Head of Meeting:  Georgianna Ziegler. On June 18, Gale Thompson

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. This week the Friendly Ear is Gretchen S. (See Directory or use our Contact Us form).

The Social Concern for June is for Comfort Cases. The Social Concerns Box for June is Comfort Cases, a project suggested by the First Day School. Comfort Cases works to “make a difference in the life of a child in foster care” by providing a new backpack with a cozy new pair of pajamas, a stuffed animal to hug, a blanket, a toothbrush and other personal care items, as well as a new duffel bag to each child who is entering the foster care system (so they don’t have to bring their belongings in a trash bag). For details: https://comfortcases.org.

To donate to this Social Concern, please go to: www.bethesdafriends.org. Clearly designate that your contribution is for this month's Social Concern. If you prefer, you may send a check, made payable to Bethesda Friends Meeting, to David McClelland, Assistant Treasurer, 10101 Grosvenor Place, Apartment 1205, North Bethesda MD 20852. You are also welcome to donate to Bethesda Friends Meeting to support our regular budgetary needs 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 in person at the Meeting House or remotely via Zoom.

Participating in worship at the Meeting House. Friends are invited to gather in person for Meeting for Worship at the Meeting House. We are currently in COVID Risk Level 1. The policies for Risk Level 1 are included at the end of this bulletin. 

Participating in worship via Zoom. Friends wishing to join Meeting for Worship remotely can do so via Zoom by using our Contact Us form.  

Summer Childcare (infants through grade 6) during Meeting for Worship. From June 11 until early September, there will be multi-age playground supervision during the worship time with two trained, paid child care providers. Families should go to the downstairs childcare room to sign in each child. For new and visiting families there will be a short registration form to fill out.  

June 10th: BFM Community Outing to Glenstone. Join others from BFM for a casual gathering at 10:00 a.m. on June 10. Bring your family for our second annual visit to a local art venue, “…a place that seamlessly integrates art, architecture, and nature into a serene and contemplative environment.” Get your free ticket(s) and details at Sign Up Genius for anyone 12 years and older (per Glenstone rules). We will visit the indoor and outdoor exhibits together or in small groups. Glenstone has an outdoor patio and an indoor café. There is free parking. but we encourage carpooling or the Ride-On bus #301 from Rockville Metro.   

BYM Camp: Spring Workday at Catoctin. On Saturday, June 10, volunteers can join our spring cleaning at Baltimore Yearly Meeting camp Catoctin anytime from 9:30 to 4:00. Details and sign up at https://bymcamps.org/community-work-days/.

Gathered Quaker Meeting & Potluck Picnic. On Saturday, June 10, 10:00 a.m. at Friends Wilderness Center, 305 Friends Way Harpers Ferry, WV 25425. Join us to worship in the manner of Friends in collective meditation until the Light of the Spirit speaks. All are welcome; followed by a potluck picnic in the meadow around the Niles Cabin. Feel free to bring a chair or blanket and a dish to share. Sign up here.

 

June 10: BYM Interim Meeting, in a hybrid format at the Tandem School in Charlottesville VA and online via Zoom. Friends gather at 11:00 a.m. for luncheon and hospitality and for Meeting for Business at 12:30 p.m. Attendance is open to all and offers a chance to get to know Friends from across the Yearly Meeting and be part of the decision-making. Please register here. 

 

BFM Quaker Book Group meets via Zoom, from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m., on Saturday, June 10. Newcomers are always welcome, even if you have not read the book. This month we continue discussing The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nicole Hannah-Jones. To join the group and/or the online email list, please use our Contact Us form.   

 

June 10, DC Capital Pride Parade.  Meet at Friends Meeting of Washington (2111 Florida Avenue NW) at 2:00 p.m. sharp to march with area Quakers as a group. Sign up at this Google Doc.  

 

June 11, DC Capital Pride Festival. Help staff a Quaker booth for an hour starting at 12:00 noon near Pennsylvania Avenue and 3rd Street, NW, (Metro: Green Line: Archives/Navy Memorial). Sign up for a time slot on this Google Doc. We will make decorative buttons with visitors and chat with them about Quakers and our support for diversity and equality.  

