Thanks Rebecca, this is awesome
I would like to correct the part about hiding faces during zoom as I evidently
did not express myself clearly (Rebecca never misinterprets what I say so I
must have said it wrong). My suggestion was in response to Tim’s apprehension
of being able to call on people during business meeting. I offered to teach
whoever does not know it, how to raise their hand electronically, i.e through
zoom rather than waive their hand in front of the camera. I also suggested that
we all turn off our camera during business meeting only and turn it on when we
want to raise our hand and speak; this will make it much more evident to Tim. I
do find looking at people during meeting distracting especially as every one
moves much more than in regular meeting. However this is my issue and I can
solve it easily by closing my eyes. I appreciate everyone’s need to see
everyone else and I concur.
In the second part when Rebecca was not present, I urged everyone to start a
vegetable garden as I fear there might be a fresh vegetable shortage given
that farm workers are not as available as before. I would not normally share
such a recommendation but I realize now that the 2 other inklings I had before
everyone else about this pandemic came true; this may be because I have
already been through so many wars. In any case, I recommended planting any
seeds that come out of your current vegetables that you are eating now. I have
been doing it for the fun of it and lo and behold, most sprouted even though I
did not follow the complicated techniques described on-line; I just take them
out of the vegetables and plant them as is with flesh and juices. It is very
exciting. If you would like to exchange seeds, please let me know
Thanks
Najla
On Apr 14, 2020, at 10:40 AM, Rebecca Rawls (Redacted sender "rebecca.rawls"
for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear Friends,
Below are my quickly assembled notes on the announcements, news of the
community, and requests to hold people in the Light that were shared at the
Rise of Meeting for Worship last Sunday, April 12th. The zoom conversation
continued in what our moderator, Ann Delorey, called fellowship time after I
left the meeting, so, unfortunately, not everything Friends wanted to share
is included here.
I put these notes together very quickly; please excuse grammatical,
typographical, and spelling mistakes.
In Friendship,
Rebecca
Announcements April 12, 2020
The brown box for financial contributions has gone virtual. Contributions to
the Meeting can be made through PayPal or by check. See Ann Stone’s recent
list-serve posting for details or contact her for more information.
Mary Kearns is continuing to offer virtual gentle yoga Tuesday evenings from
6 to 7 p.m. Participants are welcome to make a contribution to the Meeting as
“payment” for the course, but it’s also available at no charge for anyone who
wants to participate. Contact Mary to receive a zoom invitation.
Next Sunday, April 19th, we will hold our monthly Meeting for Business.
Worship via zoom will start at 10 a.m., with Friends gathering and chatting
starting at about 9:45. At 10:30 we will transition as smoothly as possible
into Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business. There will not be a
break between these two forms of worship; if Friends need to step away from
their computer screens, they should do that individually and return when they
can. Clerk Tim Hunt will soon send out an agenda and all the written
materials for Business Meeting in one email. Please have those materials
handy, as we won’t have a virtual table at the back of the meeting room with
copies of the agenda and reports. Among other matters of business, we will be
receiving and considering the Spiritual State of the Meeting Report. Tim aims
for the meeting to end at noon. He asks that we bear with him as he tries to
figure out how to call on Friends in this virtual setting. If committees and
others have items of business that Tim doesn’t already know about, please be
in touch with him right away.
The Finance Committee reminds other committees that it needs to know what
expenses they have had during the current fiscal year so we can settle the
books for this fiscal year. It also needs requests for funding for next year
by April 25th to be able to prepare a budget for 2020-2021 to present to the
Meeting in May. Please send your information to Jessica Mott.
The Communications and Outreach Committee is trying to update the Meeting’s
website, including updating the information on committee’s individual pages.
Ollie Moles urged all committees to review their web pages and get back to
him and to Rick Post with any changes they want to make. The committee will
be sending notes to committees that haven’t yet revised their pages pointing
out things that seem outdated.
