States at the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) World Championships in Schladming, Austria. Holly and Christopher were awarded the Youth-Standard bronze medal. As her mom Lisa Lineweaver wrote on Facebook “We’re so proud of their work ethic, commitment, and integrity every day — and so glad it [could] shine through on a world stage today. Way to go!” Holly and Christopher have been dancing partners for 10 years and practice at the Champions Dance Sport Club in Everett, MA. Click here to read an article Christopher and Holly wrote in 2022 about their first international WDSF Dance Competition.

Holly and Christopher with their medals

From left to right: Holly Hatleberg, Lisa Lineweaver, Brian Hatleberg and younger sister Hazel Hatleberg.

Louise Bruyn and her historic carving

“Why Go to Poland?” by Elizabeth Claggett-Borne

How do you Practice Compassion under Fire?

I have gone to vigils and demonstrations when the US has sent troops to Iraq and then Afghanistan. Instead of tearing my hair and ranting, I sent letters protesting US involvement in war to Congress. I’ve doubled up in pain whenever the US sends military intel and weapons to Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Korea. I feel awful. How do I confront this evil, without carrying it in my muscles and neurons? I am a practical Quaker, and I long to do something to dismember the stinging tenacles of the US empire.

This October, I’m going to Eastern Europe. I’m excited–and scared. Specifically, I’m going to Wroclaw in southern Poland. (Wroclaw was a hold-out for Nazis against the Red Army until May 1945.) This trauma-informed training will be run by Ukrainian women. I will be adjacent to skilled trainers who deal with destruction and war daily. “Lviv was attacked for 2 hours in September,” says Olha. “This trauma has penetrated every Ukrainian very deeply. Faith and hope do not leave the people, but there is less love.”

I pause, I remember to enter with gratitude. I seek to learn new ways. Will I catapult from the barrage of US propaganda and see with new eyes? Europeans, like an old forest, have been through political shifts, Nonviolent revolutions and dour defeats? What do Ukrainian peacemakers have to say about green energy, nuclear power and Chernobyl? Why is villainizing Putin so tempting? How do Ukrainians respond when Russia bombards its own citizens like in Donetsk and Crimea?

Friends Peace Team (FPT) programs are fabulous, because they weave joy and laughter into communities poxed with aggression. Thank God! I want this for my tribe. FPT works towards respect, humility and above all compassion. I have seen the programs of FPT turn inmates into advocates of nonviolence. I have seen my own snap judgments dissolve. The nagging I did for years to my boys (who are wonderful human beings), has changed into patient listening. When I’m not patient (It happens!), at least I practice respect. FPT has taught me about apology and teamwork. I’m so impressed when FPT colleagues work directly in zones of conflict like Chechnya, Philippines, Honduras. I have learned that crimes of humanity have happened against Wampanoag Indigenous in my backyard in Massachusetts. FPT addresses genocide of Indigenous Peoples in the USA. This is arduous and fulfilling work.

Can you imagine my surprise in March 2022 when the US (and NATO allies) entered into the Russia/Ukraine war by providing assistance to Kiev. At first it was energy assistance such as restoring power to heat homes, but over the last 18 months the bitter fighting-and financing- has increased.

My Quaker meeting in Cambridge MA responded rapidly in 2022. We held open zoom meetings to ask for prayers. Afrose Mohammed and George Capaccio joined in monthly peacebuilding meetings, to ask for Divine Guidance, and to find compassion. We shared the Power of Goodness stories complete with illustrations by older children. https://friendspeaceteams.org/stories/#storycollection The Reunion explains how a Russian soldier found his father’s love after the Chechen war. Mercy describes how Russian elderly women offered kindness to humiliated Nazi soldiers their defeat. The Storks depicts a Ukrainian’s family decision not to evacuate during the war. The FPT website offers attributions featuring over 50 Stories.

The discussions were stories of war. But these many wars have actors that turn the tide in their own lives. Stories can build the scaffold of peace. Can we use FPT stories as art that defies the dribble that we have to fend off the enemy? How can USAians (to describe ourselves) promote peace when Ukrainians ask for the US to send nuclear missiles?

I am deeply grateful for many Quakers support. This is a shared ministry. Please hold me in prayer.

Will I learn how to stop the Ukrainian war? Not a chance. Will I hear the heroism of saving people from air raids? Maybe. Mostly I want to support those struggling for peace, in a time of war. We need to tell stories of those who toss compassion, not bombs.

Photo: Olha Lycho-Parubocha in a traditional Ukrainian shirt, speaking to students and FPT attenders at Westtown, PA 2023.

Elizabeth (Minga) Claggett-Borne works with Friends in the ancestral land of the Massachuset Indigenous tribe. She is the NEYM representative to FPT.

Elisabeth Cotten died August 26, 2023

Elisabeth Cotten

FMC member Elisabeth Cotten died on Saturday, August 26, 2023 at age 91. Elisabeth was born in Basel, Switzerland on September 29, 1931. She transferred her membership to Friends Meeting at Cambridge from Stamford (Connecticut) Monthly Meeting on December 12, 1962 along with the memberships of her three young children Janet, Gerald and Richard. Her husband George pre-deceased her on June 5, 2009.

From 1990 to 2002 Elisabeth served faithfully as the FMC Recorder. She also served on the Center Furnishings Committee and the Exhibits Committee.

For many years, Elisabeth was one of the small group of stalwart regulars at the Brookhaven Worship Group under the care of Friends Meeting at Cambridge. Also, in recent years she served as the contact for the group answering inquiries. Happily, she was able to attend worship at Brookhaven the Sunday before she died.

Click here to see her obituary.

Richard Wood’s Photographic Art Show (Friends Room)

Come enjoy the Richard Wood Photographic Art Show in the Friends Room. It is entitled “New York City 1965 A time capsule of life on the streets of NYC 58 years ago.”

These are photos that Richard took on the streets of New York City in 1965 and were not rehearsed. Instead he simply captured photos of people as he found them. The photographer made the exquisite B&W prints himself and are from his archives.

Contact: George Campbell at exhibits@fmcquaker.org

Peter Huxtable Died on August 23, 2023

Peter Huxtable died on August 23, 2023

Read Peter’s obituary here.

Celebration of the life of October (Toby) Cullum Frost

October (“Toby”) Cullum Frost, member at Friends Meeting at Cambridge, died January 22, 2023. Toby joined FMC in 1958. Read her obituary here . Her husband Wesley Towne Frost was an FMC attender and predeceased her in 2015.

The family has organized a celebration of her life on October 1, 2023 at the Pierce House at 17 Weston Road in Lincoln, MA at 1:00pm immediately followed by a reception. All from FMC are invited to attend.”

FMC’s Land Acknowledgment–Next Steps

Read here the Land Acknowledgement, approved by Friends Meeting at Cambridge in Meeting for Business in Worship February 13, 2022.

The first step was to begin to build relationship with the Wampanoag Tribe by learning about and supporting their internationally recognized language reclamation work. We invited the whole Meeting to a Zoom program about this. Those who came participated in a deep and inspiring conversation with one of the leaders after watching “We Still Live Here.” After the movie, staff from Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project shared with us, answer questions and describe current progress. For self-education, you are invited to check out the Project website and/or read news stories about Wampanoags here.

We also had a First Day School program this year walking the Longfellow Park and talking about what it was like before Europeans arrived. We learned the proper name of the Quinnobequin (not Charles) River and practiced saying it.

Many of our members and the Clerks on behalf of the Meeting wrote letters this year in support of the important bills currently introduced into the Massachusetts legislature to establish Indigenous People’s Day, get rid of “Indian” mascots in schools, include Indigenous history in Massachusetts standard curriculum requirement

On June 4, we presented the forum Worship Sharing on “Reparative Justice” with Susan Davies, Sandy Sweetnam, Diana Lopez, and Nancy Frost.

Here is the list of resources that was handed out at the forum.

We are hoping many FMC community members attend the Wampanoag Pow Wow in July, including families with children. It is an excellent way to learn and build relationship.

For more information, contact Friends for Racial Justice at forj@fmcquaker.org.

Boston Welcomes the Golden Rule

The sailboat, the Golden Rule, a humble package for a heroic message, advocates the abolition of all nuclear weapons as demanded by the visionary Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Boston welcomed the Golden Rule with a march in honor of the arrival on Sunday, June 18 (Fathers’ Day), from the Seaport wharf to the ironically named Columbus Park along the waterfront. John Bach spoke for Quakers by reminding us of the scriptural message to choose life over death.

Veterans for Peace sponsors the extensive journey of the Golden Rule, and local Quakers among other groups sponsored the welcome. Moderated by Doug Stuart, songs by Pat Scanlon. Click here for more information about the VFP Golden Rule Project.

Click here for the video “Boston Welcomes the Golden Rule” by Skip Schiel of Teeksa Photography of the march on Sunday, June 18.

Everett Mendelsohn died June 6, 2023

Everett Mendelsohn

Longtime attender at Friends Meeting at Cambridge, Everett Mendelsohn, died on June 6, 2023 at age 91. The memorial meeting for worship to celebrate his life will be held at 2:00pm on Saturday, October 28, 2023, in the meetinghouse at Friends Meeting at Cambridge. The family cordially invites all attendees to join them at a reception a short walk from the meetinghouse. Transportation can be provided if needed.

Click this link to read details about Everett’s life and accomplishments in Wikipedia.

Click here to read about Everett as reported in the New York Times.

“Get to Know the Clerks Team” by River Smallflower

Get to Know the Clerks Team

Read River Smallflower’s Interview with the Clerks at FMC, February 2023 here.

A Big Thank you to FMC from QVS Boston

Dear Plant Sale and Bake Sale supporters,

Thank you so much for coming outdoors on such a chilly Sunday to support the Local Support Committee’s fundraiser for Quaker Voluntary Service! Although early Friends’ integrity testimony led them to abandon bartering and set fair prices for their goods, we regressed yesterday and took as much as we could get for our offerings and wow did you ever come through for us! Our total of $385 suggests there were a lot of just plain donations made as well as payments. You are very generous and we thank you!

Going forward, please consider being generous with your time and contacts as well. Would you like to join (or clerk) the Local Support Committee (LSC) or be a Spiritual Nurturer? Or can you suggest others for those roles? Do you know young people graduating this month who might be interested in serving as QVS Fellows in either the Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia or Portland (OR) houses? Or not necessarily college grads, and not necessarily quite that young?

After this year’s cohort leaves at the end of July, would you like to help clean or maybe even paint some of the 68 Bailey Street Boston House before the next cohort moves in on Labor Day? It’s near Ashmont Station.

There are many ways big and small to support these fine young people and their work. Please let qvs@fmcquaker.org know if you would like to help a lot or a little. And, of course, donations are accepted 24/7 year-round at the QVS website.

Thank you!
Katy Cullinan for the Boston House LSC

Mother’s Day Walk for Peace

We Participated in the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace

FMC has raised $1025 to date. There is still time to make a contribution,

The Mother’s Day Walk for Peace (MDW4P) is a beloved 27-year-long Boston tradition and celebration of our potential to create more peaceful communities. It is the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute’s (LDBPI) largest fundraising event to grow and sustain our services, advocacy and training. Our goal is to empower survivors, Generation Peace and communities impacted by murder, trauma, grief and loss to cultivate cycles of peace and healing.

Our 2023 theme is “Cultivating Cycles of Peace.” In our society, we are constantly looped into cycles of violence that overshadow the transformative power of peace. Like a blooming flower, cycles of peace flourish when carefully cultivated. We have the agency to cultivate these cycles by empowering survivors, supporting returning citizens and their families and investing in Generation Peace.

We are currently at $449,710 of our $600,000 fundraising goal. Please keep this amazing wave of love and support going: with your contribution, we can reach our goal by Father’s Day, June 18! YOU make a difference in Cultivating Cycles of Peace.

Kathleen (Kathy) Newman died April 29, 2023

Kathleen (Kathy) Newman, member at Friends Meeting at Cambridge, died April 29, 2023. Kathy joined FMC in 1968. She is survived by her husband of 67 years, Nicholas (Nick) Newman, who is also an FMC member.

Read her obituary here.

The family is planning to celebrate Kathy’s life with an informal hybrid gathering at the Woods Hole Public Library on Sunday, May 28 at 2:00 pm. Please let the family know if you are planning to join them either in-person or on Zoom so they can have an estimate of the number of people coming. If you wish to attend, contact Sara Sue Pennell at memorials@fmcquaker.org so she can put you in touch with the family.

Request from Nominating Committee

Dear community,

I am writing on behalf of the Nominating Committee to see if you—yes, you—might be interested in serving on the Gardening and Landscaping or Library Committees. The Gardening and Landscaping Committee is particularly interested in folks interested in gardening, and the Library Committee is particularly interested in folks with any library-related skills or background.

Here are descriptions of the committees:

The Gardening Committee oversees the design and maintenance of the grounds surrounding the Meeting House and Friends Center. Work by the committee is supplemented by other volunteers and professional services are sometimes engaged. Through its work, the committee hopes to emphasize enjoyment of nature and conservation of natural resources. With Trustees, the committee schedules a couple of ‘work days’ during the year, to involve the whole Meeting in weeding, raking, mulching, composting and other important landscape maintenance activities. It hopes to encourage people, of all ages and abilities, to join us outside and experience the spiritual aspects of working the land.
The Library Committee develops and maintains the Meeting’s Library of materials on Quakers, Quaker history, Quaker faith and practice, and related subjects. The Library Committee works to provide an inviting and organized space for browsing and selecting materials. It acquires books, pamphlets, and audiovisual materials in keeping with the Library’s collection policy, and maintains subscriptions to Quaker periodicals such as Pendle Hill Pamphlets and Friends Journal. The Library Committee catalogues and processes new acquisitions, oversees circulation of materials, makes minor repairs, and makes de-accession decisions. The Library Committee also seeks to encourage Meeting members and attenders to make use of library materials.

Folks should feel free to reach out to Betsy Hewitt at gardening@fmcquaker.org to learn more about the Gardening and Landscaping Committee or to Alasdair Post-Quinn at library@fmcquaker.org to learn more about the Library Committee. And please let me know directly by replying off the list if you are interested in either one.

Thanks,
Chaz Kelsh
nominating@fmcquaker.org

Walter Lenk Memorial Minute

Long-time FMC member Walter Lenk passed away on October 7, 2022 at age 75 in Cambridge, MA.
Click here to read the FMC Memorial Minute.

Click here to read his obituary.

A Memorial Meeting for Worship to celebrate took place on Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 2pm at Friends Meeting at Cambridge in the Meetinghouse.

MAAP Tag Sale Coming April 21 and 22 (Friends Room)

The Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP) tag sale will take place at FMC on Friday, April 21, (5:30-8:00pm) and Saturday, April 22, (9:00am-2:00pm) in the Friends Room.

The Tag Sale Fundraiser features affordably priced designer, vintage & contemporary clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, antiques, china, collectibles, linens, fabric & bric-a-brac. 100% of the proceeds of the sale support MAAP’s work of providing direct support to, and organizing alongside unhoused community members. For more information go to MAAP’s website.

Seeking a Center Resident

Friends Meeting at Cambridge (FMC) has an opening for a Center Resident position starting immediately. FMC is an open and inclusive community, ideal candidates should be outgoing and enjoy meeting people from diverse backgrounds. A ﬂexible schedule and the ability to work alone or as a team is also important. This is a live-in position at the Friends Center located near Harvard Square.

In exchange for a rent-free room in a shared apartment, a Center Resident will work, on average, 15 hours a week. Work consists of at least one evening hosting duty every week, hosting/cleaning every third weekend, and daily chores around the house, including: cleaning bathrooms, kitchens, vacuuming, trash removal, yard work, snow shoveling, and other physically demanding work. This position is for approximately one year, with the option to renew for one year. It is primarily designed for people in transition, it should not be considered long-term housing/employment.

To apply, send a cover letter, resume and three references to Facilities Manager at facilities@fmcquaker.org.

First Day (Sunday) School (On Site)

First Day School (FDS) (On-Site)

Click here for FDS News for June 25: Happy Trails to You …

Click here for FDS News for June 18: Our Outdoor Classroom

Click here for FDS News for June 11: How to say Hello …

Click here for FDS News for June 4: As ye sow …

First Day School (FDS) is the Quaker equivalent of Sunday School. FDS is available to the all ages of children of members, attenders, and visitors, who do not wish to remain with their families in Worship in the Meetinghouse. The First Day School is under the care of the FDS and Youth Programs Coordinator, Patricia Wild. Regular attendance is encouraged, but one-time or irregular attenders are also welcome.

Children join their families for the first 15 minutes of Meeting for Worship at 10:30am, and then follow the First Day School banner to their own program at 10:45am. We finish around 11:45 am but childcare is provided until the end of Afterthoughts which is at 12:30pm.

June 25 is the last day of FDS classes. In July and August, children will play in Longfellow Park or, if raining, do art projects inside. First Day School will resume after Labor Day in September.

Sunday, June 25: LAST DAY OF FIRST DAY SCHOOL!

On the 25th, join us for a “simple lunch” AND a time to honor all the FDS volunteers who contributed their time and energy. (Finger food contributions to simple lunch much appreciated.) There will be cake! FDS children will be making lemonade.Plan to join us.

In July and August, children will play in Longfellow Park or, if raining, do art projects inside. Contact Jeremiah Sutherland-Roberts at summerchildcare@fmcquaker.org

Beginning a long warm parting!
Sunday, May 7, I, your Interim First Day School Coordinator, will begin to wean myself from this gratifying role by attending my first meeting for worship since last summer.

My interim position ends at the end of June. Yet because creating origin story lesson plans this year opened my eyes—and heart—to the possibility of creating New Story-based curriculum for children: a beginning!

Patricia Wild
Interim First Day School and Youth Programs Coordinator
fdsypcoordinator@fmcquaker.org

To access previous Newsletters click this link.

Volunteers needed to help with Simple Lunch (Friends Room)

Simple Lunches have resumed some Sundays each month. They usually begin at 12:15 pm. They are a great way to build community–for newcomers and old-timers, for those helping with the lunch and those who are eating it. Volunteers are needed to join the Simple Lunch Team to

Help with various aspects of food preparation, some of which can be done at home before Sunday and some of which happen on Sunday mornings at FMC,
Set up the tables and to help get food to the Friends Room, and
Coordinate the clean up effort while working with volunteers who are recruited from those who attended the Simple Lunch.

No one is expected to do all these tasks for a particular Sunday and, of course, you aren’t required to help with each Simple Lunch. But you are invited to join the team and sign up to help when you feel able to do so. Many hands make light work.
If you would like to learn more about Simple Lunches or know you are ready to join the Simple Lunch team, please contact Tom Sander / Alasdair Post-Quinn at simplelunch@fmcquaker.org

Salem Quarter Late-winter Gathering Sunday March 19 (Off site)

Dear Friends:

Salem Quarterly Meeting and Fresh Pond Meeting invite you to a late-winter gathering at Fresh Pond Friends Meeting (Cambridge Friends School) 5 Cadbury Lane, Cambridge, MA. On Sunday March 19th – Join Fresh Pond Friends for Worship at 10 am at Cambridge Friends School – 5 Cadbury Rd. Cambridge or on Zoom.

Registration is HERE.

After worship, there will be a short time for socializing and snacking, indoors and outside if weather permits. Then we’ll gather at 11:45 for a program on Sabbath and a period of small group conversations.

Both Salem Quarter and Fresh Pond Meeting have entered a period of Sabbath: a laying down of regular patterns of business. At this spring gathering of Salem Quarter Friends are invited to explore the radical invitation of Sabbath to reclaim time and redeem the powers and principalities. Beyond rest and restoration, Sabbath challenges the demands (and enticements) of Empire — hopefully uncovering new social and economic relationships, circles of community that embody God’s economy, and recentering priorities in God’s divine plan for all of creation. What are the implications of Sabbath for us as Friends and for our Meetings?

Covid policies for onsite attendees: Mask Required
Please take a Rapid Antigen Covid Test before coming and bring a photo of your negative test with you on your phone to show the greeter when you arrive. Please stay home if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.

Food: Bring your own bag lunch or snacks to eat between worship and program — inside or out as weather permits and you are comfortable.

REGISTRATION ONLINE HERE

Kristina Keefe-Perry MA, MDiv
She/Her/Hers
Host, Three Rivers
(831) 345-2349

Poets Respond: Labor of Life Exhibition (Off Site) 3/27

Alewife Poets: Gale Roby, Susan Lloyd McGarry, and Jessie Brown (Off Site)

Monday, March 27, 7:00-8:30pm in the Shaira Ali Gallery.

Arlington Center for the Arts presents a reading by the Alewife Poets in collaboration with our current show, Labor of Life: Textiles + Fiber. Gayle Roby, Susan Lloyd McGarry, and Jessie Brown will read poems reflecting on the art, themes, and ideas showcased in the exhibition. The event will be moderated by Arlington’s newly appointed Laureate Jean Flanagan. Free and open to the public.

