Concord Quarterly Meeting
Virtual on Zoom/In-Person
at Birmingham Meeting – January 26, 2025
(Zoom link will be posted here before event)
8:15 - 8:30 am Sign in
8:30 – 9:45 Quarterly Meeting for Business (childcare available) Agenda includes 2025 QM budget planning, 2025 State of the Meeting reports, and threshing of a minute on LGBTQ+ solidarity
10:00-11:00 Meeting for Worship (worship begins with all ages together for a story about the Great Families of Abraham, told in the manner of Godly Play.)
11:00 – 11:15 Break
11:15 – 12:15 Middle East Presentation and continued children’s programing
12:15 pm Lunch (provided)
Deepening Our Understanding, Finding a Way Forward
PYM’s Middle East Collaborative Friends share on Palestine and Israel
Jon Evans, Westtown MM, spent several years as a representative for Catholic Relief Services in Jerusalem in the 1990s. He and his wife, Melissa Graf Evans have taken several trips to Israel/Palestine with Friends school groups, and Combatants for Peace. Deb Wood, Westtown MM, taught history at Westtown School. While there she developed a Genocide Studies course, and taught several units on the more recent Middle East as part of other courses. She also participated in a trip led by Jonathan and Melissa to Palestine/Israel, and traveled there with Community Peacemaker Teams, and the Compassionate Listening Project.
Jonathan, Melissa, and Deb will share with Friends, initiatives they are involved with led by Quaker, interfaith, and secular groups. They will provide some historical context for these initiatives, as well as Quaker involvement in the Middle East.
Children and Youth Program: There will be a children's program that is still being organized.
The youth program will be guided by Firas Mourtada, who came to the United States as a Syrian refugee. He will discuss his perspective on the situation in the Middle East.
Childcare will also be provided during meeting for business.
For more info, email concordquarter@pym.org
Birmingham Meeting is located 1245 Birmingham Rd. West Chester, PA 19382
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