Swarthmore Friends Meeting

Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

Newsletter for February, 2010

Queries on Peace

Addressed to the Meeting:

• How does our Meeting act to advance peace, to oppose violence, and to support the constructive use of authority in our community, our nation, and the world?

• What are we doing as a Meeting:

  • to free our nation from the militarization so evident in our society and in its economy?

  • to understand the causes of war and violence and to work for the development of the attitudes and institutions of peace?

  • to recognize and correct the causes of violence within our communities, and to work toward overcoming separations and restoring wholeness?

  • to increase the understanding and use of nonviolent approaches for the resolution of conflicts?

Addressed to the individual:

• Do I live in the power of that Life and Spirit that takes away the occasion of all wars?

• How do I maintain Friends' testimony that military training and all participation in war and its preparation are inconsistent with the teaching of the Spirit of Christ?

• Do I work for the establishment of alternative ways of settling disputes?

• Am I aware that to build a world community requires that we all face our differences honestly, openly, and in trust?

• Do I treat conflict as an opportunity for growth, and address it with careful attention?

• Do I seek to recognize and respect the Divine in those with whom I have a basic disagreement?

• Do I look for ways to reaffirm in action and attitude my love for the one with whom I am in conflict?

from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's Faith and Practice, 2002, page 211-212

Partial Draft Minutes of Swarthmore Monthly Meeting for Business

Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Meeting opened after a brief period of silent worship.  Christine DeGrado, Clerk, presided.  Twenty-four people were in attendance.  The Query of Social Responsibility and Witness was read, considered, and spoken to.  One Friend spoke about the Women in Black group which has held silent vigils in Swarthmore urging non-violence.  She was appreciative of being graciously accepted by the public.  A concern was voiced regarding the Pennsylvania State Legislature's support of gambling to raise funds for education.  It was stressed that gambling revenues come largely from those who can least afford it.  Christine DeGrado and Mary Manglesdorf will draft a letter expressing this concern for approval next month.  Another Friend inquired about the Meeting's relationship with local organizations working for equality and social improvement as well as how the Meeting might facilitate involvement of larger organizations such as Oxfam and local projects.  The Meeting's work with East Side Ministries and local organizations represented in the Discretionary Fund were noted.

Minutes of the previous Meeting were perused and approved with certain corrections: 1) The last sentence in paragraph four should read "A Friend suggested that Sam Caldwell could be asked to speak to our Meeting." 2) the end of paragraph six should indicate that Worship and Ministry Committee's request for $1,000 for outreach will be considered, not necessarily be done.  3) the end of paragraph seven should indicate that Social Concerns Committee is presenting the program at Providence Meeting.

Mary Lou Parker and Sally Shane reported for Care and Counsel Committee: Mary Lou Parker present the letter requesting Clearness of the Marriage of Lucy Saxon and Tim Ambrogi.  The Clearness Committee consisting of Mary Lou Parker, Susan Larson, David Grove, and Mark Cary met with the couple.  Meeting approval was given and an Oversight Committee will be formed.

A letter from Lynne Piersol and Michael Inskeep requesting to be married under the care of Swarthmore Meeting in the summer of 2010 was read.  They would like a joint Clearness with Swarthmore and Haverford Monthly Meetings.  Mary Lou Parker and Pat Thomas will represent Swarthmore in this process.

Sally Shane reported that Joan Urban has requested membership.  Susan Larson and Sally Shane will be on her Clearness Committee.  Phyllis Raymond volunteered also. The Quaker Friendly Gatherings are scheduled for February 27 and 28.  Thus far Lois Sellers, LaDorna Pfaff, and Susan Larson have agreed to host.  Lois has room for 8 people at 5:30 p.m. on the 27th, LaDorna for 5 for lunch at 1:00 p.m. on the 27th, Susan for tea at 3:00 p.m. on the 28th; Christine DeGrado agreed to host as well on the the 28th, with room for 8 people.

Steve Weimar gave the Treasure's report: He handed out a summary giving details for 2009 and a projected budget for 2010.  Although the figures for 2009 are not yet final, they are nearly so.  The amount anticipated collected for the year exceeded our budget goals by $500.  Rentals and interest/dividends each brought in more than expected.  Significant savings were achieved in Personnel, House and Property Committee and Office expenses, leading to an additional surplus. Budget and Finance is proposing that some of this amount be added to our Covenant with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (which was reduced in last year's budget) and the rest put in the contingency Fund.  The idea will be considered at our next Meeting for Business.  The request by Budget and Finance Committee to operate on the 2010 proposed budget until finalized was approved.

