Dear Friends,
Attached and below is the draft version of the minutes from our December
Meeting for Business. As always, I hope you will have a chance to look these
minutes over fairly soon and let me know if you see errors or have suggestions
for improvements. They will be offered for approval at our Meeting for Business
on January 14th.
In Friendship,
Rebecca
DRAFT
LangleyHill Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Meeting for Business held in a Spirit ofWorship
TwelfthMonth 10, 2017
Opening: LangleyHill Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends opened
its Meeting forBusiness held in a Spirit of Worship on December 10, 2017, with
a period ofgathering worship at 10:33 A.M., with Clerk Timothy Hunt presiding
and 25 Friendspresent. During the preceding time of worship, the Clerk shared
these queries regardingChristmas from New England Yearly Meeting:In this time
of commercialism, how do you reflect values of simplicity? In whatways do you
and your family reflect on the significance of Jesus’ life and histeachings
regarding simplicity? Is your gift giving in line with these values?Have you
been able to find rituals that enhance the experience of the InnerLight? We
welcomed Mary Laurel Habourn to her first Meeting for Businesswith us.
2017/12-1: Request for membership from the Carney family
The Clerk read a letter from Hugh and Leila Carney andtheir children Kai, Cole,
and Reid requesting membership in Langley Hill andthe Religious Society of
Friends. The letter spoke of their gratitude for theyear of worship and
fellowship they have already spent among us and of theirappreciation for the
value-centered view of life they find fostered among us.The whole family was
present for the reading of the letter. Friends expresseddelight in receiving
this letter, which was referred to the Care & ClearnessCommittee for further
action.
2017/2-2: Acknowledgement of transfer of John Smallwood’s membership to
HerndonFriends Meeting
The Clerk read a letter from the Clerk of HerndonFriends Meeting informing us
that that Meeting had received and accepted John Smallwood’stransfer of
membership from our Meeting to theirs. They already value John’sparticipation
in their Meeting.
2017/12-3: Report on the Regner-Huntmarriage
On behalf of the Marriage Committee, Jessica Mottreported that the marriage of
Kim Regner and Colin Hunt was accomplished ingood order and with great joy
under the care of the Meeting on November 11thin historic Congo Square in
Armstrong Park in New Orleans, LA. The messagesfrom family and friends included
both spoken and musical messages. The ceremony was followed by a “second
line”parade with a Jazz band dancing through the French Quarter to the
receptionhall. . Jessica has a photo of thebeautiful marriage certificate and
in digital format it is possible to seespecific signatures. She will
submitthis to the meeting archivist. Tim and Anne Hunt have an audio recording
of thewedding and photos of the second line and reception available to
anyoneinterested. Colin and Kim Hunt willattend Langley Hill meeting for
worship on December 24, 2017 and all areinvited to greet them during
refreshments at the rise of meeting. an outdoorpark in New Orleans, LA
2017/12-4: 2nd Reading of 2018 slate of nominations
Onbehalf of the Nominating Committee, Jessica Mott presented for a second
readingthe attached slate of officers, committee members, and representatives
for 2018.She noted changes from the report presented last month that were not
reflectedin the printed copy: Keith Oberg and Steve Woodbury are now proposed
asco-clerks of the House & Grounds Committee. Sean Beeny had been proposed
toserve on the Board of Washington Quaker Workcamps, but the committee
haslearned that this body no longer has a separate Board of Directors. It is
nowpart of William Penn House, which selects its own board members. Sean is
inconversation with the William Penn House Board about how and whether he
mightparticipate to the benefit of the Washington Quaker Workcamps program.
TheMinistry & Worship Committee will continue to have a rotating clerkship,with
Sheila Bach serving as the permanent point of contact for Friends who wantto
communicate with the committee.
Jessicaasked the Meeting to consider approving the co-clerks of the House
&Grounds Committee today, in addition to the nominations presented lastmonth.
She also reported that, inresponse to questions raised last month, the
Nominating Committee will bereviewing its practice concerning Meeting approval
of reappointments of Friendswho are continuing their current service.
Friendsapproved the full slate of nominations, including the co-clerks
for the House & Grounds Committee.
2017/12-5: Proposal to experiment with audio streaming of Meetings for Worship
andBusiness
Onbehalf of the Communications Committee and the Ministry & WorshipCommittee,
Doug Smith presented the attached minute describing a six monthexperiment the
two committees wish to undertake using the Meeting’s audio broadcastequipment
to allow community members to listen to Meetings for Worship and forBusiness
from outside the building. The committees foresee this capability asbeing
useful to community members who are homebound due to illness or
physicallimitations. The intent is to increase the Meeting’s inclusiveness, not
to be asubstitute for Friends worshiping together in the same room when they
can. The twocommittees want to see how well this approach meets the needs of
those who wishto use it and whether the participation of others not in the room
affects theworship of those in the meeting room. The Communications Committee
still needsto work out some details about which digital tools will be used to
transmitaudio from the meeting room, and it may try several different tools in
thecourse of the experiment to see which best serves our purposes.
