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Weekly BFM Bulletin & Events

weekly bfm bulletin and events

Week of June 20, 2021

Meeting for Worship & other activities

We worship via Zoom and concurrently under

outdoor tents on Sundays at 11:00 a.m.

For outdoor worship, please register in advance

using this form.

Bethesda Friends has resumed a restricted outdoors meeting for worship

each Sunday at 11:00 a.m.

Please join us at home (via Zoom) or concurrently outdoors under the tents

at Sidwell Friends Lower School in Bethesda, MD.

Outdoor worship requires advance registration.

To register and to see our Covid-19 regulations, please click here.

Scroll down to see our activities for the coming week.

Sunday~June 20, 2021

Sunday,	June 20	9:00	a.m.	Committee Day: Pastoral Care (via Zoom)
		9:15	a.m.	Com. Day: Ministry & Worship; Stewardship (via Zoom)
		11:00	a.m.	Meeting for Worship (via Zoom, some in-person)
		11:00	a.m.	Summer Supervised Playground Activities at BFM Begin
Tuesday,	June 22	6:00	p.m.	Mid-week Meeting for Worship with FMW (via Zoom)
Wednesday,	June 23	6:30	p.m.	FCNL: Talking Through Political Disagreement
		8:00	p.m.	Mid-week Worship (Check in by via e-mail)
Saturday,	June 26			Donations for Comfort Cases Pickup
Sunday,	June 27	9:15	a.m.	Peace & Social Justice Committee (via Zoom)
		11:00	a.m.	Meeting for Worship (via Zoom, some in-person)
		7:30	p.m.	Experiment with Light (via e-mail/phone, Zoom sharing)
June 27 to July	3			Friends General Conference (virtually)
Monday,	June 28	7:00	p.m.	FMW Conversation: Activism & Contemplative Life (via Z.)

Head of Meeting: Eric S.

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) or the Pastoral Care Committee co-clerks (Jane M.C. or David W.)

If you'd like to join us for outdoor Meeting for Worship, you must register here in advance.

Friends participating in this in-person worship must wear a face mask at all times and maintain social distancing. There is a cap on how many can register and attend.

The Social Concerns Box for June is Comfort Cases, a project suggested by the First Day School. Comfort Cases works to “make a difference in the life of a child in foster care” by providing a new backpack with a cozy new pair of pajamas, a stuffed animal to hug, a blanket, a toothbrush and other personal care items, as well as a new duffel bag to each child who is entering the foster care system (so they don’t have to bring their belongings in a trash bag). For details: https://www.comfortcases.org/, Isabel and Oliver (via Melissa M. in the Directory). Please see below for ways to donate items (in addition to money) on Saturdays June 19 and 26.

To donate online to this Social Concern, you can go to: https://www.bethesdafriends.org/Donate-Online-Now. Be sure to designate that your contribution is for the social concern. You can also send a check, made payable to Bethesda Friends Meeting, to Assistant Treasurer, 3050 Military Rd, NW, Washington, DC 20015. You can write the designation on the memo line.

11:00 - 12:00 on Sunday Meeting for Worship. Bethesda Friends worship together simultaneously in two venues. Friends can (a) participate by videoconference using Zoom, or (b) join a physically distanced group outside under a large tent on the Sidwell Friends Lower School campus. (Advance registration is required.) Friends can also worship in other settings or individually at home, knowing that others are sharing in worship.

Friends joining via Zoom are invited to log in at 10:45 to chat before settling into silence around 10:55 a.m. There is also an informal chat time at the Rise of Meeting at about 12:15.

See the most recent email Bulletin for access information and a current Zoom link.
Visitors: If you'd like to 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 via Zoom and also on the BFM list-serve. If you have trouble joining the list-serve, please use our "Contact us" form. It has been a real joy to see so many people, including out-of-town Friends, joining us each week.

Opportunity to worship outside. Friends have the option to worship together outside under a large, open-sided tent at the Sidwell Friends Lower School. Friends must wear a face mask at all times and maintain social distancing. If you would like to participate in person, you must register in advance at this link.