The Alewife Poets was founded in 1996 as a women’s writing group with the mission of supporting one another’s work. The group’s members are well-known throughout the region as performers, both together and separately, and often read to benefit social or educational causes.

The show also includes work by Marina Rothman. See announcement here.

Author Reading Event with Virginia Swain February 25 (Off Site)

Author Reading Event: my soul’s journey to redefine leadership by FMC member Virginia Swain
Saturday, February 25, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm off site at the Tatnuck Bookseller Gift Gallery and Cafe, Westborough Shopping Center.

The story of an ordinary woman with extraordinary experiences, Virginia Swain’s soul journey takes her from the devastating loss of her brother to peace, visions of a new future, and – after a harrowing day in New York City on September 11– a vivid dream of a phoenix rising rising from a city’s ashes, calling her to a new definition of leadership, one of empowerment, reconciliation and peace.

In everything she does, Virginia Swain, MA, draws on her diverse background and experiences, including certified leadership agility coaching, senior management in human resources, marketing and public relations in both corporate and nonprofit organizations, as well as 25 years of training and coaching emerging and seasoned leaders at the United Nations in New York and on five continents.

Death of Amy Cooper

Amaryllis(“Amy”) Barrett Cooper, former member of Friends Meeting of Cambridge, died December 11, 2022 at age 92. Amy joined FMC in 1952 as a child when her membership was transferred by her parents from Worcester (MA) Friends Meeting and became an adult member of FMC in 1960.

She is survived by her husband Thomas Lee Cooper of Santa Rosa, CA who she married in 1954. She had five children, 12 grandchildren and a number of great grandchildren

Viewing and Discussion of Healing the Healers: Men Speaking Out –March 3 & 13

Viewing and Discussion of Healing the Healers: Domestic Violence

Join other Quakers for an online viewing and discussion of an interfaith film series that offers testimony on how religious communities can better address domestic violence.

Upcoming dates:

March 3 at 1:00pm ET: Men Speaking Out
March 13 at 7:00pm ET: Men Speaking Out

Register here for upcoming sessions.

Listening Sessions on FMC Bequest

Dear FMC Community,

As many of you know, the Meeting received a bequest of $400,000.00 in 2021. This money has fluctuated in value in the current economic climate, but we are preparing to take up the joyous task of deciding how to use this generous gift to our community.

A working group consisting of Susan Davies, Jane Jackson, Gail Rogers, and Lynne Weiss has been planning ways to begin a process of discernment. We plan to hold one or more listening sessions in late March and early April. We invite people to offer their perspectives on how some or all of this money should be used at those sessions.

These listening sessions will be a first step in discerning together how we might use this gift. The bequest is totally unrestricted by the donor. It can be treated as a lump sum, or it can be divided into a few large or many smaller portions. It can be spent or invested. It can be used to benefit the Meeting community or other groups. Whatever we choose, the energy and execution need to come from volunteers, and part of our process of discernment will be to develop a sense of where the energy of the Meeting is drawn.

Questions for individuals or groups to answer if they would like to suggest a use for the money at one of the listening sessions:

1. What uses or projects would you propose?

2. How will the Meeting benefit—physically, spiritually, or otherwise—from this proposed use or project?

3. Are there particular groups within the Meeting or beyond it who would benefit from the project, and how and why would they benefit?

4. Why are you suggesting this use or project? What need would the project or suggested use fulfill or how does it inspire you?

5. What steps are needed to implement your idea? Who do you envision doing the work to make it happen? What time frame is involved in executing your suggestion?

Our hope is that the listening sessions will result in individuals or small groups finding leadings regarding these funds and that they will embark on further research to polish proposals to present at Meetings for Business in Worship in the Fall.

We will be sending reminders over the next few weeks, along with the dates for the listening sessions.

Meet the Boston Quaker Voluntary Service Fellows February 12

Meet the Boston Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) Fellows.

The Boston QVS Fellows and the Boston Coordinator Zenaida Peterson will participate in the Forum from 9:15–10:15am, attend Meeting for Worship, and join us for refreshments and conversation after worship.

The Fellows are supported by five local Quaker meetings (Friends Meeting at Cambridge, Fresh Pond, Beacon Hill, Framingham and Wellesley). They live in intentional community in the QVS Boston House while working at separate site placements from September through July.

Learn more about QVS here, and the Boston Fellows here!

Contact Katy Cullinan at qvs@fmcquaker.org

Quaker Voluntary Service March Update from Annette

As always, feel free to share with local friends!

Also, watch national QVS fellows talk about their experience on Quaker Speak.

Hello friends!

Oh how do I begin to describe the month of January… it has been a month of transitions, deepening of inner truth, and following the lead of my body.

There was lots of excitement, joy and fresh energy in the house as we all returned back from our adventures elsewhere over winter break. Many of us journeyed south for a warm respite. Molly adventured with her family and partner through Mexico City, Samantha had a long visit with her grandfather in Florida, Bridget bathed in the Texan warmth with her parents, and Evan enjoyed Costa Rica with his partner and her family. Hannah and I, on the other hand, journeyed north. Hannah had a magical time in Maine, and I ventured to Quebec City with my mom to explore the old city streets, the stillness of snow-covered ground, and to revel in the sweet relaxation hidden in each corner cafe.

When we came home and returned to our familiar routines, many of us noticed what wasn’t working anymore.

Evan spoke up at his site placement at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center to advocate for food distribution to happen at a handicapped accessible location – there were far too many injuries happening to his colleagues as they moved heavy boxes of food up and down the stairs each week.

I questioned the use of BMI as a metric for health at Let’s Get Movin’ and gave feedback to hesitant ears around ways to reorient the program to have parents voices at the center, and suggested that children’s capacity to listen to their bodies be a measure of success instead of the amount of body mass they have or do not have. My own body chimed in on the matter, and through frequent headaches and migraines told me it was time to leave. LGM was not a work environment that would allow me to thrive. My last day was January 30th.

Hannah discerned that QVS was not a good fit for her, and that she would thrive much more in the mountains of New Hampshire.

I believe we all have intuition that speaks to us regularly, and tuning in to what it is saying is our task as human beings on this earth. I’m celebrating us for listening to and acting on our intuition, and grateful to all of you who are cheering us on as well.

As January fades into the past, my guiding approach to this new stage we are entering is embracing true surrender. As I take time to heal from headaches and burn out, I am surrendering to the needs of my body. I am releasing the idea that I have control, and instead I am trusting the flow of the universe.

I am guided by Eckhart Tolle’s insights: “True surrender…does not mean to passively put up with whatever situation you find yourself in and to do nothing about it. Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life.”

Warmly,
Annette

Bequest Proposals –Further Discernment May 5, 2024, at Meeting for Business

Dear FMC Community,

Friends Meeting at Cambridge received a generous gift of $400,000 from the estate of Marilee Wheeler in 2021. The Bequest Process Discernment (BPD) group invited proposals for use of the money in 2023, with a deadline of September 30. We received 16 proposals; one was withdrawn because the funds were no longer needed. Since then, BPD has been working to create a process that will allow us as a community to consider the remaining 15 proposals and discern how we wish to use these funds—thus we have asked our community—members, attenders, newcomers, and those deeply familiar—to tell us how they feel Spirit is leading us.

With gratitude for your participation in this exciting opportunity,

The Bequest Process Discernment Group–Lynne Weiss (convener), Susan Davies, Jim Hannon, Carolyn Hilles-Pilant and Michael Shanahan. If you have questions about the process or need help with the text of the proposals listed below, please contact a member of the Bequest Process Discernment group at bequest@fmcquaker.org with input and questions.

Click here for a printable summary of the proposals.

Discernment about the bequest will be on the agenda of the Meeting for Business in Worship in the afternoon of May 5.

CHEERFULLY SEEKING…ways to deploy $400k of bequest money

Outreach Personnel for First Day School/Young Adult Friends $41.3k for one year
Hire an Outreach Person to rebuild a sense of community among First-Day School families and Young Adult Friends for one year.
Co-sponsored by the Imagining Faithful Structures Working Group and the First Day School Committee

Material Aid And Advocacy $70k over two years and cover letter
Express our Quaker testimonies by supporting MAAP’s critical work and bolster their ability to offer assistance and advocacy to our unhoused neighbors by funding a QVS Fellow or part-time community organizer for two years at $35,000 a year for a total of $70,000
Sponsors: John Bach, Sara Sue Pennell, Jennifer Hogue.

Nonviolence International Ukraine $18k
Unrestricted gift to support Nonviolence International/Ukraine in training members of Russian diaspora to communicate with friends and family still in Russia to erode support for the war.
Sponsor: Lynne Weiss

Urban Farming Institute $40k (or 10% of total distributed)
Reparations/reparative justice in the form of an unrestricted gift to the Urban Farming Institute, an organization founded and run by African Americans who are turning vacant land owned by the Boston Farms Community Land Trust (BFCLT) in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan into urban farms supporting neighborhood farmers and providing healthy food to the community.
Sponsor: Wendy Sanford for Reparations/Reparative Justice Group

Native Land Conservancy $40k (or 10% of total distributed)
Reparations/reparative justice in the form of an unrestricted donation to the Native Land Conservancy, a charitable organization founded and run by members of the Aquinnah, Herring Pond, Mashpee Wampanoag and Nipmuc tribes in Mashpee, Massachusetts with a mission “to preserve healthy landscapes for all living things and help restore land back to its original state wherever possible.”
Sponsor: Polly Attwood for Reparations/Reparative Justice Group

Masters Djembe Workshop Series $44k over two years
Funding to develop a self-sustaining Masters Djembe Workshop Series following the success of Toussaint Liberator’s weekly drumming series to grow and enhance the exposure of West African music as a tool for healing and building a healthy multi-racial community and making it accessible to black and brown and underserved communities
Sponsor: Toussaint Liberator

Volunteer Coordinator for FMC $130k over two years
Hire a Volunteer Coordinator to collaborate with others in organizing activities, such as the annual breakfast, the Easter Fair, the New Year’s contra dance, visits to museums, and other special events and create and implement a system for tracking volunteers for Sunday tasks, including Care of Door, after-worship refreshments, lunch, tech+ spiritual hosts on Zoom.
Sponsor: Daria Casinelli

Sun Moon Farm donation $60k over three years
Donation to Sun Moon Farm, located on the grounds of the former Meeting School, to fund a transformational investment in climate change preparedness and support the farm’s prophetic witness about climate change, community, and how much Friends’ testimonies have to say about our current moment.
Sponsor: Jennifer Hogue

Cambridge Friends School Capital campaign support $200k
Kickstart Cambridge Friends School Capital Campaign by hiring professional assistance in developing + implementing a campaign and address pressing needs to repair the building. See CFS Deferred Maintenance Master Plan December 2022.
Sponsors: Jan Nisenbaum and Rick Talkov

Coffee House at FMC$2.5k one-time
Purchase equipment and launch a monthly coffee house (First Day Cafe) featuring acoustic music to bring the FMC community together and provide public outreach.
Sponsor: Jonathan Vogel-Borne

Funding Youth activities at FDS $10k over two years
Establish a Youth Activities Fund at FMC for the use of groups of parents and/or youth for projects they propose
Sponsor: First Day School

Funding Young Adult Friends activities $10k over two years
Establish a Young Adults activities fund to be used for activities proposed by FMC Young Adult Friends.
Sponsor: Walker Bristol

Funding free public concerts, cello and more $4.5k to fund 10 concerts in one year
Support for free public concerts featuring cello and sometimes other instruments to advance spiritual and emotional growth and healing and to support local artists living in Cambridge.
Sponsor: Miranda Henne

Retain all of bequest money to strengthen FMC finances $400k
FMC retains the entire bequest to be used for necessary building upkeep costs not covered by the budget and for unavoidable future budget deficits at FMC.
Sponsor: Tom Sander

Discussion on Healing the Healers: Domestic Violence

Life and Power: Quaker Discernment on Abuse

Join other Quakers for an online viewing and discussion of an interfaith film series that offers testimony on how religious communities can better address domestic violence. Every second Monday at 7:00pm Eastern time and second Wednesday at 1:00pm Eastern time from December 2022 until March 2023.

Register here for upcoming sessions.

Contact:

The Listening Project: Quaker Discernment on Abuse

Quaker Discernment on Abuse

Do we live in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of child abuse, as well as intimate partner abuse and all forms of violence within the family and community?

We are Quakers from diverse backgrounds committed to spirit-led discernment on what our communities are called to do about abuse among us. Together we are confidentially listening in waiting worship to the lived testimony of Friends and together we are creating a tool for Quaker meetings everywhere to consider for themselves what this testimony means.
Join us at https://www.lifeandpowerquakerdiscernmentonabuse.com/

Please join us in co-creating FMC’s State of Society Report for 2023

FMC is Hiring an Audio-Visual Tech Host

Disability and Accessibility Awareness and Coordination (DAAC) Survey Due February 3

Disability and Accessibility Awareness and Coordination (DAAC) Survey

DAAC has created a survey to learn more about the needs of people at FMC who have disabilities and the ways FMC could make the Meeting more accessible for them.

We hope that everyone will participate in the survey—whether or not they identify as having a disability! Click here to complete the survey online by February 3.

QVS Boston House November Newsletter

QVSBoston House Newsletter
November, 2022
By: Molly

We are finishing up another wonderful month at 68 Bailey street– full of delicious meals, fun conversations, and cozy evenings wrapped in blankets. We started the month off with a QVS day at Beacon Hill where we attended a virtual racial justice training, enjoyed banh mi, and collaborated on some paintings while we discussed our core values and reflected on our first two months together.

We are enjoying feeling settled in Boston and venturing out to discover new places; some favorite adventures this month included hiking in the Blue Hills, a trip to the DeCordova sculpture park, and seeing the murals in the Boston public library. On the 13th we hosted the LSC for meeting for worship, and although the rain dashed our plans for an outdoor meeting with a fire, we had a wonderful and cozy time in the living room.

Many of us have hosted guests this fall and we are really enjoying getting to meet people from all corners of each other’s lives. It is so special to be able to host and connect with old and new friends after a few years of pandemic limitations.

During our QVS day on the 28th we connected with three of last year’s Boston fellows on zoom to talk about activism and organizing strategies, tools, and resources. It was wonderful to hear how they engaged with the neighborhood and connected with other community organizations around the city during their QVS year.

We scattered for Thanksgiving but we all made it back to Boston safely and will be heading to Falmouth Friends Meeting for our first retreat on December 1st. Thanks to everyone who shared food, worship, and warmth with us this month!

QVS Boston House October Newsletter

QVSBoston House Newsletter
October, 2022
By: Samantha Paladini

As I took a walk, returning to the Boston house with a bag full of groceries from Star Market, I noticed a black cat with stunning, yellow eyes. While the luminous sockets were not quite as bright as the newly turned autumn leaves, I felt the soft soul of an animal that reminded me of the spooky, whimsical spirit of October. Welcome to the October QVS Boston house newsletter!

October 11th
For the first time in my life, I made risotto. It felt fitting for our regular group meals because the Boston house is a big fan of butternut squash and rice! Most of the time, one could catch us munching on kale and Molly’s expertly homemade sourdough. In the evenings, we listened to music and delighted in Bridget’s fantastic baking skills. So far, she’s made Boston cream pie, apple cake, and Oreo pavlova. While we found common interests in food, most of our differences can be observed in our unique bedroom decor. Annette finished painting her room a soft yellow and pale green; it echoes her brightness and compliments all the plants she’s given this house. Evan put up a remarkable amount of maps in his room. Hannah’s room was one of the last to come together because she embarked on some marvelous adventures, even visiting the QVS house in Philadelphia!

October 14th
One of our favorite QVS days this month was on a rainy Friday, so Zenaida began the program at our house. They brought us the most comforting and delicious snacks from Trader Joe’s. The fact that we don’t have a Trader Joe’s near us made the occasion extra special! A group favorite was the dark chocolate peanut butter cups. Zenaida has great taste when it comes to introducing us to new foods and ideas.

During a peaceful meeting for worship, I watched the raindrops race each other down the window, something I hadn’t done in a long time; it doesn’t rain very often in Los Angeles.
Then, after a deep and respectful reflection on Indiginous Day, we took a trip to the Boston Nature Center where we split up on a scavenger hunt for the Quaker values. They were difficult to find amongst a garden full of colorful melons and peppers, but we eventually found the words in Easter eggs hidden under trees and foliage. After discussing what the SPICES meant to us, we made our way back to the house to wind down.

October 20th
Molly made a delicious batch of butternut mac and cheese for our dinner guests Eva and Sylvan, QVS fellows from the previous year. It meant a lot to learn that Boston has such a strong network of past fellows. We reflected on how helpful it was to have Colin and Campo (also fellows from last year) guide a few of us smoothly into our site placements. One transition that’s been difficult for me (coming from Los Angeles) was the adjustment to colder weather; I started wearing my thermals and it’s not even winter! Even though my mom had to send me warmer socks, I began to understand that people keep moving forward through the day, despite the chilly mornings. Talk about resilience!

October 27th
The end of the month was a wild journey! I equated it to the spinning teacup ride at Disney: disorienting and a blur. Besides some inconvenient health struggles, we spent the week scattered all over town. The fellows stayed in different homes while the Boston house received some TLC. We managed to find some lovely moments throughout the hullabaloo such as listening to music and taking walks. Something that I took away from this experience was gratitude for settling back into routine and a grown appreciation for each other.

We wanted to thank everyone who spent time with us on our QVS days and opened their homes to us. We are so appreciative for the support.

Happy Halloween!
QVS Boston House 2022-23

Avison Fund Grantees for 2022

2022 Avison Funding Cycle

Click here to see the 2022 grantees.

2023 Avison Funding Cycle

For information about the 2023 funding cycle, application process, and deadline, please visit the Avison Fund webpage here.

Friends Meeting at Cambridge Seeking Audio-Visual Tech Host

FRIENDS MEETING AT CAMBRIDGE SEEKING AUDIO-VISUAL TECH HOST

Friends Meeting at Cambridge (FMC) is seeking an individual (or individuals) to serve as the Audio-Visual Tech Host for Sunday morning Meetings for Worship, as well as the Forum preceding and Afterthoughts following worship. The Audio-Visual Tech Host needs to be on-site at 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge on Sundays from 8:30 am – 12:45 pm with occasional opportunities for additional hours. This position is responsible for ensuring that the appropriate technology is set-up, operates smoothly throughout these events each Sunday, and is stored securely after use. The skills required for this position include a familiarity with Zoom in Windows and Android environments and an ability to troubleshoot an AV setup on the fly in a live production environment. Familiarity with Quaker faith and practice would be a benefit but is not absolutely necessary. The salary for this position is $25 / hour. To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to Jan Nisenbaum, Interim Coordinating Team at ict@fmcquaker.org. This position is open until filled.

Exploring the Quaker Way October 16, 30, and November 13

Material Aid and Advocacy Program Tag Sale (Friends Room) November 18-19

Material Aid and Advocacy Program Tag Sale (Friends Room)

The Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP) tag sale returns to FMC on Friday, November 18, (5:30-8:00pm) and Saturday, November 19, (9:00am-2:00pm) in the Friends Room.

The tag sale fundraiser features affordably priced designer, vintage & contemporary clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, antiques, china, collectibles, linens, fabric & bric-a-brac.

Read more here

Thank You MAAP Clients!

Thank you MAAP clients for raking the yard outside the Meetinghouse!

Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP) clients have been busy recently raking up fallen leaves outside the Meetinghouse. We thank them for their service!

One of the clients told Cassie Hurd (MAAP’s Executive Director) that he had always enjoyed raking at his place when he was housed.

The mission of MAAP is to support and empower community members experiencing homelessness or living in poverty, through material aid, access to resources, and advocacy opportunities.

Learn more about MAAP programs and needs here.

Memorial for Allan Kohrman, November 12 (Wellesley Meeting / Zoom)

Allan Kohrman died in the wee hours of Thursday, October 13.
His son, Adam Korhman, and wife, Carolyn Stone, were able to be with him. It was a blessed release, but of course, it leaves us very sad. We knew from Monday morning that the end was near, and we both spent more time at the hospital.

There is a hybrid memorial planned for November 12 at 2:00pm–on Zoom and at Wellesley Friends Meeting. RSVPs are requested as you will read in the obituary.

Thank you for your support for the three of us through this ordeal.

FMC Witness Survey: Due November 6

The deadline for returning the FMC witness Survey has been extended to Sunday, November 6, at midnight. We are using both a paper version, available in the FMC Office, and an online version available here.

Sunday, October 16, at the Raytheon anniversary, the Peace and Social Justice Committee of Friends Meeting at Cambridge launched the paper version of our long-in-process (13-month) FMC Witness Survey, Tikkun Olam. It’s purposes are to provide information about who does what in what realm— military, prison ministry, climate, gender rights, etc—allowing people to discover more about each other’s witness actions and possibly work together. And to inspire more witness among our congregation. Our launch moment is auspicious: Building on a long tradition of Quaker social and political activism, the survey launches at Raytheon (“Light of the Gods”), a major weapons manufacturer in our own neighborhood. Raytheon is the world’s largest manufacturer of guided missiles; audio research with reference to the weapons industry is conducted less than 3 miles from our meeting house, near Fresh Pond Shopping Mall, within view of Fresh Pond.

