FMW Newsletter, April-May 2023

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Published monthly since 1930 – Issue #93 – 04/05

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MEETINGS FOR WORSHIP
5th Month Query: PERSONAL WAY OF LIFE
News
Events
Thinking about Race
Meeting for Business Minutes, March 12, 2023
-Clerk’s Report
-Business
-ADDENDA
  -FMW July-January Financials
  -Personal Aid Committee - Annual Report
  -The Golden Rule coming to DC
  -Proposed Minute on Nuclear Weapons
Meeting for Business Minutes-April 2023
-Clerk’s Report, April 2023
-Business
-Addenda-April 2023
  -2022 Spiritual State of the Meeting
  -Response to FCNL request regarding Reproductive Health Care
  -Report on BYM Interim Meeting

MEETINGS FOR WORSHIP ~ ALL ARE WELCOME

Sundays:  9:00 - 10:00 am (online);  10:30-11:30 am (online & in-person);  6:00-7:00 pm
Wednesdays:  6:00 - 7:00 pm at FMW
Monthly Meeting for Business:  12:15 pm May 14 (2nd Sunday)

Join 10:30 Meeting here.  Masks required for in-person participation.
For more information, email admin@QuakersDC.org.

5th Month Query:  PERSONAL WAY OF LIFE

Do you live in accordance with your spiritual convictions? Do you seek employment consistent with your beliefs and in service to society? Do you practice simplicity in speech, dress and manner of living, avoiding wasteful consumption? Are you watchful that your possessions do not rule you? Do you strive to be truthful at all times, avoiding judicial oaths?

Do you strive to develop your physical, emotional and mental capacities toward reaching your Divinely given potential? Do you cultivate healthful and moderate habits, avoiding the hazards of drugs, intoxicants, and over-indulgence generally? Do you try to direct such emotions as anger and fear in creative ways?

(For more see: Early Quaker Testimonies; The Practice of the Life of the Spirit Personal Life.  Source:  BYM Faith & Practice, Part II The Queries

News

Welcome to the World, Baby Rayna!


Elisabeth Johnson Crawford gave birth to Rayna Marie Crawford on April 9 at 3:38 pm.

FMW Welcomes Golden Rule, joined by crew member, FCNL, Union of Concerned Scientists for discussion on fostering nuclear disarmament.

On April 5, FMW’s Peace and Social Concerns teamed up with Veterans for Peace and representatives from the Union of Concerned Scientists and Friends Committee on National Legislation for a spirited and information-packed educational event on nuclear weapons and disarmament.  The event welcomed the crew of the Golden Rule anti-nuclear ship sailed originally by Quakers sailing for the U.S. military’s atomic bomb testing site in the Marshal Islands.  The ship was re-discovered and rebuilt by Veterans for Peace, whose crew continues the mission.  Here is the footage of the April 5 event at FMW.  Find more info on the Golden Rule the Back from the Brink nuclear disarmament campaign here.


Union of Concerned Scientists representative Madison Rose discusses Back from the Brink campaign at April 5 event moderated by Jake Karaisz of FMW’s Peace & Social Concerns.


FMW members Helena Cobban and Michael Beer say farewell to crew of the Golden Rule on their departure from DC, April 17, 2023.

Events

FMW Coordinator & Volunteers Needed for Quaker Booth at Pride Festival, June 11

Friends,

The Capital Pride Street Festival this year is on Sunday, June 11 (following the Pride parade on Saturday the 10th).  Every year FMW and area Quakers staff a booth at the Festival.  It is a fun way to support DC LGBTQ community–and our robust Quaker presence over the years means a lot.   

We are looking for a volunteer coordinator to make sure booth materials get to the site and to serve as point of contact.   (I am willing to help staff the booth for an hour or two after Meeting for Business (also on that day), but cannot take the lead in coordinating.  We are hoping for a fresh new face to take this on for our community!  Please let Barbara, or Allen or Elaine know if you can be our coordinator this year! 

Elaine  Wilson, email:  ElaineSWils@gmail.com

Work Days & American Chestnut planting at Quaker Camps, April 29, May 13, June 10
Help prepare Quaker camps Catoctin, Shiloh and  Opequon for the summer season, or help plant 100 American chestnut trees to help restore this magnificent species that fed wildlife and human inhabitants of our Eastern forests.  Sign up here!   Contact Ann Honn, camp property manager, email: anhonn@gmail.com for details.

Baby Welcome: Forest Ebi, Meeting Room, Sunday, April 23, 12:15 pm
Forest is the son of Ari and Anastacia Ebi, and Desmond’s little brother.  For more information contact Bill Strein email StreinB@gmail.com

MJ Simpson Scholarship Fund’s annual Barbara Nnoka Lunch, Assembly Room, April 30, 12:00 pm join the MJ Simpson Scholarship team at rise of Meeting for a simple lunch, sharing some of the Funds great work, and an opportunity to support low income graduates of DC high schools as they pursue college and their dreams.  For more info contact Anne Kendall, email: akendall@wakekendall.com

Fibre Party returns!  FMW Library, April 30, 12:45 pm
Quaker Fibre Party returns after a long hiatus! Bring your knitting, crochet, sewing, or other fiber related projects and enjoy the company of Friends. Also, Bill Parker will demonstrate crocheting of rugs from old clothes. For more info, contact Gene Throwe, gthrowe@gmail.com. 

Special Lunch for New Parents, Upper Garden, April 30, 12:00 pm
For more information contact Debby Churchman, email: DChurchm@yahool.com 

AVP/Friends Peace Teams: Interfaith Actions that Work for Peace, April 30, 12:45
In FMW’s Meeting Room and online
Join one or both sessions: 
1.) Creating Just, Peaceful, Regenerative Cultures in SE Asia (12:45-1:45pm)
2.) Power of Goodness: The Price of Peace: AVP Mini-Workshop (2:00-4:00pm)
RSVP to Beth Cogswell, email: BethCogswell8@gmail.com for zoom info.

