Worship and Action Update

August 23, 2002

Friends at home continue to meet, worship, and act. See the Peace Activity Notes & Links on the NYYM Web page (www.nyym.org/qr/nyympa). Please share the news with your meeting, and send yours to the Yearly Meeting office.*

This week the Worship and Action and Gospel of Peace minutes and the New York Yearly Meeting epistle were sent to the New York State Community of Churches Collegium, the New Jersey Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches, the NYC Council of Churches, and the Mennonite UN Office. (They had already been sent to "Friends everywhere.") When Friends reach out to other churches in our home communities, we can know that our message has been sent to the Methodist bishop, the Lutheran and Presbyterian presiding clerics, and others too. The minutes and epistle also were sent to the leadership of the Executive Branch and to members of Congress.

Some Friends from across New York Yearly Meeting are gathering on Saturday, August 24, in response to the call to shared worship and action for peace. Look for notes from this gathering next week.

Guidelines for New York Yearly Meeting assistance with Peace Initiatives are now posted on the Peace Action page of the Web site at URL. Questions about "tax exempt status" are addressed in the memo attached to this email and pasted below and will be posted on the Peace Action Web page.

The season is changing: what "sustained practice of shared worship and action for peace" do we long for? What sustains us?

We are receiving reports of meetings being scheduled with congressional Representatives and of ads and letters to the editor being published. Please consider sharing your experiences of shared worship and decision making, as well as news of actions for peace. We uphold and accompany one another as we walk this road in these times.

Peaceable greetings,

Linda Chidsey, Vicki Cooley, Fred Dettmer, NYYM Worship & Action working group

*New York Yearly Meeting, 15 Rutherford Place, New York, N.Y. 10003; 212-673-5750; office@nyym.org