Thirteen months ago we began designing our survey. Gestating something valuable takes time. For a human being, from inception to birth, about 9 months. For a somewhat controversial witness survey in a community that practices widespread participation—some might term it “radical democracy”—a little longer. For a body of Quakers agreeing to a call for abolition, the first religiously-based declaration, by a group of 4 Quakers in Germantown meeting in 1688 to a unified yearly meeting-wide statement in 1776, it required 88 years. The enslaved people are freed. War will eventually be abolished. We can all help.

We shall prevail.
Contact: Skip Schiel at peace@fmcquaker.org

Feminine Empowerment Movement Slam Festival October 21-23 (On-site / Zoom)

GREETINGS FMC COMMUNITY!

The Feminine Empowerment Movement Slam Festival or FEMS as we have come to know it is having their fifth and final festival at Friends Meeting of Cambridge, October 21-23.

Click here for lots of info about this year’s event including the schedule. Events will take place on Friday evening, Saturday day and evening and Sunday day and evening. Some events will take place at FMC, some are hybrid and some take place only on Zoom. Part-time attendance is okay.

Click here to register.

FEMS is a community that celebrates and empowers feminine people and voices through poetry. Over four years, they have shared vulnerabilities, faced fears, and spoken truth to power. Those from FMC who have attended FEMS have learned from and been inspired by them.

This year will include workshops on climate justice, self massage, and Black femme love among others where folks will write and explore topics in community. Outside of writing workshops there will be open mics, poetry, and music performances. There will be activities virtually as well as in the Meetinghouse and Friends Center.

This is an all-ages space and folks are required to take a COVID test within 24 hours of the festival There will be rapid tests available. Masks will be required indoors and eating and drinking will be welcome outside of FMC’s buildings.

This event is being co-sponsored by the Friends for Racial Justice (FORJ) Committee

Thank you!

Zenaida Peterson of FEMS and all on FMC’s Friends for Racial Justice Committee
Contact Zenaida Peterson at zenaida@femslam.org

Avison Fund Request for Proposals Due January 6, 2023

Will Watson Obituary

William (Will) Braasch Watson, member of Friends Meeting at Cambridge since 1961, died at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital on August 13, 2022. A memorial gathering at Cambridge Friends Meeting will be held at a future time. Read the full obituary here.

Friends Meeting at Cambridge Seeking Lead Nursery Teacher

FRIENDS MEETING AT CAMBRIDGE SEEKING LEAD NURSERY TEACHER

Friends Meeting at Cambridge (FMC) seeks an experienced early childhood educator for our Nursery Lead Teacher position. The Lead Nursery Teacher, assisted by a volunteer from FMC, will provide childcare for our Meeting’s children, three years old and younger, on Sunday mornings from 9:00 am to 12:45 pm. When requested in advance, childcare may be needed on the second Sunday of the month from 1:00 to 3:45 pm during our monthly meeting for business. The Lead Nursery Teacher is responsible for creating a welcoming, safe and joyful place for young children and their families. Primary responsibilities include helping children to separate from parents; engaging and interacting with children ranging in age from infants to three-years-old; maintaining a safe space in the nursery; and providing guidance to child-care workers. Salary for this position is $20 – $25 / hour. To apply: send resume and cover letter to Patricia Wild, Interim Youth Ministries & Education Coordinator, at fdsypcoordinator@fmcquaker.org by October 15, 2022.

13th Anniversary All-Meeting Witness Meeting for Worship (Off-Site, Zoom)

Salem Quarter Fall Gathering October 15

Dear Friends,

Framingham Friends Meeting is having a gathering on Saturday, October 15, from 12:00 to 3:30pm.. It is a social gathering for fun and games and connection with each other, for adults and children. There will of course be food!

We would like to invite everyone in Salem Quarterly Meeting to join us! It will be relaxed and informal, simply a time to enjoy each others’ company and bring us together. There is no need to let us know ahead. Bringing food to share would be appreciated, but not necessary.

We will be following the Meeting’s current Covid policy in making this an indoor/outdoor event, with masks required indoors except when eating. People are expected to be vaccinated.

In Friendship,
Lee

Lee Miller, clerk
Framingham Friends Meeting

Winter Practice Group: Technology and Quaker Spiritual Practice (On-Site)

Winter Practice Group: Journaling as a Spiritual Practice (Zoom)

WINTER PRACTICE GROUP: JOURNALING AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE (Zoom)

Winter Practice Groups offer a unique opportunity to join a small group to learn a new spiritual practice or deepen an existing one and to explore the impact it has on day-to-day life. By joining in a shared practice, participants can strengthen their connection to Spirit and one another. This is the second of two winter offerings.

This group will meet weekly during February for two hours on either Wednesdays or Saturdays. Participation in all four sessions is encouraged but not required.

The registration deadline is Monday, January 20.

You will be asked which of the following time slots works for you:

3:00-5:00 pm on Wednesdays 2/1, 2/8, 2/15 and 2/22
6:00-8:00 pm on Wednesdays 2/1, 2/8, 2/15 and 2/22
6:30-8:30 pm on Wednesdays 2/1, 2/8, 2/15 and 2/22
2:00-4:00 pm on Saturdays 2/4, 2/11, 2/18 and 2/25
4:00-6:00 pm on Saturdays 2/4, 2/11, 2/18 and 2/25

The weekly time slot that works best for the most people will be selected and registrants will be notified. Registration for this group is at capacity; however, you can Click here to join the wait list.

Proprioceptive Writing is a way to encounter one’s own thinking, to more actively hear and track our own thoughts. In this four-week introduction, after brief explanations about the method, we will turn our attention inward for 25-minute “Writes,” done in an atmosphere of quiet attention, each with paper and pen, and guided by the basic prompts of Proprioceptive Writing. After each Write, participants may volunteer to hear their thoughts aloud, reading their Writes in the silent, attentive presence of others.

In a cacophonous and distracting world, this reflective practice has been for many a way to turn inward: to practice listening to and engaging with our own thoughts, and for many, bringing greater awareness, understanding, empathy, and freedom.
The practice of Proprioceptive Writing was developed by Linda Trichter Metcalf and Tobin Simon and explained in their book, Writing the Mind Alive, and in workshops big and small.

Ann Foster is a member of FMC and life-long educator with extensive experience using journaling as a spiritual practice.

Welcome to Virginia Swain!

Welcome to Virginia Swain!

Virginia Swain is FMC’s newest member. She so grateful to FMC for providing clearness and support for her leading in the 90s to offer Reconciliation Leadership and a Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service to the United Nations.

Faithfully following her 30-year leading in the UN, Virginia now offers her knowledge and experience to restore faith in American leadership. She trains Reconciliation Leaders, has a private practice in spiritual care, finding your personal life mission, career and life direction and counseling at virginiaswain.com. Read her blog https://virginiaswain.com/blog/.

She offers first Monday monthly America’s Soul Community, being an ambassador for the Trust Network both to offer early warning and social cohesion. Virginia was mentored by Friend Elise Boulding, peace scholar. Elise trained Virginia to facilitate Imaging, believing no challenge can be resolved at the level it was created. Virginia plans to offer an intergenerational imaging session for First Day School/Adult Education in April 2023. Virginia will speak about “Living with the world’s soul” at the New Story group on October 24.

Get to know Virginia through her writing and websites. Her books, A Mantle of Roses: A Woman’s Journey Home to Peace (Xlibris 2004) and My Soul’s Journey to Redefine Leadership: A New Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of 9/11 (Xlibris 2016 and Audible 2022) are both available at virginiaswain.com/new-book.

Some of the articles she co-authored with New York City Reconciliation Leader and Public Servant Dr. Sarah Sayeed:

Virginia contributed to the Quaker anthology, Immersed in Prayer; Stories from Lives of Prayer with her contribution “Turning to the Light of God to Restore Faith in Humanity” in What Dost Thou Say? (Edited by Friend Michael Resman) and a 2015 presentation at the Quaker Institute for the Future.

Virginia is on the Massachusetts Advocacy Team for Friends Committee for National Legislation and works for the enactment of the House and Senate “Building Civic Bridges Act” supported by FCNL and Interfaith America. She wrote an oped piece about the bill published in the Worcester Telegram July 3 and Interfaith America Journal. She was named Trust Ambassador by the Trust Network and featured in a Worcester Living article,” Virginia Swain has made global conflict her life mission” here. Explore her websites www.global-leader.org, VirginiaSwain.com and www.centerglobalcommunitylaw.org

“The Public Universal Friend” by Lynne Weiss

Follow Lynne Weiss’ blog starting here!

Living Into Your Call Vocational Discernment Retreat (Hybrid)–October 3-4

Beacon Hill Friends House presents Greg Woods (On-Site/Zoom)

Who: Anyone interested in exploring questions around the work they are called to do in the world (at any age!)

Where? This is a hybrid retreat. There are options on your registration to attend in-person at Beacon Hill Friends House or on Zoom. Participants can decide to attend on Zoom at any point.

Is there a cost? No! Not only is there no cost to attend, but we will also be providing YOU with new journals, pizza, cookies, and tea (in-person attendees only, but there will be some goodies available for hybrid attendees). You will feel well-nourished and well-held so you can focus on discernment and listening to your own inner teacher.

Covid policies: Vaccination against COVID-19 and masks are required for this event. Please bring proof of vaccination with you.

Register here: https://lu.ma/bhfh-discern-fall22

QVS Spiritual Nurturers

A distinctive feature of the Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) program is the Spiritual Nurturer who is partnered with each QVS Fellow. A member of one of the supporting meetings in the Boston area (Cambridge, Fresh Pond, Beacon Hill, Wellesley, Framingham) accompanies each Fellow during the year with monthly check-ins to explore the spiritual aspects of the Fellow’s service and community living experience. Spiritual Nurturers often form long term bonds with their Fellows, and report that their own spiritual growth is enriched by the relationship. This year Gail Rogers, Jennifer Hogue, and Polly Atwood from FMC are serving as Spiritual Nurturers. Past nurturers from FMC are Wendy Sanford, Elise Springuel, Jo Ellen Hillyer, Dinah Starr, Christa Redner, Patricia Wild, Jonathan Vogel-Borne, Cornelia Parkes, Jane Jackson, Kim West, Michael Shanahan, Nancy Bloom, Minga Claggett-Borne, and Erin Bumgarner. If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch with Jane Jackson, Spiritual Nurturer Anchor for Boston QVS, , at qvs@fmcquaker.org or any of the nurturers named above.

Meet the 2022-2023 QVS Fellows in Boston

Message from Ministry and Counsel

Dear Friends,

We are all frayed and fatigued by the losses and uncertainties of the pandemic and the increased isolation it has engendered. We may be less resilient as individuals and as a community. This summer, maybe as a consequence, the FMC community has experienced conflict and hurt feelings. There is perhaps some discouragement and distancing.

We need to restore our patience and our connection, to see each other with tenderness and love. This has been harder than it might have been in the past. We all simply have to trust less in our views and trust more in God/Spirit leading us to unity. We should live out George Fox’s words that there is that of God in all of us. It is only by listening to Spirit’s wisdom as it comes through all of us collectively that we can seek to rebuild and strengthen our precious community and find unity.

As many of us sit in our individual corners with our hurts, we lose our sense of belonging to a community. Sustaining this community becomes harder when we do not have the opportunities to share casual conversation or simple lunch, or exchange a smile across a room.

As we move into the fall, Ministry and Counsel’s first focus will be on ways we can be more tender with each other, listen more, heal our hurts, and rediscover our loving community. We invite our community, wherever we are, to sit together in the shared mystery of meeting for worship and be open to the loving spirit which holds us all. We look forward to creating space to rebuild our far-flung community together.

Ministry and Counsel
ministry@fmcquaker.org

From QVS to Pursuing a Legal Career: Mary Grace Menner

Death of Jane Alexander

FMC attender Jane Alexander died recently and suddenly on July 26, 2022. Read her obituary here.

Her Funeral service will be held on Saturday, August 27, 2022, at Friends Meeting at Cambridge.

All from FMC who knew Jane are invited to attend.

Gratitude to Amy Greene

Amy will be leaving her role as the First Day School / Youth Programs Coordinator to begin Nursing School this fall. We will miss her dedicated and cheerful care for the children and families of FMC. Amy has brought a vibrant and nurturing leadership to this role in the midst of a time when there was a need for flexibly providing programs either on zoom or at FMC. She has offered a variety of additional programs for families throughout the past year, always seeking activities to engage children and adults alike. Amy’s weekly FDS Newsletters have provided a source of comfort and inspiration throughout the year to our FMC community. Please come and help us express our sincere gratitude for Amy’s faithful service at the rise of Meeting for Worship on Sunday, August 28th.

Welcome to Our “New” First Day School / Youth Programs Coordinator

The Interim Coordinating Team is very excited to announce that Patricia Wild will be the First Day School / Youth Programs Coordinator. Patricia has been involved with FMC First Day School programs in the past and we welcome her return to playing an active role with children and families. She has expressed a leading to take on this work and has already started planning a wonderful program for the year ahead. Patricia’s creative and inspiring approach to working with children and families will promote ongoing and expanding vitality to our First Day School and Youth Programs. If you might be interested in joining Patricia and engaging with the children and families of our FMC community, please reach out to her at fdsypcoordinator@fmcquaker.org

Survey on Optional Masking at FMC due August 31

Dear FMC Community,
The Facilities Reopening Group at Friends Meeting at Cambridge (FMC) has developed a survey (see link below) as a first step to explore our community’s thoughts about optional masking. The survey will not be used as the sole basis in FMC’s discernment or decision-making process. There will be further opportunities to discuss and engage in discernment starting with a community conversation in September.

The purpose of this survey is to encourage all those participating in FMC Worship either on zoom or at the Meetinghouse, as well as those who have not participated in worship over the past few months/years, to share their thoughts on whether FMC should make masks optional during worship in the Meetinghouse or to continue masking requirements. We need your input as FMC tries to be responsive to the ebbs and flows of the COVID virus and to the varying perspectives about the level of exposure risk to the virus when attending Meeting for Worship in the Meetinghouse. We need your input as FMC tries to be respectful of those who feel strongly that the community should continue requiring masks and of those who would like the option of not wearing a mask when they attend Meeting for Worship.

Please click here to complete the survey. If you have any problems completing the survey please contact Reopening@fmcquaker.org. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about this important issue.

Statement of Presiding Clerks on FROG/ROWG/Finding Unity

Friends,

The Presiding Clerks Table at FMC deeply thanks the Facilities Reopening Group (FROG) and Reopening Working Group (ROWG) for their hard work during the COVID pandemic to preserve the spiritual community of FMC while trying to keep us safe. We know that their efforts to discern the best rules and guidelines for our community have often felt tiring and thankless, due both to the ever-changing twists and turns of the COVID pandemic and to different perspectives within the FMC community. Members of our community differ in their attitudes toward risk, our personal risk in getting COVID and how serious that would be if we did catch COVID, whether we are vaccinated and boosted, whether we have gotten COVID already, and what we perceive as the risk for the community as a whole and the cost FMC has paid for the diminished sense of community during the COVID period. This is a difficult balance for each of us individually, to say nothing of trying to find spiritual unity together.

To help heal these differences, presiding clerks agree we will plan a series of listening sessions/discernments this Fall. We pray that we may find spirit’s unity among our differences on this topic. In the meantime, may we speak and listen to each other with tender hearts and love for our broader FMC community.

— The Presiding Clerks Team (Ian Harrington, Otavia Propper, Betsy Roper, Tom Sander, and Lynne Weiss)

Great Blue Heron Stalks by Skip Schiel

Great Blue Heron Stalks

One in a series of casual brief clips, a Great Blue Heron I observed in Alewife Brook Reservation in Cambridge MA. I seek to observe it carefully as it scouts for food. (May 28, 2022). Video by Skip Schiel.

Wayfare Singers video by Skip Schiel

Sunday, June 5, 2022, the Wayfare Singers performed Finlandia by Jean Sibelius in the garden at Friends Meeting at Cambridge. Watch the video by Skip Schiel here.

To My Children at Christmas by Jim Hannon

Just published: Jim Hannon’s second poetry collection To My Children at Christmas.

These 36 poems are personal, political, and spiritual. They consider how we attend to ourselves and our histories, our families, and our local and global communities. Available for purchase from the publisher here

You can sample Jim’s writing at JamesHannonpoetryplus.com. “Ailanthus” and “Winter Birds” are included in this book.

James Hannon is a psychotherapist in Massachusetts where he accompanies adolescents and adults who are recovering from addictions and mood disorders and seeking meaningful and joyful lives. His poems have appeared in Blue Lake Review, Blue River, Cold Mountain Review, Soundings East, and other journals and in Gathered: Contemporary Quaker Poets. His collection, The Year I Learned the Backstroke, was published by Aldrich Press.

Fellowship & Outreach Committee is working with Jim to schedule a poetry reading later this summer. Watch your Weekly Calendar for details.

A Midsummer Afternoon Meditation by Cornelia Parkes

A Midsummer Afternoon Meditation

June 21, 2022
I came to the front porch to see if it was time to put out the trash barrels. I sat down because the day was simply alluring. The sky was bright blue, the clouds a fluffy white, a light breeze, and a comfortable temperature even in the shade. The climbing rose was a riot of red spewing over the porch railing. The birds were chirping in the trees and bushes. The shadows were waving softly on the porch floor, except for the shadow of the porch railing which fell in rigid lines. The chair was comfortable on my back. I could sit there for a long time.

The little boy from next door was riding his scooter up and down our driveway singing a little song. He could not see me through the bushes. I remembered another little boy who lived next door and learned to ride a bicycle in our driveway. He has since grown up and moved away. I remembered how many days as perfect as this one that I had played or later worked through without a thought of numbering them.

In my imagination I invited the friend I had been working with in the morning to sit beside me. I wanted her to stop stressing over obstinate technology and join me in the peace of the moment. It happens to all of us, I wanted to say. You are not stupid, just relax and it will work. After a while she relaxed and said, “What exactly did you mean when you said on Sunday that sometimes you feel in your heart that you are an evangelical?” I knew then that she was present in the spirit.

Then another imaginary friend sat down beside me. She was young, blond, a little plump, and wore a red MAGA baseball cap. She did not say anything. I looked at the sky, the clouds, the trees, and flowers and I could not see any politics in them. We sank into the silence together and found peace.

Eventually, I went indoors. I opened Worship in Song and sang “Morning has broken … like the first morning…” with the help of one finger tracing the tune on the piano.

Later when I put the trash barrels out, I found the scooter abandoned in the middle of the driveway. I picked it up and placed it tenderly against a tree. And my stressed-out friend? She was still stuck on the technology.

Adult Spiritual Education Offerings 2021-2022 Season

The Relationship Between Inspiration and Expiration by Amy Greene

June 5, 2022
Dear Friends,

Welcome to June! As a former teacher, I can remember how exhausted I felt in June, and how sometimes I wasn’t sure if I (or my students!) were going to make it until the end of the year.

In contrast, heading into the new year in September, I felt full of energy, inspired by the potential of the upcoming year.

So what happens between the flush of newness and excitement that eventually makes the work feel like a slog? When does work, school, or life become merely the “daily grind”?

Yesterday I was talking with a group on nature connection and leadership, and we were asked to consider the relationship between inspiration and expiration.

In a very literal way, these two are opposites: breathing in and breathing out. There is a cycle; we breathe in, we breathe out. Both are dependent on each other. Both are part of the natural process.

But the way we’ve come to use these words means something different. Inspiration is that motivating force that comes from seeing amazing possibilities that could be brought to fruition. Expiration is not just breathing out, but the final breath, dying.

When I think about the times when I have felt demotivated, worn out, even despairing, I realize that, in those times, I have let the inspiration within me expire. Like the spark of a fire that has gone untended, it diminishes and can possibly go all the way out.

So how do I nurture that spark? How do I keep the inspiration alive? For me, inspiration and motivation depend on knowing that I am having a positive impact. I feel most inspired when I connect with my own values and sense of purpose, and purposefully act in alignment with those.

Like tending to a fire, I can nurture the motivation in me so that the spark does not go out.
• Where are you in the cycle of motivation and drudgery? How can you relight the spark of inspiration?
• Do you have a sense of purpose, calling, or contribution? How can you stay connected to these?
With love and Light,
Amy

Amy Greene
Interim First Day School and Youth Programs Coordinator
she/her
fdsypcoordinator@fmcquaker.org
413-251-6512

Photos and Video from Earthday Actions by Extinction Rebellion

Extinction Rebellion Boston: “No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure!”

Extinction Rebellion (XR) Boston is pursuing a campaign demanding that Massachusetts ban all new fossil fuel infrastructure! Time is running out to avert climate catastrophe, but Massachusetts is still installing new fossil fuel power plants and gas pipelines – which are designed to last decades. In response, the members of Extinction Rebellion take the outrage of the people and the planet to the streets, and to the places of business where these climate crimes are perpetrated.