Living Your Call: Vocational Discernment Workshop, Sunday, April 30 1:00-3:00 pm
FMW’s Decatur Place Room.  (Optional activities 3-5 pm).  Register here.
Are you interested in exploring your work (paid or otherwise), the deep questions of what your gifts are, and what you have to offer the world?  Are you seeking some clarity on what your next steps might be? Then this retreat is for you!  Led by Greg Woods, a disabled Quaker minister and theologian, currently at Beacon Hill Friends House. For more information, contact Nick Warren, email:  wanet65@gmail.com

Quaker Job Opportunity: Pendle Hill Seeks new Director of Development

Pendle Hill Quaker Retreat and Conference Center is seeking its next development director and hopes to hire by September.  Position description and details are here.

BYM Annual Session, August 1-6: Scholarships Available
FMW’s Personal Aid Committee makes scholarships available to help cover costs of participating in BYM’s conference for those who need assistance (especially Young Adult Friends and first time attenders).  Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s week-long Annual Session, held at Hood College August 1 to 6, is filled with workshops, discernment and decision making, and opportunities to meet other Quakers from our area. For more info contact Personal aid clerk Hayden Wetzel, email: HaydenWetzel@hotmail.com.  

Thinking about Race - May 2023:  “Paul’s Letter to American Christians”

In 1956, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, gave a sermon entitled “Paul’s Letter to American Christians.” This is an excerpt from that sermon:

“Oh America, how often have you taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes. If you are to be a truly Christian nation you must solve this problem… You can work within the framework of democracy to bring about a better distribution of wealth. You can use your powerful economic resources to wipe poverty from the face of the earth. God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty.”   Here is video of the speech.  

This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaison at each local Meeting. The BYM WGR meets most months on the first Saturday, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, currently via Zoom. If you would like to attend, contact the clerk at david.etheridge@verizon.net.

Meeting for Business Minutes - March and April 2023

Friends Meeting of Washington
Monthly Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business
Minutes, March 12, 2023

In-Person Attendees: 24
Online Attendees: 8
New Attendees: Reggie Blackwood

Query for Worship Sharing:  Mindful of the long history of FMW, how do we think about our short time here, as stewards of this community?

Clerk’s Report, March 12, 2023

In Memoriam:  Molly Tully Memorial Service–April 15, 1 p.m.

Upcoming Events   

FMW Community Highlights & Kudos

Tenant Updates- Activities at our Meeting House

  • Rentals report for February 2023
  • Small Group on Death, Dying, and Loss – one of our mental health professional office tenants is hoping to offer the workshop below at FMW in April. If this is of interest to you, please contact Dr. Douglas Rugh to register: douglasrugh@gmail.com 

Business

Membership (Rebecca Nelson)

  • Resignation of Bobby Trice as co-clerk of membership.
    Friends accepted with gratitude.
  • First Presentation for Steve Lovett
    The presentation will lay over for one month.
    One friend who has known Steve for many years expressed his support for Steve’s membership.
  • Second presentation for Amy Norris and Josh Lichtenstein and associate membership of Noah Lichtenstein.
    One friend expressed their delight at Amy and Josh’s intention to become members.
    Friends approved.
  • Second Presentation for Raymond Patch
    One friend noted Raymond’s work on the M&W committee and expressed their support.
    Friends approved.

Quarterly Financial Report (Anita Drever)

One friend requested information about the Capital Campaign and if the committee needed help.

Jason Terry noted F&S’s work in examining past data of giving, and work to begin in April / Spring on calls and workshops to begin in the Fall. Jason noted that volunteers will be needed in the coming months.

Neil Froeming noted the importance of the capital campaign regarding the needed refinancing in 2032.

Minute on Nuclear Disarmament and April 5 Golden Rule event at FMW - (Helena Cobban, PSC, Minute is attached below) 

One friend expressed a hope to spread the minute to other communities.

One friend noted how many individuals, for lack of a better option, rely on the military’s production of nuclear weapons for the livelihoods of themselves and their families. This friend expressed that these individuals also have the light of god in them and there should be concern for a just transition.

One friend expressed their agreement, and suggested an amendment: “Channel saved funds into human needs and supporting the economic transition of military families who depend on that production.

Helena expressed that the minute would go back to PnSC for revision.

Several friends agreed.

One friend noted the tight timeline and hoped that the meeting would endorse the minute, and hoped that the minute would be publicized in local media. 

Friends approved that the minute should be returned to PSC for refinement.
Friends approved a general endorsement for the minute. One friend stood aside.

One friend asked whether other spiritual communities would be involved in the upcoming event.  Helena indicated that they would. One friend asked for information about parking.  Helena indicated that there was still a need for parking for an RV.

One friend asked whether there would be tours available. Helena indicated that there would.

Laying down of Lunch/Haircut Program at Church of the Pilgrim – (Patricia Murphy)

One friend expressed their gratitude for Patricia’s work, and noted that meeting for business did not need to lay down the program as it was under the care of the hunger and homelessness taskforce. Another friend also expressed their gratitude for the work. One friend asked that Patricia be noted as “Friend and Barber”. One friend asked about the need for volunteers. Patricia indicated that younger volunteers would be especially helpful.

Friends approved the minute.

Personal Aid Committee Report (Hayden Wetzel)

In addition to the report, Hayden requested clarity on a program for providing funds to help friends attend Quaker events.

