FALL 2004June 12, 2004
alem Quarter Worship & Ministry Committee met on June 11th at the home of Gloria and Bob Horvay, convening in worship somewhat after 7:30 pm. Friends were present from Mickleton, Woodbury, and Woodstown Monthly Meetings, as well as the Quarter coordinator. We particularly missed the presence of Peggy Warner but joined with her in celebrating the birth of new granddaughter Maya Jones.
Spiritual Healing Project
Friends from Woodbury and Princeton Meetings are developing a project under Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to explore and support the practice of spiritually based healing. This is not under the care of Salem Quarter, except that our Worship and Ministry Committee provided a clearness committee to the Friends under the weight of this project. They have taken a proposal to the Standing Committee on Worship and Care, and participated in the “Seek and Find” portion of Annual Sessions. They are now seasoning the openings that presented during Annual Sessions, which will influence their next steps.
Spiritual Gifts Project
The Spiritual Gifts Project Group has continued to meet, and is coalescing into a group. The exciting news is that the group appears to be living its subject. In developing a curriculum that explores the effects of gifts on both the individual and the spiritual community, the Project Group is becoming a gathered community. The likely result of this project will be a workshop series, with a few main gatherings interspersed with small-group sessions, giving opportunity for focused study, worship and application. Before offering the program at large, the project group will try it out themselves. In particular, Michael Gibson was appreciated for his work in developing an over-all structure for the curriculum.
In an independent but relevant development, Salem Monthly Meeting has begun study in its adult First-day School of the book Listening Hearts. This book is a resource in the work of the Spiritual Gifts Project, and should lay a good foundation for any who would study the stewardship of gifts.
2005 Retreat
The year 2004 will be a fallow year for the annual Salem Quarter Retreat. While we have budget, process, and Friends willing to support, no one stepped forward to clerk the planning committee. If there will be a retreat in 2005, we would need to reserve the facility and schedule a presenter by the end of this year. Therefore, the time is not too soon to begin consideration. We have money budgeted to support the retreat; we have processes to handle the details of registration and housekeeping; we have Friends, including the coordinator and volunteers, who can be counted upon for support before, during, and after the event. What we need is someone who feels the mission and will hold it on course. We recommend that the Quarter issue an invitation to Friends in our monthly meetings. Friends with an idea for a theme for the 2005 retreat, and willingness to be considered as clerk of the planning committee, would write up a brief description of their idea and submit it for consideration and approval at Quarterly Meeting in September. We leave it to Quarterly Meeting to decide who would collect the ideas for report to Quarterly Meeting session: the Worship and Ministry Committee would be willing, but Steering Committee would also be appropriate.
Quaker Cosmology
Several Salem Quarter Friends, from at least three of our monthly meetings, were present at the Philadelphia studios of WHYY for the taping of an interview with George Ellis, a mathematician and cosmologist who received this year’s Templeton Prize for the study of science and religion. Mr Ellis is a citizen of the Union of South Africa and a Quaker. The interview was recorded for the program Speaking of Faith, which airs on WHYY-FM at 7:00 am on Sunday mornings; the Ellis interview is scheduled for June 27th.
Friends who were at the taping shared their recollections in our session, leading to a lively discussion with participation from all, supporting the notion that perhaps there is such a thing as Quaker cosmology. Among the ideas touched upon were the presence of an inherent ethos in the universe, the principle of kenosis (a creative emptying), the bases of self-sacrifice and of loving one’s enemy, the transition from logic to faith, and fostering gospel order as an act of evolution of the world.
We concluded at 9:30, intending to meet again on September 10th, the Friday before Quarterly Meeting. We welcome Friends from all meetings of Salem Quarter.
For the Committee,
Mario Cavallini, ClerkRETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
Last modified:
Saturday, August 28, 2004 at 09:51 PM
