ka makamaka - Honolulu Friends Meeting
Transcription
ka makamaka - Honolulu Friends Meeting
-1- K A M AKAMAKA October 2016 The Friend THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IN HAWAI'I RESIDENT COUPLE 2016-2018 – Allan Willinger & Jo Schlesinger <www.hawaiiquaker.org> (808) 988-2714 2426 O'AHU AVENUE, HONOLULU, HI 96822 Submissions deadline 18th of the month to <quakers@hawaiiquaker.org> or <sundownertoni@yahoo.com> Advices & Queries: Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business Come to Meeting with hearts and minds prepared to be open and faithful to the leadings of the Spirit. Then the conduct of business will lead to truth, unity and love. When a matter is before the Meeting for Business, each person present contributes to the corporate search for a decision that accords with the will of God. Silent worship in the Meeting for Business contributes to the process of achieving unity. Listen attentively to others’ words and use the silence between messages to reflect carefully on what you might contribute. When you are clear, speak simply what is in your heart, without repeating what has already been offered. While making your thoughts clear, lay aside personal opinions and attend to what God requires. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Advices & Queries: Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business Monthly Meeting for Business Hawaii Island Meeting & Peace Vigil Memorial Minutefor Lorie Dodge Lieninger Childrens Halloween Party News from Ben Lomond Quaker Center Calendar 1 2,3 4 5 6 6 7 Do I attend Meeting for Business regularly? Do I speak in Meeting for Business only when I am led to speak? Is the Meeting for Business held as a Meeting for Worship in which we seek divine guidance for our actions? Are we tender and considerate of different views, coming to a decision only when we have found unity? Do we give powerful support for our clerks that they may be sensitive to the movement of the Spirit among us? Ka Makamaka Page 2 Monthly Meeting for Business September 11, 2016 Minute 1: Opening The meeting opened with silent worship at 11:45. The recording clerk read the Pacific Yearly Meeting Advices and Queries on Meeting for Worship. Minute 2: Oversight and Counsel Committee, Bob Stauffer, clerk 2.1 As noted in Minute 2.2. of the July 2016 meeting, Sasha Bley-Vroman applied for membership in the Meeting. A clearness committee has met with Sasha and reported to our committee on its meeting with her. The Oversight & Counsel committee recommends approval of Sasha’s application for membership. As is our practice, this recommendation will lie over until the next Business Meeting. 2.2 At the April 2016 Business Meeting, the committee reported its sense that although repayment of a loan from the Education Loan Fund, which it oversees, is supposed to begin on completion of studies, in some instances the period of study can be quite extended, and in other instances the borrower can have unexpected expenses that make repayment financially difficult. The committee therefore reported that it would like to consider converting the loan to a grant in certain instances, but invited comment from people in Meeting before recommending a change in the current policy. The committee received generally positive response on the issue, although one Friend expressed concern. Monies in the Education Loan Fund do not come from the Meeting budget, but rather from donations, and perhaps some donations were made on the basis and expectation that the funds given out would indeed be loans and not converted to grants. In discussion with the Friend, it was acknowledged by the Friend with the concern that the proposal and reasons for it were understood, and that the concern was not sufficient to cause further delays in the matter. As such, the committee proposes that the Meeting authorize the committee to consider converting the loans to grants in certain instances, with progress reports on this matter to be reported from time to time to the Business Meeting. ACTION: APPROVED Minute 3: Worship and Ministry committee, Judy Hall, clerk 3.1 Third Sunday programs: September 18, Barbara Brennan will be speaking to us on her spiritual journey in Buddhism. October 16, the schedule has changed due to the nonavailability of our invited guest. Instead of Marlene Coach on “Quaker Speak” as previously announced, we have invited Mary Steiner from Compassion in Choices to speak to us as part of our Final Affairs information programs. 