San Francisco Friends Meeting Monthly Newsletter: February 2015

Monday, February 23, 2015

March (Third Month) 2015 Meeting Newsletter

65 Ninth Street

San Francisco, CA 94103

415-431-7440

http://sfquakers.org/

March 2015 Newsletter
(Third Month)

Meeting for Worship

& First Day School

Sundays at 11:00 a.m.

Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m.

Meeting for Worship for Business

Advices:

Come to Meeting with hearts and minds prepared to be open and faithful to the leadings of the Spirit. Then the conduct of business will lead to truth, unity, and love.

When a matter is before the Meeting for Business, each person present contributes to the corporate search for a decision that accords with the will of God. Inaction is a form of action. Silent worship in the Meeting for Business contributes to the process of achieving unity.

Listen attentively to others’ words and use the silence between messages to reflect carefully on what you might contribute. When you are clear, speak simply what is in your heart, without repeating what has already been offered.While making your insights clear, lay aside personal opinions and attend to what God requires.

Queries:

Do I attend Meeting for Business regularly?

Do I speak in Meeting for Business only when I am led to speak?

Is the Meeting for Business held as a Meeting for Worship in which we seek divine guidance for our actions?

Are we tender and considerate of different views, coming to a decision only when we have found unity?

Do we give prayerful support for our clerks that they may be sensitive to the movement of the Spirit among us?

San Francisco Monthly Meeting
February (Second Month) Meeting for Business

Meeting for Business began at approximately 1:06 pm with a period of silent worship with 26 people in attendance.

2-1 Meeting approves Minutes of January 12, 2015, with the following corrections: correcting the spelling of Lorin Gillin’s last name and the change of “Community Business District,” as published, to “Community Benefit District”.

Clerk’s Report: The Clerk read notes of thanks for donations and greetings from Ruth Frasier. We participated in a read-around on membership from Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice to see how our Yearly Meeting defines membership and to bring some more insight to what membership means. There was reflection on the reading.

Property and Finance: Amy Baker (Treasurer) presented the final position of the 2014 budget we ended up being $1,311 under on a total budget of over $120,000. Thanks go to Amy who has been working in the Treasurer capacity for 10 of the past 12 years and is stepping down. Nominating Committee will be looking at filling this position. Anyone interested should speak to Nominating Committee.

Ministry and Oversight: Larry Pettit gave the report for Ministry and Oversight and brought forward two new requests for membership and one request for release. Larry read both the recommendation from her visiting committee for and the letter of transfer for Lydia Clothier Conklin Cohen from Sacramento Monthly Meeting. He also read the letter of transfer for Gail Cornwall from University Friend’s Meeting as well as the recommendation letter from her visiting committee. We will be seasoning the transfers for the month. Larry also read Amy Lyman’s request for release from membership. This release will be seasoned for the month.

SFFS Quaker Life Committee: David Matchett reported for the committee. While there isn’t a formal method of communication for this committee, David wanted to report on his experience in working with the school and “bridging these cultures,” and hopes to report regularly in the future.

Rausch Street Committee: Philip Gerrie reported on the work that is still being finalized. We have been able to stay within our budget and a photo tour will be available when construction is completed so the community can see the results.

Peace and Social Concerns: David Breitzman reported on behalf of the committee and shared the joy of the status of projects under the care of the meeting. Last month's second hour with attender Devin McCutcheon was successful. A second hour in February will feature attender Cheryl Hendrickson on education in the prisons. The food pantry is getting new donations from the new market in the neighborhood and is helping to build community that has a depth of sharing. Friday Food Sharing has attracted a lot of young adult volunteers and is planning an upcoming fundraiser in March.

Nominating: Clerk Beth Bird submitted a report via e-mail that was read aloud stating the work of the committee will start soon and, in particular, a search for a new Treasurer is underway now that the current Treasurer will be retiring after ten years of service in this role.

The meeting closed with Joys and Concerns and silent worship at 3:08 p.m. Twenty-two people were present.

