Germantown Monthly Meeting Religious Society of Friends

Happy New Year to all of our friends and Friends! We continue to worship virtually twice a week through the magic of Zoom. If you would like to join use, please send a message or find the email address on our webpage so that we can send you the link. You can phone in if you prefer or join with video for the full experience. Please stay home, stay healthy and join us for worship if you would like. www.germantownmeeting.org

Friends we will continue to worship online for the foreseeable future, but you can still meet with us virtually. All are welcome to join us on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. You can join with a computer or call in from a phone. For more information, see the Friday Bee, the message on our website or message us through Facebook. http://gmm.gfsnet.org/wordpress/

Airing tonight on WHYY at 7pm, the film Quakers, the Quiet Revolutionaries. Don't miss it, theres so much to learn about our history! https://quakersthefilm.com/

As we reconsider so much in 2020, July 4th is a very complicated holiday. Here in the voices of Frederick Douglass' descendants are his words from a speech given in 1852, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Powerful words that have as much for us to consider today as they did so many years ago when they were written. If you would like to see a live version of this speech today (July 4th) in Germantown, join others at the Concord School House & Upper Burying Ground at 2pm, masks required.

On Sunday we gathered outside of Germantown Meeting to participate in bell tolling in honor of Black lives, joining with other Meetings. These are photos from our bell tolling, there will be a video to share soon and the American Friends Service Committee will also share a video from all of the Meetings. This action was inspired by the Poor People’s Campaign’s bell tolling for houses of worship. We hope this action will unite our community with other religious and spiritual ...communities who have participated in Tolling Together. Every year, hundreds of Black lives are violently taken by police. The vast majority of their names and stories are hidden from us. On Sunday, we came together to speak the names of 100 people who we refuse to forget. We refuse to be silent when it comes to the murders caused by white supremacy in the United States. Each of these people were members of communities and families, and their lives matter just as much today as when they were alive. We tolled the bell in honor of each person’s life, and in solidarity with those currently on the front lines of liberation. We will use this action as a step toward further conversation and mobilization as a community. Black Lives Matter today and every day, and we are committed to acting on this belief as a Quaker community.

Thinking about moving forward and better ways of policing our City, tune in to hear as Ras J. Jondhi Harrell participates in a larger discussion. Tuesday, June 30th at 5pm, save the date!

Friends, there will be a vigil this evening (Sunday) at 6pm, see the details below. There will be another vigil on Thursday, June 18th at 6pm at Janes Memorial UMC at 47 East Haines Street. There are options to participate online if you need to stay home to stay safe!

An update from Ras J. Jondhi Harrell about the clean up at the Healing Center.

If you are able to help, there will be a community clean up today.

Some bad news from our member Jondhi Harrell. The Community Healing Center in North Philly has been vandalized. More details in his video including information on how to donate to help him rebuild. He is doing really wonderful work here, supplying food and books among other resources to the community. https://www.facebook.com/rasj.h1/videos/3584866581543500/

A news article about our member, Jondhi Harrell. We are so glad that he is in recovery and using his experience to educate others.

Friends, we had a lovely virtual Meeting this morning, Sunday 3/22. Many thanks to Bill Cozzens, Melissa Elliott, Karen Lightner and every else who helped to make this possible! Thank you also to everyone who joined us to make this virtual meeting such a success. It was truly a wonderful way to come together while staying at a distance. Featuring everyone's home, a few pets and lots of good vibes. We will gather again next Sunday, so please reach out to join us if you missed this week. If you need a Meeting during the week, Pendle Hill is hosting virtual meetings in the mornings from 8:30 am until 9:10 am on a daily basis. www.pendlehill.org

The following meeting will not be held in person, check the website for more information and to see if there will be virtual meeting options. Remember that Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) Continuing Sessions will be on Saturday, March 28th at Westtown School. All Friends and attenders are warmly invited to attend the Continuing Sessions of PYM, which will be held on Saturday, March 28, at Westtown School in Chester County, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. You'll get a chance to wo...rship with a wide group of Friends, hear about what's going on in the work of "collaboratives"-- groups of PYM Friends who are working on specific issues, eat together, and expand your circle of friends. There are separate programs for children, youth, and Young Adult Friends (18-35ish). Child care is available. To see the day's schedule and register, see the link. https://www.pym.org/event/spring-continuing-sessions-2020/ See more

Please check the Pendle Hill website for all updates on this event. Save the date and reserve your space or live stream the Stephen G. Cary Memorial Lecture at Pendle Hill on Monday, April 6th at 7:30pm, featuring historian Thomas Hamm. Quaker historian Thomas D. Hamm, will speak in the Barn at Pendle Hill. He is professor of history at Earlham College, occupying the Trueblood Chair in Christian Thought, and is Director of Special Collections at the college. In his talk, he ...will tell about the complicated route ninety years ago to founding Pendle Hill, a Quaker study, retreat, and contemplation center in Wallingford, PA. The route to Pendle Hill's experiment in contemplation and activism began in England and North America. Along the way, it crossed paths with "chocolate, the Salvation Army, Bible colleges, Harvard professors, Quakers behaving badly, and people who lived in communities committed to folk dancing and goat herding, as well as a variety of luminous Friends," according to a description of Hamm's talk. He is a member of West Richmond Friends Meeting of Indiana Yearly Meeting, with a long involvement with leading workshops at Pendle Hill, being part of the Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists, Friends Association for Higher Education, and national and regional library and historical organizations. The Stephen G. Cary Memorial Lectures, named after a much-loved, admired, and well-known member of Germantown Meeting, was established in 2004 with an endowment by Norval and Ann Reece in concert with publication of Cary's memoirs, Intrepid Quaker: One Man's Quest for Peace. For more information and to register, see the link. https://pendlehill.org//event-registration-stephen-g-cary/ See more

The following will be a virtual experience, please email [email protected] if you would like information about joining. The virtual space will be available starting at 9am and the Class will begin at 9:30am to allow for any technical issues. Join us for Adult Class, Sunday March 22nd at 9am when Deborah Cooper will lead us in quiet meditation, reflection, and sharing. Deborah writes, "Most of us long to be peaceful and happy, and yet our lives and the world around us... frequently present us with situations that cause anxiety and pain. Two thousand, five hundred years ago, the Buddha discovered the way to live that makes it possible to experience tranquility and joy in spite of various difficulties we encounter day to day. in this class, we will explore some of his teachings and learn ways to help ourselves navigate everyday challenges so we can experience more peace in our world." See more

Friends, we have had to make some difficult decisions in light of recent events and in order to keep our community healthy. To support the process of physical distancing that the City of Philadelphia is asking everyone to practice for the safety of the larger community, we are suspending our traditional Sunday morning Meeting for Worship until further notice. We are working on a virtual option so that friends can continue to worship together at a distance. If you are already on our email list, you will soon receive more information. If you would like to join our email list, please email us at [email protected] and we will add you to our list. Thank you all for staying home and staying safe, we are holding everyone in the light.