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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Clerk’s Report 
Business 
-Marriage & Family Relations: Bristol McGrath wedding
-Apartheid Free Communities
-Membership Committee
-Nominating Committee
-Hospitality
-Upcoming Committee Reports
ADDENDA
-Proposed Minute in Support of AFSC-led Apartheid-free Communities
-FMW Hospitality Committee Report, October 2024
 

Friends Meeting of Washington Order of Worship
Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business
(Monthly Community Meeting)
October 13, 2024

In Person Attenders: 36 
Online Attenders: 4
New Attenders: Kenneth Palmer

Query for Worship Sharing:  Where do we find refreshment and hope?

Clerk’s Report, October 2024

Welcome baby Olmo Rengifo Mitjans, child of Alfonso Rengifo Cavestany and Alexandra Mitjans Alzamora.

Upcoming Events

Palestine: Voices from the West Bank, Stories of Nonviolent Resistance & Protection,Assembly Room & online, Wed, Oct16, 7:00 pm.  FMW’s Peace & Social Concerns and Nonviolence International host Palestinian peace advocate Amira Musallam and Mel Duncan, co-founder of Nonviolent Peace Force.  Please join us.  Flyer.  Register here for Zoom. Contact: Steve Chase (SteveChase338@gmail.com) 

Is that my Light shining or my ego?” Quaker House Living Room Oct 20, 12:15
Anti-Racism Spiritual Friendships hosts Garrett Bucks for a participatory discussion of Whiteness, connection, fear, antiracism, lovability and the stories that propel, delay and divide us. Garrett is author of “The Right Kind of White” and founder of The Barnraisers Project, which has trained nearly 1000 people to organize majority-White communities for racial and social justice.  Contact: Robin Appleberry (rappleberry@aya.yale.edu)

Committee Fair, Assembly Room, Sunday, Sunday, October 20 at Rise of Meeting
What are you good at?  What do you love to do? There’s an FMW Committee that needs your skills and talents. FMW committees will be at tables in the Assembly room ready to talk about their work and projects, and how you could fit in.  For more info, contact Nominating Committee clerk Michael Beer (MikeBeerDC@gmail.com)  

FMW Community Highlights & Kudos

• Many new attenders came to Meeting following FMW participation in the Unity Walk Sept 8
• Support for democracy/election protection postcards.  Thank you friend J.E.!
• New Weekly Announcements Format is under construction.  Constructive feedback invited!
• FMW featured in WIN’s latest update (with great px!)

Tenant Updates- Activities at our Meeting House

• Rentals manager Brian Lutenegger made a superb presentation to September’s Meeting for Business.  Upshot:  Our Meeting is well used–and ours to shape.  Slides. 
• September Rentals report.
• DC Minyan began celebration of the Jewish high holidays at FMW, beginning with Rosh Hashanah last week and then Yom Kippur this weekend. They will return for Sukkot next week.
• The Institute for Policy Studies held their annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards at FMW last week. Several FMW members attended.
• Long term tenant Second Story Cards is moving out at the end of October due to a family move across the country and will be missed.

Business

Marriage & Family Relations - Martha Solt

Second Presentation of Bristol McGrath Wedding

The Wedding is planned for May 31st, 2025. The oversight committee will consist of:

• Bill Strein
• Martha Solt
• Walker Bristol
• Michael Speer
• Mackenzie Thomas

Friends Approved.

Apartheid Free Communities – Kristin Clark and Steve Chase

For approval.  This was discussed in September.  Informational “threshing” session held on October 8.

One friend thanked Steve and Kristen for their proposal, but noted their unease with it and their thought that the minute does not go far enough. They described the suffering of Gazans and their deep disappointment with our faith and with the meeting’s lack of response to Israel’s genocide of Gazans.

One friend noted that the prior friend spoke their mind.

One friend, who noted their support for the prior friends and the current resolution, raised the meeting’s lack of attention to other genocides outside of Israel/Palestine. They contrasted individual vs. state violence, and described the evils of anonymized and in-person violence.

One friend noted they would volunteer to help craft a minute focused on the prior friend’s message.

One friend suggested we add an item of business to craft a minute focusing on ending genocide.

One friend noted the inclusion of the phrase settler/colonialism, and noted that some jewish peoples feel that they are indigenous to Israel/Palestine and how that is different from prototypical use of the settler/colonialism phrase.