Respectfully submitted,

Ann Marie Snell, Recording Clerk
Chad Stephenson, Clerk of Meeting

Meeting News

Newsletter Committee News

Our redesigned website (http://www.sfquakers.org) has gone up and it is made for the 21st century, with a focus on newcomers to Meeting, including an interactive Google Map to our Meetinghouse, a section for first-time attenders, a guide to regular Meeting events, and a link to our newsletter. New features include videos from the QuakerSpeak video series about our faith practice, a 150-year history of Quakers in San Francisco (thanks to historian/archivist/member Bruce Folsom), and a link to our new Twitter feed (@sfquakers) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/sfquakers). We hope this outreach will better serve the Meetings communications for better inreach and outreach for our Quaker community. We look forward to improvements to the site in the future--please feel free to contact us with suggestions at news@sfquakers.org.

-Chad (web servant)

News from Friends

2015 March News from Ben Lomond Quaker Center

Join Doug Gwyn for Conversation with Christ: Quaker Meditations on the Gospel of John from

March 20th to 22nd. “Listen in” on conversations in John, learn what early Friends heard in them, and

enter into your own “conversation with Christ” through guided meditations. Register online at

http://www.quakercenter.org/gospel-of-john/

Sometimes we get so focused on world affairs that we forget what God has in store for us, individually

and as a community. Jim Anderson, Marilee Eusebio, Diego Navarro, Kathy and Bob Runyan

will facilitate a week of Living into Beloved Community, from April 6-11th (Monday - Saturday).

Our days will be filled with Bible study, worship, Quaker readings, periods of writing and reflection,

and shared enjoyment as we seek to know what it means to be, and bring forth, blessed community.

How do we live into it, and create meetings of vital spiritual presence and power? This program has

more limited capacity than most, so please register early at

http://www.quakercenter.org/living_into_beloved_community/

Whether or not you even expect to be a clerk, you take part in the clerking process every time you take

part in Quaker decision-making. Take advantage of this opportunity to work with Arthur Larrabee,

who has served as clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and led over 150 clerking workshops. Join us

from May 29 – 31 for Clerking: Serving the Community with Joy and Confidence. You will gain a

stronger connection between the core of our Quaker theology and our business structures, and better

understand the experience of coming to unity. We expect this workshop to fill, so please register

early at http://www.quakercenter.org/clerking-serving-the-community-with-joy-and-confidence/

Quarterly and Yearly Meeting News

College Park Quarterly Meeting

The upcoming College Park Quarterly Meeting session will be 5/15 – 5/17 at Ben Lomond Quaker Center

Pacific Yearly Meeting
The upcoming Pacific Yearly Meeting session will be 7/13 – 7/18 at Walker Creek Ranch, Petaluma CA

Google Groups for SF Quakers

The group named "San Francisco Monthly Meeting" is for sharing announcements or other news with the meeting community. If you wish to be added to the group, please send a request to clerk@sfquakers.org . You will also need to create a free Google user ID and password, if you don’t already have one, you can create one at https://accounts.google.com/signup?service=mail . The address of the group is sfquakers@googlegroups.com

A Google group for Bay Area Quakers is available at http://groups.google.com/group/bayareaquakers. The group is for Bay Area Quaker meetings, churches, and organizations, as well as individual Friends, to share news of events and activities that would be of interest to Quakers and the general public. Events do not need to be strictly Quaker. For more information, contact Tom Yamaguchi, tomyamaguchi@mac.com

Help on using Google Groups is also available at: http://groups.google.com/support

Submissions to the newsletter are due by the next-to-last First Day (Sunday) of each month in the News Committee mailbox at the meetinghouse, or by e-mail to news@sfquakers.org. This newsletter is also available for reading or downloading on our website at http://www.sfquakers.org/news.html.

