Hartford Monthly Meeting
December, 2005

And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people. Luke 2:10

Calendar

Dec 3 7 pm Newcomers' Potluck @ the meetinghouse
Dec 4 11th hour: The Meeting of the Poem and Silence with Hugh Ogden
Dec 7 5 pm Memorial Service for Fred Pfiel at Trinity College Chapel
Dec 8 7 pm Candlelight Prayer Vigil for Peace in Iraq
Dec 11 11:15 Christmas Ornament Sale
11:30 Fellowship Lunch
Dec 18 11:00 Christmas Pageant
11:45 Meeting for Business to Approve 2006 Budget
Dec 24 5 pm Candlelight Christmas Eve Worship
Dec 25 10 am Meeting for Worship, No First Day School
Jan 1 10 am Meeting for Worship
Jan 8 11:30 am Fellowship Lunch
Jan 14 2 pm Marionette Show/Celebration for everyone in the Meeting
Jan 15 11:30 am Meeting for Business

Meeting for Worship is held every First Day at 10 am.
Mid-week Worship Thursdays at 7 pm in the Williams Room.

Get Acquainted!
Pastoral Care Committee is sponsoring the annual newcomers' potluck on Saturday, December 3 at 7 pm at the meetinghouse. If you want to know more about Quakers and want to know others in the meeting, you are particularly encouraged to attend.

The Meeting of the Poem and Silence: Poetry as Spiritual Practice
with Hugh Ogden Sunday, December 4
Hugh will explore the spiritual dimensions of writing and reading poetry. He encourages others to bring a poem they have written or particularly love, and share it with the group and discuss how writing and reading poetry speaks to and gives expression to the Light within.

What's Happening in First Day School?
The first-third graders would like to thank all the committee members who came to tell us about their important work for the Meeting. We have already given our abundant energy to the Meeting as Greeters (look for us at the back entrance), Buildings and Grounds Super Spies, and Hospitality workers. We will also be helping with the Library Committee, Pastoral Care and Archives.

The middle school students are hosting a Holiday Ornament Sale on Sunday, Dec 11 at 11:15 am with proceeds to benefit St. Elizabeth Transitional Living (a program of Mercy Housing and Shelter Corp). If you have decorations or supplies that you no longer use, they would love to have you contribute them to the sale! Please bring them in either this Sunday, December 4th and leave them in the nursery room (pot luck room) downstairs, or bring them in between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 10th. The class recently volunteered time at the St. Elizabeth's with Emily Chasse who is a regular volunteer. Along with teacher, Marty Donovan, on November 13, the class took a day trip to the beach-check out Marty's great photos of Graham, Janelle, Raven, Shani, Nigel and Haley in the library annex.

Socially Responsible Investing Potluck: Tuesday January 10, 6 pm
Bill Upholt and MaryLee Morrison's home

As Quakers, we are advised to use resources available to us wisely in ways that support Quaker principles. Often our savings and retirement funds have been placed in investments based on decisions made in the past at times when opportunities to choose how we use our money were more limited. Socially responsible investing has become a very active field with much discussion of principles and with many different sources of information and opportunities for many different sorts of investments. In the past the primary approach was to avoid investments in companies involved in business detrimental to the world society by "negative screening". More recently there has been increased emphasis on identifying business that contributes positively, including organizations involved in supporting community development.

Two good web sites discussing socially responsible investing are: www.socialinvest.org
http://www.coopamerica.org/socialinvesting/. If you are interested in joining us please RSVP by calling Bill or Mary Lee at 232-2966 for more information.

