65 Ninth
Street
San
Francisco, CA 94103
415-431-7440
June 2015 Newsletter
(Sixth Month)
(Sixth Month)
Meeting for Worship
& First Day
School
Sundays at 11:00
a.m.
Midweek Meeting for
Worship, Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m.
Social and Civic Responsibility
Advices:
In the words of William Penn, “True godliness don’t draw men out of the world, but enables them to
live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.” Elsewhere
he commented: “It is a reproach to
religion and government to suffer so much poverty and excess.
Poverty within a wealthy society is unjust, cruel, and often
linked to skin color, gender, and language. We must examine our own privilege
and role in the economic order that deepens this disparity. Friends should be
alert to oppression and injustice, and persistent in working against them.
We value our part in shaping the laws of our country. Our
task is to see that laws serve God’s purposes and build a just social order.
Our first allegiance should be to God, and if this conflicts with any compulsion
of the state, we serve our country best by remaining true to our higher
loyalty.
If, by divine leading, our attention is focused on a law
that is contrary to God’s law, we must proceed with care. Before acting,
Friends should pray for further guidance and speak with the Meeting, family members,
and all those who might be affected by the decision. If a decision involves
disobedience to the law, we should make the grounds of our action clear to all
concerned and be prepared to suffer any penalties without evasion. As a community,
we must care for those who suffer for conscience’s sake.
Queries:
What am I doing to carry my share of responsibility for the government
of our community, nation, and world?
Am I persistent in my efforts to promote constructive
change?
How do we attend to the suffering of others in our local
community, in our state and nation, and in the world community?
Do we try to understand the causes of suffering, and do
we address them as a
Meeting?
How do we, individually and as a Meeting, support the
organizations that work to bring the testimonies of Friends into reality in our
society?
San Francisco Monthly Meeting
May (Fifth Month) Meeting for Business
May 10, 2015
May (Fifth Month) Meeting for Business
May 10, 2015
Meeting for Business began at approximately
1:07 pm with a period of silent worship with 22 people in attendance.
5-01 - Meeting approves minutes for 2015-04
with the corrections to nominating listed below.
News, Updates & Clerk’s Message: Our Clerk, Chad
Stephenson, announced the corporation annual meeting on Sunday June 14, 2015.
He also announced that there will be a Clerk’s/Officers breakfast to Sunday
June 7, 2015, 9:15-10:15. He read aloud for consideration Blake Arnall’s request for transfer of membership to Orange Grove Meeting and turned it over to Ministry and
Oversight, he also read aloud a letter approving sojourn for Heidi Pidcoke
received from San Antonio Meeting. The clerk read the memorial minute read at
the April 25 memorial meeting for John Standing, formerly a member of San
Francisco Meeting.
Nonviolent Communication Practice Group: Carol Cruickshank
reported that the group is enjoying success with a steady group. Three regular
attenders read from answers to the query, “Why do you come to the NVC practice
group?”
Nominating Committee: Beth Bird, clerk,
reported for the committee. Several items in the slate under consideration as
recorded in last month’s printed minutes needed correction.
5-02 Friends approve the following single
corrections to the previous Nominating slate from Fourth Month minutes:
o CREC Co-Clerks: Beth
Bird and Ann Marie Snell terms end in 17, clerks ‘16
o Hospitality and
Community: Paula Joyce term ends 17, clerk ‘16
o News: Chad
Stephenson term ends ('16)
o P&F: Remove
Arthur Koch's listing as continuing member; Stephen Matchett added as continuing
member with term ending in '16; Joseph Paley term ends ‘17
o Rausch St.: Philip
Gerrie on Rausch St. term ends '17, clerk '16
o Welcoming: Remove
Cheryl Hendrickson and Ruth Sheldon as continuing members.
5-03 Friends approve the slate as presented
(with corrections) in Fourth Month Minutes.
The committee continues to seek a Treasurer.
A clerk for Ministry and Oversight has not been found; Nominating is not
pursuing filling this position for the time being.
