Announcements

Call to Fall Fellowship

Fall Fellowship

Nov 3-5, 2023

The Roots and Fruits of Quaker Testimonies

In Person at Temescal Canyon & via Zoom

Dear Friends,

Many Friends expressed how nourished they felt by attending, either in person or by Zoom, Pacific Yearly Meeting’s annual session this past July.  I encourage you to read the epistle that came from the 77th annual session, which Centered the Voices of the Next Generation.  I hope Friends from Southern CA will feel nourished when we gather this November for our Quarter’s Fall Fellowship.

We are reminded that Friends have diverse identities, life experiences, and faith traditions. Some Friends come from generations of Quaker ancestors, other convinced Friends have Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, mono or polytheistic, or non-theist backgrounds.  As an inclusive religion and community of seekers, we strive each day to live with integrity and to listen for and see that of God, the Divine, the Light in all.  

Foundational to our experiential faith community are the Quaker Testimonies which we contemporary Quakers have come to “package” as the SPICES: Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, Stewardship or Sustainability.  Yet we can ask, are these our only testimonies?  Are there others?  What is a testimony?

The centering theme for this fall’s quarterly gathering is “Back to Basics – The Roots and Fruits of Quaker Testimonies Then and Now.”  Paul Buckley, a traveling Quaker minister and author will share with us his perspectives on the Quaker Testimonies in two presentations based on his recently published Pendle Hill pamphlet, Quaker Testimony: What We Witness to the World.   Paul’s presentations will look at early Quaker testimonies, what he considers the 5 essential characteristics of a testimony, how early Friends testified, and the more contemporary evolution of the Quaker “SPICES”.

In addition to our keynote presentations and worship sharing on Saturday and Sunday mornings we will have interest and affinity groups, wonderful children’s and teen’s programs, a meeting for healing, time for fellowship, hiking, possibly singing, plenaries, community night, and worship.

Please mark your calendars and SAVE THE DATE for SCQM’s Fall Fellowship to attend either in person on the beautiful grounds of Temescal Gateway Park in the Pacific Palisades, just north of Santa Monica, or via Zoom.  Full schedule and details to come soon.

In peace,

Jane Blount
SCQM Clerk

Advices and Queries for the Eighth Month: Simplicity

Life is meant to be lived from a Center, a divine Center—a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time.

Thomas R. Kelly, Testament of Devotion, 1941 p.124

Advices

A life centered in God will be directed toward keeping communication with God open and unencumbered. Simplicity is best achieved through a right ordering of priorities: maintaining humility of spirit, avoiding self-indulgence, resisting the accumulation of unnecessary possessions, and avoiding over-busy lives.

Elise Boulding writes in My Part in the Quaker Adventure: “Simplicity, beauty, and happiness go together if they are a by-product of a concern for something more important than ourselves.”

Queries

  • Do I center my life in an awareness of God’s presence so that all things take their rightful place?
  • Do I live simply, and promote the right sharing of the world’s bounty?
  • Do I keep my life uncluttered with things and activities, avoiding commitments beyond my strength and light?
  • How do I maintain simplicity, moderation, and honesty in my speech, my manner of living, and my daily work?
  • Do I recognize when I have enough?
  • Is the life of the meeting so ordered that it helps us to simplify our lives?

from Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice (2001), 54

Family Work Camp

Family Work Camp at Quaker Center!

August 1-6, 2023

Family Work Camp will be held at the Ben Lomond Quaker Center on August 1 to 6, 2023.

First time at FWC? Family Work Camp is a joyous celebration of community, collective labor, Spirit and fun. After gathering for dinner on Tuesday, August 1st, we’ll spend the next four days divided into work crews. We’ll work on various projects for three-hour shifts between breakfast and lunch, and then spend the afternoons and evenings doing other things together, such as hiking, singing, resting, visiting the San Lorenzo River or a nearby Friends’ pool, or doing nothing at all.

What kind of work will we do? There will be a number of options to choose from, which will include both heavy and light work, and outdoor and indoor projects. Experience is welcome but absolutely not necessary to attend and participate. There will be a trail maintenance crew, a wood-splitting crew, a letter-writing crew and a playground improvement crew, and as always there will be a few surprises.