One friend expressed their support for the program and hoped it would be available. One friend asked whether PA needed additional support. Hayden indicated they would. One friend noted that maintaining a reserve for emergencies was an essential part of PA and that there was not an immediate need to use those funds, but expressed support for using the funds for good purposes.

One friend expressed that PA had helped provide transportation in the past. One friend expressed that it would be helpful to announce that funds were available to help friends in need on a regular basis.

Friends accepted the report.

One friend noted that the “fund for sufferings” could be taken under the care of PA.

School for Friends fence banner request - (Barbara Briggs - Peace & Social Concerns)

One friend noted the importance of exposing individuals to quakerism at a young age and expressed their support. One friend expressed their support and noted that this was not permanent. One friend noted that signs on our fence are occasionally vandalized.

Friends approved the request. Friends approved the minutes at 1:50 pm.

MfB concluded at 1:53 pm.

ADDENDA: ATTACHED COMMITTEE REPORTS

Friends Meeting of Washington
July-January Financial Results FY2023

The attached budget report shows budgeted spending for FY 2023 vs. actual YTD spending from July through January.

Key takeaways:

  • We are still anticipating a budget shortfall of $248,411
  • Donations increased from $82,000 by the end of  November to $209,000 by the end of January, getting us close to the $220,000 we budgeted. Thank you, Friends!
  • By the end of January, we had $199,090 in event rental income, suggesting we might achieve more than the budgeted $300,000
  • Although donations and event rental income are doing better than anticipated, our accounting expenses may increase significantly. I therefore think we’re still likely to have a shortfall of around $200,000
  • The current mortgage balance is $3.08 million — down from the original $3.35 million
  • Our reserves on February 21 stood at $1,707,811, of which $1,434,969 was in Friends Fiduciary investments and $272,842 was in bank accounts. Approximately $450,000 of our investments is restricted—we have investments that can only be used to fund Mary Jane Simpson Scholarships, for example.  If business-as-usual income and expenses do not change, we can expect to be in a dire financial position within four years.
  • Full report: FY23 budget vs actual YTD

Chart, bar chart, histogram Description automatically generated

Personal Aid Committee - Annual Report 

The Meeting’s Personal Aid Committee exists to offer assistance – personal, spiritual, sometimes monetary – to Friends in distress. All interactions are confidential and at the discretion of the committee. In the Friends Meeting of Washington this committee is generously funded by the annual sales of Friend Bob Meehan’s Quaker Treasure Bread rather than constituting a line item in our budget, a true testament to our Friend’s love of this Meeting.

In the last year the committee has had very few requests for assistance – two instances which involved some financial aid for members and otherwise support of various types for ill or housebound Friends.

The committee plans a more vigorous program this year, beginning with attention to members of our community whom we seldom see due to their personal circumstances. We hope to contact these Friends on some regular basis and establish a transportation scheme for those who wish to join us for Sunday worship or other Meeting occasions but do not have the means to do so. We welcome thoughts and suggestions from all Friends on this project and for other useful efforts.

The addition of several new members has helped bring new vigor to our committee.

Respectfully submitted,
Hayden Wetzel, Clerk, Personal Aid Committee

The Golden Rule:  Participants in a historic Quaker anti-nuclear ministry will be in DC April 3-17!

FMW Event:  Wednesday, April 5.  Reception 5:30 pm.  Program 6:15 pm.
Volunteers needed to help host the Golden Rule crew in DC.  Sign up here.

The Golden Rule was a small ship that, in 1958, a group of Quakers and other anti-nuclear activists bought and planned to sail right into the South Pacific zone of the Marshall Islands where the U.S. military was planning to detonate yet another in its series of massive, in-air nuclear weapons tests. The four crew members sailed the GR from San Francisco to Honolulu, where they were stopped and arrested by the U.S. military. But their courageous nonviolent action of "getting in the way of violence" helped galvanize the global anti-nuclear movement and the push to ban above-ground testing.

A few years ago, Veterans for Peace recovered and rehabbed the original 30' ketch and launched it on a "Grand Loop" around the eastern United States to spread the word about the dangers of nuclear war, nuclear power, and all phases of the nuclear production and waste-disposal cycle. The GR has already sailed from Minneapolis down the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, down the west coast of Florida, and visited Cuba. Now, it is sailing up the east coast... Find more details about the project here, and learn about the GR's Quaker roots here.

The GR will arrive in the DC area and will be anchored here (mid-stream, unless they can find an affordable slip) April 3-17, 2023. The Peace & Social Concerns Committee of FMW is working with this project in several ways:

  • We will host a big event at the meeting-house on the evening of Wed., April 5, to welcome the GR and its dedicated crew to the nation's capital. Mark your calendars now!  
  • We are also coordinating the provision of various essential support services when the ship, its four crew members, and their support RV are in the DMV. Please indicate on this form  what help you can offer! 

(Peter Nye of P&SC is coordinating this latter effort and will get back to you to confirm what tasks we will assign you. Please contact Peter with any questions you have: p_nye@yahoo.com)

Since we still have a few weeks till the GR arrives, we can still welcome other ideas that people in the FMW community or our friends might have for maximizing the impact the GR and its anti-nuclear message can have on communities or elected leaders throughout the DMV region. You'll find spaces on Peter's Google Form where you can submit your ideas for events or activities the crew members can be part of while they're here. Please be prepared to help with the legwork and outreach involved!

Peace and Social Concerns is excited to be connecting with this 65-year-old Quaker ministry and we hope it can be "All Hands On Deck" from the rest of the FMW community too!