Kristen noted that is important to emphasize that all humans have equal worth, and that a large purpose of the anti-apartheid minute was to return to that baseline moral value.

The clerk asked meeting for business if the meeting was in support of the apartheid free communities pledge.

Friends approved.

The clerk asked meeting for business if there were any proposed amendments to FMW’s proposed minute.

One friend suggested adding the sentence: “Such apartheid has resulted in genocide backed by monies from the US, and our testimony of peace and equality calls out to us.”

Steve Chase noted that P&SC did not not oppose the inclusion of the first clause of the suggested amendment sentence, but that Quaker testimonies have already been included.

One friend suggested that the minute be approved as is and could be amended later.

One friend suggested that work on an additional minute against more generalized genocide could be crafted, and also suggested the creation of a working group for those who would like to take additional action.

One friend noted that they were not in unity with passing the minute until it directly references genocide. They asked Friends to have the courage to acknowledge the genocide of Gazans.

One friend asked P&SC to craft a letter to the US Secretary of State regarding their statement that no crime against humanity had been perpetrated by Israel.

One friend suggested that the minute be focused on denouncing the US government rather than the Israeli government.

One friend suggested we first announce our signing on to the Apartheid Free Communities Pledge, and then later announce our own minute.

One friend suggested the amendment: “This apartheid has resulted in genocide backed by monies and military support from the U.S. government. 

The clerk of P&SC noted their support for the amendment and that there are no shortage of actions we could take.

One friend noted that they did not support the amendment as proposed.

The clerk proposed that the meeting enter a period of silent worship.

The clerk noted that the meeting was not currently in unity regarding the proposed minute, and proposed that the proposed minute go back to P&SC for further edits based on the meeting’s discussion. The clerk suggested a meeting prior to next month’s Meeting for Business to aid in the speed of passing.

Steve Chase suggested accepting the minute as is and using the next month to collect further input, and noted that for them it was most important that the meeting minute its support for the Apartheid Free Communities Pledge.

One friend noted that the language of the proposed amendment was too passive.

One friend noted that they were not in unity but would stand aside. They suggested adding a period after, “Friends Meeting of Washington declares ourselves an Apartheid-Free Community”.

One member of P&SC noted they were not understanding of our meeting’s hesitation regarding this matter, but noted that they would stand aside.

The clerk of P&SC noted that they were willing to act fast on this issue.

One friend noted that they did not feel heard in this matter.

The clerk noted that the meeting was in unity regarding the apartheid free pledge.

One friend noted the weaponization of quaker process, and that the slowing of quaker process was driving people away. They noted their lack of unity with the proposed amendment and raised that the specific focus on state violence and monies was not broad enough, and that we should instead note our strong opposition to genocide regardless of its source.

One friend noted that Quakers were still riding the wave of being abolitionists before it was popular or safe and of being anti-war. They noted that we do not do a good enough job at removing the causes of war and of racism. They raised that we consider not what God would have us say, but what God would have us do, individually and together. They noted they were happy to ‘fail-forward’ with the process, and hoped that we would take actions other than posting an unlikely to be viewed minute.

The meeting approved the proposed minute as written, along with an expectation that the minute would undergo further edits to accommodate those who stood aside. Five friends stood aside.

One member of P&SC noted that all were welcome at P&SC meetings to provide their input and efforts.

Membership Committee – Rebecca Nelson  

Transfer of Diane Randall and Roger Catlin  -Friends joyfully accepted the transfer.
 

Nominating Committee – Michael Beer

Committee Fair

Religious Education – Tom Yonker (co-clerk) -Friends approved with gratitude.

Religious Education – Emma Preston (co-clerk) -Friends approved with gratitude.

AFSC Liaison–Steve Chase      -Friends approved.

Beth Cogswell - Resignation from Membership.   -Friends accepted.

One friend asked how many individuals were left on the membership committee.

The clerk of membership noted that the committee was well supported but would appreciate an additional member.

BYM report –   Elaine

This report will be held over until November.

Hospitality –     Greg Robb

Greg raised that additional food would be welcome and that additional help for cleaning up after meeting for worship was needed, and that existing committee members were strained. Greg noted the committee’s focus on community building. Greg also praised the work of committee members, outgoing-member Candy Miller in particular.

