Olympia Friends Meeting made the decision – because of the risk of transmission of Coronavirus COVID-19 when meeting in person – to close the Meetinghouse to our own events and renter’s events for the foreseeable future.
So that we are able to continue having Meeting for Worship on Sundays at 10 a.m. and other meetings, we will be meeting online with Zoom, a video conferencing tool. You can see our calendar of current Meetings and events here. Zoom is successfully used by Quaker organizations to let people meet “face-to-face” to conduct committee meetings, and many Monthly Meetings are making the move to it or something similar for the same reason we are now – so that we stay connected as a community and are able to worship together.
With Zoom it is not necessary to download anything or to sign up for an account. You can connect with a computer or a cell phone, or you can call in on a land line.
Here are some directions from Zoom on how to join a meeting:
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-Joining-a-Meeting
And here are some great directions from Chapel Hill Friends Meeting – with our thanks:
https://www.chapelhillfriends.org/zoom/browser.html
Before joining a Zoom meeting on a computer or mobile device, you can download the Zoom app from the Zoom Download Center : https://zoom.us/download. If you don’t do that, you will be prompted to download and install Zoom when you click a join link. You can at that time also cancel the download and click on “If you cannot download or run the application, join from your browser.”
To join the Meeting for Worship, we gather starting around 9:45 AM on Sunday mornings, and have a few minutes to greet each other. When it is 10:00 AM, quiet your surroundings and yourself (mute if possible unless you are led to speak during worship) and be present in the Zoom meeting as you would be entering the Meeting for Worship at the meetinghouse.
Please make sure your computer or cell phone camera is turned on because it’s really nice to see each other’s faces in this time of isolation.
Once you’ve “entered” you’ll see the faces and names of the others who are present.
Please mute yourself by clicking the button on the bottom left of the screen and then if you want to speak you can un-mute yourself there.
The Meeting for Worship will close with the moderator thanking us.
We’ll take some time for introductions (alphabetically by first name since we can’t go around in a circle) and announcements, and then have some “virtual” social time.
To join the Meeting:
Link: https://zoom.us/j/395448936
There is a password. Ask us if you need it. (See below)
or if using the ZOOM app: Meeting ID: 395-448-936
You can either choose to connect with your web browser or download the Zoom app for cell phones and computers. When you click a link to join a Zoom meeting the first time, you will be offered the opportunity to download the app. This is not necessary. You can choose to do that or to connect via a browser.
If you do not have access with a computer or cell phone, there is also an option to call in on a phone line, though without video.
Phone: (253) 215-8782 or (301) 715-8592.
Calling in international? Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aemqdrgb4W
If you are using your browser, you may need to approve Zoom to use your camera in the lower left of your screen so we can see you in video.
If you want to download the app ahead of time, do that through the app store on your cell phone or this link for your computer: https://zoom.us/client/latest/ZoomInstaller.exe
If you have a problem, slow down and try again.
Questions ahead of time? Contact our Hearthkeeper via this form or call (360) 561-7067 (calls only, no texts). Inquiries left after 9 a.m. Friday will be replied to the following Monday.
Find Other Quaker Worship and Fellowship Online
See the information and links here: https://westernfriend.org/quaker-worship-and-fellowship-online
which is created and maintained by Western Friend, the official publication of Quakers in Pacific, North Pacific, and Intermountain Yearly Meetings.
Bayard Rustin was raised by his Quaker grandmother. In high school he protested segregation at a hometown restaurant and was arrested for sitting in the whites only section of a theater. Rustin’s belief in nonviolent action as a means for social change gave him a guiding vision for the civil rights movement. He helped A. Philip Randolph plan a March on Washington in June, 1941. Abraham Muste, executive secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, who had also been involved in planning that march, then appointed Rustin as FOR’s secretary for student and general affairs. Rustin met Martin Luther King Jr. in 1956 after traveling to Montgomery, Alabama, to assist with the boycott of the city’s segregated bus system, and is credited with helping to mold the younger King into an international symbol of nonviolence.
Bayard Rustin was the primary organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.