Watch XR Boston Media video here!

Earth Day in Boston with Extinction Rebellion

A parade thru downtown Boston to drop in on banks, law firms, utility companies, and the seat of state government. Stops included Eversource Energy, Chase Bank, Bank of America, the local chapter of American Petroleum Institute and the Massachusetts State House. Our message: you enable and profit from the fossil fuel industry. How about a revolutionary new business model that honors the earth and all its inhabitants?

Skip’s photos here.

Mother’s Day Walk for Peace-May 8, 2022, video by Skip Schiel

Mother’s Day Walk for Peace-May 8, 2022

New Video by Skip Schiel

Hundreds walk the streets of Dorchester in Boston to honor victims of local violence, domestic, street, and from other causes.

To honor the victims of the most recent massacre of the innocents in Uvalde, Texas, and express my personal horror, I note that the United States has roughly 1.25 guns per person, and the highest rate of mass killings and the fewest gun restrictions of the entire planet (other than countries at war). We might wonder why?

For analysis look here:
Other Countries Had Mass Shootings. Then They Changed Their Gun Laws. (NYT subscription required)

Peace discussion with Friends House Moscow (Zoom)

Peace discussion with Friends House Moscow – Join us on Zoom!

Sponsored by Lawrence-Andover Friends Meeting (Quaker)

Sunday May 29th at 2:00pm EDT we will join Sergei Grushko from Friends House Moscow, as well as Julie Harlow, who has been instrumental in the creation and support of Friends House Moscow. We have submitted questions in advance, and will hear their stories. We hope to record this session.

Please register for the Zoom link for this online presentation here

Friends House Moscow works to promote peace and a just, fair and caring society, and help underprivileged groups and individuals, in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. Their mission includes:
• Providing training in alternatives to violence and conflict management resolution
• Promoting alternatives to military service
• Protecting the rights of and provide services for underprivileged groups and individuals, including women, the elderly, disabled people, refugees, homeless children and orphans
• Promoting the development of a culture of voluntary social work

“Wisdom Jesus” by Sandy Sweetnam

Presented at Living the Quaker Way: Reclaiming Jesus? April 24, 2022, organized by Susan Davies and Gail Rogers.

Click here to read “Wisdom Jesus.”

The Agony and the Ecstasy

Excerpt from The Agony and the Ecstasy by Richard Foster read during opening worship at Meeting for Business in Worship, Sunday, May 15, 2022, and The Foot Washing at Marlborough, taken from “Gospel Order” by Sandra Cronk, Pendle Hill Pamphlet 297, and included in the advance documents.

Click here

Nancy Shippen Memorial

Nancy Shippen’s memorial meeting, hosted by Fresh Pond Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, will take place on Saturday, June 18, 2022, at 11:00am at Framingham Friends Meetinghouse . The address for the meeting is 841 Edmands Road, Framingham, MA 01701. Masks will be required while inside the meeting house. COVID-19 vaccination is strongly recommended but is not required.

A potluck lunch will follow the memorial meeting, outside, under a tent. There will be no Zoom or recording of Nancy’s memorial.

Everyone is welcome to attend this service. Please share this information with any others who might be interested.

Facilitator, exemplar, mentor and friend to many, Nancy Shippen died on Jan. 20, 2022, after a long battle with amyloidosis. Nancy was a member of Friends Meeting at Cambridge from 1973 to 1993, when she transferred to Fresh Pond Friends Meeting. Nancy’s husband William (Bill) How passed some years ago. She is succeeded by two sisters and by her two children – her son Barat (wife Sarah and son Cobi) and by her daughter, Pauravi.

Moving to Acton after her marriage, Nancy felt isolated in the suburbs and searched for community. Among her neighbors, she identified those behind the walls of the prisons in Concord. She formed a nonprofit called “Our Prison Neighbors” in their service, with book drives and course work – such as financial literacy programs – and AVP (Alternatives to Violence).

If you loved or collaborated with Nancy, please post your memory, learning or appreciation here. Betsy Simmons (blousimmons@gmail.com) will compile our sentiments for these events.

“Starting from Idlib, Syria: A Trail of Tears and Bombs” by George Capaccio

Essay by George Capaccio

… In my faith community (Quaker), members are seeking guidance for how to talk about the war with their children. This is a laudable and necessary task, and an expression of our love and concern for the emotional health of the children. The community as a whole is exploring ways to respond to the conflict—ways that are in line with Quaker values and practices. At a recent gathering on Zoom, a member was grateful that the “world is united” in its opposition to the Russian invasion and its compassion for the people of Ukraine.

But then I ask, where are the cries of anguish and despair for families in Afghanistan where the U.S. refusal to release the country’s billions of dollars in assets threatens to bring even greater suffering to the people? Why aren’t more people outraged by the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, which our government could do much to alleviate merely by ending its support for Saudi Arabia? Curse the Russians for their brutal invasion of Ukraine but at the same time remember the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the hundreds of thousands of innocent lives that were lost, and the mayhem that convulsed the country when civil war erupted and an unimaginably cruel jihadist group was born in the chaos—Islamic State, or Da’esh as it is known locally.

The “trail of tears” referred to in the title of this essay may have begun in Idlib, but by my reckoning, its origin is here, the “indispensable nation.” When we think of the people of Ukraine and feel both outraged by the violence and overwhelmed with grief, is it too much to ask that we allow ourselves to remember other people in other lands where the machinations of our own government have left a long trail of tears, bomb craters, displaced populations, sick and dying children, and a million or more dead. We may have scant leverage over the Russian aggressor, but there is much we can do right here, in our own country, to help restore some measure of humanity to America’s role in the world.

Starting from Idlib, Syria: A Trail of Tears and Bombs George Capaccio, 08/04/2022
Read the full essay here.

“Embracing Change” by Marina Rothman

Reports from Cuba Annual Meeting of Friends

94th Annual Meeting of the Quakers/Friends in Cuba.
94 Asamblea de la Junta Anual de los Amigos Cuáqueros en Cuba.

Christel Jorgenson, Mary Hopkins, and Rebecca Leuchak (pictured) attending the 94th Annual Meeting of Friends in Cuba. Please follow “New England Yearly Meeting” on Facebook and Instagram for more updates!
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Lantern Walk video by Skip Schiel

A group from the Friends Meeting at Cambridge walks in the dark 4 days before the winter solstice. Light prevails—inner, from our lanterns, and from above. Thanks to Amy Greene and all who showed up.

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High-Filtration Masks

As a community we care about each other and want to protect each other. This is why we wear masks at Meeting events. Data has shown that cloth masks are not effective at preventing spread of COVID-19 and that high-filtration masks—N95, KN95, and KF94 masks—are much more effective than the light “surgical” masks. We request that you wear one of the high-filtration masks at in-person worship and other FMC events. They do not lose their filtration effectiveness and may be re-used until they are soiled. Just air them out between uses. If you forget yours, we will give you one to keep and use. If you have any questions, please contact the Reopening Working Group at reopening@fmcquaker.org.

Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival

We are thrilled to announce the Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival, a first-of-its-kind film festival that endeavors to educate all about the importance of Quakers of Color who for too long have remained within the margins of the Society of Friends and the wider world. From February 12, 2022, during Black History Month, until Paul Robeson’s birthday on April 9, 2022 we will screen a film centered on a Quaker of Color with an introduction from a guest expert and a follow up discussion facilitated by Black Quaker Project Director Dr. Harold D. (Hal) Weaver. Screenings will take place every other Saturday on Zoom at 1:00pm ET.

Click here for to more information and to register

Christel Jorgenson to visit Cuba Yearly Meeting

New England Yearly Meeting (New England Friends) FOR THIRTY YEARS! has had a sister relationship with Cuba Yearly Meeting called Puente de Amigos.

Three New England Friends are going to their annual sessions (si Dios quiere – God willing) in February.

Thank you in advance for your generosity. There is much scarcity and suffering in Cuba. We will be taking cash and material aid, to the limits of our luggage.

TO ARRIVE BY FEBRUARY 9:

Donations (and any tokens of love from you or your meeting) can be sent to the travelers Christel Jorgenson, Mary Hopkins, and Rebecca Leuchak at cuba@fmcquaker.org Write for local drop-off locations.

Monetary donations can be sent to the Yearly Meeting: NEYM, 901 Pleasant Street, Worcester MA 01602, with a memo for Puente de Amigos; online contributions at NEYM.org (email to accountsmanager@neym.org to earmark).

If ordered online, materials could be sent directly to a traveler – please alert them that it is coming.

Asterisk (*) means priority request – medicines are in short supply.

OTC gastro-intestinal meds: Laxatives, antacids, anti-diarrheal medicine*
Allergy medicine
Vitamins*
Pain relievers, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, others), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others)*
Antiseptic creams and ointments (no liquids)*
Aloe vera gel, Calamine lotion, Hydrocortisone cream
Antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine
Cough and cold medications *
Band aids*
Bandages*
Packets of disinfectants – no bottles of liquids
Thermometers, tweezers, nail clippers
Disposable exam gloves
KN-95 masks*
N-95 masks *
Nonprescription reading glasses, +150, +175, +200 +250 +275
Dental care products – toothbrushes, floss
Coloring books
Crayons and colored pencils
Other art supplies – felt, yarn, playdoh
Reams of copy paper
Laptop computers

Weekly Calendar for April 19 through
April 28 (one week)

The ‘3.5% rule’: How a small minority can change the world

“There are, of course, many ethical reasons to use nonviolent strategies. But compelling research by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, confirms that civil disobedience is not only the moral choice; it is also the most powerful way of shaping world politics – by a long way.”
Read How a small minority can change the world

I am a firm believer in this reality of how few people can make significant change happen. I think another aspect of this is how steady preparation, setting the stage over the long haul, can suddenly tip the balance into success when some relatively insignificant event occurs.—Susan Davies

Somehow I think this article is relevant to the season’s “Peace on Earth” hopeful theme – wistful though it sometimes seems. —Gwen Noyes

First Day School Collection Drive

During this advent season, First Day School is collecting items for our needy neighbors. They are hoping that you will help with their collection efforts. The collected items will be donated to Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP), Inc. which is housed in the basement of our Meetinghouse and Hildebrand .

You can read lots more about the First Day School Advent Project here

Bring your donations to FMC through January 2, 2022. There will be donation boxes in the Meetinghouse foyer and the entryway to the Friends Center.

Here are the items we are collecting. Especially needed items appear bolded in the list below. Items should be new or like new except all baby items which need to be new due to COVID-19 precautions. If you’re not sure, think how you’d react if you received the item as a gift.

If you prefer, you can also shop directly from MAAP’s Amazon wishlist, and items will be sent to MAAP: . Hildebrand also has a toy drive here.

o Individually packaged non-perishable snacks like granola bars, chips, fruit chews
o Emergen-C Immune Boosting tablets
o Gift cards for places like Starbucks, CVS, Dunkin’ Donuts, 7-11
o Warm hats
o Gloves and mittens
o Socks
o Jackets/coats
o Sweatshirts/hoodies
o Long johns
o Scarves
o Shoes or winter boots
o Chemical handwarmers, toe warmers, or insoles
o Travel-sized hygiene items (mouthwash, shampoo, lotion, toothpaste. etc.)
o Combs/brushes
o Pocket tissues

o Baby wipes
o Clarox wipes
o Face masks
o Toothbrushes
o Phone charger (especially Type C)
o MBTA passes
o Backpack, reusable bags, Ikea bags, suitcases (in good condition)
o Bungee cords (for attaching sleeping bags to backpacks)
o Clothes
o Diapers, especially sizes 3 and up
o Baby formula
o Bottles
o Crib sheets
o Baby blankets
o Baby towels
o Gift cards for Target, H&M, Primark, Old Navy

Confronting Racism at Friends Meeting at Cambridge

Sarah Spear predicted that the initial energy to confront the racism in our FMC community, prompted by her post, would subside over a few months, and nothing would change. With her permission, we have included her post below to help re-ignite the determination to focus on what can be done in this community.

Recognizing microaggressions, accepting when they are noted by others, and learning to point them out with love when they are heard, is what can be done, now, here.

We hope you were able to look at the material sent out in the September link. It is included below.

We recommend two more short pieces on microaggressions—one to read and one to watch.

NPR Interview with Derald Sue — 8-minute listen or 4-minute read with clear definitions and examples from early thinker/practitioner on these dynamics.
Eliminating Microaggressions: Next Level of Inclusion – A 10-minute video/TEDTalk, with clear explanation using examples. Consider replacing “work place” with “faith community” as a way to apply to FMC or other Quaker groups.
Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Worship Sharing and Dialogue with Attention to Ouch, Oops, Whoa (also sent out earlier from FMC’s M & C)

If you are further along in this work, FORJ has suggested other resources for individuals and for families, which are attached.

May we be mindful that our own or others’ interactions and behaviors may land differently from what was intended.

With Divine Assistance may our beloved community stay focused on this work and not let it fade into the background.

Thank you for engaging with this.

Sarah’s post from July, 2021

“I’ve been attending, off and on, my meeting for about 4 years now. I’m a biracial woman and I’ve honestly never been more aware of my race than at meeting. I love Quaker worship; I love reading Quaker beliefs and prayers, and I used to love being able to settle into the quiet and meditate and reflect.

“Our meetinghouse just reopened for mixed, in-person and Zoom worship. I was stoked to attend, but, as I settled in, I found myself… angry and unfocussed. I kept thinking about all the hurt this place has made me feel. All the times I was both put on a pedestal for being young and “black”, and all the times people assumed I was some sort of… I don’t even know, a gangbanger?

“As an example, I once brought my mother to a previous meeting. She is entirely black, and attends a different church. She mentioned how she and I went to said church together when I was little, without mentioning the denomination. Someone asked, specifically, if her church was “Black Baptist”. I like to think they didn’t meant to be offensive, but they were! They could have just as easily asked “What denomination?” instead of jumping to a conclusion based on her skin color. (This is just one example, but it was on my mind for most of my last meeting.)

“My meeting is hyper focused on being inclusive. It’s exhausting. But at the same time, this place still feels like home and I want it to. I just don’t know where to begin. I want to make peace with my personal anger; I want to tell them that the way they’re currently doing things is the reason all their minority members leave after six months. I want to help, but I need help myself! Do you have any advice?”

From Ministry and Counsel

mc-clerks@fmcquaker.org

Resources on Microaggressions & Practices for Change

THREE STARTING RESOURCES on microaggressions are:

NPR Interview with Derald Sue — 8-minute listen or 4-minute read with clear definitions and examples from early thinker/practitioner on these dynamics.
Eliminating Microaggressions: Next Level of Inclusion – A 10-minute video/TEDTalk, with clear explanation using examples. Consider replacing “workplace” with “faith community” as a way to apply to FMC or other Quaker groups.
Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Worship Sharing and Dialogue with Attention to Ouch, Oops, Whoa (also sent out earlier from FMC’s M & C) about 4 minutes not including suggested links)

DIGGING DEEPER: Navigating Microaggressions

Microaggressions Are A Big Deal: How To Talk Them Out And When To Walk Away – A 21- minute Code Switch Podcast that speaks to the challenges and choices for people of color, and offers important insights for all!
‘Interrupt The Systems’: Robin DiAngelo On ‘White Fragility’ And Anti-Racism: An 11-minute interview with Robin DiAngelo, including takeaways in text below.

DIGGING DEEPER STILL: More on Navigating Microaggressions, Patterns of Dominance, and Developing Patterns of respect & care:

Conversations about being white and showing up for Racial Justice A 30-minute listen to Melody Brazo (Fresh Pond Meeting) and Lisa Graustein of Three Rivers Meeting.
Robin DiAngelo’s new book NICE RACISM: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm shows ways out of many patterns of white dominance and makes connections to other patterns of oppression – class, disability, gender.
Thoughtful review of Nice Racism by Rev Andrea Ayvazian, a former Quaker who gave the 2002 NEYM plenary calling Quakers to a deeper commitment to anti-racism.

TOWARD NEW PRACTICES of RESPONDING to FEEDBACK and IMPACT:

Harriet Lerner’s one-pager on how to apologize from Brene Brown’s Podcast
Franchesca Ramsey’s 8-minute video makes clear the importance of impact and ways to respond.

FOR CHILDREN/FAMILIES

Two resources from Embrace Race
A 2-page action guide on how to talk with children when they commit, or are targets of, microaggressions. (Quick read with a PDF you can download and keep.)
A 60-minute video on how to talk with children, with transcript if you prefer to read.
Teaching first graders about microaggressions… while for teachers, is useful piece for parents of younger children to explore ways to discuss microaggressions. (Includes great teaching tool, “the crumpled heart.” I can imagine using this is FDS.)
16 ways to help children become thoughtful, informed, and BRAVE about race offers a overall approach for parents engaging their children on race and racism.

Friends for Racial Justice

FORJ@fmcquaker.org

Thanksgiving Reflections 2021

How did you spend Thanksgiving Day? Friends Meeting at Cambridge offered diverse opportunities.

You are invited to the 52nd annual national day of mourning hosted by the United American Indians of New England (UAINE). Over the years members of the FMC community have attended this rally, march and community gathering to support and witness to the fuller truth of what is known as “Thanksgiving” and its continued impact on indigenous peoples locally and all across Turtle Island (so-called U.S.). Sponsored by Friends for Racial Justice.
Celebrate Thanksgiving with your FMC family! Invitations for Meeting for Worship, fellowship and open house sponsored by Ministry and Council, Fellowship and Outreach, and Pastoral Care Committees, respectively.

Here are some reflections.

Sandy Sweetnam

It was a beautiful day in a majestic spot. I was most touched by the mix of people there—indigenous people, old Lefties, families, African-Americans. A wave is growing of increased recognition of the true history of Thanksgiving and how White colonialist aggression cruelly pulverized Native American society and culture. I hope the indigenous leaders will continue to teach those of us in the dominant culture about the magnitude of this destruction and guide us in some form of reparations, particularly for those on reservations. We should look for ways to spread this truth and to support them in the ways they show us.

Minga Claggett -Borne

The sun splayed on all November 25th, 2021 on Cole Hill where a 30 foot statue of Massasoit, the great sachem of Massachusetts stands. The sun with its wild abandon lightened my heart. I came to Cole Hill wanted to find my path to thankfulness while fully present at the NDOM. Many children of the unknowable Creator gathered in this place currently known as Plymouth, MA. The sea gulls circled high. I felt a fey spirit, laced with deep thanks to the warm sun. The waves of the inner bay met hardy insects. Many rocks met the mud-soaked snails and mussels. All creatures stirred at noon as a Native American blew a bugle. 1,000 human children gathered on the crested bank of Cole Hill sandwiched between the tall sachem and the vast Atlantic.

Five days earlier the Plymouth leaders had a parade at the riverbank near a small rock enshrined with a Romanesque colosseum. Pilgrim descendents in 2021 had their own Parade, shrouding the harvest meals with many falsehoods. Plymouth town honors the survival of the English that first settled in MA, coming desperately in winter to a strange land (although the crew was aiming for Virginia). Plymouth rock was imported 121 years after the Mayflower came in 1620. Does the false rock emit patriotic fervor or the starting line of stealing land? . The Pilgrim trip was fraught with near-death and starvation, but they never moored their ship to a rock.

Quakers first came to New England in 1652. Soon afterwards came Mary Dyer, Elizabeth Hooten, and George Fox. Elizabeth Hooten wrote about accepting a land grant from the King, ‘I wanted to get a house in Boston for truth’s sake and wage in the Lamb’s war.” (1670ish). Was it just a huge blindspot that early Friends didn’t write about the Native People already living on this land which was majestic, vast. How long can we accept New England as a name?

Quakers settled in the 1600s in Nantucket, Providence, Salem and Dover. I wonder how surprised they were to meet Indigenous People in these villages? What did they think of their language, their trade, the food? Did the Quakers respect the Wampanoag tribes, looking for that of God in them? Were they too consumed with fighting the Puritan establishment? Elizabeth Hooten received permission to build a house for the Lord in Boston in 1657 ? How did the English kings decide that they could parcel out land ramrodding over the Native Peoples with muskets and laws. Did the Quaker settlers reach out to understand the People of the First Light?
While most families were stuffing a turkey, at the Day of Mourning we were called to open to the four directions. The descendants of the Wampanoag and descendants of the Mayflower heard many indigenous voices, including Massachusetts Mahtowin Munro, a leader for decades United American Indians of New England http://www.uaine.org
and Kisha James, a Wampanoag youth leader. I looked up at their stage. We gathered in the Spirit of Metacom, aka King Philip, who resisted the English occupation of the land in 1650s. I saw some smudging and wafts of sage bush. I looked up at their stage. I hung back with other Quakers towards the back of the stage where many moved freely. From those speaking next to the sachem’s statue, I heard a litany of lies from my 4th grade Social Studies around the Pilgrims. Not all were poor, some built mansions with glass windows. Those on the Mayflower weren’t being religious persecuted. Representatives from the Mayan Elders gave a message in Spanish about living on this Earth.
I heard the desire for revival. Indigenous people ask us to examine the rotting US domination system, to break away from stripping the soil of its richness, polluting the rivers. I heard the need for better health care, no more food scarcity, repair the kidnapping of children, recognize the harm done by confining tribes to patches of land called reservations. It’s all so sad, so much to mourn, so much potential when the Pilgrims came, so much the old roots and the new saplings.
Voices of Aquinnah Wampanoag, the Herring Pond Wampanoag, the Lakota the Mexica, the Arawak, the Taino, the Penobscot, the Chippewa-Cree. Chali’naru Dones explained the travesty of Leonard Peltier, a Chippewa hero, imprisoned since 1975. The gathering asked for truth and liberation from a government that discriminates with racism against them is tragic. The tribes gathered before the inchoate beauty of Massasoit to state their hopes and their sovereignty.

