SUNDAYS AT BETHESDA FRIENDS MEETING 

Head of Meeting: Today, Margaret B. On April 20, Georgianna Z. 

Pastoral Care: If you have concerns about personal issues or questions about Quaker faith and practice, Bethesda Friends Meeting, or membership, please be in touch with today's Friendly Ear, a member of the Pastoral Care Committee. This week you can reach a Friendly Ear by sending an email to friendlyear@bethesdafriends.org and a member of the Pastoral Care Committee will get in touch with you.

The Social Concern for April is Ramallah Friends School (RFS), in the West Bank, Palestine. Founded by American Quakers in 1869, Ramallah Friends is a co-ed K-12 school that provides a first-class, peace-oriented education to children of all faiths and abilities. Our Meeting’s fundraising campaign has contributed from one to eight full scholarships annually since 1977. Please give generously. Olive oil and Ramallah Friends School shirts will be on sale in the Meetinghouse this month. 

To donate to BFM or the Social Concern of the Month, please go to www.bethesdafriends.org/Donate-Online-Now. Clearly designate your preference for your contribution (general support of BFM, or the social concern of the month.).  

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. Friends wishing to join Meeting for Worship remotely can do so via Zoom. Please ask us for the link using our Contact Us form.  

Sunday, April 20 at 11:00 am: Easter Worship, First Day School/Child Care & Annual Easter Egg Seek - Please bring your children and invite your neighbors/friends to this annual occasion, which the children truly enjoyed last year. Please use our Contact Us form if you have any questions.  

First Day School (FDS) for children 5 years of age and older is offered on the first and third Sunday of each month. Childcare for this age group is offered on non-FDS Sundays.

Childcare and Youth-Care during Meeting for Worship: Childcare is available on non-holiday weekends during Meeting for Worship from 10:45 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. for children under 5 years of age. Paid caregivers provide this service. Youth-care is also available on non-holiday weekends for children over 5 years of age on non-First Day School Sundays (i.e., the 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays of a month) during Meeting for Worship. Two volunteers are needed from 10:50 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on non-FDS Sundays so that care for these older children remains available. Please sign up using this link.

Fellowship and Hospitality: This month, the Potluck is hosted by the Fellowship & Hospitality committee, with help from many volunteers. If you can help, or have questions, please use our Contact Us form.  

EVENTS THIS SUNDAY, April 13:

Sunday, April 13 at 12:30 p.m. - "Getting to Know You": The Ministry and Worship Committee invites you to a "Getting to Know You" session in the Meeting House. We are especially inviting newcomers and relative newcomers to meet some of us who have been involved in Bethesda Friends Meeting for a while. This is a chance to talk about what led you to come to seek out a Quaker Meeting, and to ask any questions that you may have about Quaker faith and practice or about our Meeting in particular.  It is also a chance for us all to get to know one another better. Please feel free to pick up some snacks from the hospitality table before joining us in the Meeting House. Friends joining remotely via Zoom would stay on the worship Zoom link.  We look forward to getting to know you! 

Sunday, April 13 at 4:00 p.m. - Experiment with Light is a meditative and centering practice. There will be a session on Sunday, April 13 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Starting at 4:00 p.m., you can follow the prompts at home or meet in person at Jane Meleney Coe's house, 6703 Pawtucket Road, near where Wilson Lane crosses River Road. There will be time to write or draw responses you have experienced during those prompts. For those participating at home, we use the meditation on the individual in modern language, full length, 37-minute version. Around 5:00 p.m., if you would like to worship-share from your meditation experience, please use our Contact Us form for this information. 

EVENTS COMING UP SOON (APRIL 11 - 22):

Saturday, April 12 at 10:00 am: The BYM Networking Day will be Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 (maybe 3:00) p.m. at the Friends Meeting School, Ijamsville, MD. Local meetings are invited to share their best ideas for responding to the onslaught or “firehose" of efforts from the White House to disrupt our U.S. social safety nets and peaceful international relations. More information at this link.  

Saturday, April 12 at 1:30 p.m.: The Quaker Book Group meets monthly, via Zoom, from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m., usually on the second Saturday. This month, we will be meeting on Saturday, April 12th to discuss Rashid Khalidi’s One Hundred Years of War on Palestine. An optional companion book is Raja Khouri and Jeffrey Wilkinson, The Wall Between: What Jews and Palestinians Don't Want to Know About Each Other. If you are not on the regular mailing list, please use our Contact Us form. Newcomers are always welcome (even if you have not read the book!). 

Nice Racism Book Group Meeting: The next meeting of the monthly, year-long book study of Robin D’Angelo’s book Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm will meet at 8:00 p.m. on Monday, April 14. Please email Jonathan or Margaret B. for details or use our Contact Us form.  

