New Building Process Schedule (2006)

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The following is a schedule of events related to our consideration of a new Meetinghouse for the latter part of 2006. Please pay particular attention to the schedule for this coming Sunday’s Meeting for Business—with a preliminary session immediately at the break of Meeting for Worship. We hope that most Friends can stay until 12:30.

Calendar of Events for the Balance of 2006 re: Building Project, Meetings for Business,
and Special Sessions

The process for considering our next steps in the new Meetinghouse project is at a point at which the Chestnut Hill Meeting community will have a number of opportunities in a relatively compressed time to shape the project and make important decisions. This, while we continue with the many other threads of our Meeting community life.

The following schedule of decisions aims at a fall, 2007 start-up on construction of a new meetinghouse, assuming that we are successful in our capital campaign and come to unity on the various decision-making items along the way. This is the schedule on which the various cost estimates of construction are based. If the fundraising or decision-making is delayed, new cost estimates will be required and will presumably come in at higher levels.

Here is a list of what is coming in the weeks ahead:

Sunday, October 15 – Meeting for Business - 11:45 – 2:30

This first item does not include decision-making, but rather provides us all an opportunity to take stock of where we are as individuals in this process. Immediately at the break of Meeting for Worship we will spend 45 minutes or so in a facilitated sharing and listening session, during which Friends will have the opportunity to reflect on and share their feelings about our process and where we have come in it. This will pick up on similar sessions a couple of years ago, and there will be other opportunities in the months ahead, at which times members and attenders will be able to check in with one another in settings at which no decisions are required. Mindy Lemoine will serve as facilitator of this session.

After a light lunch, the rest of Meeting for Business will resume at approximately 1:00 PM. We hope that most Friends in Meeting for Worship will be able to stay for this session—even if they can’t stay for the rest of Meeting for Business.

Saturday, October 21 – Follow-Up to the Design Workshop 9:00 – 11:30

The design team of Jim Bradberry and Carol Franklin will present 2-3 alternative design directions, based on what was learned from the previous workshop. This workshop session will focus on evaluating and commenting on the alternatives as part of a process leading to a recommendation of a single direction for Meeting consideration in November.

Sunday, October 29 – James Turrell to Speak after Meeting for Worship

We expect that James Turrell will worship with us and, after a light lunch, will share his thinking about the nature of his contribution to our meetinghouse project.

Sunday, November 19 – Meeting for Business - Client Committee Presents a Recommended Design Concept, for Approval

A substantial part of this Meeting for Business will be devoted to consideration of the Client Committee’s recommendation. The Meeting will be asked to approve one specific concept, which will direct the design team to take the next step and develop more detailed drawings. Approval will be subject to funding.

Sunday, December 10 – Called Meeting for Business

While we normally have no Meeting for Business in December, the pressure of the building project and the continuation of other events and processes in the Meeting’s life suggest the need, this year, to schedule one.

This is a daunting schedule. I trust that, together, we will be able to move toward a timely set of decisions and that those decisions are truly spirit-led. The decisions we have made to date have been incremental; they have been grounded, I believe, in our collective effort to find God’s will for Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting. We are now moving to a time of discernment that builds on the incremental decisions of the past. The decisions we will be asked to make will have major consequences for the Meeting community for the years ahead.

I pray that we will enter this important time with commitments to centered attention to God’s will for our community and to deep listening to one another.

Warren Witte, Clerk

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