Friends General Conference

Together we nurture the spiritual vitality of Friends
"Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone." - George Fox

Threshing (mourning, naming, discerning, exploring) Session

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   Ministry and Counsel has been in heavy discernment about Nashville Friends Meeting and where and how we are being called. We feel it is time to bring this work to our larger community. We would like to begin this by trying something new: A threshing session that will grow out of our next meeting for worship with attention to business on September 17th. 
   We trust the Holy Spirit to guide us but our basic idea is to begin business as usual, using a consent agenda* (which means that clerks will have to submit their reports with enough time for our Clerk Brian to send the reports out in time for everyone to read them), we'll attend to business with M&C last on the agenda.
   To thresh is to separate the grain from the chaff. That's what we'll be doing: Identifying who we are, what we carry, what we should release, what we're called to continue, and where we feel the Divine calling us as a Beloved Community. Nashville Friends Meeting has changed a great deal in the last few years. This meeting will be an opportunity for us to feel the losses we've experienced and identify who we may become.
Tentative agenda
worship
Naming what we've lost. 
worship
All the things we do.
worship
Are we led to lay anything down?
worship
What presence is God calling us to be in the world?
   We'd like to devote 2 hours to this first exploration, an hour more than meeting for business usually runs. We're going to ask the teens to care for the children and we'll provide food for everyone. We anticipate needing to schedule additional meetings as we discern where God is leading us.
  If you have questions or if you can't be present but have something you would like shared, please send them to Brian nfmclerk@gmail.com and Mary Linda friendlymama@aol.com.
   *Consent Agenda-Reports and business items that are straightforward and anticipated to need no discussion, and have been seasoned and approved in committee, are distributed in advance of the business meeting and approved as a single business item, without additional presentation. Questions or concerns about the contents of the consent agenda should be addressed to clerk Brian Wingate at nfmclerk@gmail.com several days ahead of the business meeting.

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