Sunday~December 5, 2021 -- Also see our Events listing

Saturday, Dec 4 9:30-3:00  Holiday Toy Drive pick-up 4:00 p.m. Mission: Joy movie discussion Sunday, Dec 5 9:00 a.m. Meeting for Business 11:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship Tuesday, Dec 7 7:00 p.m. Comparative Religions: Religions of the Axial Age Wednesday, Dec 8 8:00 p.m. Mid-week Worship (Check in via e-mail) Saturday, Dec 11  9:30-3:00  Holiday Toy Drive pick-up 10:00 a.m.  BYM: Called Interim Meeting 1:30 p.m. Quaker Book Group Sunday, Dec 12 9:30 a.m. Exploring & Deepening Our Quaker Faith & Practice 11:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship 1:00 p.m. Library Committee 7:30 p.m.  Experiment with Light (via e-mail/phone, Zoom Sharing)

Join our discussion of the movie Mission: Joy (Finding Happiness in Troubled Times) on Saturday, December 4, 2021, at 4:00 p.m.  See the email bulletin for the Zoom link or use our Contact Us form.  For questions, please contact Dian J. or Marion H.

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11:00 - 12:10 on Sunday  Meeting for Worship.  Bethesda Friends worship together simultaneously in two venues.  Friends can (a) participate by Zoom, or (b) join us indoors in the Meeting House on the Sidwell Friends Lower School campus. 

In both venues you can arrive at 10:45 to chat informally before settling into silence at 11:00 a.m. There is also an informal chat time on Zoom at the end of Meeting (about 12:15).  

• Worship in person. Friends can worship together indoors if they are vaccinated and have no Covid symptoms or known exposure. Worship will by hybrid, with a laptop connection to hear and see Friends who are on Zoom. Friends must be vaccinated, wear a mask, and maintain social distancing, as well as several other rules to keep us all safe. Click here for details. Visitors are welcome. 

• Worship via Zoom. Friends can worship with us remotely via Zoom. See the most recent email Bulletin for Zoom access information. 

Visitors: 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.   

• At noon we will share joys and sorrows, and we welcome visitors to introduce themselves.  
• At 12:15, you can stay on the Zoom link for an informal chat time. Please join us!

Indoor Childcare (infants-pre-K) is back in session

Childcare is available for children ages six months through five years during Meeting for Worship on Sundays from 10:45am - 12:20pm. Two paid childcare providers will supervise play in the childcare room under the meeting room. Children two years and older will need to wear a mask while on campus. Allergy-free snacks are available or parents may provide a snack for their child. 

First Day School (FDS) K-8th grade will be following Sidwell Friends School's vaccine guidelines that require vaccines for children ages 5 and up by early February.  FDS classes will begin on Sunday, February 6, 2022, at 11:15 a.m. for fully vaccinated children and teachers.

In the interim, the Religious Education Committee plans a holiday zoom meeting for families and children on December 19th at 12:15, using the worship Zoom link. 

Join the RE committee in this year's Toy Drive:

The Bethesda Friends Meeting’s Religious Education Committee is again sponsoring a toy drive for A Wider Circle's Holiday Program. All members of the Bethesda Friends community are invited to participate. Please join us in donating a toy to help make a child's Christmas more merry!

 Here's how:

1. Purchase a toy (or toys) of your choice. AWC asks only that it be nonviolent, and if it is a doll, it be brown in skin tone. Here is their Amazon wish list but you don't need to buy from Amazon, and books are also welcome.

2. Let Laura Lee F. know that you will be participating (see your Directory).

3. Sign up for one of the two pick-up Saturdays, 12/4 and 12/11 using this signup genius link

 4. On your appointed Saturday, make sure that the toy is outside and unwrapped for the "driving elves” (aka volunteers) to see clearly.

5. Once our elves have collected all of the toys, they will bring them to A Wider Circle to be added to their North Pole.

Meeting for Business

On Sunday, December 5, at 9:00 a.m. BethesdaF(f)riends will consider various business items at its Zoom Meeting for Business.  All who come to Meeting for Worship are welcome and encouraged to participate in our worship. Meeting for Business will include reports from Youth Safety, Library, Outreach &Communications, Fellowship & Hospitality, and BYM Interim Meeting. For more details: Jillaine S. or Jabez M. See your email bulletin for the Zoom link.

Comparative Religions Class

Tuesdays, at 7:00 p.m.: The Comparative Religions class will finish Hinduism with a lecture on the Bhagavad-Gita on Dec. 7, Using the Great Courses series: Religions of the Axial Age, we meet once a week by Zoom (except some holiday weeks) for a half-hour lecture with an additional half-hour discussion. A group of 8 to 10 has been meeting, and we greatly enjoy the fellowship as much as the lessons. You are welcome to join anytime. For more details, contact Alex B. or see your email bulletin.

Bethesda Friends Meeting’s stay-at-home Mid-Week Worship by e-mail on Wednesdays, from 8:00 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 Lin (see Directory) for more information.

The Quaker Book Group

We meet on December 11 (monthly), via Zoom from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. Newcomers are always welcome, even if you have not read the book. We read a mix of books by Quakers, books about Quakerism, and books that speak to Quaker values and concerns. To join the group, please use our Contact Us form. 

Exploring and Deepening Our Quaker Faith & Practice

Ministry & Worship is hosting an hour long discussion of Quaker faith and practice on the second Sunday of the month.  The next session is on Sunday, December 12, at 9:30 a.m., via Zoom. We will watch a short video from Quaker Speak, on the topic of Quaker testimonies. It is entitled “What are the Quaker SPICES?” Then we will share our responses to it. To join the group, please use our Contact Us form. Everyone is welcome. 

Experiment with Light

How do we quiet our brains enough to hear the still, small voice within us?  How might we deepen our experience of Meeting for Worship? 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. Starting at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 12th, you can follow the prompts at home and write or draw responses you have experienced during those prompts. 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 do. To join the group, please use our Contact Us form. 

MORE EVENTS AND INTO THE FUTURE Also see our Events calendar. Please send all items for next week’s bulletin to Melaura Homan-Smith at bulletin@bethesdafriends.org. Items must by in by 6:30 pm on Thursdays to insure inclusion. Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Bulletins are also available on our web site: https://www.bethesdafriends.org/weekly-bulletin-events

A Recommended Resource for Understanding Diversity and Inequity in Washington DC. Following up on the discussion at Meeting for Business, here is the link to an important opening to understanding the relationship of Bethesda/NW DC to issues of diversity and inequity.