Skip Schiel

This year we resumed Thanksgiving in Watertown, with one major difference: I watched the national day of mourning by laptop in Lynn’s office for nearly the entirety of the main event, speeches and march. Rex joined me for about 5 minutes, Chuck the same, dropping by, curious, but without much discussion other than me reminding people that Louise and I would often attend in Plymouth and arrive late for dinner in Watertown. Until around 1997 when the altercation between city and natives people erupted.

Good weather for the memorial, estimates of more than 1000 on site, another 1000 watched remotely. Spirits high. Led mainly and expertly by Kisha James, the grand daughter of Wamsutta Frank James, the founder in 1970. Not great live streaming technique—didn’t show audience during the speeches, and jumpy camera during the march.

Chris Smith

I watched the documentary Surviving New England’s Great Dying.

Thursday afternoon I went down to Malden High School, where our local food pantry, Bread of Life, held their annual “Don’t Be Alone on Thanksgiving Day” community dinner (held 12-2). I had signed up for the 2:00-3:30pm and 3:30-5:00pm volunteer shifts, which consisted of cleaning up the cafeteria and kitchen, loading the Bread of Life truck, unloading trays of food at the First Baptist Church, where there is a Friday evening meal, and unloading the truck at Bread of Life. As a single person with no family here, the volunteer work filled up an otherwise empty afternoon and as I live in a very food insecure community (See this video on Food Insecurity: A Troubling Issue in Malden), the help was appreciated.

I’m not in this WBZ video, as it features volunteers who came earlier (they started Wednesday):

Patricia Wild

I posted here about this important reckoning but, as my daughter Christina pointed out, this post should be renamed, “Stolen Land Acknowledgement Day.”

If these reflections inspire you to add your own, please do. if you sent me something and it didn’t get posted, please send it again and blame it on my search engine!

Cornelia Parkes
new-story@fmcquaker.org

Bring Dry Footwear to FMC

Spare the Floors and Bring Dry Footwear to FMC on Wet and Snowy Mornings

This is a gentle reminder to bring slippers or a spare pair of shoes to Meeting to save the wear and tear on our floors and rugs, especially on wet and/or snowy days. Some slippers to borrow are available.

Update your Zoom software now!

Zoom customers will be required to update their software to ensure it is no more nine months behind the current version at any given time beginning on Monday, November 1, 2021.

Beginning on November 1, 2021, Zoom will require that the Zoom software on your device be no more than nine months behind the current version at any given time. Go ahead and update your software now so you are ready for November 1st.

It’s good to update your Zoom software regularly. The latest software runs more reliably with few bugs. Also, having the latest version also allows you to take advantage of new features.

Click here for detailed info about how to update the Zoom software on your desktop device (PC, Mac or Linux) or mobile device such as phone or tablet (iOS or Android).

If you would like a member of the FMC Zoom Tech Team to walk you through this process, send an email to zoomhelp@fmcquaker.org and let us know the type of device(s) that need to be updated.

How can YOU help the next generation of Quakers?

Amy Greene, First Day School/Youth Programs Coordinator writes:

Hello Friends,

To borrow a well-used phrase: “It takes a whole Meeting to raise a Quaker child.”

As we start to settle into new routines this fall, the First Day School and other youth needs are becoming more clear. There are plenty of opportunities to be involved in large and small ways, and even ways that don’t directly involve working with kids! Truly, nearly everyone can play a part.
If you would be willing to help with any of the following, please let me know off-list.

Occasional needs

Childcare during Forum (9 – 10:30am)
Substitute teachers for First Day School (10:30 – 12:45)
Childcare during Meeting for Business (1:15 – 3:15). This could even be a craft activity, game, or outside adventure (weather permitting, of course!)
Share a special gift, talent, or interest with First Day school or as a separate family-friendly event
“Friendly Presence” for teen activities

Regular Commitment

First Day School teachers for the Winter and Spring (roughly end of December – March and April – June)

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Testimony by Patti Muldoon in support of Prison Construction Moratorium

Patti Muldoon had the opportunity to testify online at the big Judiciary Committee hearing and wants to share with you her written testimony in hopes that others might care to add your own testimony. Written testimony may be submitted by e-mail to jacqueline.o.manning@mahouse.gov or by mail to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, 24 Beacon Street, Room 136, Boston, Massachusetts 02133. Commission staff may be contacted at (617) 722-2396 with any questions.

T o: Joint Judiciary Committee

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I appreciate your continued focus in listening to a full day of impassioned speakers.

I support H.1905/S.2030: Jail & Prison Construction Moratorium.

Having visited a prisoner for eleven years at MCI Framingham, and cried with her over countless stories of her abuse and the abuse of other prisoners, I can confirm that most returning citizens come out of prison more traumatized than when they went in. I speak to the harmful affects of strip searches and mistreatment by correctional officers have on already traumatized women, most of whom have concurrent mental health issues. Saying the planned new prison would be trauma-informed is just marketing, backed up by no research. Prisons are trauma inducing.

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Amy Greene Reflects on her Conquistador Family History

Amy Greene, First Day School and Youth Programs Coordinator, reflects on her conquistador family history and shares ideas about ways we can be agents of change and healing as part of honoring indigenous people’s day, Monday, October 11, 2021.

Dear Friends,

A few years ago, I was gifted a 3-part written history of my mother’s mother’s family. The first two parts described my maternal great-grandmother’s life, and how her ancestors came from New Mexico and experienced the “border crossing over them” as territory passed from Mexico to the US.

But the third part stopped my breath. My ancestors came from Spain, established Mexico City, and went on to establish New Mexico. “I’m descended from conquistadors.” I thought with admiration of the determination, hard work, and courage needed to travel such distances and establish a new society in unknown lands.

A heartbeat later, I thought of the massacres I knew of, the devastation wreaked by colonial diseases like smallpox, the enslavement and mistreatment of indigenous people. “I’m descended from conquistadors.” I felt a dark weight growing in my belly.
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Building Trusting Community Relationships

Virginia Swain writes:

“I was found clear by FMC to go to the United Nations in the 1990s to pursue my leading to develop and implement Reconciliation Leadership. In 2021, nearly 30 years later, I now feel led to offer Reconciliation Leaders to America.

Click here to learn more about the Institute for Global Leadership that Virginia founded and directs after she was in New York City on September 11, 2001, and was horrified at the American leadership in the post-9/11 era.

Click here to learn about Virginia’s latest book My Soul’s Journey to Redefine Leadership: A New Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of 9/11.

Do you come to Meeting on time prepared to Worship?

Hello Friends,

Balancing the desire to be welcoming to all who want to worship at Friends Meeting at Cambridge with the importance of nourishing the depth of worship is a challenge in this COVID-19 time. The addition of spaced seating means that it is sometimes hard to find a seat. Latecomers may find it difficult to find a place without being disruptive to worship.

Ministry and Counsel asks that Friends plan to arrive at the Meetinghouse ready to settle into worship by 10:30. Latecomers will be able to take a seat until 10:35. After that Friends will be asked to wait in the foyer, or under the portico, until 10:45 and enter as a group, sitting in the benches nearest the door.

Those who are first to arrive could be helpful by taking the seats furthest from the door, at the far ends of the benches, to make it easier for those who arrive later. It is good to always enter quietly to minimize the disturbance to those who are already in the midst of worship. Note that as the number of people who want to worship in person grows, there may not be room for latecomers. Some people may need to be directed to another space.

From Ministry and Counsel

Fall Is Here and the Days Are Getting Chilly

Dress Warmly

This is just a reminder that the windows in the Meetinghouse and the Friends Room will be staying open to ensure that we have adequate ventilation. Please be mindful that these spaces will be getting colder, and therefore you may want to bring extra layers (sweaters. coats, or even a cozy blanket) when attending Forum, Meeting for Worship, or Afterthoughts in person.

Tech Hosts Needed for Hybrid Events

As we move into fall with more hybrid events, we have the need for more tech hosts to help share the work. When we have a hybrid event, we need people in person for the usual convening and hosting, some to manage the Zoom aspects, and others in person to manage the audio-visual equipment that links the two. All this only requires modest technical skills, and we will provide training.

If not enough volunteers cannot be found, then some events may need to be either entirely remote or in-person.
If you are interested or would like more information about
1. Zoom hosting, please contact Holly Lapp at zoomtech@fmcquaker.org or
2. Audio visual hosting, contact Alasdair Post-Quinn at adhoctech@fmcquaker.org.

Book Launch for Wendy Sanford’s New Book

These Walls Between Us
Tuesday, October 5 at 7:00 pm

Long-time FMC member Wendy Sanford followed a thirty-year leading to write honestly and thoughtfully about issues of race and class in her life as a white woman. The resulting book, These Walls Between Us: A Memoir of
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A Better Future for Israelis and Palestinians

Affirming the Sacredness of All Human Life
4-part series October 6, 13, 27 and November 10, 7:30-9:00pm

Sponsored by the Islamic Council of New England and Boston Workers Circle: Center for Jewish Social Culture and Social Justice and co-sponsored by Peace & Social Justice Committee at FMC.

See flyer for link to register on Zoom.

Read the speaker profiles here.

For questions – contact: discussions@islamiccouncilne.org

From the Fundraising Committee

Your financial support is vital to the work and life of Friends Meeting at Cambridge. In this time of uncertainty and disconnection, FMC is striving to provide channels for interaction to enrich the lives of our community members. Please consider contributing to FMC via one of the methods listed on our website.

New Audio Visual Tech Host Hired

The Interim Coordinating Team

is pleased to announce that Guillermo Hamlin has been hired as FMC’s new part-time Audio Visual Tech Host. Guillermo will be taking the lead on setting up and managing the technology for our Sunday activities including Forum, Meeting for Worship and Afterthoughts. Guillermo has been attending Meeting for Worship over the past year and we are excited to have him assist our community in this new capacity. He brings a wealth of experience coordinating audio visual efforts in a variety of public and private settings. Guillermo has also provided production assistance, consultation, and public speaking instruction.
(more…)

Updated April 25, 2024

Meetings for Worship

Friends Meeting at Cambridge (FMC) offers hybrid meetings for worship on site and on Zoom. Please read our Community Guidelines, if this is your first time attending Meeting for Worship at FMC.

Please read the updated Masking Guidelines before attending any FMC event on site.

To participate in an Open Zoom meeting, click the button below.

Click here to join meeting on the Open Zoom Link

Or open a Zoom app and enter the Meeting ID: 783 475 1861 and Passcode: 1652. To attend by phone dial 1-646-558-8656. and enter the Meeting ID: 783 475 1861. No passcode is required.

Worship opportunities at Friends Meeting at Cambridge

Sundays, 10:30-11:30am: Sunday Morning Meeting for Worship (Meetinghouse and Open Zoom) Contact: careofworship@fmcquaker.org
Wednesdays, 8:30-10:00am: Wednesday Morning Meeting for Worship (Parlor and Open Zoom) Contact: Jonathan Vogel-Borne or Sara Sue Pennell at midweek@fmcquaker.org.
Saturday, May 18, 2:00-3:00pm: Memorial Meeting for Worship for David Bonner (Meetinghouse) Contact: memorials@fmcquaker.org.
Sunday, May 19, 10:45-11:45am: Meeting for Worship outside Raytheon (Off Site) Contact: John Bach at bolder@fmcquaker.org.
Sunday, May 19, 5:45-6:45pm: Sunday Evening Meeting for Worship (Parlor) Contact Walker Bristol or MaryGrace Menner at yafs@fmcquaker.org

All events on Sunday, April 28, 2024

Masking Guidelines for FMC Events Updated October 27, 2023

GUIDELINES FOR MASKING AT FMC EVENTS

Starting Sunday, October 1, 2023, masking will be optional at Friends Meeting at Cambridge (FMC) according to the following guidelines.HEART (the HEAlthy Reopening Team) decided on Sept. 26 to slightly expand the mask optional seating area in the Meetinghouse based on an increasing number of people wishing to attend Meeting for Worship unmasked and some confusion over exactly what rows on the left side were mask optional (that were making some extra rows de facto mask optional).

April 7, 2024, HEART (the HEAathy Reopening Team) decided to allow Forum presenters to choose to be maskless, either at their request or the request of attenders who can hear better that way.

Starting Sunday, Oct 1, the entire left side of the Meetinghouse on the ground floor level (as you come in the main door) will be mask optional in addition to the balcony. Signs indicating mask-optional seating will be added to the rows immediately to the left as you come through the foyer and into the Meetinghouse.
In the Friends Room and Parlor there will be continued masking for all during Forum, Afterthoughts and Meetings for Worship including Midweek Worship, Family Worship and specially-called Meetings for Worship.
Optional masking at FMC events is permitted when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Community Level for Middlesex County stoplight [“CDC Stoplight”] is yellow or green. When the stoplight is red, masking at all events is required. CDC posts their weekly stoplight on Thursday evenings by 8:00pm.
Masking is optional during indoor coffee hour after Meeting for Worship. Refreshments will be available indoors when the weather requires, and facilitators are available.
If all members of a small (>20 people) group agree, optional masking is permitted in any room in the Friends Center. For groups more of 20 or more, masks are required in the Friends Center.
The HEAlthy Reopening Team will notify the community when the CDC spotlight is red. When the CDC spotlight is red, all indoor consumption of food and beverages in the Friends Center is suspended.

Background:

At Meeting for Business in Worship in December Friends Meeting at Cambridge (FMC) approved optional masking both for indoor coffee hours and for small groups meeting in the Selleck or Committee rooms on the 2nd Floor of the Friends Center. [The first floor of the Friends Center and classrooms in the basement of Friends Center were already available for optional masking for small groups.] In January, FMC approved optional masking in the Meetinghouse balcony and to the left of the fireplace for Meeting for Worship or for Meeting for Business in Worship when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Community Level for Middlesex County stoplight [“CDC Stoplight”] is yellow or green.

HEART (HEAlthy Reopening Team) has decided that we will suspend indoor coffee hours and require mandatory masking in the Meetinghouse and Friends Center during any week(s) when the CDC stoplight for Middlesex County is red. Any such suspensions would be ended when the CDC stoplight goes back to yellow or green. CDC posts their weekly stoplight on Thursday evenings by 8:00pm.

Community-Wide Zoom Link Schedule

The community-wide zoom link schedule for the week includes worship times as well as some other scheduled activities. If nothing is scheduled, the Zoom link is open for you to socialize or create an impromptu event. The open time is a no-host space, please honor it and each other. If enjoying fellowship together, please be sure to check the calendar so that you know when events are scheduled and honor the transitions from open to programmed.

In the weeks to come, please let us know if you’d like to host an online event (what’s your talent or passion you’d like to share? Maybe you’d like to create a children’s hour?) To check the most current availability and to put something onto the schedule, please contact Amy in the office at office@fmcquaker.org.

Click here to view schedule in Google Sheets

Welcome Visitors and Newcomers

Meetinghouse is Open for Hybrid Meetings

Welcome to FMC’s hybrid Meetings for Worship!

To participate in person, please observe the these guidelines.

Fall Is Here and the Days Are Getting Chilly.
This is just a reminder that the windows in the Meetinghouse and the Friends Room will be staying open to ensure that we have adequate ventilation. Please be mindful that these spaces will be getting colder, and therefore you may want to bring extra layers (sweaters. coats, or even a cozy blanket) when attending Forum, Meeting for Worship, or Afterthoughts in person.

Ministry and Counsel asks that Friends plan to arrive at the Meetinghouse ready to settle into worship by 10:30. Latecomers will be able to take a seat until 10:35. After that Friends will be asked to wait in the foyer, or under the portico, until 10:45 and enter as a group, sitting in the benches nearest the door.

To participate on-line, click here. Or open a Zoom app and enter the Meeting ID: 783 475 1861 and Passcode: 1652. To attend by phone dial (929) 205-6099 and enter the Meeting ID: 783 475 1861. No passcode is required.

Great News!
The new hearing assist device is fully functional. You will be pleasantly surprised at the excellent sound you can receive through headphones when the speaker speaks into a microphone. The same set up that works for Zoom works for the hearing assist device. Thanks, Alasdair!

Questions?
Please contact the Reopening Working Group at ROWG@fmcquaker.org.

Child Care will be available on Sundays from 10:15am – 12:45pm. As has been past practice for summer childcare, outdoor activities will be planned. If it is raining, childcare will be provided indoors in the childcare rooms FDS 1 and 2 as needed. Contact: Amy Greene at fdsypcoordinator@fmcquaker.org.

2020 State of Society Video Report

Each year Friends Meetings and Churches around the world are asked to compose a state of society report, answering the question, “How is Truth prospering among you?” This year Friends Meeting at Cambridge offers this video, marking a very challenging year.

Other Quaker Virtual Opportunities

You are invited to attend the following online meetings.

List of meetings holding virtual Meetings for Worship in New England

Online worship at Pendle Hill every morning from 8:30 to 9:10am EDT

Friends for LGBTQ Concerns is hosting a weekly worship opportunity via Zoom each Saturday at 4pm EST. There will be an hour of unprogrammed worship, followed by introductions, and then a non-facilitated virtual “social hour” until 3 PM PST/6 PM EST. If you would enjoy worshiping in “queer Quaker’ company, please come! For the Zoom link, please contact Lewis or Jed or Rose:
lewis.maday.travis[at]gmail.com [1], jedwalsh[at]gmail.com [1], or roseannahopper[at]gmail.com [1]

FWCC Online Worship Around the World.

The Western Friend has a list of online meetings in the West who welcome visitors.

Summer 2021 Art Show

George Campbell

Click any image to see slideshow

Minga Claggett-Borne

Click any image to see slideshow

Mary Coelho

Click image to view in light box

Mary Lynn Cramer

Click any image to see slideshow

Marion Foster

Click any image to see slide show

Jim Hannon

Spring Planting

Ground must be plowed
for the seed to be sown
but the turf cries out
with a painful moan
against this inversion
of all it has known.

Why here, why us?
The grasses cry.
What have we done
that we must die?

Ah, my friends, you’ll see,
I can swear by God,
It’s your soil that counts
even more than your sod.
New life more splendid
than familiar grass,
sweet fruit and bright flowers
will bloom at last.
Not without effort
and not without pain,
but the harvest will bring
inconceivable gain.

Ariel Maddocks

Hover over image, click the go icon (lower left) and/or the full screen icon (lower right) to view slide show.

Claire Maddocks

David Myers

Click any image to see slideshow

Sara Sue Pennell

Click image to view in light box

Gail Rogers

Click any image to see slideshow

Betsy Roper

Click image to view in light box

Minna (Marina) Rothman

Click any image to see slideshow

Skip Schiel

Click any image to see slideshow

Marian Shapiro

Click image to see full size

Richard Wood

Winter Practice Groups

Winter Practice Groups
Faithfulness Groups and Experiment with Light

Winter Practice Groups offer a unique opportunity to join with a small group to deepen your understanding of a particular spiritual practice and to explore its impact on your day-to-day life. By joining together in a shared practice, participants can strengthen their connection to Spirit and one another.

Two Practice Group options are being offered this winter:

Option 1: Faithfulness Groups
Registration for Faithfulness Groups is now closed.

Option 2: Experiment with Light
Winter Practice Groups: Experiment with Light (Zoom). Gail Rogers will be leading this group to learn about and practice Experiment with Light meditation. This practice is based on the methods used by used by George Fox and other early Quakers, as adapted by Rex Ambler, to center and deepen worship. Additional information and practice sessions will be held on 1/23 and 2/6. Registration is required: consistent participation encouraged, but drop-ins welcome. Click here to visit the Experiment with Light website to learn more about this form of spiritual practice and “Light groups” that exist around the world.

REGISTRATION:

Registration is required: Click here to learn more and register! Register once for any or all sessions. Registration closes February 6.

Consistent participation is encouraged, but drop-ins are welcome.

Email the Adult Spiritual Ed team at spiritualed@fmcquaker.org for more event information about the Winter Practice Groups.

Winter Practice Groups

Reflections on Meeting for Worship at Raytheon

On October 17 Friends Meeting at Cambridge held an All-Meeting Meeting for Worship at Raytheon (10 Moulton St, Cambridge) to commemorate the 12th anniversary of our witness. About 54 people came to this worship for a concern to stop Raytheon’s participation in war.

