July 6, Sunday ........ Potluck lunch at 11.30. July 13, Sunday ........ Forum, Gates, Opening the Scriptures, Session 4. July 20, Sunday ........ Meeting for Business, 11.30. July 27, Sunday ........ Forum, to be announced.
Each Thursday at 4-5 p.m., a silent peace vigil is held at the NE corner of Main Plaza (Commerce and Soledad) near the San Fernando cathedral.
Clerk: Bill Wilkinson, e-mail: billwilk3@att.net.
Website: http://www.sanantonioquakers.org.
Editor, Ken Southwood: jksouthwood@grandecom.net
Donations may be made to Friends Meeting of San Antonio, P.O. Box 6127, San Antonio TX 78209.
Meeting telephone to ask for information: 210-945-8456.
Friends Meeting of San Antonio
7052 N. Vandiver, P.O. Box 6127
San Antonio TX 78209
What Canst Thou Say?The first meaning identified by Kenneth Boulding is the everyday meaning, what he terms the “secular” meaning. This is the correspondence between the image of the world in our minds and the world itself, though the best we can do is to compare one image with another at another time or place . And, even if the correspondence exists, we cannot be certain of the truth. Scientists are well aware of this and have rigorous procedures to ensure against error, including an openness to be shown to be wrong in their predictions. When the question involves “ethics and religion, questions of the nature and meaning of the universe, and the role of man in it,” he says, “ the difficulty of detecting error increases still further. . . We have to admit that the success of a revelation is only loosely related to the truth of its doctrines. . . It may be related more to the capacity of the content of the revelation to inspire confidence and a hopeful image of the future than it is related to any literal truth.” Widespread acceptance of the legitimacy of a belief, preventing challenges, strengthens it. The second meaning of truth for Boulding is that meant by George Fox (and, surely, Jesus in John 18,38) when he said, “I was to direct people to the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures, by which they might be led into all Truth . . .” It is, he says, “a moral truth, an emotional truth . . . which corresponds in the first place to some internal image of the ideal,” and, “Margaret Fell quotes George Fox . . . ‘You will say Christ said this and the apostles say this, but what canst thou say?’ The ‘What canst thou say?’ is the very heart of Quakerism.” He points out that the Quaker method of seeking “the sense of the meeting” has not always proved successful.” Truth prospers as the result of a process of “mutation and selection,” similar to that in evolutionary theory. We must “provide an environmental setting within which mutation [i.e., revelation] occurs frequently and selection [testing] takes place fast and cheaply.” Boulding then identifies a third meaning of truth, namely “veracity, that is, not telling lies.” William James, he says, described Quakerism as “‘ a religion of veracity rooted in spiritual inwardness’. . . Veracity is indeed the Truth of the heart; the renunciation of lies, deceit, guile, deception, and pretense.” What canst thou say? Our service organizations, American Friends Service Committee and Friends Committee on National Legislation, rely heavily on this veracity. Similarly, our testimony, on the nature of the Inward Light, on social justice, exploitation, globalization, global warming, and our suggested actions to deal with these, must depend both on our processes of discovering truth, secular and spiritual, that is, avoiding deception, and on our veracity. Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt recently published an article in the New York Times, titled “Your Brain Lies to You.” False beliefs are everywhere, they say, citing research which shows how our brains mislead us, by forgetting the original non-credible source of information but remembering the content; by attributing credibility to false, but repeated, information; by rejecting information which is at odds with what we already have; and by accepting information which reinforces views already held. Yet, they say, there is evidence that “. . . . it pays for consumers of controversial news to take a moment and consider that the opposite interpretation may be true.” When we enter a Meeting for Business we are cautioned to “seek divine guidance, to exercise mutual forbearance . . .” and asked, “as difficult problems arise, is your Meeting careful to meet them with hearts and minds open for creative solutions . . .? That is, presumably, as Friendly “consumers of controversial news.” This process, within and without meetings for business, depends on veracity in all Boulding’s meanings of truth, secular, spiritual, and veracity. He acted on this when he was part of the founding of the Center for Conflict Resolution at the University of Michigan, believing that good, even spiritually based, intentions, did not work when the secular truth about conflict was unknown. We all have those mental images of which he spoke, some true, some false, and the need for constant testing, made faster and cheaper by listening to each other, particularly when we disagree.
