Head of Meeting:  Georgianna Z. On October 9, Stephanie K

Pastoral Care: If you have concerns about personal issues or questions about membership, Bethesda Friends Meeting, or Quaker faith and practice, please be in touch with today's Friendly Ear (a member of the Pastoral Care Committee, see your email bulletin and the person will be introduced at the end of Worship each Sunday).

The Social Concern for October is the Interfaith Works Housing Program which provides affordable housing and social services to homeless families in Montgomery County, MD as they transition from homelessness to independence. On any given day in Montgomery County, 1,100 people are homeless. Between 2005 and 2015 childhood poverty increased from 4% to almost 10%. Please find more information about Interfaith Works and the services they provide at https://www.iworksmc.org/. BFM has been one of the member organizations for more than 25 years.

To donate to this Social Concern, please go to: www.bethesdafriends.org. Be sure to designate that your contribution is for the social concern. You're also welcome to donate to Bethesda Friends Meeting directly to support all Meeting activities via the same methods (online or by check).

Meeting for Worship: Bethesda Friends worship together each Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Friends can participate remotely via Zoom or meet in person at the meeting house on the Sidwell Friends Lower School campus.

Participating in worship via Zoom. Friends wishing to join Meeting for Worship remotely can do so via Zoom.  If you'd like the Zoom link for online worship with our community, please use our "Contact us" form and tell us about your interest in Bethesda Friends. We welcome your joining us.

In person worship. Friends are invited to gather in person for Meeting for Worship in the meeting house at the Lower School campus. Anyone attending should carefully consider the additional risks of gathering in-person. The rules regarding COVID at the end of this bulletin apply to all of those attending in person. 

Childcare during Meeting for Worship: Under-5 childcare is available again during Meeting for Worship from 10:45 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Two paid childcare providers will supervise play in the childcare room under the meeting room. Children two years and older will need to wear a mask while on campus.

First Day School during Meeting for Worship: The Religious Education (RE) Committee is happy to announce that First Day School (FDS) classes will resume on September 18 for children in Kindergarten through 8th Grade. Classes will generally be held on the first and third Sundays of each month. Sign in for FDS begins at 10:50 a.m. Ellen H. will teach K-4th grade children, Amy W. will teach 5th – 8th grade children, and Marissa W. will fill in as needed.  Resources being used this year include Quaker Religious Education Cooperative materials, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting RE K-12 materials, Universal Unitarian Timeless Themes curriculum, and Marsha Holliday’s Quaker Values: A First Day School Curriculum for School Children.

Note that on non-FDS Sundays we are currently unable to provide childcare for children over 5 years of age. Older children are welcome and encouraged to join Meeting for Worship. 

World Quaker Day on October 2 is an annual event to celebrate the diversity of global Quakerism and build connections to make our community stronger. This year, every Friends Meeting is encouraged to send visitors to another Quaker group, to bring greetings, build relationship, and share ideas. Lang'ata Friends Church in Nairobi has been confirmed as lead World Quaker Day hosts for the Africa Section and will welcome both virtual and in-person visitors from other countries. South Belfast Quaker Meeting in Northern Ireland is the largest of a number of Friends Meetings in the Europe and Middle East Section welcoming visitors on the day. In the Americas, programmed and semi-programmed meetings in both North and South America have confirmed participation extending a welcome to Friends everywhere. In Asia West Pacific, two meetings in Australia will join together to welcome visitors from around the world. If you would like more information or to receive an invitation to any of these gatherings, including information on times, time zones, languages, and styles of worship, please visit this link.

BFM Spiritual Formation Program You are invited to meet with others from Bethesda Friends Meeting to nurture and strengthen your spiritual life through the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Spiritual Formation Program (BYM SFP). You do not have to have attended the September opening retreat of the BYM SFP to participate in this nine-month program. We will meet once a month on Zoom for 90 minutes October through June at a time convenient to everyone who wants to participate. There will also be small groups which will meet monthly. Some of these will meet on Zoom and some will meet in person if it is safe to do so.  This year, some of us will be combining spiritual formation with the "Collective Journey to Redress Systemic Racism" work led by Lucy D. and Rob P.. If you are interested in the Spiritual Formation Program apart from the anti-racism work, please contact Margaret B. using the "Contact us" form by October 2.

Meeting for Business On October 2 at 9:00 a.m. Bethesda F(f)riends will consider various business items via Zoom. How the Spirit will lead us in discernment of issues both large and small is part of the mystery that is the Religious Society of Friends. All who come to Meeting for Worship, members and attenders, are welcome and encouraged to participate. On the agenda this month are reports from our Treasurer and First Day School. To request the Zoom link, please use the "Contact us" form.

Exploring the Roots of Religion. All are invited as the comparative religions study group begins a new year-long course in October - Exploring the Roots of Religion, a lecture series from Great Courses. We meet weekly on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. for a half hour lecture and a half hour discussion. John R Hale Ph.D., Director of Liberal Studies at University of Louisville KY, will explore evidence of religious activity around the world, primarily through the discipline of archeology. In October, after the introductory lecture, we will study Neanderthal burials, the Paleolithic cave art of France and Spain, and rock art in South Africa. To request the Zoom link, please use the "Contact us" form.

