organization

Quaker Earthcare Witness
Spiritual Nurturance Committee Meeting
Minutes
April 8, 2011, Chicago, Illinois

In attendance: Os Cresson, eric maya joy, John Hackman, Roger Hansen, Mary Gilbert, Mary Jo Klingel, (clerk). (Barbara Letsch was absent from committee meetings to allow her to meet with the Nominating Committee,)

3. Mary Jo agreed to e-mail Catharine Stevens and see if she wishes to be included in committee e-mails.

4. We decided who would be doing readings and who would be holding the meeting in the Light, with eric maya joy, Roger Hansen, Mary Gilbert and Barbara Letch each handling both jobs once.

5. We seasoned the process for doing grace at meals. We agreed to either a. - circle up after plenary, b. -- circle up at the end of the hall or c. -- ring the chimes at meals.

6. We discussed the effectiveness of our work so far at this Steering Committee meeting. A question was raised about whether it was a good idea to have worship sharing last night worship sharing t both last night and this morning. A comment was made that it worked very well to have Roger Hansen read the queries to the entire Committee before the worship sharing.

7. We discussed the pamphlet The Spiritual Dimension -- Why We care for the Earth, which the Publications Committee has asked us to season.

There was some thought that the entire pamphlet needed to be re-written and made more current. It was suggested that we ask Mary Coelho to do the re-writing, with assistance from Mary Jo Klingel.

8. We recognized the importance of seasoning the use of technology in our plenaries and throughout the Gathering. We did not have time to season it thoroughly at the end of the meeting and laid it over until our next meeting at this Gathering.

DRAFT Spiritual Nurturance Committee Minutes DRAFT

Chicago, April 2010, FRIDAY

Present were: Mary Gilbert (recording); Dick Grossman; Toni H.; Mary Jo Klingel (clerking); Paul Krumm; Sally Merrill, and Rod Zwirner. Alice Howenstein dropped in briefly to discuss cards for those who were not with us in Chicago.

1. We began with a period of silence for centering.

2. Mary volunteered to record.

3. The agenda was accepted as presented.

4. Minutes from our conference call April 15 were also accepted.

5. “The small stuff”

a. Assignments to do the reading at the clerks’ table for each business meeting and then to hold the table in the Light during that session were confirmed.

b. Cards to send to those absent from Chicago had been forgotten, but Alice saved the day by showing us how to make cards from the unused envelopes she had brought. We also had some cards from a previous time, and were able to purchase some from the Cenacle.

c. Mary Jo had already recruited Carol Barta to take charge of getting signatures.

6. Circles of Discernment: Sally explained to us the function of “circles of discernment,” a tool devised by the Quaker Institute for the Future (QIF) to assist with research projects. They are used by individual researchers to fine-tune their thinking, and by groups working together.

a. At QIF pamphlets are the usual product of these circles. Sally will circulate a set of guidelines drawn up by QIF.

b. Mindfulness Reminders: Mary and Paul will form a subcommittee to look at the Mindfulness Reminders to see if they would benefit from a rewrite. Sally suggested that something be added to clarify the process of how one joins a committee or working group, and learns whether this has been confirmed. Since the mindfulness reminders address preparation for participating in a meeting, it may be that the process Sally spoke of should be clarified in some other way. (In our Saturday meeting John’s name was added to this subcommittee.)

7. The Light Within: We remembered that we planned not to discuss the question of the meaning of “the Light within,” and whether QEW should consider endorsing a statement that the Light is within all of creation, not just humans, without eric joy present. Dick reminded us that in QEW we do not have doctrines or dogma but strive to be inclusive and loving in our use of the phrase “the Light within” as well as with other terms in use among Friends. We were also reminded that a committee brings a minute back to the plenary for further discussion only when and if the committee has unity to recommend the minute. Our committee does not have this unity. We agreed that this will be on the agenda of our next conference call.

SATURDAY (Paul, Toni, and Dick were not present.)

8. Theme(s) for Houston meeting next October: The theme for Houston is Quaker Activism, and we will be using activism around water issues as an example of how Friends can be/are politically active. We spent time thinking of queries that might be useful, which we can suggest to the planning committee for use in worship-sharing sessions. We will continue to work on this, and so far have come up with the following:

a. How do (or might you) experience water as sacred? How else do you experience water?

b. How are Friends called to live out our love for and gratitude for water?

c. How are we led to use water in right relationship with all creation? What would right use of water look like? (Mary recalled words in her reading Thursday night, calling us to see, study and practice the Dharma.)

d. We also noted the profusion on water words in our language – outpouring, source, spring, flow, and more.

