Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting Adult Class Program Fall/Winter 2020 All classes meet Sunday mornings from 9 to10:15 am via Zoom September 6 | Listening to Friends of Color 1 We will be considering the Fellowship of Friends of African Descent Minute Regarding State- Sanctioned Violence (2016) and the Epistle of 2020 Annual Pre-Gathering Retreat of Friends General Conference. Facilitator: Carla White, of the CHFM Ad Hoc Committee on Racism FOFAD September 13 | Listening to Friends of Color 2 African-heritage Quaker leaders, founders of three local community organizations, will inspire and challenge us: Victoria Greene (EMIR -- Every Murder is Real), Jondhi Harrell (The Center for Returning Citizens), and Ayesha Imani (Ujima Friends Peace Center). Facilitators: Linda Clark and Ellen Deacon, of the CHFM Ad Hoc Committee on Racism Ayesha Imani October 4 | Humanitarian and Peace-building Response to Conflict: Syria, Palestine, and Beyond Presenter: Michael Merryman-Lotze, Director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Middle East Program. Merryman-Lotze has managed development programs in Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, and throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Sponsored by the Refugee Support Working Group Merryman-Lotze October 11 | Discovering Our Vocal Ministry Ministry shared in meeting for worship is a reflection of the vitality of our individual and collective spirituality. This spirituality is manifested in the character of our worship and the orientation of our daily lives. By seeing how our approach to worship and to life impact our ministry, we can envision ways to strengthen both. Presenter: Jorge Arauz, a CHFM member currently residing in Ecuador Jorge Arauz Sponsored by the CHFM Worship and Ministry Committee November 1 | The Mystery of Dying Well Dying is an emotional, social, and spiritual challenge, not just a series of medical procedures to be left in the hands of clinicians. When we look to the border between life and death, we find mysteries that affirm the original visions of George Fox. We do, indeed, seem to be made of Light and to be made for Love. Presenter: Gary Soulsman is a former co-clerk of the Friends Conference on Religion & Psychology. He teaches a class on the Mysteries of Death & Dying at the University of Delaware’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Sponsored by the CHFM End of Life Working Group CHFM Adult Class Program Fall 2020 (continued) November 8 | Two Quaker Gardens: Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting and Historic Fair Hill Join us to explore and share stories of urban gardening in these two very different locales. Presenters: Cyane Gresham of the CHFM Landscape Committee and Jean Warrington, Executive Director of Historic Fair Hill CHFM garden December 6 | Effective Altruism: The Best Ways to Benefit Others We will discuss how to determine the most effective way to benefit others, as opposed to only doing what feels good, and how this can approach partner with Quaker values. Facilitator: Kathryn Mecrow-Flynn, Philanthropy Educator and Curriculum Developer of “The Life You Can Save” (thelifeyoucansave.org). December 13 | The Clearing & the Forest: Spiritual Themes in Recent Works Composer Scott Ordway’s work is passionately multidisciplinary, exploring a diverse array of contemporary themes with a primary focus on the relationships between religion, philosophy, literature, and the natural world. Presenter: Scott Ordway, Composer, Assistant Professor of Composition at Rutgers University, and CHFM attender. Scott Ordway January 3 | Is Quakerism a Class Act? Today, members in the Meetings in Friends General Conference are largely drawn from the professional middle class. How might that affect a Meeting’s culture, and the chance that members of other classes will feel welcome even if drawn to Quakerism by our spirituality and testimonies? Presenter: George Lakey, with help from CHFM’s Eileen Flanagan. George Lakey has published ten books on change. He twice staffed Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and co- George Lakey founded A Quaker Action Group and Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT). January 10 | On Reparations (Details TBA) Facilitator: CHFM member Jude Brandt. To obtain the Zoom link for a given class, please contact [email protected] up to two days in advance. We are very happy to have you join us, but for security’s sake, we’ll be asking for your name and Meeting affiliation, if any. Admission to the class will be “locked” at 9:15, so please plan to arrive on time. Please consider joining us for worship after the class at 10:30. .