3.2 Presented for Acceptance: Memorial Minute for Lorie Leininger, which was read. ACTION: ACCEPTED This Minute will be forwarded to PYM, Friends Journal and Western Friend. The committee is in unity that, pursuant to Lorie’s request, there will be no Memorial Meeting. We encourage those F(f)riends who would like to gather for a remembrance of Lorie to do so informally on their own. 3.3 The Memorial Meeting for Steven Swift was held yesterday, September 10. It was a blessed event with many in attendance, offering heartfelt messages of love for Steven and his family. Thank you to all who helped in so many ways. Minute 4: Treasurer’s Report, Rudiger Ruckmann, Treasurer 4.1 The Finance committee met on Friday, 2 September. We look to draft a simple budget by November. 4.2 The Treasurer has drafted for Finance committee review a financial support letter to members and attenders of Meeting. 4.3 To date there have been no unexpected budget items— uneventful is good! 4.4 The Treasurer very much enjoys the teamwork with the assistant treasurer. They meet every Wednesday to review priorities and week-to-week business. Minute 5: Peace and Social Concerns committee, Bob Stauffer, co-clerk 5.1 There is an opportunity on the 20th of this month, a week from Tuesday, to participate in a peace vigil sponsored by the Meeting, from 3-5pm. In the past our vigils have been held at the Mo’ili’ili Triangle Park, but the committee has shifted the location for this one to the grass field in front of Bachman Hall at the corner of University Ave. and Dole St. We will hold the vigil in the open without shade and recommend participants bring sun screen Ka Makamaka Page 3 (Meeting for Business cont'd from p.2) and/or an umbrella. Participants can also consider bringing folding chairs. A second opportunity will be this month on the 24th, a week from Saturday, for the United Nations International Peace Day. Peace-oriented faith, community, art, and other groups will gather at the Urban Garden Center in Pearl City. We will participate with a booth from 9am2pm. Questions, including about transportation or parking, can be directed to any committee member. 5.2 The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) Advocacy Team of Honolulu meets on the first Wednesday of each month, and liaises with the Meeting through our committee. The team’s meetings are open to both the Meeting community and other interested people, and all are welcome to attend. The team reports that, while their team was one of the early ones organized by FCNL nationally, more states now have teams operating. The emphasis this year is on mass incarceration and prison reform, and members of the team recently visited with Senator Brian Schatz’s staff and discussed the issue. At this time, the U.S. Senate is considering the issue, but the focus is on the House of Representatives to take the lead with legislation. Members of the team met with Representative Tulsi Gabbard, and she is co-sponsoring the House’s legislation on the topic and is supportive. 5.3. We are pleased to inform the Meeting that committee (and Meeting) member Kate Ciluffo and Meeting member John Hokkanen, while sojourning in Europe, have been participating in our committee meetings, both with audio and with video, through the wonders of modern technology and support from John. The two are doing well and send their greetings and well wishes to the Meeting. Minute 6: First Day School committee, Nancy McPherson, clerk 6.1 The committee has decided to leave it up to the First Day School teachers whether to bring the children upstairs to meeting during the last 15 minutes, during Afterthoughts, or, if they prefer, during the first 15 minutes of meeting. We ask that the Meeting hold our First Day School in the Light as we try this out. 6.2 As our main Halloween Party organizers will not be available this year, the committee asks that if there is interest in holding a Halloween party at the Meetinghouse, Friends who would like to volunteer to plan and hold the party contact myself or Anthony Chang. Either way the Meeting will collect money for UNICEF. Minute 7: House and Grounds committee, Bob Broderick, co-clerk 7.1 The Agreement with Hawai’i Peace and Justice for use of HFM facilities is again coming up for renewal and will expire in the second week of November. Copies of the Agreement are available for members to look over as required and it remains unchanged from last year. The Agreement requires that HPJ will pay Honolulu Friends Meeting for the full cost of internet service, which presently amounts to $666.48 per year. In the past HPJ has paid the whole amount up front. H&G has asked HPJ to supply HFM with a new copy of the General Liability Insurance Policy for HPJ with limits that meet or exceed the terms of the policy held by HFM. Their current policy expires on September 28, 2016. As in the past the new policy will also name HFM as an additional insured party. 