Do I have to be in a family to attend?” As with all Quaker Center programs, all are welcome at Family Work Camp. Parents come with their children and their parents, grandparents with their grandchildren, and those who come without family members.

I’m a teen and I want to come but my parents can’t bring me this year. Can I come without my parents? Family Work Camp is a beloved annual gathering for teens and young adults. If you want to come and your parent(s) or guardian aren’t able to bring you, you may be able to come with a responsible adult sponsor over 25 years old. If you’re a teen that fits this description, or an adult who might be willing to sponsor a young person, get in touch with us at (831) 336-8333.

How much does Family Work Camp cost? We don’t want finances to prevent anyone from attending, and like all our programs, FWC will use a Pay-As-Led fee structure. We ask you to consider how much you can comfortably contribute towards this week of service and fun. Housing with be in Quaker Center’s Orchard and Redwood Lodges, and campsites will be available. Meals will be prepared by Tod Nysether.

Questions? Send an email to mail@quakercenter.org or give us a call at (831) 336-8333.

Advices and Queries for the Fifth Month*

Harmony with Creation

Advices

It would go a long way to caution and direct people in their use of the world, that they were better studied and knowing in the creation of it. For how could [they] find the confidence to abuse it, while they should see the Great Creator stare them in the face, in all and every part thereof?

Adapted from William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude 1693, 12-13

God is revealed in all Creation. We humans belong to the whole interdependent community of life on earth. Rejoice in the beauty, complexity and mystery of creation, with gratitude to be part of its unfolding. Take time to learn how this community of life is organized and how it interacts. Live according to principles of right relationship and right action within this larger whole. Be aware of the influence humans have on the health and viability of life on earth. Call attention to what fosters or harms earth’s exquisite beauty, balances and interdependencies. Guided by Spirit, work to translate this understanding into ways of living that reflect our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.

Queries

  •  In what ways do I express gratitude for the wondrous expressions of life on Earth?
  • Do I consider the damage I might do to the Earth’s vulnerable systems in choices I make of what I do, what I buy, and how I spend my time?
  • In our witness for the global environment, are we careful to consider justice and the well-being of the world’s poorest people?
  • Does our way of life threaten the viability of life on Earth?

*from Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice (2001), 51

Registration for Annual Session is Now Open!

Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Annual Session will be held in person July 21-26, 2023 at Mount Madonna Center (near Watsonville, CA). It will also be possible to attend remotely via Zoom. This year’s theme will be Beloved Community Part II: Centering the Voices of the Next Generation.

Click here for more information, including the Clerk’s Call, bios of the keynote panel members, the schedule, and a link to registration.

Invitation to Friends General Conference 2023 Gathering

When: July 2-8, 2023
Where: Monmouth Oregon
Registration begins: April 23, 2023

Clerk’s Welcome

Greetings Friends,

Gather: One small word with many meanings.

Gather can mean to collect, especially from far-flung locations: They visited gardens, libraries, Meetings, and websites to gather materials to share in this workshop. Or it can mean to come together: Friends of all ages are gathering in Oregon in 2023 for an annual event. It can also mean to increase speed: Quaker witness is gathering momentum around criminal justice. Gather can mean gaining understanding: From the looks on the children’s faces, the performers gathered that their art was what the audience needed that night.

We expect that the 2023 FGC Gathering will be special, in part due to the location. It will be in the Pacific Northwest for the first time in a generation. It will be in Oregon for the first time ever. Some offerings will be online, but mostly, it will be an all-generations in-person experience for the first time since 2019.

We understand that it is a heavy lift for most people to come to the Gathering. It’s a big expense for ever-tightening budgets and those of us who don’t have much disposable income. It’s a large amount of time away from work for shrinking vacation benefits if we are so fortunate to even have a job with benefits. We may be apprehensive about the location.  It costs a large carbon footprint to travel no matter what the offsets. Plus, there are all those roommates who snore and long cafeteria lines. Ah, the travails of travel. 🙂

We are convinced, however, that to gather, in and of itself, with all that word’s meanings, is deeply important. We cannot truly be a society, let alone a religious society, without gathering. Societies must have gathering spaces and places to exchange ideas, to share common experiences and to coalesce as a community. We must gather corporately and corporally to worship. Otherwise, we just dissipate into an unholy mess. 