Milestones

Fred Pfeil died November 29 at Hartford Hospital after a long struggle with cancer. Fred was a member of Trinity College English faculty since 1985. He was known, loved, and respected for a marvelous mix of talents and accomplishments: teaching, writing, social activism, and service to the community, especially to those who have been historically marginalized. Fred's commitment to the values that make life richer and more meaningful was at the core of who he was as a person. Influenced by both his Quaker and Buddhist faiths, he was deeply engaged in non-violence training and conflict resolution. He was a facilitator and trainer with the Alternatives to Violence Program in Connecticut prisons such as Niantic where he worked with incarcerated women. He also brought his work to schools in the Hartford area through Help Increase the Peace Project. Fred lived his life according to his deepest beliefs and values. He made many fast and enduring friends and we will miss him more than words, his own chosen medium of expression, can ever say. Fred was married to Elli Findly. There will be a memorial service for Fred on Wednesday, December 7 at 5:00 pm in the Trinity College Chapel. Following the service, there will be a reception hosted by the Department of English in the English Building, 115 Vernon Street.

Ruth Alexander's sister, Pauline, died on November 26 in her home on Cape Cod, following an illness of cancer.

From Carol Savery Frederick-2005 was very special for our family - 2 weddings and 3 grandchildren in one year. Paul Ballou Frederick Savery and Natasha Jean Perry, our foster daughter, were married in the gazebo at White Point Gardens, Charleston, SC, on Friday, May 20, 2005. Natasha's 3-year old daughter, Jillian, was a special part of the ceremony.
Victoria Lynn Frederick Savery and Mathew James Williams were married on Friday, October 7, 2005, at the Hampton Inn in Summerville, SC. Mathew's 5-year old daughter, April, and Jillian were the ring bearer and flower girl. The wedding date was chosen by the bride and groom in honor of Victoria's grandparents and my parents, Edward & Joanna Savery, who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary that day. Because of my father's failing health, they attended the wedding and participated in our meeting for worship via conference phone from Crosslands in Kennett Square, PA. I had the special privilege of being asked by my children to officiate at each of their weddings.

On Saturday, November 19th, 2005, Natasha and Paul gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Jenna Ivy Savery. She arrived at 12:38 PM, weighed 8 pounds and is 20" long. I had the great pleasure of being there to help with the delivery. Jenna was also a very special present for my husband / her grandfather, Bill Frederick, whose birthday is the same day.

From Mary Jane Todd---Ben Todd was married in 2004 and lives with his wife, Colleen Mulligan in Roxbury, MA. Ben is founding a foundry and Colleen works on an organic farm. Sarah Todd is completing her last year of culinary studies at Nicholls State University in Thibodeux, LA and is preparing for an externship between now and May, 2006 when she will graduate.

What do you think about the reductions in the Meeting's budget?
The 2006 proposed budget reduces both the expected income from individual donors and expenses, mostly in the area of Hartford Monthly Meeting contributions to other organizations and causes. The Finance Committee proposes these reductions based on lower than expected contributions from individuals in 2005 and due to expenses associated with repairs and maintenance of the meetinghouse. At the November Business Meeting, we asked Friends to e-mail their requests for changes in the budget to Jim Reik, whose e-mail address is now jamesreik@sbcglobal.net. A final budget for 2006 will be approved at the Dec 18 business meeting. It is the only item on the agenda. Copies of the proposed budget are posted in the meetinghouse or contact Jim Reik.

PLEASE CONSIDER A YEAR-END CONTRIBUTION TO HARTFORD MEETING

Our budget year ends on December 31. Your financial contribution helps pay for the heat, lights, maintenance of our meetinghouse; for materials used in religious education for adults and children, for contributions we make as a meeting community to wider world of Friends and for peace and social concerns within our own community. Your donation is tax-deductible. Contributions to the meeting can be mailed to the Assistant Treasurer, Ruth Alexander, 22 Carpenter Lane, Bloomfield, CT 06002 or placed in the Treasurer's mailbox (located in the shelves behind the table with snacks).

Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship
Hartford Meeting will hold its traditional candlelight programmed worship on December 24 at 5 pm in the meetinghouse. If you have suggestions for the program, contact organizers: Rishona Hines, Lillie Catlin or Kevin Victoriano. All are encouraged to attend and bring guests.

Creative Listening Groups Forming in 2006
As Hartford Meeting prepares to launch Creative Listening groups, Anna Moberly has summarized a lengthy article about Creative Listening Groups in Claremont Friends Meeting during the late 1970's/early 1980's. The article, provided by John Stamm, is entitled FELLOWSHIP IN DEPTH AND SPIRITUAL RENEWAL THROUGH "CREATIVE LISTENING": SUGGESTIONS FOR LEADERS OF GROUP DIALOGUES.

