Considering the query, “How do we sense the Spirit among us?” proved to be a opportunity for deep worship sharing among Friends, with the wish that those active Friends who were unable to attend could have shared in this fruitful experience of community. Our discussion combined sharings about personal faith as well as insights about the well-being and vitality of our Meeting.

The thread that wove its way through our time together was the conviction/affirmation that worship is the essential core of Quakerism and of our life as a Meeting. For many reasons (members’ work and family demands, Friends moving away, etc.) we have had fewer in worship this past year. We feel diminished joy and occasional discouragement when few people come to worship. The Meeting’s strength and spirit seem lessened when we share First Day worship with only three or four others. One Friend commented that we are on the edge of being a vital meeting or a waning meeting, but that most of the time we seem vital.

Ours is a small meeting and every individual matters. So we especially feel the loss of those who are no longer here due to illness or other circumstances. One person observed that Meeting right now is in an ebb rather than a flow, although the Spirit is “flowing” in parts of our Meeting; for example, First Day School sessions, Advancement Committee initiatives, and the depth of worship.

Yes, Meeting ebbs and flows, but not Spirit. Spirit is always here – we are either aware or not aware of the Spirit’s presence. It is easy to get caught up in the world’s craziness and become inactive. One Friend commented on her “joyful renewal” in reconnecting with Meeting after absence from worship for nearly a year. Worship is the way to return to awareness of Spirit.

A Friend, who transferred her membership to our meeting, spoke of her heart’s journey from her previous meeting to Housatonic Meeting. She now is “at home” here and expressed gratitude for HMM’s firm “moorings.” We need to recognize and affirm this grounding in the Spirit and come “back to the harbor.”

Our tender sharings about worship, which included some sense of loss and yearning for more, evolved into expressions of gratitude, remembrances about the year’s high points, and understandings about what Meeting means to us. We were pleased to be able to finish the porch railing, completing the renovations to our meetinghouse begun over five years ago. Our participation in New Milford’s 300th anniversary parade – carrying our new HMM banner – was spirited fun and affirmed our identity in this town, in which only three of our members reside. Indeed our meetinghouse is not only ours, but belongs to the community; we are stewards of this 203-year-old historic building.

We had much joy in hosting Quarterly Meeting in November and know that the program on New York Prison Families touched many and is continuing to have an impact beyond our Meeting. Our meeting does have a prophetic witness – the film discussion of “A Force More Powerful,” one of several in our outreach series, and our hosting of the walkers on the Underground Railroad Tour attest to the potential of Spirit-led connections with others.

More recently, we sat in worshipful silence before beginning a discussion about our responses to FUM’s personnel policy with regard to Friends’ gender and sexual orientation and NYYM’s continuing relationship with FUM. We listened and shared deeply with one another. While no formal sense of the meeting was spoken or approved, and while doubts about our membership in FUM remain, all Friends expressed a desire to remain in relationship with FUM and to engage in ongoing discussion of these matters. Our conversations about these issues will continue.

Our worship sharing on this year’s query came full circle when one Friend, referring again to all the activities that can keep us from Meeting, called us to account: “I could be doing other important things today, but I choose to be here because Meeting is the most important thing.” For this Friend, “Meeting is the most important thing” means that her relationship to God is the most important thing in her life, and that meeting for worship with Friends is essential for keeping God at the center in her mind and heart.

Job description and position available February 2008

Washington Quaker Workcamps was founded in 1986 and is a program of William Penn House. The Coordinator plans and leads about 40 Workcamps each year. The Workcamps include working in distressed hamlets of West Virginia, reconstruction work in New Orleans, helping the elderly of Washington, DC remain in their homes through rehabilitation of those homes, serving as partners with other DC social service agencies that provide meals and services for the homeless, rehabilitation of city parks and working with public and private schools to address issues of poverty and privilege. Many Workcamps fill an entire week, some are for a weekend. The Workcamp participants include adults, upper and middle school students from a broad spectrum of faiths and traditions.