 

Experiment with Light, June 11.How do we quiet our brains enough to hear the still, small voice within us? How might we deepen our experience of meeting for worship? 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. Join us on Sunday, June 11, at 7:30 p.m., following the prompts at home. Write or draw responses you experience during those prompts (https://experiment-with-light.org.uk/meditations/: meditation on the individual, modern language, full length, 37-minute version). Around 8:30 p.m., you may worship-share from your meditation experience in a Zoom gathering. For more information, please use our Contact Us form.  

 

Comparative Religions Class meets weekly on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. for a half hour video lecture from The Great Courses followed by a half hour discussion. On June 13 we start a new course on Great World Religions: Islam. The three lectures in June will be Islam Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow; The Five Pillars of Islam; and Muhammed - Prophet and Statesman.  For details and to join, please use our Contact Us form.  

BYM Juneteenth Event. Wednesday, June 14, at 7:00 p.m., BYM’s Growing Diverse Leadership Committee is sponsoring a lecture by Lucy Duncan and Rob Peagler entitled “Reparations: Alchemical Agent for Healing and Repair.” Topics include: How reparations work as a powerful force for transformation at the relational, spiritual, and material levels. Also the historical Quaker case for reparations, and metaphors and concrete examples of how it can address the root level issues of our collective complicity, both as a country and as Quakers. Registration for this Zoom event is here.

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. for more information. 

Pendle Hill Retreat: Kairos: A Spiritual Journey. June 15-18. An on-campus spiritual retreat based on the monastic practice of worshiping, working, and studying while experiencing solitude and community living.  More information at https://pendlehill.org/events/kairos-a-spiritual-journey-2023/.

June 17, 18, 19: Annual Scotland Juneteenth Heritage Festival. Celebrating the past and present of the first places that African Americans owned land in Montgomery County. For schedule details, go to  https://www.juneteenthscotland.org/schedule.

·     Events: A children’s carnival and music performance, art exhibitions, food, sports, musical galas, a 5K run, a baseball game, a classic car show, and presentations on Black history in this region. 

·     Locations: Cabin John Regional Park, Cabin John Village, and the Scotland community on Seven Locks Road.

Saturday, June 17: Rockville’s Juneteenth events. From 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at the Black Rock Center for the Arts (12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown, MD). A free, family-friendly event, featuring live music, food, art, films, and awards. See details at https://www.rockvillemd.gov/2364/Juneteenth.

INTO THE FUTURE

Dayspring Silent Retreat for Friends. From the Friday evening, June 23 to Sunday afternoon, June 25, come to the Dayspring Silent Retreat for natural beauty, precious solitude, and spiritual companionship. We will keep the silence from Friday evening through worship on Sunday in an opportunity for 18 Quakers from different Meetings to share quiet together. Requirements are: 1) full vaccination and 2) a negative home rapid test taken on Friday. Masks are encouraged in indoor areas. Location: Dayspring Retreat Center, 11301 Neelsville Church Road, Germantown MD. Check in is 3:30-7:00 on Friday. (Dinner at 7:00). The cost is $250. For more information, please use our Contact Us form.  

 

23rd to 25th: Pendle Hill: Mediating Trauma through Creative Expression. An on-campus workshop with Jennifer Elam and Gloria Stearns-Bruner. Trauma, grief, and deep challenges are stories that are stuck and have forgotten how to dance. Through our five sessions, we will develop our stories, incorporating art and poetry. We will support each other to revision the story, then invite it to move, using dance, movement, and music. You can learn more at https://pendlehill.org/events/mediating-trauma-through-creative-expression/

COVID-19 Rules for In-Person Meeting for Worship - Risk Level 1:   

• Full vaccination against COVID-19 is recommended.
• Face masking is optional. Food and drink are allowed.
• 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.
• Prompt notification of a positive Covid test after attending required. Please send any positive test notification via email to covid.committee@bethesdafriends.org, or call one of the Meeting co-clerks. BFM will provide notice to others who attended the same meeting (but will not identify the person testing positive)

Click here for current rules and BFM's full Covid-19 information and policy.