7.2 There is a plumbing problem with the toilet in the guest bathroom, the cost to be determined by a plumber. 7.3 Reminders: Parking on the grass should be reserved for those who need to be near the building. Drivers should avoid driving near or over the concrete covering the water meter between the trees and the curb. This has damaged the pipes, causing a leak. Minute 8: Nominating committee, Mary Anne Magnier reporting Last month the names of Anthony Chang for alternate PYM rep and John Whalen for assistant clerk were presented. There have been no comments on these nominations and the committee asks that they be approved. ACTION: APPROVED Minute 9: Closing The meeting closed with silent worship at 12:22, with 24 having been in attendance. Mary Anne Magnier, Clerk Maurine King, Recording Clerk x1xxxxxxxx Ka Makamaka Page 4 MEETINGS FOR WORSHIP IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS IN OCTOBER: Big Island Friends Meet at Spencer Park Friends gathered for worship and fellowship on September 11at the pavilion of Spencer Beach Park near Kawaihae. Sarah Armstrong Jones reported on her trip to the Pacific Yearly Meeting at a Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business. A wonderful potluck lunch of food from local gardens and farms followed. International Peace Day was celebrated with a Peace Vigil on the corner of University and Wilder Avenues on September 20 as the beginning of a week of International Peace activities. Honolulu Monthly Meeting: Sundays: Hymn singing at 9:45 am. Meeting for Worship at 10:00 am at the Meetinghouse, 2426 Oahu Avenue, Honolulu (808) 988-2714. Windward Oahu Worship Group: First Sunday of the month: Meeting for Worship at 10:00 am. The Oct. meeting will be at Vivian Carlson’s For information, call 235-6500 (Polly Pool). Big Island Monthly Meeting: Sundays: 10:00am worship followed by fellowship. Locations vary. Visitors are welcome. For information call Darby (808) 3223116 or Rose (808) 333-2513 Kauai Friends Worship Group: Contact Cynthia Welti (808) 8220050 for information. Maui Friends Worship Group: Meets every Sunday at 10:30 am. Call Jay Penniman (808) 573-4987 for information. For information on Meeting for Healing, contact Colleen Wallace (808) 986-8989. Molokai Worship Group: Call Shari Lynn (808) 553-3790 for details. Page 5 Ka Makamaka MEMORIAL MINUTE FOR LORIE DODGE LEININGER August 9, 1926 to July 29, 2016 AUTHOR, ARTIST, ACTIVIST educator, lover of math, history and literature Lorie was born in Vienna of a Hungarian father and Austrian mother. She had what she described as a difficult childhood due to her father leaving when she was young. Her mother remarried and the combined family had eight children. Discipline was strict, but Lorie was always a critical thinker and not a “follow the commands” type of individual. At a young age the family moved to Milan, Italy, so Lorie spoke Italian as her primary language. Her German became limited to music, chiefly opera. The family immigrated to America and had a lovely home with a cherry tree in New Jersey. They had help in the home including a maid, butler and cook, so Lorie always stood up for immigrants, who were frequently considered all to be poor refugees. As a member of a devout Catholic family with some relatives in a monastery, Lorie was surprised when, at age 25, she discovered that on her birth certificate she was listed as Jewish. Lorie had a lifetime of learning and studied with a scholarship at Cooper Union Art School. She also studied at UC Berkeley and University of Chicago, to name a few schools. Her parents taught her to appreciate art, music, and continual learning. She had a long time love of teaching that started at age eleven when she held Italian classes for her neighborhood friends. She would teach kindergarten and elementary age children, all the way to freshman English at Amherst. At a demonstration/political rally at UC Berkeley, Lorie met a woman who affected her life because she was convinced that the