Proposed Minute on Nuclear Weapons

Friends Meeting of Washington, Religious Society of Friends
Minute on Nuclear Weapons, For consideration - March 2023

Seventy-seven years ago, the United States became the only nation to use nuclear weapons, destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This act caused incredible suffering to the civilian population and ushered in an era of existential dread by humanity. 

This was not just the fear of a bomb blast killing humans and destroying cities. It was also the fear of radiation poisoning air, earth and water miles from the bomb craters, leaving living things with no way to eat, drink or even breathe that would not cause radiation sickness and slow death.

Still, nations raced to pour precious resources into creating a “doomsday machine” that could destroy their enemies, in spite of the fact that this would trigger retaliation in kind. The U.S. and the Soviet Union embraced as part of their national security policies the doctrine of “Mutually Assured Destruction,” saying in effect, “If we both know we can utterly destroy each other, neither of us will do it.”

And yet the catastrophe has almost happened more than once.  Many accidents and misinterpretations have edged close to disaster, and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis nearly led to open war. Recently, the Russians have repeatedly threatened their use in Ukraine.

Fortunately, Quakers and global citizens took some successful action. In 1957, Quakers and others began to protest atmospheric testing at the Nevada nuclear test site and later in the Pacific.  A Quaker Action Group organized a ship, called the Golden Rule to sail into the Marshall Island nuclear testing site. Although detained and arrested in Hawai’i, the Golden Rule inspired others to take action including the Phoenix boat & a Quaker boat in British Columbia. These were pioneering  efforts by citizens to use boats to save the planet from destruction.  Pressure mounted quickly on the US and Soviets to end atmospheric testing and world leaders drew back from that brink. 

The Nuclear Freeze movement grew; in 1982 a million people gathered in New York's Central Park to call for an end to the nuclear arms race.  Millions more protested against nuclear weapons in Europe. Over the decades, diplomatic negotiations resulted in treaties and agreements that de-escalated the arms race and cut the global nuclear stockpile by 80%.

But now, the danger of nuclear war has risen as high as ever. The US government has backed out of a number of agreements despite the fact that these agreements provide us with useful information, resulted in the destruction of dangerous weapons, or reduced nuclear proliferation to other nations. Congress has authorized spending $1.2 trillion for a new generation of nuclear weapons, including “usable” nuclear weapons—as though “low-yield” nuclear weapons (which are almost the same size as the Hiroshima bomb) could be employed without provoking a cataclysmic nuclear response.  But as the late Senator Richard Lugar, together with other high-ranking former officials, warned: “It is unlikely there is such a thing as a 'limited' nuclear war; preparing for one is folly.”

Experts warn that nuclear war is just as likely today as it was at the height of the Cold War, whether it begins on purpose, through an accident or cyber attack, or because of a miscalculation of other powers' reactions to deployment of “usable” nuclear weapons. Even a “small” nuclear war between India and Pakistan, with 3% of world nuclear arsenals, could kill two billion people—over a quarter of the world's population—as the clouds of debris would block sunlight from reaching food crops.  War between the United States and Russia could well extinguish life on Earth. 

US Quakers are strongly opposed to the US government’s policies on nuclear weapons as reflected in this thoughtful analysis by the Friends Committee on National Legislation.  

The bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was the first time nuclear weapons were used in combat. Let us make sure that the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9 was the last.

This is again the time to take action. The Golden Rule has been restored by the Veterans for Peace and is sailing around the world to call for ratification of the Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapon, and for full rapid implementation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty.  

Therefore Friends Meeting of Washington encourages all who hear or read these words to consider how to forward the cause of peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.  We ask you to do all you can to support the voyage of the Golden Rule when it visits the Chesapeake in the Spring of 2023 and to take some of the following actions:

Specifically, the U.S. should:

      —Affirm commitment to the spirit of our agreements, where possible repairing and re-entering the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA). and the Open Skies treaty.

Urge the government of the United States to adopt a better nuclear policy:

   —Adopt a No First Use policy

   —Take land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles off launch-ready alert, and in fact rid ourselves of the vulnerable and dangerous land-based ICBM system altogether

   —Ensure that any decision to launch nuclear weapons is reviewed by designated officials in addition to the President

   —Eschew any future nuclear test explosions

—Support Nobel Prize Winner Oscar Arias’ proposal to withdraw US nuclear weapons from Europe, in part to lessen Russia’s perceived threat.

   —Close the door on the notion of “usable nukes”

   —Replace plans to “modernize” our nuclear arsenal with plans to work toward eliminating it

   —Sign and seek ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Call upon Members of Congress to reduce the military budget, especially nuclear expenses:

   —Deny appropriations for “usable” nuclear weapons, new nuclear weapons and nuclear test explosions

   —Channel saved funds into meeting human needs

 Encourage voters to explore candidates' positions on the use or abolition of nuclear weapons and to vote and support candidates as led by conscience

   —Consider joining an anti-nuclear weapons campaign as an individual

   —Encourage your Meeting or faith community, other organizations to which you belong, your city or town, and your Members of Congress to join an anti-nuclear weapons campaign

 These actions may bring us to a new era of shared security and hope.

###End March 2023 Minutes###

Friends Meeting of Washington
Monthly Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business
Minutes, April 9, 2023

In-Person Attendees: 20
Online Attendees: 7
New Attendees: Carl Shephard, Dr. Carroll Shephard

Query for Worship Sharing:  How is renewal and rebirth reflected in your life?