In two weeks, on April 26th, Bill Mims, Ollie Moles, and Walter Brown will
lead a 2nd hour to discern our guidance to FCNL as it sets its legislative
priorities for the next Congress. Bill recently posted on the Meeting's list
serve background information on this process as well as FCNL’s current
priorities. He asks everyone to review this material before the April 26th
session, and come prepared to search together for the guidance we want to
give FCNL about its priorities.
Dona Boyce Manoukian asks us to join her in documenting Langley Hill’s
experience during this Covid-19 pandemic. In what ways are you personally and
the Meeting as a body changing to meet the needs of this special situation?
Please share your thoughts, pictures, and ideas. You can post things to the
Meeting’s list serve or send them directly to Dona. She hopes eventually to
compile these materials into a permanent record of how the Meeting coped and
changed during this time. She urges us to record these changes while they are
happening and are fresh in our minds and hearts. Ann Delorey asked how these
materials will be collected and made available, suggesting that we might want
to set up a common repository for them. Dona invited Ann to work with her on
the project.
The Religious Education Committee met by Zoom earlier in the week and
organized a program for the Meeting’s children for today. The children will
be gathering virtually at noon where Jen Post will read the story of the
Country Bunny to them. Parents who want their children to participate need to
contact Jen to receive the Zoom invitation.
The Care & Clearness Committee will hold another of its Town Meetings via
Zoom this Wednesday evening, April 15th, at 7 p.m. Look for information on
how to join on the Meeting’s list serve.
News of the Community and of the Wider Quaker World
Paul Werbos said he had just learned the Emily Wirzba, who led the 2nd hour
program at Langley Hill last Sunday on Congress's changing attitudes about
climate issues, is no longer working at FCNL. Tim Hunt explained that Emily
has accepted a new position working on the same issues with the Environmental
Defense Fund. The change is a growing opportunity for her.
Georgia Fuller reported on some of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on
Friends in Kenya. The decision to postpone the FUM Triennial that was to be
held in Kenya later this year was a difficult one. She reports that Quakers
from different tribes are being more successful at working together during
these very challenging times and thinking of themselves as “we.” They are
asking, what can we do for the most vulnerable among us?
Nicole Bivens Collinson recently participated in an international women’s
gathering where the cultural differences and the magnitude of the effect of
the pandemic were overwhelmingly evident. This pandemic has not put us all in
the same boat, she said. We are all on the same ocean, but some of us are on
ocean liners while others are facing the ocean on a raft. Food insecurity is
already serious and likely to get much worse. And food scarcity often leads
to violence. We need to realize how very serious the situation is and is
becoming in much of the world.
Reactions to meeting via Zoom
A Friend said she finds it distracting to have so many images of Friends on
her computer screen, each in its own small box, with some waving their hands
to be recognized. It’s hard for her to focus on the person speaking with so
much visual distraction. She suggested that we turn off the video portion of
our meetings and simply have boxes with names in them on our screens. Many
others quickly said how much they appreciate seeing the faces of Friends
during our meetings. One Friend says she joins these meetings both on her
computer and her tablet. She uses the Gallery function on one device so she
can see everyone and the single-frame feature on the other, where only the
person speaking appears on the screen. Tim Hunt suggested that he and the
Ministry & Worship Committee reflect on the comments heard today before next
week’s Meeting for Business.
Requests to Hold in the Light
Hugh and Georgia Fuller are continuing their transition to living is separate
parts of their continuing care community. Please hold them in the Light.
A key colleague of Laurie Wilner’s husband, Paul, has recently returned from
a trip to Bangladesh and is in self-imposed isolation. She has a cough, and
she and her friends are worried that she may have become infected. Please
hold her in the Light.
Najla Drooby asks us to hold decision makers all over the world in the Light
that they act wisely about reopening businesses.
There was more
The meeting continued in what our moderator, Ann Delorey, called a time of
fellowship. Unfortunately, I didn’t stay for it so I can’t share what
happened then.
