October 2020
Announcements
World Quaker Day!

The Friends World Committee for Consultation is observing World Quaker Day on Sunday, October 4th. On this day, we are asked: What does it mean to be a Quaker today?

Nancy Riffer’s article below seems to be especially timely!
On the Internet: Quaker Reflections
— Nancy Riffer

In this time away from face-to-face gathering, I've discovered some wonderful resources on the internet that have helped me think about what it means to be a Quaker and what it would mean to be a “covenant community.”

Let me share some links and very brief (and incomplete) statements about what they include. I invite Friends to explore as there are many more where these came from.

Swarthmore Lecture, Britain Yearly Meeting, 2014
Ben Pink Dandelion

In this prepared ministry, Pink Dandelion outlines the four aspects of being a Quaker:
  1. We can encounter the divine directly
  2. We've developed ways to understand that experience and to discern when it is happening (our group process of discernment)
  3. We have forms of worship that nurture that encounter, that sense of the Presence
  4. We live our lives in line with our testimony (he says we do not have a menu of testimonies but our lives are our testimony).
How We Live Now

Left, Friend Eleanor is “back to school”... on Zoom, that is.

Right, Friend Lynn speaks with a Friend in his Quaker 8's dinner group. (The Friend is not actually a tree, but is on the phone in the tree.)
Register for NYYM Virtual Fall Sessions

Fall Sessions will be held virtually over the weekend of November 6-8, 2020. There will be time for worship, discernment, business, and social gathering. Held a few days after the general election, we expect Fall Sessions to be a time to gather together in waiting worship and for our hearts and minds to find peace among Friends. 

You are encouraged to register by Monday, November 2, in order to receive the Fall Sessions Zoom information. After the 2nd, it becomes more difficult to add you to the registration list and fill you in on the sessions information. Click this link to register now.

Advance documents and a final schedule will appear on the Fall Sessions page. And if you have not already filled out the Summer Sessions Evaluation Form, please do so! Your responses will help us refine and perfect our Fall Sessions.

— Elaine Learnard, NYYM Clerk and Dawn Pozzi, NYYM Sessions Committee clerk
Get out the vote

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2020. New York offers absentee ballots by mail to voters who will be unable to vote in person. New York offers early voting. Read more.
Mutual Aid Food Sharing Cabinets

The Tompkins Mutual Aid group is helping stock blue food cabinets all over the county and No Mas Lagrimas is providing a pantry on Thursday’s 3 to 5 behind old Greenstar Classroom. We have also been delivering food to people in quarantine, or single parents or elderly or for whatever reason can’t go. Please consider donating money or food to any of these aid efforts.


— Aleta Weaver
Green Haven Prison Meeting v. Department of Corrections

Friends, a group of Quakers is suing Green Haven prison, claiming religious meetings with prisoners ended. The Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument of the appeal in the Green Haven Prison Meeting v. DOCCS case for October 30.
 
Currently, all arguments are being done virtually. Friends are welcome to “attend” and it may provide an opportunity to impress the Court with the seriousness of this case to the Society of Friends.
 
If you think you may want to attend the argument, please let attorney Fred Dettmer of New Rochelle, [email protected], know. He will keep you apprised of scheduling details and how to sign in.
Where are Monthly Meeting minutes?

The minutes from Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business are on our website and can be found on the right-side column on the website. The minutes from September are here.
Virtual workshops from Powell House

Powell House is a retreat center for New York Yearly Meeting. Workshops continue on-line.

October offerings include:
  • The Lamb’s War for Racial Justice
  • PoHo Book Club reads An American Marriage
For more information, see: https://poho.org/
Worship at Hector Twice Weekly

Friends are meeting in-person, outdoors, on the grounds of the Hector Meetinghouse on Perry City Road.
  • Midweek: 5pm (note new time) Wednesdays
  • Sundays at 10am

Bring your own chair and wear your mask. Directions to the Hector Meetinghouse are here.
October Calendar of Ithaca Monthly Meeting
QuakerSpeak
Sunday, October 4, 9:30a

Join Friends to watch a brief QuakerSpeak video and discuss what you watched. This week, we will be watching "My Journey as a Transgender Quaker."
Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
Sunday, October 11, 12:30p

Please send agenda items to the Clerk by Monday, October 5. (Contact information is at the bottom of this newsletter.)
Women's Fellowship is Zooming
Friday, October 16, 6:30p

Bring your knitting, wear your best sweatpants... or not... and join us for an informal hangout. Hope to see you there!
QuakerSpeak
Sunday, October 18, 9:30a

Join Friends to watch a brief QuakerSpeak video and discuss what you watched.
Women’s Chair Yoga now by Zoom
Monday & Thursdays, 11a to noon
People are joining in now from several states, so being new to this activity isn’t a problem. Lots of focus on lung health these days. Email Nancy Gabriel by the evening before in order to receive the link: [email protected].
120 Third Street • Ithaca NY 14850
Gina Varrichio, Clerk
607-272-2512

Pat Sewell, Treasurer
Marin Clarkberg, Newsletter editor
Newsletter contributions due on
last Monday of the month at 5pm