Head of Meeting: Margaret B. On December 4, Stephanie K.

Pastoral Care: If you have concerns about personal issues or questions about membership, Bethesda Friends Meeting, or Quaker faith and practice, please be in touch with today's Friendly Ear (a member of the Pastoral Care Committee, see your email bulletin and the person will be introduced at the end of Worship each Sunday).

The Social Concern for November is A Wider Circle, a local non-profit organization which assists individuals and families moving out of shelters to more stable living situations. The mission of A Wider Circle is to end poverty and their holistic approach integrates on-the-ground services for the creation of stable homes, workforce development, and neighborhood revitalization. Everyone is welcome at A Wider Circle; there are no eligibility or referral requirements. Each year, A Wider Circle furnishes the homes of nearly 4,700 families through donated items, helping to create the stability and dignity that everyone deserves. A Wider Circle also offers career support services.

To donate to this Social Concern, please go to: www.bethesdafriends.org. Be sure to designate that your contribution is for the social concern. You're also welcome to donate to Bethesda Friends Meeting directly to support all Meeting activities via the same methods (online or by check).

Meeting for Worship: Bethesda Friends worship together each Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Friends can participate remotely via Zoom or meet in person at the meeting house on the Sidwell Friends Lower School campus.

Participating in worship via Zoom. Friends wishing to join Meeting for Worship remotely can do so via Zoom.  If you'd like the Zoom link for online worship with our community, please use our "Contact us" form and tell us about your interest in Bethesda Friends. We welcome your joining us.  

NOTICE: For anyone using a Linux Operating System on their computer: Please download this Word document to see a critical upgrade you will need to make if you want to continue using Zoom after November 2, 2022.

In person worship. Friends are invited to gather in person for Meeting for Worship in the meeting house at the Lower School campus. Anyone attending should carefully consider the additional risks of gathering in-person. The rules regarding COVID at the end of this bulletin apply to all of those attending in person. 

Childcare during Meeting for Worship: Under-5 childcare is available again during Meeting for Worship from 10:45 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Two paid childcare providers will supervise play in the childcare room under the meeting room. 

First Day School during Meeting for Worship:  First Day School (FDS) classes for children in Kindergarten through 8th Grade will generally be held on the first and third Sundays of each month. Sign in for FDS begins at 10:50 a.m. Note that on non-FDS Sundays we are currently unable to provide childcare for children over 5 years of age. Older children are welcome and encouraged to join Meeting for Worship.

November Young Friends (YF) Conference A YF Conference will be held Friday November 25 through Sunday November 27 at Annapolis Friends Meeting and registration ends on Tuesday November 22. YF conferences are weekend retreats held at different Quaker Meetinghouses throughout the school year for high school students and recent alumni aged 14 - 18 years. For details and to register please visit this link.

Coordinating Gathering Representatives of most BFM committees will meet Sunday November 27 at 1:00 p.m. to discuss the upcoming Meeting for Business agenda. These meetings are open to all who wish to attend. Please contact us for further information including the Zoom information using the "Contact us" form.

Friends Wilderness Center: Forest Therapy On Sunday, November 27 at 1:30 p.m., the Friends Wilderness Center is hosting a session on Forest Therapy.This Thanksgiving weekend join us on the meadow at Niles Cabin as Jodi Good helps us restore our connection to the natural world. For details, please email center@friendswilderness.org.

Discovery Session: Collective Journey to Address Systemic Racism Rob Peagler and Lucy Duncan of reparationWorks will be holding the fourth and final Discovery Session on November 27 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. for all interested F(f)riends. The purpose of the Discovery process is to get to know Bethesda Friends better to allow Rob and Lucy to make adjustments to the collective journey design to uniquely meet our needs.  During the Discovery conversations, participants will have the opportunity to get to know Rob and Lucy and learn something about their approach and plans for the journey experience. Please contact us for further information including the Zoom information using the "Contact us" form.

Bethesda Friends Meeting’s stay-at-home Mid-Week Worship by e-mail is on Wednesdays, from 8:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. While some of our regulars prefer to simply join in Spirit at the appointed time, others enjoy the brief connection provided by an email at the start and end of worship. At rise of meeting, those on that session's email list who are moved to do so may share experiences by reply-all. Contact Dot L. using the "Contact us" form for more information.

Experiment with Light is a meditative and centering practice based upon Rex Ambler’s book Light to Live By, which describes early Quaker meditative habits and translates them into a highly accessible process of clearness and understanding. There will be a session on Sunday November 27 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Starting at 7:30 p.m., you can follow the prompts at home and write or draw responses you have experienced during those prompts: https://experiment-with-light.org.uk/meditations/. We usually use the meditation on the individual in modern language, full length, 37 minute version. Then around 8:30 p.m., if you would like to worship-share from your meditation experience and want to join in a Zoom gathering, please contact us for the Zoom link using the "Contact us" form.

