Queries for Eleventh Month:  Education

Hybrid Meeting for Worship, Sundays, 10:30 AM

• We recommend that people be vaccinated before returning to the meetinghouse.
• We are once again asking that everyone wear masks while they are in the meetinghouse.
• Households may sit together, but attenders from different households should spread themselves out within the meeting room.
• For the time being, there will be no social hour in the meeting house, so please plan to take your conversations outside after the rise of meeting.
• Please do not sign up or attend if you:
  • have recently had any symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, shortness of breath, or loss of taste;
  • have recently been in close contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

After-Meeting Announcements

Outdoor Meeting for Worship

• No chairs from the meetinghouse will be available. Seating is bring-your-own chair (or blanket) and will be socially distanced. Household groups can sit together.  Friends will be able to use the bathrooms in the meetinghouse.
• All attendees must wear a mask while on meeting property.
• To ensure social distancing, attendees should plan to be seated at their place for the full hour. 
• Please do not sign up or attend if you:
  • have recently had any symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, shortness of breath, or loss of taste;
  • have recently been in close contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

From the Adult Religious Education Committee

• November 7, 9 AM.  Play discussion:  The Humans.  This Tony Award-winning one-act play is about the Blake family gathering and sharing a meal for Thanksgiving.  Each person in the family is coping with difficult challenges, secrets, anxiety, and grief.  Playwright Stephen Karam is able to write about the family's imperfections and the tragedies they face with tenderness, humor, and empathy.  Our own Terry Marek will be leading the discussion and showing video excerpts from the original production that highlight the rituals, songs, toasts, and deep love the family uses to transcend their differences and sadness.  For more information on Stephen Karam and Terry Marek, see the Adult Class announcement on the Meeting website. 
• November 14, 9 AM.  What Do Quakers Believe, Part 3:  What do we worship in meeting for worship?  Plenty of time for sharing by all.

Friendly Bible Study 

Midweek Worship Opportunities

• CHFM offers midweek worship on Tuesday mornings from 9 to 10 via Zoom. The stable link for the Zoom sessions is https://zoom.us/j/95949514802?pwd=KzBRWHZWL0QyS3JOYWlVbnlyU2p4dz09,  We will have waiting worship for the first 30 minutes and then we plan to read excerpts from the new edition of Faith and Practice, followed by worship sharing.  All are welcome.
• FCNL welcomes all to Virtual Witness Wednesday Silent Reflection, 5:15-6:15 PM, an hour of worship on Zoom or by phone for a period of shared reflection as we seek grounding in community.  Register on the FCNL website.
• All are invited to daily meeting for worship online from Pendle Hill, 8:30-9:10 am.  The Zoom information is available on Pendle Hill's website.
• Friends World Committee for Consultation maintains a list of links to online meetings for worship being held around the world at a variety of times throughout the week.  More information can be found here.

From the Religious Education Committee

From the Peace & Social Concerns Committee

• Threshing Session on Donations, Sunday, November 14, 3-4 PM.  The purpose of this Zoom session is to discuss and provide feedback to the Peace Committee about organizations (often Quaker ones) to which the Meeting might donate.  A second session will be held on Thursday, November 18, 7:30-8:30 PM for Friends who cannot attend on Sunday.  The Zoom link will be in a bulletin closer to the date.
• Connecting with Eco-Justice.  Last summer Philadelphia Yearly Meeting approved a Statement on Moving Forward Together in the Face of Climate Change.  There will be many layers to this work: activism, legislative advocacy, spiritual practice, family and meeting actions, and grieving at the losses caused by climate change.  The Meeting's Peace & Social Concerns Committee urges you to read the approved statement and sign up for PYM Eco-Justice Collaborative’s Climate Action Network.  All of these links can be found under “Eco-Justice Collaborative News” on the PYM website.
• A New Way To Support POWER. POWER is launching its second decade with a new Individual Membership Program, offering an opportunity for all Pennsylvanians, whether they're part of one of our member congregations, unaffiliated, or part of a faith community not yet a POWER member, to engage more deeply in and help to fund our work for racial and economic justice on a livable planet. This program will help us continue to build our base of support across the state and allow us to support those who share our values and policy priorities in making their voices heard, even when they live in communities where support is limited. We will connect them with POWERful people across the Commonwealth, and teach them the skills to find and organize others in their communities who share their, and our, vision.