Comparative Religions - Great Minds of the East: The Comparative Religions class has started a new course - Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition - with Professor Grant Hardy of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, through The Great Courses.  We meet weekly on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. Please ask us for the link using our Contact Us form.  All are welcome. 

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. Each of us worships at home without video or audio, coordinating our timing by emails sent at the start and end of worship. To enhance our sense of gathering, the opening email lets us know who is present. At rise of meeting, participants are invited to worship- share with the group via reply-all. Please use our Contact Us form for more information. 

AFSC Meeting for Worship re: Peace in Israel and Palestine: The violence in Palestine and Israel has impacted the AFSC community in many ways, all of them tragic and heartbreaking. Please join us every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. for a Meeting for Worship via Zoom, gathering in solidarity and holding those most impacted in the Light. Please register at this link to receive the Zoom link to attend. 

 AFSC Action Hour for a Ceasefire in Gaza: Join American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) staff every Friday at 12:00 p.m. to hear updates from Gaza. Then, take action with us as we contact our elected officials and call for an immediate cease-fire and humanitarian access to Gaza. Our elected officials need to keep hearing from us. To attend, please register at this link. 

Monday, April 21 from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. BYM Women’s Retreat in York, PA:  The 2025 Women's Retreat will be held on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025 in York, PA at Heidelberg United Church of Christ in York from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The theme is "Nurturing our Faith in Tumultuous Times." Carla Christopher, a local poet, pastor, educator, and social justice advocate is the keynote speaker. Registration is now open at this link. Retreat Planners are still seeking session leaders, workshop ideas, and discussion topics. Click here to Indicate your interest or share your ideas.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

BYM Camp Enrollment: Camp enrollment is open until May 31 for one of BYM’s most popular offerings: the camping programs at Catoctin, Opequon, Shiloh, and Teen Adventure Quaker Camps. The camps are residential for children ages 9 to 14, with a trips-based program for 15- to 17-year-olds. Anyone may apply (and please do!) by visiting the BYM Camps website: www.bymcamps.org. Spaces are available first come, first served, so please register as soon as you can. For details about Quaker camps, see: https://bymcamps.org/. For questions, email info@bymcamps.org.     

• Applications for camp staff are also being accepted. Information about working as camp staff can be found at:  https://bymcamps.org/staff 
• BFM would like to support our children going to camp to the extent of $500 each, on a first come, first served basis. Please use our Contact Us form for more information. Parents may also contribute by volunteering at one of the camps. 

Helping Refugees Group CALL TO ACTION:  To inform members of our BFM community about ways to help refugees and immigrants in our area, the Helping Refugees Group (HRG) has compiled a list of actions that individuals and self-organized groups can undertake.  The list of actions is here.  Please join HRG in helping refugees and immigrants.  If everyone in our community does ONE ACTION, we will have helped many immigrants on a Meeting-wide basis!  Please use our Contact Us form for more information. 

FUTURE EVENTS TO PLAN AHEAD FOR 

April 27 - Coordinating Gathering - Representatives of most BFM committees meet during the week before Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business to discuss the upcoming agenda, season issues before the Meeting, and discuss committee challenges if any. Friends can participate in person at the Meeting House or remotely via Zoom. Friends can participate in person at the Meeting House or remotely via Zoom. There will be one on Sunday April 27 at 12:45 p.m. in the Meeting Room. Please use our Contact Us form for more information.  

May 2-4 - BYM Spiritual Formation Retreat - The next BYM Spiritual Formation Retreat will take place May 2-4 at the Shepherd Spring Retreat Center in Sharpsburg, MD. Just as fear can be contagious, so too can courage. We will encourage one another as we gather in the Spirit and discern together how we are called to live in these challenging times. "Let us try what love can do." (William Penn) The Spring Retreat features a new, low-cost camping option! For further info, contact: spiritform@bym-rsf.org. To register, go to this link.  

July 29-August 3 - BYM Annual Sessions - Hood College, Frederick, MD - The theme this year is "Guided by Spirit: Living Our Faith in a Challenging World." For preliminary information, please go to this link.  

SUPPORTING BFM & THE SOCIAL CONCERN OF THE MONTH

Bethesda Friends Meeting depends on our generosity to support its publications, religious education, childcare, and its “apportionment” payment to Baltimore Yearly Meeting—all of which connect us to each other and link us to the broader Quaker community.  Our contributions also support Quaker organizations and advocacy, education, and community groups attuned with Quaker values.

To donate to BFM or the Social Concern of the Month, please go to:  www.bethesdafriends.org/Donate-Online-Now. Clearly designate your preference for your contribution (general support of BFM, the social concern of the month, etc.).