FMW Newsletter 1.2016

Queries & Advices

Minutes

Update on Liz Pomerleau

Nominations

Book Review

Thinking About Race

Pat Kutzner

Random Happenings

Comics

 

Friends Meeting of Washington

Monthly Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business

December 2015

 

Queries

Are you concerned for responsible use of natural resources and their nurture for future generations? Do you try to avoid wasteful consumption and pollution? Do you seek to preserve the beauty and balance of God's world?

 

Advices

Population growth and technological abuses are threatening the planet. Millions of people are malnourished or starving, unable to obtain food, homeless. Our faith that there is that of God in every person calls us to concern over this tragic situation. Friends are advised to set the example in living simply so that others may have the wherewithal to live. We are called also to work for public policy aimed toward conserving the world's resources on one hand and sharing them fairly among all God's children on the other.

 

Voices

All species and the Earth itself have interdependent roles within Creation. Humankind is not the species, to whom all others are subservient, but one among many. All parts, all issues, are inextricably intertwined. Indeed the web of creation could be described as of three-ply thread: wherever we touch it we affect justice and peace and the health of all everywhere. So all our testimonies, all our Quaker work, all our Quaker lives are part of one process, of striving towards a flourishing, just and peaceful Creation – the Kingdom of God. - Audrey Urry, 1994

 

Welcome of Visitors

2015/12-1 Welcome of Visitors

Meeting for Business opened at 12:15 pm with 22 persons present.

 

2015/12-2 Clerk’s Report

• The memorial for Joan Gildemeister is on Saturday, Jan. 9 at noon. All are welcome.
• The Shoebox Project went very well. We made, packed, wrapped, and delivered 1008 boxes in 2 days. It was the 25th year we've done this. Thanks to Steve Brooks, CJ Lewis and Eric Nothman, and everyone who participated.
• Our new "fence ministry" banner saying “Black Lives Matter” is up and generating positive comments.
• The Christmas Eve Potluck, Carol Sing and Worship is scheduled for Dec. 24th. Set up will begin at 5:30 with dinner at 6:00. See the announcements for details.
• There will also be a meeting for worship on Christmas Day at noon.
• The Clerk proposed having another celebration of senior members of our community. The clerk will be turning to the community for help in identifying people to celebrate.
• The Meeting is continuing to move on our own healing. We are making efforts to find programs which will provide the Meeting with both an opportunity to heal and with concrete skills to help avoid this ever happening again include: finding programs on eldering from FGC, looking for help from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, and continuing to make progress on the next steps we outlined before.  We continue to try to reach out to visitors and to each other across generations.
• People interested participating on an anti-harassment committee are asked to see Merry Pearlstein and others on Nominating Committee. 

 

 

Major items

 

2015/12-3 Nominating Committee

Merry Pearlstein, member of Nominating Committee presented the list of annual nominations, a copy of which is attached.

 

The Meeting APPROVED the nominations for terms beginning in January 2016 except for those needing waivers which will be held over until next Meeting for Business.

 

The sense of the Meeting was to APPROVE the nomination of Joe Izzo to a second term on the Membership Committee with one Friend expressing her objection.

 

 

Merry Pearlstein presented the following resignations from committees:

Ministry & Worship		Marcia Reecer
Nominating		Harry Massey
Peace & Social Concerns		Gerald Fitzgerald
Personal Aid		Alex Mathews
		Malachy Kilbride
Personnel		Allan Kellum
Records & Handbook		Harry Massey

The Meeting ACCEPTED the resignations with gratitude for the former committee members’ work.

 

2015/12-4 Search Committee

Meg Greene, clerk of the Search committee, brought forward the name of Todd Harvey (M) as clerk of Nominating Committee.

 

The Meeting APPROVED the nomination.

 

The search committee nominated Bob Meehan (M) and Molly Tully for second terms on Nominating Committee.

 

The Meeting APPROVED the nominations.

 

The clerk noted that Nominating Committee found that if all committees and other positions were fully staffed we would need 159 people. Currently, 108 of these positions are being filled by 86 people. That small number does much of the work of the Meeting.

 

2015/12-5 Membership

Gray Handley, member of Membership Committee, brought forward Ann Procter’s request for transfer of membership to Bethesda Friends Meeting.

 

The Meeting APPROVED the request for transfer.

 

Gray Handley brought forth Robin Appleberry and Ken Forsberg’s request for their children to be named Associate Members:

• Tate Mcleod Appleforsberg
• Osa June Appleforsberg

 

The Meeting APPROVED the associate memberships.

 

Gray Handley brought forth for the second time the proposed membership of Dante Nicolas Bucci.

 

The Meeting APPROVED membership for Dante Nicolas Bucci.