Clerk’s Report, April 2023

Upcoming Events

  • Memorial Meeting to Remember Molly Tully, FMW, Saturday, April 15, 2:00 pm Join Molly's family and Ministry & Worship in this Meeting to remember our beloved Friend. Reception to follow.  Join on Zoom. By phone dial: (301) 715-8592.  Enter Meeting ID: 8893 2647 394# on prompt.  For more information contact Gray Handley: handleygr@icloud.com
  • Study Group: Quakerism-A Deeper Dive, Bridge Room, April 16 (3rd Sundays) 12:15-1:45 pm.  Interested in taking a “Deeper Dive”? This in-depth study group will read and discuss thought provoking books on Quaker faith and practice.  If you have questions, contact Joe Izzo, jizzo4102@gmail.com.
  • Golden Rule Peace and Anti-nuclear Program, All Souls Unitarian Church, April 16 1:30-4:30 pm  with Golden Rule Crew, Heiwa Peace Project, Veterans for Peace, Hiroshima Children’s drawings & more.  All Souls (Pierce Hall), 1500 Harvard St NW, Washington DC.  More info here.
  • Alternatives to Violence Project AVP-DC on zoom, April 20 6-7pm (3rd Thursdays)
    Join on Zoom.  For more information, contact Beth Cogswell email: bethcogswell8@gmail.com
  • MJ Simpson Scholarship Fund’s annual Barbara Nnoka Lunch, Assembly Room, April 30, 12:15pm Join the MJ Simpson Scholarship team at rise of Meeting for a simple lunch, sharing some of the Funds great work, and an opportunity to support low income graduates of DC high schools as they pursue college and their dreams.  For more info contact Anne Kendall, email: akendall@wakekendall.com
  • Living Your Call: Vocational Discernment Workshop, Sunday, April 30 1:00-3:00 pm
    FMW’s Decatur Place Room.  (Optional activities 3-5 pm).  Register here.  Are you interested in exploring your work (paid or otherwise), the deep questions of what your gifts are, and what you have to offer the world.  Are you seeking some clarity on what your next steps might be? Then this retreat is for you!  This workshop will be led by Greg Woods, a disabled Quaker minister, theologian, who currently serves as program consultant at Beacon Hill Friends House. Greg attended FMW 2008-2010. For more information, contact Nick Warren, email:  wanet65@gmail.com
  • Committee of Clerks Supper Meeting at FMW, May 1, 6:30 - 8:30pm
    For more information contact clerks Elaine Wilson (ElaineSWils@gmail.com) or Allen Fawcett, email: (aafawcett@gmail.com)

FMW Community Highlights & Kudos

  • Singing has resumed, 10 am on 2nd Sundays.
  • Grate Patrol and Board games on First Sundays are becoming a wonderful monthly tradition.

Tenant Updates- Activities at our Meeting House

Business

Spiritual State of the Meeting - Viticia Thames

One friend noted some potential capitalization typos in the report.
One friend praised the work done on the report.
Friends approved the report with the minor typo corrections.

Membership - Rebecca Nelson

  • John Meyer – 1st reading
    One friend asked if 40 years was long enough for discernment.
    John indicated that it was.
    Several friends asked about the record length for discernment. One friend noted another individual who took 52 years.
    John praised the strength and accountability of the community, particularly through the years when the meeting was struggling with the issue of gay marriage.
    One friend noted John’s many gifts to themselves and the meeting.
    One friend recalled how a former member, previously staunchly opposed to gay marriage, had said that he had been wrong in thinking so.
    The membership request will hold over for one month.

  • Steve Lovett - 2nd reading.  Friends approved.

Recommendations to FCNL on Reproductive Healthcare -Martha Solt

One friend noted that the recommendations speak their mind.
One friend noted that FCNL has been hampered by a perceived lack of unity among Friends on this issue and noted the growth and expansion of their own feelings on the issue.
One friend expressed their gratitude for Martha and the work done by the larger committee. This friend brought a proposal for new language for the policy.
One friend raised that they had not seen language about birth control, but then realized that the language was in the report. They noted that birth control was also under threat.
Friends express appreciation for Debby Churchman and other members of the  committee who worked so long and hard to create these recommendations.
Friends approved sending the recommendations to FCNL.

Report on BYM Interim Meeting– Greg Robb

One friend noted that there are several committees within BYM that are in need of members, particularly their service and development committee.
Friends praised Greg’s work with hospitality.
One friend on the personal aid committee expressed that personal aid would provide scholarships, with preference for first time attenders of annual sessions. Another friend expressed that personal aid would also provide scholarships to young adult friends.

Nominating Committee–Michael Beer

Evan Lippincott –Property Committee. Term ends Dec 2025.  Friends approved.
Steve Lovett –Marriage and Family Relations.  Term ends Dec 2025.  Friends approved.
Beth Cogswell –Membership Committee. (Inadvertently removed.) Term ends Dec 2025.
Friends approved.

Resignations: 
Religious Education Committee: Roseanna Stanton.  Friends accepted.
Religious Education Committee: Danielle Carnes.  Friends accepted.
Trustees: Chris Wickham.  Friends accepted with gratitude.

Upcoming Committee Reports: 

May:  Budget
June:  Property Committee, Personnel, Religious Education
Annual Schedule of Committee Reports

Friends approved the minutes.
Meeting for Business entered silent worship and then concluded at 1:15 pm.

ADDENDA: ATTACHED COMMITTEE REPORTS

2022 Spiritual State of the Meeting 
Friends Meeting of Washington

Friends Meeting of Washington (FMW) is a large, vibrant and, in many ways, diverse community of Friends and seekers.  Because of its location, FMW enjoys a stream of new members, attenders, and visitors, many of whom are actively engaged in urgent social and political action.  For varying periods of time, many visitors and younger people come to FMW seeking spiritual nurturing.  This enhances FMW’s active character as these visitors and younger friends, many with families, bring age diversity and progressive enthusiasm for a broadened vision and service commitment, while also challenging us to maintain the continuity of our Quaker faith and practice.  Fortunately, FMW also has many engaged and gifted Friends of all ages with long experience in seeking spiritual growth and working for social change.  Ultimately, FMW’s diversity of individual characteristics, age, personal beliefs, culture, and faith traditions, makes our meeting rich in questioning and challenge – while also united in our pursuit of the Light within ourselves and others.

