Omaha Friends Meeting
Meeting for Business
Present: Curtis, Carol, Pam, Marilyn, Lynda, Frank
Announcements were passed around. This will probably be the last time that Nia is with us for a while. She is going to camps and taking vacations up until the time that she starts boarding school in Colorado Springs.
Calendar:
June 25 - Revelations – Part 3 – Curtis (suggested reading assignment will follow)
July 1- Potluck, Laura and Richard's 6:30ish
July 2- Disciple Revision -Carol
July 9- Query 7 - Pam; Lynda will do the query with the youth second hour.
July 16- Meeting for Business
July 23- Intergenerational - Religious Ed Committee
July 25-30 - Yearly Meeting at Scattergood Friends School near West Branch, Iowa
July 30- Open Discussion determined by those present
August 4-7 - Youth retreat, Penn Valley – talk to Debbie
August 19 - Paint-a-thon – contact Debbie
May's Minutes:
Committee reports, presented at Meeting for Business, are part of the business of the meeting. The newsletter editor is asked to include committee reports in the body of the minutes instead of attaching them separately.
Last names should be part of the filed minutes only. They should be deleted from minutes that are e-mailed or posted on the web.
The minutes were approved with the aforementioned corrections.
Debbie was approved to be a representative and nominating committee member at Yearly Meeting.
The librarian and recorders reports to Yearly Meeting were not found and could not be approved. It was mentioned that the recorder's report should mention member Dick Richards death.
It was noted that some of the query reports are missing. The comment was made, "That always is the case."
Peace and Social Concerns:
Pam asked that she be replaced as OTOC representative. No one present felt led to take her place. Anyone who feels led to be our OTOC representative is encouraged to contact a Peace and Social Concerns Committee member (see committee list, included). Meeting requests that the Peace and Social Concerns Committee nominate an OTOC representative at the July Meeting for Business.
Pam wished to note that based on the OTOC meetings that she has attended and the e-mails she received, it seems that OTOC's priority is large membership churches. There is a major emphasis on fundraising. Meeting asks the Peace and Social Concerns Committee find a date for a discussion program on OTOC and our Meeting's relationship to it. It was suggested that an effort be made to schedule this when Richard, Pam, and Bob can attend.
Marilyn gave Frank a letter from Nebraska Advocacy Services, an organization of citizens who advocate for people with disabilities. The Peace and Social Concerns Committee is asked to review the information to recommend how or if Meeting should be involved.
The Peace and Social Concerns report to Yearly Meeting was approved as amended.
Peace and Social Concerns
Omaha Friends Meeting
July 2006
The primary work of this committee is to serve as a conduit of information and to encourage others in their personal social justice involvement. A speaker is arranged for most months to discuss with Meeting a social justice issue. This has included the district county attorney who shared information about his restorative justice program, a state legislator discussing relevant legislation, someone discussing the national news topic of Omaha’s public school district’s proposed restructuring, FCNL news items, a speaker on Palestine and the Middle East, as well as many other topics. We continue to participate in the annual Paint-a-thon, where homes are painted for elderly and disabled residents. Our youth packed toiletry sacks for distribution through a local food kitchen.
Many individuals are very active in local, state, and national peace organizations including OTOC (Omaha Together One Community), FCNL, Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, and Nebraskans for Peace.
Financially, Meeting supports AFSC projects as they arise, FCNL, Dorothy Day House (a local food kitchen), and PULSE (a local organization for families who have lost a member through violence). Meeting has had a representative appointed to OTOC.
Ministry and Oversight:
This report was read:
Ministry and Oversight Report for business meeting June 2006
We wonder if the meeting might ask someone to temporarily replace Marshall on the committee while he is gone.
We have felt some concern about maintaining a spirit of love in our discussions and meetings for business.
No one volunteered to be on M&O during Marshall's absence. It was noted that Marshall can be reached by cell phone and that the clerks are exofficio members of every committee, also the committee is free to call on any member/attender.
The Meeting approved writing a letter of introduction for Nia, if she asks for one.
The Meeting asked M&O to find another representative to Yearly Meeting. Carol will ask Jules if he wishes to be the caretaker. Some of these positions may only be covered part of the week. Most of those going to Yearly Meeting are not going for the whole time.
Meeting authorized M&O to choose someone from their membership to replace Laura on the Yearly Meeting Ministry and Counsel Committee.
