Metamorphosis April 2011

Meeting for Worship Sundays at 10 AM at Explorations Academy, 1701 Ellis Street, Bellingham

Phone 360-734-0244    Mailing Address  P.O. Box 30144 Bellingham, 98228-2144 Website BellinghamFriends.org

Co-Clerks: Mimi Freshley, (933-4566) and Susan Richardson (733-5477), Ministry and Counsel Members:  Mimi Freshley, Alice Robb (366-6005), Dorrie Jordan and Howard Harris (733-9071), Childrens Program Clerk, Jessica Bee (393-4249)

Metamorphosis Editor:  Sharon Trent (714-6141) Sharon_trent@comcast.net

Calendar

Monday, April 25^th – Spirit Group at the home of Doris Ferm (756-0621) Bring a poem that is meaningful to you and suggestions for the next book.

May 01 – Meeting for Worship for Business Day (note reversal of usual schedule for  business/potluck)

Friday, May 6 – Clerk’s Potluck at the Halls (734-8170) for incoming and outgoing committee clerks.   Gather at 5:15, forks lifted at 6 pm. 

May 8 – Potluck and Mothers’ Day

Monday May 9 – Book Group discusses Border Songs at the home of Betty McMahon (734-0244)

May 15 – SPICES (Quaker testimonies) on Equality, Howard Harris, Virginia Herrick and Don Goldstein, facilitators

Wednesday, May 18^th – Peace Prayer Vigil, 5:30-6 at St. Paul Episcopal Church

May 22 – Retreat – Beginning at 10:45, an all-day story telling with Lopez Preparative Meeting, facilitated by Kathy Hyzy, Editor of Western Friends,  at Quaker Cove.  No Meeting for Worship or Second Hour at Explorations Academy.

May 29 – Memorial Day weekend, no second hour.

Friday, June 17 at 6 pm, Soup Supper at Don Goldstein (671-1395) featuring CD recording of Kirsten Ebsen’s play, “Margaret of Swarthmoor”  about the life of Margaret Fell.  Kirsten will be present.

How to Participate in the 2011 Bellingham Friends Meeting Retreat,

a Joint Retreat with Lopez Island Friends at Quaker Cove

As you may already know, there will be a Joint Retreat including Friends from Bellingham Friends Meeting and Lopez Island Preparative Meeting on Sunday, May 22nd.  There will be no meeting for worship or any other Meeting activity at Explorations Academy that day.

Quaker Cove is a camp and retreat center located a short distance southeast of Anacortes on Fidalgo Island, just a couple of miles from Deception Pass.  It is easy to get there, and takes about 50 minutes of driving time from Bellingham.  Specific driving directions will be provided later, well before May 22nd.

The Retreat will begin at 10:30 am and end about 5:00 pm.  The primary program during the Retreat will be a Spiritual Storytelling Workshop facilitated by Western Friend editor Kathy Hyzy, who has been offering this sort of workshop for a couple of year.  The Retreat will include a potluck lunch from about noon to 1 pm.  There will also be a stretch/walk/socialize break during the afternoon.  There will not be a regular Meeting for Worship during the Retreat hours, but all are invited to arrive early, if you wish, for worship time between 9:15 and 10:15 am.  There is no cost for the daytime retreat, as the two Meetings are paying for the rental of Quaker Cove and compensation for Kathy Hyzy.

If there is someone who is willing to coordinate, it will be possible for a few Friends to stay over Saturday night at Quaker Cove, in a tent or RV or in a rustic cabin with bunk beds and mattresses.  You should not arrive before evening and there is no kitchen use until breakfast time on Sunday.  There is a per-person cost for this option of $10 (camping) or $12 (sleeping in a cabin).  If you are interested in coordinating for Friends who choose this option, please contact Don Goldstein (dnx57@yahoo.com) as soon as possible.

