Westport Meeting Newsletter, September 15, 2023

September 16, 2023
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Westport Meeting News: 

REMINDER: Monthly Meeting for Business will be held Sunday, Sept 17, at 8 AM via Zoom. See weekly Westport Meeting email for the Zoom link.

Property Committee update: All of the electronic equipment and parts related to the upcoming installation of security cameras on the exterior of Meeting’s buildings have arrived. (Given the supply chain issues these days, this is very good news!) The next step is to have the project scheduled as part of Wayne Electric’s overall workflow, and we should learn the install date nest week, hopefully.
 
Last week a tree fell over the Meeting’s back stone wall from the Town’s Beech Grove Cemetery, which has been the site of heavy machinery knocking over trees and back-filling the area with gravel and loam in preparation for future grave sites beyond the East side of the Meeting’s property. Property Committee members expressed their concerns for safety, noting that we rent indoor and outdoor space to South Coast Music comprising a children’s music program that meets on Meeting property twice weekly. Fortunately, the group was not on site when the tree came down.  

Property Committee met on July 20, and among the items expressed was a decision to recommend to Monthly Meeting for Business that the Meeting consider installing security cameras on the exterior of our buildings, due to recent vandalism and property damage over the last several years. A detailed report chronicling the types of damage to Meeting property may be read HERE.

Update on above as of Aug 30: The Meeting has sent in the required deposit for the installation of security cameras on the exterior of our buildings. The necessary equipment and parts have been ordered. Once all the parts and equipment have been received the job will be scheduled for installation. Best educated guess, if none of the parts are back-ordered, the install will begin the middle of September or the start of October. Once the work begins, the Community House will need to be closed during week-day hours until the project is completed. 

Book Shed News: Effective September 1, our Book Shed will be open seven days a week, 9am – 5pm. If you are able to help unlock and relock the Book Shed every now and then, please be in touch with Gretchen.

MEETING CALENDAR:

(All meetings held in person, via Zoom, or hybrid (meaning in-person and via Zoom), as noted)

  • Worship each Sunday in meetinghouse and via Zoom at 10am (hybrid) 
  • Peace and Social Justice Committee, Mon, Sept 18, 7pm via ZOOM
  • Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, Sept 20, 3:30-4pm. Via Zoom.
  • Seekers Group, Monday, Sept 25, 7-8:30 PM. HYBRID
  • Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, Sept 27, 3:30-4pm. Via Zoom 
  • Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wed, Oct 4, 3:30-4pm. via Zoom 
  • NEYM check-in for Friends serving their home meetings, Oct 10, 7-8pm
  • Monthly Meeting for Business, Sunday, Oct 15, at 8am Via Zoom
  • Sandwich Quarterly Meeting at Allen’s Neck Meeting, Oct 28

MIDWEEK WORSHIP, via Zoom, WEDNESDAYS, 3:30-4:00pm. (Kevin sends link day of)

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Yearly Meeting/Wider Quaker News:

NEYM’s Sept 2023 Newsletter introduction, “The Third Way,” comes from Martha Sheldon from Durham, ME, Friends Meeting, may be read HERE.

Introduction
Workshop: financially supporting ministry
An invitation from West Epping Friends
World Quaker Day
Meeting Care Day
We’re hiring!
Legacy Gift news
Sessions bookstore needs you!
Have you subscribed?
New from QuakerSpeak
Friends in South Pittsfield
Lobbying for peace
A last word

Kenzie Burpee, Interim Children’s Ministries Coordinator, has important updates detailing retreat dates and related ongoing programs for  Junior Yearly Meeting, and Junior High Yearly Meeting, all under the care of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends. Read Kenzie’s updates HERE.

Recurring NEYM virtual events

Monthly Check-In for Friends Serving Their Local Meetings

Monthly check-in for Friends serving their local meetings takes place every second Tuesday of the month, 7-8 PM.
Upcoming dates are:
Oct 10
Nov 7

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Sandwich Quarterly Meeting (SQM) News:

(Special thanks to Deena Kinsky, SQM Newsletter Editor for her fine work here throughout the year! –ed.)

A Quaker museum is in the makings on the 2nd floor of the meeting house in East Sandwich. Please reach out if you have any Quaker artefacts to house there (especially from Sandwich Quarter).  Also looking for a case for a life-size mannequin!

West Falmouth

Second Sunday Forums:

October 8 12:30 – 2:30: An Introduction to Reconciliation Leadership: A Methodology to Reconcile Relationships and Building Trusting Communities. With Virginia Swain who used this methodology working in the United Nations. Flyer and Registration HERE.

Quarter calendar for the rest of the year

Business and M&C meetings start at 10:00.  Possibly in-person, hybrid, or virtual.

October 28 in Allen’s Neck (…and Allen’s Neck was slated for July)

Quarterly Ministry and Counsel:

Sept. 23 in Mattapoisett 

 

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Quaker Programs, Study, Retreats, and Spiritual Nurture:

Woolman Hill Retreat Center

Beacon Hill Friends House

Powell House

Pendle Hill

QuakerSpeak (Our Quaker faith as shared by those who experience it firsthand, every day, via weekly video interviews)

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Local Happenings of Interest to Friends:

If you have something that could go in this space, let let me know! – editor.

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Closing:

Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness;
and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another,
and not laying accusations one against another;
but praying one for another,
and helping one another up with a tender hand.

– Isaac Penington

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Thank you, Friends,
Kevin

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