November Announcements

Call for greeters! PLEASE NOTE!
As we mentioned last month, when the Webbers leave for Florida on Nov. 1 our greeters group will consist only of the folks you see in the Greeter schedule. The Holadays leave for Arizona for two weeks in mid-December. We always welcome new greeters! Duties are light. If you feel led to share in this important contribution to the life of the meeting, please let Mike Holaday know (616-975-4192, mikeholaday@att.net).

On the Calendar

• Nov. 9-11: LEYM will hold a teen retreat at the Red Cedar Meetinghouse, for youngsters in grades 9-12 and their folks. The theme is “Meeting for Healing in the Manner of Friends.” The workshop will be facilitated by Red Cedar MM’s Merry Stanford and Richard Lee. There is a $20 per person registration fee, which includes the program and all meals. Register online at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGNYRTRfOFctZE81S0U0YXo3NUV0ZVE6MA

• Nov. 13: The Institute for Global Education will hold its annual meeting and potluck at 5:00 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1100 Lake Drive SE, Grand Rapids. To register (not required but helps the event planners), contact Whitney Ehresman at IGE, 1118 Wealthy St., SE, Grand Rapids, or RSVP online at www.facebook.com/IGE.Coordinator. IGE is seeking board members; please contact Judi Buchman (judi.buchman@gmail.com) if you’re interested.

• Nov. 18: Friends are invited to worship and potluck at the Bradley Indian Mission, 695 128th Ave., Shelbyville, MI, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. For details, please contact Scot Miller (313-401-6961, r.scot.miller@gmail.com).

News and Notes

• Ministry and Nurture advises that its focus for November is on helping the meeting come to terms with and reconciling the divisions in the meeting. M&N is connecting with people who have not been to meeting in awhile, with a view toward moving toward reconciliation, possibly through a worship sharing.

• If you missed the October program on Oct. 21, it featured the first step in a four-part Appreciative Inquiry. We reflected on what it is about the meeting and our connection to it that gives life. Ron Irvine and Jenn Seif facilitated. Please contact Ron (ron@ronirvine.net) for an excellent summary of the discussion, or see previous posts. And please plan to attend the next step in the November program on Nov. 18.

• Feel like making a joyful noise unto the Lord, or at least stretching out your vocal cords? Join the Quaker singers after meeting on the fourth Sunday of the month. Judi Buchman and others hope to revive this old GRFM custom, starting in November.

November Queries

LEYM ADVICES AND QUERIES ON: ECONOMICS

May we look upon our treasures and the furniture of our houses and the garments in which we array ourselves and try whether the seeds of war have any nourishment in these our possessions.

John Woolman, Plea for the Poor, p. 255.

Are we careful that our use of financial resources is in accordance with our values of peace, honesty, simplicity, and concern for all of creation? Do we resist the desire to acquire possessions or income through unethical investment?

Does our stewardship of personal and Friends meeting financial resources promote active support of those forced to live with less?

Are we actively educating ourselves about the wide disparities in economic and social conditions that exist among groups in our society and among nations of the world? Are we using what we know to promote economic and environmental justice at home and around the world?

Do we take care not to judge others, or ourselves, by the world’s criteria of wealth and status? How do we answer that of God in those who have fewer possessions than we do? … in those who have more? What tools and practices do we use to foster awareness of our personal and corporate biases? In what ways do we oppose prejudice and injustice based on outward condition or belief? How do we deepen our sense of empathy for others?

From Advices & Queries, for Use by Individual Friends, Meetings, and Worship Groups (Lake Erie Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends: Ann Arbor, 2012). Find the whole document online at http://leymquaker.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/aq3f2.pdf, or in printed form in the GRFM library at the Browne Center.

Oct 21 Appreciative Inquiry Program notes

On Sunday, October 21st, for the Grand Rapids Friends Meeting program we began a process called Appreciative Inquiry. This is a dynamic and generative planning process that is based on these assumptions:
~ What we ask questions about is what we have conversations about.
~ What we have conversations about is what we give our attention to.
~ What we pay attention to and focus on is what we nurture.
~ What we nurture is what grows.
~ So rather than focusing on what's broken and needs to be fixed, we intentionally focus on "what works."

On Sunday, we began with telling the stories about:
What is it about the Meeting and your connection to the Meeting that "gives life"? (a summary of what was recorded on news print is being sent out including intergenerational family, community and togetherness, worship, clearness committees, and Meeting for worship with attention to pets). If you were not there, please add your stories to these "appreciations" by responding to the first four Appreciative Questions below and emailing ron@ronirvine.net

We will continue with the process of Appreciative Inquiry for two more meetings. Next month we will proceed to "wishes for / images of the future" as we "dream and envision 'what might be.'"

Appreciative Questions
High point experiences:
Describe a time in your life (during participation with GR Friends) when you felt alive and engaged.

Valuing:
What do you value most about this Meeting and your place in this Meeting

Core life-giving factors:
What are the core factors that give life to this Meeting; the unique attributes of this Meeting, without which it would not be the same?

Wishes for/images of the future:
What three wishes do you have to enhance the vitality of this Meeting? Imagine this Meeting five years from now, healthy and vibrant – what does it look like?