In order to plan appropriately for carpooling, to transport Lopez Friends between the Anacortes ferry dock and Quaker Cove, for the potluck lunch, and for an appropriate children’s program and/or child care, we ask that everyone who will be attending register in advance so that we know whom to expect and when.  There is no formal registration form, but we ask that you contact Don Goldstein by email not later than May 12th, providing answers to the following questions, when applicable, or as many of them as you can:

–Your name, best daytime phone number, best evening phone number, and email address?

–When do you expect to arrive at Quaker Cove, or in the area, if you can help pick up Friends from the ferry?

–When do you expect to leave Quaker Cove, or the area if you can help take Friends to the ferry dock?

–Are you interested in staying at Quaker Cove over Saturday night (even if you can’t be the coordinator)?

–Who will be coming with you, from your own household?

–Will anyone from another household be coming with you, and if so who?

–Will you be driving your own car or riding in someone else’s (whose?) car?

–Would you like to ride with someone else, and have us find an appropriate driver for you?

–Would you like to offer space(s) in your car for someone else from Bellingham or vicinity to ride to/from Quaker

Cove?  How many spaces?

–What general category of food do you expect to bring for the potluck lunch: Main dish / vegetable or salad / bread

or rolls / dessert / beverage ?

–Do you expect that your potluck dish will require refrigeration?  Will it require oven or microwave heating?

–What are the ages of any children who will be coming with you?

–Are you willing to assist with child care for an hour during the Retreat (we don’t know yet whether such volunteers

will be needed)?

–Are you willing to assist with setup before the retreat, arriving by 9:30 at latest?

–Are you willing to assist with lunch setup and/or cleanup?

–Are you willing to assist with final cleanup after 5 pm, which may require taking a plastic bag of trash away with you.

The Retreat has been planned by the Joint Lopez Oversight Committee: Susan Richardson, Don Goldstein, Sharon Trent, Iris Graville, Judy Meyer, and John Helding.  Questions?: Contact Don Goldstein, 671-1395, dnx57@yahoo.com

Draft Minutes for Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business – April 10, 2010

Clerk:  Mimi Freshley; Recording Clerk:  Betty McMahon

Present:  Doris Ferm, Kristin McLewin, Sharon Trent, Jeanine Hart-Horner, Virginia Herrick, Susan Richardson, Tom Hall, Howard Harris, Adam Wade, Lorina Hall, Don Goldstein, Dorrie Jordan, Mark Hersh and Judy Hopkinson

Our Meeting for Business began with opening silence at ~ 11:35 am.

Our History – Howard Harris

Howard shared some personal history with us, and of course we are all very much interested!  When Howard was around 12 years old, he traveled by Model T with his father and grandfather to the yearly meeting in Iowa.  This was ~ 1930, and the drive took  three to four hours.  They Attenders camped and ate canned food; among the favorites was unheated canned corn with pepper.  Among the discussion items at this meeting was the idea of selling the Quaker Meetinghouse to the Catholics.  This dilemma was in line with the 19930’s attitude at the time.  Howard’s grandfather advised that people should pray about it.  In the end, the meetinghouse was sold to the Catholics.  Yes, God tells us what to do if we really listen!

Our Future – There are lots more petitions circulating now than in earlier years; Quakers are responding to the needs of the human condition.  A Friend would like to see these petitions recognized, made official and the number of them increased.

Another Friend would like to see more of the community at large made aware of the Quaker type of worship.

And finally, a Friend is puzzled about our Meeting for Worship with attention to business:

Sometimes our business meetings get “bogged down” with detailed discussions.  Is it serving us well?  Can we trust our committees more and discuss every detail less?

Agenda Review – After reviewing, the agenda was amended and approved.

Approval of Minutes – Corrections

Last month’s Earth care Report should have read:  Paper receipts are free of chemicals.  Ask merchants what kind of paper they use for their receipts.

In the Nominating Committee Report:  There was discussion about the Communications Committee.  Sharon Trent offered to convene a meeting.

   March’s minutes were corrected and approved.

