Dear Friends,
This weekend is a time of food and fellowship as we join with Swannanoa Valley Friends for a potluck picnic on Saturday evening, and then celebrate two important milestones after rise of Meeting on Sunday.
Festivities will begin on Saturday at 5 p.m at the Meetinghouse as we gather with Friends from Swannanoa Valley Meeting for what we hope will be the first of many potluck get-togethers. As usual, Friends are encouraged to bring healthy, home-made offerings, and label the ingredients with a concern for those folks who have food sensitivities.
After rise of Meeting on Sunday, we will have a joint celebration of the recent marriage of Laura Maynard and Doug Lane and the transfer of membership of our now-longtime Friend Edie Patrick. Leftovers are likely but should not be taken for granted.
Also, Friends have the opportunity to contribute to the well-being of those less fortunate in our larger Asheville community in several ways.
First, we have our ongoing Manna Food Bank collection box in the foyer, waiting to be filled with canned goods and other non-perishable food items. Second, Friend Jim C. is collecting bed linens, blankets, and towels to be donated to A-Hope, Asheville’s primary access point for support services for homeless people. And third, Friend Susan O. is helping folks who are transitioning from homelessness to independent living by collecting small appliances, dishes, and tableware. If you have larger items such as furniture to donate, please contact her in advance. All other items can be brought to Meeting – along with your contributions to our weekend festivities!
Best wishes,
Steve
Tags: Celebration, manna food bank, Swannanoa Valley Meeting
Dear Friends,
Coming up at Meeting this week, we will be launching our 2010-2011 adult Spiritual Enrichment program with a brainstorming session during the second hour, after rise of meeting. Just as we did last year, we will review the program offerings of the previous year and offer the committee suggestions for the coming year’s offerings. Please give some thought to your experiences with our last year’s spiritual enrichment program, and to what you would like to see, or be willing to help present, in the coming year.
Our Meeting’s planned daylong retreat with Dan Snyder has been postponed. But we will still have an opportunity to visit with him, along with many other Friends from the Swannanoa Valley Meeting, on 8/28, when our Meeting will be hosting a potluck picnic. Festivities begin at 5 p.m. Please contact Katherine K for more information.
The next day, 8/29, after rise of meeting, we will have a potluck to welcome Edie Patrick as a member of our Meeting. Her transfer from Foxfire was approved at Meeting for Business last week. Hopefully there will be lots of leftovers from the previous evening.
Jim C and Alan R will be collecting towels and bed linens to donate to Homeward Bound, the umbrella organization that seeks to serve the needs of Asheville’s burgeoning homeless population. If you have any extras lurking in your closets, please bring them to meeting, or contact Jim or Alan to arrange pickup.
Also remember that we have a collection box in the foyer for non-perishable food items to be donated to Manna Food Bank. The need is ongoing, and so is our donation drive.
Best wishes, Steve
Tags: manna food bank, new member, retreat, spiritual enrichment, swannanoa valley
Dear Friends,
This Saturday, the 22nd of May, at the Common Light Meeting Place, 137 Center Ave. in Black Mountain, occasional Asheville attender Lena Feldman will celebrate her marriage to Ryan Lane. The ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. All Asheville Friends are invited. A vegetarian pot luck follows immediately. RSVP’s are appreciated, call 828-242-1954 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 828-242-1954 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
On Sunday, following Meeting for Worship, we will have our monthly “Sandwich Sunday” potluck. Friends are asked to be mindful of food sensitivities in our community and avoid peanuts or peanut products and label the ingredients in your offerings.
Shortly after our potluck has adjourned, at 2 p.m., the WNC Chapter of the ACLU will hold their annual membership meeting at the Meetinghouse. The guest speaker will be renowned historian and author Dr. Dan Carter. There will be a brief business meeting of the WNC Chapter, and the 2010 “Evan Mahaney Champion of Civil Liberties Award” will be bestowed upon Asheville Friend Bob Smith, for his tireless efforts as director of the Asheville Buncombe Community Relations Council and his volunteer work promoting the NC Racial Justice Act and the City of Asheville’s Civil Liberties Resolution. The meeting is free and open to the public. Attenders should expect to be invited to join!
The presentation by Turtle McDermott of West Knoxville Friends Meeting on her work with the Alternatives to Violence Project in Rwanda, originally scheduled to take place at the Meetinghouse next Tuesday, the 25th, has been rescheduled for Monday the 24th at 4 p.m., at the home of Kay Parke at Highland Farms in Swannanoa. Call 669-0932 if you are interested in attending.
On Tuesday the 25th, friends are encouraged to attend a fundraiser for Haiti taking place at the Jack of the Woods pub on Patton Ave. downtown, 6 – 10 p.m. There will be live music and a silent auction of Haitian crafts. Admission is $10.
