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QuakerShaker - Newsletter, June 2004
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QuakerShaker on-line distribution
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May 30, 2004 06:05 PDT
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This is the June 2004 QuakerShaker, Newsletter of the Yellow Springs
meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.
For information or feedback about the newsletter, contact the editor,
Ann Cooper, at adco-@aol.com. To unsubscribe from e-mail edition,
e-mail DABlan-@aol.com. To subscribe to paper e-mail edition,
contact Harold Putnam at HPu-@aol.com.
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In this issue:
1. June Calendar
2. Did you know…?
3. Friendly Living-
4. Simplicity Circle
5. A 50th Anniversary Celebration!
6. YS Friend to Speak at UD Symposium
7. A Job Well-Begun is Half Done (Or maybe more!) -Bruce Heckman
8. Contributions Pool: Proposed Distribution for Current Year
9. Excerpts For and By Quakers
10. Young Adults, Share a Vision! Take Political Action!
11. Summer Work with Youth at OVYM Yearly Meeting
12. Friends General Conference 2004 Gathering of Friends
13. From the Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting Calendar
14. From A Gift of Peace: Selections from A Course in Miracles
15. Monthly Meeting for Business
16. Agenda for Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
17. Sixth Month Query
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1. Calendar
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Sundays 8:30 a.m. Meeting for Worship, Rockford
11:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship,
Rockford(Childcare is available)
Wednesdays 7:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship, Rockford
Saturdays 12-1:00 p.m. Peace Vigil, corner of Limestone & Xenia Ave.
Sun., June 6 Monthly Meeting for Business, following a noon potluck,
Rockford
Sun., June 13 Treadway 50th Anniversary Celebration, Rockford, Noon (p.
2)
Tues., June 15 Membership & Pastoral Care Committee Meeting, 7:00 PM
Jane Morgan's home
Thurs., June 17 Simplicity Circle, 7:00-8:00 PM, Thorp home (See p. 4)
Sun., June 20 Deadline for July Quakershaker submissions
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Don't see your event or committee meeting listed here?
Contact the Quakershaker editor with information about times, places
and activities to be included in future newsletters.
Ann Cooper, 937/767-7973; Adco-@aol.com
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2. Did you know…?
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Quaker Earthcare Witness is a spiritually centered movement of Quakers
and like-minded people seeking to integrate concern for the environment
with Friends' long-standing testimonies for simplicity, peace and
equality. You can contact them at Quaker Earthcare Witness; 173-B N.
Prospect Street; Burlington, Vermont. Or phone 802/658-0308. Or e-mail
in-@QuakerEarthcare.org.
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3. Friendly Living-Mary Thorp
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Friends continue to meet at 10:00 a.m. on First Days to discuss writings
about living out our Quaker faith. The current book is Patricia Loring's
Listening Spirituality, Vol. II; please contact Dale Blanchard
(dablan-@aol.com) if you need a copy.
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4. Simplicity Circle-Mary Thorp
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The Simplicity Circle meets on the third Thursday of every month, from
7:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Thorps' house (1420 Southgate, 767-2815) to
discuss the Northwest Earth Institute's course on Voluntary Simplicity.
There may be extra copies of the study/reading guide available from the
Thorps. The next meeting will be June 17. Please join us!
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5. A 50th Anniversary Celebration!
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Allen and Carolyn Treadway will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their
marriage, at Rockford Chapel, Sunday, June 13, following the 11:00
Meeting for Worship. Food, conversation, memories and a few surprises
will be shared. For more information, contact Jennifer Peters:
937/767-7424, or run-@erinet.com.
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6. YS Friend to Speak at UD Symposium
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Friend Luanne Ebert will speak at the University of Dayton's Institute
for Learning in Retirement during a Chapman Revisited Symposium,
"Journey to Wholeness: Mind, Body and Spirit." The symposium runs June
7-10, and June 14-17, on the UD campus. Participants will focus on
optimal health and well-being. Luanne's presentation will be June 17,
from 9:30-11:45 am. Her topic: "Heal My Stress! - Heal Myself!" will
discuss how to find and use our innermost skills of healing in everyday
practical, doable ways.
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7. A Job Well-Begun is Half Done (Or maybe more!) -Bruce Heckman
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On Saturday, May 22, nineteen Friends gathered at Rockford to clean and
tidy the Meetinghouse, inside and out. They cleaned fan blades in the
Meeting room, the kitchen floor, rain gutters, the hymnal closet,
Meeting room chairs and benches, the fireplace, wall paneling, the
insides of all windows and the lower parts of the outsides. They also
repaired the bottoms of Meeting room chairs, dusted, vacuumed the
carpets, trimmed the trees and planted shrubs along the sidewalk and the
front of the Meetinghouse. They concluded their good day's work with a
Friendly potluck.
