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What becomes of the surplus of human life? It is either, 1st,
destroyed by infanticide, as among the Chinese and Lacedemonians, or
2nd, it is stifled or starved, as among other nations whose population
is incommensurate to its food; or 3rd, it is consumed by wars and
endemic diseases, or 4th it overflows, by emigration, to places where
a surplus of food is attainable.
James Madison, 1791 That which has come to be, that is what will come to be; and that which has been done, that is what will be done; and so there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9 |
Welcome to new attendees Maria Victoria Ayarza, Heather Loring, and Marilyn Muller.
Please hold Annie McPherson in the LIGHT as her leg continues to heal. While on vacation in North Carolina, she sustained a severe fracture, but is already up on crutches. She thanks the many who have offered their support in one way or another.
Please hold in the LIGHT the sons and friends of Martha Omar as they grieve their loss in her death. A memorial service was held at our Meetinghouse on Sunday, August 11.
We wish Godspeed to John Lepke who is relocating to Oregon to live near his son. We will miss you, John.
Our First Day School Committee met to discuss curriculum and ideas. It was decided that the younger children would follow the Sparklers curriculum and the older ones will study the life of Jesus. Also in the planning stage is an idea for a fun event for the children. The adult members of the meeting will be invited (if they behave themselves!).
Gainesville Friends Meeting thanks the Winefordners for their hospitality in offering their house for a day at the beach. It is a time of spiritual renewal and fellowship.
Gainesville Community Ministry operates a Thrift Shop located at 238 SW 4th Ave. The Thrift Shop is open Monday-Friday from 9Am to 3 PM. They are starting a Clothing Gift Certificate program in which one or more individuals can purchase a $10.00 certificate which will then be given to individuals in need and which can be redeemed for any item in the Thrift Shop. See Gene Beardsley.
The Community Coalition against War and Terrorism meets at the Mennonite church every Monday night. They are facilitating a daylong festival, Building a Culture of Peace, on Saturday, Sept 14 from 11am to 6pm at the Wilhelmina Johnson Center on NW 10th Street. The festival will feature speakers, music and food and the focus will be on Peace Heroes.
The Gainesville Sun, Monday, August 19, 2002, published our letter under the title War Will Accomplish Nothing. This letter was drafted by our Peace and Social Concerns Committee and accepted by our Meeting earlier this year and had not been printed the first time we submitted it. But the international scene is still deteriorating and it appears that our letter made it at the very most perfect time. (Editor's note: I keep forgetting that we live in God's time and not ours.)
Our Peace and Social Concerns committee will co-sponsor the Campaign to Restore Civil Liberties that is being promoted by Community Coalition Against War And Terrorism. The CRCL will hold a press conference here in Gainesville on August 30. On August 31, members, in front of the downtown library, will distribute leaflets explaining the impact of the Patriot Act on Public Libraries. CRCL will ask our County Commissioners to pass a resolution that will absolve County libraries and bookstores from complying with the Patriot Act.
Reuben aroused my curiosity when he recently described many of the articles on the FCUN website as "long and tedious." So I set out to explore www.fcun.org to see if I agreed. In the final analysis, I wasn't able to reach a conclusion on the matter, because I don't know how detailed the to saving our environment, but information in an article needs to be to help those who are devoting themselves I did find out that fcun.org offers a lot of information.
The menu on the left of the home page lists these categories: Issues, Projects, Organization, and What's New, with subheadings under each. The website also offers the articles from the current issue of BeFriending Nature. One thing that caught my eye (because it may be something our meeting wants to make use of some day) was an announcement that the Sustainability Study Guide is now in the hands of the Publications Committee.
Perhaps the people who produce the website have received feedback similar to Reuben's before, because on the Publications page they write, "We all need to make a greater effort to provide fresh material for the various pages to keep people coming back to the website." Anyone want to contribute?
On a different subject, I want to make clear to everyone that the reason I'm not making frequent Action Alert announcements for FCNL after Meeting for Worship is that I think the best course of action for all of you who are concerned is to get on the FCNL Action Alert e-mail list; then from time to time, as you see a congressional action you want to influence, you can click on the FCNL alert and be taken directly to a message that you can immediately e-mail to President, Senator, or Congressperson. I believe this is the best way to get your preference heard and counted. (If you don't have e-mail, you can have the FCNL Newsletter sent to you and respond by phone or U.S. mail. Mail, I've been told, is not so popular since the anthrax scare and subsequent jamming up of the post office.)
Don Smith