A Friendexpressed appreciation for the clarification the minute provides about
safeguardsthat would assure that only individuals who are part of our community
would beable to listen to the transmission. A Friend asked whether the title of
theminute could be changed to indicate the limited nature of the recipients of
thetransmissions. Another Friend noted that we sometimes consider taking
actionsthat violate the law when obedience to a Higher Power requires it. She
wonderedif our considerations of whether to engage in civil disobedience would
be morelikely to “fall into the wrong hands” because of audio streaming. She
asked usto be aware of this concern but to not let it stop us from going
forward withthe experiment. Quakers have gone to prison before, she noted. In
response,Doug reminded Friends that our Business Meeting minutes already
recorddiscussions of proposed Meeting actions, and we send these out
electronicallythrough the listserve and file them in the meeting house.
AFriend asked if it might be possible for a speaker to choose whether what
theysaid would be transmitted or not, perhaps by only having words spoken into
ahand-held microphone transmitted and not those captured by the
overheadmicrophones. Doug said that isn’t possible with our integrated sound
system. AFriend asked if we could post a list of who might be receiving
thetransmissions. She noted that Friends listening from remote locations might
notbe alone, so that people we don’t know might hear what we say. This
possibilityfeels different to her than having an unfamiliar visitor in the
meeting roomhearing what we say.
AFriend said that since we intend to speak only when the Holy Spirit gives
usthe words to say, we should ask whether the Holy Spirit would be
concernedabout who might be listening outside the meeting room. If we only
speak theWord of the Lord, we need to be ready to accept any trouble that
causes.
AFriend reminded us that the committees are proposing an experiment and that
wewon’t know until we try it how well it will work. Other Friends agreed
thatthey would like to gather information through this experiment to see
whether thistransmission works well for us.
The minute, with the new title “Minute on Providing PrivateAudio Transmission
of Meetings for Worship and Business” wasapproved.
Doug said the Communications Committee hopes to have the project up andrunning
in a couple of months. It will provide the Meeting with projectupdates.
2017/12-6: Memorial Minute for Roy Earl Clark
On behalf of the Ministry & Worship Committee, David Henderson readthe attached
minute commemorating the life of our member Roy Clark, who diedpeacefully on
Oct. 27th at the age of 83. A Memorial Meeting forWorship will be held for him
on December 17th at 3:00 P.M. atGreenspring Retirement Community in
Springfield, VA.
Friendsapproved the minute.
2017/12-7: Approval of minutes
Minutes of the November 12, 2017, Meeting for Business were approved.
2017/12-8: Finance Committee update
Jessica Mott, Meeting Treasurer and Finance Committee clerk, distributedthe
attached report on the Meeting’s finances as of November 30th.Our regular
contributions are more than $2,700 lower than they were at thistime last year
and only 30% of the amount budgeted for the full year. We need a large
increase in year-endcontributions and/or increased auto-giving in 2018 if we
are to meet our budgetfor the fiscal year.
2017/12-9: Retreat planning update
The Clerk reported that our ad hoc Retreat Planning Committee has
heldpreliminary conversations with Friends Meeting of Washington about
possiblyholding our spring retreat with them. That Meeting is planning a
retreat atCatoctin Quaker Camp May 11 – 13, 2018. That is the weekend of
Mother’s Day andwould ordinarily be the time of our May Meeting for Business.
Friends Meetingof Washington holds a retreat every spring that is completely
unprogrammed andintended solely to provide a time of fellowship for the Meeting
community.Joining them could be a more affordable option than holding a retreat
only forLangley Hill, particularly if only a few people from Langley Hill plan
toattend. A Friend noted that if one of the purposes is to get to know each
otherbetter, we should consider a Langley Hill only event. Friends with
thoughtsabout joining FMW for a retreat on these dates or any other ideas about
ourspring retreat are asked to talk to Laurie Wilner, Najla Drooby, Mary
Yeaney,or the Clerk.
2017/12-10: Queries concerning the Spiritual Stateof our Meeting
Doug Smith read the queries circulated by Baltimore Yearly Meeting’sMinistry &
Pastoral Care Committee, which appear on the second page of theagenda for
today’s Meeting for Business. In the coming months, Langley Hill’sMinistry &
Worship Committee will be guiding us through a process ofconsideration of the
spiritual state of our Meeting in 2017, likely beginningwith a second hour in
February. A Friend commented that the list of queries isvery long and
wide-ranging. The Clerk explained that BYM’s queries are offeredas guidance and
a starting point for our own discernment. We are not requiredto answer them
specifically or to address all of them.
Closing: After hearing some announcements,the Meeting settled into closing
worship at 11:50 A.M. with 26 Friends present, purposing to meetagain on
January 14, 2018, or as Way opens.
____________________________ ___________________________
Timothy Hunt, Clerk Rebecca
Rawls, RecordingClerk
Approved:
Attachment:
Draft Minutes 12-10-2017.docx
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