Peace and Social Concerns: Owain
Elliott-Sowaal reported that the committee is developing queries for the Meeting
Retreat out of discussions spurred by David Breitzmann’s letter to Target in
response to an incident there. He also reported that Friday Food Sharing and
Food Pantry are going well and donations are increasing for both. Friday Food
Sharing has been able to seed a new program within another area in San
Francisco with the increased donations. The Food Pantry is getting an average
of 2500 meals a week and those are being distributed to partners throughout the
Bay Area. This is allowing people who are not registered with the Food Bank to
receive meals. The Food Pantry sees over 28 regular volunteers, many have come
from San Francisco Friends School and City College of San Francisco. The
committee want to appreciate Chad Stephenson for opening the contacts with
CCSF. A Friend asked that since there is so much going on on these committees,
is there an opportunity for a second-hour in the future? The committee will
consult on how best to do this.
Rausch St. Committee: Amy Baker reported
as the Rausch Street Treasurer that $278,000 was spent on the renovation which
is now complete. The unit has been rented to a San Francisco Friends School
teacher for $3500 per month. At this rate it is estimated to take 15-17 years
to pay back the loan. Now that there is rental income, the committee will be
refinancing the property.
The committee would like for the Meeting to
season for a month the refinancing proposal. The exact amount will be
approximately $285,000. This will pay off the previous loan, the construction
costs, the $30,000 reserves mandated by the borrower, and an amount for
deferred capital improvement projects (e.g. back stairs). This amount will not
cover paying back the deBeers account. The Rausch Street Committee understands
that some of the deBeers bequest was given to Rausch Street and some was
loaned. Going forward, the Rausch Street Committee would like to pay back the
deBeers money from operational costs, retiring the construction loan and taking
out a mortgage. Meeting needs to decide how much of the loan will be paid back
to the deBeers fund. The amount is still to be determined.
To be seasoned for next Meeting for
Business: Meeting agrees to refinancing the Rausch St. property loan at approximately
$285,000. Repayment of the $125,000 deBeers fund amount provided by Meeting as
minuted in Ninth and Eleventh Months 2014 will be determined by Meeting at a
later date.
Next month the Treasurer will present the
Rausch St. budget.
Ministry & Oversight: Krista Barnard
reported for the committee and read the membership request by David Breitzmann.
Anne Collins is convening a Clearness Committee for David. David Cowen’s
membership clearness committee recommends membership; the written report will
be presented next month.
Meeting closed at 3:19pm after a period of
silent worship with 18 people in attendance.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Marie Snell, Recording Clerk
Chad Stephenson, Clerk
News from our Meeting
Last month, our Meeting pondered a few questions about how we use Faith and Practice in worship and for doing business. This exercise was part of the earliest stages of a proposed revision of Faith and Practice in our region, which will be conducted under the auspices of Pacific Yearly Meeting. Specifically, the queries were sent to us—to our Ministry and Oversight Committee--by DJ Bloom, Clerk of PYM’s Discipline Committee. Our Ministry and Oversight Committee then decided to post the queries on butcher paper on the walls of our worship space, following Meeting for Worship, on several First Days in April. In this way, we hoped that a broad range of people could participate in the process.
The edition
of Faith and Practice that our Meeting currently uses was
published in 2001, and this edition was itself a revision of the version issued
in 1985. Previous revisions in 1973, 1963, 1957, and 1952 were all
based on the original text adopted at Palo Alto in 1942. According
to our current version, “Faith and Practice describes the beliefs
of Friends and the structures and processes of Pacific Yearly Meeting, and its
Quarterly and Monthly Meetings” as well as “the spiritual
foundation” for these processes and for “our way of worship.” It is
thus intended as an invaluable resource and guide.
Ministry and
Oversight asked people to write down their thoughts about how we use Faith and
Practice in our Meeting on small note cards, which we then collected and transcribed. Here,
below, are those replies, verbatim, which we have forwarded to
PYM. We expect to hear more in the future about the laborious,
fruitful enterprise of producing a new edition of Faith and Practice for the
Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends.
1st Query How does your Meeting utilize Faith and Practice?