 

2015/12-6 Ministry and Worship

Blair Forlaw, clerk of Ministry and Worship, brought an update on the proposed Futures Task Force. We are all grounded in the spirit and blessed with continuing revelation and challenged to respond appropriately to the evolving future to be vibrant and effective ministers. The annual Spiritual State of the Meeting is an opportunity to look at ourselves and how we may better approach the future, including potential structural innovations.

 

A Friend noted that the numbers brought forward by the Nominating Committee is a reality check. Dan Dozier, the alternate clerk, suggested that the Committee of Clerks should look at the burden of Quaker bureaucracy to possibly bring a recommendation to the Meeting for Business. The Clerk recommended that individuals volunteer to discuss this and bring ideas to the Committee of Clerks. In particular, they are requested to make suggestions for questions about Meeting structure to be used in the spiritual state of the meeting survey. An Ad Hoc group of Merry Pearlstein, Todd Harvey, Meg Green, and Dan Dozier was tasked with this work.

 

2015/12-7 Records and Handbook Committee

In October, the Meeting APPROVED inviting the conveners of the Young Adult Friends to future Committee of Clerks meetings with the understanding that they will not participate in official matters until everything is clarified. The Handbook Committee will bring to the meeting language after working with the Committee of Clerks and Young Adult Friends.

 

Todd Harvey, clerk of the Handbook Committee brought the following change for the Handbook:

 

In the definition of the Committee of Clerks language: “The Committee may not co-opt other members” strike the word “NOT.”

 

The Meeting APPROVED this change in the Handbook.

 

2015/12-8 Meeting reaffirmation of Liz Pomerleau as Healthcare chaplain

Liz Pomerleau brought an update of her work as a healthcare chaplain under the Meetings care, a copy of which is attached.

 

It was noted that this should be brought under the chaplain program within the Ministry and Worship Committee.

 

A Friend noted he was thinking about chaplaincy at a prison. He was encouraged to meet with Ministry and Worship about this.

 

2015/12-9 Milestones

Our member Joan Gildemeister has died. A memorial Meeting will be held for her on January 9^th. Richard Sharp with Joe Izzo will write the memorial minute with support from Judy Hubbard and Hayden Wetzel.

 

Our former member and former released Friend of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Pat Kutzner, died. Many Friends remember her ministry among the Navaho in New Mexico. She often brought Navaho to worship and to go to Catoctin Camp giving both the Navaho and the members of Baltimore Yearly Meeting opportunity to share. Many Friends shared their memories with the Meeting. She let her life speak after to listening to it.

 

The minutes were APPROVED.

 

The meeting closed at 1:00pm with 16 Friends present to reconvene on January 10, 2016 as way opens.

 

 

 

ATTACHMENTS

 

Update from Liz Pomerleau

As many of you know, FMW has endorsed my ministry as a healthcare chaplain. During the past 5 years I have worked in hospital, retirement community, and hospice settings, and I received professional board certification with the Association of Professional Chaplains.  Recently I changed jobs, and I am now back working in chaplaincy education.  I am a Supervisory Education Student, beginning the process of learning to become a Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor.  The training should take about 3 years.  By the end, I will be supervising ministers of all different faith backgrounds in clinical practice, that they might cultivate empathy, self-awareness, openness and compassion. 

 

I want to keep the meeting informed on my professional journey because your support is crucial.  In the past the meeting has written letters saying that it (you) recognize and support my work as an inter-faith chaplain and that I am a member in good standing at FMW. This faith-group endorsement was required for me to achieve board certification with the Association if Professional Chaplains. I will likely need similar letters as I go through the process of becoming a CPE Supervisor, so I want to be open and answer any questions people have.

