by WebPost | Mar 18, 2025 | Activity, Adult Spiritual Education, Bible Study, Reading between the Lines
The Adult Spiritual Education committee will host a one-hour Reading Between the Lines (formerly called Bible Workbench) on Sunday, April 6, from 9-10 a.m. on Zoom. We will discuss John 12:20-33: A troubled soul. The meaning of “glory.” What is required in times when we are aware “this hour has come.” What choices may be available during “this hour.” What to let go of, what to hold onto. How to hear possible affirmation. The facilitator will send the zoom link through the news list a few days
before the session.
by WebPost | Mar 18, 2025 | Activity, Clearing, Spring Retreat
Friends of all ages are invited to our Spring Retreat on May 23 – 25 at The Clearing. Friends are welcome to come for all or part of the weekend. Camping and rustic accommodations are available. Meals are provided that accommodate a variety of dietary needs and preferences. Learn more about The Clearing at https://www.richmondfriendsmeeting.org/theclearing/.
Our theme this year is The Friendly Frolic: Creative Spirit, Dancing Feet, Quaker Arts & Soul Retreat, with (in case you can’t tell) a focus on community and fun! Activities are still being confirmed, but will include community-building and getting-to-know-you exercises, singing together, arts and crafts, and dancing, maybe even with a band! There will, of course, be a fabulous menu to tantalize your taste buds and your sense of smell! More details are coming soon; please stay tuned. Please help us plan for your participation and register early, by Sunday, May 18! This online form makes it easy to register: https://bit.ly/RFMRetreat2025. Also, please note, there is NO COST to attend Spring Retreat.
See below for a DRAFT schedule and a suggested list of things to bring to the Retreat.
Anyone with questions is welcome to reach out to Ted Heck by call or text.
by WebPost | Mar 6, 2025 | Uncategorized
Peace and Social Concerns will host a fundraising luncheon at the rise of Meeting for Worship on First Day/Sunday, April 6 to benefit the Ramallah Friends School (RFS) in Palestine's West Bank. Guest speakers are Betsy Brinson, a member of Richmond Friends Meeting now living in Chapel Hill NC, and Faedah Totah Ph.D., an Associate Professor at VCU's School of World Studies, coordinator of the International Studies Program, and mentor to the VCU Students for Justice in Palestine. Betsy and her husband Gordon Davies lived in Ramallah for two years (2009-2011) while working on a definitive history of the Ramallah
Friends School, which traces its Quaker roots to 1869. Faedah is a 1984 graduate of Ramallah Friends School and a sociocultural anthropologist who teaches courses in globalization, development, urbanism, and the Middle East.
Betsy will speak on the current plight of the Ramallah Friends School, where emergency tuition assistance is needed to assist families at risk of leaving the school community due to the 60-80% unemployment levels in Palestine. Faedah will provide additional context about the wartime conditions across Palestine that threaten the present and future educational infrastructure.
Bring your checkbooks! If you cannot attend but are led to contribute, send contributions to Friends United
Meeting, 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond IN 47374 and note Ramallah Friends School in the memo line.
P.S. For F/friends living at Westminster Canterbury Richmond, Betsy will visit there on Saturday, April 5 at 10
am in the Jaqueline Room and provide an update on the conditions and needs of Ramallah Friends School and
how you can help. To donate online to RFS: https://www.rfs.edu.ps/en/page/donate
by WebPost | Feb 25, 2025 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Clerk’s Business
February 24, 2025
Judge Theodore Chuang has blocked the Department of Homeland Security from conducting enforcement actions (raids, arrests) "in or near any place of worship" associated with our lawsuit. This is a temporary block and is specific to the places of worship that filed our case. Nevertheless, we can be hopeful that similar cases will also be successful. Read the press release from Democracy Forward.
by WebPost | Feb 17, 2025 | Activity, Adult Spiritual Education, Vocal Ministry
All of us have struggled with whether to stand up and give a message during Meeting for Worship. The Adult Spiritual Education (ASE) Committee is sponsoring a workshop to help us think about this struggle, by using the pamphlet, "On Vocal Ministry" by Barry Crossno and J. Brent Bell, which is available free to anybody who wants one. Here are two paragraphs to get you started:
Vocal ministry is a spiritual practice. That’s fortunate because, as with any practice, there is a body of knowledge and experience to turn to. In this pamphlet, we’ll lay out some principles found in that body of knowledge which can guide Friends in giving vital vocal ministry. By “vital vocal ministry” we mean messages that take the community of faith deeper into what is helpful, loving, challenging, and timeless. As George Fox said, “Friends, meet together and know one another in that which is eternal, which as before the world was.”
Meeting for worship is at the heart of Quaker faith and practice. Although our personal direct experience of the Divine is central to our individual spiritual lives, it is in communal worship that we gather together to hear the Voice that has spoken through the generations and still speaks today.
Copies of the Pendle Hill Pamphlet #460 are available in the RFM worship room foyers.
To reach as many people as possible, we are offering two similar workshop sessions:
- In person in the community room, Sunday, March 30, 9:30 am - 10:45 am
- On Zoom, Saturday, April 5, 10 am - 11:15 am
During both sessions we will be discussing the same questions which can be found at the end of the pamphlet, "On Vocal Ministry". Childcare is available on Sunday, March 30th at 9:15 am. Contact Monica Shaw with questions or concerns.