For the schedule of upcoming events, see the list below. For the monthly Queries, see January: Spiritual Life. (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.
January 2022 Reno Friends Meeting Schedule
Sun. Jan. 2 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10 am (details)
Fri. Jan. 7 – Zoom Ministry & Oversight Committee Meeting, time TBA
Sun. Jan. 9 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10 am (details)
Sun. Jan. 9 – Zoom Meeting for Business, 12:00 pm
Wed. Jan. 12 – Zoom AM Embodying the Light, 10-11 am (details)
Sat. Jan. 15 – Midwinter clothing and non-perishable food drive begins (details)
Sat. Jan. 15 – Zoom College Park Winter Quarterly Meeting
Sun. Jan. 16 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10:00 am (details)
Thurs. Jan. 20 – CANCELLED: Brown Bag Lunch, hosted by Melanie and Peg, 12 noon
Sun. Jan. 23 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10 am (details)
Wed. Jan. 26 – AM Embodying the Light, 10-11 am, on Zoom (details)
Thurs. Jan. 27 – Zoom Spiritual Discussion on “Leadings” with Rhonda Ashurst, 7-8:30 pm (details)
Sun. Jan. 30 – 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.
Should Reno Friends Return to In-Person Worship? Share Your Thoughts!
Meeting for Business is soliciting opinions from Reno Friends on how and whether we should return to the Meeting House for In-Person Worship. A small task force is collecting thoughts and concerns, so if you would like to share, please email Wendy at wswallow54(at)gmail.com. The task force will report their findings at the Jan. 9 Meeting for Business (on Zoom at 12 noon).
Winter Clothing and Food Drive begins Jan. 15th, organized by Peg
The mid¬winter months can be long and cold for persons in need of food and clothing. Peg is again sponsoring the collection of warm hats, gloves, socks etc. (new or used) and also this time, non-perishable food, January 15th – February 15th. Peg will provide a collection box at her house. She welcomes suggestions about where to donate the clothing; the Sparks Food Pantry always welcomes food. If the Meeting approves in-person worship during this period, a box will be provided at the Meeting House.
Zoom Spiritual Discussion, 7-8:30 pm, Thurs. Jan. 27, “Leadings,” with Rhonda Ashurst
Please join Rhonda Ashurst for a Zoom Spiritual Discussion of “Leadings,” on Thurs. Jan. 20 at 7 pm. The Zoom link for this discussion, and additional background material and queries, will be sent out later in the month. We welcome everyone.
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. One members said: “It is inspiring to be a small part of a community of Earthcare activists.” 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 online at https://collegeparkquarterlymeeting.org/; see the email forwarded by Wendy for more details.
Pacific Yearly Meeting
Join Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Climate Action Workgroup
The Climate Action Workgroup of the Unity With Nature Committee of the Pacific Yearly Meeting (PacYM), invites you to connect with other Quakers who share the following concerns and aspirations:
We are already well into what must now be decades of disasters too late to avoid and rapidly worsening threats to all of life on this planet, and to our own existence as a species–caused by us and without precedent in human history. And yet, paradoxically, at the same time and for the same reasons, we are also blessed with the greatest opportunity we have ever had to transform society, help heal our planet and achieve a truly livable future.
What is it then, in these times, that we as Quakers are called to do? How can we find discernment as deep as the crises, the needs, and the opportunities demand? How do we give each other–and our communities—support for the intense feelings that surface whenever we face the full impact of these realities? How do we name, support, and live-into the grief, overwhelm, and even despair moving through ourselves, our meetings and our local communities? And by what processes–Quaker and other–do we find the clarity we need, and the courage and compassion to act as led—no matter the cost–in service of Life.
Moved by these questions, the Unity with Nature Committee has started a working group to reach all in PacYM who share these concerns and aspirations in order to exchange resources, help each other find spiritual guidance and, as led, take strategic action. In starting this effort, we have been specifically inspired by the recent report of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM), Moving Forward Together in the Face of Climate Change, that is “bringing us all under the weight of climate change as a corporate witness.”
Our Workgroup meets most Wednesdays and we are asking you to invite others in your Meeting who share these concerns to visit this meeting and, as led, to join in the work.
7:00-7:30 pm Wednesdays PacYM Midweek Meeting for Worship
Meeting ID: 813 4193 2011 Passcode: 131328
7:30-8:30 pm Wednesdays PacYM Climate Action Working Group
Meeting ID: 834 4514 1574 Passcode: 752059 [See also our Google Folder]
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.