In the Claremont Meeting, the nine members of Ministry and Counsel began the project by meeting one evening a week for six weeks. Meetings lasted for two hours, included shared worship and a time for answering questions relating to a theme or thread of experience. The initial group found the experience so powerful that ultimately the entire Meeting participated in Listening Groups and at the time the article was written, the Meeting made use of such dialogues each year thereafter.

Claremont Meeting's experience inspired them to create guidelines for the formation of Creative Listening Groups. They suggest that groups consist of eight to twelve individuals, and that a balance of gender, temperament, and spiritual experience be sought when forming the group. Six to eight sessions are recommended with the last session being a purely social evening.
Groups generally focus on one or two questions an evening. They stress the importance of the following considerations:

" answers should come from feeling and experience rather than theory or opinion,
" answers should be given in turn, rather than through volunteering,
" the option to not answer should be fully respected,
" there should be no discussion of what participants have shared,
" what is said should be held in confidence, and
" the leader should participate as one of the group.

They stress that the emphasis is on the sharing of experience without commentary on that experience. "[T]he spirit we seek to establish is not unlike that of a meeting for worship. The core of this receptiveness is mutual trust resting upon spiritual faith which, in its fullest sense, is love."

Meeting for Business 11/20/2005

At 11:50 A.M. thirty Friends gathered in silence beginning the meeting for Business.
Committee Reports

Ministry and Worship: John Stamm reported the sense of the committee that in response to requests from individuals regarding ministry, spiritual requests should be made to Worship and Ministry, and financial requests should be made to the Meeting for Business, and then to the Finance Committee. This was approved.

The Creative Listening Project will begin in January, in collaboration with Pastoral Care.
The Candlelight Prayer Meeting for Iraq will continue on the second Thursday of each month. No action has yet been taken on a sign for the public. Diane Randall will follow up on this.

Pastoral Care: Otis Brown reported that the Creative Listening Project consists of 6-8 weekly meetings, two hours each, and that sign-us have begun. Also, holiday cards are being sent to Friends who have not attended recently. There will be a marionette show on January 14th at 2 P.M. The newcomers Pot Luck will be on December 3rd at the Meeting House.

Religious Education: Lynn Johnson reported that there will be no First Day School on November 27 or on December 25th. The Nursery will be open on November 27, but not on December 25. There will be an ornament sale sponsored by the middle schoolers after the rise of Meeting on December 11th. The Christmas Pageant will be held after the rise of meeting on December 18th.
First Day School is looking for teachers for the January-March unit on the Bible, for the 4-5th grade class and for the Junior High class. See Lynn Johnson or Diane Randall if interested.

Finance Committee and Treasurer: Jim Reik presented the report on the construction of the budget for 2006. He noted that discretionary funds were ranked from less to most discretionary in terms of which items could be cut the most. Tim Allen announced that he was resigning as Treasurer.

Tim Allen presented the budget proposal for 2006, and noted that the issue of how to handle bequests should be decided by Meeting for Business. Other members of the Committee expressed concerns, in that we need to take steps as we are nearing the end of our financial reserves. Another suggested the creation of a Development Committee to both generate funds and to educate members and attenders of the costs and needs of the Meeting. It was noted that in the past "angels" would step forward to rescue the Meeting, but that members with such means are no longer so common.

Tim responded to question about the budget, which included concerns about the cut to New England Yearly Meeting, (we have paid the full amount this year), accounting for the Retreat expenses, whether commitments to areas of wider concerns would be honored, (we traditionally wait to the end of the year), the role of a property manager, concerns about the roof, questions about raising the fee for use of the Meetinghouse (we are often higher than area churches), cuts in programs run out of our Meeting. It was decided that the budget will be approved after considering concerns, at a special Called Meeting on December 18th, after the Christmas Pageant. Requests and comments on the proposed budget should be forwarded to the Finance Committee by December 14th.

