October 2021 Newsletter
For upcoming events, see our Calendar. For the monthly Queries, see October: Peace. (The red text on this page and within this web site contains embedded hypertext links. Double click on any 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 Oct. 3, we will use our garden for Silent Worship as well as offering Zoom Hybrid Worship. For the rest of the Sundays in October, we will be holding Silent Worship on Zoom. Click here for the Zoom link. Please check here for updates on Garden Worship, particularly if the weather is questionable. Our First Day School is open at parent request, and will be held outside, if possible. Please contact clerk(at)renofriends.org if you would like to request First Day School for your children a few days in advance, if possible. We are also holding online meetings, fellowship, spiritual discussions and yoga on Zoom. For details on using Zoom, see our Zoom guidelines.
October 2021 Reno Friends Meeting Schedule
Sun. Oct. 3 – Garden Hybrid Silent Worship, 10 am (details)
Tues. Oct. 5 – Zoom Ministry & Oversight Committee Meeting, 10 am
Thurs. Oct. 7 – Zoom Clerks’ Committee Meeting, 11 am
Thurs. Oct. 7 – PM Embodying the Light, 7-8 pm, on Zoom (details)
Sun. Oct. 10 – Silent Worship on Zoom, 10 am (details)
Sun. Oct. 10 – Zoom Meeting for Business, 11:30 am
Wed. Oct. 13 – AM Embodying the Light, 10-11 am, on Zoom (details)
Sun. Oct. 17 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10:00 am (details)
Thurs. Oct. 21 – Zoom Brown Bag Lunch, hosted by Melanie and Peg, 12 noon.
Sun. Oct. 24 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10 am (details)
Wed. Oct. 27 – AM Embodying the Light, 10-11 am, on Zoom (details)
Thurs. Oct. 28 – Zoom Spiritual Discussion on “Personal Mystical Experiences” with Cliff Smith, 7-8:30 pm (details)
Sun. Oct. 31 – Zoom Silent Worship, 10 am (details)
Sun. Oct. 31 – Zoom Threshing Session on the “Future of Meeting Programs,” 11:30 am (details to come)
Reno Friends Meeting Events & Notices
Zoom or Garden Silent Worship every Sunday at 10 am, with Fellowship afterwards. Garden Worship is “Weather Conditional,” so check for last minute emails about whether we are in-person or on Zoom.
Reno Friends Meeting is currently holding Silent Worship at 10:00 am on Sundays. On Oct. 3, we will use our garden for Silent Worship as well as offering Zoom Hybrid Worship. For the rest of the Sundays in October, we will be holding Silent Worship on Zoom. Watch the emailed Weekly Update for the latest announcements. 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.
Zoom Threshing Session on the “Future Meeting Programs,” Sun. Oct. 31 at 11:30 am
In an effort to better understand the Meeting’s future needs for programs and building space, we will gather by Zoom on Sun. Oct. 31 at 11:30 am to discuss the kinds of programs we think the Meeting will need in the coming years. Over the last few years we have offered In-Person/Hybrid/Garden Silent Worship, First Day School, Spiritual Discussions and Adult Classes, Embodying the Light Yoga and Qigong, Singing, Potlucks and Brown Bag Lunches, and other occasional programs. Please bring ideas and join us for what should be an interesting discussion. (“Threshing Sessions” provide an opportunity to share opinions and nurture discernment, rather than to come to decisions. The leaders of the threshing session will report back to Business Meeting if decisions need to be made.) More information and a Zoom link will provided closer to the date of the Threshing Session.
Zoom Brown Bag Lunch, Thurs. Oct. 21, at 12 noon
The Brown Bag Lunch on Thursday, Oct. 21 at 12 noon, will again be hosted by Peg and Melanie in the Meeting House Garden. Lunching together offers an opportunity for informal conversation, learning more about each other and developing friendships within the Reno Friends Meeting. If the weather looks bad, there will be an email sent out that Thursday morning with a Zoom link, so the lunch can move to Zoom. Brown Bag Lunches are planned for each 3rd Thursday, in some form, over the coming months.
