Weekly Announcements as of 01.29.2023

Weekly Announcements

Reminder:

If you know of an event that you would like to see in the Weekly Announcements, please send the information to communications@annapolisfriends.org.

Coming Up:

The list of events below can also be viewed on the AFM website’s homepage or on the AFM Calendar.

Note: Titles link to the AFM Calendar for greater detail and the word Zoom contains the link to the online meeting. 

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Uphold Ukraine Daily

Friends House Moscow supporters in the U.S.A. are running an international online Meeting for Worship, to join other Friends holding in the Light all the people affected by the current crisis in Ukraine.

This meeting will run EVERY DAY. The start time depends on your time zone. It starts at 9:00 am PDT (12:00 pm EDT).

Click on THIS LINK, which is the Friends House Moscow Cloud Meeting. This link was revised as of 04.10.2022. Or use Meeting ID: 416 500 5614; Passcode: 182805

Contact Ann R. at ministry@annapolisfriends.org for more information.

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Quakers in Kyiv Sunday MfW

The Quakers in Kyiv meet on Sundays at 1:00 pm EDT in silence. For Zoom information, go to their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/QuakersKyivUkraine/. 

On Zoom: Meeting ID: 852 8396 7313; Passcode: 2022

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Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business

Please participate in the February 5 Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business at 9:00 am. This is an opportunity to practice several of our testimonies as we carry out the practical work of maintaining our faith community. We seek to be Spirit-led in our work, with as much efficiency as possible, achieving a sense of what Friends call “right order.” This will be a blended meeting where there will be participants in person at the meetinghouse and on Zoom.

For more information, contact Karen C. at clerk@annapolisfriends.org.

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Potluck – Social Time

Following the Meeting for Worship (MfW) on February 5 (Sunday) about 12:15 pm, there will be an occasion for everyone to have an opportunity to socialize. There will be both an in-person Potluck and a virtual potluck. Please get or bring some food (or not! There will be plenty of food) and join us for either a virtual or an in-person potluck.  The Zoom link for 11:00 am Worship will stay open for this informal gathering. 

For more information, contact email  info@annapolisfriends.org.

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Children’s Religious Education (First Day School) & Nursery Care

The Children’s Religious Education Committee offers First Day School (FDS), also known as Sunday School, from 11:00 am until 11:50 am in person each Sunday during the 11 am Meeting for Worship. In addition, there is Nursery Care, as needed. To line-up nursery care, please email children@annapolisfriends.org.

Volunteers are needed for both First Day School and for Nursery Care. Please go to the Sign-Up Sheets in the Members and Attenders section (Want to Help?) of the AFM Website to sign up!!

Teacher Sign-Up Sheet

Nursery Care Sign-Up Sheet

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Chesapeake Quarterly Meeting

AFM is part of the Chesapeake Quarterly Meeting (CQM) and our representatives at the quarterly meeting are Canby Robertson, Phil Caroom, Molly Finch, and Barbara Thomas. The next CQM will be held at Gunpowder Friends Meeting in Sparks, MD on Sunday, February 12. The focus for the February meeting will be to look at Maryland legislation as the General Assembly will be in session. We will hear from Quaker Voice of Maryland (QVM) and the Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform (MAJR). 

Contact Canby R. at info@annapolisfriends.org for more information.

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Dayspring Silent Retreat 

On February 24 to 26, 2023, the Dayspring Silent Retreat will take place.  Dayspring’s website, dayspringretreat.org, offers a glimpse of the nourishing retreat setting with its natural beauty, precious solitude, as well as the spiritual companionship that awaits us. 

The fee for the weekend will be $250 with a check payable to Dayspring Retreat Center and mail to Jean Christianson, 189 Edgewater Rd., Pasadena, MD.  Maximum retreat capacity is 18 (or fewer, depending on COVID protocol).  A check (full amount or deposit) will guarantee your spot or place you on the waiting list. Registration deadline is Friday, February 17, 2023.  Checks will be deposited after the retreat. Annapolis Friends are encouraged to apply for scholarship assistance through AFM Stewardship and Finance Committee’s adult scholarship fund, if financial help is needed.

Contact Jean C. by email jschristianson@gmail.com or call/text at 410-908-1912 if you have questions.

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The AFM Library – Monthly Queries

February is soon upon us!

The library committee is providing us with Monthly Queries and suggested books related to the queries. 

For the 2nd Month (February), the theme is Meeting for Worship with attention to Business and how Quakers make decisions. On the Monthly Query shelf in the Library there will be a selection of books related to them and the queries for the month will be posted next to the shelf, including a few Pendle Hill pamphlets, which are more concise, quick reads that have easier explanations. 

There will be books on Quakerism that include information on Quaker decision making. One book that is very detailed on the subject has information dating from 1647 to 1996 called Beyond Majority Rule written by Micahel J. Sheren. In the book, Sheren explains in a single sentence how Quaker decision making is different from majority rule: “The final result is not a compromise of conflicting views, but a synthesis of the best thoughts of all.” This is an interesting Win-Win attitude instead of a Win-Lose attitude. 

Enjoy checking out your library for these and other fascinating printed materials. 

The February Queries from Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) Faith and Practice 1988 with changes through 2021:

Are meetings for business held in a spirit of worship, understanding and forbearance? 

