For the schedule of upcoming events, see the list below. For the monthly Queries, see December: Meeting for Worship. (The red text on this page and within this web site contains embedded hypertext links. Click on a red link to open the web page associated with that link.)
Announcements
Reno Friends Meeting is currently holding Silent Worship at 10:00 am on Sundays on Zoom. Our First Day School is open at parent request on Sundays when we gather in person, and will be held outside, if possible. Please contact clerk(at)renofriends.org a few days in advance if you would like to request First Day School for your children . We are also holding online meetings, fellowship, spiritual discussions and yoga on Zoom. For details on using Zoom, see our Zoom guidelines.
December 2021 Reno Friends Meeting Schedule
Sat. Dec. 4 – Christmas Cookie Exchange, 11 am at the Meeting House (details below)
Sun. Dec. 5 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10 am (details)
Tues. Dec. 7 – Zoom Ministry & Oversight Committee Meeting, 11 am
Wed. Dec. 8 – Zoom AM Embodying the Light, 10-11 am (details)
Thurs. Dec. 9 – Zoom Clerks’ Committee Meeting, 11 am
Sun. Dec. 12 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10 am (details)
Sun. Dec. 12 – Zoom Meeting for Business, 11:30 am
Thurs. Dec. 16 – Brown Bag Lunch at the Meeting House, hosted by Melanie and Peg, 12 noon
Sun. Dec. 19 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10:00 am (details)
Wed. Dec. 22 – Zoom AM Embodying the Light, 10-11 am (details)
Sun. Dec. 26 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10 am (details)
Reno Friends Meeting Event Details & Other Notices
Reno Friends Meeting is currently holding Silent Worship on Zoom at 10:00 a.m. with fellowship afterwards. Here is the recurring Zoom link for online Silent Worship:
https://zoom.us/j/98305205938?pwd=cDZseGdLbWMyYWZsZDdiN00rMjRUZz09
For Silent Worship on Zoom, we have developed a set of Zoom Worship guidelines. For those who would like to learn more about Zoom in advance, go to https://westernfriend.org/media/how-use-zoom-videoconferencing. If you would rather sit in Silent Worship quietly at home rather than online, we invite you to send after-thoughts, joys and concerns, and requests to hold people in the Light to Rhonda at rhondalou14(at)gmail.com. Our worship clerk will read them at the next Silent Worship.
Christmas Cookie Exchange Sat. Dec. 4 at the Meeting House, 11 am
Join us for the popular Christmas Cookie Exchange in the Meeting House Garden on Saturday, December 4 from 11 am to noon. Bring 2-3 dozen of your favorite, homemade holiday cookies to share, and a Tupperware for the cookies you will take home. Dress warmly, as we will gather in the garden to chat while we take turns going into the Meeting House to select our cookies. Also, please bring a mask to wear in the Meeting House (or also in the Garden if you are unvaccinated). We will have coffee and tea, or bring your own hot beverage.
Ongoing Website Housekeeping
Starting last summer, Wendy and Jana have been working to update our little website, https://www.renofriends.org/ . We’ve made a bunch of small changes:
- You may now browse our blog post archive by category: The Meeting Community, Quaker Testimonies, Quaker Practice, and The Quaker World.
- We added web pages about our Social Gatherings and Fellowship, our Lending Library, and our Meetings and Committees.
- For simplicity, our list of upcoming events is now in one place — the current newsletter.
- That we are an unprogrammed meeting is a little more prominent on our home page.
- We have some new photos, particularly on the Meet Some Reno Friends page. If you have some nice photos of Friends at recent fellowship activities, please do share them with Wendy or Jana.
- We don’t expect this to get much use, but it’s now easier to find and read back issues of the newsletter. Also, the newsletter is now shorter and quicker to read.
- The website is now running current software, and is with a new hosting provider.
- And, maybe best of all, we have more disk space available so we can add more pictures to our website and update some of the older photos.
Charlie carefully went through the whole website looking for and fixing broken links, (thank you, Charlie) so we think it should be in good shape now. Should you find something that needs fixing, email webmaster (at) renofriends.org.
Consider Supporting Quaker Earthcare Witness
Those who support Quaker Earthcare Witness, a Quaker-led environmental group, say they believe it is important for Quakers to have a place to share concerns about the planet within the context of Quaker values, while also being cared for. “It is inspiring to be a small part of a community of Earthcare activists,” said one member. If you’ve enjoyed and benefited from reading BeFriending Creation this year, please consider making a donation to support our efforts. In peace, Hayley Hathaway, Editor, BeFriending Creation
For suggestions of books recommended by Quaker Earthcare Witness, click here: https://www.quakerearthcare.org/article/qews-favorite-books
Other Quaker Activities & Announcements
College Park Winter Quarterly Meeting: Sat. Jan. 15, on Zoom
Reno Friends Monthly Meeting is a member of College Park Quarterly Meeting (CPQM), a quarterly meeting of the unprogrammed Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in northern California and northern Nevada. CPQM holds Quarterly Meetings in the Winter, Spring and Fall, which are gatherings of Quakers from all the member Monthly Meetings, and it also provides support for member Meetings. There are 24 Monthly Meetings and six Worship Groups in CPQM. The next College Park Quarterly Meeting will be Sat. Jan. 15, on Zoom. Registration details to come.