The 4-D Cycle:
Discovery: Appreciating and Valuing the Best of "What Is"
Dream: Envisioning "What Might Be"
Design: Dialoguing "What Should Be"
Destiny: Innovating "What Will Be"

Finance Committee events

Programs facilitated by the Finance Committee:
Dec 16, 2012
Jan 20, 2013

Finance Committee meetings, following Meeting for Worship:
Dec. 20, 2012
March 31, 2013
June 30, 2013

October Announcements

Call for greeters! Our greeters group fluctuates over time, but it’s dwindled considerably in the last year. With the Webbers leaving for Florida on Nov. 1, we’ll be short-handed through the winter. We always welcome new greeters! If you feel led to share in this important contribution to the life of the meeting, please let Mike Holaday know (616-975-4192, mikeholaday@att.net).

On the Calendar

• Oct. 7: Jenn Seif and Scot Miller invite Friends to participate in worship and a potluck at the Bradley Indian Mission, 695 128th Ave., Shelbyville, MI 49344, at 6:00 p.m. The worship is held with a concern for continuing observances of the day called Columbus Day. Folks who are not familiar with the manner of Friends have been invited.
• Oct. 30: The Triennial Jewish-Christian-Muslim Dialogue will feature Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, Dr. Cynthia Campbell, and Dr. Omid Safi, in an all-day conference at GVSU’s Eberhard Center. Lunch and dinner will be served. Advance registration (before Oct. 1) is $40. Information about the conference schedule and speakers is available at http://www.gvsu.edu/2012interfaith/2012-triennial-jewish-christian-muslim-dialogue-24.htm.

News and Notes

• Ministry and Nurture asks that you continue to work toward facilitating understanding in the community and our meeting during the month of October.
• The October program, following meeting for worship on Oct. 21, will feature a facilitated discussion reflecting on our past 50 years, the aspects of our heritage we’d like to maintain for the future, and what we’d like to change. Jenn Seif will facilitate, with Ron Irvine.

October Queries

ADVICES AND QUERIES ON: SOCIAL JUSTICE

For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me. Matthew 25:35-36.

The pioneering quality of Quaker social work is largely due to the character of the meeting for worship. Silent waiting worship permits a fresh and direct facing of facts under conditions in which the conscience becomes sensitized. … The worshiper is seeking God's guidance for his actions. … A concern develops and with it a sense of uneasiness over a situation about which something needs to be done. Howard Brinton, Friends for 350 Years, 2002, p. 177.

Be not content to accept things as they are, but keep an alert, sensitive, and questioning mind. Understand and maintain Friends’ witness for truth, simplicity, and non-violence, holding up your personal life to these testimonies. Encourage inclusiveness and discourage discrimination. Cherish diversity.

Do we seek to transform the world with our actions in the spirit of love? How can we balance our desire for independence with our need for interdependence with all creation? Are we reaching out to others, providing hope and aid to the homeless and the hungry?

Have we objectively considered the causes of discrimination and are we ready to abandon old prejudices and think anew? Do we, as individuals and as a Meeting, do all in our power to end governmental, social, economic, environmental, and educational injustices in our community, acting to alleviate suffering and pain?

What can we do to address the excessive rates of incarceration of certain segments of our society? How are we acting to improve the conditions in our correctional institutions and to promote the health and well-being of those confined there?

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The advices and queries for October are taken from the new advices and queries document adopted at the July 2012 annual sessions of LEYM. The document is in 16 sections; we publish one section each month. Friends can find the entire document online at http://leymquaker.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/aq3f2.pdf

September Announcements

On the Calendar

• Sept. 8-9: GRFMM 50th anniversary celebration, on the campus of Aquinas College and at Marywood Dominican Center.
• Sept. 15: Peace Festival, East Town Fair.
• Sept. 18: “Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road?” That’s the unlikely title of a talk to be presented by author Brian McLaren, an activist, public theologian and frequent conference speaker, at the GVSU Eberhard Center, 301 W. Fulton St., GR, at 7 p.m.. McLaren will present his ideas on how Christians should treat members of other religions, an issue he thinks has become more and more urgent since Sept. 11, 2001. He believes the answer lies neither in an us-versus-them attitude, which fuels mutual misunderstanding and hostility, nor in buying tolerance for other faiths at the cost of lost commitment to our own. Instead he proposes a third alternative, one built on benevolence and solidarity. Advance tickets are $15 (contact Whitney Belprez, belprezw@gvsu.edu or 616-331-5702 to order). Tickets are $20 at the door.
• Oct. 30: More opportunity for broadening interfaith horizons will be provided at the Triennial Jewish-Christian-Muslim Dialogue, featuring Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, Dr. Cynthia Campbell, and Dr. Omid Safi. Note that this will be an all-day conference at GVSU’s Eberhard Center, with both lunch and dinner served. Advance registration (before Oct. 1) is $40. Information about the conference schedule and speakers is available at http://www.gvsu.edu/2012interfaith/2012-triennial-jewish-christian-muslim-dialogue-24.htm.

News and Notes

• Friends General Conference announces matching funds are available for all contributions to the FGC annual fund made by September 30. Two Quaker families will generously match up to $35,000 in donations made by that date.
• A $400,000 grant has been awarded to FGC to work with yearly meetings and others to support the formation of new Quaker meetings and worship groups. A gift of the Thomas H. and Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund, the grant provides for a full-time new meetings project coordinator, a travel team of volunteers to help nurture and support new groups, the development of written and online resources and other services. Find current information on this unfolding two-year project at www.fgcquaker.org/services/new-meetings-project.