There is nothing like living together for a week. An event like the FGC Gathering creates life-changing opportunities – both scheduled and spontaneous – to worship, eat, sing, play, pray, explore, and learn together. The Gathering Committee is working diligently to welcome you just as you are and however you are, and we will do our best to make it work for you. We are preparing a unique opportunity to experience “gather” in all its meanings and for all to do a lot of learning, healing, sharing, inspiring, and creating together across our Religious Society of Friends..

The theme this year is “Listen, so that we may live.” We ask you to listen to this invitation prayerfully and see if there is life in it for you and your family. Come to The Gathering, enjoy Oregon’s Willamette Valley, gather for a while.

With Love and In the Light,

Jessica & Kate

Jessica Bucciarelli and Kate Jaramillo

2023 Friends General Conference Gathering Co-Clerks

Friends World Committee for Consultation Southwest Regional Gathering

Listening to God Online (Bilingual)

When: Saturday, May 6, 2023, 10AM-Noon, Pacific Time
Where: online (via Zoom)

Join us online for the FWCC Southwest Regional Gathering, a fully bilingual gathering of Friends from Intermountain Yearly Meeting, Pacific Yearly Meeting, and the Western Association of the Religious Society of Friends.

Travelling Quaker minister Emily Proance will help us explore the challenges of meeting via computer. Can we sense the “presence of the Room” when the room has no walls? How do we maintain unity? The meeting will be conducted in both English and Spanish. All Friends are welcome.

Registration for Spring Gathering is now open!

Spring Gathering at Orange County Friends Meeting

April 28th and 29th, 2023


Dear Friends,

EVERYONE is warmly invited to attend Spring Gathering at the end of April to enjoy fellowship with Friends from across our Quarter. 

Are you curious about how other Friends Meetings and Worship Groups are navigating life as a spiritual community in these shifting times now that the pandemic is not so intense?  We’ll hear excerpts from Meetings’ Spiritual State of the Society Reports and have worship sharing opportunities together.

The Children’s Committee is planning lots of fun activities including candle-making. In addition, children will have an opportunity to fold-form a copper bowl with metalsmith Marne Ryan.

Get to know other Teens in Southern California! Junior Friends aged 12-20 are invited to attend Spring Gathering on Saturday for fun, fellowship, and community building led by Linus Hartigan (co-clerk of PacYM’s Jr. Yearly Meeting).

The Peace & Social Concerns Committee is hosting an online interest group Friday evening at 7 PM, exploring where we are and what is next for us as individuals, within our meetings, and our Quarter, on the journey towards “radical transformation” and a fully welcoming and inclusive, beloved community.  

Saturday’s schedule is from 9:00 – 3:15 (Pacific time). All program activities will be available for those joining us in person and via Zoom, except the children’s program, which will be in-person only. 

Orange County Friends Meeting in Costa Mesa will be hosting the in-person gathering at their campus  2845 Mesa Verde Drive East, Costa Mesa, CA in the larger space where the Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist neighbors have their sanctuary (Daniels Hall).  There will be ample space for everyone who would like to attend in person,

Covid-19 Safety Policy: Everyone is expected to wear high-quality masks when inside and maintain social distancing between members of different households.  If you are sick please stay home.  All are welcome regardless of vaccination status.

Lunch: OCFM will be providing a simple lunch and refreshments during the day on Saturday and will be asking for donations to cover the cost of hospitality. 

There is an outside courtyard area where we can enjoy refreshments and lunch together.

Friends joining us online will be able to join in our shared virtual space with everyone gathered in Costa Mesa as well as online (except for when we are in smaller breakout groups and at lunch). 

May we gather with openness, humility, and a spirit of loving-kindness and gratitude.  May we come together to listen, share, and learn from each other and look towards the future of the Quarter.  

In peace and with gratitude,

Jane Blount, SCQM Clerk

2023 Spring Gathering Schedule

Friday, April 28:

7:00 – 9:00 pm Toward an Inclusive Community

Saturday, April 29:

9:00 – 9:30 am Arrival, coffee and tea, Greet Friends

9:30 – 12:00 pm Worship, Plenary 1, State of Society Reports Part 1

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch Break – optional fellowship 

1:00 – 2:45 pm Plenary 2, State of Society Reports Part 2, 

2:45 – 3:15 Closing Worship