Responses:
- Friends Meeting in the last year has
used Faith and Practice in several ways of which I am aware. Once per
month during meeting for worship, a member of Ministry and Oversight reads
one section of the advices and queries aloud. We print the same section in
our meeting newsletter for that month. In addition, during the period of
worship at the start of meeting for business, the clerk reads one section
aloud. In 2014, small groups of us used selected queries as the basis for
drafting sections of the state of the meeting report.
- During meeting for business and during
meetings of Ministry and Oversight, we have read aloud parts of the
sections on membership (pp. 141-153) and on clerks and clerking. At other
times, individuals and committees doing the work of the meeting have used
the sections (including appendices) on memorial meetings, marriage, clearness,
concerns and leadings, decision-making (including threshing sessions and
“in times of difficulty”), and monthly meeting organization (e.g., to determine
which committee slots should be filled only with meeting members).
- [We use Faith & Practice as] a guide for
membership committees.
- Once a month during Meeting for Worship,
someone from our Ministry and Oversight reads one section of the “Advices
and Queries” out loud. I think we take this reading to heart, allowing
time for people to take in the queries. Also, the practice is
anticipated and expected, so it’s really a feature of our Meeting.
- We don’t, in my view, often refer to Faith
& Practice when actually making tough decisions.
- It is extremely helpful to hear sections from
Faith & Practice read in Meeting, to remind us of why we are actually
there.
- [We use Faith & Practice as] mainly as a
guidebook.
- [I use Faith & Practice] When serving on a
Membership Clearness Committee.
- When serving on a Membership Clearness
Committee, I ask the applicant to read Faith & Practice to see if
there are stops for them.
- [Faith & Practice is] most often used in
reference to membership, weddings, memorials: the how-to’s;
also for the source of monthly readings of “Advices & Queries.”
- [We use Faith & Practice for] members not
present at Meetings for lengthy periods or during time away.
2nd Query Unity – What are the nuts and bolts of
how your Meeting reaches unity in your business process? What is the role of your
committees in the process? How does this compare to what is currently written
in Faith and Practice?
- Unity is attempted. But
often not reached, although we talk of God’s way being the third path on
delicate decisions, we have even had fractures with the members left
grumbling about how decisions are reached.
- The “sense” of the Meeting can include
electronic communication (Skype, email, documents),
- We’ve used “threshing” sessions to explore
issues of controversy. We’re not always great at following up
on these.
- I don’t think people in SF Meeting or PYM
realize that the reason for being recorded as “standing aside” should be
professional or legal. I’ve seen members of PYM disagree with
this minute.
- We are not always careful to promote “free and
full exploration” of a decision under consideration, but sometimes allow
too much or too little talk.
- I’m not sure we bring “the grace of humor”
into tense decision-making, as noted in Faith & Practice.
3rd Query Where
does your Meeting have difficulty with the current Faith and Practice?
Where does your meeting have comfort with the current Faith and
Practice?
- Our Meeting has had a number of
instances where a member asks to stand aside from the
decision. I think this is a problem and that unity was not
really reached. I think an individual should think very hard before
asking to stand aside.
- [I am] appreciative of oversight in Friends’
practices. [Faith & Practice is] a guide for convinced
Friends.
- Dropping of the reference for “Christian
discipline” in the sub-title of the 2001 edition is troubling for some.
- I fell in love with the current version of
Faith & Practice when I was new to Meeting and wanted to understand
what Quakers are all about. Don’t change very much, please!!
- For standing aside, it has been read
aloud. For just reasons of conflict with a decision for any
reason, not just legally or professionally [sic].
- Some problems with “unity”
not being felt by all, subsequent to its proclamation. Premature
closure. Could be [a] clerking issue; could be [an] individual
responsibility issue.
- We have found Faith & Practice useful when
a worship group was starting.
News from Friends
June 2015 News from Sierra Friends Center
There are still spaces in Camp Woolman (9-14) and Teen Leadership Camp (15-16), so sign up before they are all gone. The Teen Camp offers a 2-week Hiking camp and a 1-week Farm-to-Fork camp. The Camp season begins June 28 and ends August 1. Registration is also open for Family Work Camp, June 14-21. See http://camp.woolman.org/ for info.