Taming the Tiger

Who will grab the tiger Raytheon and its military production by the tail? It’s unbelievable that in progressive Cambridge we have the second largest weapon manufacturer in the USA, and the largest generator of guided missiles. My stomach curdles knowing I live close to these munitions.

Just imagine Raytheon military industry as a tiger crushing life (all beings) under its paws. The tiger’s missiles flatten Yemenis. Its huge mandibles destroy orchards and pollute water. Likewise, you can see Raytheon’s $27 billion war contracts (2020) as a runaway tiger escaped from a maniacal zoo. Raytheon’s technologies cause death for children in Yemen, Afghanistan, etc. But what goes around comes around. The tiger is loose. All children will suffer from these weapons. Victims die due to the tiger or starve because of the huge cost of feeding the tiger. The more weapons manufactured, the more likely they will be used. I cannot stay silent anymore.

Shall we allow Raytheon to where weapons end up in the hands of child soldiers or maybe the Taliban? Raytheon builds parts for the F-15, F-16 and F-35 bombers that have recently attacked Gaza. Raytheon weapons include bombs, missiles, and electronic systems/radars for aircraft.

The USA proudly boasts 750 military bases around the world. What do you think is the number one contributing factor to global warming? The US military. Of course, with armed forces creating 750,000 tons of toxic waste. Raytheon sells weapons to Saudi Arabia and Israel, with surveillance to enforce the US-Mexican border wall. Most of the military appliances seemed to be used against brown and black people. My heart breaks knowing that air strikes have killed 56,000 Yemenis in five years. Stopping Raytheon’s sweetheart deals will stop the surge of weapons world-wide and lower carbon emissions. It’s a win-win.

By building bombs, military equipment and sanctifying the act of murder, Raytheon deadens our humanity. For sanity and humanity, the tiger must be stopped.

Friends Meeting at Cambridge holds a Meeting for Worship outside Raytheon on the third Sunday of every month at 10:45am. All are welcome to this worship for a concern to stop Raytheon’s participation in war.

Minga Claggett-Borne
PS A huge thanks to Skip Schiel for editing this letter.

Living on the traditional land of the Massachusett people.
Know on whose land you are on at https://native-land.ca

Grief is a seed. Grief is an action.
As you walk with whatever is dying, have no fear.
Gospel from the Anthropocene

Minutes and Reports, February, 2024

Can you help close the gap?

Newcomer Welcome Days

NEWCOMER WELCOME DAYS at FRIENDS MEETING AT CAMBRIDGE

Drop in via Zoom for 30 minutes from 9:45-10:15am. Click this link or open Zoom and enter the Meeting ID 836 4779 3717 and Passcode: 877919. To connect by phone call 1-646-558-8656 and enter the Meeting ID.

Upcoming dates and hosts:

November 22: Veronica Barron and Michael Shanahan [Facebook RSVP]
December 13: Veronica Barron and Richard Ristow [Facebook RSVP]
January 10: TBA [Facebook RSVP]

Registration is not required, but please contact Veronica Barron at friendlypresence@fmcquaker.org to receive a personal reminder/invitation prior to the event.

New (or new-ish) to Quakerism? Thinking about attending your first Meeting? Or maybe you’ve attended once or twice but have some questions. You are welcome anytime, but you’re extra welcome on our monthly Newcomer Welcome Days! You’ll hear a few basics from your two hosts—a longtime member and a newer member. Then, it’s time for your questions such as

What is everyone doing during silence in Meeting for Worship? Who speaks, and why?
Am I required to believe anything in particular?
How do we try to put faith into practice around topics like prison witness, anti-racism, LGBTQ+ affirmation, peace and nonviolence, and more?
Ask us any “dumb” questions, or “how not to embarrass myself” questions—we promise, your questions are not dumb!
Ask us what we like best about our personal Quaker faith and practice.

WHAT TO EXPECT

9:45-10:15am ET: The Newcomer Welcome Q&A will be a small group conversation.
10:30-11:30 ET: After the Newcomer Welcome session, we invite you to join us for Meeting for Worship. Ours is a large meeting, with about 100 attendees and some new faces every week. Newcomers and guests will be invited to introduce yourself at the end, but it’s your choice and no one will call on you if you choose not to. We are based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but we have regular attendees from across the U.S. and several other countries—you’re welcome regardless of location!
11:45-12:15/30: If you’d like to stay after Meeting for Worship to connect with others in medium-sized groups (usually about 20-30 people), we invite you to stay for Afterthoughts (a chance to share what came up for you in Meeting for Worship) or Friendly Fellowship (informal conversation and chatting.)

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
All of our activities currently take place online via Zoom. The Weekly Announcement Sheet on our website has the description, date, time, contact person, and Zoom link for FMC events.

ACCESSIBILITY & INCLUSION

You may participate via Zoom or phone, with or without video.
You will be invited to share your pronouns/the pronouns you wish to use in this space.
If you have additional accessibility or inclusion needs, please email friendlypresence@fmcquaker.org.

SOME RESOURCES
Friends Meeting at Cambridge: Our Faith, Worship, Community, Outreach, Our World, Learning, Membership, News.
New England Yearly Meeting: Who We Are, What We Believe.
Friends General Conference: FAQ’s About Quakers

Tips for Climate Action: Earthday

Earth Day April 22, 2021

Earthday Emergency Parade and Action
This is why we need to ‘take to the streets! Join the XRs (and, hopefully, Gwen Noyes and the “Reds”) on April 25 (Earth day Saturday) at the Statehouse. Click this link

What Do We Mean When We Say “Justice”?
“Environmental and Climate Decision-making at a Crossroads” talk by
Amy Laura Cahn, Visiting Professor and Acting Director of the Environmental Justice Clinic at Vermont Law School
Click this link.
This is part of Tufts University environmental series. Click here for link.

Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup
Monday, April 19 – Saturday, April 24, 2021

We hope you will join us: RSVP here
The Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup builds on a national effort as part of American Rivers’ National River Cleanup®, which to date, has removed over 25 million pounds of trash from America’s waterways. From 2016 to 2019, the Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup was recognized by American Rivers for the Most Pounds of Trash Collected and Most Volunteers Mobilized. Our cleanup brings together over 3,000 volunteers each year to pick up litter, remove invasive species and assist with park maintenance along all 80 miles of the Charles River. Residents are drawn to the popular Charles River Cleanup from a desire to give back to their community while enjoying the beauty and wildlife along the river.

Earth Day Every Day!

Welcome to the new “Tips for Climate Action”! As part of the new Climate Justice group, an arm of the Peace & Social Justice committee, my leading is to illuminate further steps in recycling! I will be highlighting a tip or two a month to share ideas and outside organizations that are taking an extra step in diminishing our carbon footprint! This is also another “Forum” for people to PARTICIPATE and share what they have done or organizations they have found that are participating in helping our planet survive. Have a recycling or environmental tip you would like to share? Send an email to: recycle@fmcquaker.org! We will include your name, with permission, when your tip is shared! Earth Day is EVERY Day! Thank you!

United Teen Equality Center

Our first organization to highlight is United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) in Lowell, MA. This company hires at risk youth and young adults with jobs in catering, running events, wood working products AND Mattress Recycling! Our trash yards are filling. Mattresses take up huge amounts of space. UTEC workers dissemble the entire mattress and box spring and recycle the wood, springs, cotton, batting and other materials! If you live in Cambridge, Lowell or Newburyport, UTEC has a contract with those cities and comes to your residence to pick up the mattress set for free! Call for an appointment, bring the mattress out to the curb by 7:00 am the morning you are scheduled. They do the rest! There are a dozen other towns that also, actively use UTEC. You can drop off your mattress set at your local DPW with those communities. You can also drop off at their Lawrence site for a reasonable fee. Check out the amazing job this non-profit is doing utec-mattress.org or call for an appointment at 978-856-3997. I have used this service already and am excited to see the award-winning work they are doing in teaching job skills, building leadership and stewardship training.

At the Crossroads of Community and Benign Mutual Neglect

Next Newcomer Welcome Day, March 14

NEWCOMER WELCOME DAYS at FRIENDS MEETING AT CAMBRIDGE

To participate in the Zoom event, click this link or call 1-646-558-8656 and provide the Meeting ID 836 4779 3717 and passcode 877919.

New (or new-ish) to Quakerism? You are welcome anytime, but you’re extra welcome to attend our monthly Newcomer Q&A Welcome sessions. Drop in via Zoom for 30 minutes from 9:45-10:15am, prior to our Meeting for Worship at 10:30am. Bring your questions, and hear from your two hosts—a longtime member and a newer member. Then, it’s time for your questions such as

What is everyone doing during silence in Meeting for Worship? Who speaks, and why?
Am I required to believe anything in particular?
How do we try to put faith into practice around topics like prison witness, anti-racism, LGBTQ+ affirmation, peace and nonviolence, and more?
Ask us any “dumb” questions, or “how not to embarrass myself” questions—we promise, your questions are not dumb!
Ask us what we like best about our personal Quaker faith and practice.

Email friendlypresence@fmcquaker.org to learn more.

WHAT TO EXPECT

9:45-10:15am ET: The Newcomer Welcome Q&A will be a small group conversation.
10:30-11:30 ET: After the Newcomer Welcome session, we invite you to join us for Meeting for Worship. Ours is a large meeting, with about 100 attendees and some new faces every week. Newcomers and guests will be invited to introduce yourself at the end, but it’s your choice and no one will call on you if you choose not to. We are based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but we have regular attendees from across the U.S. and several other countries—you’re welcome regardless of location!
11:45-12:15/30: If you’d like to stay after Meeting for Worship to connect with others in medium-sized groups (usually about 5-15 people), we invite you to stay for Afterthoughts (a chance to share what came up for you in Meeting for Worship) or Friendly Fellowship (informal conversation and chatting.)

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
All of our activities currently take place online via Zoom. The Weekly Announcement Sheet on our website has the description, date, time, contact person, and Zoom link for FMC events.

ACCESSIBILITY & INCLUSION

You may participate via Zoom or phone, with or without video.
You will be invited to share your pronouns/the pronouns you wish to use in this space.
If you have additional accessibility or inclusion needs, please email friendlypresence@fmcquaker.org.

SOME RESOURCES
Friends Meeting at Cambridge: Our Faith, Worship, Community, Outreach, Our World, Learning, Membership, News.
New England Yearly Meeting: Who We Are, What We Believe.
Friends General Conference: FAC’s About Quakers,

Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Group Online

Science Fiction and Fantasy Read Aloud Book Group.

Join us as we gather to read aloud and discuss science fiction and fantasy short stories. Come with your stories or just come to listen. We meet 2nd and 4th Saturdays (except in February) from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

To participate in the Zoom event, click this link or call 1-646-558-8656 and provide the Meeting ID 335 209 895 and passcode 398431.

For more information, contact Betsy Roper or Jonathan Gilbert at scififantasy@fmcquaker.org.

Guided Meditation for Relaxation

GUIDED MEDITATION FOR RELAXATION ONLINE

Jessica Ronalds, from the Pastoral Care Team, has graciously invited anyone interested to participate in a time of Guided Meditation for Relaxation. These online sessions will take place on Mondays and Fridays from 1:30-2:30 pm. We will have the opportunity for brief check-ins, share in a guided meditation followed by a time of sharing.

To participate on-line, click here. To participate by phone, call (929) 205-6099 and enter the Meeting ID: 783 475 1861.

For questions, contact Jessica Ronalds at pastoralcare@fmcquaker.org.

Peacemaking and Jailbreaks

“Peacemaking and Jailbreaks: Liberation in Captivity”

On Sunday, March 28, John Bach gave the homily at The Community Church of Boston: A Peace and Justice Congregation Since 1920.

“If we consider the existential threats of nuclear weapons and climate destruction as imprisoning the human family, what tools may we develop to resist the lunacy and give hope to each other and future generations? How can we keep ourselves free and reasonably happy. The example of Fr. Placid Karoly Olafsson, a survivor of 10 years in the Soviet Gulag, is discussed.”

John Bach is a longtime social justice and anti-war activist. He spent 3 years in federal prison during the American war in Vietnam. He makes his living as a housepainter and is the Quaker chaplain at Harvard.

Click this link to listen to John speak about the delights of dangerous resistance. John begins to speak at 37:00 minutes into the video.

Minna Rothman Wins Tapestry Award

I am honored that my work is included in [probably] the largest international fiber art show in the world: Symbiosis and Coexistence, the 11th ‘From Lausanne to Beijing ‘ International Fiber Art Biennale. The virtual show just opened on January 16, 2021, and will be available until February 16. There is some amazing work to see and it shows what great potentials virtual exhibits can have.

An in-person show is planned for later depending on the pandemic.

Here is the link to the show at the Tsinghua University in Beijing https://lbfiberart.ad.tsinghua.edu.cn. My work is shown in the grouping: Prize-Winning-Work.

Minna

PS The presentation may take a while to download in your browser.
www.MZRStudio.com
FB: Minna Rothman
Instagram: minnarothman

Polly Thayer Starr Art Exhibit

Jules Kobek Art Exhibit

The Proletariat Tarot and Art during the Pandemic

Click the image to see the collection

Selected Works from the Proletariat Tarot

Art during the Pandemic

Artist’s Biography

Jules Kobek, the granddaughter of Polish immigrants, grew up in Philadelphia. The completion of a degree at Cornell University made her the first in her family to graduate from college. After moving to Boston, she coordinated the English language program for adult refugees and the family literacy program at the Asian American Civic Association. Currently she provides private English classes for foreign-born professionals. She has also taught classes on gardening, foraging, and identifying wild plants. She lives in Cambridge with Helen Kobek, her partner of 33 years.

The development of her artistic skills came later, in her thirties, first as a kind of journaling, then more seriously with a few figure drawing classes. The Proletariat Tarot was the opportunity to honor her working-class roots while expressing her interests in symbolism and spirituality. Art during the Pandemic, an ongoing project, is born out of the anger, fear, and turmoil of this time.

A Proletariat Tarot deck may be purchased by contacting Jules at juleskobek@gmail.com

April / May Forums (Parlor / Zoom)

WORSHIP CENTERED DISCUSSION (Parlor / Zoom)

Forums are informal devotional discussions, usually with a leader and about a particular topic. They are hybrid events: you can participate either in person or Zoom. Except as noted forums are held in the Parlor. Forums are designed to help those who attend prepare for meeting for worship. All are welcome; forums provide good opportunities for new members, attenders, and visitors to learn more about our Meeting and what issues are of concern to the Meeting, and to get to know other individuals in the Meeting.

Participants will have the option to meet in the Parlor (with masks) or on Zoom. Forum presenters may choose to be maskless, either at their request or the request of attenders who can hear better that way.

Schedule for April

April 7: “Deepening Spirituality through Prison Fellowship” with Jim Hannon and Tom Ash
April 14: “A Query from Ghanda” Dan Fitzmartin will present a video that he made under the direction and close oversight of Ghanda diFiglia
April 21: “Unique transformation of street children through love, meditation, and kindness.” presented by Andrew Johnson Rafael in collaboration with Dov Arond
April 28: Worship Sharing on Deepening our Individual Spirituality

Schedule for May

May 5: “The State of Society: Putting the Pieces Together” with Betsy Roper

To participate on site, please observe FMC’s Community guidelines.

To participate on Zoom, click here or provide the Meeting ID 873 2175 9327 and passcode 537370 (if requested) on Zoom.com, the Zoom app, or after calling 1-646-558-8656.

Quaker Witness at Raytheon

Hiroshima Day 75th Anniversary at Raytheon Technologies

Friends meeting at Cambridge joined with other peace activists to peacefully demonstrate in the parking lot in front of Raytheon Technologies. John Bach read an open letter to Gregory J. Hayes, CEO, Raytheon Technologies, and Wesley D. Kremer, President, Raytheon Missiles & Defense, entitled Tell Raytheon to Cease and Desist From the Development of Nuclear Weapons. Here is the statement.

Hiroshima Day—75th Anniversary at Raytheon Technologies

On August 6, 2020, we stood outside the Cambridge office of Raytheon (“The Light of/from the Gods”) Technologies, the world’s second-largest aerospace-and-defense company by sales and the world’s top manufacturer of guided missiles and a leader in missile defense systems. Notably, they sell the missiles to Saudi Arabia which kill hundreds of Yemini civilians. Later we delivered to management a Cease and Desist order to stop manufacturing instruments of war. Organized by Massachusetts Peace Action and other groups including Friends Meeting at Cambridge.

Massachusetts Peace Action News, August, 2020. Crowds Gather in Cambridge for Morning and Evening Programs on the 75th Anniversary Hiroshima Day Commemoration

Arms Control Association, May, 2020. Raytheon to Build New Nuclear Cruise Missile

Our mailing address is:
SKIP SCHIEL
9 sacramento st
cambridge ma 02138
skipschiel@gmail.com

Quakers Greet Raytheon, June, 2020
On a bright Sunday following the summer solstice Quaker excitement was electric. Twenty Friends gathered for worship long-distance on the sidewalk near Raytheon Industries equipped with chairs, facemasks and sanitizer. Although worship was deep, I confess my thoughts were tumbling Three elements sizzled in my mind.

Boston Friends have not gathered physically to worship since March 2020. Finally three months later we were called not to our settled quiet worship place, but out to witness by a bustling street.
Our land was still infested with militarism and racism along with a pesky virus that kept many sheltering at home. Black lives matter. The brutality of Raytheon exporting violence in lands of mostly Brown and Black people is a pox on our land just as the police kill people of color in the US.
We chose our first in-person gathering on the Massachusetts sidewalk outside of Raytheon, Cambridge. Friends spread out 6 feet, smeared in sunscreen. We came in humility clear to defund evil. We come with many questions how to rebuild a new land.

Dear Holy One, why do we continue to tolerate Raytheon, a behemoth of stolen wealth and heedless power. Raytheon provides engineers and new equipment to continue the perpetual US peddling of weapons that maim and kill. Raytheon Technologies based in Waltham signed a contract to develop the Long Range Standoff Missile, a new air-launched nuclear weapon delivery system that makes nuclear war more likely. We allow our nation to kill neighbors, often black and brown peoples. These nuclear missiles also destroy lands once full of life in Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan.

The AGM-129 was a stealth nuclear cruise missile that was retired in 2010 and all units destroyed in 2012. USAF photo

On the 75th anniversary of the atomic attack on Hiroshima, we will gather at 9:00 am on Thursday, August 6, on the public sidewalk in front of Raytheon BBN Technologies for the Witness for Peace and Life. Many of the nuclear arms are sold to Saudi Arabia and used as a war against Yemen. We will deliver a demand that Raytheon cease building these deadly weapons and exporting climate destruction.

In worship we call on another power that recognizes green sprouts in the desert. There is a power that covers the Earth with well-being and grace. By asking God’s strength to take root next to the brick block building on Concord St. Thousands of years ago God asked people to turn swords into plowsharers so as to feed people. Can we do something similar in 2020? Engineers, with their ingenuity, could be rebuilding new energy systems and much needed medical equipment

Friends are expecting a miracle. In these times of pandemic we need to lean into the work of healing and rebuilding. “He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the defenses and shatters the spear. Any defenses against the enemy will be burned.” Psalm 46. “There will be new streams in the dessert, and new hope for the poor.” Isaiah 43

Elizabeth Claggett-Borne at Minga@thebornes.org

Essay on what is holy

Casey Scribner’s Forum December 13, 2020

In Remembrance of Ghanda DiFiglia

Ghanda DiFiglia died Saturday, December 28, 2019. Her niece, Becca, and her husband, Josh, were with Ghanda and relayed that she “passed away quietly surrounded by love.” Becca has said so often over the past few weeks how strengthened she was by the caring and support Ghanda received from her FMC community.

Ghanda’s presence in our community will be greatly missed. Her commitment to peace and social justice reflected in her witness over so many years will continue to serve as an inspiration to many. Over the past several months, Ghanda demonstrated such consistent grace and caring about the welfare of others even as she was battling health issues of her own.

As a member of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee of the Friends Meeting at Cambridge, Ghanda Di Figlia has long worked on issues of peace and justice. She is especially interested in the intersection of faith and social action, and is available to dialogue with congregations and other groups on aspects of that subject. She has spoken at several Unitarian Universalist churches in New England and is one of the summer preachers at First Church UU in Jamaica Plain.

Dan Fitzmartin Wrote this beautiful piece celebrating Ghanda’s life based on the rhythms of the Stone of Hope drumming circle

Obituary for Charles Kern

As promised, here’s the obituary for Charlie/Dad from his memorial service – a 2 minute read. A huge and eternal thanks to all who made it possible and beautiful – and all who were there in Zoom and/or in Spirit :) We’ve been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and care.
We’re looking forward to keeping in touch with folks who knew Dad (and of course, those who didn’t), swapping tall tales, anecdotes, and memories. In the meantime, we’re sending everyone love, light, and well wishes.

