Upcoming Local Worshiping Communities Events

Our winter silent retreat at Dayspring awaits us. I hope you can experience the beauty of woods, meadows and ponds. We hope you can share the warmth of the fire at the hearth and in our hearts as we listen for the still small voice. While Annapolis Friends will have priority at this retreat, all Friends and friends of Friends are welcome and encouraged to register. We have always had plenty of room at the Dayspring Inn. For more information or for the registration form, contact Jean Christianson. (410-544-1912 or jschristianson@gmail.com)

This free talk and discussion is sponsored by Bethesda Friends Meeting and will begin at 7pm. In response to #BlackLivesMatter and the murders at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, historian Susan Strasser seeks to serve people grappling with contemporary issues of race and racism by discussing the latest historical scholarship on slavery. Mark Greiner, pastor of the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church, writes: “The lecture so evocatively described our shared history and its ongoing legacies and struggles. Further, you modeled how a white person/scholar can struggle into owned history. You simultaneously “performed” history and solidarity. Sobered, delighted with and inspired by your work.” This is part of a series of illustrated talks, “A White Historian Reads Black History.” Others are about lynching, housing segregation, and voting rights. Dr. Strasser, Richards Professor of American History Emerita at the University of Delaware, is a prize-winning historian of American consumer culture. She has been praised by the New Yorker for “retrieving what history discards: the taken-for-granted minutiae of everyday life.” For more about Susan Strasser, see susanstrasser.net.

People come to communities of faith seeking not just divinity, but the affirmation of humanity through relationship. And herein lies the difficulty. Close relationships are easily thrown off balance in community. Conflict can be an opportunity for greater intimacy, but all too often it drives us apart. This workshop will take seriously the Quaker tenant that we are all ministers. Family Systems Theory will help us to understand relational dynamics in our Quaker communities. In his book, Generation to Generation, Friedman writes to help clergy deal with healthy and unhealthy patterns of human connection in faith communities. Just as families have patterns of relating that lead to health or harm, so too do communities of faith have recognizable patterns. Using our collective experience, we will seek pastoral interventions to alleviate discord. We will reflect upon how our habits of relating help or hinder dynamics of friendship in Quaker community. Please RSVP (admin@quakersdc.org or 202-483-3310) so we can get an accurate count for lunch and so that we can send optional background reading. 9:45am to 2:30pm.

The Working Group on Diversity at Camps has been working in Philadelphia for 6 years to create better access and genuine diversity at Catoctin Quaker Camp. The results have been substantial increases in the number of campers and staff of color and deepening conversation around equity. Now this promising model is expanding to Charlottesville and to all of the BYM camps under its new name, STRIDE (Strengthening Transformative Relationships in Diverse Environments). Come learn more about pre-existing efforts in the area, this new initiative, and how you can be part of exciting plans to increase equity, diversity, and inclusion in the camps, Meetings, & all of BYM! Info Session Offered Sun, Feb 12th –During the Potluck—12:15-1:30 PM at Charlottesville Meeting House. RSVP and Questions: Contact Dyresha Harris at OIC@bym-rsf.org or (301) 774-7663 ext 109

For information, contact Chris Fowler, Clerk of Warrington Quarterly Meeting. (seebeeff@gmail.com)

Please welcome our guests as they arrive to view the film Before the Flood at the Frederick Meeting House on Friday, Feb 24. We'll have popcorn and other light snacks. The film begins at 7. A brief discussion will follow the film, as we lift this concern with our f/Friends. Note that there will be an additional presentation on March 6 in the Bethesda region (see below).

Ever witnessed someone being harassed and wondered “what can I do?” Peace and social justice attorney JE McNeil and Friends Meeting of Washington are providing this free training to help teach you specific, concrete, nonviolent steps to take to protect the targeted person and stop the abuse. The training will start at 2:00pm and end at 5:00. To register, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/friends-bystander-intervention-training-tickets-31537971923.