Andrea Knox reported for Budget and Finance Committee: she gave further details regarding the plan to set up a means of contributing to the Meeting via credit card on-line.  It is hoped to have this in place when the first appeal letter goes out in March.  Frank Costello will be taking a more active role in the Clerkship due to Andrea's other obligations this spring.  Andrea presented information about the financial difficulties facing the Friends Journal and the prospect that it may be laid down.  Several spoke in support of continuing the Journal and expressing its value to them personally.  Ways of boosting subscriptions were discussed.  The matter will be discussed further.

The Meeting minuted its appreciation to Lyn and Ed Jones for their generous contribution for the second computer for our Meeting Office, and then ruefully apologized when Ed pointed out that the gift was to have been anonymous.

Lynne Piersol reported for Worship and Ministry Committee: She distributed a Draft of the State of the Meeting Report and request comments on it by February 1.  They are still awaiting a paragraph from the Nursery School.  The Committee (in unity) recommends that the Meeting move ahead with the next step of the Quaker Quest program: a one-day retreat.  Approved. One concern was raised about the brevity of the introductory exercises.  Margaret Fraser and Sharon Gunther have agreed to serve on a Working Group of 4-5 persons.  Susan Larson and Christine DeGrado agreed to serve as well.  The Committee is discussing ways in which to promote greater sharing of information with Swarthmore College students.  Some new literature from Pendle Hill has been purchased for the Welcoming Table.

May 15 has been set as a date for the benefit concert by Keith Calmes, classical guitarist.  Keith and others have made various suggestions as to organizations that could be recipients of the money raised.  Andrea Knox and Christine DeGrado will work out the details of the concert with Keith.

Christine DeGrado gave the Clerk's report.  Her introductory meetings with Swarthmore College President, Rebecca Chopp, and Vice President for Facilities and Services, Stuart Hain, went very well. The College showed great interest in re-invigorating and deepening its relationship with the Meeting.  Steve Weimar, Andrea Knox, Phyllis Raymond, and Frank Lindgren (as Clerk of House and Property) will serve on a Working Group on Meeting-College relations.  Barbara Burger-Lentz will head up the Meeting's Hospitality Working Group.  A sign-up sheet was available for those who would like to be called to offer overnight accommodations or food for groups hosted by the Meeting.  Others interested should contact Barbara.  We agreed to host the Traveling Ministries Committee of FGC on March 11-14.  Members of the Meeting can help with the Nursery Schools' current project, Coins for a Cause, by contributing to their collection jar.  Our First Day School is partnering with SFNS in this fundraiser. 

After a few moments of silent worship, the Meeting adjourned.

Submitted by Leslie Keighton, Recording Clerk

General Swarthmore Meeting Announcements

The "Thank You" Corner

Thanks to :

• Bill DeGrado and Barbara Blake for cleaning the kitchen;

• MacFarlane Hoffman, Barbara Seymour, and Mary Titus for taking down the Christmas tree;

• Sue Edwards for substituting as Meeting Secretary while Mary was away;

• Nancy Saunders for donating a coffeemaker for our Fellowship times;

• And, to all who give to the Meeting in silent and unacknowledged ways.

You Can Receive the Newsletter by E-Mail

Friends can receive the monthly Newsletter by e-mail, if you prefer.  The e-newsletter arrives sooner and saves paper and postage.  If you want to receive future newsletters by e-mail, send an email to the Meeting Secretary, [email protected], and she will add you to the list. 

Directory Updates

New email addresses and mailing addresses can be found in the printed copy of the newsletter.  If you have a new address, phone number, or email, please notify the Office so we can keep our records up-to-date.  If you would like to receive a directory, please contact the Office, 610 328-8699.

Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!

On behalf of all of us at Chester Eastside Ministries, I want to thank Swarthmore Friends Meeting for the recent donations of clothing and food we received.  What a tremendous blessing to our Care Closet ministry! Please know that your gifts and donations to our ministry will enable us to continue to actively partner with other faith-based and community-based organizations to bring about quality education, promote peace and economic justice, and to make a meaningful difference in the lives of the people of Chester. Thank you, again, for remembering the needs of our ministry and being kind enough to transport the items to us.  We pray God's continued blessings upon you in all of your endeavors.

Sincerely,

Rev. Bernice Warren, Pastor/Director

Please feel free to view our website: www.chestereastside.org

From Budget and Finance

The Budget and Finance Committee thankfully reports that Swarthmore Monthly Meeting managed its finances well in 2009.  A number of Committees spent less or deferred spending. The Meeting community met our contributions goal, and we did well in rentals and gifts for feeding the homeless.  We are in the fortunate position of a budget surplus.

