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A CARING COMMUNITY OF CHRIST
First Friends Meeting September 30, 2018
First Friends is a Quaker Meeting building healthy relationships
with God, one another, and all creation.
336-299-8869 www.friendlymeeting.org
Office Hours: Monday: Closed
Tuesday-Friday: 10:00am-3:00pm
Ministers: Everyone
Don Durham, Intentional Interim Pastor Sheila Hoyer, Pastor of Education and Outreach
Monica Citty Hix, Minister of Music Ellen Ramsey, Office Manager
Pam Reese, Treasurer Cidney Holliday, Nursery Care Adrian Quarles, Nursery Care
Bill Davis, Monthly Meeting Presiding Clerk Beth Joyce, Clerk of Ministry and Counsel
Margaret Rowlett, Clerk of Personnel Committee
To email a Clerk or Staff: (first name)@firstfriendsmeeting.org Don, Sheila, Bill, Beth, Monica, Jean, Ellen or Pam
Sunday Gatherings
Unprogrammed at 9:00 a.m. in the Gathering Room Choir Practice at 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Morning Gatherings at 10:00 a.m. Semi-programmed at 11:00 a.m. in the Meetingroom
Childcare available in the Nursery
(Six years of age and younger)
Gather and Center
Prelude Be Thou My Vision arr. Hopson
Welcome and Announcements Sheila Hoyer
Joys and Concerns
Silence for Centering Prayer
Listen and Respond
Hymn 502 Be Though My Vision (please stand as you are able)
Gratitude Moment Robert Kirkman
Musical Meditation Who Is My Mother, Who is My Brother Murray
(text found in hymnal 602)
Offertory Invitation and Prayer Ana Huckins
Offertory All Through the Night arr. Shackley
Reading Faith and Practice of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Ana Huckins
Hymn 594 We Are Your People (please remain seated)
Message “We’re On A Mission From God…” [Bring your own sunglasses]
Don Durham
Waiting Worship After the Manner of Friends If led to speak, please stand and wait for a host to bring a microphone.
Please allow for a few minutes of silence between messages.
Go Forth in Spirit
Benediction Don Durham
Sung Response Together met, together bound by all that God has done, We’ll go with joy, to give the world the love that makes us one, The love that makes us one. Please close Meeting for Worship by shaking hands with your neighbors.
Joining Don on the Facing Bench today is Ana Huckins.
Ana is our First Friends intern working with our Pastor of Outreach and Education. Ana grew up attending Virginia Beach Friends School. She is a junior at Guilford College, a Quaker Leadership Scholar and a site coordinator for all the off-campus farmer’s markets. She has been a head camp counselor and Quaker youth leader and is excited to be working with the youth of First Friends and the Food Pantry. A message from the Stewardship Committee
A few weeks ago members and attenders received an email from the Stewardship Committee containing a copy of a short booklet by Henri Nouwen entitled “The Spirituality of Fund-Raising.” Members of the Stewardship Committee studied this piece and were inspired by Nouwen’s message. The essence of Nouwen’s message is that financial stewardship is nothing more or less than a form of ministry – one way we join with others in the vision and mission of First Friends Meeting. We look forward to finding times to engage in conversation about Nouwen’s message with you in the coming months.
One way to promote this conversation is to periodically have members and attenders share their gratitude about what First Friends means to them in brief vignettes or testimonials at meeting for worship, as Robert Kirkman is doing today, or in our weekly Friendly Newsletter, or at Monthly Meeting, or other times when two or more of us are gathered. The Stewardship Committee is convinced that our collective conversation about stewardship and generosity is rooted in these reflections on gratitude.
First Friends warmly welcomes visitors. Please complete the visitor card and place it in the offering plate.
We invite you to contact pastoral staff with any questions. Please help yourself to Quaker literature in the foyer.
Activity packets are available for children as well as a fully staffed nursery.
Hearing devices are also available. Please see a morning host for assistance.
Gentle Reminder: Please silence all electronic devices.
Sunday, October 7: Ministry and Counsel, 12pm, Library
Monday, October 8: United Society of Friends Woman, 10am, Gathering Room.
Wednesday, October 10: Daisy Newman, 6:15pm, Fellowship Hall
First Friends Fall Cleanup Day. Do you have an hour or two you could help with cleaning/sprucing up the Meetinghouse? The House and Grounds Committee has set Saturday, October 13, as our fall workday. We'll start at 9:00 am, and will have both indoor and outdoor tasks for our volunteers to complete. We hope to see you then!
Sunday, October 14: Monthly Meeting for Business, 12pm, Fellowship Hall
Volunteers needed for the Quaker Lake Pumpkin Festival! You don't have to wait for First Friend's day at Quaker Lake to spend some time there. Over 200 volunteers are needed to pull off this event that raises money for Quaker Lake. The festival is October 20 from 3-7pm and you have to be there a little earlier to get parked and trained. Email Beth Joyce ([email protected]) if you are interested. You will have fun!
Pumpkin Festival, October 20, 2018, Quaker Lake Camp, 3-7pm, rain or shine. The Pumpkin Festival offers many fun activities for all ages including hayrides, pumpkin paint-ing, tower swing, inflatables, canoeing, pumpkin smashing, face painting and live music! Fill up on all your festival favorites including hot dogs, pizza, funnel cakes, popcorn, cotton candy, fried oreos and more! Address: 1503 NC Highway 62 East, Climax, NC 27233; Phone Number: 336-674-2321, Fax Number: 336-674-8656.