Thanks were expressed to the Finance Committee and the Treasurer for all with difficult work they have done on this "Document of Witness" in a time when the practical demands of the buildings drive the budget and contributions are down. It was noted that NEYM has a Development Committee, and that they have recognized the pressures on Monthly Meetings. Diane Randall is a member of that committee.

It was suggested if cuts are approved that a letter of explanation be sent, explaining that it is financial constraint, and not a loss of support for the institution in question. Use of the contribution box, and reminders of how one can contribute to the support of the Meeting were also encouraged.

The Development Committee has attracted the following volunteers: Diane Randall, Jamie Taylor, Kiki Eglinton, John Flint, Carolann Boucher, and Mary Lee Morrison, convener.
Building Use LouAnne McDonald reported the committee's recommendation for the following change to the Building Use Guidelines:

Current Wording approved 5/17/91: No Social Activities to which admission is charged for the purpose of raising money. This includes previous sale of tickets or tables. This does not include admission charges for honoraria.

Proposed Wording: No social activities to which admission is charged for the purpose of raising money. This includes the previous sale of tickets or tables. However, an suggested donation may be requested at the event.

This change was approved.
Buildings and Grounds: A message was read from Ginny Allen who was absent due to illness. It concerned the demands on the Treasurer and Clerk of Buildings and Grounds because of the condition of the Meetinghouse and the Maplewood Properties. These jobs have become overwhelming, including extraordinary time requirements and emergency calls. Ginny stated she is willing to continue as Clerk of Buildings and Grounds, but not as Maplewood Properties Clerk.
A Minute was approved expressing gratitude to Ginny and Tim for the incredible burdens they have shouldered in the service of the Meeting. They assumed difficult jobs; they have clarified the jobs and acted to remedy problems with creative and energetic engagement. The Meeting is responsible for dealing with the issues raised as community and corporate responsibilities. To ease the transition it was suggested that a new point person, perhaps the property manager could step in for a limited time as the person to be called for Maplewood Properties. This was approved. Lynn Johnson, John Flint and Carolyn Flint will consult with Ginny regarding her contacts and the transition process. Deb Humphries will contact the Maplewood Committee regarding filling the Clerk position. Finance Committee will contact Tim regarding nominating a new Treasurer.

The Fire Marshall has cited a number of corrections to the building to be in code compliance. Some of these corrections are required for Quaker Lane Cooperative Nursery School (QLCNS). It was suggested that a working group, including Buildings and Grounds Clerk, nursery school liaison, Carol Shilliday, and a representative from Finance Committee meet with the Board of QLCNS to determine how costs to remedy the code corrections will be handled.

At this point Cynthia Reik stepped in as Acting Clerk .

Peace and Social Concerns: John Stamm announced that Wayne Boulton will be Co-Clerk of the committee.

Memorial Minutes for Dick Boulton and for Elsa Cullen are in process, in consultation with their families.

The Ad-Hoc Committee on Quarterly meeting announced that John Humphries and students form the Peace-Builder Camp will present a program about their activities on Opting Out of participation in Patriot Act recruitment for the armed forces. Quarterly Meeting will be on February 5th, 2006 here at Hartford meeting. It is our turn to nominate a Clerk for Quarterly Meeting, and Bill Upholt will check on the details and logistics of that process.

Christmas Eve Service will be shepherded by Lillie Catlin, Rishona Hines and Kevin Victoriano. Additional volunteers are welcome.

Library Committee announces that the drawers have been approved and will be built and installed soon

Betty Chapin wrote to request a transfer of membership to Keene Monthly meeting. This was approved.

Meeting ended in silent worship at 2:05 P.M.
Eleanor Godway, Clerk Cynthia Reik, Acting Clerk David Holdt, Recording Clerk

Financial contributions to Hartford Meeting may be mailed to Assistant Treasurer, Ruth Alexander, 22 Carpenter Lane, Bloomfield, CT 06002.

HARTFORD MONTHLY MEETING
Of the Religious Society of Friends
144 South Quaker Lane
West Hartford, CT 06119