First Month, 2003

QUERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . for the First Month

WHAT IS THE STATE OF YOUR MEETINGS FOR WORSHIP AND BUSINESS?

• Are your meetings for worship and business held in expectant waiting for Divine guidance?
• Is there a living silence in which you feel drawn together by the presence of God in your midst?
• Do your meetings give evidence that Friends come to them with hearts and minds prepared for communion with God?
• Are they a source of strength and guidance for daily living?

CALENDAR NOTES

• Our January forum is Toward a New Meeting House. Help to design and plan it.
• An Evening of Winners: We win because we get to clear out our after-Christmas clutter, AND have an evening of fun and good Chinese food ; Our F/friends in Guatemala win because they are enabled to send more young people to school for both academic and vocational education. Bring your cast-offs and white elephants, your spare change, and your wok or covered-dish. Guatemala Friends Monthly Meeting writes: he in-country administration of the Guatemala Scholarship/Loan Program (a joint project with Redwood Forest Friends Meeting in Santa Rosa, California) is under the direct care of our meeting. This program makes it possible for over 100 students to attend a technical high school or to study at the university level. Though open to all, the program gives preference to women and students of Maya ancestry living in rural areas. There is also a special program which gives scholarships to students whose lives were disrupted by the civil war, allowing them to continue their education past 6th grade.
• Bible Seminar: The focus will be on themes in John 5-7. Read ahead of time if possible.
• Come enjoy an evening of hospitality and fellowship, good food and spiritual sustenance at the meeting of the Quaker Study Group at the Buskirks. Judy Shea will lead us in brainstorming topics of discussion for the new year.
• The City of Gainesville will sponsor the annual Great Air Potato Roundup to save our trees from the invasive air potatoes. People from the community will be joining us to help us to clean up - be sure to come join them!

Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.

MEETING NEWS

• New Attendees are invited to an informal meeting at Laura Winefordner's home on Saturday 24 starting at 3:00pm. Ministry and Oversight committee members will be there to respond to your questions and comments about Quaker faith and practice.

• Please hold Reuben Kepple in the LIGHT as he continues his recovery from his recent illness and fall.

• Go Gators! Congratulations to Marilyn Mueller for her financial award to pursue her education.

• Michener Lecture on Sunday, January 19, 2003 at Orlando Meeting House. Heather Moir, a birthright Quaker, will speak on Being Truthful. All are welcome to attend. Moir has been an integral part of the Friends World Committee for Consultation since attending its first annual meeting in 1978; at present she is developing two workshops and writing a booklet for Small Meetings of Friends. See bulletin board for details.

  From Dorothy Granada in Managua, Nicaragua:

  While need for our services grows, the problems in the United States and world economies have severely reduced donations to our programs. A month ago, I received the shocking news from our group in Santa Cruz that the clinic had funds for only two months of operations. Actions we immediately took were to put most of the staff on half-time (the rest of us working extra hard), let our bookkeeper go, closed the kitchen/dining room, reduced aid for patients who travel for further care, and stopped building improvements, among other reductions. Send donations to the Women's Empowerment Network; 309 Cedar Street; #547 Santa Cruz, CA 95060

• Gainesville Community Ministry Thrift Shop at 238 SW 4th Ave is open Monday - Friday 9am to 3pm. Great buys in toys and clothing. They provided help to 623 families for the month of November. In addition to your patronage at their shop they need donations of food, personal care items and clothing.
• PEACE RIBBONS: Thanks, Brenda Bayne and Dick Beardsley, for your work on the Iraq Peace Pledge and for the supply of Peace Pledge Cards which are available for all to wear and to share with others.

WEB SIGHTINGS

I love Common Dreams, http://www.commondreams.org. I use this site as my homepage. It is updated daily and has the news from around the country and from other countries. Quakers, in particular, may like this site as it always features the latest news with regards to peace. I personally have downloaded no less than 20 news articles relating to the peace protests. They feed my soul. These are topics of great importance that get little press in the mainstream media. Take heart! We have the numbers!

There's a lot of talk about just how effective on-line political activism is. MoveOn has a way of truly helping us become and stay more active. You will get a weekly reminder on the next course of action. In this last election it helped me to feel connected to a large community of people who felt as I did. Find it at www.moveon.org. MoveOn is working to bring ordinary people back into politics. With a system that today revolves around big money and big media, many citizens are left out. When it becomes clear that our representatives don't represent the public, we understand that the foundations of democracy are in peril. MoveOn is a catalyst for a new kind of grassroots involvement, supporting busy but concerned citizens in finding their political voice. Our nationwide network of more than 600,000 online activists is one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic participation available today."

Peace,
Brenda Bayne