Members of the News Committee are Kate McCarley (clerk, editor), Chad Stephenson (web servant), and Catherine Fox (production)

Calendar of Events for March 2015

(all events at 65 9th St., unless noted; *see details elsewhere in newsletter)

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1 9:30a Bible Study 11a Meeting for Worship, Community Potluck following	2	3 7p Property & Finance Mtg	4 1:10p SFFS Meeting for Worship† 6p Meeting for Worship 7p Ministry & Oversight Mtg	5 12p Peace Vigil‡ 7p Potluck & Quaker Study	6	7 10:30a-1p Food Pantry
8 11a Meeting for Worship 1p Meeting for Business	9	10	11 1:10p SFFS 6p Meeting for Worship	12 12p Peace Vigil‡ 7p Potluck & Quaker Study	13	14 10:30a-1p Food Pantry
15 9:30a Bible Study 11a Meeting for Worship	16	17	18 6p Meeting for Worship	19 12p Peace Vigil‡ 7p Potluck & Quaker Study	20	21 10:30a-1p Food Pantry
22 11a Meeting for Worship	23	24	25 6p Meeting for Worship	26 12p Peace Vigil‡ 7p Potluck & Quaker Study	27	28 10:30a-1p Food Pantry
29 9:15a Non-Violent Comm. Practice Group 9:30a Bible Study 11a Meeting for Worship	30	31	1 6p Meeting for Worship	2 12p Peace Vigil‡ 7p Potluck & Quaker Study	3	4 10:30a-1p Food Pantry

†San Francisco Friends School, 250 Valencia St. ‡Federal Building, Golden Gate Ave. and Larkin St.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

February (Second Month) 2015 Meeting Newsletter

65 Ninth Street

San Francisco, CA 94103

415-431-7440

http://sfquakers.org/

February 2015 Newsletter
(Second Month)

Meeting for Worship

& First Day School

Sundays at 11:00 a.m.

Midweek Meeting for Worship, Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m.

Spiritual Life

Advices:

The life of the spirit gains depth and vigor through devotional practices, prayer, study and meditation. Take time regularly for individual and family worship, discussions, readings from sacred texts, and other spiritual refreshment in order to live a more centered life and to bring a deeper presence to the Meeting for Worship.

Friends believe that the spiritual path is best found in community. Create opportunities in your Meetings for people of all ages to explore and express their evolving relationship with the Divine, their spiritual highs and their doubts. If different metaphors and language interfere with communication, listen more deeply, honoring the Spirit in which the thought and words have their beginnings.

Queries:

Do I live in thankful awareness of God’s constant presence in my life?

Am I sensitive and obedient to the leadings of the Holy Spirit?

When do I take time for contemplation and spiritual refreshment?

What steps am I taking to center my life and to stay open to continuing revelation?

Do we share our spiritual lives with others in the Meeting, seeking to know one another in that which is eternal?

Does the Meeting provide religious education including study of the Bible and Friends’ history and practices?

San Francisco Monthly Meeting
January (First Month) Meeting for Business
1/11/2015

Meeting for Business began at approximately 1:06 pm with a period of worship with 20 people in attendance.

1-1 Meeting approves Minutes of December 14, 2014, with the correction that Tim Schwarz was requested to be released from the Property and Finance Committee.

Clerk’s Message: A "modern" Quaker and outreach

The clerk started his message talking about Rufus Jones, a Quaker mystic who brought Quakers forward into a modern context and how one of his accomplishments was in helping to unify the various bodies of Quakers across the spectrum of Friends. The modernization effect he brought to Quakerism helped to keep Quakers relevant in today’s world and helped Quakers to be better communicators. The benefits of better communication between and among us, as well as with the outside world, can be miraculous. Many convinced Friends encountered our faith through friends or family that observed Quakerly leanings in us.

These thoughts lead us to think about what would best communicate about Quakers and our faith to the world via our website. How would you articulate the Meeting to newcomers? The Clerk brought up the website, Beliefnet (www.beliefnet.org), an online tool that “tells you what religion you are.” Through this online quiz, many people have found that “they are Quakers” and this has drawn them to our Meetings.