On Exploring the Roots of Religion. All are invited as the comparative religions study group begins a new year-long course in October - Exploring the Roots of Religion, a lecture series from Great Courses. We meet weekly on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. for a half hour lecture and a half hour discussion. John R Hale Ph.D., Director of Liberal Studies at University of Louisville KY, will explore evidence of religious activity around the world, primarily through the discipline of archeology. In October, after the introductory lecture, we will study Neanderthal burials, the Paleolithic cave art of France and Spain, and rock art in South Africa. Please contact Alex B. for further information including the Zoom information using the "Contact us" form.

Friends Community School Virtual Coffee Hour Friends Community School is a K-8 Quaker progressive school that thoughtfully guides young children through adolescence, instilling compassion, curiosity, and confidence. Located on 17 acres in nearby College Park, FCS offers a diverse and inclusive community, a commitment to educating the whole child, and a curriculum that emphasizes inquiry-based and hands-on learning. If you are interested in considering FCS for your child, join the Middle School Head on Wednesday, November 30, at 10:00 a.m. for a virtual coffee hour. Find event details and registration on the Admissions / Visit FCS page of the school website. 

Caste Book Discussion Group. The Working Group on Racism (WGR) is asking Baltimore Yearly Meeting Friends to read Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, The Lies that Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson. WGR members will host a Caste reading group by Zoom, available to all in the Yearly Meeting, on seven Wednesday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., held every other Wednesday and ending on December 14. Each session will feature readings, together with questions and queries, and opportunity for large-group discussion and small-group sharing. Friends of Color are invited to indicate a preference for an affinity group.  We hope the numbers will make this possible. To register for the discussions please visit this link.

Bethesda Friends Meeting’s stay-at-home Mid-Week Worship by e-mail is on Wednesdays, from 8:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. While some of our regulars prefer to simply join in Spirit at the appointed time, others enjoy the brief connection provided by an email at the start and end of worship. At rise of meeting, those on that session's email list who are moved to do so may share experiences by reply-all. Please contact us for further information using the "Contact us" form.

Toy Drive for A Wider Circle's Holiday Program The Bethesda Friends Meeting’s Religious Education Committee is again sponsoring a Toy Drive for A Wider Circle's Holiday Program. Please join us in donating a toy to help make a child's Christmas more merry! Sign up at this link to donate toys on one of the two pick-up Saturdays, December 3 and December 10. The RE Committee will pick up donated items from homes between 9:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. For ideas for possible gifts to donate, please visit the Wider Circle wish list.

BYM Called Interim Meeting: Toward Connection & Repair of the Harms of Racism Friends will gather on December 3rd to acknowledge and honor the pain of racism experienced by Friends of Color within our Yearly Meeting, to help White Friends see their complicity in that pain, and to take the next steps on the road to repair of our beloved community. The Meeting is for all Quakers who have the courage to face their complicity in the white dominated system of racism. Together we will be uncomfortable and afraid and have the courage to move forward anyway for the sake of humanity and for love of God’s world. The programmed agenda will include silent and spoken worship, music, movement and body practices, deep listening, and the sharing of Testimonies of Complicity. We expect to end on a gathered commitment to next bold steps in living into being an anti-racist faith community. Registration is required for both in-person and Zoom participation. For more details and to register, please visit this link.

Meeting for Business On Sunday, December 4 at 9:00 a.m., Bethesda F(f)riends will consider various business items via Zoom. How the Spirit will lead us in discernment of issues both large and small is part of the mystery that is the Religious Society of Friends. All who come to Meeting for Worship are welcome and encouraged to participate. On the agenda this month are reports from Youth Safety, the auditors, Outreach & Communications, Fellowship & Hospitality, and BYM Interim Meeting. Please contact us for further information including the Zoom link using the "Contact us" form.

COVID-19 Rules for In-Person Meeting for Worship:   

• You must be vaccinated against COVID-19.  
• We recommend that you wear a tight-fitting mask. 
• You must self-screen based on COVID symptoms or exposure.  You may not attend in-person Meeting for Worship if you have a fever, have COVID symptoms, have tested positive for COVID, or have been exposed in the past 10 days to an individual testing positive for, or displaying symptoms of, COVID.

• You must sign in on a simple sign-in sheet.

• You must notify BFM promptly if you have a positive test after attending in person.  BFM will provide notice to others who attended the same meeting of the COVID case (but will not identify the person testing positive).

• Click here for BFM's Covid-19 information and policy.