Summer Playground Supervision Begins on Sunday, June 20. Beginning Sunday, June 20, summer playground supervision will be available for children ages 3 years and up during outdoor Meeting for Worship on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. Two paid childcare providers will supervise play at the upper playground. They will have some games and the playground will be open. The playground supervisors will bring the children back to the tent at the close of Meeting for Worship. If interested, please sign up using the form on the website at this link. Please read all the guidelines and protocols listed on the signup form.

6:00-7:00 p.m. on Tuesdays Friends Meeting of Washington Mid-Week Meeting for Worship. To join via Zoom, please see information at http://quakersdc.org/

FCNL Discussion on Talking Through Political Disagreement: Is It Even Worth It? Does talking to people who don’t agree with you feel like an exercise in futility? During FCNL’s June Quaker Changemaker event, on Wednesday, June 23, at 6:30 p.m., FCNL speakers, Karen Tibbals and Val Liveoak, discuss the value of engaging with differing views and present some techniques to have those conversations faithfully and effectively. They will showcase new skills for communicating across political divides, seeing that of God in people we disagree with, and building relationships to make change in Congress and in our communities. Register at: https://www.fcnl.org/events/talking-through-political-disagreement-it-even-worth-it

8:00-8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays BFM Mid-Week Meeting for Worship. Held virtually (with email) each week. While some of our regulars prefer to simply join in Spirit at the appointed time, others are enjoying the brief connection provided by an email at 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 using reply-all. Contact Dot L. (see Directory) for more information.

More events and into the future

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, June 27, 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 we offer a Zoom gathering. Please use our "Contact us" form

Friends General Conference (FGC) Gathering. The FGC Gathering this year will be virtual from June 27 to July 3. The theme is “Way Will Open.” The Gathering is a chance to be “together” with over 1,200 Friends. There are many opportunities to address spirit, mind, and body. Look up the program at: www.FGCGathering.org

FMW Conversation on Activism & Contemplative Life. On Monday, June 28, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. via Zoom, Friends Meeting of Washington invites us to reflect on our Quaker experience of contemplation and action. How do the two complement each other? How do Quaker communities nurture activism and lift up the journeys of those who participate in activism? Six activist Friends will have a conversation about this. The conversationalists are Tronette Anochie, Barbara Briggs, Steve Chase, Rashid Darden, Zephyr Williams, and Tom Yonker. Gene Throwe will facilitate the conversation. It is hosted by FMW’s Pastoral Care Working Group. For details: Sabrina McCarthy, sabrina.mccarthy@verizon.net, 240-778-5234. Please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrf-yqqDgsE9PvhpCFvo-xNw6BLI683IIN

BFM Bulletins Will Come From a New Source Beginning June 27. As of the next weekly bulletin, there will be a change in the way you receive the weekly bulletin from Bethesda Friends Meeting. This is because, as of the bulletin for June 27, it is being sent via the webmail program associated with the Bethesda Friends website. Please let us know what you think (or if you are not getting it!) by sending an email to bethesdafm@igc.org

BYM Camping Program. One of the most popular programs of Baltimore Yearly Meeting is the camping program at Catoctin, Opequon, Shiloh, and Teen Adventure Quaker Camps. Kids have a wonderful time in the natural world and getting to know one another. Enrollment for Baltimore Yearly Meeting camping programs began on Friday, January 15. The camps are residential for children ages 9 to 17. Anyone may apply online (please do!). Spaces are available first come, first serve. Please register as soon as you can if you need a particular session. For details: Brian Massey (301-774-7663, brianmassey@bym-rsf.org) Our Meeting would like to support our children going to camp to the extent of $500 each, on a first come first served basis. When you apply, please contact the co-clerk of Pastoral Care, David W. (see Directory). Parents may also offset tuition by volunteering at one of the camps during the summer. For details about Quaker camps, see http://quakersdc.org/node/912

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.

Bethesda Friends Meeting

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 30152, Bethesda MD 20824

Our Meetinghouse is on the campus of the Sidwell Friends Lower School at the intersection of Edgemoor Lane and Beverly Road in Bethesda, Maryland

We are a member organization of the Religious Society of Friends

www.bethesdafriends.org
301-986-8681
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