Raymond Patch, a member of the Welcoming group, noted how friendly the FMW community was, and how inspiring it was to see the quantity of new attenders at FMW. They noted the importance of welcoming new attenders and introducing them to others. They suggested additional ways of following up with new attenders and providing new attenders a welcoming space and an opportunity to ask questions about Quakerism.

Greg noted additional events that Hospitality would be working on.

One friend noted the current lack of a guest book at FMW, and how important postcards for new attenders (using information from the guestbook) was in the past.

Friends accepted the report with gratitude.

Friends approved the minutes at 2:24 PM.
Friends entered silent worship.
Meeting for Business concluded at 2:26 PM.             

Upcoming Committee Reports: 

November: Trustees (including audit report), Search, State of the Staff Report, Report on BYM Interim Meeting, YAFs, Peace and Social Concerns, Ministry and Worship
December: Nominating, Marriage & Family Relations, Annual Reports of Liaisons w/AFSC and FCNL
January: Membership, Library Records & Handbook, P&SC (held from Oct)

# # # # #

ADDENDA: ATTACHED COMMITTEE REPORTS

Proposed minute in support of the AFSC-led Apartheid Free Communities Pledge and Network, Brought by  FMW’s Committee on Peace & Social Concerns

Agreed to at FMW Meeting for Business  October 13, 2024

In light of our previous minutes supporting peace and justice in Israel/Palestine, and our specific commitment to “actively support an end to Israel’s occupation and support equal protections and rights for all people living under Israeli control and to commit to actions as meetings/churches until this reality is realized,” Friends Meeting of Washington declares ourselves an Apartheid-Free Community and pledges to join others in the interfaith Apartheid-Free Communities network convened by the American Friends Service Committee to end all support to Israel’s US-backed Apartheid regime so we can fulfill our commitment to seek a future of peace, justice, and equality for ALL in Israel/Palestine.

FRIENDS MEETING OF WASHINGTON’S PEACE & SOCIAL CONCERNS COMMITTEE PROPOSAL TO FMW’s SEPTEMBER MEETING FOR BUSINESS
On Signing on to the Apartheid Free Communities Pledge
and Joining the Interfaith Action Network That Supports It

Background Information:

While the world continues to watch in horror and grief at the war crimes and atrocities that both Hamas and the State of Israel have directed against civilians since last October 7, multiple Quaker organizations around the world have called for a permanent ceasefire and bold efforts toward a just and lasting peace in Israel/Palestine—envisioning a future that ensures mutual security, equality, and human rights for all who live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Friends Meeting of Washington has endorsed these joint Quaker statements and advocated ending the US-backed Israeli policies towards the Palestinians that the international human rights community and the International Criminal Court have found to constitute apartheid, a crime against humanity under international law.

At FMW’s July 2024 Meeting for Business, our spiritual community specifically agreed to “organize and participate in teach-ins, actions, and protests until a ceasefire and a just and lasting peace are realized,” as well as to “actively support an end to Israel’s occupation and support equal protections and rights for all people living under Israeli control and to commit to actions as meetings/churches until this reality is realized.” During her talk at FMW in June, Joyce Ajlouny, General Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, offered many ideas and AFSC resources that could help us take such actions. She specifically asked FMW, and other area Quaker Meetings, to join the interfaith Apartheid-Free Communities network that AFSC coordinates.

FMW’s Committee on Peace and Social Concerns has researched this interfaith coalition and found valuable educational resources and action ideas in its membership listserv, monthly newsletters, quarterly Zoom calls, and face-to-face annual conferences (the next to be held in DC in December 2024). We can also attest that this growing nonviolent, interfaith movement is spiritually consistent with the long-standing peace and justice testimonies that are core to our Quaker faith, and with Quakers’ significant and long-standing interfaith work to oppose war, slavery, oppression, and human rights abuses.

Here is how this new network describes their analysis and initiative:

We came together in 2022 as an interdenominational coalition of faith groups in North America following the emerging consensus among the international human rights community that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people amounts to the Crime of Apartheid.

We ask ourselves and our communities to take a renewed public pledge against all forms of racism, bigotry, and oppression, including against racist discrimination, Islamophobia, antisemitism, and xenophobia in our own communities. We seek to educate ourselves and our communities about the devastation of Palestinian lives under military occupation, settler colonialism, and apartheid, and about the connections between settler colonialism, racist oppression, and the cult of security in Palestine/Israel and in North America.