The clerk queried the Meeting on “What would we want to say on our website to attract people?” Some answers taken directly from the brainstorming board include:

•1st 1st day potluck • History of Quakers in San Francisco • you can come as you are • children's program and child care • Our mission, which should be a statement of 1) who you serve, 2) how you serve, 3) what you believe 4) vision of the future • George Fox • Our connection to the Bible • personal relationships • no creed • worship in silence • Frequently Asked Questions • continuing revelation • a quote • Times and place • testimonies • inclusiveness and marriage equality • other faiths • food sharing • you don’t have to give up what you have (the faith you were raised in, etc.) • other languages • a list of affiliated schools and affinity organizations (likewise, we should make sure we are on their lists as well) • queries • we are a house of God • How we relate to Christians • the Inward Light

The Clerks shared a prototype of the new website and compared it to the old. The new website will be live by the end of this month.

Naming Committee

1-2 Meeting approves the Nominating slate as follows: Beth Bird, Nancy Lewis, and Loren Gillan (all through 2016). The meeting approves Beth Bird for Clerk through December 31, 2015

1-3 Meeting approves the laying down of the Naming Committee.

Nominating

1-4 Meeting approves the release of Chad Stephenson from Nominating Committee and approves the release of Tim Schwartz from Property and Finance

Property and Finance

Philip Gerrie reported that the recent committee meeting dealt with continuing concerns about the front of the building: campers, drug use, smoking, and people hanging out under the overhang and in front of the doorways. The building manager has reported feeling overwhelmed and would like this off of his list of duties. A person from the Community Business District (CBD) has been coming to help with cleaning up but a more long-term solution is needed. The committee has discussed and researched several options such as the cost of a gate (estimated to be over $35,000), engineering the ground in front to not be comfortable by making the pavement uneven, remodelling the front of the building so that the doors are flush with the building front or hiring a security person.

The committee wanted to hear some ideas from Meeting for long-term solutions. Friends and attenders recommended several possibilities and gave observations, such as:

reaching out to other organizations which also deal with these issues
enlisting the homeless community in helping us
the increased drug trade has increasingly brought more violent criminal activity that is affecting our renters and potential renters
we need to see and address the Light in the people we are discussing “fencing out”
to what extent do we really feel that we are open to everyone?
“bifurcate” the issue--have those who are called work with the homeless population more deeply with longer-term goals in mind
install planter boxes
a concern about retaliation
contacting City Hall for assistance
what does that space in front of the building offer the neighborhood as good neighbors? How does it enhance or detract from the neighborhood?
keeping in mind how this building must include safe access for all to attend events here

The building manager spoke to needing the balance of creating a safe space and being good to the people in the neighborhood and reported recent incidents of visitors trashing the bathroom and verbal abuse with him and aggressiveness toward our renters. He reminded us there are good things that we do with the street community: we have opened this building up for memorials and have helped people get off the streets in the past.

The discussion was left with some things to think about as we go forward: have we become an “attractive nuisance”? Can we hire someone to do a feasibility study? Property and Finance will discuss this further and will bring a proposal to the meeting.

Amy Baker, Treasurer, gave a donor report. The results of the donor drive is that the number of people donating has increased from roughly 47 to 59. We have gone from an actual of $28,086.17 to $29,069.00. Yet both numbers are below budgeted expectations. We still would like to reach a goal of 100% participation in donations. Roughly speaking ⅓ of our budget is based on our donations. Budget is roughly divided in costs as well. Next month we will have a complete budget vs. actuals report.

Ministry and Oversight

Steve Leeds presented for Ministry and Oversight this month. M&O completed the travelling minute for Stephen Matchett. We found out that an irregular, but long time attender J. Emery Fleming-Hasegawa recently passed away. Regular attender, John Standing, is in an assisted living facility and you can speak with Chad Stephenson for more information.

There have been two transfers of membership under discussion: Lydia Cohen and Gail Cornwall, which will be presented next month.

