Bennington Friends Meeting

Bennington Friends Meeting
Meeting for Worship for the Conduct of Business held at the
Senior Citizens Service Center, Bennington, Vermont
November 21, 2010

“As thou beginnest with the Spirit, keep to it in thy going on and conclude in it, and this will preserve thee from tiring thy brethren, and causing them to wish for thy silence.”

Samuel Bownas, cited from The Amazing Fact of Quaker Worship
By George Gorman, Swarthmore Lecture, 1973, page 109

Present were: Auberta Galusha, Bain Davis, Maurice Kahn, Peggy Kahn, Arnold Ricks, John Maloney, Beth Cheadle, Priscilla Tracy, Timmy Bullock

Out of the silence the clerk read the above quote from Samuel Bownas.

2010-55 Priscilla Tracy reported on behalf of ministry and counsel. The minutes are approved and are appended.

2010-56 Meeting for business approved the shift of the annual Christmas party from Juliet Wright’s house to the Senior Center on Sunday, December 12, 2010. We will gather at 11:30.

2010-57 The meeting reminds Friends that concerns about meeting as well as individual concerns or frustrations should be encouraged to be brought to ministry and counsel.

2010-58 Meeting for business approves $400.00 from Friendly Grants to support Emma Rinaldi’s work with Cross Cultural Solutions in Ghana. We will ask Emma to make a presentation upon her return from Ghana.

2010-59 Meeting approves the purchase of several copies New England Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice for The Bennington College students who have been attending meeting regularly.

2010-60 We would like to have seven or eight copies made of the New England Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice Revisions.

2010-61 Meeting approves the decision that donations from our Christmas basket will be divided equally between the American Friends Service Committee and the Interfaith Food and Fuel Fund. Checks should be made out to the Bennington Friends Meeting.

2010-62 Meeting approves the theme for our Christmas party of “How an experience of peaceful interventions helped to resolve a difficult situation.” This could be a personal experience, or an experience of someone you know, a story you’ve read or a poem, etc. Let’s learn from each other small ways or large that we can be more of a witness for peace in our world.

2010-63 Meeting encourages the ad hoc committee on worship to continue to meet regularly and to present their proposal to ministry and counsel as soon as possible.

After a period of silent worship, the meeting adjourned.

Timmy Bullock, co-clerk
Juliet Wright, recording clerk.

November 14, 2010

Meeting of Ministry and Counsel

Present: Beth Cheadle, Auberta Galusha and Priscilla Tracy, Co-Clerk

Pastoral Concerns were discussed.

24.10 Ministry and Counsel recommends that Meeting for Business approve
including, along with M&C’s considerations of Pastoral Concerns, a time
where Friends could bring concerns about issues with Meeting, Quaker
Process and questions on what is or is not done in Meeting for Worship.
If this is approved an announcement would need to be made to the Meeting
that these concerns could be brought to Ministry and Counsel.

25.10 Ministry and Counsel asks Meeting for Business to consider using
some of Thoreau’s designated funds to help Emma with her trip to Ghana.

26.10 Ministry and Counsel requests that Meeting purchase a least four
copies of New England Faith and Practice to be given to the Bennington
College students who have been coming on a regular basis and seem
interested in Quakerism.

27.10 Because of the logistics involved for some Friends, Ministry and
Counsel recommends that we change the location of our Christmas
gathering to the Senior Center. We also recommend that our Christmas
basket donations go to the Heifer Project and/or be given locally, for
example the Inter Faith Food and Fuel Fund.

Report: the suggested theme for the worship sharing at our Christmas
gathering is, “How an experience of peaceful interventions helped to
resolve a difficult situation.” This could be a personal experience, or
an experience of someone you know, a story you’ve read or a poem etc..
Let’s learn from each other small ways or large that we can be more of a
witness for peace in our world.

28.10 Ministry and Counsel understands that the ad hock committee is
having ongoing discussions on how to implement changes in our worship in
a way that reflects the desire to enhance and deepen our corporate
worship (from spirit’s leading at the retreat experience). We recommend
that Meeting direct the committee to start experimenting with a couple
of the ideas and then re-access.

Our meeting closed with a time of silence.

Priscilla Tracy