Transportation: If anyone at Friends Homes needs a ride to the 11:00am worship service on Sunday, please let the office know so we can coordinate with the transportation committee. 336-299-8869 or [email protected] you.
Refrigerator: The small refrigerator/freezer in the upstairs kitchen needs to be replaced. We are looking for one that is larger than a "dorm-sized" refrigerator, but no bigger than 55 inches tall/24 inches wide/24 inches deep so that it will fit under the cabinet above. Please let the office know if you know where we could find one.
Lost and Found: A set of keys were found in the parking lot. If you know to whom these belong, please let the office know so we can return it. Thank you.
Save the Date, Saturday, November 10 for Quaker Lake Retreat Day. This event is for all ages. There will be hiking, good conversations in the rocking chairs on the porch, lots of time to make new friends and spend time with old friends. There will be a Chili and Cornbread Cook-Off and more. More information to follow.
North Carolina Fellowship of Friend (NCFF) Fall Business Meeting, Springfield Friends Meeting, November 10, 2018.
IN THE LIGHT
Martha Eakes is at home recovering from foot surgery. Prayers are appreciated.
Brad McHargue. We hold Brad in our prayers as he continues treatment.
PRAYERS FOR ONGOING HEALTH CONCERNS
Fred and Jean Small. Jim Wilkinson. Ray Hurley. Norman Rider. Dawn Davis' mother. Heidi McLaughlin’s son Christopher. Mary Elizabeth Barwick and Patrick Tillman’s mother, Marian. Helen’s Hoffman’s mother, Laurel Hayes. Helen’s Hoffman’s friend Christina. Katie Lebrato’s friend Shelley. Akil Ramsey. Jay McCracken and Diane Burn’s granddaughter, Ruby. Steve Hoffman. Norm Klos. Ryan Barwick’s friend, Dennis Schumann.
CALENDAR AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Please join us this Sunday for: 9:00am Unprogrammed Worship 9:45am Choir Rehearsal 10:00am Small Group Gatherings Adults: Room 208, Wess Daniels, Director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies at Guilford College, will lead a discussion on Brent Bill’s pamphlet “A Modest Proposal for the Revitalization of the Quaker Message in the United States.” Please view the course website: https://trello.com/b/6d1CEJXF.
Faith Seekers: Youth ages 12 years and older gather in Room 203. Leaders: Ana Huckins and Sheila Hoyer.
Godly Play: Children ages 4-8 (Room 207) and 9-11 (Room 205) will participate in Godly Play. Leaders: Emily Daniels, Allyson English, Kary Gray, Jennie Hunt, Emily Riley, Mary Bryan Stewart, Julie & Patrick Tillman and Kristina Wright.
Nursery Care: Newborn through age 3. Cidney Holliday and Adrian Quarles are our fun and loving childcare team in the nursery. Tuesday, October 2: First Friends Personnel Committee, 6:30pm, Library Financial Peace University, 6:30pm, Room 208
Wednesday, October 3: Peace and Social Concerns, 7pm, Gathering Room
Thursday, October 4, Opening Space for A Third Way Workshop, Gathering Room. The workshop will meet in the Gathering Room at First Friends Meeting on Thursdays 10am-12pm or 6:30pm-8:30pm, Oct. 4, 11, 18, and Nov. 1, 8.
Faith and Practice of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends
Inward Seeking, Outward Acts
The Core of the Quaker tradition is a way of inward seeking which leads to outward acts of integrity and service. Friends are most in the Spirit when they stand at the crossing point of the inward and the outward life. And that is the intersection at which we find community. Community is a place where the connections felt in the heart make themselves known in bonds between people, and where the tuggings and pullings of those bonds keep opening up our hearts.
The Society of Friends can make its greatest contribution to community by continuing to be a religious society - I mean, by centering on the practice of corporate worship which opens itself to continuing revelation. Parker J. Palmer: A place called community, (Pendle Hill pamphlet, no. 212), 1977, p.27.
Living in Solitude and Community
I am convinced that to be a complete Christian is to learn to live both in isolation and community. The group-minded must overcome his fear of solitude by the living practice of the belief that nothing but sin can separate him from God; the solitary must overcome his dread of his fellows by the living practice of the belief that “there is that of God in every one.” Those who know communion with God most easily in isolation do not always realize that the Bread of Heaven on which they feed is given them for others - as at the last Supper, it must be broken and passed on. Those who know communion with God most easily through a group will only find in solitude whether they are depending on him or on their fellowmen. Beatrice Saxon Snell: A joint and visible fellowship, (Pendle Hill pamphlet, no. 140), 1965, p.7.
JOYS AND THANKSGIVINGS
A heartfelt thank you to all who participated in First Friends Peace Festival on Sunday from planning, setup and takedown, donations, vendors, food trucks, attenders, bakers, coordinators, cleanup, musicians, speakers and artists. Just another example of how coming together promotes abundant peace. Thank you again.
We are celebrating Don Durham’s mother, Ruth’s encouraging report from the doctors declaring her in remission. Ruth has appreciated the cards and encouragements from members of First Friends.