2016 Nominations:
Officers:
Presiding Clerk		Margaret Greene (M)
Alternate Clerk		Daniel Dozier (M)
Recording Clerk		J.E. McNeil (M)
Financial Coordinator		Ed Hustead (M)
Special Positions:
Librarian		Michael North (M)
Historian		Hayden Wetzel (M)
Committee Clerks:
Child Safety		Virginia Avanesyan (M)
Finance & Stewardship		Jim Bell (M)
Healing & Reconciliation		Gray Handley (M)
Hospitality		Susan Griffin (M)
Library		Faith Williams (M)
Marriage & Family Relations		Mohamad Tim Connor (A)		Needs waiver, non-Member
Membership		Janet Dinsmore (M)
Ministry & Worship		Gene Throwe (M)
Peace & Social Concerns		Mike Duvall (A)		Non-member
Personal Aid		Emily Schmeidler (A) (Interim)		Non-member
Personnel		Bill Foskett (M)
Property		Brian Lutenegger (A) and		Needs waiver, non-Member
		Merry Pearlstein (M)
Records & Handbook		Beth Cogswell (M)
Religious Education		Kim Acquaviva (M)
Nominations to Standing Committees:
Finance & Stewardship		Ed Hustead (M)		2nd term
Hospitality		Susan Griffin (M)		2nd term
		Malachy Kilbride (M)		2nd term
		Tom Libbert (M)
		Greyson Acquaviva (assoc member)
Library		Frank Weiss (M)
Marriage & Family Relations		Debby Churchman (M)		2nd standing committee
		Diane White (A)		Needs waiver - non-member
Membership		Joe Izzo (M)		2nd term
Ministry & Worship		Blair Forlaw (M)		2nd term
		Liz Pomerleau (M)
		Malachy Kilbride (M)		2nd standing committee
Peace & Social Concerns		Steve Coleman (M)
Personal Aid		Emilie Schmeidler (A)		2nd term
Personnel		Bill Strein (A)		2nd standing committee; waiver, non-member
Property		Jay Harris (M)		2nd term
Records & Handbook		Barbara Monahan (Q)		2nd term
		Chris Wickham (A)		Waiver, non-member
Nominations to other Friends Organizations:
William Penn House Board		Byron Sandford

(here ends the Minutes and Reports)

 

The Gospel of Jesus: In Search of the Original Good News

by James Robinson

 The book was a very interesting read written by a Sayings Gospel Q scholar who discusses what Jesus said and did and what we know about him from the different Gospels, dead sea scrolls and the “Q” Gospel.

 As someone who is not very familiar with the Gospels beyond what was learned a couple of decades ago in Sunday School and Bible School, I felt like a needed a bit of a cheat sheet.  Nevertheless, this was an intriguing read.  I especially enjoyed reading the chapter on the Text of the Sayings Gospel Q including what I thought spoke to me as a Quaker with “For, look, the kingdom of God is within you.”  I learned much reading this book including where the term Jehovah came from. 

I would recommend this book to any Biblical scholar or anyone wishing to learn more about what Jesus’s work.

• UPCOMING EVENTS – JANUARY 2016

• Jan. 1-3:  Young Adult Friends Conference  The Young Adult Friends will be gathering for their winter conference and to celebrate the marriage of Erik Hansen and Windy Cooler. The cost will be $60. For more information, contact Jennifer Vekert [1].
• Jan. 2: Come to So Others Might Eat to prepare breakfast for our vulnerable neighbors. SOME is located at 71 O Street, NW. There is a small parking lot next to the building. All are welcome.
• Jan. 6: Grate Patrol   Come help make sandwiches for our vulnerable neighbors, starting at 5:30 pm.
• Jan. 9: There will be a memorial meeting for our beloved member, Joan Gildemeister, starting at noon in the Meeting Room.
• Jan 10:  F(f)riends are invited to a potluck and Quaker dialogue at William Penn House at 6:30 pm. Topic and presenter tbd. Bring a dish to share. 515 East Capitol St. SE. For more information, check www.williampennhouse.org [2]
• Jan. 15:  BYM Camp Enrollment Opens  Enrollment for Catoctin, Opequon, Shiloh and Teen Adventure begins at 7:00 pm for returning campers, and February 1 at 10:00 am for new campers. These are residential programs for children age 9 to 17. Spaces are available on a first come, first serve basis. For details: Jane Megginson (717.481.4870) or www.bymcamps.org [3]
•  
• January 29 to 31: BYM Women’s Retreat  If you have never been to the Women’s Retreat, ask anyone who has. It is a totally great weekend. For details, see: http://bymwomensretreat.org [4] 

__________________________________________________________________________

 

THINKING ABOUT RACE (January 2016) –

“Being in a White Garden”

“Being in a white garden means that we hold the accumulation of centuries of wealth, power, and privilege.  Some of us may come with personal trauma or gender, sexuality, or class struggles.  However, race is the number one predictor of housing values, health outcomes, employment, educational success, and incarceration.  We are the inheritors of tremendous power and privilege just because of our white garden-ness.  Once we acknowledge this, many of our first feelings may be guilt, followed by shame, anger, and fear.  To change we need to do the hard spiritual work of leaning into those uncomfortable feelings.  These emotions are our tools.  They are the hoe, shovel, and rake we need to clear out the unhealthy aspects of our privileged identities rooted in white supremacy and begin to replant a healthier garden. I thank God that my Friends of color put up with my racial ignorance and arrogance.  As a community, we are not going to grow a more inclusive garden by sitting around in silence, waiting for more African Americans to walk in the door or our meetinghouses.”