In the discussion of unspent funds, we encourage consideration of reversing the reduction in our annual PYM covenant payments and adding to our facilities funds for which we deferred spending, and anticipate roofing, masonry, and other improvement work.  In January there was also discussion of supporting efforts important to our members concerning social justice and environmental health.  These issues will impact also our 2010 budget.  Please join us for these important deliberations

    Submitted by Steve Weimar, Treasurer

Letter from a Recent Swarthmore Graduate

Dear Swarthmore Friends Meeting -- Merry Christmas (and Hanukah and Solstice and all that follows)! Thank you for welcoming me into the Meeting for my few years at Swarthmore.  I was fortunate enough to find Columbia Friends Meetings in South Carolina, where I have been working for the past 6 months.  I'll be heading to Puerto Rico for my next job.  Keep spreading the peace, simplicity, love, and understanding!

Best wishes for the New Year, Uma Nagendra

Forum on January 31

The Budget and Finance Committee invites you to a forum, "Your Money or Your (Spiritual) Life: Stewardship and the Un-Programmed Meeting," on January 31, at 11:45 a.m. in the Whittier Room.  The speakers, William Ravidn of Kendal Meeting and our Treasurer, Steve Weimar, will address the culture and attitudes that affect members' and attenders' support of the Meeting's work, ministry and property, as well as the challenges of raising funds to meet annual budgets.  We hope that the audience will take part in the discussion

Submitted by Barbara Palmer Casini, Budget and Finance Committee

February Adult Religious Education Session

Our Adult Religious Education session this month will use the Pendle Hill Pamphlet, Christianity and the Inner Life: 21st Century Reflections on the Words of Early Friends, by Margery Post Abbott. Paul Joyce Collins Williams will lead the discussion.  Margery Abbott explores the writings of early Quakers and what impact they had on her understanding of Christianity.  Paul will have copies of the pamphlet available in Rushmore Room following the rise of Meeting for Worship.  The pamphlets are free, but Worship and Ministry asks for a contribution to help cover the coast.

From the "Care and Counsel Corner"

Adult Caregivers: Care and Counsel intends to gather a list of reliable home caregivers.  The list will be available for reference when home care is needed. Please email Pat Thomas if you wish to recommend someone.  A short description of services and contact information would be useful.

February Friendly Gatheringswill take place February 27 and 28.  Here is a wonderful opportunity to know Friends and make friends.  Sign-up sheets will be available after Meeting on Sundays.  Saturday, February 27 Lois Sellers will hostess a dinner for 8 at 5:30 p.m. Please call to offer something to bring.  LaDorna Pfaff will hostess a 1:00 p.m. lunch for 5 people on Saturday.  Sunday, February 28, Susan Larson will hostess a tea at 3:00 p.m. and Christine DeGrado and Margaret Fraser will hostess dinners.

We welcome additional hosts or hostesses. Speak to someone on Care and Counsel.

Hospitality Working Group

The Meeting has initiated a new Hospitality Working Group, Clerked by Barbara BurgerLentz.  If you are interested in serving in this capacity, please contact Barbara.  The Hospitality Working Group would like to compile a list of Meeting member and attenders who would be willing to open their homes to Friends to whom the Meeting is offering hospitality. They would also like to compile a list of people who might be called upon to provide food for visiting Friends using our Meeting faculties.  No gourmet cooking need be involved! If you are able to offer a bed (sofa bed, couch, space on the floor and a sleeping bag?) and simple breakfast to visiting Friends, or if you are able to cook simple food for visiting Friends, please send you name and contact information to the Office (610 328-8699; [email protected]) Many thanks!

"What Do You Hope for in Your Clerk?"

As the still relatively new Clerk of Meeting, I am interested in hearing what Meeting members and attenders hope for in me and in anyone who might be Clerk of Meeting.  Please send your ideas to the Meeting Office.  Anonymous submissions are more than welcome, with expectation that they are sent in good faith and with good intention.  Thank you!

    Submitted by Christine DeGrado, Clerk of the Meeting

Meeting Portrait: Spiritual Journeys Deepen Our Religious Experience

On a bright January Sunday, Margaret Fraser sat before the fireplace in Whittier Room and told the story of how her search for an understanding of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost took her from an Anglican childhood in England to the committed Quakerism she lives today.  The audience of about 25 people sat spellbound by her account of church services dominated by powerful music and incomprehensible sermons, her journey through left-wing political action that included standing for Parliament, and her turn to Quakers as the only religious practitioners she could count on to take an anti-war stance in 1982 as Argentine and Great Britain fought for the possession of the Falkland Islands.

Through it all ran the thread of her search for a direct, personal experience of God and for the meaning of the Christian trinity.  She has come to understand God as something like a parent who has her best interests at heart; Jesus, as an older brother who knows more than she does; and the Holy Ghost as the life force that courses through all things and that "shows us the right things to do if only we stay open."