The State of the Meeting Report was approved as corrected:
Since last Yearly Meeting, Omaha Friends meeting has changed meeting places, worshiping now in the home of a member. We have also become incorporated, with the goal of eventual purchase of a building.
We value our contact with the Friends of Iowa Yearly Meeting at gatherings and through committee work. We also enjoyed meeting with Nebraska Friends from Central City, Kearney, and Lincoln, near Omaha in October where Bill Deutsch of Decorah led us in a discussion about meeting for business.
Discussions of drafts sections of the new discipline have been enjoyable opportunities to explore our beliefs and practices. We also are experimenting with trying to deepen our query discussions. Our natural tendency seems to be to critique society, and discuss what should be done. Sometimes these discussions are fruitful in the sense that we think of actions we can take, and sometimes we have taken action as a result of a query discussion. However, an outward focus seems to diminish opportunities for the practice of corporate discernment of how God might be working in our lives and in the life of our meeting. Reminding ourselves of this purpose, speaking from our own experience, and not attempting to answer all the questions of a query have helped us to deepen our query discussions. The children, now teens, have recently started writing their own separate query responses.
Last fall one member came to the meeting with a request for help in discerning whether he had a leading to walk from Omaha to Harrisonburg, Virginia in order to deliver a talk at Baltimore Yearly Meeting. We spent several weeks meeting together, not only trying to help this Friend discern his leading, but also trying to work out for ourselves how to do this discernment and what it meant. At times this was difficult. Though the meeting would not have been in unity to undertake this project itself, it was clear to us that it was a leading for our member, and that we wanted to help our member be faithful. We still struggle a bit with understanding our role, but having this question laid before us was a valuable gift to the meeting.
Our meetings for worship are sweet, though often wordless. Our meetings for business are sometimes marred by pressures of time.
Finance Committee:
The following report was made:
The Finance Committee wishes to remind the Peace and Social Concerns committee that it considers Brush Up Nebraska Paint-a Thon t-shirts to be a Peace and Social Concerns project. This includes not only the ordering and distribution of the t-shirts, but also the collection of the money and perhaps paying the bill. Although the details of t-shirt sales are the responsibility of the Peace and Social Concern Committee the following suggestions were made in November, when the budget was presented: The Finance Committee stated that they felt individuals should pay for their t-shirts before the order is placed. People stated that it is hard to know what t-shirts will cost in advance. The suggestion was made to charge $5 - $10 per t-shirt over last year's price, with the understanding that the amount above cost would be considered a donation to the Meeting for peace and social concerns projects.
If the exact cost of the t-shirts is collected, the bill can be paid directly by the Peace and Social Concerns Committee. If a donation above cost is made, the treasurer can pay the bill, after the Peace and Social Concerns Committee has finished collecting all the money.
Incorporation of the Meeting has been approved by the state of Nebraska. The next step is to announce the incorporation in the newspaper.
It was noted that the price of t-shirts is not tax deductible, since the purchaser receives a product. If the exact price is collected, checks can be written to the t-shirt coordinator and not Meeting, so the t-shirt coordinator can pay the bill directly. Concern was expressed about committees doing fundraisers. It was noted that this is done in other churches. Charging a bit more was a suggestion to accommodate possible price changes. It was suggested that maybe the Peace and Social Concerns committee could charge more in advance and then the Peace and Social Concerns Committee could offer refunds later, if appropriate, leaving the choice of making a donation to each individual. We decided to note the concerns and ideas, leaving the details to the Peace and Social Concerns Committee.
Religious Education Committee report for Yearly Meeting approved 6/18/2006
Our children are teenagers now, except for a grandchild who we are excited to have on occasion. The meeting has been concerned to try to involve them more with the adult community, and to this end, we have asked them to begin responding to the queries. They have also been spending a little more time in worship with the adults.
This year with the children we have continued to explore topics in the Bible, including the book of Revelation and its varied interpretations.
This summer we are being untraditional by studying unusual religions and philosophies, such as Baha'is, Goths, and Gnostics, and studying the environment. Our intergenerational worship programs - planned and carried out with the youth-- have included a Christmas play with distinctly political overtones, playing games together, and discussing racism.
Adult education is generally related to Peace and Social Concerns, but we have spent a few discussion times discussing the book of Revelation.
We have purchased from FGC Books the curriculum books: Quaker Response to Christian Fundamentalism, Dr. Suess For First Day Schools and The Friendly Seed: Teaching Children About Jesus.
All other business was deferred until next month