Newsletter
9m, 2003

Join us for our annual gathering at Temescal Canyon in Pacific Palisades--relocated to 17-19 October! A rich program has been prepared by Ministry and Counsel and Executive Committees on the theme, DRENCHED IN THE SPIRIT: LIVING JUSTICE, LIVING PEACE. A panel of Friends from San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and Orange Grove will share their own spiritual leadings to work for justice and peace. We hope that the Fall date will increase our chances of pleasant weather.

Last February at Midwinter Fellowship, our youth presented us with a plea for fuller contact between themselves and the adults, and suggested the possibility of a "Buddy Thang" as one way to bring us closer together. We have happily adopted this proposal: buddies--not only youth to adult, but also adult to adult--will be an important feature of our weekend. On Sunday morning we will evaluate this experiment.

Does being a Quaker ever seem to you to be a trifle too serious, sober, bleak? Then join us for a special Friday evening program," Quakers and the Happy Life," where we will explore the topic of Friendly happiness--and (not incidentally) have some fun.

Getting around at Temescal Canyon can be a challenge. For those who are less mobile, we have made arrangements for transportation between meeting space, dining hall, and cabins. We hope that these arrangements will encourage more Friends to participate.

I look forward to seeing you at Temescal Canyon!

Steve Smith, SCQM Clerk

CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION MATERIALS

5:00 pm - 9:00 pm Registration

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Dinner

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Quakers and the Happy Life

6:45 am - 7:30 am Meeting for Healing

7:30 am - 8:30 am Breakfast

8:00 am - 9:00 am Registration

10:15 - 11:30 Worship Sharing

11:30 a.m. - 12 noon "Buddy Thang" The Connection

12 noon Lunch

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm Interest Groups-

-Spiritual Support for Our Testimonies -- Anne Friend

-Relationship of AFSC to Monthly Meetings -- Shan Cretin

-Guatemala Friends Student Program -- David Barrows

-Health Care Legislation and other P&SO Issues --Trudy Freidel

-Auditing and Managing Meeting Finances -- Ruanne Peters

3:15 pm - 5:15 pm SCQM Meeting for Business

5:30 pm - 7:00 pm Dinner

7:30 pm - 8:30 pm Intergenerational World Famous Talent Show

8:30 pm - 10:00 pm Dance! Dance! Dance!

OR

8:45 pm - 10:00 pm Praying the Psalms

6:45 am - 7:30 am Meeting for Healing

7:30 am - 8:45 am Breakfast and exit cabins

8:00 am - 9:00 am Registration

9:00 am - 10:00 am Worship Sharing

10:15 am -11:00 am "Buddy Thang" the Plenary

11:00 am -12 noon Meeting for Worship

12 noon - 1:00 pm Lunch and safe drive home!

PRAYING THE PSALMS 8:45 pm on Saturday (Alternative to dance)

Contemplative Bible study nurtures the spiritual life of individuals and meetings. After meditatively reading the text aloud we will practice Centering Prayer quietly. Each choosing a word from the Psalm, we repeat it silently, waiting upon God's Word spoken in our hearts and minds. In closing, participants may speak briefly about how we experienced the practice.

Are our testimonies, our work in the world, driven by the spirit more than by events that call for action? Are we aware of God "at all times and in all places" in our daily lives? Are we always prepared to discern clearly what actions we need to take in both small and in large matters. In this interest group, we will look at some traditional Quaker ways of centering in daily life and share our own insights and practices. Faith without works is dead. Works without faith do not endure. Are we ready for the challenges?

Because of the relocation of our SCQM weekend gathering from February to October, the SCQM Executive Committee recommends that all State of the Meeting Reports for Southern California Quarterly Meeting now be read at the Spring SCQM Business Meeting (to be held in 2004 on Saturday, 24 April, at Orange County Monthly Meeting). Meetings may, however, keep to their present schedule in preparing those reports.

The reason? Our State of the Meeting Reports are reported on at Pacific Yearly Meeting. If the timing of some SOM Reports were accelerated to allow for reading at our Fall Gathering, preparation of those reports would need to begin as early as July or August--a year before they would be summarized at PYM.

The change in the time that the reports are read at Quarterly Meeting need not affect the schedule of preparation of the reports; in practice, the change means that those meetings and worship groups whose reports had formerly been scheduled for reading at Midwinter Fellowship now have an additional two months to prepare them.

Steve Smith, SCQM Clerk

Every now and then in life an opportunity presents itself to be all that you can be This may be one of those opportunities for you.

What: A fun, hands-on, experiential workshop with sessions focusing on:

building a sense of community; maximizing the power of affirmation; overcoming interpersonal barriers; and increasing communication skills to

achieve mutual understanding. The workshop can be taken purely for personal growth or as part of a facilitator-training program designed to enable you to facilitate AVP workshops in the prison system and the community.

This workshop will be led by volunteers currently facilitating workshops at California Men's Colony.

When: September 26-28, 2003

Friday: 6:30 Registration, 6:45-8:45 p.m, Workshop

Saturday: 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Sunday: 9:00 a.m. - 2:00

Location: Cal Poly Campus, San Luis Obispo

Fees: $50-100 depending on your ability to pay.

Fees include materials, training, snacks and Saturday dinner.

Scholarships are available.

Please bring sack lunches for Saturday and Sunday. Overnight lodging in homes is available for those coming from out of town.

See www.avpusa.org for more details on AVP in general. Sponsored by Central Coast Friends (Quaker) Meeting / Cal Poly Psychology Department in San Luis Obispo

This issue of the Quarterly Report is being sent hardcopy to everyone or to every family listed in the SCQM directory.

That is not what usually happens. Ordinarily, we send it by email to everyone with an email address. That is faster and costs the Quarterly Meeting less (about $.50 per issue per address) and means less work for the mailing parties. Both are significant advantages. Currently, about half of the approximately 800 address mailing list go email.

We also send extra hardcopies to meetings and worship groups for distribution to attenders who are not on the list and so extra copies of registration forms can be made and handed out.

HOWEVER, we have discovered that some of you do not read your email. You are missing a lot, not just the Quarterly Report. Don's email announcements have really good stuff and give information about events that come up between Quarterly Reports.

BUT, if you have email and still want to get the Quarterly Report in hardcopy, send a note to Don Bean at ddbean@netmug.org. He will fix things so we print you a label

Anne Friend

Editor, Quarterly Report.