“Teen Leadership Camp provided a sanctuary for me, a place free from social media, the internet, and all of the other factors that congest our lives in the modern world. In place of this, I experienced raw, real life. Whether I found it hiking among Ponderosa trees on our backpacking trips, or singing Quaker Jams with my fellow campers, being a part of TLC has given me a true sense of how life should really be lived.
Charlotte O., TLC Summer 2014
The 23rd Woolman Semester celebrated their Graduation on May 23rd. Dorothy Henderson presided for her swan song as Head of School, and congratulated 14 new alumni.
Students spent their last week at Woolman backpacking along the beautiful Yuba River and preparing to make the transition back to their schools and communities. Just before their trip, the hillside kiln was fired up. Many student pieces were fired and students displayed their many favorites during the celebrations. The kiln is rather amazing, and Andrew Sellery, the ceramics teacher, describes the experience: http://blog.woolman.org/2015/wood-fire-2015
And looking forward, we mark another milestone, with Gray Horwitz taking over as Head of School in June. Dorothy leaves us with a great staff team, passionate and dedicated to the work of radical Quaker education. In a few months, a new environmental science teacher and 8 new community interns will arrive to mark the start of the next school year. The 24th Woolman Semester begins on August 22nd and there are still a few spots open for juniors, seniors or gap year students (http://semester.woolman.org).
June 2015 News from Ben Lomond Quaker Center
Quaker Center Summer Youth Camps are right around the corner this
summer with Camps Director, Anna Lisa
Chacon for the younger kids'
camps and with Stephen Myers and Mary Klein for Peace Action Camp. For more
information visit http://www.quakercenter.org/summer-youth-camps/ or call Bob or Kathy Runyan, Co-
Directors at Quaker Center at 831-336-8333 with questions.
Family Work Camp is the best family vacation deal
around at only $60 - $140 for the full week, which includes
meals and lodging. All ages are welcome! We’ll work on improvements to Quaker
Center facilities while
building community among us.
This week of July 27th – August 1st will include working, cooking, eating
and
playing together. Please
register online at http://www.quakercenter.org/family-work-camp/.
Join us for Rise Again: A Weekend of Joyous Song, with the authors of Rise Up Singing, Annie Patterson and
Peter Blood, Sept. 4-6th. Annie & Peter will teach &
lead songs out of their long-awaited just-released
songbook Rise Again, which includes 1200 new
songs in the same format as Rise
Up Singing. We have reserved
both lodges for this workshop
and still we expect it to fill, so please register early at
http://www.quakercenter.org/rise-again-a-weekend-of-joyous-song/.
Walker Creek Ranch, 13 – 18 July 2015
FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT: LOVE
AND JUSTICE
The
commandment to love one another is at the heart of our Quaker faith, and
centrally featured in its Christian roots. The Religious Society of Friends
takes its name from a passage in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus declares,
This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you . . . you are
my friends if you do what I command you . . .I have called you friends, because
I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. (John 15:12-15, NRSV)
Early
Friends treasured a passage in St. Paul’s Epistle to Galatians (5:22): “The
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Echoing this passage, George
Fox emphasized the spiritual centrality of love. Early in his ministry, he
wrote to Friends, “I pray that all your hearts may be knit together in love,
and in one spirit to God.” (Ep.
#19, 1652), and later referred frequently to “the Royal Law of Love.”
Early
Friends also understood that loving-kindness, joy, and other fruits of the
Spirit cannot be manufactured by good intentions, but arise spontaneously when
we allow ourselves to become utterly vulnerable to the searching Light within
our conscience. Yielding without reservation to the truth of our condition, we
awaken to a new life—and are enveloped by an astonishing, redemptive love.
Through this radical self-transformation, we awaken to the fruits of the
Spirit. William Penn wrote of the first generation of Quakers, “They were
changed . . . themselves before they went out to change the world.”
Facing
urgent needs for justice, however, we easily become self-righteous, impatient,
strident. Learning of the oppression of indigenous peoples, the harsh reality
of racism today, the gravity of environmental decline, or violence of any kind,
we may be overcome by outrage that blocks the healing power of love. Living in
love is essential not only for our spiritual health, but also for effective
work for justice.