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Business MeetingThe meeting opened with the following words of George Fox : “Keep your meetings in the power of God…And when Friends have finished their business, sit down and wait a while quietly and wait upon the Lord to feel him. And go not beyond the Power, but keep in the Power by which God almighty may be felt among you….For the power of the Lord will work through all, if…you follow it.”The Treasurer reported that, despite high water charges due to a child’s turning on a spigot and leaving it on, the Meeting is financially healthy due to “fiscal prudence,” “steady contributions,” and income from the use of the premises and sales of books. A question was raised as to when money from the Sinking Fund should be used and was referred to the Building Committee. A Nominating Committee recommendation that Bill O be appointed clerk of that committee was approved with pleasure. The Building Committee reported that construction of the roadside signs at the Eisenhauer/Vandiver intersection will proceed. The committee will consider the lighting of the signs. The report was accepted. The clerk of Outreach reported that Lindsay will take photographs of members and attenders who agree to this on the second Sundays of July and August. These are for display, with names, in the meetingroom lobby so that newer attenders can get to know each of us. The committee plans to hold another Arts and crafts display on September 12, provided this date is suitable for those likely to show. It is considering how to improve the Library collection and what changes might be made in the website, including a Quaker blog. There is a number of Quaker blogs elsewhere. The recent visitor from Scotland rated our website marvellous. As there is no current Adult Education Committee, the committee is searching for topics for Forum discussions. The Outreach Committee report was accepted. A suggestion that fans be installed in the meetingroom was referred to the Building Committee. The meeting closed in silent worship.
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PersonalIn May we had a visit from Ann Arbor Friends here for a family wedding. In June we had a Friend, Robin Goodman, from the Isle of Harris, off the coast of the Scottish mainland, also visiting for a family wedding.Bill and Denise are visiting Santa Fe, staying in the Friends Guesthouse there. Liza is off soon to the Friends Vermont Youth Camp where she will meet old friends. Jen will be off soon to Rwanda to do research there. Leilah continues to grace the KLRN ads with her appreciation. She’s clearly a hit. Janet S is now an outpatient for physical therapy at Nix on Broadway and nipping around the house following a walker, which knows the way. Melissa, who is president of the Native Plant Society of Texas, held a meeting of conservationists at the meetinghouse in June. Jim S is hard at work on a book manuscript on religion, currently a chapter on religious pluralism. We asked you for your news and views. Here are your responses: Barbara says, “Im e-mailing you from the Keys. My granddaughter’s wedding went off last weekend without a hitch. The best part was seeing all the family, both my soninlaws side and new faces from my grandsoninlaws side. And of course spending time with my daughter. Just seeing her makes me happy. Chuck her husband took his brother and father out no his boat and they treated us all to some freshly caught fish.(he cooked it too). Flying back to Texas tomorrow. Bye for now, Barb” Janet and Ken’s son Paul has finished a busy week, making and selling pots for the Pottery Club up there in Illinois, and then showing children and their parents how to meddle with clay (they were pretty young) at the Meeting Vacation School. Steve O says, “People can go to my blog site at: www.TXTHOUGHTS.blogspot.com for a different view on things. I welcome comments.” Ruth writes, “ Since I won't be traveling this summer, I am giving myself a present. I'm having a walk-in bathtub installed. I love bubble baths! It's going to be as expensive as a luxury trip up the Nile River, but well worth it!” Erin has much news: “My goodness. I guess a lot has been happening for me lately. Some good, some not so good. I am getting a divorce. My husband and I were not getting along. I, despite heroic efforts to retain my new-found freedom, have managed to become engaged to another boy. Somebody stole my dog. (Not kidding!) I am going through the process of opening up an online used bookstore, www.jonez-books.com in case anybody wants to put it in their favorites. However, the site is still under construction. Web content may take a little while to show up. I have been babysitting a hedgehog for the past week.” Margaret wishes she had some exciting news for you “but I haven't. I did get a poem accepted by Dos Gatos Press for publication in their Texas Calendar for 2009. However, one shouldn't brag about achievements, particularly very minor ones like mine. Also in The Dreamcatcher Anthology, put out by the Laurel Crown Foundation, but that one was way back in April. I am going to Florida again mid-August for a granddaughter's sixth birthday party.” Carol, Joe, Neil, and Crystal went to Turkey for a week - Istanbul and Ephesus, plus Paris for a day; we enjoyed walking through the history. Marian went prepared to burn her gavel with other volunteers at the KLRN auction but somehow got left out in the cold, gavel uncharred. Sal D wants you to know that the future of San Antonio lies with golf, condominiums, and minimum wages: “From the Golf News... ‘The restoration of Brackenridge Park is the initial and most expensive and expansive portion of a three-year plan to improve the city of San Antonio's lagging golf