Agate Passage Meeting for Worship
With Attention to Business,
(Norm & Lisa Down Residence)
July 31, 2005
The Meeting opened with silence at 6:15
p.m.
PRESENT: Judy Brown, Clerk; Norman
Down; Wil and Cheryl Hamm; Eric and Virginia Hoyte; Judith Larsen;
Catherine Lemaire Lozier; Michael Moore; Dorothy and Jim Rana-Meadows;
Robert and Millie Royce; Avery Welkin; Evan Welkin, Leyla Welkin.
THE MINUTES OF THE LAST TWO MONTHS WERE
APPROVED with a few typo errors to be corrected.
THE “SHARING SACRED SEASONS
INTERFAITH DINNER” that a committee from the Meeting has been helping
plan along with Shir Hayam and other faith groups, was reported
on by Leyla Welkin. She told the group that this celebration
would consist of a potluck meal after a day of fasting with a program
and/or ritual following, was now scheduled for Saturday, October 22nd
on Bainbridge Island at the Filipino American Hall . She also assured
us that planning continues, primarily with the Jewish group, Shir Hayam,
but that other faith communities were being asked to help sponsor and
organize this ecumenical event also. Suggestions from individuals in
the Meeting are also welcomed. Michael Moore spoke of his long-time
interest in the fall Jewish high holy days, saying he would likely be
willing to share some of what he has studied and come to understand,
attesting that it is fascinating material.
PEACE WALK: Kathryn Keve announced
the schedule for meetings and meals with the peace marchers who began
walking from the Hanford Nuclear Power Facility to the Bangor,
Washington Trident Submarine Base over a month ago. This march will
culminate in front of the gates to Bangor on the anniversary of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days on Monday, August 8th. With
various gatherings in Suquamish at Chief Seattle’s grave, Friday,
August 5th and at Ground Zero property on the 6th and 7th..
Kathryn invited all interested persons to join the protests at any time
over the coming weekend. She also asked for a small donation of
monetary support for the peace marchers, who are distributing pictures
of Hiroshima children and other reminders of the infamous bombings...
The Meeting approved donating $50.00 towards this endeavor, with the
added suggestion that individuals could contribute more and have their
contribution counted as tax deductible.
REQUEST OF ED SHERIDAN FOR A
CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE TRAVEL EXPENSES OF A QUAKER COUPLE FROM
MONTANA, who will be giving a slide show on Bainbridge Island in
late October or early November on the consequences of U.S. policies in
Nicaragua.. Their names are Pam Fitzpatrick and Paul Dicks. Ed
suggests we give $100 towards this couple’s travel expenses to come to
Bainbridge Island, and he also hopes that the Meeting will be willing to
sponsor their recently revised slide presentation. After a short
discussion, these suggestions were approved, with our treasurer, Wil
Hamm, assuring the group that $100.00 would not deplete our coffers
drastically. The Browns, Downs, Royces and Hoytes also offered
hospitality to the couple for the two or three nights and days they
would be on Bainbridge Island. In addition, Bob and Millie Royce
volunteered to help Ed Sheridan with the organizing and planning of this
event.
EVAN WELKIN’S REPORT ON HIS IMPRESSIONS
OF VARIOUS QUAKER MEETINGS ON THE EASTERN SEABOARD this summer.
Evan is a student at Gilford College and received a grant from a the
Clarence and Lily Pickett Fund for Quaker Leadership to assess
theological and other differences, as well as primary interests and
general spiritual vitality of meetings for worship along the East
coast.. He wanted to see whether there were differences among
Friends related to geography, and also check out contrasts between
programmed and un-programmed meetings. With two exceptions, the project
turned out, however, to include essentially only Unprogrammed Silent
Meetings. Evan told us some of the questions he posed to many different
individuals in each meeting, for example: “How do you see how your
meeting fits into the larger community of friend’s meetings in the
north?” “What are the main spiritual development programs that your or
other meetings you know of are involved in”.
In summarizing his findings, Evan reported
he had the sense that politics was a central issue for many meetings.
He picked up a lot of soreness following the presidential elections. He
was disheartened that many meeting members spoke of disagreements and
conflicts within their groups. At the same time, most of those he
interviewed were taking on the building of new buildings or had just
moved into renovated ones. Evan felt overall that he saw a lot of folks
struggling with what it meant to be in a meeting. It appeared to him
that they wanted and needed a cohesive sense of community in and beyond
the meeting for worship. “A lot of what I found was very sad to me” he
reported. Evan also made it clear to our group that his month-long trip
had covered much ground, was often intense, but none-the-less
worthwhile..
He concluded with
a couple of observations: “I didn’t feel I could offer very much.” “I
saw people hadn’t read Faith and Practice, and that many meetings
did not have structured means of familiarizing new folks with Quaker
practices,” he said. I also felt, “People needed to ask, Why are we a
part of a Quaker group rather than just gathering with a few buddies to
sit in silence on a Sunday morning?”………. Our group expressed much
appreciation to Evan for the sharing of his trip with us, along with his
many astute observations.
Meeting for Business closed at 7:40 p.m.
Virginia Hoyte, Recording
Clerk