July 2023 Meeting for Business Minutes
Posted: under Minutes from Meeting for Business.
Bennington Friends Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
July 16, 2023
Present: Timmy Bullock, clerk, Auberta Galusha, Pam McDonald, Juliet Wright, and Michael Wajda.
We gathered in the Senior Center for meeting for worship with attention to business with only one item to consider this month.
The meeting opened with a period of worship during which the clerk read the following quote from Parker Palmer:
It is a remarkable fact that Friends for three hundred years have taken neither the path of religious authoritarianism nor the path of spiritual privatism. Instead, Friends have always accepted both the possibility of individual truth and the obligation of corporately testing that truth.
Parker Palmer, 1980, cited from The Spirit of Quakers, Geoffrey Durham, p. 189
2023-18. Juliet read the minutes of the July 9 meeting of ministry and counsel. Beth Collea of Dover Meeting wrote our clerk asking if our meeting would like to host a visit from Emma Condori-Mamani, a Bolivian Friend traveling with a concern for climate change in her country. Emma will be traveling throughout New England Yearly Meeting this summer offering talks and workshops on the climate change issues and a Bible offering about the divinity and humanity of Christ. The dates that we have been offered to consider are August 18, 19, and 20.
The meeting felt a need to consider several related issues. Would this be valuable for our meeting? Given our small size would it be valuable to Emma? Are we able to provide transportation and housing for Emma during her visit? Would we be open to contributing financially to the Bolivian concerns? Would the children in the meeting be available and find it meaningful? Might we invite the public and connect with another church to jointly host her visit?
Even though it seems like a wonderful opportunity, right now, the meeting feels that our size and the timing make it too challenging to arrange for her to visit. We would like to make a contribution to her work, though, and will decide an amount at our next meeting for business.
The meeting closed with a period of worship.
Michael Wajda
Recording Clerk
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Jul 16 2023