Zoom Ministry & Oversight Committee Meeting: Tues. Oct. 5, at 10 am
The next Ministry and Oversight Committee Meeting will be Tues. Oct. 5 at 10:00 am on Zoom. A link for that Zoom session, along with the agenda, will go out to those involved the day before. If anyone in the Meeting has a concern for M&O, please email M&O Clerk Wendy Swallow.
Zoom Clerks Committee Meeting: Thurs. Oct. 7, at 10 am
The next RFM’s Clerks’ Committee will meet Thurs. Oct. 7 at 11:00 am on Zoom to discuss the October Meeting for Business agenda. A link for that Zoom session, along with a draft agenda, will go out to those involved the day before. If anyone in the Meeting has an item for the Meeting for Business agenda, please forward it to one of the Meeting Clerks, either John Hervey or Mark Woolbright.
Zoom Meeting for Business on Sun. Oct. 10, at 11:30 am. SPECIAL TOPIC: Returning to the Meeting House for Silent Worship
Business Meeting will be Sun. Oct. 10 at 11:30 am, and we will be discussing (among other things) whether and how to return to the Meeting House for Silent Worship in the coming months. This Meeting for Business will be on Zoom. A Zoom link will be sent out by email to all in advance, along with the agenda. Everyone is welcome at Meeting for Business.
Embodying the Light: Evening Session on Zoom Thurs. Oct. 7 at 7 pm; Morning Sessions on Zoom Wed. Oct. 13 and Wed. Oct. 27 10-11 am
Rhonda Ashurst leads the “Embodying the Light” class of gentle yoga and Tai Chi/Qigong as a service to Reno Friends and the community. The First Thursday evening class will be Oct. 7 on Zoom from 7-8 pm; and the Second and Fourth Wednesday morning classes will also meet on Zoom, on Oct. 13 and 27, from 10-11 am. For all the sessions, we will do our Tai Chi/Qigong practice standing, but please have a chair or mat for our brief meditation. See our website for more details. Please watch the Weekly Schedule Update for the latest announcements and links for the Zoom sessions.
Zoom Spiritual Discussion, 7-8:30 pm, Thurs. Oct. 28, “Personal Mystical Experiences,” with Cliff Smith
Please join Cliff Smith for a Zoom Spiritual Discussion, Thurs. Oct. 28 at 7 pm, on “Personal Mystical Experiences.” The Zoom link for this discussion, and additional background material and queries, will be sent out later in the month. We welcome everyone.
Donating to Reno Friends in 2021
If you would like to support the Meeting, donations should be sent to our Meeting Co-Treasurer Katie Dwyer, at her home at 40 Arbor Oak Court, Reno, NV 89509. 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 our other Co-Treasurer Charlie Shepard at cshepard54(at)gmail.com. It eliminates the need to write a check and, for our Treasurers, to deposit your check at the bank. Thank you from Reno Friends!
Help Catie Polley Support a Youth Center in Naco, AZ
Catie Polley spent part of the summer helping her Aunt Lori with the opening of a youth community center in Naco, Arizona. They first opened El Centro at the beginning of 2021 have since began providing free music classes and a social space from kids crossing over from Mexico who attend school in Bisbee. They are now hoping to gain support in opening a small cafe within the center, whose proceeds would go towards funding the community center as a whole. However, in order to make this a reality, they need the support of those in their community and those abroad. Catie hopes Reno Friends will consider joining her in congratulating their success by learning more about the work they’ve done not only at El Centro but also in several other projects. Go to https://www.binationalarts.org/ to learn more and please visit their Go Fund Me page at: http://gofundme.com/f/el-centro. Additionally, if Friends are ever passing through Bisbee or Naco, make sure to stop by El Centro for a coffee or tea to make a meaningful impact on their beautiful community. Thank you so much! Love and light, Catie Polley
RISE Update
RISE is a local charity that serves Reno’s homeless and which is supported by Reno Friends. RISE, which stands for the Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality, is no longer managing the RISE & Dine meal service that Reno Friends have helped with in the past. Instead, RISE is operating the new family shelter, Our Place, and is monitoring other changes in the homeless community.