Margaret's talk was the latest in a series of presentations by Meeting members on their Spiritual Journeys, a series inaugurated several years ago by the Committee on Worship and Ministry as part of the adult religious education program.  The well-attended talks have been a beacon of illumination and delight, eagerly awaited for the opening they provide to deeper understanding of our fellow members. About three times a year.  Worship and Ministry selects presenters who offer a diversity of experience: young and old, long-time and recent Friends, men and women.  They are one of the myriad of activities that are sustained by our financial support of our Meeting.

    Submitted by Andrea Knox for Budget and Finance Committee

Wider News from Friends

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting  (PYM) News

Only several items been transcribed here.  For a complete list of activities go to www.pym.org .

Silent Retreat

Tuesday, February 9 to Thursday, February 11 - Friends and attenders who are drawn to the mystery we call God may find a midweek retreat helpful.  The retreat will be held at St. Raphaela Center in Haverford PA.  Renee Crauder, a member of State College Meeting, is the spiritual director for the retreat, which is co-sponsored by PYM's Adult Religious Education Concerns Group.

The cost for the midweek retreat is $175.  A non-refundable deposit of $50 is due at the time of registration.  Retreat is limited to five retreatants.  To register, call St. Raphaela Center at 610 642-5715; for more information, contact Rene Crauder at [email protected]

"Aging in the Light -- A Day of Information and Reflection on Issues of Aging"

Saturday, February 20, 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

This is a program of Concord Quarterly Meeting at Birmingham Meeting, 1245 Birmingham Rd, West Chester, PA, 19382, February 20, 2010.  Together we will look at our own aging and that of our Meeting members.  We will learn how to grow in our connection to God and each other, and to offer spiritual support and practical care to our aging members.

To register: contact Beth Lawn by February 13. [email protected]

Friends Conference on Unemployment

Saturday, March 6, Burlington Conference Center, New Jersey

Are you unemployed and feeling the pinch? You're not alone! Join us for a day-long conference for unemployed Friends and Meeting members who are trying to help.  Attenders are also welcome. The conference is sponsored by Friends Counseling Service of PYM and financially supported by Friends groups who are concerned about the growing problems of unemployment  with its financial difficulties and resulting effect on morale.

This conference will be held from 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.at Burlington Conference Center in New Jersey. Thomas Swain, Presiding Clerk of PYM, will speak from his own experience of going through a period of unemployment and will give encouragement and perspective.  A number of Quakers from related professional fields will contribute their time and skills by leading workshops.  Computers and assistance with using the Internet and writing resumes will be provided on site.

Registration is $10 in advance, or $15 at the door.  If you are unable to afford this, please let us know so we can make arrangements for you to attend anyway. For more information and to register, contact Melissa Elliot, Conference Coordinator, at [email protected]

PYM Annual Sessions - Theme: "We Make the Road by Walking"

March Sessions, March 26-28, 2010, Arch Street Meetinghouse, Philadelphia

Anchoring worship will begin our weekend together, and after dinner on Friday night we will explore some landmarks along the path we have walked together since Summer Sessions.  We will celebrate through music, worship, and stories, as we create a gathered community.

Business at Saturday morning's plenary will include further consideration of the frequency of our Yearly Meeting Sessions, which began at November's Interim Meeting.  There will be a report about our new Eco-Justice Program, and examine some action steps we might want to take along that road.

The afternoon plenary is devoted to an in-depth investigation of the intersection between education and prophetic witness.  How do our schools (both public and Friends Schools), our teachers and our children provide models that shape our vision and inform our active witness in the world? When does inquiry lead to action? What could our Yearly Meeting do to strengthen the support for friends in education, and the education of Friends? Various perspectives will be represented, with time for reflection and sharing.

The keynote speaker on Saturday evening will be Vanessa Julye, co-author (with Donna McDaniels) of Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship. Vanessa will share stories and lessons form her ministry of racial healing.

Upcoming Quakerism Programs at Pendle Hill

For a complete list of programs and registration information visit www.pendlehill.org or call (800) 742-3150, extension #3.  Matching scholarships are available.

Newsletter Calendar for February, 2010

SWARTHMORE MONTHLY MEETING

Christine DeGrado, Clerk of Meeting; Leslie Keighton, Recording Clerk;  Stephen Weimar, Treasurer; Lynne Piersol, Clerk of Worship and Ministry Committee; Mary Titus, Meeting Secretary

Office hours: Tuesday though Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Telephone: (610) 328-8699; email: [email protected], website: http://swarthmore.quaker.org