On Sunday, May 23, Friends gathered again at Rockford to plant a red oak
tree in memory of Barry Hollister. Both Barry and red oaks might be
characterized as deeply rooted and durable.
Jobs yet to be done include cleaning toys and books in the library;
labeling cupboards in the kitchen; getting rid of unneeded and broken
items in the kitchen; tending and adding to our newly planted flowers,
shrubs and trees; washing remaining exterior windows, and cleaning the
fan blades in the multipurpose room. The Ministry and Advancement and
Care of Meetinghouse committees encourage Friends to continue these jobs
as led. (Stand in thy clutter as long as thou canst!)
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8. Contributions Pool: Proposed Distribution for Current Year
List is available on our website http://quakershaker.net
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9. Excerpts For and By Quakers
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Some of the contributors to Irwin Abrams' recent book, The Iraq War and
Its Consequences, are Quakers, including Mary Ellen McNish (Executive
Secretary of American Friends Service Committee), Brian Phillips (of
Friends Service Counsel), and Helena Cobban (Senior Global Affairs
Fellow, University of Virginia, and columnist for The Christian Science
Monitor). Irwin has selected excerpts from these contributors, and from
others of special interest to Friends. You may find them on our website,
at http://quakershaker.net/Irwin_Abrams.htm. The site also provides
links to the publisher and to a local bookseller (Friend Dale
Blanchard).
Here are two examples:
We need to ask and answer, "What are the alternatives to war?" As we
know all too well, there are few alternatives once we are already at the
brink. Lasting peace depends on the hard and proactive work of
prevention. Our work at the American Friends Service Committee is to
take away the occasion for war and to examine our own behavior for the
seeds of war. But if we are to finally take away the occasion for war,
we must lift up an articulate vision of the world we want.
-Mary Ellen McNish
Stories of civic courage and kindness restore faith in humanity, remind
citizens that in each of us lie the seeds of goodness, and that even if
we have been unkind or unethical at one point, the next moment we may
find the strength to turn this around. Goodness allows for the
redemption of the individual and the collective self. It creates a sense
of dignity and allows us to act from a more mature perspective than from
a stance of unmitigated blame. By collecting examples of goodness and
humanity, societies that have been torn apart by war, places like Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Iraq and Afghanistan, have the opportunity to build
forward-looking communities with a chance for hope.
-Svetlana Broz, cardiologist, Tito's granddaughter, and author of Good
People in an Evil Time.
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10. Young Adults, Share a Vision! Take Political Action!
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Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) wants young people to
join in their lobbying, policy development, and education work to
promote peace and social justice.
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" Election 2004: Get information about voting, candidates, and issues.
" Go to Washington, DC.
" Bring FCNL to your school or Young Friends group.
" Learn about internships at FCNL.
" Learn more about the political issues that are important to you. Join
FCNL's young advocates network.
For more information, call 800-630-1330.
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11. Summer Work with Youth at OVYM Yearly Meeting
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Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio
July 28-August 1, 2004
Full-time, $400 for 34-38 hours; Part-time, $200 for 16-22 hours
Extra Pay for Lifeguard Certification
Provide references and resume
" For work with children ages 0-11, contact: Hannah Branson,
513-242-6668, bran-@cpsboe.k12.oh.us
" For work with youth ages 11-14, contact Lou Bucklin, 812-876-3558,
lbuc-@indiana.edu
" For work with teens ages 14-18, contact Jim Coppock, 513-321-3696,
urbanfe-@fuse.net (You must be at least 21 years old for this
position.)
For information about other work opportunities, visit the Quaker
Information Center website at http://www.quakerinfo.org/jobs.html.
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12. Friends General Conference 2004 Gathering of Friends
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Simple Lives: Radiant Faith
July 3-10 at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst
See http://www.fgcquaker.org/gathering for complete details.
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13. From the Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting Calendar
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Jun 5: OVYM Executive Committee Meeting, Earlham School of Religion
(ESR), 12-3:30 (EDT)
Jun 19-27: OVYM Teen Service Trip (tentative dates)
Jun 26: OVYM Discipline Revision Committee Meeting, ESR, 11-4:00 (EDT)
Jul 1: Last Day for directory changes (Information may be sent any
time during the year, but July 1 is the final day for material to be
included in the Annual Directory.)
Jul 3-10: FGC Gathering of Friends, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst
Jul 28-Aug 1: OVYM 184th Annual Session at Wilmington College
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14. From A Gift of Peace: Selections from A Course in Miracles
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Friends Billie and Dick Eastman recommend this book, edited by Frances
Vaughn and Roger Walsh. Here are several selections:
What would you see? Abide in peace,
The choice is given you. where God would have you be.