Inspired by the anti-Apartheid movement that toppled the Apartheid regime in South Africa, we are building an anti-apartheid movement in North America and encourage our faith communities and all communities of conscience to step away from any and all support to Israeli apartheid, occupation, and settler colonialism.

The pledge they are asking faith communities to take is as follows:

WE AFFIRM our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people;

WE OPPOSE all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression; and

WE DECLARE ourselves an Apartheid-free community and to that end,

WE PLEDGE to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s Apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.
 

P&SC Committee’s Proposal to FMW’s Meeting for Business

Especially now, given the terrible suffering and injustice in Palestine and Israel today, we ask that FMW sign on to this important pledge initiative, take part in its educational activities about the human rights situation in Israel/Palestine, and do what we can to fulfill the pledge to seek a future of peace, justice, and equality for ALL in Israel/Palestine.

Addendum: Other Faith Groups That Have Signed On To The Apartheid-Free Communities Network

Ainsworth United Church of Christ, OR
Alliance of Baptists
American Friends Service Committee
Ames Friends Meeting, IA
Amplify Christian Church, GA
Ann Arbor Friends Meeting, MI
Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
Bathurst United Church, Canada
Beyt Tikkun: A Synagogue Without Walls, CA
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
Bible Way Ministries International, GA
Bidwell Presbyterian Church, PA
Bloomington-Normal Friends Meeting, IL
Brainerd Friends Meeting, MN
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Burlington Friends Meeting, VT
Calvary Baptist Church, DC
Central Pacific Conference of the United Church of Christ, OR
Chavurah for a Free Palestine of Kehilla Community Synagogue, CA
Chicago Faith Coalition on Middle East Policy
Christ Chapel United Methodist Church, Oyani
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Church of the Covenant, MA
Church of the Good Shepherd, MI
Circle of Faith, FL
Circle of Hope, OH
Conejo Valley Worship Group, CA
Denver-Boulder Jewish Voice for Peace
Des Moines Catholic Worker Community
Downers Grove Friends Meeting, IL
Ecumenical Peace Institute/Clergy and Laity Concerned
Emmaus Faith Community, CA
Episcopal Churches of the Big Bend, TX
Episcopal Peace Fellowship Chapter of Northern Vermont
Episcopal Peace Fellowship – Palestine Israel Network
Faith Community Church, NC
Faith Mennonite Church, IN
Fellowship of Hope Mennonite Church, IN
First Mennonite Church, Urbana, IL
First United Methodist Church, Moheto
First United Presbyterian Church of Crafton Heights, PA
Floyd Friends Meeting, VA
Frazer Mennonite Church, PA
Friends of Sabeel-North American (FOSNA)
Gila Friends Meeting, NM
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, IL
Heart of the Rockies Christian Church, CO
Hope 4 All Interfaith Community, ND
Interfaith Communities United for Peace and Justice, CA
Interfaith for Palestine, UK
Islamic Society of Greater Lansing, MI
Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Jewish Voice for Peace
Justice in Palestine and Israel Community of the Alliance of Baptists
Live Oak Friends Meeting, TX
MAS Houston – Muslim American Society, TX
Methodist Federation for Social Action
Mending Minyan, CT
Meriden Congregational Church, NH
Middle East Peace Community, Kehilla Synagogue, CA
Mission and Outreach Council of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, NC
Muslim Council of Calgary (MCC), Canada
Multnomah Friends Meeting, OR
New Millennium Church, AR
Nonviolent Peacemaking Group, Newman Hall Holy Spirit Parish, CA
Northside Friends Meeting Committee for Ministry on Racism, IL
Northeast Kingdom Quakers, VT
North Meadow Circle of Friends, IN
Oakhurst Baptist Church, GA
Quakers of Orlando, FL
Palestine Christian Alliance for Peace (PCAP)
Palestine Network – Shining Region, The United Church of Canada
Palestine Task Force, Northern California/Nevada Conference, United Methodist Church
Pax Christi Harrisburg, PA
Pax Christi Illinois
Pax Christi Metro DC Baltimore
Pax Christi New York State
Pax Christi Northern California
Pax Christi Pittsburgh Area
Pax Christi USA
Peace & Justice Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago
Peace and Social Justice Committee, Fifteenth St Friends Meeting, NY
Park Avenue Baptist Church, GA
Peace Mennonite Fellowship, CA
Pioneer United Methodist Church, WA
Pittsburgh Mennonite Church, PA
Presbyterian Church in Orland Park, IL
Quaker Palestine Israel Network
Ravensworth Baptist Church, VA
Red Cedar Friends Meeting, MI
Riverside Church at Park and King, FL
Roswell Community Masjid, GA
Sacred Liberation, TX
Saint John of God Parish CACINA, NY
St. Louis Catholic Worker, MO
San Pedro United Methodist Church, CA
Shalom United Church of Christ, CT
South Central Yearly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends
St. Columba Catholic Church, CA
St. Mary Magdala’s Spiritual Center (Community of the Cross, Inc.), IN
Temenos Catholic Worker, CA
The Festival Center, DC
The Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN)
The Oscar Romero and Simone Weil Catholic Worker House, CA
The First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain, MA
The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, CT
The Land United Methodist Church, CO
The Way Christian Center, CA
Tikkun Olam Chavurah, PA
Tirdof Havurah, CO
Trinity Grace United Church, Canada
Tzedek Synagogue Chicago, IL
Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice, MA
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East
Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East – Massachusetts Chapter
United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network
United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR)
United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel, Canada
Urbana-Champaign Friends Meeting, IL
Wedgewood Community Church, NC
West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship
Westtown Monthly Meeting, PA
Valley View Presbyterian Church, PA
 

