Bennington Friends Meeting

Bennington Friends Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business

June 25, 2023

Present: Timmy Bullock, clerk, Edward Cady, Auberta Galusha, Gabrielle Isenbrand, Alison Levie, Priscilla TracyPam McDonald, Juliet Wright, and Michael Wajda.

We gathered in the Senior Center for meeting for worship with attention to business. The meeting opened with a period of worship during which the clerk read the following quote from the Talmud:

Look ahead. You are not expected to complete the task. Neither are you permitted to lay it down.

The recording clerk read the minutes of our March 12, 2023, meeting for business for information.

2023-10.  Gabrielle reported briefly on the idea to develop a public outreach program. While the committee has not formally met to consider the possibilities, Gabrielle shared some thoughts about starting smaller with more local publicity, such as Front Porch Forum before taking on a major project. Alison shared that when thinking about outreach, we need to consider how children and families would fit into our efforts. 

2023-11.  Priscilla Tracy reported for Ministry and Counsel. The committee is asking for input on three matters: topics for meeting for learning, the possibility of another meeting retreat, and a question about returning to singing before meeting. A related concern has risen from the children, which connects some these items, so we proceeded to consider their concern. 

2023-12.  The children have expressed interest in exploring some new ways to be involved in the meeting. First Day School is not working for them now, so Amy Newbold, Alison Levie, and Timmy Bullock met to consider some possibilities. While there may be some openness by the children to be in worship longer, some are clear that they do not want to stay in worship. This ad hoc group brings the idea that those who don’t want to stay in after fifteen minutes might stay in the worship room in a separate area to read quietly. There were some questions about whether this will work well for the children or the meeting.

We agreed that Timmy and Alison will discuss these ideas with Amy and come back to meeting for further discussion. There is significant commitment by the family to be part of the meeting and the meeting feels them to be such an important part of our community.  As another way to explore ways to strengthen the family’s involvement, we will use a recent Friends Journal article entitled “And a Child Shall Lead Them” as the focus of our July 23 meeting for learning. Copies of the article will be distributed in advance.

2023-13. Before the pandemic, the meeting had a practice of singing as a group before meeting. We briefly took up the question whether we want to return to singing and because of time decided to defer this consideration to a future meeting when we can give it our full attention. 

2023-14. We also deferred our consideration of another meeting retreat to a future meeting for business.

2023-15. The clerk read a letter from Albany Monthly Meeting transferring Edward Cady’s membership from their meeting to Bennington Monthly Meeting. The meeting joyfully accepts the transfer, and our clerk will notify Albany and New England Yearly meeting that this has been done. We will plan to have our August potluck be an ice cream membership welcoming party for Ed, as has been our usual practice. 

2023-16.  The meeting has received the 2^nd Congregational Church Sunday Supper schedule for the next twelve months in which we are penciled in to provide food for October 29, 2023. Marsh Hudson-Knapp, who coordinates the suppers, is suggesting that we and another church take responsibility for that Sunday. The meeting agrees to provide food on that date.

 2023-17.  The children have decided to which charitable organizations they would like to have the meeting distribute the $300.00 which they had the opportunity to consider.  The children wrote meaningful letters to New Alternatives, Cambodian Living Arts, and the Environmental Defense Fund sending $100.00 to each.  The meeting affirmed these distributions, and our clerk will write each child expressing how moved we were by their thoughtful and caring letters. Our Treasurer will send the contributions as indicated.

The meeting closed with a period of worship.

Michael Wajda

Recording Clerk