(I suggest we may also want to think of queries about the role of activism in our lives. Mary)

9. Conference calls: Mary Jo asked us for thoughts on how our calls are working for us, and how they might be improved.

a. Sally participates in conf. calls (Sierra Club) that work well with participants telling the convener/clerk/chair whether they want to speak ahead of time. This requires that people take a good look at the agenda in advance.

b. Another method is to go around the (virtual) room with each participant speaking for 10-15 seconds as a topic is introduced (before real discussion begins?)

c. Sally also suggests that it’s useful to correct factual errors and mistaken assumptions before time is spent based on wrong information. We discussed that this may not be what we want to do, unless we are at that moment using “fact-speak” rather than “heart-speak.” Mary Jo shared that she lives in a “process world;” others often live in a “content world.”

d. Mary is planning to write an article on long-distance meetings by various means, and read some notes. These were relevant to us:

i. Do silence on the call? Before-hand?

ii. Develop clear guidelines about what kinds of matters can be decided on phone/skype, and what needs a group’s physical presence.

iii. There is a need for a tight, focused agenda.

e. We do not feel able to do seasoning / discernment on conference calls.

f. Mary Jo requests that before a call we get recent minutes and the agenda for the call in front of us!!!!!! And be ready before we dial in. If our discussion wanders the clerk will say, “This is not what we agreed to do.” We should work toward brevity and clarity of language.

10. Clerks’ table responsibilities: We decided that it would be good if we monitor (i.e. hold the clerks’ table in the Light) all plenary sessions, not just business meetings. We did not discuss whether this would mean bringing readings, but that might not be appropriate for presentations by outside speakers. Discussion clarified that our readings at the clerks’ table should be on the short side, and designed to help the listening group come to a place of stillness out of which they can function better in the meeting.

11. Highly recommended book: Presence: an exploration of profound change in people, organizations and society, by Peter Senge.

12. We learned a simple 3-part round, and gleefully decided to include it in our report to business meeting. Words below:

We kick………………and then we glide.
We kick, kick………...and then we glide.
It’s all in the rhythm, it’s all in the rhythm,
It’s all in the rhythm of the heart.
Keep breathing, that’s the most important part.
Keep breathing, that’s the most important part.

Present: Jack Bradin, Nancy First, Mary Gilbert (recp\ording), Dick Grossman, JohnHackman, eric joy, Mary Jo Klingel (clerk), Sandra Lewis.

3. We determined who would have care of the Clerks’ Table during each of the business sessions during the weekend, and decided that that person would provide the reading for that business meeting.

4. Nancy agreed to take care of the greeting cards we will send to those absent.

5. The new Working Group will meet at the appointed time, although it does not yet have formal approval.

6. The minutes from our April meeting in Chicago were approved, as were the minutes from our conference call in August.

7. We spent most of our time together addressing the 2 minutes we had brought to the SC plenary in April, which had been referred back to us for seasoning. They are as follows:

2. Quaker Earthcare Witness recognizes eric maya joy's leading and ministry regarding "spiritual unification," which includes Friends process as a unique and significant gift.

We addressed minute #2 first, and discussed both recognition of ministry and committees for clearness/care/support. The following comments were made:

The second discussion was about minute #1, stating that QEW recognizes the Light within all Creation. The following comments were made:

We decided not to bring the two minutes back to the plenary at this time, but within the committee to look further into their meanings, purposes and effects.

FRIENDS PRESENT: Kristina Keefe-Perry, Rochester MM, NYYM (acting clerk and minutes), Dick Grossman, Durango, IMYM, Catherine Stevens, Ann Arbor MM, LEYM, Mary Gilbert, FMC, NEYM, eric maya joy, pacific northwest, Marcie Ankron, Bloomington, OVYM, Noel Pavlovic, IYM, Bill Bliss, Ann Arbor, LEYM.

Introductions—What brought you here?
Taking care of the small stuff Spiritual Nurture Cares for;
Mindfulness/Silent worship reminders during meals;
Someone from SN holding the clerk's table, sign up for that work;
Announcements for the cards, signing reminders;
An announcement to hold people in the Light, to prayerfully support folks.
The matter of committee identity and purpose, form
What to do of the clerkship?

1. Friends introduce themselves.

We will experiment with hand raising inspires silence at meals. Someone from SNC will raise their hand until the body recognizes and all are settled into grateful silence. Then talk can organically emerge…

We have traditionally held the group and clerks in prayer and offered a moment to stop, slow down has been monitored by the clerk. Some are more likely to exercise that option than others. Sometimes it is as a moment of silence, of breath or of dealing with the issues at hand.

At dinner, Kristina will announce cards and ask Ruah to make sure that the cards get gathered and addressed and sent.

For the rest of this first meeting and all of our second meeting, Friends spent the bulk of our time together considering the purpose of the Spiritual Nurturance Committee. Noel Pavlovic came to us to frame his letter to the body (see Noel's letter) and bring a revised committee charge. The committee received that with gratitude for his faithful work and obvious caring.

We came to unity on the following committee purpose description for Spiritual Nurture Committee:

We also want to hold out that it is of great importance that there be an articulated space for Friends exploring New Universe Story, Native Understandings and other faithful explorations of emerging understanding of earth-human relationships to gather in sharing, program and support. The relationship of this body to SNC is not clear yet, except that it is a distinct body.

Regarding the clerk of this committee, Friends asked Kristina to continue and she is not clear. She is committed to staying present to work in her monthly, regional and yearly meeting. She worries that too many "national" obligations take her away from this. She might be open to co-clerking. Kristina Keefe-Perry and Mary Jo Klingel are seasoning the idea of co-clerking.

. . .details to be worked out at that time, and we will set a second September call time at that meeting.

SNC would like to provide an experiential program piece at the fall meetings (esp. in Atlanta)