Pacific Yearly Meeting
Pacific Yearly Meeting is a community of “unprogrammed” Friends (Quaker) Meetings in parts of Mexico and the western USA. After decades of independence, PYM recently became affiliated with Friends General Conference. In FGC there is another PYM, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, so Pacific Yearly Meeting is now known as PacYM instead. Reno Monthly Meeting is a member of PacYM, and uses the PacYM book Faith and Practice which sets out the beliefs of Friends, PacYM’s structures and processes, and the spiritual foundation of these processes and of our way of worship. Western Friend is the official publication of Quakers in Pacific, North Pacific, and Intermountain Yearly Meetings. PacYM is a year-round community, and holds a four-day summer gathering called “PacYM Annual Session.” The dates for the 2022 Annual Session have not yet been announced.
Ben Lomond Quaker Center Workshops
Ben Lomond is still operating despite pandemic restrictions, but most programs are currently held online. For more information about their Quaker programs and retreats, including Worship Sharing and Silent Worship, or to donate, go to http://www.quakercenter.org.
Reno Friends Newsletter: How To Contribute
Submissions: Please submit your items for the newsletter by the 25th of the month for inclusion in the following month’s newsletter. Send Friends events and information to Reno Friends newsletter editor Wendy Swallow, wswallow54 (at) gmail.com, or leave a message on the Meeting phone, (775) 329-9400.
Getting the newsletter in the mail: If you need to receive your newsletter by postal mail, please notify RFM newsletter editor Wendy Swallow by emailing wswallow54(at)gmail.com or calling 775-473-5559.
Donating to Reno Friends in 2021
If you would like to support the Meeting, donations should be sent to our Meeting Co-Treasurer Charlie Shepard at his home at 4395 Mountaingate Drive, Reno, NV 89519. Or you can send money to the Meeting via your bank using the Zelle payment application, which most banks offer for free. To make a Zelle transfer, you’ll need Reno Friends’ bank account number, which you can get by emailing Charlie at cshepard54(at)gmail.com. Zelle eliminates the need to write a check and, for our Treasurers, to deposit your check at the bank. Thank you from Reno Friends!
Donate New Stamps to the Homeless
Want to help those in need? Donate new FOREVER stamps to be distributed to the homeless through the Reno Family Resource Center. Put stamp donations in the little drawer under the bulletin board in the Meeting House.
Carson City Worship Group
The Carson City worship group meets every Sunday of the month for unprogrammed worship from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm in the living room of the Rectory of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Carson City. Attenders are asked to wear a mask. St. Peter’s, located at 314 North Division Street, occupies a small city block in the heart of Carson City’s Historic District. The Rectory, an historic two-story brick house, sits just south of the church building. If anyone would like to be connected to the Carson group, just email clerk(at)renofriends.org.
Quaker Mission Stamp Project
Stamping for Dollars, previously know as The Quaker Stamp Project, helps the poor through Right Sharing of World Resources, a Quaker organization that provides micro-grants to groups of very poor women for starting up a business. All live in impoverished areas in Africa and India. To support this worthwhile program, save canceled foreign and domestic stamps, and send them to: Stamps for Right Sharing, c/o Indianapolis First Friends, 3030 Kessler Blvd East Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46220. For more information: https://www.rswr.org/stamp-program. You can help make a difference in the world – one stamp at a time!
Outside Non-Profits That (Previously) Met at the Quaker Meeting House
NOTE: These groups are negotiating their return to our Meeting House. Please contact the groups directly for updates.
Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm, and every Saturday from 5 pm to 6 pm. ACA is a world service 12-step program for those struggling with the legacy of growing up in an alcoholic or dysfunctional home. These groups are open to all.
Citizens Climate Lobby of Northern Nevada works with local and national legislators to pass a carbon tax and dividend to help stop global warming. CCL meets the 4th Tuesday of the month, 6:30 to 8 pm (except for Dec.). For more info, email Betsy Fadali at bfadali(at)sbcglobal.net. Feel free to bring friends and neighbors, if they are interested. For more on CCL, go to www.citizensclimatelobby.org.
Write for What Canst Thou Say?
Tell us your stories! What Canst Thou Say? (WCTS) is an independent publication co-operatively produced by Friends with an interest in mystical experience and contemplative practice. WCTS is a worship-sharing group in print. We hope to help Friends be tender and open to the Spirit. Articles that best communicate to our readers are those that focus on specific events and are written in the first person. We welcome submissions of articles less than 1500 words and artwork suitable for black and white reproduction. It is published in February, May, August, and November. The editorial and production team is Muriel Dimock, Lissa Field, Mariellen Gilpin, Judy Lumb, Grayce Mesner, Mike Resman, Earl Smith, Eleanor Warnock, and Rhonda Ashurst.
Reno Friends are welcome to email submissions to Rhonda Ashurst at rhondalou14(at)gmail.com. Please send your text submissions in Word or generic text format, and artwork in high resolution jpeg files. Photocopied art and typed submissions are also accepted. All authors and artists retain copyright to their articles and artwork published in WCTS. WCTS retains the right to publish initially and to reprint in WCTS anthologies.