Alex (for the Kern-folk)

OBITUARY:

Charles Everett Kern II passed away peacefully on August 23, 2020 at the age of 86. He was surrounded by his wife of 57 years, Montague Levering Kern, and his children and grandchildren. Born in the District on March 8, 1934, Charlie was a sixth generation Washingtonian. He spent his early years on the 3700 block of T Street and on Volta Place, then moved to the 3800 block of Garrison Street in 1943. He lived at 3812 Garrison for the remaining 77 years of his life.

Charlie graduated from Ben W. Murch Elementary School, class of February 1946, where he and classmates planted Victory gardens during World War II. He also attended Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, class of 1952; Princeton University, class of 1956; and Yale University Law School, class of 1961. Between 1956 and 1958, he served in the US Army in Frankfurt, West Germany at the Psychiatric Neurological Section of the 97th General Hospital. After a few years in private law practice, Charlie chose a career in public service, “going up to the Hill” in 1971 to work as a staff attorney in Congress, first on the Senate side and then in the US House of Representatives. He spent the bulk of his career working for the House Committee on the Judiciary, where he specialized in antitrust law. He was proud of his role in helping to break up the AT & T monopoly on telecommunications.

Charlie Kern was many things: a brilliant mind and generous heart; an outgoing introvert; a denizen of the District who knew DC “like the back of his hand”; a champion of economic justice, always “fighting for the little guy,” he said, and building bridges of bipartisanship from the 1970s to the 1990s. Charlie was a world traveler who hosted the world in his home; an avid collector of interesting things and people; a lover of great literature, classical music, genealogy, historical artifacts, coins, and just plain stuff. He was an inveterate storyteller with a trove of “Dad jokes.” He was an Episcopalian and Army veteran who married a beautiful Quaker pacifist from the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. He was a marcher for peace and civil rights – protesting Vietnam and joining the March on Washington. He was a cyclist with a fetching array of adorable hats; a kind neighbor and unofficial mayor of Garrison Street. He was a loving spouse, father, and grandfather – an adventurer, chess player, and faithful letter-writer who moonlighted for his kids as a poetic Tooth Fairy named Randolph the Rhyme Elf. Charlie was a rare person who lived so deeply in the past, yet was so fully present to others – on the phone, in the streets, by his fireplace. He was a dear old friend, a wise confidante, a beloved soul.

Charlie was active in organizations such as the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of DC, the Washington Numismatic Society, and the National Press Club, which his grandfather Charles Everett Kern helped establish. Charlie was a member of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church and also attended the Friends Meeting of Washington. Famously, he was fascinated by all things Czech and Slovak, and while he was not Czech, he was active in the Embassy community and had perhaps the largest collection of Czech literature in English translation this side of Prague. This library will be donated to the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as the Charles Everett Kern II Collection.

Charlie is survived by his wife Montague, three sons, Christopher Winn Kern of Alexandria, VA, Alexander Levering Kern of Somerville, MA, and Deane Lindsey Kern, of Charles Town, WV; daughters in law Rebecca Grunko and Priscilla Rodd; grandchildren Elias Kern, Ruthanna Kern, Loki Kern, Zion Kern and Aurora Rodd, and many other beloved family members. Charlie Kern was a titan to his family, a source of strength and guidance, a deeply loving and socially committed man who loved information, people, and the endlessly fascinating adventure of being alive. He will be interred at Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown with his ancestors. He was first, and always, a family man. Charlie Kern, rest in peace and power in the Life that knows no end.

Statement by John Bach on Police Contracts

Tuesday, September 8, 2020, John Bach gave this statement before the City Council Committee on Ways and Means #0840, Order for a Hearing Regarding Police Contracts as Policy Documents

Louise and Severyn Bruyn’s Art Exhibit

Biography of the Artists

Louise Bruyn studied dance and theater at Illinois College. After having two girls, Rebecca and Susan, she taught elementary school for 5 years at Washington Elementary where their third child, George became adopted. Once she became established in Newton, she taught dance and choreographed many dances for local schools. Her art work has been a continual presence in her life and was well appreciated during peace marches when many banners were masterfully created at the Bruyn household. She hopes to continue painting more in her new home at Cabot Park Village.

Severyn Bruyn got his PhD at Illinois College and then got a job offer at Boston College after his Doctoral Dissertation was published, Communities in Action and was well received. His work at Boston College focused on social economic equality and justice. He started painting in 1980’s for the first time in his life, he took up the arts. During the next forty years he painted over 300 paintings. At his life celebration, many of those paintings were gifted to his friends at Meeting.

Louise and Severyn met at Illinois College, and were married in 1951. Their lives have been devoted to peace and social justice ever since they met.

Click any image below to view in a slide show

Poems by Marian Shapiro

Marian Shapiro Reflects on the Experiment of Life, Quaker Worship, and Poetry
and Publishes A New Book of Experimental Poems

Marian writes: Life seems to me to be a Great Experiment, one in which the result is often the surprise I never expected, but always the surprise I needed. Finding the Quaker path, after attending a small NC meeting with my daughter-in-law in 1998, was such a surprise, and every Meeting thereafter another one. Like dreams, my inner life announces itself unbidden, sometimes in spoken messages, sometimes in poems. They arrive, like Spirit, during Meeting, between appointments, during walks, while driving….All my poems are experiments, the most recent in the visual mode; these are appearing in my next book, At The Edge Of The Cliff (Plain View Press), scheduled to debut in January 2021.

Hillel famously asked, “If not now, when?” At 81, I am definitely at WHEN! Actually, we are all at ‘when,’ when we realize it. That is my edge of the cliff. The view is truly great from here.

Unpaused

Witness

What We Know

Poems shared at Forum May 3, 2020

“A Summer Garden” watercolor by Mary Coelho

You Worry Too Much
The poem I shared was the end of the Rumi poem “You Worry too Much.” Here is a link to the full version.

Marilyn Bannon
✨❤️✨

John Calvi’s 6 Healing Sayings

Los Documentos para la Adoración en Español

Glossary of Quaker terms in Spanish.

GLOSARIO CUAQUERO

The following document will be used in preparation for May 25 and the next 10-12 sessions.

Los Consejos y Las Preguntas

Financial Help from the Pope Fund

The Ebenezer Pope Fund

The Pastoral Care Team is happy to be working with the Pope Fund Committee on behalf of anyone in our community who has been significantly adversely impacted financially due to the Corona Virus pandemic. Friends Meeting at Cambridge has the potential to provide at least some level of support through the Pope Fund to those who are facing severe financial circumstance in the current environment. We can also assist in providing information as needed about government and community programs available.

The Pope Fund is an important resource for the FMC Community. We recognize that this Fund has a modest amount and may not be able to address all of the needs. If the needs exceed the available resources in the Pope Fund, we will work with the FMC Community as a whole to explore other options that might individually or collectively be made available. Please contact pastoralcare@fmcquaker.org if you have or are aware of someone in need.

The Pope Fund was established by a gift of one thousand dollars in 1801 by Ebenezer Pope to provide
for needy friends in the Boston area. Trustees of the Fund are responsible for screening loan or grant
applications. Discussions are kept confidential. Anyone may alert the Trustees to another person’s need
or financial distress, or may urge that person to make direct application to the Trustees. In addition to
providing financial assistance, the Trustees try to work with the recipients and applicants to seek out
resources and strategies to ease their needs.

Getting Organized During Covid19

Getting Organized
Resource list compiled by Christa Redner (nee Frintner)
Getting Organized, A List of Tangible, Emotional, and Spiritual Supports for These Times.

Coping Strategies During Covid 19

Patti Muldoon and Bill Thompson modified a friend’s email to share with our FMC community: Coping Strategies During Covid 19.

Caring for Self and Others in Times of Trouble:
Some Spiritual Tools and Tips
1. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe some more. Take time in your day, at any moment, to take ten deep even breaths. Carve out 5-10 minutes to meditate or practice mindfulness or contemplative prayer. Start here, now, wherever you are.
2. Ground yourself in the present moment. Focus your awareness on something real, enduring, or beautiful in your surroundings. Look up often. Discover the wonder and awe that is already here.
3. Acknowledge your fears, anxieties, concerns. Offer them up in prayer, if you pray. Write them in your journal. Share them with others. Feel what you feel, honor it, and know that it is not the final word.
4. Remember you are not alone. Ever. You are surrounded by care and support. Reach out.
5. Create and sustain community. Show up for one another. Listen compassionately. Practice empathy. Even while avoiding “close physical contact,” message the people you care about. Stand with those most vulnerable and those who suffer the brunt of prejudice and fear. Check in on folks. Call your mother, father, guardian, mentor, little sibling, long lost friend.
6. Unplug, judiciously. While staying aware of developments, do not let the Corona-chaos govern you, but forgive yourself when and if it does.
7. Practice kindness. There is a temptation in health scares to view others as potential threats. Remember we are in this together. While practicing health guidelines and appropriate caution, remember to engage one another. Smile when you can. Bring good deeds and good energy into our world.
8. Stay healthy through sleep, diet, exercise. See healing and wellness holistically – mind, body, and spirit.
9. Make art. Discover, imagine, engage your hopes and fears, the beauty and ugliness of our world. Write, paint, sing, dance, soar.
10. Practice gratitude. In the face of crises, make note of the things for which you are grateful: your breath, the particular shade of the sky at dusk – or dawn. The color blue, the color green, the gifts and strengths you have, other people in your life, the ability to laugh. A pet.
11. Connect with your spiritual, religious, humanist, cultural, or other communities. Find strength and solace and power in traditions, texts, rituals, practices, holy times and seasons.
12. Pray as you are able, silently, through song, in readings, through ancestors. Remember the long view of history, the rhythms and cycles of nature, the invisible threads that connect us all.
13. Practice hope. Trust in the future and our power to endure and persist, to live fully into the goodness that awaits.

Words by Alexander Levering Kern
Painting by Wendy Prellwitz

Resources for End-of-Life Workshop

Sunday Morning Meeting for Worship (Meetinghouse/Open Zoom)

Welcome to Meeting for Worship at Friends Meeting at Cambridge!

If this is your first time attending Meeting for Worship at FMC please read about Quaker worship, what to expect, and community guidelines.

Those worshipping with us on Sunday morning have the option to meet in the Meetinghouse or virtually on Zoom. Our technology allows those in the Meetinghouse to see and hear those participating on Zoom and vice versa.

On-site worship

In the Meetinghouse, there are two sections for seating–one for those wearing masks and one for those without masks. Please observe the Updated Guidelines for Masking

Those on site outside the meetinghouse may join the Zoom meeting on their cell phones using ear buds or borrow a hearing assist device so that they can hear vocal ministry effectively.

Hearing assist devices are available to borrow for additional amplification in the Meetinghouse. Also, some choose to use their phone with earbuds to accomplish amplification.

Friends are encouraged to arrive at the Meetinghouse ready to settle into worship by 10:30am. Latecomers will be able to take a seat until 10:35am. After that, you will be asked to go to the balcony to worship or wait in the foyer, or under the portico, until 10:45am and enter as a group, sitting in the benches nearest the door.

Virtual worship

To participate via Zoom click this button:

Click here to join meeting for worship on zoom

Or open a Zoom app and enter the Meeting ID: 783 475 1861 and Passcode: 1652. To attend by phone dial 1-646-558-8656 and enter the Meeting ID: 783 475 1861. No passcode is required.

Sunday Morning Meeting for Worship (Meetinghouse/Open Zoom)

Afterthoughts (Parlor / Zoom)

Afterthoughts is a gathering following Meeting for Worship which offers the opportunity for you to ask questions or discuss your experiences in Meeting for Worship. Newcomers are especially welcome.

To participate in the Zoom event, click this link or call 1-646-558-8656 and provide the Meeting ID 873 2175 9327 and passcode 537370.

Most Sundays, there is a time for informal conversation on this Zoom link after the end of Afterthoughts.

Art during the Pandemic

Click any image to view slide show

Return to Jules Kobek’s Art Exhibit Home

Selected Works from the Proletariat Tarot

Click any image to view slide show

Return to Jules Kobek’s Art Exhibit Home

March 2020 Newsletter

Contribute to the FDS Advent Project

MAAP Urgent Needs

For those of you that I’ve met, hi! And those I’ve yet to meet, hope to meet you soon! My name is Nora and I’m a YAF as well as the Program & Outreach Coordinator for the Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP) which is located in the basement below the Meeting house. MAAP seeks to support and empower community members experiencing homelessness and living in poverty through providing material aid, access to resources, and advocacy opportunities.

Thank you to everyone who was present for MAAP’s Forum at Meeting Sunday, October 27, and to everyone who has been consistently encouraging of MAAP’s work! We were moved by the amount of support and care shown by everyone who was present. And for all who asked “What can we do for MAAP, and how can we grow and sustain our relationship?”

As those of you who were at Forum heard, many MAAP community members have been affected by an initiative begun 89 days ago by the Boston Police Department known as “Operation Clean Sweep.” This violent measure is meant to displace people experiencing homelessness and has further separated them from their already precarious resources and communities.

For more information on Operation Clean Sweep, please follow these links:

Twitter Recap Thread of Operation Clean Sweep & and recount of what happened from Jared, whose wheelchair was thrown out by Boston Police.

We Can’t Arrest Our Way Out of the Opioid Crisis and It’s Cruel to Try by Miles Howard of WBUR

One month update by WBUR on “Operation Clean Sweep’ arrests

At MAAP we have been working with many folks to replace their belongings since Operation Clean Sweep began, in addition to our regular work with community members experiencing homelessness and precarious housing. In response we are putting out an “all-call” for the following urgently-needed items:

1) A T-Mobile phone for Jared, whose wheelchair was thrown out by Boston Police. Jared and his partner Emily are in long term treatment programs. He’s been communicating with his family, MAAP, and social workers using friend’s phones. His family would love to be able to keep in touch with him & he has a phone plan but no phone. We’re working on supporting him to help find housing and continue meeting his & Emily’s basic needs.
2) Warm, waterproof shoes and boots (any size and gender)
3) Gift cards to Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts so folks are able to go inside to warm up as the weather gets colder.

Please see the attachment for our extended Urgent Needs wishlist!

There is a bin outside of MAAP’s door where you can leave donations at your convenience. Again, thank you for all you have done and for all there is to come!

Warmly,
Nora (FMC attender and MAAP Program & Outreach Coordinator)

Peacemaking and Jailbreaks

Full version of the sermon given by John Bach at the Unitarian Universalist Church, Rockport, MA, January 13, 2019.

Reading: Psalm 126

When the Spirit turned against the captivity of Zion, we were like them who dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, the Spirit hath done great things for them.
The Spirit hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
Turn against our captivity O Spirit as the streams in the south.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
They that goeth forth and weep, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them.

Sermon
Good Morning. I am much honored to be in your midst. For a half century I have been a grateful usual-suspect, fellow-traveler, and co-conspirator with Unitarian Universalists in many a worthy and noble cause. Still am.

A 17th century observer of Quakers called them “happy, content, and always in trouble.” So I am indeed happy and content this morning, and I should hope, not so much in trouble 15 minutes from now.

There is no longer much of a prophetic vocation in proclaiming that we find ourselves in a hand basket with certain knowledge of where we’re headed. For one thing, we’re facing the 6th major extinction. The last one 65 million years ago did in the dinosaurs when a 6 mile wide meteor hit the earth. This time we’re doing it to ourselves as we enter a brand new geological epoch: the Anthropocene marked by extreme negative human impact on the environment. We’re poisoning ourselves to death and extinction.

Nor is there much prophetic vocation in proclaiming the failure of most of our institutions to meet human need, amid a perpetual war economy and culture with plans to develop three more generations of nuclear weapons at trillions of dollars. The Union of Atomic Scientists has set its doomsday clock at three minutes before midnight, the closest we’ve been to Armageddon since the early 1980s. Meanwhile, many of our own kids go to bed hungry, to say nothing of the rest of the world’s children. Last year, over 6500 of our vets committed suicide. What does that say? So as always, the question is, both abstractly existential and intensely human, what is to be done? One short simple answer, that answers everything and answers nothing, is Gandhi’s three points of satyagraha, “truth force.” Pursuit of truth; loving means; and self-sacrifice. And if I could add one more: orientation to our victims. Gandhi was wise enough to instruct us not so much what to do, but how.

Yes, things are indeed dire. And if we agree that no one is free until everyone is free; and that a crime against one is a crime against all … what better image for understanding where we are than that of captivity; imprisonment by capitalism, militarism, racism (Dr. King’s “monstrous triplets), climate destruction, social greed, profits over people, and slavish devotion to the criminal allocation of resources and wealth.

So, peacemaking may also be understood as the business of jailbreaks. That sense of liberation in captivity. How can this be? We’re not without historical precedent. Remember the examples of Shadrack, Meschach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, or Daniel in the Lions’ Den. Or the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, however you understand it. Or the Elizabethan martyrs from my own tradition who went to the gallows, it was said, as though going to a picnic. Or the Vietnamese Buddhists and their realization of purification through suffering; Or the two major 20th century French philosophers who both worked in the resistance during WWII. “We were never so free,” they said, “as during the Occupation.” Or Dr. King’s “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” or my own experience of three of the freest years of my life as the three years I spent in federal prison, and an even greater sense of liberation in solitary confinement. Or the two generations of Plowshares activists who have spent and currently are spending years in prison for enfleshing Isaiah’s admonition to beat swords into plowshares.

For the next few minutes I suggest we stay away from lofty abstractions and noble statements. Instead, why not bring a metaphor and story to the discussion, examples from the more intense facets of Life in Extremis: war and imprisonment. Surely if there are any signs of hope within these two hellish realms there may be hope for the rest of us, too.

In order to explain the task they saw set before them during the American war in Indochina, the Vietnamese used to say it was their job to use the Vietnamese egg to break the American rock. What they had to do, they’d patiently explain was to keep chipping away. They’d pause and then say, “chip, chip, chip.”

How preposterous. Any child knows you can’t use an egg to break a rock. The rock — virtually indestructible; and the egg — virtually destructible by anything. Yet consider how wonderful and telling the symbols are.

The ROCK: grey, inert, lifeless, humorless, and incapable of growth or movement, a prisoner of its own mass and dead weight, able only to crush.

The EGG: ready to explode with color and warmth, alive and pulsating; to eat, breath excrete, fertilize, communicate, nourish others, and live in balance with nature.

Throughout Vietnamese history that fragile little egg succeeded in breaking one huge rock after another. Hundreds of years against the Chinese. Chip, chip, chip. A generation against the Japanese. Chip, chip, chip. Eight brutal years against the French. Chip. Chip. Chip. And 15 savage years against the mightiest empire the world has ever had to endure. Chip, chip, chip. Napalm, Agent orange, saturation bombing, targeting of hospitals, schools, and orphanages, anti-personel weapons, strategic hamlets, bombing of dams and dykes, gang rape by occupying forces, the threat of nuclear weapons. Chip, chip, chip.

The egg triumphed because it never stopped and never stopped growing; it remained constant and diligent. Its support ran miles wide and just as deep. And in this there is a lesson for those of us who aspire to universal justice and enduring peace or to precipitate major change in our own lives: that none of us will live to see the end of our struggle; that we must live faithfully to our ideals and not be seduced by legislative or electoral side-shows, or quick fixes, or short cuts or the multitude of seductions our culture offers those of us in privileged positions. That peace and justice and honest lives will come only by our own hands and hearts, and not as a gift from some one else.

The difference, of course, between our two settings and struggles is that for the Vietnamese there was either victory or submission, the EGG or Death; liberation or captivity. For us there is no such imperative or urgency, and our culture provides us with no lack of excuse or diversion.

We who embrace spirituality and peace testimonies, who endeavor to put our vision into practice, certainly will not see the realization of justice that is universal nor peace that is enduring, or the perfection of our own wounded selfish egos. After all, if we are asking questions to which there are immediate answers, we’re not asking big enough questions; and if we set about to accomplish tasks that are within our reach, we ought to set our sights a little higher. At least some tasks.

And truth be told, it does not look wonderfully optimistic at the moment. But when has it ever? But in the struggle, neither will there be submission, and the Light will not be extinguished. And therein lies the victory. In the struggle. In the constant chipping away of that which demeans life, and renders us incomplete. The Egg will not crack, will in fact grow stronger with use, propagate itself, and continue to function and inspire. For all its fragility, what magnificent potential, this egg, our lives, our struggle.

The last breath is not extinguished by the imperial cross or the colonial lash; the witness is not silenced by the executioner’s bullet, the hangman’s noose, the racist’s ax-handle, the assassin’s blade, however starched their collars or clean their fingernails, savage. Nor by governmental lies, media neglect, and the process by which the powers and principalities filter all great movements: by ignoring them; ridiculing them, violently opposing them, and finally accepting them as self-evident after a great deal of struggle and sacrifice.

Have political or spiritual persecutions and assassinations or imprisonments ever silenced the message by killing or imprisoning the messenger in matters of social justice, humanism or faith (those powerful ideas whose time has come)?

Socrates, Jesus of Nazareth, George Fox, Mary Dyer, Bahalu’llah, Joe Hill, Mother Jones, Saco and Vanzetti, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Salvador Allende, Victor Jara, Oscar Romero, Fred Hampton, or Fr. Olofsson.