operations. As part of plan, the association will combine the city's seven municipal courses under the heading of the ‘Alamo City Golf Trail,’ including a new logo that integrates the shape of the Alamo with a ball and tee. The Brackenridge renovations will include the introduction of a new Texas Golf Museum, a Texas Golf Walk of Fame and areas to honor the late Tillinghast and other influential headliners from the area's golf past. Meanwhile, the dilapidated Borglum Studio will be renovated and converted into a conference center and museum dedicated to Gutzon Borglum, the renowned sculptor and designer of Mount Rushmore. ‘ And that is just the beginning... The Witte has already committed to 500,000 visitors in the new museum (Note the parking garage being built in Brackenridge). The land that was deeded to San Antonio for expansion of the park across from Trinity on Hildebrand has finally been bought by Red McCombs who has gotten the city to rezone it so that he can put 160 condominiums on it after he finishes with the development of the old Earl Abel's site... The city is also very involved with turning the Hertzberg building downtown into a Western Art museum (using the collection of Dolph Briscoe) after 3 years of parties in it... $3 billion spent on the 13 mile expansion of the riverwalk with the corps of engineers... Broadway is going to look real different in 5 years, but by making SA a tourist mecca, the available jobs are all going to be minimum wage and falling....”
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Parker’s KidsParker Palmer ran a Pendle Hill Conference one summer and agreed that people could bring their children. And he suddenly realized that there were quite a few, of all ages. He “had a bit of a brainstorm” and suggested his three, ages 10, 11, and 13, took charge. After agreeing on a pay scale, they took over.“So they launched into this thing – well, you know, the Lord has a way of taking over . . . it rained the first two days, so while most of their schedule had the kids out on the swings, in the sandbox, and running around the grounds, here they are cooped up in Waysmeet, which is a very breakable house – the rain is pouring down and the two-year old is peeing on the rug and the older kids are running into lamps and so forth. But somehow or other they got through those two days and fortunately the sun began to shine. Now at the end of the second day a couple of things had been noticed in the community. One was that my children for the first time in the five years we’ve been at Pendle Hill were coming up to the adults at dinner time and asking if they could sit with them! The other thing is that my daughter Carrie came up to me that second evening just before she dropped into bed exhausted and she looked at me and she said, ‘You know, Dad, if I ever grow up and decide to have children, I’m going to adopt them . . . when they’re twelve.’” Carrie was adopted and only ten. The end was that “the adults said it was the best child-care program that they or their children had ever experienced at any conference. Because the children had ownership of it.”
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An Exciting WorkshopFrom Val: Last weekend, Cecilia Yocum, Wilfredo Benitez (a Colombian AVPer) and I co-facilitated an AVP Basic workshop with staff and youths from a Colombian program that works with minors who have been “desvinculados” (literally—unlinked) from guerrlla and paramilitary groups and with youth from poor neighborhoods who are at risk for joining armed groups. Their work supplements the services offered by government programs which include foster home placement, support for school fees, and psychological services.The program uses art to help the young people find ways to express themselves through drama, music (mostly hip-hop and rap), photography, video and other art forms, including capioera, a Brazilian martial art combining dance and self defense. The staff seems very upbeat, active and caring, and their relationships with the young people seemed warm and supportive. We facilitators agreed that the group was for the most part ideal participants. More than half of the participants were girls or women, and there was little sexism displayed—in fact the facilitators were repeatedly reminded to use inclusive language, which is even harder in Spanish than in English. There was no problem at all getting them to share in the processing of even the first exercises. (In fact, managing not to repeatedly go overtime during the processing was a larger challenge.) Unlike some groups, they loved the Adjective (we say, Positive) names. They even liked “I-messages” (which we call Responsible Messages)! The only problems we encountered were with the roleplays which they wanted to turn into dramatic productions rather than practice of conflict resolutions techniques. One young man said he would divide up his life as "before PAV (AVP in Spanish) and after PAV." In their evaluations of the workshop, there were many comments about how they would use what they learned to help them in living a nonviolent life. Considering that some of them had participated in the violence of warfare, were victims of violence (the parents of at least one had been killed) and forced displacement, and had been abused as children (one said in an exercise, “I cannot remember even one good memory of my childhood.”), they seemed like normal, even wholesome youths. While the young people expressed a desire to live more normal lives, they also expressed great hopes for changing their country for the better, and they thought that AVP would help them do that. Many wanted to become facilitators, and I hope they can, because they bring a lot of energy, enthusiasm and commitment to AVP.