But learn and do not let your mind forget
this law of seeing: God knows you only in peace,
If hatred finds a place within your heart, and this is your reality.
you will perceive a fearful world,
held cruelly in death's sharp-pointed, bony fingers. His peace surrounds
you silently.
If you feel the Love of God within you, God is very quiet.
you will look out on a world of mercy and love.
Look with peace upon your brothers,
If you choose to see a world without an enemy, and God will come rushing
into your
In which you are not helpless, heart
The means to see it will be given you. in gratitude for your gift to
Him.
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15. Monthly Meeting for Business
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Minutes of the Monthly Meeting for Business, May 2, 2004.
Yellow Springs Friends met for business at Rockford Chapel, May 2, 2004.
Present were Jean Putnam, Harold Putnam, Fran Goodman, Carl Hyde
(clerk), Jane Morgan, Peg Champney, Bruce Heckman, Victoria Burks, Irwin
Abrams, Carolyn Treadway, Bill Houston, Hazel Tulecke, Dick Eastman,
Joan Brucker, Lorena Hyde, Allen Treadway, Ken Champney, Billie Eastman,
Deb Kociszewski.
The meeting opened in silence that included prayerful consideration of
the fifth query on use of time and talents.
1. Minutes: The recording clerk read the minutes from the April 4
Meeting for Business. In considering those minutes, we also revisited
the March 7 minutes and decided to change Minute 4 of the latter to
read:
Ministry and Advancement: A work session is scheduled for May 22, 2004,
at Rockford. There will be a Fall Retreat in 2004, probably in October.
Ministry and Advancement will form an ad hoc committee to plan the
retreat. Friends interested in serving should contact Bruce Heckman.
2. Miami Quarterly Meeting, May 16, 2004: Billie and Dick Eastman and
Ken and Peg Champney will serve as our representatives to Miami
Quarterly Meeting, to be held in Lexington, Kentucky.
3. Ministry and Advancement: Bruce Heckman reminded Friends of the work
session scheduled for Saturday, May 22, 2004, at Rockford, 1 to 5 PM.
The committee has assembled a list of tasks that can be accomplished in
the time frame. Friends decided to hold over the painting of the meeting
room to another time. Ministry and Advancement is planning to plant a
tree as a memorial to Barry Hollister, and they may also plant some
flowers.
4. At their parents' request, the children of our new members, Michael
and Mary Thorp, will not be listed as members.
5. Statistical Report: Bill Houston distributed copies of the
statistical report (for the year May 1, 2003, to April 30, 2004). It was
noted that our meeting had a net gain of one member for the year. A
couple of corrections were made: Mary Keefe is attending Earlham
College, and the incoming clerk is Dale Blanchard. The report was
accepted as corrected, and Bill will submit it to the Ohio Valley Yearly
Meeting.
6. Nominating Committee: Jean Putnam gave the preliminary report. Not
all positions are yet filled, but good progress is being made.
7. Contributions Pool: Peg Champney gave the report, showing which
groups will receive money and how much. The report was accepted and a
copy is attached to these minutes and will be included in the
Quakershaker. It was noted that some groups are receiving small amounts
from the Contributions Pool, in addition to larger amounts already in
the meeting's regular budget. (See page 3 for Contributions Pool
report.)
8. Traveling Minute for Irwin Abrams: The minute was returned by Irwin.
On it Derek Brett, clerk of Geneva Meeting in Switzerland, noted that
Irwin attended their meeting for worship on April 25, and after it gave
a fascinating account of his work on the history of the peace movement.
Geneva Friends also sent greetings to Friends here.
The meeting closed in silent worship. Friends plan to meet next for
business June 6, 2004, at 12:45 PM at Rockford.
Submitted, Bill Houston and Deb Kociszewsky.
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16. Agenda for Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
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Yellow Springs Friends Meeting, Sixth Month 6, 2004
1. Consideration of the Sixth Query on Family Relations
2. Review of minutes of May 22, 2004
3. Report of Representatives to May 16 Quarterly Meeting
4. Committee Reports: Final Report of the Nominating Committee
5. New Business
6. Next Meeting scheduled for July 11 (July 4 being a holiday). Dale
Blanchard will succeed Carl Hyde as Clerk.
The Quakershaker
June 2004
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17. Sixth Month Query:
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Do you make your homes places of love and hospitality? Do you make a
place in your daily family life for reading, meditation and prayer? Do
you share your deepest beliefs with your children, while encouraging
them to develop their own spiritual lives? Do you encourage their
interests in constructive, creative activities and their reading of the
Bible and other inspirational literature? Do you maintain a constant
companionship within your families by sincere and honest communication?
When unsatisfactory relationships exist within a family, is the loving,
sympathetic counsel of responsible and qualified persons made available
to its members?
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