As we have emerged from the pandemic over the last 10 months, we find our community resurgent with four weekly Meetings for Worship; marriages and newborns brought under our care; multiple interactions to address race, grief, and other pressing concerns; an array of active committees (many with new ideas); engagement in welcoming immigrants, hosting like-minded organizations and other faith communities; and many revitalized religious education and spiritual development activities.   

In preparing this report, members of the FMW community were asked to share their views generally and with reference to queries provided by BYM.  While a very small portion of our community responded formally, this report broadly reflects the sense of the Meeting as gathered by FMW’s Committee on Ministry and Worship. 

How has your meeting addressed the issue of racism as a spiritual concern?

FMW has generally taken a socio-economic and historic approach to examining race so that some feel we have neglected the spiritual aspects of racial prejudice.  Others feel all aspects are important to address.  In response to racism, the Meeting has undertaken an audit of our practices to better understand our individual and collective beliefs and practices related to racial discrimination and unconscious bias.  We have challenged ourselves with queries, heartfelt sharing of personal experiences, and targeted workshops to help generate deeper understanding; and we have established a task force and other groups to help foster anti-racist actions within ourselves, our community, and the external society.  Some of these groups are in early stages and many lack internal diversity, which may be due, in part, to FMW’s small (but slowly growing) number of “minority” Members and attenders.  FMW recognizes that addressing racism is a critically important spiritual and secular concern that will require long-term examination, compassion for self and others, and Spirit-led actions, all of which we are committed to undertaking.   

How does your meeting strengthen the sense of worship during your Meeting for Business?

FMW uses queries at the opening of Meeting, silent worship, and attentive clerking to help settle and spiritually center Meetings for Worship with a Concern for Business.  Our meeting also relies on periods of silent worship to encourage deeper spiritual discernment when complex or controversial issues arise and create discord.  Many respondents noted we need to be reminded that “Business Meetings” are first and foremost “Meetings for Worship”.  This is sometimes forgotten when there are difficult or weighty issues for consideration.  Our elder members often help demonstrate the use of Quaker faith and practice to maintain the Spirit-led character of Meetings for Business.  

What tests the unity of your meeting community? How does it fare? What's building the community up and what is stressing it?

Many aspects of FMW that make it a vibrant and spiritually nurturing meeting also challenge aspects of its unity.  Our size and diversity foster many smaller sub-groups based on personal beliefs, individual attributes, or secular concerns.  For example, formal and informal groupings have emerged focused on: young adult friends, book discussions, parents with young children, contemplative worship, meditation, non-theist beliefs, Bible scholarship, and social or environmental concerns.  While this makes FMW an enriching service and spiritual community, it also can cause stress when perspectives widely diverge, and silos form within our community.  Meeting together for worship, a very active program of adult religious education, and our individual service on committees seems to help overcome other separations while fostering our individual and collective spiritual growth.  

It is exciting that FMW is in our nation’s capital but this, our large number of visitors, and the secular work so many are engaged in, often leads to the incursion of current events or politics into our meetings for worship.  For some, this interrupts spiritual contemplation.  

In addition, our large and enhanced physical campus now allows us to interact more vigorously with other faith communities, progressive allies, and among ourselves.  At the same time the cost of this physical  enhancement entailed a financial burden that stresses many in our community and for some threatens to overshadow our spiritual wellbeing.  Some feel this burden is borne unequally with some not understanding the responsibilities this burden entails.  We are addressing this by making concerted efforts to increase meeting income through facility use fees, but some feel that individual contributions to FMW also need to be prioritized.  For some this leads to challenging and divergent expectations among older and younger members.  

The blessing of age diversity that so enriches FMW also brings a sense among some that our elders sometimes fail to respect the views and contributions brought to our community by younger people.  For some this leads to challenging and divergent expectations among older and younger members.  There is a concern that this may stress or even alienate new attenders, visitors and others seeking spiritual nurturing.  In recent years, through concerted effort, the division between age groups has greatly diminished with many examples of mutual caring evident in all aspects of FMW life.

While noting challenges related to the use of hybrid meeting structures, FMW continues to provide multiple meeting attendance options to reduce the risk of illness for our more vulnerable members and attenders.  Many have noted that overall, the pandemic strengthened our meeting, invigorated engagement, and attracted seekers whom we strive to welcome more actively.  Our challenge has been to welcome these individuals and share the joys of the Religious Society of Friends while moderating the intensity of FMW’s size, diversity, and structure, which may intimidate.  All in all, our members are celebrating a time of vitality, challenge, and opportunity – despite all the stress that external factors have generated. 

If you could put a sign out in the front of your Meeting House, what would it say?

All are Welcome.  Are you a Seeker of the Divine? Join Us.  Curiosity and Doubt Welcome Here. The Spirit of Love is Here Among Us.  