When direction seems lacking, is this seen as a challenge to a more prayerful search for truth? 

Do we humbly set aside our own preconceived notions as to proper action, seeking instead Divine guidance as to the right course? 

Is the Meeting aware that it speaks not only through its actions but also through its failure to act?

Do you participate regularly in meetings for business, discharge faithfully your committee responsibilities, and assume your share of financial support of the Meeting?

Available books: Practicing Discernment Together, Mind the Oneness, A Study Guide to the Religious Society of Friends, Beyond Majority Rule, Quaker Business Meeting. Pendle Hill Pamphlets: #s 307 and 365

Contact Martha L. or Nan E. at library@annapolisfriends.org for more information.

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Communications

Do you appreciate electronics and sharing information with others? Great! There are many opportunities to support the AFM community. The Communications Committee oversees the AFM website, the Weekly Announcements Email, Zoom, Owl and other ways of providing for blended worship meetings and information sharing.  Although you could join the Communications Committee and would be welcomed, it is not necessary. There are “second circle” opportunities, too, such as submitting news posts for the website or writing blurbs for the Weekly Announcements Email. Perhaps you’ve wondered about the Owl (audio visual device) that we use to make blended (Zoom + in-person) meetings happen. You can certainly help out and there are lessons available. There are at least 10 slots to fill each month for Zoom hosts and Owl operators. It would be great to have a few more folks helping with these tasks. All are welcome.

Contact Ellen M. or Wes J. at communications@annapolisfriends.org.

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Wednesday Meditation Group

Starting at 7 pm every Wednesday, the Meditation Group will meet on Zoom and we will sit silently for the first 40-minutes followed by a book discussion based on a selected book.

For more information, contact Patty R. at info@annapolisfriends.org.

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5th Night Light – Every Thursday evening

From 7:00 pm until 8:00 pm every Thursday, the AFM community engages in a spiritual practice that acknowledges the Light of God within each person and that to be in community is to actively care for one another. During that time, Friends hold people and situations who need additional spiritual support in the Light. Friends will pause wherever they may be, read the list of names, and hold each person or situation in our hearts and in the Light. On Wednesday, the list of names or situations are sent out to the AFM-Announce list.

For more information, contact Pastoral Care at pastoral-care@annapolisfriends.org.

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Collection Bench at the end of the hall near the Nursery

JARS: If you have jars that you can contribute to the Quaker Spring Market that will be held on May 6th, please bring them to the meetinghouse to the Collection Bench area, especially the 1-cup 1.5-cup, 2-cup, 3-cup, and 4-cup.  Many thanks!!  

Contact Cairn K. at market@annapolisfriends.org for more information.

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Winter Relief – Evening Chaperones Needed 

AFM annually supports the “Winter Relief” effort with Magothy United Methodist Church (UMC) in Pasadena. There are people who need assistance in the coldest months and we will be helping folks that need  temporary housing in the multi-purpose room at the UMC church. Volunteers are needed to chaperone during the evenings of Monday (3/20) through the morning of Monday (3/27). The “chaperone” will stay in the shelter with the homeless on shifts. Each night (7 pm to midnight) and early morning (midnight – 6 am). If you would like to volunteer to contribute food (more entrees and desserts are needed) or chaperone, please email Phil C. and let him know your preferred dates, as well as what you are willing to do.

Contact Phil C. at pcaroom@gmail.com for more information.

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Paths for Peace

Would you like to have better means of expressing yourself in a peace-promoting way? The Paths for Peace group is a friendly Quaker-affiliated group that gathers weekly on Zoom to explore various facets of positive communication. The group, a practice group with Geneva and Brighton Ffriends, includes people with experience in Alternatives to Violence (AVP) and Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and is guided by the Quaker Testimonies of integrity ‘speaking Truth’ and pacifism ‘taking away the seeds of war’.  Meetings are a mixture of discussion and practice, drawing lessons from these and other sources and applying them to the situations life is throwing in our direction, both personally and as a world. 

 We meet every Friday from 12:00- 13.30 EST, 17:00-18.30 GMT, 18:00-19:30 CET.

 Contact Kate Mackrell (katemackrell@mac.com) or Rosie Nazareth (rorie.nazareth@outlook.com) for more information.

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Meetings for Worship

There are two options for Sunday worship with Annapolis Friends Meeting:

  1.     Weekly at 8:00 am. This Meeting for Worship is in person (no technology) and held outdoors in good weather. Masks and social distancing are optional inside the meetinghouse.
  2.     Weekly at 11:00 am. This Meeting for Worship can be attended in person at the Meetinghouse, or remotely on Zoom (Phone: 301-715-8592, Meeting ID: 650 269 455, Passcode: 241727). Nursery care is available; please email us at children@annapolisfriends.org if you would like to bring your child/children to our nursery. First Day School (a.k.a., Sunday School) is available for school age children in person.

Other options that you can attend for Meetings for Worship include: 1) a gathering in spirit only, physically apart and without technology, in communion with friends at the Meeting House at 8:00 a.m. This option was created to link Friends in worship in the early days of the pandemic, and often Friends are at their own homes.  2) In North County, on the 1st Tuesday of each month, at 7 pm (please see North County Meeting on the calendar). 

For more information, send an email to info@annapolisfriends.org.

For additional information about Annapolis Friends Meeting go to the homepage or for events click here for the calendar.