Committee Reports

Meetinghouse Liaison Report – Dorrie Jordan

I met with Daniel recently regarding the Meeting’s lease with Explorations Academy which runs through June 30th, 2011.  He let me know that Explorations is expecting a rent increase from their landlord so we would also be getting an increase in our rent starting July 1.  At this point, he did not have exact figures but expects our increase to be about $25 to 50 per month.  I told him our Meeting budget was tight and we would appreciate as little as possible.

Daniel also said that he felt the relationship with the Meeting has improved and that there had been a lot fewer problems this last year.  He appreciates the efforts to keep things clean and windows locked, etc.  One suggestion he had was to have people check the purple bin on the piano on a regular basis to look for items that may have been left behind. They regularly things like little kids’ stuff when they are going through the lost and found bin.

Ministry and Counsel – Susan Richardson

Query for April 2011 (from Advices & Queries of Great Britain Yearly Meeting)

We do not own the world, and its riches are not ours to dispose of at will.  Show a loving consideration for all creatures, and seek to maintain the beauty and variety of the world.  Work to ensure that our increasing power over nature is used responsibly, with reverence for life.  Rejoice in the splendor of God’s continuing creation.

2.  We welcomed incoming M&C clerk Lorina Hall, new members Judy Hopkinson and Jeanine  Hart-Horner, and continuing members Mimi Freshley and Alice Robb.  We thanked outgoing members Susan Richardson, Dorrie Jordan, and Howard Harris.

3.  Schedule:  (note change of Meeting for Business because of Mothers’ Day)

April 03 – Potluck

April 06 – Soup Supper at Hart Horners, “Not for Sale” film

April 10 – M4W4B

April 17 – No 2^ndHour due to Quarterly Meeting, Lazy F, Ellensburg

April 24 – Easter: Egg hunt followed by finger food potluck

May 01 –  Meeting for Worship for Business

May 06 – Clerk’s Potluck at the Halls.  Gather at 5:15 pm. Forks lifted at 6 pm.  (for incoming and outgoing committee clerks)

          May 08 – Potluck and Mothers’ Day (note reversal of usual schedule for  business/potluck)

          May 15 –  Spices Equality, Howard, Virginia and Don

          May 22 – Retreat – All day story telling with Lopez Preparative Meeting, facilitated by Kathy Hyzy, Editor of Western Friends, at Quaker Cove.  No Meeting for Worship or Second Hour at Explorations Academy.*

          May 29 – Memorial Day weekend, no second hour.

Friday, June 17 at 6 pm, Soup Supper at Don’s featuring CD recording of Kirsten Ebsen’s play, “Margaret of Swarthmoor.”  Kirsten will be present.

4.  May 22, 2011 Retreat

a) Action item:  Shall we hold regular meeting for worship on May 22 when retreat is scheduled?  Will there be a key person who can open who will not be attending?

b) planning:  Don will coordinate rides.  Alice will prepare a flier by mid-April.  Allen Stockbridge will coordinate people who may be interested in staying over after or night before in a rustic cabin at low cost.  We have requested children’s committee to line up child care. We will discuss at Sunday breakfast meeting with Lopez oversight committee at QM.  We need people to register ahead so we can plan rides and childcare.

5.  Member Concerns

a) Margie continues to appreciate rides to meeting. Lorina will schedule rides for April rides, and Mimi will coordinate for May.  Buses are slated to resume in mid June.

6.  Clerk’s Supper – We will continue this tradition for outgoing and incoming committee clerks to share ideas, timing, and visioning, as well as where we are now.  This takes place on Friday, May 6, 2011 at 5 pm at the Halls’.

7.  Report from Outreach and Welcoming Group, Don Goldstein.  Discussed website use (See below).

(See attached report)  Issues of what to include while protecting privacy.

Might be technical challenges to making these changes.  John Hatten approves of changes.