Response to FCNL request regarding Reproductive Health Care

1. What does reproductive health care look like in the world that you and your community seek?

We aspire to create a world that:

  • Celebrates sexuality as a joyous, normal part of the human experience when it is consensual, while recognizing that pregnancy may not be desired, appropriate, or healthy in all circumstances
  • Respects the choices made by people about their bodies (i.e., bodily integrity), and rejects all forms of coercive, non-voluntary, non-consensual sexual behavior and unwanted pregnancies that may result therefrom 
  • Acknowledges that women and birthing persons have the right to bodily integrity, and believes that the individual spiritual discernment and decisions made from thatsense of integrity benefits the wellbeing  and peace of the community and local environment as well as individual health, mental health and spiritual wellbeing of that person, family, and the  future wellbeing of our society
  • Honors, respects, sincerely listens to, and values all persons involved in reproductive health care, including clients and health care providers
  • Allows people the freedom to choose whether and when to become parents, whether to refrain from becoming parents,  how many children to have, and when to have them 
  • Offers accessible (and nearby), affordable, safe, secure, comprehensive, informed, fully funded, non-discriminatory and legal reproductive health care that includes the full spectrum of care, from contraception and abortion to prenatal, postpartum and other sexual and reproductive health care across the lifecourse, 
  • Commits to investing in health and wellbeing of individuals and families beyond birth and throughout childhood into adulthood. This investment should include pediatric care, and a range of services from childcare, early childhood education, public education and other supports for children and families.
  • Recognizes the continuum of emotions and experiences associated with sexuality, fertility, sterility, conception, pregnancy, pregnancy loss, pregnancy termination, adoption, stillbirth, live birth and parenthood 
  • Ensures that all people are provided widely available, comprehensive, evidence-based, and age-appropriate reproductive health care information
  • Acknowledges and respects differing religious, moral, and ethical views of reproductive health care with the understanding that those views should not be imposed on people who do not hold them

2. How are the Quaker values and testimonies relevant to the issue of abortion? SPICES (Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality and Stewardship)

The vision for the world we seek is based on our testimonies, as detailed below. (Many of our statements about reproductive justice are supported by more than one testimony.)

TESTIMONY OF SIMPLICITY

  • Information is power, and the basis for all responsible action, alongside the leadings found in spiritual discernment. We believe that policy should be grounded in research on sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing. Similarly, individual decision-making must be founded on as complete information as possible; comprehensive sexuality education is the foundation of sexual and reproductive decision-making.
  • The ability to decide if and when to become parents, the number of children to have and when to have them is a core human right and has ripples throughout a person’s life and the lives of those around them. 
  • Fundamentally, Friends believe that the decision of when or whether to have children should be Spirit led. Placing authority for such decisions in the hands of the government may often put them at odds with such spiritual leadings.

TESTIMONY OF PEACE

  • Women and birthing persons have the right to bodily integrity. Prioritizing individual spiritual discernment–and decisions based on that–benefits the wellbeing  and peace of the community and local environment as well as individual health, mental health and spiritual wellbeing of that person, family, and future wellbeing of our society
  • Peace is promoted by respecting the choices made by people about their bodies (i.e., bodily integrity), and rejecting all forms of coercive, non-voluntary sexual behavior
  • A peaceful society allows people the freedom to choose whether and when to become parents, whether to refrain from becoming parents, how many children to have and when to have them. This also promotes the establishment of a peaceful family
  • The choice through individual spiritual discernment to terminate can be the most loving, kind, and peaceful choice for the embryo or fetus, the birthing person, the family and the community
  • A peaceful community acknowledges and respects differing religious, moral, and ethical views of reproductive health care with the understanding that those views should not be imposed on people who do not hold them

TESTIMONY OF INTEGRITY

  • Celebrates sexuality as a joyous, normal part of the human experience when it is consensual, while recognizing that pregnancy may not be desired, appropriate, or healthy in all circumstances
  • Respects the choices made by people about their bodies (i.e., bodily integrity), and rejects all forms of coercive, non-voluntary sexual behavior
  • Believes that all families have the right to privacy, and that people of all genders have the right to reproductive health care, including pregnancy termination.
  • Recognizes and honors the continuum of emotions and experiences associated with sexuality, fertility, sterility, conception, pregnancy, pregnancy loss, pregnancy termination, adoption, stillbirth, live birth and parenthood 

TESTIMONY OF COMMUNITY

  • Offers accessible (and nearby), affordable, safe, secure, comprehensive, informed, fully funded, non-discriminatory and legal reproductive health care that includes the full spectrum of care, from contraception and abortion to prenatal, postpartum and other sexual and reproductive health care across the lifecourse 
  • Supports adoption among willing individuals, but we abhor treating pregnancy as a market for adoption. (We refer specifically to Justice Alito’s comment in the Dobbs decision, “the domestic supply of infants … relinquished at birth or within the first month of life available to be adopted [has] become virtually nonexistent.” In other words: Demand for infants is high and supply is low, so we need to increase the number of unwanted pregnancies)
  • Commits to investing in the health and wellbeing of individuals and families beyond birth and throughout childhood into adulthood. This investment should include pediatric care, and a range of services from childcare, early childhood education, and public education to other supports for children and families.
  • Ensures that all people are provided widely available, comprehensive, evidence-based, and age-appropriate reproductive health care information
  • Honors, respects, sincerely listens to, and values all persons involved in reproductive health care, including clients and health care providers. Works against any effort to criminalize individuals receiving or giving reproductive health care.

TESTIMONY OF EQUALITY

  • Celebrates sexuality as a joyous, normal part of the human experience when it is consensual, while recognizing that pregnancy may not be desired, appropriate, or healthy in all circumstances
  • Respects the choices made by people about their bodies (i.e., bodily integrity), and rejects all forms of coercive, non-voluntary sexual behavior
  • Honors, respects, sincerely listens to, and values all persons involved in reproductive health care, including clients and health care providers, and rejects any effort to criminalize such people
  • Allows people the freedom to choose whether and when to become parents, whether to refrain from becoming parents, how many children to have and when to have them

TESTIMONY OF STEWARDSHIP

  • Each person is responsible for the stewardship of their own physical and spiritual being 
  • We respect the personal integrity that guides an individual’s informed decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive life. These decisions may reflect personal social and economic circumstances as well as an awareness of the impact of our choices on our stewardship of the earth.  
  • Women and birthing persons have the right to bodily integrity. Prioritizing decisions based on individual spiritual discernment benefits the wellbeing - physical, mental, and spiritual - and peace of the person, their family, community and local environment as well as the future wellbeing of our society.