Chad Stephenson read aloud a traveling minute prepared for Stephen Matchett for approval and there was some wordsmithing recommended.

1-5 Meeting approves the traveling minute for Stephen Matchett with the understanding some edits for clarification will be made at rise of meeting.

Rausch St. Committee

Philip Gerrie spoke on behalf of the committee and wanted to bring the Meeting up-to-date after last month’s report. Renovations are on track to be finished, about 4-6 weeks after the previously reported date of “mid-January”. Next month we will be able to take a virtual “photo tour” of the completed work.

Peace and Social Concerns

Charles Martin provided the report for the committee that two programs are scheduled for the next two months: on the January 25th, attender Devin McCutchen will give a report on the housing and displacement crisis in San Francisco. On February 22, attender Cheryl Hendrickson will be presenting on the stigmatization of people released from prison. More details to come. There will also be a Prayer Walk for Peace on Saturday, January 17, 2015. Fourth Sunday’s are Peace and Social Concerns Sundays and the committee will continue to provide Second Hour presentations.

Meeting closed with a period of silence after sharing of joys and concerns at 3:10 pm with 17 people present.

Respectfully submitted,

Ann Marie Snell, Recording Clerk
Chad Stephenson, Clerk

Meeting News

Sunday, February 22, Second Hour (1:00 pm)

"Release from prison does not represent the beginning of freedom, but instead a new phase of stigmatization."

Michelle Alexander

Prison reform and abolition is an issue that Quakers have consistently been a part of. For some, the issue seems enormous and out of control. While we work to abolish the Prison Industrial Complex, we also have the opportunity to support the men and women who are reentering society after spending time in prison and/or jail. Cheryl Hendrickson is currently working as a teacher in the first high school in the country located within a jail and Julio Escobar is currently working with the Catholic Archdiocese to support the families of men and women who have been victims of homicide. Cheryl and Julio will share their experiences and the actions they are involved in. Please join us for a conversation on February 22nd.

Sponsored by Peace & Social Concerns Committee, San Francisco Friends Meeting

News from Friends

2015 February News from Ben Lomond Quaker Center

Come engage the wild expectation of Love loose in the universe potentially transforming everyone! Yet with this love comes a painful refining process accompanying the call to ministry. Marge Abbott and Julie Peyton from North Pacific Yearly Meeting will lead us for Walk Humbly – Serve Boldly from February 27th – March 1^st. We will share ways that we as Friends are wrestling with the reality of prophetic ministry and how that shapes our lives as we seek to be faithful. Find out more and register at http://www.quakercenter.org/walk-humbly-serve-boldly/.

Join Doug Gwyn for Conversation with Christ: Quaker Meditations on the Gospel of John from March 20^th to 22^nd. “Listen in” on conversations in John, learn what early Friends heard in them, and enter into your own “conversation with Christ” through guided meditations. Register online at http://www.quakercenter.org/gospel-of-john/

Sometimes we get so focused on world affairs that we forget what God has in store for us, individually and as a community. Jim Anderson, Marilee Eusebio, Diego Navarro, Kathy and Bob Runyan will facilitate a week of Living into Beloved Community, from April 6-11^th (Monday -Saturday). We will explore, in a variety of ways, how to live truthfully and compassionately to bring about the new day.

We hope you will come to Quaker Center soon and meet our two new residential staff members. Delaney Miller is our Administrative Assistant who lives in the apartment adjacent to the office with her partner Jeremy, and Brad MacDonald is now our Maintenance Technician, and lives in the house next to the shop with his fiance, Nikona, and her guide dog, Sanchez.

February 2015 News from AFSC

Internship Opportunities are available at FCNL and QUNO, with young adults encouraged to apply! Information can be found at the below links:

http://fcnl.org/about/jobs/internship/ due February 15^th!

http://fcnl.org/about/jobs/summer_internships/

http://www.quno.org/opportunities deadline is February 6^th!