3 October 2009 - Dover, New Hampshire

Present: Mary Ellen Cohane, Bain Davis, Katherine Fisher, Ian Harrington, Cliff Harrison, Jane Johnson, Stephen McKnight, Noah Baker Merrill, Aggie Mitchkoski, and Lillie Wilson

Regrets:  Erbin Crowell, Philip Mayer, and Patti Muldoon 
 
We opened with silence. 
 
With six new members present, we shared our hopes for the committee this year.  Hopes, interests, and thoughts shared included:

• Using the website to network with Monthly Meetings.
• Economic policies
• Finding the right place and action
• Past work on public policy at Massachusetts State House
• Connecting with the poor and homeless
• Combining action and contemplation
• “Colatteral damage” in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Need to listen
• Why limited success?
• Long-term effort needed
• Inching our way through dead dreams
• Coming out of a calm and centered place
• Focus on life – resurrection, not crucifixion
• Work for this lifetime and next to help US remember Iraq
• Helping Iraq refugees
• Learning what others are doing

Aggie proposed this committee attend the Viv Hawkins retreat at Woolman Hill (Sabbath-Jubilee: Liberating Us All, 29-31 January 2010).  After some discussion, we decided to consider this further later. 

Ian asked about Friends’ interest in being part of the Extended Worship Planning Group.  After some discussion, we decided we needed to know more about the group and its work before deciding what to do. 

We spent most of the rest of the meeting sharing thoughts of what we would like to do.  The suggestions shared included:

• Listening to what is happening in Yearly Meeting
• Speakers bureau?
• Resource center?
• Action local and out of worship
• Follow Gandhi:  personal transformation, political action, and constructive program
• Redoing the food system
• Getting to roots of violence – how eliminate violence?
• Engage with those with whom you disagree
• What does it take to be peaceful?
• Love of God is the source of peace
• Adopt a prisoner?
• Sponsor Iraqi refugees?
• A Testament of Devotion by Thomas R. Kelly.

As time ran out, we felt a need to have more time together to get started on our work for the year.  One possibility: share Woolman Hill with Earthcare Ministries during their retreat on 5 December (Note:  Earthcare Ministries has indicated since the meeting they would rather not join with us).  Can we get together by conference call or computer conference?  Is there a time and place we can get together?