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(no subject)
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Dale Blanchard
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Feb 03, 2005 13:38 PST
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This is the December 2004 e-mail version of the 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 or subscribe to e-mail edition, e-mail
DABlan-@aol.com. To subscribe or unsubscribe
to paper e-mail edition, contact Harold Putnam at HPu-@aol.com.
In this issue.
1. December Calendar
2. Children's Fair
3. Clerk's Corner
4. Letter to the Editor on Biographies
5. World Gathering of Young Friends
6. Dances of Universal Peace on New Years Eve
7. Christmas Eve at Rockford
8. From Freda Abrams’ Carol of the Winter Solstice
9. An American Muslim's Lesson from the Election
10. Meeting for Business, November 2004
**********
1. December Calendar
**********
Sundays 8:30 a.m. Meeting for Worship, Rockford
10:00 a.m. Friendly Living Discussion, Rockford
First Day School for Children
11:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship, Rockford (Childcare is available)
Wednesdays 7:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship, Rockford
6:30 p.m. Worship Sharing group, Rockford
Saturdays 12-1:00 p.m. Peace Vigil, corner of Limestone & Xenia Ave.
Sun., Dec. 11 4:30-7 p.m. Children’s Fair and Lasagna Dinner
(see below)
Sun. Dec. 18 Deadline for January Quakershaker submissions
Fri., Dec, 24 Christmas Eve Program, Rockford
Fri., Dec. 31 8:00 p.m. Abwoon Study Circle
9:00 p.m. Potluck 10-midnight Dances of Universal Peace
Sunday, December 18, is the deadline for submissions for the January
Quakershaker
Send submissions to Ann Cooper, at 937-767-7973, or email
Adco-@aol.com
**********
2. Children’s Fair
***********
Please come to Rockford on Sunday, December 11, for the annual
Children’s Fair and Lasagna Dinner.
The children have been making crafts items for sale and will provide
entertainment for dinner guests.
Proceeds from the event will go to support charitable projects and
organizations. Friends are also
encouraged to supply food for the dinner, which includes lasagna,
salad, bread, cider and desserts.
Contact Carol Simmons for further information, 767-1023.
**********
3. Clerk’s Corner
**********
Some guidelines for Friends and attenders of Meeting for Worship with
Attention to Business (inspired by
Arthur Larabee’s Workshop on Clerking, and conversations with clerks and
other Friends)—from Dale
Blanchard, MM Clerk
* Come to Meeting for Business without planning specifically what,
when, how, or even whether to speak
on a matter. Instead, prepare to be led by a force greater than
yourself. Prepare spiritually, not rhetorically.
* Enter into the meeting room in worship, leaving conversations outside.
* Listen in an open and accepting way to the statements of others,
receiving others’ views without defense
or attack.
* If strongly led to speak, do so even if you believe your insight may
be counter to what has been said or if
the conclusion seems set.
* Consider whether others have already said what you want to say.
* Wait to be recognized by the clerk before speaking
* After speaking concisely on a matter, wait for others to have a chance
to speak before asking to speak again.
* After others have spoken on a matter, spend time reflecting on what
has been said.
* Instead of speaking to individuals in the group, address the clerk or
the meeting as a whole.
* Avoid cross talking; consider if what you want to say to someone must
be spoken to the whole meeting,
or if it might better be addressed after close of meeting.
* If you are reporting for your committee, come prepared to speak
briefly and clearly about the work of your
committee. Written reports, however informal, are an aid to the
recording clerk.
* Remember to hold the recording clerk in the Light. It would help to
also hold the presiding clerk in the Light
If you believe the clerk has missed you or an item on the agenda,
address the clerk. If you believe the clerk
is not seeing another person's need to speak, address the clerk.
(Common Quaker practice is to say,
“Clerk, please.”) Be aware that though there may be an oversight on the
clerk’s part, in some instances,
the clerk may be intentionally waiting before proceeding.