8.  Kirsten Ebsen has completed a play about the life and work of Margaret Fell, and there is a CD of a reading of this.  Don Goldstein will host a soup supper Friday, June 17 to listen and discuss with Kirsten in attendance for questions.  Since it runs 70 minutes for the performance and additional time for discussion, a soup supper will better allow for the additional time than a second hour.  This will also be offered as an interest group at quarterly.  This play may present a challenge of understanding British English.  Some older children may want to attend to learn more about early Friends and Margaret Fell.

9.  Next meeting is Tuesday April 26, 7 pm at Lorina’s house.

Peace & Social Concerns – (Jeanine Hart-Horner)

Those Friends who don’t wish to make concern of the month checks to specific organizations (do not wish to get on mailing list, etc.) can make out their checks to a member of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee in order to consolidate the donation to one specific check.  Thus, we are returning to a previous policy.

Outreach – Don Goldstein

Outreach and Welcoming Group (Job Description)

(A subcommittee of Ministry and Counsel)

The Outreach and Welcoming Group’s mission is to make the Bellingham Friends Meeting visible, welcoming, and informative to all in our community.

   Purpose:  The Outreach and Welcoming Group prepares welcoming materials and introductory brochures; works to make our Meeting accessible and easy to understand for newcomers; monitors the guest book and follows up with new attenders in person or via postcards, email, or phone calls; plans and helps publicize outreach activities and events; and informs the Meeting of opportunities for action which manifest our Quakerism in the community.

   Responsibilities:

Weekly– A member of the group will collect new attender cards and respond as requested.

Monthly-The group will:

a)Meet monthly for two hours or less. Meetings are open to all interested members and attenders.

b)Keep minutes of its activities and report monthly in writing to Ministry and Counsel (M&C). If no member of M&C serves on the subcommittee, a representative of the Outreach and Welcoming Group may make an in-person report at the monthly M&C meeting as needed.

As Needed – The group will:

a) Make a report to Meeting for Worship for Business when items under its care require action or input from Meeting. M&C may also report to business meeting regarding the activities of the Outreach and Welcoming group.

b) Monitor the Meeting’s Website and make suggestions to the Webmaster about ways to make it more accessible to newcomers, at least once a year.

c) Work with the Communications Committee to execute outreach-related activities.

d) Periodically send one or more representatives to meet with M&C to assure that the subcommittee/committee relationship is working well. (First of the year, during the State of Society Report – drafting period is advised.)

e) Contribute to the Meeting’s annual State of Society report.

f) Publicize Meeting events in local newspapers, radio and other media, as requested, including special events and second hours.

Terms – The group will have two-year, staggered terms. Ideal number of members is four or five.

The Job Description was approved for seasoning.

There was a lengthy discussion about putting the directory on the website.  How does our Meeting move forward with this?  This is potentially a big discussion meeting to send back to the Outreach Committee.  Please email your concerns to John Hatten or Don Goldstein.

The Outreach Committee also shared an issue regarding privacy (which follows).  The website is more important for seekers than ourselves.  It is important to Outreach that the website be open and informative.

Openness vs. Privacy on the Bellingham Friends Meeting Website

In late February our web keeper, John Hatten, shared with the Outreach & Welcoming Group and some members of the Ministry & Counsel Committee the following message from Don Van Valkenburgh:

“Friends … I love you. i always enjoy sitting at monthly meeting, in the silence. I have always felt blessed that friends have always welcomed my atheist’s heart & mind in return for my spiritual company.

“I first attended a Quaker event at the nascent northwest yearly meeting in 1979. in these years, as I’ve lost respect for most institutions around our national culture , I still cherish friends. in 32 years … sitting on the regional executive committee and regional peace committee of American Friends Service Committee, and spending three weeks at the Quaker retreat center at Pendle Hill in Pennsylvania, attending Friday afternoon peace vigils in downtown Bellingham, I have lots of experience from which to say that friends are among the truly holy communities.

“I am visiting your website for the first time and I’ll admit that i [am] surprised by the limited access to site pages that permeates your site, and the seeming insistence on membership for access. for me Quakers include openness as part of the essential part of being friends.