Intertwined
themes of love and justice are featured at the 2015 PYM Annual Session. Our
keynote speaker will be Lloyd
Lee Wilson, a member of North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative), and a
deeply-grounded author on Quaker spirituality. His many writings include Essays on the Quaker Vision of Gospel
Order and a recent Pendle
Hill Pamphlet, Radical
Hospitality (#427). Wilson
has written eloquently of the need to center our Quaker activism in the gestalt
of Quaker practice, knit together in a faithful Quaker community by the
redeeming spiritual power of loving-kindness. He writes that when that
spiritual grounding is absent, “In our hasty desire for the fruit of right
social order, we have neglected the Root from which all good fruit springs.”
We
will also hear a presentation by Jose
Aguto of FCNL on the challenge
of worldwide environmental decay, and from Paula
Palmer of Intermountain Yearly
Meeting, who will present her powerful workshop, “Roots of Injustice, Seeds of
Change: Toward Right Relationship with America’s Native Peoples.”
PYM Annual Session News & Registration
Information
Pacific
Yearly Meeting's Annual Session will be held July 13-18, 2015 @
Walker Creek Ranch, Petaluma, CA.
DEADLINE for early registration discount is MAY 18.
First time attender discount also
available.
Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Ministry &
Oversight Committee has been listening to our community and in response to a
collective concern regarding difficulties attending the Summer Annual Session
because of the length and configuration, they offer the draft proposal below
for consideration by our Meeting and community of Friends.
Configuration
1: Monday dinner
to Saturday lunch
Current
configuration, no change
Configuration
2: Tuesday lunch
to Sunday afternoon
Similar
to the current configuration in terms of time.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday would
feature interest groups, workshops, and possibly an intergenerational service
project. Business sessions would be held later in the week.
Configuration
3: Friday dinner to Wednesday lunch
Activities
on the Saturday and Sunday would be
geared toward encouraging participation by Friends only able to attend one or
two days of Annual Session, and would include the keynote address and Meeting
for Memorials.
Configuration
4: Thursday lunch
to Sunday afternoon
The
PYM Annual Session community would gather to spend a long weekend together.
Note:
All configurations would include the traditional activities at Annual Session,
such as worship sharing, transformative Quakers, Bible study, interest groups,
worship, Meeting for Memorials, Meetings for Business, and family night.
Please
plan to attend May's Meeting for Business to share your input regarding this
configuration: which you prefer and reasons for your preference. For more
information please contact Rose Medellin 415.452.9565 or chicanitas@hotmail.com
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
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.
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 June 2015
(all events at 65 9th St., unless noted;
*see details elsewhere in newsletter)
Sunday
|
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Saturday
|
31 9a Extended Meeting for Worship
|
1
|
2
|
3
6p
Meeting for Worship
|
4
12p
Peace Vigil‡
7p
Potluck & Quaker Study
|
5
|
6
10:30a-1p Food Pantry
|
7
9:30a Bible Study
11a
Meeting for Worship, Community Potluck following
|
8
|
9
7p
Property & Finance Mtg
|
10
1:10p SFFS Meeting for Worship†
6p Meeting for
Worship
7p Ministry & Oversight Mtg
|
11
12p
Peace Vigil‡
7p
Potluck & Quaker Study
|
12
|
13
10:30a-1p Food Pantry
|
14
11a
Meeting for Worship
1p
Meeting for Business
|
15
|
16
|
17
6p Meeting for Worship |
18
12p
Peace Vigil‡
7p Potluck & Quaker Study |
19
|
20
10:30a-1p
Food Pantry
|
21
9:30a Bible Study
11a Meeting for Worship
|
22
|
23
|
24
6p
Meeting for Worship
|
25
12p
Peace Vigil‡
7p Potluck & Quaker Study |
26
|
27
10:30a-1p Food Pantry
|
28
9:15a Non-Violent Comm. Practice Group
9:30a Bible Study
11a Meeting for Worship
|
29
|
30
|
1
|
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.