**********
4. To the editor:
**********
Biographies of individual Friends in our Meeting are a help in getting
to know each other better. It
seems to be difficult to persuade people to write about
themselves. Perhaps someone on the clearness
committee for a new member could interview that person for a bio.
I especially enjoyed the piece that Irwin wrote about himself [for the
November Quakershaker].
Although I have known Irwin since 1947 I am still learning new
information about his involvement
with Quakers. He and Freda joined Palo Alto Meeting in 1939 shortly
after their marriage. They
continued as Friends from then on.
Friends may wish to know that after a long delay, the tapes of an
interview with Barry and Kay Hollister
in 1996 were transcribed a year ago. They concern the early days of the
Meeting. Copies can be made
from a text CD-ROM that is in the Meeting Archives under the care of
Claire Winold. —Lorena Hyde
**********
5. World Gathering of Young Friends
**********
We received this letter from Virginia Wood, Presiding Clerk of OVYM,
inviting Monthly Meetings and individuals
to donate to help OVYM reps and others attend the World Gathering of
Young Friends. Our monthly meeting
has made a donation, and we are extending this invitation to individual
members and attenders of the Yellow Springs
Monthly Meeting.—Dale Blanchard
"Yearly Meeting has been asked to appoint two representatives to attend
the upcoming gathering scheduled for
August 16-24, 2005, at the University of Lancaster in Great Britain. At
Yearly Meeting sessions in August,
we enthusiastically charged the Nominating Committee with the
responsibility for receiving names and discerning
who might represent the Yearly Meeting. We, the body of the Yearly
Meeting, must now assure that these Friends
might participate in this event.
OVYM would like to make it possible for our two representatives to
attend, as well as others from around the world.
Although the Yearly Meeting treasurer was authorized to accept donations
designated for the World Gathering of
Young Friends, no funds were set aside to cover anticipated expenses for
representatives except the normal travel
allotment of $200, which is provided to any representative named by the
Yearly Meeting. It is estimated that it will
cost each representative approximately $2,000 to participate in the
conference. This estimate includes air travel,
conference fees, and costs incurred before and after the Gathering. As
with most of our representatives, the young
adult Friends named by the Yearly Meeting will be asked to contribute
toward a portion of their expenses.
We invite Friends individually or as a meeting to be a part of this
historic event that will bring together young adult
Friends from around the world, by contributing not only to the expenses
of our own representatives, but also to
those of participants traveling from countries where fundraising is not
widely available."
OVYM invites individuals to make donations as they are led. Checks
should be sent to JP Lund, Ohio Valley
Yearly Meeting Treasurer; 6523 Iris Ave.; Cincinnati, OH 45313. Make
checks out to OVYM. Please designate
on the memo line if the check is for OVYM Rep to WGYF or for WGYF.
For more information about the World Gathering of Young Friends, visit
the website: http://www.wgyf.org
**********
6. Dances of Universal Peace on New Years Eve—Denise Runyon
**********
The Dances of Universal Peace New Year's event has become a tradition at
Rockford. This event is one of many
happening all over the world. The Earth will be encircled with prayers
of peace as each continent reaches midnight.
The Abwoon Study Circle will run from 8-9:00, a potluck will begin at
9:00, and the Dances of Universal Peace will go
from 10 to midnight. An internationally known leader/musician
from California will be visiting in the area and plans to
come to the YS event.
**********
7. Christmas Eve at Rockford
**********
As always, Friends will gather at Rockford this Christmas Eve for music,
fellowship, and a fine dramatic performance
by the children. The theme for this year’s play will be The Friendly
Beasts. Additional information will be announced
at Meeting as the time draws near. All are welcome!
**********
8. From Freda Abrams’ Carol of the Winter Solstice
**********
The trees are in naked forms
With their leaves gone.
Tell us, O evergreen,
Does life go on?
O holly and ivy and
Mistletoe too,
And fragrant fir, we find
Comfort in you.
