Westport Friends Meeting

Monthly Meeting Highlights, September 08

“Greet and Grill - Oh, What a Thrill!”

On September 7, the Religious Education Committee will be sponsoring our annual First Day School BBQ/Potluck to celebrate the beginning of the school year. Friends are asked to bring complimentary dishes for the hot dogs and hamburgers. The Committee will provide for Make-your-Own ice cream sundaes for dessert.

Orientation for First Day School will be on Sunday, September 7 and with childcare as usual. First Day School classes will begin on Sunday, September 14.

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Special Program:

Westport Historical Society presents:
Friends and Relations: Quaker Witness in Early Westport and Dartmouth with Betzy Cazden
Thursday, September 18th. 7:30 PM in the Meetinghouse.

The following is adapted from the Historical Society’s press release:

Betzy Cazden, a well known NEYM Friend and Quaker historian will place the history of Central Village Meeting House in the greater context of the early history of Quakers in Westport and Dartmouth. She will examine why Quakers settled in this area and will relate stories of local Quaker families such as the Slocums and individuals such as Paul Cuffe, a major contributor of funds for the building of the meetinghouse in Central Village.

Elizabeth Cazden is a Quaker historian, writer, speaker, and workshop leader with a particular interest in Quakers as slave owners. She has also written about liberal twentieth-century Friends, Friends in Cuba, civil liberties, and a biography of the first woman ordained minister. She formerly clerked New England Yearly Meeting (1990-94) and practiced law (1978-2004).
All are welcome. Admission is free. Refreshments will be provided. Please call 508-636-6011for reservations so that we [the Historical Society] can plan accordingly.

Meeting Project

Gretchen Baker-Smith, in collaboration with the Religious Education Committee, is encouraging adult Friends to share their experiences of teaching First Day School. Over the next several months we will feature brief reflections from Friends that captures the sense and joy of attending to the youngest members of our Meeting’s community.

A Lesson about Trees
By Buddy Baker-Smith

Our lesson that day was about trees -- all the ways that they are useful, and all the different animals that depend on them. We went outside to have our lesson in the peace garden, with the four or five young children squeezing onto the one bench. We closed our eyes and tried to be as quiet as we could for as long as we could -- which was about 45 seconds. And then I asked, "What do you hear?" Someone said they heard birds, someone heard cars, and someone thought they heard bells. I noticed while we were talking that the one little boy on the end of the bench was still sitting with his eyes scrunched tightly shut. So I asked him, "What are you hearing?" With his eyes still closed, he very excitedly exclaimed, "The wind! I hear the wind!" - Photo by Alice Mercer-Medeiros.

Available Resources at NEYM.ORG

For ease of use and cost efficiency purposes, many resources, working papers, and information about ongoing programs and the work of certain standing committees of New England Yearly Meeting are available at our Yearly Meeting’s Web site at www.neym.org. These materials are also available as “hard copy.” Still, many Friends with both online capability and without are not aware of the wealth of materials available on the site.

Below, please see a partial list of resources that have a direct bearing on meetings and our testimonies as Friends. If you do not have Internet access the Newsletter Editor will gladly obtain printed materials for you. Friends who are online can visit the YM Web site, or, visit this edition of the Newsletter at www.WestportQuakes.org. The online PDF version of this month’s Newsletter contains direct links to the resources listed below.

Directory of all Monthly Meetings in New England.
National/International organizations we belong to.
Our Yearly Meeting Staff
Faith and Practice Revision Committee
JYM/JHYM Youth Retreat Programs
Living with Oneself and Others (working papers)
M and C Subcommittee on Preventing Child Abuse
M and C Working Party on Racism
NE Friends Home
NEYM Friends in Unity with Nature
NEYM Archives
NEYM Friends Committee of FWCC
Quaker Studies Program
NEYM Peace and Social Concerns Committee
NEYM Permanent Board
NEYM Personnel Committee
NEYM Religious Education Committee
NEYM Young Adult Friends
NEYM Young Friends
List of “Other Quaker Organizations” beyond our YM
NEYM at God.org. (Kidding)

Brief Reminders

Marion Athearn, Clerk of Meeting, reminds us that committees meeting in September are comprised of Friends rotating off and on their respective committees.

We need adults to signup to teach First Day School. Please speak with Betty Ann Lee if you are interested.

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. – Kellog Allbran

March on Washington photo from the Smithsonian Archives via Wikipedia. Children’s feet photo by K. Lee. Thanks to Alice Mercer-Medeiros for sharing her photo

Kevin Lee, editor | 508-994-1638 | kevin@jymretreats.org