Fort Collins Quakers

Howdy, Friends-

Meeting for Worship:
Please join us this Sunday, July 12, in one of three ways to attend Meeting for Worship: "Plain" worship in the side room in the Meeting House, or at the blended Meeting held in the Meeting House, or on the Peace Chapel. All begin at 10:00 am.

First Day School:
First Day School focuses on loving others and learning about our community and earth, encompassing the Quaker testimonies of “SPICES,” i.e., Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship. Join us each Sunday in July.

July 12: Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, 11:30 am
Please join us in person or online on July 12 at 11:30 am for Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business. All are welcome. This will be a blended business meeting, both in-person and virtual. If you wish to join the meeting virtually, use the zoom link HERE.
Dial-in number 1 (669) 900-9128.

July 19: Potluck following Meeting, 11:30 am
Please join us for our monthly potluck on July 19. Bring something tasty to share or simply bring your excellent self!

July 21: Interested in the Quaker Founders?
If you would like to meet with other Friends to discuss the lives and teachings of George Fox and other founders, our first book study will be The Story of George Fox by Rufus Jones. The book is on Kindle and Amazon, or here is a link to the free audiobook: https://youtu.be/kb28dwfoBXU?si=Q-6O54WzgNWsFU7y. Our first meeting will be held Tuesday, July 21 at 6:00 pm discussing four chapters per meeting. There is a possibility that this will be a blended meeting, but that has not yet been finalized. Please contact the following people for the location: Samuel Cole at [email protected] or 970-449-2729; or Veronica King 870-214-8480 or [email protected]

Learning from a Transgender Quaker
Recently a number of us gathered to listen to a Pendle HIll webinar in which Kody from Albuquerque Friends Meeting eloquently interlaced the Trans experience with Quaker values. Many attendees who heard the talk felt it was so rich they want to hear it again. If you want to hear it for the first time or revisit it, the link is HERE.

Coming Soon to a Meeting Near You: A Healing Prayer Circle
We are developing a Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Healing. This will be an hour-long meeting to hold individuals in the Light, held online one Saturday per month. Requests for those to be confidentially held in the Light may be submitted by dropping a completed request into a box in the Meeting House or sent via email to Kimberly ([email protected]). If you are interested in participating or would like more information, contact Kimberly.

In peace and service,

Lo Rellergert
Clerk, Fort Collins Friends Meeting

Colorado governor signs law protecting LGBTQ+ kids from conversion therapy. Again The new law comes two months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state's previous ban on the dangerous and discredited practice.

Thanks to those who joined the May First Monday Lecture last night with Jim Fussell! It's now up on YouTube in case you missed it: https://youtube.com/live/y4PPNcGgsTs?feature=share
Please join us next month for Kody Gabriel's "Non-Creedal Genders: Quaker Spirituality and A Love Letter to Trans Kids" First Monday Lecture on June 1. They'll explore the spiritual gifts of trans identity, put Quaker theology and gender liberation in dialogue, and offer practices of resilience for keeping ourselves whole in the face of political and social oppression. . Register for free to join in person or online at https://pendlehill.org/calendar/non-creedal-genders/

The number of US military personnel seeking advice about becoming conscientious objectors has increased by 1,000% since the start of the Iran war, according to a US nonprofit.

The Centre on Conscience and War (CCW) advocates for the rights of soldiers refusing to serve on moral grounds, and operates a “GI rights” helpline to help servicepeople with a variety of issues, including conscientious objection.

“I haven’t heard from a single caller who said, ‘I’m scared of dying in a war I don’t believe in,’” Mike Prysner, CCW's director, told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper. “All of them are scared of killing people in a war they don’t believe in.”

Prysner said most people calling for advice referenced the US bombing of a girls’ school in Minab on 28 February, which killed at least 175 people, mostly children.

The illegal US-Israeli war on Iran has killed 3,540 people, including 1,616 civilians and at least 244 were children, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.

US secretary of war Pete Hegseth said on 2 March that there would be “no stupid rules of engagement” during attacks against Iran, raising fears that this signalled an intention to commit war crimes.

US-Israeli attacks have destroyed or damaged over 113,000 civilian structures, including 90,000 homes, 760 schools or other educational centres and over 300 healthcare facilities, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

A US-Israeli strike on Monday caused significant damage at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, one of the country’s leading scientific universities. Iran’s first vice-president, Mohammad Reza Aref, accused the US of using a bunker-buster bomb – which can destroy reinforced structures by burrowing underground – for the attack, which he said was “a symbol of Trump’s madness and ignorance”.

“He fails to understand that Iran’s knowledge is not embedded in concrete to be destroyed by bombs,” Aref wrote on X. “No barbarity in history has ever been able to strip science from the Iranian people.”