3. Should the FCNL Policy Statement be revised on the issues of abortion and reproductive health and abortion?  If so, what should the Policy Statement say?  

FCNL’s Policy Statement reads: “III.2.6: Health Care. Universal access to affordable, effective, comprehensive health care is a right and is necessary to allow all people to fulfill their potential. Comprehensive health care includes primary, acute, and long-term care, including prescription drugs, as well as mental health and substance abuse treatment. To ensure access, health services should be provided where an individual’s needs can best be met. Our country can only maintain and improve the physical and mental health of its population with affordable health care that covers the entire life span, from prenatal to end-of-life care. Public health services, which protect us all, require robust federal support. “III.2.7. NOTE: Members of the Society of Friends are not in unity on abortion issues. Therefore, FCNL takes no position and does not act either for or against abortion legislation. On occasion, FCNL may appeal to lawmakers not to use the abortion debate to paralyze action on other legislation.” 

RECOMMENDATIONS

Delete III.2.7 NOTE

Yes, the FCNL Policy Statement should be revised on the issues of abortion and reproductive health and abortion.

Both historically and in more recent times, Friends have threshed and come to unity over many difficult issues including legal, systemic oppressions (such as slavery,  denial of suffrage, discrimination, and the othering of minorities) and the actions of our nation. Using our beloved testimonies, we feel led to recommend the following guiding principles to use to unambiguously advocate for reproductive health care:

  • In conformity with Friends’ belief that there is that of God in everyone, every person should have agency over their own body (i.e., bodily autonomy)
  • Health care decisions should be made by the individual in consultation with the care providers of their choice and in the presence of Spirit.
  • As Friends, we believe in the Testimony of Equality which acknowledges women’s and pregnant peoples’  full humanity and capability of discerning divine guidance in decisions about their bodies, well- being, mental health, reproductive health,  and well being. Moreover, the testimonies of peace and integrity require us to oppose decision-making by the state,  government actors, or people other than the affected individual. Never condone a person or group making decisions for another person’s body,  as such acts are inherently violent and violate our most basic human integrity.
  • We advocate for support and reproductive health and life care for individuals and families, from family planning through conception, birth, health care, child care, education, and quality of life
  • We believe that the best way to reduce the total number of abortions is to improve healthcare, provide  comprehensive sexuality education, reduce poverty, and make racism and sexism unacceptable. We do not believe that making abortion illegal or imposing impediments to abortion access reduces the number of abortions in a safe or helpful way. (See: https://www.brookings.edu/research/policy-solutions-for-preventing-unplanned-pregnancy/)
  • We respect the choices made by people about their bodies (i.e., bodily integrity), and reject all forms of coercive, non-voluntary, non-consensual sexual behavior and unwanted pregnancies that may result therefrom 
  • We acknowledge and respect differing religious, moral, and ethical views of reproductive health care with the understanding that those views should not be imposed on people who do not hold them
  • As Friends, we believe in the Testimony of Peace which acknowledges that women and birthing persons have the right to bodily integrity, and that prioritizing the individual spiritual discernment (and decisions made from that integrity) benefits the wellbeing  and peace of the community and local environment as well as individual health, mental health and spiritual wellbeing of that person, family, and future peace and wellbeing of our society. 
  • Experience teaches us that the spiritually-led choice to terminate a pregnancy or nonviable fetus can be the most loving, kind, and peaceful choice for the embryo or fetus, the birthing person, the family and the community.
  • We are mindful that the cost of a lack of reproductive health care, comprehensive sexuality education and safe, secure, and local abortion access is borne most by the most vulnerable members of our society–the young, People of Color, transgender people, the economically underprivileged. Our Testimony of Equality calls out to us to rectify this inequity.
  • Friends, as promoters of peace,  believe in the right to privacy, and abhor the violence of any government that attempts to control and track individuals’ bodies or body functions, or criminalize anyone who either provides or receives reproductive health care in any form.

# # # # #

BYM Interim Committee meeting, March 25, 2023 - Report to Business meeting

Major agenda items:

One of the major items discussed was a proposed move of the Opequon Quaker Camp, now located near Winchester, Va. to the Rolling Ridge retreat near Harpers Ferry, where the Friend Wilderness Center is located. The costs would be large but it would be a long-term investment. More work was needed. Another report was due in June.

The clerk of annual session presented an anti-racism roadmap for general use.

There was a Development Committee report that BYM exceeded its goals for unrestricted contributed income.  Over $332,000 was raised.

The spring Interim Committee meeting will be on June 10 in Charlottesville.

Annual sessions are at Hood College in Frederick Maryland from July 31- Aug. 6th.

Annual Session uses a "Pay As Led" model, meaning a suggested rate is provided, but Friends register at the price they choose. 

Other items of note:  The BYM Finance and Stewardship and Ministry and Pastoral Care committees are going to host a virtual 'listening session' with meetings from the DC region in early June. (June 8th tentatively) it would be good if someone from FMW could attend) 

Recommendation:  In order to more closely connect FMW to the yearly meeting, I suggest we create a BYM liaison. It would be a position handled by the nominating committee for a three year term (?) That way, the meeting would get better and regular reports at business meeting.

Formal (agenda) of Interim Committee meeting: https://www.bym-rsf.org/events/businessmeet/

End Minutes - Meeting for Business, April 2023