The Meeting for Business opened with a quotation from Australia Yearly Meeting’s Book of Discipline and a few moments of silence at about 11:25 a.m..  Judy Brown, Clerk

 

PRESENT:  Michael Moore, Ed Sheridan, Millie Royce, Judith Larsen, Roger Lauen, Lisa Down, Eric Hoyte, Bob Major, Steven Z, Wil Hamm, Virginia Hoyte, Judy Brown

 

THE MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING OF OCT. 16, 2005 WERE APPROVED with no corrections.

 

OPENING SEABOLD HALL.  The Clerk asked that people sign up to open the Meeting room ahead of time.   It was agreed that Directions for Opening  Seabold Hall should be put on our website.  The Clerk would ask Bob Royce if he could do that.

 

QUARTERLY MEETING needs assistance from Agate Passage.   They have asked for help to plan part of the Quarterly meeting scheduled for the fall of 2006.  Eastside Meeting in Bellevue graciously offered to be in charge, if Agate Passage could be the helpers.  They will work with us on the planning, and they are willing to begin the process by coming to Bainbridge for the initial get-together.  AP is not being asked to contribute for the spring gathering, but definitely for the fall..  As no one volunteered to take on the task, Lisa Down wondered if we shouldn’t talk more among ourselves about our interest level?  She questioned whether indeed we have enough enthusiasm among us to help organize such an event?  Michael Moore reminded us that we had asked to be a full Meeting, and that Quarterly Meeting is part of the obligation that we therefore took on.   We are asked to help find a theme, work on the format, and the queries, but are not responsible for the full program in the fall.   The discussion moved on to other topics on the agenda without identifying a person or persons willing to help with the fall Quarterly  Meeting planning.  The fact remains, however, that a group is coming from Eastside Meeting on Saturday, February 11^th ’06 to Judy’s home to begin discussions about the theme and activities, and we are invited to go to Eastside Meeting on a Saturday in March to finalize the theme and continue the planning.

 

CHRISTMAS MEETING AND DECEMBER 4^TH MEETINGS FOR WORSHIP:  Dec. 4^th Seabold Hall is taken at 10:00 a.m. by the artists exhibiting in the Bainbridge Island Studio Tour.  Discussion followed about where and what time we should convene on that Sunday.   (In December the monthly children’s program will coincide with the Christmas party on Dec. 18^th, so this was not an issue on the 4^th.)   It was agreed that the Meeting for Worship will need to start promptly at 9:00 and end at 9:45 on December 4^th.……..   It was also decided that there will be a Meeting for Worship at Seabold at 10:00 a.m. CHRISTMAS MORNING, Dec. 25^th as usual, even if only a few persons are able to attend.  Michael Moore and Stephen Ziolkowski will come in time to set up.

 

SIGNS TO ANNOUNCE THE MEETING FOR WORSHIP ON SUNDAYS.  Eric and Roger Lauen offered to make a second board.   The group agreed that Agate Passage should therefore order  four signs, one for each side of the boards,  to be made at the sign store in Winslow. Eric Hoyte agreed to take on that responsibility and to see the two signs were completed.  The idea would be for the person who opens Meeting to put out one on the street in front of Seabold each Sunday and remove and store it in the closet at the end of our Meeting for Worship.  Wil Hamm offered to place the other sign out on 305 before and after our 10:00 a.m. gathering, though there was concern about the difficulty of adding the sign chore to Wil’s and the Opener’s other responsibilities.   There were no final decisions except that the signs would be made.

 

REPORT ON “LET  JUSTICE ROLL”  campaign by Roger Lauen:   Roger believes we should go along with the Let Justice Roll Campaign and agree to a Minute that supports the idea of making the minimum wage adjustable, depending on the community.  The Minimum Wage Act would be a community sponsored program.  Roger pointed out that Federal legislation to fix a fair minimum wage has not worked, partly because the market changes so fast.   Wil Hamm pointed out the difficulties with such legislation from the perspective of a small business owner.  The question then came up, How do we become sufficiently educated enough to know how to act on this issue locally, or nationally? The group agreed they would like us to have a special meeting to deal with this issue, probably in early January.  A potluck was proposed and the group liked that idea.

 

STEPHEN FELT WE NEEDED AN ON-GOING DIALOGUE WITH OUR MEETING HAVING TO DO WITH LARGER ISSUES, CONSENSUS AND COMMITMENT, PLUS SPECIFICS.   Group agreed to have a special gathering to talk about these things.   Proposal is we have a light-lunch potluck that day and discuss process.  We have to be clear in our own process that this is exploratory.  Judy will see if Seabold is available until 1:00 on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006.

 

CHRISTMAS PARTY AND MEETING FOR WORSHIP WITH THE CHILDREN on the 18^th.   Lisa has ideas for that gathering, and will confer with others involved.

.FIRST DAY SCHOOL:,  Judy reported that, ”an exciting meeting was held with the First Day School Committee and Ministry and Counsel  to discuss experimenting with a different plan for the first Sunday of every month, when children would be particularly invited. The aim for that first Sunday would be to have more of an inter-generational, interactive experience with the children, including music.  Strong concerns were raised that the adults not lose all of their silent meeting for worship time, as well as the value of the young people having their own interconnections with each other.  The group felt that more discussion was needed with a larger representation.  For the time being the consensus was that there would be no on-going changes for that first Sunday until a bigger group consented to it.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT:  Wil Hamm told the group that at present AP is spending more than we are taking in.  He hopes to print up a report of what it costs to run our Meeting.  He urged that we do some long-term planning, as other churches do and think about attracting new members.  He feels the need for an “Administrative Committee” to advise on financial issues.  It was agreed to postpone decisions until next Business Mtg.

 

  The Meeting closed with silence at 1:15 p.m.   Virginia Hoyte, Recording Clerk