- From “Waking Up in the White Garden,” by Scott Holmes of Durham (N.C.) Meeting and professor of law at the North Carolina Central University School of Law, published in Friends Journal, October 2015, p. 6.  Holmes uses the metaphor of a “white garden,” prompted by his walks through a section of the Duke Gardens where all the flowers are white.

Pat Kutzner

Patricia (Pat) Kutzner “walked on” in early December after a short illness. Originally a member of Friends Meeting of Washington, she moved in 1996 to an isolated part of New Mexico to become part of a Navajo (Dine) community. For six years, BYM supported her as a Released or Embraced Friend in her work there. BYM also coordinated with Pat, and other Friends such as Susan Lepper, to bring Navajo children and teens to summer camp and to create a youth exchange experience.

Under the direction of Torreon chapter officials, Pat assisted as a planner, grant writer, consultant, and administrator for long and short-term programs. These included a thrift store, arts and crafts festival, solar energy and water projects, and job training. She increased Quakers awareness of conditions for Native people living in out-of-the-way areas, sought advocacy for Indian issues, and engaged many in BYM in volunteer activities. A circle of people supported Pat’s life of simplicity and service.

RANDOM HAPPENINGS

   Congratulations to everyone for participating in the 25^th Annual Shoebox Project! It went swimmingly well—all 1008 boxes created, filled, wrapped, and distributed in a weekend. Special thanks to CJ Lewis, Steve Brooks, and Eric Nothman for their calm and well-organized leadership.

                                                             

 

While we were filling boxes, the plucky folks on the Peace & Social Concerns committee were out front with their special wire thingies attaching our new banner—a Quaker variant on Black Lives Matter. We’re told that nearly every other church group that’s hung such a banner has seen it defaced or vandalized. Learning this engendered lengthy discernment among committee members as to how to best attach the banner to make it hard to tear down. So far, so good. Thanks, Mike Duvall, Elaine Wilson, Victor Freeman, Susan Meehan, and others!

   Quakers in the News: Our own Hayden Wetzel had a letter to the editor published in the December 12 Washington Post, in which he defended the power of prayer. And in other news, a new movie called In the Heart of the Sea—about some Nantucket whalers and a ship-sinking whale—is essentially about how the Quaker faith worked out in extreme conditions, according to its author. Hmmm.

   We heard from our beloved member, Roland Pool, over the holiday. He described an exciting trip he took with Friends through Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Park, which included being flipped into the Snake River. He’s now working as a clinical social worker with the US Dept. of Veteran Affairs, assisting chronically homeless veterans to obtain transitional and long-term housing.

   We also got a card from Robert Fudge and Steve Kretzmann. Here it is:

                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had sad news last month. Our beloved member, Joan Gildemeister, passed away shortly before her 90^th birthday. And our former member Pat Kutzner, who left us to work with the Navajo in New Mexico, died after a brief illness. Both of these weighty Friends were mentors to many people, Friends and friends alike. They are much missed. The memorial for Joan will be here at noon on January 9. Judy Hubbard is looking for folks interested in holding a memorial meeting for Pat.

  And speaking of folks being interested in things . . . Is anyone interested in:

• Ending Drone Warfare – talk with Malachy Kilbride, malachykilbride@yahoo.com [8]

 

• Working against the Death Penalty/Incarcerating Children as Adults – speak with Jessica Farley, jessicafar@gmail.com [9]

 

• Learning more about the history of Quakers and Native Americans – come to a workshop with Paula Palmer, to be held at FMW soon
•  
• Joining a small group to support your Spiritual Journey – talk with Betsy Bramon about Spiritual Formation, or check the list of spiritual growth opportunities, found in the Literature Rack near the front door. Betsy.bramon@gmail.com [10]

 

• Learning about other F/friends’ spiritual journeys? Come to the Parlor at 9:15 on the 4^th Sunday of each month and hear two Friends tell their stories. To learn more (and to volunteer to give your journey), contact Marcia Reecer at mreecer@earthlink.net [11]

 

• Making soup – these skills are needed for the whole Meeting on the Sunday before Meeting for Business, and the first Wednesday of the month for the Grate Patrol. For the Meeting’s request, speak with Kate Steger, kate.steger@gmail.com [12]  For the Grate Patrol, talk with Steve Brooks, sbrooks@uab.edu [13]

 

• Taking additional steps to “green” the Meeting House and your own home, making them more environmental friendly? Speak with Brian Lutenegger, brian.lutenegger@gmail.com [14]

   Grateful for all you do for the Meeting—and for the world.

   Finally, in case anyone asks you what Quakers think of the idea of excluding a group of people based solely on their faith, I recommend quoting Diane Randall:

-Debby