For a report on RISE from Steve Wolgast, the RFM RISE liaison, please see the 9/2021 Reno Friends RISE Report.
Quaker Earthcare Witness: Books on Climate and Care of the Earth
“Each of us approaches Earthcare from the calling deep within us. Some are called to advocacy; some are called to tilt at the political windmills; some of us are called to teach/share with others; some of us are called to regenerative agriculture and/or native plants. Each has its place in Earthcare. It’s important to find our own starting place – and that will guide our reading. Reading broadly can also help us find that starting place.” – Hope Ascher, Quaker Meeting of Melbourne. For some suggestions of recommended books, click here: https://www.quakerearthcare.org/article/qews-favorite-books
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.
Hold Them in the Light
Please hold the following in the Light: All who those who have lost loved ones or who have suffered illness during the pandemic; those who have lost jobs or business; everyone hurt and challenged by racism, war and terrorism; those who struggle with loneliness, sadness or privation; all those grieving over the epidemic of gun violence and police violence in our country, and for and all the people and leaders of our nation and all countries experiencing war or oppression, so that we may find peaceful resolutions to all our economic and political troubles. In particular, please hold in the Light: Sharonlee Souza; Arlene Van Cleave and her friend Joyce Lehrer; Jim and Sue’s daughter Karla; Peg’s cousin Cathy; Mark and Edie’s nieces Hannah, and friends Karen and family, Lee, and Bart; Rick’s wife Beth and all of San Jose Meeting; Melanie’s sister Stephanie; Erin’s friend Derek; Rhonda’s friend Deb; the animals at the roadside zoo in Reno; Suze and her friends Carolann and Linda; Joan Graham, her brother Tom, and her family; all the communities impacted by wildfires, the firefighters, and the forests; the people of Haiti and Afghanistan. To request prayers, or to add or subtract someone from the “Hold in the Light” list, please contact Rhonda Ashurst at rhondalou14(at)gmail.com.
Quaker Activities & Announcements
College Park Fall Quarterly Meeting, Oct. 15-17, on Zoom
The Fall Quarterly Meeting gathering will take place ONLINE, on the weekend of October 15-17. We will focus on the following two queries:
How are we finding spiritual sustenance in the time of pandemic, zoom, isolation?
How have we been able to support each other in our spiritual groundedness in this difficult time?
The suggested registration contribution is $40 per adult attender, but this is truly a “pay-as-led” event and we want to encourage everyone to attend, regardless of ability to pay. For more information and to register, go to https://collegeparkquarterlymeeting.org.
Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Fall Family Fellowship for teens and families at Camp Woolman (Sierra Friends Center) Oct. 9-10.
Join other Quakers for Family Fellowship at Sierra Friends Center, near Nevada City, CA. This event is pay-as-led. To register click here.
Ben Lomond Quaker Center Workshops
Ben Lomond is still operating, but most programs are currently held online. This October they are offering an online retreat: “Practices for Supporting Faithfulness,” Oct. 25-29, with Marcelle Martin. For more information about this program and others, including Worship Sharing and Silent Worship, go to http://www.quakercenter.org.
Ben Lomond Financial Appeal
Between COVID and the recent fires, Ben Lomond Quaker Center
has lost about $15,000 per month of budgeted income. We started out with some healthy reserves, we’ve cut back on expenditures and Friends have been exceedingly generous in offering financial support. But, as the pandemic continues, and as we recover from the CZU fire, we are nearly certain to approach the limits of our ability to stay afloat and to chart the course. Please help, as you are able: DONATE
British Yearly Meeting Shares a Daily Feed of Advices and Queries: Go to http://quakerthoughtfortheday.com/
Quaker worship and fellowship online through Western Friend Magazine: https://westernfriend.org/quaker-worship-and-fellowship-online
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.
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 Calendar 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 at: wswallow54(at)gmail.com or call at 775-473-5559.