FMW Hospitality Committee Report to Meeting for Business, October 2024

The Hospitality Committee has had a busy year. We provide coffee and simple snacks (baked goods, fruit, and fixings for peanut butter & jelly sandwiches) for our downstairs socializing after worship, 52 Sundays a year. We serve perhaps 50 to 100 Friends every week. We spend roughly $30 per week that is in the meeting’s budget. 

We have helped with hospitality at fundraisers and memorial meetings. 

Our goal is to build community, and to make every member, attender and visitor feel that they belong at FMW. By sharing friendly conversation downstairs (after sharing silence in Meeting) we connect personally, smile-to-smile — an act all the more vital amid our era’s often de-personalized communications from of big business, big government, and ubiquitous social media 

In particular, Sunday meetings are the “front door” of Quakerism, drawing almost a dozen visitors weekly to our meeting. Our shared time and food with them creates heartfelt invitations for them to join us.

Many Friends have helped us. I want to particularly mention Candy Miller, who helped so much, especially in setting the right tone for how to engage attenders and members for our new hospitality push. She is one of the best listeners I know and I have seen her engage in deep and meaningful conversations every week. 

Our coffee hour has been thriving. We hope that all Friends will join us in making sure that everyone who comes into the Assembly room is greeted and introduced to other Friends. Don’t let anyone stand alone for too long.

We invite Friends to bring more food each week to share. We need more volunteers, especially to help clean up.

We suggest a rule of thumb that, if we find ourselves still in the Assembly room with time to spare around 12:30, we stay a bit longer to help finish cleaning up. 

The committee also needs more help on days of Meeting for Business, which committee members would like to attend. We need Friends to stay even after that meeting to clean the kitchen.

The Movie Night club and Game Day working group are under our care. Movies are on Wednesday nights at 6:30 pm and Game Day is during and after coffee hour on first Sundays.  

We are starting a Welcoming working group to be less ad-hoc about how we greet visitors. We are going to call for volunteers shortly and hope to stand up our work in the New Year, if not sooner. 

Our Second Cup listening sessions are transforming this year into Second Hour, held on the fourth Sunday of the month. This is a combination of Friends speaking from their spiritual journeys to spark worship sharing. The goal is to deepen the spirituality of the Meeting and our community by practicing deep listening. The first meeting went very well.

We are also going to start having potlucks, also on Wednesday nights, at a quarterly pace to start. The first is a Friendsgiving on Nov. 20, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. 

We are also holding a Christmas jazz concert on Saturday 7-9 pm.

All these events need volunteers. 

Questions : 

FMW’s 100th anniversary is on January 4, 2031. Should we start celebrating this day, perhaps with an annual blueberry pancake breakfast?

What might we do to help our coffee hour draw participants more fully into the life of FMW? Might we display information on FMW activities with some posters in the room? Or invite people to donate (perhaps at least to defray costs of coffee and food) with a donation jar? Perhaps we could put out slips of paper so that attenders can share back what they received from the meeting.

What more can we do to give newcomers agency and a voice at our meeting. Perhaps we create a committee of new attenders so they can set their own agenda and report to the meeting.