“In any case … I love you. Thanks for being who you are … Don VanValkenburgh”

The Outreach and Welcoming Group has subsequently had two discussions about the traditional Quaker value of Openness in the context of possible specific needs for privacy on our website.  We would like to share some points from these discussions and bring our concerns and recommendations to the Meeting for Worship for Business for further seasoning.  We have already asked for and received seasoning from the Ministry and Counsel Committee.

We have thought of three reasons for information to either not be available on our website at all, or available only to those able to access private pages within the website:

1. For the protection of vulnerable children, it is desirable that children’s photographs and dates of birth not be publicly available.

2. In order to reduce the likelihood of Friends receiving unwanted and unsolicited email, individual email addresses should be published only with the permission of their owners.  Since phone numbers are usually available anyway in the published telephone directory, we believe than phone numbers are less sensitive.

3. Some people prefer to keep their physical addresses private.

One of the problems with the current configuration of the website is that there are numerous links to pages shown on the home page and elsewhere throughout the site which can only be accessed by logging in – including the page headed “Meeting Contact Information.” So when those links are clicked on, up pops the members-only login page. This is what Don V. found so unwelcoming.

Since the website may be the very first publication about our Meeting that visitors and potential new attenders see, we believe that there is great value in there being as little restriction upon access to it as reasonable, and possibly none at all.   Labels like “members only” and “private” can be quite off-putting, as Don Van Valkenburgh’s message suggests.

In order to have the website more open and public, as we recommend, it is important that caution be exercised with regard to what is posted there.  It may be impractical, therefore, to post back issues of Metamorphosis, but current and future newsletters, we believe, could be reviewed before posting in order to have individual email addresses and other sensitive information edited out.  In addition, a completely open website would preclude posting our Meeting directory (which may not be a major problem).

We discussed the idea of having no directory on the website (which would reduce the utility of the website for members who use the directory there); having a directory that members could “opt out” of whatever information they did not want public; or having the directory behind a “members only” portal.  We also recognized the fact that most existing Friends meeting websites do not include meeting directories.

If there is a Sense of the Meeting that there is still a need for some material on the website to be made private, then we strongly recommend that all such material be available beyond a login portal accessed from a single link on the main page, in order to minimize the public impression that we Quakers have a lot to hide and be private about.  Further, we recommend that that login portal carefully explain the need for privacy of some information and clearly delineate how one can go about gaining access (i.e., become a “registered user” of the website).  It should not use the term “members” in describing those with access privileges, since that is actually not correct and could make the barrier seem higher than it is.

State of Society Report

The following report was approved by the Meeting.  Susan Richardson will forward it to Quarterly meeting.  Our Meeting wishes to thank Doris Ferm and Joanne Cowan for their efforts.

Bellingham Meeting continues our established tradition that meeting for worship for business, following a period of gathering worship, starts with a consideration of some aspect of Quaker history provided by our most senior member, Howard Harris.  This is followed by a time for expressing our hopes for our future as a Meeting before we proceed to monthly business.

We have rejoiced in welcoming as a new member Tom Zylstra, who now lives far from a Friends Meeting in China, but who visits and attends faithfully for several weeks once a year.  Friends who have transferred memberships to Bellingham Meeting include John Helding and Judy Meyer of Lopez Preparative Meeting an Allen Stockbridge from Salt Lake City Meeting.  We rejoice in all these additions to our community.

At the same time, two valued attenders have left us.  These moves have shrunken our children’s program dramatically, making a paid coordinator no longer practical.  The Children’s Program Committee has successfully taken over this function with innovative new ideas for inter generational fifth Sundays.  While we retain one excellent paid childcare provider, two of our own young Friends help with the little ones.  We continue to hold in our hearts those no longer attending.