From the Refugee Support Working Group

From the Landscape Committee

From Jasper String Quartet

From the Care & Counsel Committee

From the Office & Administration Committee

• Scott Ordway's choral work Twenty/Twenty will be the first piece on the program of the first live concert by Choral Arts Philadelphia (which includes Amey Hutchins and Dylan Steinberg).  The concerts will be on Wednesday, November 10, 7 pm, at Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square (with the full chorus), and Sunday, November 14, 4 pm, at Church of the Good Shepherd in Bryn Mawr (with a smaller group of singers).  Program and ticket information is available on the Choral Arts website, and the original production of the piece, released as a 7-minute video during the pandemic, is available on YouTube. 
• Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) recently announced that it is taking on a key role in a new global campaign against the investment firm Vanguard because of its role in funding climate chaos. Over the next several months, EQAT will focus on actions that educate people about Vanguard’s role and how we want them to change, but already they have been hearing from Friends asking whether they should move their money. That’s why Eileen Flanagan wrote this blog post explaining why EQAT is asking people to wait, and in the meantime, to share with Eileen in confidence if they are Vanguard customers who might be willing to move their funds when the campaign is ready to use our power as customers collectively. 
• Janaki Spickard Keeler and Andrew Chiarello are having trouble finding childcare for their 19-month-old, Benjamin, due to the nationwide shortage of childcare workers.  Please hold them in your prayers.
• Paul DuSold's artwork is on display in the exhibit Forget Not Beauty: The Legacy of Arthur DeCosta at the Wayne Art Center, October 17-November 13.
• No birthdays (known to the editors) in November, so we'll just be thankful for all of us.  If you have a December birthday (or other milestone) that you're willing to let newsletter readers know about, send a note to newsletter@chestnuthillquakers.org.  No birthdays will be revealed without permission.  

From Historic Fair Hill

From Friends Committee on National Legislation

From Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

• Follow-up Session on PYM Staffing Shifts, November 2, 7-8 PM.  This is a second public Zoom meeting to provide a forum in which Friends can hear and provide feedback about the ongoing development of plans to shift PYM staffing structure to ensure permanent support for aging Friends as well as young adult Friends, inclusion, and belonging. Advance documents and registration on the PYM website.
• Fall Continuing Sessions, November 5-7.  The program includes an intergenerational concert online on Friday evening; a program on mindfulness meditation and meeting for worship with attention to business, both online, on Saturday; and an intergenerational program (collage workshop with children's book author Anastasia Higginbotham) in person at Arch Street Meeting House on Sunday afternoon.  Details and registration on the PYM website.
• Friends Historical Association Fall Lecture:  The Africa Quaker Archive: Past, Present, and Future, November 13, 11 AM-Noon.  East African Quakerism has a long and rich history, from 1902 when Quakerism arrived in Kenya, to today, when the continent embraces more than half of the world’s Quakers. The archive’s mission is to gather, document, and preserve key pieces of African Quaker history.  This free lecture is open to the public.  Register on the FHA website by November 12 to receive the Zoom link.
• GIANT Children's Meeting Online, November 21, 9-9:45 AM.  PYM Giant Children's Meeting is on 3rd Sundays.  It’s “giant” because everyone is invited! It’s “children’s meeting” because it's a space to nurture the spiritual lives and Quaker identity of young people.  November's theme is Extending the Table.  Register on the PYM website.

From Pendle Hill

• First Monday Lecture:  Brent Bill, Hope and Witness in Dangerous Times, November 1, 7:30-9 PM.  Join Quaker author Brent Bill as he shares from his new book, Hope and Witness in Dangerous Times: Lessons from the Quakers on Blending Faith, Daily Life, and Activism. Brent invites us to consider how our personal and communal faith practices bring us engagement with the needs of this world.  Information and registration on the Pendle Hill website.
• Pendle Hill Reading Group, November 10, 6:30-8 PM.  Pendle Hill has an online reading group, hosted by our own Janaki Spickard Keeler, who is Pendle Hill's Pamphlet Coordinator.  The group reads a mix of Pendle Hill pamphlets and other Quaker materials, gathering monthly to consider queries about the reading in a spirit of worship-sharing. November's selected text will be Valerie Brown’s Living from the Center: Mindfulness Meditation and Centering for Friends (PHP #407), with guest host Brian Wilcox.  You can register and purchase the pamphlet at the Pendle Hill website.

From American Friends Service Committee

From G-Town Radio

• Support Community Radio.  If you are, or anyone you know is interested in joining the G-town Radio Board, send a letter sharing who you are, what are your interests in radio and life and what would you bring to the board to info@gtownradio.com. To learn more about being on the G-town Radio Board visit the G-town Radio website. 
• New Planet Philadelphia Episode, Agriculture and the Environment, November 5, 4-5 PM.  Agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. We also know that addressing the problems of women and girls would be another one of the best ways to resolve climate change. Here, we consider aspects of both issues.  ​tune your radio dial to WGGT-LP 92.9 FM in northwest Philadelphia or live stream at gtownradio.com.

From Quaker Schools

• Friends Select School Open Houses, November 9 & 11, 8:45 AM.  Pre-K through 4th grade November 9, 5th through 12th grade November 11.  Register on the FSS website. 
• Quaker Boarding School Information Session Online, November 16, 7 PM.  You are invited to join a Zoom session in which current parents and a recent graduate from George School, Sandy Spring Friends School, and Westtown School speak to why selecting a Quaker boarding school mattered to them.  Registration online.

Want a website account?  We reserve publication of a few things (e.g., the meeting directory, business meeting minutes) to a restricted area of our website. You must have a website account to see those pages. If you don’t yet have one and want one, follow the directions in this article to request one.

Looking for business meeting minutes?  If you have a website account, you can see 2020 minutes and minutes from previous years on the Meeting website.

Membership
A general description of the differences between attenders and members, and a review of the membership process, is available on our website.

• Newsletter archive
• Newsletter editors: Amey Hutchins & Dylan Steinberg (newsletter@chestnuthillquakers.org)
• Meeting website
• Skyspace website