Housatonic Friends Meeting

This is the time of year when we pause to reflect on our spiritual health—where we are as a meeting, our vision of where we’d like to be, and stating our intentions for growth in being faithful to the Divine. - from NYYM

At the rise of meeting for worship on January 4, 2009, we will continue in worship sharing format to address the queries for the State of the Meeting report. There will be a potluck following the worship sharing.

1. How does love manifest itself in your meeting, in your communities and in the world?
2. Does the spirit of worship extend into our committee work and into meeting for worship with a concern for business?
3. What efforts are you making to reach out to people in your community and grow your meeting?  Is advancement a priority?
4. Especially in this time of economic uncertainty, are you taking stock of the meeting’s financial health and planning for ways to help those in need?

For more information about the State of the Society report visit NYYM.

Facilitated by Linda Chidsey and Carolyn Moon, Elder
January 16-19, 2009

During this 3 day retreat, co-sponsored by the School of the Spirit Ministry, Friends are invited to enter more fully into the silence and to experience the deeper rhythms in which we might live. This retreat will include the opportunity for solitude, individual and corporate worship, silent meals, and “active” silence. There will also be opportunities for individual and group spiritual reflection. Come and simply BE with God; listen and attend to the Divine stirrings of the soul.

Linda Chidsey, a member of Housatonic Meeting, is a recorded minister in New York Yearly Meeting. She carries a concern for spiritual nurture and pastoral care. Linda recently served as clerk of NYYM.

Carolyn Moon, serving as Linda’s elder, is a member of Gwynedd Friends Meeting in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. She serves on the board of the School of the Spirit. - from Powell House’s website.

Register by January 1st $260. After January 1st the cost is $280.

Quilting From The Center
Kathy Greenwold, Anne Pomeroy, Anita Paul 2/6/2009-2/8/2009

Do you sense a connection between your creativity and your spirituality? This is a weekend for all – to explore this connection through quilting. We will center, quilt, worship and quilt some more. We delight in working with new and experienced quilters; men and women; Quakers and non-Quakers and artists who would like to explore textiles. We will be working with fabric and stitches, needles and machines, no rules and maximum creativity. Bring your stash, your machine, your rotary cutting supplies,embellishments, and what have you. If you don’t know what any of that means, come anyway. This will be a time of creativity and prayer: what could be better?

From Powell House’s website

Register by January 20th.

New York Yearly Meeting’s December Info Share is available online for viewing.

http://www.nyym.org/spark/is2008.12.html

Topics Include:
Care and Aging Coordinator for PYM
AFSC Seeks Regional Director for Middle Atlantic Region
AFSC to Hire Associate General Secretary for Inclusion
NEYM YAF Gathering January 1–4, 2009
NYYM First Day School Wiki Site Up and Running!
Innovative Religious Education for Reluctant Teens
Flushing Meeting Needs Sprinkler System
Heeding God’s Call: A Gathering on Peace
Christopher Sammond’s Travel Calendar
AFSC Mexico Summer Project

Today [August 7th] several members of Wilton Monthly Meeting met at Calf Pasture beach to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima. Do you know that your meeting played a significant role in sponsoring some of the Hiroshima Maidens? The Hiroshima Maidens are a group of twenty-five young Japanese women who were seriously disfigured as a result of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (our meeting accepted responsibility for 12). This was a Quaker project. Keloid scars marred their faces and many of their hands were bent into claw-like positions. These women, as well as the other citizens affected by the A-bomb were referred to as “hibakusha”, meaning “explosion-affected people”. The women were brought to the United States to undergo multiple reconstructive surgeries. This highly publicized turn of events was largely the work of Saturday Review editor Norman Cousins, an outspoken advocate of nuclear disarmament. At Mt. Sinai Hospital volunteer plastic surgeons performed 138 separate operations on the women, who were in their late 20’s, producing a few miracles and many small improvements - although one died on the operating table. The Maidens lived nearly two years as guests in Quaker households in the metropolitan area, flew home to be buffeted as symbols of American guilt or generosity, genius or salesmanship, and then faded into feature stories on the anniversaries of Hiroshima.
Read the rest of this entry »

Friends, Summer InfoShare is on the Web at www.nyym.org/spark/is2008.sum.shtml. The PDF version is at www.nyym.org/spark/is2008.sum.pdf.

This issue features a written version of Christopher Sammond’s report to the Yearly Meeting at Summer Sessions, an important reminder about evaluations of Summer Sessions, news about Quaker flood relief in Iowa, announcements of upcoming events, and lots more.

The Quaker Youth Book Project is now accepting submissions of writing and art by Friends ages 15-35. The Call for Submissions, which includes submission guidelines and suggested topics and questions, is available now on the Project’s website in English and Spanish.

The writing and art included in this book will focus on the personal spiritual experiences, beliefs, and identities of contemporary young Friends from all branches. The editorial committee includes young adult Friends from the US, Canada, Bolivia and Kenya, representing the various theological perspectives of Friends.

Contact Information

phone: 215.241.7251
email: americas@fwccamericas.org
website: www.fwccamericas.org

Friends,
Below is the proposed agenda for Purchase Quarterly Meeting on August 3. Also the flyer from Croton Valley that includes the schedule and directions to the meeting house.

august_3_2008pqm_at_cvm

Agenda

Housatonic Friends Meeting (Quakers) will hold a Meetinghouse Tag Sale on Friday and Saturday, July 4 and 5, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at their New Milford meetinghouse (300 Danbury Rd, Route 7 just north of Lanesville Rd).

Included will be 21-speed Denali 7005; microwave oven; antique quilting frame; furniture including bed, double size futon w. frame, TV stand w. shelf, Pfaff oak cabinet c. 1927; lawn mower; rowing   machine; household treasures; kitchen equipment; small appliances;   children’s equipment; collectibles; books; and more.  All goods are   quality items – clean and in working condition.

Parking is available at the Red Barn just south of the meetinghouse,   with handicap parking at the meetinghouse.  For directions and more   information, please call 860-355-9330 or visit   www.housatonicmeeting.org.

It’s that time of the year!
Spring Cleaning!

Cleaning up around the building, interior and exterior. Building and Grounds will compile a list of tasks to be done. Friends are asked to contact Ann and Terry with any observations/concerns they have to add to the task list. The clean up day is this First day, May 4th.