In June, we gathered at the Roeder Home for an all-day retreat on “Envisioning Our Future.”  Hopes were expressed for a place of our own, with space for children’s outdoor activities.  Friends asked for more ways to be involved and feel a part of the community and for more opportunities for worship sharing.  The retreat has led to a more active search for a building, and to a new subcommittee under Ministry and Counsel focused on Outreach and Welcoming.  This group aims to help ensure that our Meeting is visible, welcoming and informative to all in the wider community.

In October, we started SPICES (an acronym for Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality and Sustainability), a program from San Francisco Friends School.  IT is a monthly interactive exploration of Quaker testimonies.  The series is being presented by various Meeting members and is well received.

The Book Group and Spirit Study Group continue to be well attended and enriching.

The Finance Committee Clerk and Treasurer were able to attend a helpful gathering in Oregon on Rightly Ordered Finance Management.  Members and attenders responded to a shortfall in our budget toward the end of the year so generously that we were able to meet all of our obligations.  Nominating Committee, likewise, feels blessed by Friends’ willingness to serve in needed ways.

Earth care Committee encourages Friends to live a mindful life and to move toward a deeper appreciation and enhanced relationship with our natural world.  Quarterly field trips this year, however, have attracted few beyond committee members.  A second hour was held on the FWCC queries on Global Change.  This committee, working with Peace & Social Concerns Committee, held one joint soup supper to view and discuss a DVD explaining a new legal strategy for protecting communities and the rights of nature.

Peace & Social Concerns Committee co-sponsored several events with the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center, including the International Day of Peace when Margie White, one of our faithful atte4nders and long-time peace activist was awarded the Howard Harris Lifetime Peach maker Award.  Another co-sponsored events were presentations by Witness for Peace speaker Lilian Vega Ortiz from Guatemala and Veterans for Peace speaker Paul Chappell, as well as the monthly Vigil for Peace in the Middle East.  The Armistice Day/Veterans Day vigil was held at a different Peace Pole and was less well attended that in most years.  A letter of social concern is provided monthly for Friends to sign, and a collection is taken for a Concern of the Month.

One of our relatively new attenders, a long time Friend, expressed the sense that Bellingham Meeting is strong, loving and Spirit led.  Another Friend with experience in a Midwest Meeting, experiences a need for striking a balance between individual leadings and community support for those leadings.  We may need more conversations about what it means to be a Quaker.  We feel blessed by the strength of Friends from other Meetings.

Vocal ministry guidelines recently offered might also be suggested for actions taken:  “Is it of the Spirit?  Is it helpful to the Meeting?  Is it given out of love?”  There is some desire that vocal ministry be more widely shared.  It is important that both communication and action arise from Spirit.

So, in various ways, we are reaching out to the world beyond our doors and inward to find strength for our own spirit while we consider expression of Quaker faith and practice in our lives.

FCWPP – Tom Hall

Dear Friends of FCWPP,

The effort to establish the Washington Investment Trust — discontinued earlier in this session — is experiencing some degree of rejuvenation.  A new budget-related bill, HB 2040, has been introduced and has already had a hearing.  Like the original bill, HB 2040 creates a task force to develop a means to use the state’s operating cash to finance public infrastructure, student loans, and economic development, and make recommendations to the Legislature on specified topics by December 1, 2011.  It addresses the concerns of the State Treasurer that sidetracked the previous bill.  Overall, it is a step in the direction of fulfilling some of the purposes of the Washington Investment Trust, formerly knows as the state bank.

FCWPP requests that you ask your legislators to support HB 2040.  It is scheduled for a vote in the House Committee on Capital Budget at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, April 12, so it is especially important to contact members of that committee (see list of members and phone numbers below; email addresses are in the form: Mary.Smith@leg.wa.gov).  The Committee Chair, Rep. Dunshee, is the prime sponsor.

Thanks as always for your efforts,

Sam Merrill, Legislative Clerk
Steven Aldrich, Legislative Advocate

Friends Committee on Washington Public Policy (FCWPP)

Capital Budget Committee Members