Peace and Justice Meeting Minutes November 2011
Present: Amelia Mahan, Beth McAllister, Martha Ellington, Lois Gibbon, Ed Gibbon, Shirley Hubert, Linda Rodriguez, Bob Rodriguez
Present: Amelia Mahan, Beth McAllister, Martha Ellington, Lois Gibbon, Ed Gibbon, Shirley Hubert, Linda Rodriguez, Bob Rodriguez
Beth opened the meeting with a blessing around 12:30pm.
The group discussed how to spend the remaining P&J funds for the year, we have $864.23 in our account. This is what was decided.
$300 -- to Dan Buttry and his ministry
$164.23 -- to Baptist Peace Fellowship (yes, it's an odd number, but we need to spend every penny!)
$200 -- NC Council of Churches
$100 -- NC Power and Light
$100 -- Clean Water/Fracking organization
A video was watched in the Care of Creation Sunday School Class and it is certainly an economic justice issue. We discussed the possibility of bringing in two women speakers on this issue who Bob and Linda have heard speak before, perhaps for an after-worship event in the Spring
The group discussed wanting to donate funds to the Food Bank next year, possibly over the summer when their donations are historically low. It was felt that they would be getting a lot of donations around the holidays. The group also discussed wanting to donate funds to support the Occupy Movement but felt that more research needs to be done to determine where to donate and how the funds will be used.
We discussed the need for Peace doves for Peace Sunday in February. Linda graciously offered to create all of the doves as she is skilled at making them and can make 10 a day fairly easily. She wins the prize as the P&J member of the year! She said that she WILL teach us as some point, so we're not off the hook forever!
We discussed our retreat which will be in January. We talked about January 7th (there is a chance that Bob and Linda will be out of town). We also talked about the 14th. The group was in favor of possibly doing a Friday evening (maybe at Glenaire -- because we would love to see you Sally!) and then a Saturday, maybe until 1pm.
Topics for the retreat include the following:
Where are we now and where are we going?
How can we connect to other P&J groups in other churches?
What do we do well? How can we maximize on our strengths?
What topics would we like to cover in after-worship events in the new year? Everyone was in agreement that the after-worship events have been very positive!
I made an announcement about Sally's new poetry book and the event that will take place after worship on December 4th. All are encouraged to attend! Books will be on sale for $12 and all proceeds will go to the Hope Center. Thank you Sally!
The next P&J event will be the showing of the movie about the wall in Bethlehem on Wednesday, December 7th. Folks were in favor of having a reading of Luke 2, prior to showing the film, and then simply taking questions/discussing the film afterwards.
We talked about the idea of a P&J blog and everyone was in favor. Marc will develop a template over Christmas and hopefully we can share something for the group to see at the retreat. It was agreed that the blog would post information about events, maybe group members reporting on events they have attended, we might be able to connect with other like-minded groups in the church that are extensions of our group (Care of Creation, etc.). I think it would be great to have a list of book and movie recommendations. The blog will not have a discussion board as it will be open to the public and we don't want a lot of negativity taking over the page.
We adjourned at 2pm.