Finally, Friends who are interested in seeing and reading about Friend Ellen Frerotte’s new community in West Virginia can learn more in this article about the cooperative building of her husband Jim’s shop in their new “neighborhood” on Big Creek, near Alderson. Http://westvirginiaville.com/2010/05/building-stuff-with-a-lot-of-help-from-your-friends/
Best wishes, Steve
Tags: ACLU, bob smith, Ellen Frerotte, friend's digest, haiti, marriage
Today’s Topics:
1. this week at Meeting (Steve Livingston)
Dear Friends,
This week after rise of meeting for worship, we will have our usual social time with an emphasis on bidding farewell to our dear Friend Ellen Frerotte, who along with her husband Jim will be moving to West Virginia. Then, during the second hour Adult Spiritual Enrichment, we will have sharing of spiritual journeys with Edie Patrick, our new Friend from Tennessee, and . . . Ellen Frerotte!
Also, Friends who are planning to attend the SAYMA Gathering next month, don’t forget the deadline for registration without paying a late penalty is May 15. That would be this Saturday. Fortunately, you can download the registration form. Just go to sayma.org and click on “what’s new”.
Best wishes,
Steve
Tags: farewell to a Friend, sayma, spiritual enrichment, spiritual journey
Posted by admin on May 2, 2010 in
Meeting News Some months ago, the Meeting received a proposal from the phone company to locate a structure in our front yard. At a subsequent meeting for business, we decided that it was not in our best interest to accept their offer.
One block down Chatham Road, just south of the Meetinghouse, you can now see the structure that we decided not to have in our front yard.
Posted by admin on Apr 30, 2010 in
Meeting Events,
Meeting News Dear Friends,
Coming up on Friday, April 30, Friends will join with members of other faith communities participating in the “Stand Against Racism” events around Asheville with an event celebrating the richness of diversity, at the Meetinghouse, 7-8:30 p.m.
This Sunday, after rise of meeting, we will welcome Dan Snyder, who will lead our Adult Spiritual Enrichment session on the theme of “Inward Activism, Outward Prayer.” How does God’s nonviolent Presence within empower us for nonviolent relationships with self, others, and the larger political world? We are called to lives of faithful witness. How do we transform the noise and confusion of conflicting ideas, competing spiritual practices, and the overwhelming demands of political action into a harmonious integration of spirituality and social activism? Dan will lead us in an exploration of how non-violence can inform our spirituality and activism. Dan will also be joining us for worship, so there will be an opportunity to chat with him during the fellowship period after rise of meeting.
Finally, Friends, don’t forget that next Tuesday is an election day in
Asheville. Be informed, and be involved – know the candidates and cast a vote!
Best Wishes,
Steve
On May 2 after rise of Meeting our Adult Spiritual Enrichment program will be a forum with Dan Snyder, current clerk of Swannanoa Valley Meeting. Dan will lead us in an exploration of how non-violence can inform our spirituality and activism.
For more information, click here.
Posted by admin on Apr 6, 2010 in
Meeting News Do you know an Asheville Friend who is in particular need of visitation, support, or prayers? Our Pastoral Care Committee is there to look after Friends with immediate needs or challenges. There is now a Pastoral Care page on our website. You can access it by clicking here.
Tags: pastoral care
Posted by admin on Mar 12, 2010 in
Meeting Events,
Meeting News,
Our Friends Dear Friends,
This coming first day we will have our monthly meeting for worship
giving attention to the business of our meeting. Clerk Katherine Kowal is out of town, so Adrianne Weir will be sitting in as clerk pro tem.
Please direct your committee reports, action items, and other concerns to her, along with our recording clerk Jen Ward as usual (IE, by the end of the day today – sorry this wasn’t posted yesterday, but i couldn’t access website – ed.)
adryana.services@gmail.com
jennifer.rhode.ward@gmail.com
Minutes of the second month meeting for business are posted on our website at
http://ashevillefriends.org/newsletter/2010/1002.pdf
Our dear Friend Sarah Jane Thomas has suffered a couple of debilitating seizures and is now in Memorial Mission Hospital, room 719. Please contact a member of Pastoral Care Committee for further info on her status and what kind of visitation or contact is appropriate.
Tags: meeting for business, Sarah Jane
Posted by admin on Feb 11, 2010 in
Meeting News,
documents Dear Friends,
Shortly after our 01/2010 meeting for business, the SAYMA Faith and Practice Revision Committee asked our Meeting to review their proposed changes to the “Marriage” section. Given the very short time frame between their request (about two weeks ago) and their next meeting (about two weeks hence), there was not sufficient time for Asheville Friends to engage in a good seasoning process, with an ad hoc committee meeting to determine what recommendations to propose, which could then be reviewed by the Meeting, further seasoned, and finally approved.
Instead, our clerk invited any Friend who felt led to consider the work of the Revision Committee to take a written copy of their proposals and submit their comments to her in advance of the business meeting. Five Friends took up the invitation and two Friends have written responses. The Meeting is being asked to review their recommendations to see if we can unite with them. Whichever of these recommendations we can unite with can then be submitted on behalf of our Meeting. If there are any of these recommendations that a Friend does not feel comfortable with, then those recommendations will not be submitted on behalf of our Meeting.
Our clerk asks that each of us take the time in advance of the business meeting to read over the proposed section as well as the recommendations being submitted, so that the time we have available to spend on this in business meeting can be devoted to discussion and discernment. The two Friends’ recommendations are attached to this email in a single pdf document. The proposed section on marriage can be found at the SAYMA website, at this link:
Marriage section, proposed revisions
Best wishes,
Steve
Tags: faith and practice, marriage, sayma