answer to all world problems is love. This lady was truly trying to live this in her life. When Lorie inquired how she believed and practiced this, the woman said she came from a long line of Quakers. Lorie joined the Religious Society of Friends Mt. Toby Meeting on Oct. 11, 1979, and has been strongly involved with Quakers ever since. She transferred her membership to Honolulu Friends Meeting on September 18, 1998. Going to prison for 10 days for her peace beliefs, she also used her artistic talents to construct political banners from Massachusetts to Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Her wood block prints even made their way to Vietnam. Lorie was a rather sickly child and almost died from pneumonia when quite young. Her health is one reason she moved from Amherst, MA, after living there for 30 years. She and Fred Dodge, her brother, felt moving to Hawai’i where he lived would get her out of the harsh winters and the spring and summer allergies. He told her this was a good move and that she would live longer and healthier in Hawai’i. Lorie always felt at home at Honolulu Friends Meeting where she was a valuable and revered Friend. Her other great interest in town was the Honolulu Academy of Art. She was intimately involved there and flourished in the artistic world. Lorie will be missed and HFM has lost a valuable member. “Discernment is central to the Quaker way. Without the mediation of text or minister, we need to work out for ourselves what is and what is not of God. Discernment is the key discipline to accompany the claim that God’s guidance is available to us all individually, the responsibility that accompanies the gift of grace. Like silence, it is something we work on and develop our skills in.” Ben Pink Dandelion in Living the Quaker Way Page 6 Ka Makamaka Children’s Halloween Party at the Meetinghouse, First Day Schoolroom Sunday, October 30, 3:00pm5:30p.m. Come in costume for pizza, trick-or-treating for UNICEF, apple-bobbing, and doughnuts on a string Adults are welcome too: come to help, stay to clean up (please!) or just come for fun. "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.... Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through....tireless efforts...." --by Martin Luther King, Jr. submitted by Deb Kimball News from the Ben Lomond Quaker Center Journaling As Meditation Explore a variety of visual techniques (writing, collaging, sketching) to awaken the possibility of experiencing the presence of God/Spirit/Light in daily life through Journaling As Meditation from October 28th - 30th with Iris Graville. Look at the place of journals in Quaker history as you create your own hand-bound blank book and develop greater skills to serve, or start, your writing practice. Learn more and regsiter at http://www.quakercenter.org/journaling-asmeditation/ (registration will be limited to 24 participants). Primitive Quakerism Revived: Living as Friends in the 21st Century What would it look like today to revive the Quakerism of early Friends? Those in the Quaker movement believed they were chosen to revive true Christianity. This was a different way to live – to relate to God, each other, and all of creation. Please join us from November 18th 20th to contemplate Primitive Quakerism Revived: Living as Friends in the 21st Century with Paul Buckley. Get more information and register online at http://www.quakercenter.org/primitive-quakerism-revived/. 1 Attachment Page 7 Ka Makamaka ~ October 2016 ~ ◄ Sep 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Nov 2016 ► Thu Fri Sat 1 9:00 HFM Work Day 11:00 House & Grounds Committee Meeting, 12:00 Lunch 2 3 10:00 First Day School 10:00 HFM Worship 10:00 Winward Worship 9 10 10:00 First Day School 10:00 HFM Worship Meeting followed by lunch and Meeting for Business 16 17 10:00 First Day School 10:00 HFM Worship 11:00 Peace & Social Concerns Presentation 3-5pm Children’s Hallowe’en Party 6 Worship & Ministry 3:00pm, O&C 5:30pm HFM 11 13 12 18 19 24 25 1:00 Meeting for Healing 31 Notes: 7 8 10:00 Arcadia Worship 14 15 4:30pm Friends Faith Studies 20 1:00 Meeting for Healing 10:00 First Day School 10:00 HFM Worship Visiting Sunday Lunch Peace & Social Concerns Committee 30 5 1:00 Meeting for Healing 2:00 FCNL Advocacy 1:00 Meeting for Healing 12:00 Library Committee 9:00 First Day School Committee 10:00 First Day School 10:00 HFM Worship 11:00 Worship & Ministry Presentation 3:30 HPJ Archival Work 23 4 21 22 6:00pm Pizza and More 26 27 28 29