Wait, who was that last one? Fr. Placid Karoly Olofsson, to whom I was introduced by a friend and to whom I am now introducing you. When my friend met him, Fr. Olofsson was in his ‘80s, small, wiry, a human dynamo, irrepressible, someone you could imprison, even kill, but never repress or silence. He was a Hungarian Catholic priest who was teaching school in Budapest at the end of WWII, and who did not show the requisite enthusiasm for the party line when the Soviets took power. He was shipped off to a labor camp in Stalin’s gulag. These were not intentional death camps, but conditions killed almost half of the prisoners as they were worked to death in the brutal, unforgiving environment. He spent 10 years in captivity there. Fr. Olofsson survived and spoke passionately about his four keys to survival, encouraging us through his story to live with courage and hope in whatever circumstances we happen to find ourselves. Here’s the jail-break.

Don’t complain. There is no need to dramatize your suffering. Others have it just as bad as you do, so what are you going to gain by complaining? Complaining sets up a cycle of despair that weakens you and leads to your downfall, and those around you. You don’t have to look for suffering; it will find you all by itself. Accentuate the positive.

Find small joys to celebrate. Early in his imprisonment Fr. Olofsson organized his fellow prisoners to end each day by sharing something for which they were grateful. An extra piece of bread; a letter from home; a pleasant dream, paper to take into the latrine; a guard’s smile. They would have contests each night to see who could come up with the longest list of appreciations. Since they didn’t have anything to give the winner, they agreed that they would sing that person’s favorite song. The record was held by one man who had sixteen items on his list.

Choose to be noble. There is no point in clinging to the myth of your own innocence. There are no rewards given to the innocent. There are the weak and there are the strong. Since the guards had the guns, they were the strong and the prisoners were the weak ones. But even in weakness, one could be noble. One could live decently and with integrity and compassion by serving others. One could choose to live honorably by forming and bolstering community.

Cling to a source of strength. For Fr. Olofsson, his strength was his faith and conducting mass, using whatever materials he could scrounge up for bread and wine. I ask you to meditate on what your source of strength is? Your faith; your orientation to social and personal improvement; your identity and self-respect; love of family; the images of children under bombardment. It was those photographs from Vietnam that sent me to prison and kept me very strong.

Fr. Olofsson left us with a final story about the gift of laughter, even in the midst of a terrible ordeal.

It seems that the commander of the camp was something of a thief. One day a train had stopped at the camp and the commander had helped himself to a package he found on one of the cars. When it got it back to his office he discovered that it was something he had never seen before, a box containing two wooden toilet seats. He had no idea what they were, but that didn’t deter him. He called Fr. Olofsson into his office and instructed him to mount his beautiful new picture frames, now surrounding two large portraits of Lenin and Stalin, on the wall. Fr. Olofsson gladly complied with the order and said the men couldn’t stop laughing for the rest of the night. The next day they decided to tell the commander that they had determined what those frames actually were and that he had better take the pictures down or things would go badly with everyone.

The words are simple, but their meaning is priceless:

Don’t complain
Celebrate small joys
Choose to be noble
Cling to your source of strength.

And finally, here’s a retelling of today’s reading, Psalm 126 by my buddy and fellow jailbird war-resister Fr. Daniel Berrigan.

When the Spirit struck us free, we could scarcely believe it for very joy. Were we free? Were we wrapt in a dream of freedom? Our mouths filled with laughter, our tongues with pure joy. The oppressors were awestruck. What marvels this spirit works for them. Like a torrent in flood our people streamed out: locks, bars, cages, cuffs, gulags, ghettos. A nightmare scattered. We trod the long furrows, slaves, sowing in tears. A lightning bolt loosed us. And now we tread the same furrows half-drunk with joy, staggering, the golden sheaves in our arms.

Chip, Chip, Chip.

Tumult, Turmoil, and Truth

Tumult, Turmoil, and Truth, Vital Quaker Witness Today

Diane Randall, Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

Stephen G. Cary Memorial Lecture, Pendle Hill
April 1, 2019

CQEW Forum Handouts

Several participants requested digital copies of the materials handed out at the April 7 forum given by members of the Cambridge Quaker Earthcare interest group: Marion Foster, Gwen Noyes, Mary Gilbert, and Mary Coelho. If you missed the forum, this is your chance to catch up. The opening query was read:

“In this fragile time (from a climate disruption standoint), how do our Quaker roots feed our new growth and sense of direction while we re-learn deep empathy for the world we are a part of?”

We then read the summary report on Responses to 2019 FMC Climate Questionnaire and responded to it in worship sharing.

The second hand out, To Better Understand Our Earthly Situation, is a list of references for further reading and watching.

For information about previous work of the committee, please see their Climate Action page under Outreach on this website.

Our Life is Love

Please join us for forum every fourth Sunday, when we will explore the Quaker Spiritual Journey through Marcelle Martin’s book, Our Life is Love. One Sunday a month, for ten months, we will take up one of the ten elements of this journey we’re on together by sharing our stories with each other and responding to the queries that Marcelle raises up. This is an opportunity to deepen our connections to one another and to our Quaker heritage.

What is the book about? Marcelle Martin uses the words of many early Friends and contemporary Friends to explore each of ten elements of the Quaker Spiritual Journey. Each section ends with a set of queries that we can use to explore our own experiences. She also shares the ways in which she has experienced these elements in her own life.

Do I have to read the book? No! The queries that we’ll be exploring in each forum are evocative on their own, and the lives of our fellow community members are fascinating. All are welcome – whether or not you’ve done your “homework.”

Can I drop in, or do I have to commit to the whole series? Please come to as many forums in this series as you are able to. While we hope that the experience has a cumulative effect, each forum should be able to stand on its own as a time of powerful sharing.

How can I get a book? You have two choices:

Order a hard cover, paperback, or eBook from Inner Light Books. A paperback is $17.50 plus shipping and handling.
Borrow a book from the Meeting library. There are at least two to lend.

What are the dates and topics for the whole series so I can mark them on my calendar? I’m so glad you asked!

9/30: Longing
10/28: Seeking
11/25: Turning Within
12/23: Openings
1/27: The Refiner’s Fire
2/24: Community
3/24: Leadings
4/28: The Cross
5/26: Abiding
6/23: Perfection

4/26-27 AVP Workshop and Training

4/26 Challenging White Supremacy

11/16 Noticing Patterns of Oppression

3/11 Friends for Racial Justice (FORJ)

3/15 Make a Reusable Name Tag

3/15 Sev and Louise Bruyn Art Show

3/15 Child Safety Workshop

3/20-3/22 All-Meeting Retreat

3/22 Second meeting for awarding grants

3/29 Committee Fair

3/29 Faithfulness Group Follow-Up

5/6 Midweek Meeting For Worship

5/6 First Day School Parents Meeting

5/7 Stone of Hope Drumming

5/9 Deep Quiet to Rest, Grieve, and Prepare

5/10 Morning Meeting for Worship

5/10 Sunday Evening Meeting for Worship

5/10 YAF Sunday Virtual Potluck

5/17 Adjourned Meeting for Business

5/25 Adoración compartida en español

5/25 New Story Group

6/7 Family Worship

6/10 Artists and Writers Group

6/14 Meeting for Business in Worship

The Love that Overcomes

Public Statement from NEYM, November 3, 2018

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God. — Romans 8:38-39

This week, Quaker communities of faith across the six New England states are mourning with our Jewish neighbors the deadliest act of violence against Jews in this country’s history. We mourn with all who are targeted by hate. We join our hearts in grief with the grieving. We search for ways to respond to the corrosive evils of anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and the persecution of those labeled as “other,” even as we acknowledge our own complicity in these sins. We yearn for justice, for healing, for refuge for those most at risk. In town squares, in places of worship, in living rooms, in legislative offices and detention centers, we unite with countless others to protect people from further violence, violence fueled by false prophets preaching fear.

Each day brings further anxiety, violence, and vitriol, while some charged to be leaders incite the worst in us as human beings. We are surrounded by stories of hatred, division, and despair. And yet, we know this: The story of Love will endure.

This week, in the face of the mass murder of Jews at prayer, Jewish doctors and nurses treated the man who opened fire in the Tree of Life Synagogue. A stranger in a parking lot cradled the 12-year-old boy whose grandfather was one of two black people shot and killed by a white man outside Louisville, Kentucky. As some deny the basic humanity of transgender people and people seeking asylum, communities respond with acts of radical love, inclusion, and sanctuary. In these and so many unnamed acts, amidst such suffering, we see the infinite Love of God.

It is the testimony of the Religious Society of Friends that God is at work healing the brokenness of the world and the brokenness within each of us. Nothing can hold back the unshakeable power of Love in this time, and throughout all time. What matters in this moment–in every moment–is how we choose to participate in this eternal story. Our lives must proclaim that this Love is stronger than all fear.

We commit to live today trusting in this Truth. The words we say and the choices we make in the coming days and weeks must bear witness to Love in concrete acts of connection and care, in our homes and neighborhoods, in our schools and workplaces, in the coming elections, as communities of faith, as people who call this country home, as those seeking refuge and those offering it. We must waste no opportunity to love.

We must seek the grace to keep free from the politics of rage, division, numbness and dehumanization, even toward those we may perceive as enemies. We must nurture in each other the courage to come together across difference, to resist hopelessness, to renounce a worldview that treats anyone as disposable, to affirm that the Spirit of God dwells in everyone. With each person, in each moment, each place—this movement grows.

This is the time for a politics of presence, of radical relationship, of mutual aid and reconciliation. It’s a time to be witnesses, storytellers of the broken-hearted Love that overcomes the powers of fear. Let the walls of separation come crashing down.

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)
Fritz Weiss, Presiding Clerk
Noah Merrill, Secretary

FMC Stands with Immigrant Families

Friends Meeting of Cambridge, holding to our deepest beliefs in mercy, peace and justice, cannot abide any U.S. policy which forcibly separates children from their parents, those who are immigrants and asylum-seekers. As Quakers, parents, children and United States citizens, we condemn this profoundly and deliberately violent course. We utterly reject the idea that God or Scripture condones such actions. Family internment camps are little better, evoking the shame of the Japanese internment camps of World War Two. We must work to reunite the nearly 2,300 parents and children already separated. International law and human decency require us to keep ports of entry open to asylum-seekers who are often fleeing brutal violence in their home country. We call on President Trump, Attorney General Sessions, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to see that such cruelty makes no U.S. citizen safer but only sows misery, and diminishes us all, the jailer and the jailed, the liars and those lied to. Let us turn from this evil work.

11/3 Discernment on FMC Priorities

11/3 Worship Sharing for Healing

12/2 FMC Group Photo

12/2 Lowering the Barriers

12/8 Gift Wrapping Workshop

12/8 Community Re-entry Program

12/8 Singing by the Fireplace

Gift Wrapping Workshop

On the afternoon of December 8, Nancy Hewitt, clerk of the Gardening Committee, led a cozy group in a wrapping and bow-making workshop for the holidays.

On Civil Disobedience — A Conversation

Sunday, November 18, at 12pm Lewis Randa of the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA and criminal defense trial lawyer, Gregory R. Barison will speak at Wellesley Friends Meeting, 26 Benvenue Street, Wellesley, MA. The talk will provide an opportunity to gain insight and understanding of civil disobedience as an act of conscience. Six different actions with, or on behalf of, students from The Life Experience School will provide the context for the discussion.

Cambridge Friends School Used Book Sale

Wednesday, November 14 to Friday, November 16, 4-6pm
and Saturday, November 17, 8am–2pm
Donations Accepted 11/5 through 11/9, 8am–4pm

Cambridge Friends School (CFS) is accepting donations of books in good condition (both children’s and adult literature, coffee table books, cookbooks, etc.). Please do not bring in CDs, DVDs, textbooks, VHS videos, cassettes, records, games or puzzles. If possible, please separate children’s and adult books—it makes set up easier.

Slippers in Meeting for Worship are Great!

Does curling up next to the fire in your slippers sound appealing? This is a gentle reminder to bring slippers to Meeting to save the wear and tear on our floors and rugs, especially during wet and/or snowy days. We certainly do not wish to cause hardship for anyone, but for those of us able to bring a change of footgear, every little bit helps. Slippers to borrow are available in the Meetinghouse and entryway to the Friends Center. Put your wet/salty/snowy footwear in the plastic trays.

The Common Strummers

The Common Strummers (FMC Friends from left to right – David Bonner, Molly Watt, Dan Watt and Polly Stevens) played ukulele and lead singing at Midnight Voices (co-sponsored by Peace & Social Concerns Committee) on Thursday, October 18 in the Friends Room. Midnight Voices takes place on third Thursdays at FMC and there are open mic slots for readers and performers each month.

A Procession of Friends

To celebrate World Quaker Day (October 7, 2018) fifty-four Friends (young and older) gathered in the Friends Room or Family Worship where they created a Procession of Friends banner and talked about the contributions of various Quakers through the ages. The group from Family Worship then shared about their banner and their worship with those gathered in the Meetinghouse at the rise of regular Meeting for Worship. The banner (and Quaker biographical info) is on display downstairs in the hall in the First Day School.

Autumn Mandala

First Day School students and some adult volunteers gathered again this year at FMC during All-Meeting for Worship at Raytheon on October 21, 2018 to create this beautiful mandala with found nature objects.

Woolman Hill Retreat Center, Deerfield, MA

Leaving Everything at the Door: Year-End Silent Retreat with Aggie Mitchkowski

December 28-31, 2018

Silence is a universal language. No matter who we are, where we come from, what we believe, we can all come together without feeling our separateness. Leaving our words behind, ideas behind, each of us has the opportunity to open to what is, in the moment, together as one. Join us for this silent retreat where our goal is nothing less nor greater than to meet each other in that field Rumi talks about. We will spend the days and nights in silence, enjoying the company of our communal oneness. For more information and to register please visit Woolman Hill Retreats

Bolivian Quaker Education Fund

Fidel Chigua Caraniis is the Bolivian Quaker Education Fund (BQEF) student who receives support from Friends Meeting at Cambridge (through individual contributions). Fidel receives our scholarship in monthly payments (about $50 per month). To learn more about the BQEF program or to contribute on behalf of FMC’s student go to Bolivia Quaker Education Fund or contact Richard Barran at richard.barran1@verizon.net.

Help the Poor and Homeless

The Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP) that operates from the basement of the Meetinghouse needs donations of winter clothing including coats, hats, scarves and gloves/mittens. Items do not need to be new but should be in good condition. Travel-size toiletries are also very much needed (bar soap, shampoo, conditioner, combs, razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, packets of tissues, Band-Aids, etc.)

Drop off items Tuesdays or Thursdays between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm, or put them on the tunnel hall bench near the MAAP door after hours. For more information and to volunteer, contact Cassie Hurd at cassie@maapma.org.

Mugs Needed

Friends, a shift in our Meeting culture has happened in our Coffee Hour after worship on Sunday; now we are using ceramic cups as much as they are available; this is clearly a more sustainable option than using paper cups. It’s a small thing, but of course, we do whatever we can, even if small. BUT … we don’t have enough cups for this to work all of the time. So, if you have extra mugs of whatever size, please consider giving them to Meeting. Just leave them on the counter over the dishwasher and we’ll take care of washing and storage.

—David Myers, Ceramic Aggregation Coordinator (volunteer)

Thanksgiving Dinner at FMC

…and a wonderful Thanksgiving feast was had by all. Fifty-six Friends, family and friends of Friends gathered to share food and fellowship. Many helped with cooking, set up and clean up—including Elliott Maddocks who washed all the dishes, glasses and silverware before they went through the sanitizer.

Pie Sale Success!

On Saturday, November 17, families and youth in the meeting spent four hours baking 31 apple, cherry, and pumpkin pies as well as pumpkin cream cheese squares.

Then on Sunday during social hour we sold them all (plus one donated pie) to help a local charity, Liam’s Lunches of Love. Liam is a middle school student in Cambridge who gives out food to people living outside! We raised $671 for Liam’s efforts! Thank you to everyone who helped with the pie making and everyone who bought pies!

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Twenty-nine Friends gathered for a memorial Meeting for Worship was held for the Transgender Day of Remembrance, hosted by the LGBTQ+ Ad Hoc group, on Sunday, November 18. The names of those people whose lives have been taken in violence over the past year within the US were read and a candle lit for each.

5/11 Path of Demilitarization (Film)

5/12 Book Discussion “On the Run”

5/12 Group Memorial Meeting

A Group Memorial Meeting is an opportunity to honor those family members or dear friends in the FMC community who have died in the past year or so. Out of the silence, one by one, participants rise if able, and, after sharing the name of the person we are honoring, say a few words about that person and what they meant to you. Contribution of savory or sweet items for the reception are welcome.

Contact Patricia Wild, memorials@fmcquaker.org, if you wish to participate.

5/13 Mother’s Day Walk for Peace

5/13 Apache Elder Speaks

Apache elder Tomas Eagle Bear will be visiting the Northeast and he has kindly agreed hold a session for Quakers and any interested others on the evening he is in Boston, namely Sunday May 13. Details below. It’s free but donations to support Eagle Bear’s cultural center are welcome. I’ve attended the Sun Dance that Eagle Bear conducts at his off-grid intentional community in Colorado for two years in a row now, and I can only say it’s a magnificent 4-day ceremony. This is a rare chance to meet a rare man.

WHAT: Tomas Eagle Bear, Apache elder, will present an evening of Native American song and storytelling. Topics may include the Sun Dance, Vision Quest, Inipi (“sweat lodge”), and Coming of Age ceremony. Eagle Bear will also perform a hoop dance.
WHERE: Cambridge Cohousing, 175 Richdale Ave., Cambridge MA
WHEN: Sunday May 13, 6:30 – 9 PM
WHO: All ages welcome

April 2019

Contents

Recent Events

Announcements

Staff Evuluations are due Sunday, April 14

Seeking Database Apprentice

New England Yearly Meeting Student Scholarship Grants

Personal News

Events

Where are the Events?

YAF Events

Events for Young Adult Friends (YAFs)

Young Adult Friends Spring Retreat & Living Faith Trip

Clerking in the 21st Century

Continuing Revolution: Experimenting Beyond Capitalism

Young Adult Friends Potluck

YAFs all over Maine – let’s get together for a sleepover!

FDS and Youth Events

Connecting with Bolivian Friends

Easter Egg Creating

Easter Egg Hunt

Youth Group / Friends Camp Pizza and Game Night

Family Retreat in Alfred, Maine

Parents’ Listserv

Job Openings

Part-Time Childcare Provider

Friends Camp Hiring For 2019 Session

Summer Positions at Farm and Wilderness Camp

Summer & Year Round Internships

Forums

Harry Lewis Gracey died on April 19, 2024

A Community of Equal Space—and Silence

John Bach’s speech at the Aaron Bushnell memorial service

Russell de Burlo Jr. died February 24, 2024

Bruce Steiner died February 8, 2024

NEYM April Newsletter

Blue Sky Group

Blue Sky Bits

Blue Sky Group – FAQs and more

What is the Blue Sky Group? What are you doing/deciding?

Who is on the Blue Sky group?

Why is it called Blue Sky?

How can people outside the group engage?

Can you go to the group with any concerns you may have gone to a Clerk for? If so, how do you contact the group? If not, what should you do instead?

What have we been up to so far?

“Yani and Leo’s Thatched Mayan House” by Katy Cullinan

The Truth Shall Set You Free Book Review by Lynne Weiss

Green Initiatives/Electrification Project

Beacon Hill Friends House Digest April 23, 2024

Be a Volunteer!

Visioning Group Survey Summary

Larry Dudley Memorial Meeting for Worship

Tapestries by Marina (Minna) Rothman (Friends Room)

Ian Harrington Died December 24, 2023

David Bonner died November 10

I Pour, I drink

Approved Policy on Reproductive Health and Abortion

How Do You Sleep, Mr. President?

Message from MAAP

Please take off your wet/salty/sandy footwear during inclement weather

Drop-In at Mary Spitzer’s Open Studio

Holly Hatleberg wins medal in ballroom dancing

Louise Bruyn and her historic carving

“Why Go to Poland?” by Elizabeth Claggett-Borne

Elisabeth Cotten died August 26, 2023

Richard Wood’s Photographic Art Show (Friends Room)

Peter Huxtable Died on August 23, 2023

Celebration of the life of October (Toby) Cullum Frost

FMC’s Land Acknowledgment–Next Steps

Boston Welcomes the Golden Rule

Everett Mendelsohn died June 6, 2023

“Get to Know the Clerks Team” by River Smallflower

A Big Thank you to FMC from QVS Boston

Mother’s Day Walk for Peace

Kathleen (Kathy) Newman died April 29, 2023

Request from Nominating Committee

Walter Lenk Memorial Minute

MAAP Tag Sale Coming April 21 and 22 (Friends Room)

Seeking a Center Resident

First Day (Sunday) School (On Site)

Beacon Hill Friends House Digest
April 23, 2024

Weekly Calendar for April 19 through
April 28 (one week)