Our wise men now tell us there’s
Nothing to fear.
There is a force that can
Hold the sun here!
And trees form their buds, waiting
Spring dress to don.
There is a force that will
Carry life on!
And Christmas bells tell us
The good news again:
There is a force that can
Bring peace to men.
So love and good fellowship
Joy and good cheer
Be with us all as we
Start a New Year!
**********
Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all
days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced
in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of
the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor
of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain,
abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks
to God. Romans 14: 5-6.
**********
9. An American Muslim's Lesson from the Election
**********
Bill Houston has provided the following commentary, written by Amer
Ahmed, who was born and raised in Springfield,
and who has worked actively to engage young voters in democracy. In this
piece, originally distributed on November 3,
Ahmed expresses great disappointment with any government actions that
appear to emerge from fear, hatred and racism.
Friends may be especially interested in his belief that even in times of
war and brutality, God’s lesson for us is about
love and healing.
As I tried to grasp the magnitude of the election results, I couldn't
help but feel anger and frustration. But as I began to
work through those feelings and emotions… I asked myself why would such
tyranny continue to be unleashed on the world?
Why must it get worse before it gets better? What is the reason and why
has the Most High allowed this to be? I realized
that it was because we have not yet learned lesson to be learned from
this time we are living in…
Unfortunately many people, especially Arabs and Muslims, are going to
suffer during this time of conflict. I've thought about
how the Palestinians are going to continue being brutalized and
dominated and how Iraqis will continue being unsafe in their
homes and how we as Muslims in America may become what the Japanese were
during WWII. I guess we…will have to
watch ourselves lose our sense of unity in the face of alienation and
hatred before we realize our common humanity..
…I feel that healing is quite some time away. We… seem to continuously
forget the lessons learned before. Germany
was a democracy and the Nazis were elected…German civilians later said
they didn't realize what the government was
doing and they got caught up in all that was happening and the
nationalism of the times. At the same time, those very
same people developed significant hatred for the Jews but never could
have imagined the brutality that the government
used to enforce that hatred. But they knew the Jews were being rounded
up and it didn't bother them one bit.
Today…hatred for Arab and Islamic tradition and faith linger in fearful
racism. We hear about Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo,
and the innocent people of Iraq and it's not real. When the soldiers are
asked why they did it, they say, "I was just following
orders." Just like the German soldiers [said] at the Nuremberg
Trials. Later when the lessons are learned, people will say
the same thing. We didn't realize what we were doing. But the truth is
that in the back of their minds they know, but they
don't want to admit that their fear, racism and hatred permit these
human atrocities to occur.
When you talk to German people today, they are ashamed of their history,
and they have learned the lessons of war and
now work in whatever way possible to avoid it. In 50 years, I believe
we'll look back at this time as one where people were
blinded and allowed the government to do all the things that they didn't
want to believe it was doing. They will say that they
didn't realize what was happening and that they got caught up in the
nationalism of the times. They will talk about how afraid
they were of being attacked by terrorists and how they thought we were
fighting wars in the name of freedom.
… If we preach hatred… we are essentially falling into the trap. If we
teach and live love and unity, we set an example…
of the healing that will occur after all the suffering. I guess that's
the lesson of this world for us. We're so forgetful as people
and we have to keep repeating the same mistakes and learning the same
lessons over and over again. I only hope that this
time the lesson will be learned for a bit longer than the times before.
**********
In the dew of little things, the Heart finds its morning and is
refreshed. --Gibran
**********
11. Twelfth Query:
*******
Stewardship & Business Relations Do you regard your possessions as given
you in trust and do you part with them freely for the needs of others?
Are your means of
livelihood in keeping with your ideals as Friends? Are you concerned
that your business be primarily a service to people? What are you doing
to foster upright practices
in business relations? Do you maintain strict integrity in all business
transactions? Do you bear a faithful testimony against all forms of
gambling?
QuakerShaker editor
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