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EventsWe had a visit last month from Rev. Kenny Davis, of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, along with about 35 kids. e said: “We are focusing our Summer Kids Camp on Religious Diversity. So the day we will visit you we are also hoping to visit Temple Beth El, a Mosque, a Hindu Site, a Buddhist Temple, a Catholic Church, a Mega-Church and talk with a Pagan Priest.We are very open to all forms of faith and just want the kids to learn a little about different ways to God. A little about basic beliefs, how you worship, and questions is probably enough. The children will mostly be elementary age, but we will have some younger and a few older. Thank you very much!” Trinity and Czbh (that’s how he signed the guestbook), from La Fiesta, came over and joined in. The children had quite a few questions. One boy was anxious to know if, after weddings, we had receptions. The final question was, “Do you have a trashcan?” Oh, yes, Quakers have trashcans!
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Friends JournalThe July issue of the Journal focuses on Friends Peace Testimony. Here are some of the contents:* Longtime Quaker UN Office leader Jack Patterson on Quakers and genocide. * Faith Morgan on the link between environmental stewardship and the avoidance of war. * Tai Amri Spann-Wilson on immigration and how Quakers can best use our meetinghouses. * Quaker Army officer David Gosling on the soul-damaging impact of war in "A Testimony on the Effects of Combat." * "What is a Peace Church?" - author Tom Ewell challenges Friends to embrace our role as leaders in peace, in fellowship with other peaceful congregations. * Historian Paul Buckley on the Declaration of 1660 and the roots of the peace testimony. You can order the Friends Journal at : http://www.friendsjournal.org/prepub/.
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Bric-a-BracHome Depot will now take burned-out compact fluorescent bulbs for recycling. The bulbs sold by Home Depot “contain 2.3 to 3.5 milligrams of mercury, which is below the National Electrical Manufacturers Association recommendation of 5 milligrams or fewer. It is a small amount, equivalent to the volume of the steel ball in the tip of a ballpoint pen. “‘Most people in their home have 1,000 times more mercury literally in their thermostat, let alone thermometers,’ Mr. Hamburg said.” (NYT June 24).The new Pakistani government appointed a 2-300 member “Peace” committee to negotiate with the Taliban in the NW tribal areas. 30 were abducted, and 28 were “killed on orders of a Taliban court,” “because they supported the government, according to a Taliban statement.” (NYT 6.26.08). Peacemaking is not always peaceful.
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KenyaJohn Muhanji, Director of African Ministries for Friends United Meeting, reports that “The program which the Friends Church Peace team has been doing has caused a big impact to both the communities of the Kalenjin and Kikuyus. These communities had no clue before that the Friends Church had such values in peace and reconciliation. The District Officer continued to say, “If it was not the Friends Church which I have hidden in their wings, I would not have penetrated or made any progress in resettlement of the IDPs. (Internally Displaced Persons)"
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Captiveand in my hidden dreams,oh children, i hear your trumpet tongues; i cannot close my ears. while you suffer, this world is not my home. i cry your blood and who will listen? i grieve for those who shed your blood and feel no loss. they keen but for their own who die; they do not understand. you die in vain. your blood is on our hands and we cannot atone or wipe it off.
waste no tears on me haunt rulers; rend them with your cries; expose their blindness on their thrones of blood.
rise up,
yes, haunt us with
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GOD'S TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE
God would like to thank you for your belief and patronage. In order to better serve your needs, He asks that you take a few moments to answer the following questions. Please keep in mind that your responses will be kept completely confidential, and that you need not disclose your name or address unless you prefer a direct response to comments or suggestions. |
Hopethat perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.
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Advice for JulyRejoice in the presence of children and young people in your meeting and recognize the gifts they bring. Remember that the meeting as a whole shares a responsibility for every child in its care. Seek for them as for yourself a full development of God's gifts. |