Bethesda Friends Meeting’s stay-at-home Mid-Week Worship by e-mail is on Wednesdays, from 8:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. While some of our regulars prefer to simply join in Spirit at the appointed time, others enjoy the brief connection provided by an email at the start and end of worship. At rise of meeting, those on that session's email list who are moved to do so may share experiences by reply-all. Contact Dot L. using the "Contact us" form for more information.

Baltimore Yearly Meeting Young Friends Convention BYM Young Friends is a community consisting of high school age attenders (age 14+, grades 9-12) who wish to enjoy the fellowship of our Quaker community. The Young Friends program seeks to build a community which nurtures the personal and spiritual growth of all participants, promotes individuality as well as the unity of being in community, and provide opportunities to take an active part in the affairs and concerns of the Religious Society of Friends. Young Friends expands the Quaker community beyond the borders of our Meetings. High school age youth who are not affiliated with a monthly meeting are welcomed to attend all Young Friends’ conferences. There is an upcoming Young Friends weekend conference at Menallen Monthly Meeting in Biglerville, PA from October 7-9, 2022. Registration is $75 and financial aid and transportation assistance are available.  For more details and to register visit https://www.bym-rsf.org/what_we_do/yutes/

Dayspring Silent Retreat for Friends All are welcome to join a Silent Retreat for Friends from October 7-10, 2022 at Dayspring Retreat Center located at 11301 Neelsville Church Road, Germantown, MD 20876. We will keep the silence from Friday evening until after worship on Monday, enjoying the beauty of God's creation in meadows and woods, walking, resting, praying, reading, finding our own rhythms, and listening for the Still Small Voice. Arrival may occur any time between 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (dinner) on Friday and the retreat will end at 2:00 PM on Monday. Accommodations include: an individual room in the Inn with Bible, bed, desk, sink, bed linens, blankets, towels and washcloth; 9 vegetarian meals in the Lodge and outdoors; gatherings for community worship in the Yoke Room and on the patio; shared solitude by the fireplace; and 200 acres for roaming. The cost is $335. Register as soon as possible with a check for $335 payable to Dayspring Retreat Center and send it with your name, Quaker Meeting, address, email, phone number, and any special needs to Jean Christianson, 189 Edgewater Rd., Pasadena, MD 21122. Bring an open heart, casual clothes, walking shoes, toilet articles, and a flashlight. Long socks and hats are recommended to deter ticks. For questions, call or text Jean Christianson at 410-908-1912 or e-mail jschristianson@gmail.com.

Baltimore Yearly Meeting Women's Retreat The Women's Retreat for Friends in the BYM region will be a one-day in-person and hybrid event on Saturday, October 8, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Adelphi Friends Meeting near College Park, MD. Please register at this link. More details will be sent to those who register, including the Zoom link for those who are attending online. There will be worship, chanting, worship sharing, workshops, and a coffeehouse. Bring your own bag lunch, outdoor chair, and mask. Two of the workshops are called: "Rebuilding Meetings after COVID" and "Listening Session Regarding Reproductive Rights."

The Quaker Book Group will meet Saturday October 8 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. to continue discussion of Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow. The book takes on competing myths of pre-agricultural and pre-industrial society and asks why current social structures are so inequitable. Newcomers are always welcome to the discussion, even if you have not read the book. To request details and the Zoom link, please the "Contact us" form.

Experiment with Light is a meditative and centering practice based upon Rex Ambler’s book Light to Live By, which describes early Quaker meditative habits and translates them into a highly accessible process of clearness and understanding. There will be a session on Sunday September 11 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Starting at 7:30 p.m., you can follow the prompts at home and write or draw responses you have experienced during those prompts: https://experiment-with-light.org.uk/meditations/. We usually use the meditation on the individual in modern language, full length, 37 minute version. Then around 8:30 p.m., if you would like to worship-share from your meditation experience please join in a Zoom gathering. For the Zoom link and to request more information, please use the "Contact us" form.

COVID-19 Rules for In-Person Meeting for Worship:   

• You must be vaccinated against COVID-19.  
• We recommend that you wear a mask. 
• Food and drink is permitted during fellowship after Meeting for Worship.
• You must self-screen based on COVID symptoms or exposure.  You may not attend in-person Meeting for Worship if you have a fever, have COVID symptoms, have tested positive for COVID, or have been exposed in the past 10 days to an individual testing positive for, or displaying symptoms of, COVID.
  
• You must sign in on a simple sign-in sheet.
• You must notify BFM promptly if you have a positive test after attending in person.  BFM will provide notice to others who attended the same meeting of the COVID case (but will not identify the person testing positive). Send notification to covid.committee@bethesdafriends.org, or use the "Contact us" form.
• Click here for BFM's Covid-19 information and policy.