The position is full time and permanent. The responsibilities include the following:

• Overall supervision of the Washington Quaker Workcamp’s (WQW) programs and activities.
• Strategic involvement in fund raising
• Develop and manage the WQW budget and coordinate the WQW fundraising efforts.
• Coordinating Workcamps activities to include:
• • Setting up and leading Workcamps.
  • Coordinating service projects for Workcamps.
  • Supervising home repair projects.
  • Arranging guests speakers and workshops
  • Establishing the spiritual and service learning framework for the Workcamps.

The candidate should have the following qualifications:

• Experience in youth education or youth development, especially experiential education or service-learning programs.
• Basic familiarity with construction and home repair work.
• Ability to think creatively and work independently, and to inspire others.
• A strong commitment to social justice and the Quaker social testimonies of integrity, simplicity, equality, peace, and community.
• Familiarity with computer applications including word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and desktop publishing.
• Experience as a youth leader desirable.
• College degree or equivalent experience.

This is a full time position. Benefits include:

1. Competitive salary based on experience.
2. Health insurance.
3. Paid annual and sick leave.
4. Opportunities for professional development.
5. Contribution to retirement account.
6. Participation with the broader world of Friends.
7. Residence at William Penn House may be provided.

Since this is a faith based organization:

• Preference will be given to members or attenders of the three traditional peace churches; Quakers, Brethren and Mennonites.
• The coordinator will participate fully in the spiritual life of the William Penn House.
• This individual should understand the spiritual traditions of the Religious Society of Friends.

To apply, send resume, cover letter, and three references to:

Byron Sandford

Executive Director

byron@williampennhouse.org
William Penn House
515 East Capitol St., SE (202)543.5560

Washington, DC 20003 fax: (202)543.3814
www.WilliamPennHouse.org

Purchase Quarterly Meeting
You Are Warmly Invited

To Quarterly Meeting At

Scarsdale Friends Meetinghouse
Popham Road, Just West Of Rte 22

Sunday, November 5

Quakers have been going into prisons since Elizabeth Fry entered Newgate, and for many different reasons. Those Friends who volunteer to
be part of prison ministry are often asked, “why do you go into the prison?” or “what do you do there?” or “what is the response of the prisoners?”
or, even, “are you scared?”

Our next Quarterly Meeting program will examine volunteering in prisons from the point of view of both “outside” Friends and those “inside” who have worshipped with us and responded to our leadings.

The program will begin with a panel presentation, to include Hank Elkins and Mary Attanasio who will discuss their leadings and experiences in maximum and medium security prisons. Also on the panel will be Rory Anderson and Ray Rios, former clerks of Sing Sing and Otisville worship groups and whose post-release experiences have been influenced by their Quaker experiences while in prison. Finally, Deborah Wood will give a brief presentation on her AVP volunteer experience with prison inmates.

The panel will conclude with a Q&A session by the audience to the entire Purchase Quarter Prison Ministry Committee.

Friends are welcome to bring guests. We hope you will join us!!!

Directions: from South – Bronx R. Pkwy Northbound to Crane Rd/Scarsdale exit 12. Sharp right onto E.Parkway (parallel to train station) to light (POPHAM RD) –Left on Popham; go uphill, almost to end – left into Scarsdale Meetinghouse parking lot.

From North – Bronx R. Pkwy Southbound to Crane Rd exit 12, LEFT EXIT. At traffic light exit left and then go straight parallel to how you were going on BRP through two stop signs, pass train station and stores, to light (POPHAM RD) – Left on Popham; go uphill, almost to end – left into Scarsdale Meetinghouse parking lot.

childcare provided throughout the day
10:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship and First Day Program
11:15 a.m. Program: About Letting Our Lives Speak and Those Who Have Listened. . .
12:30 p.m. Brown-bag Lunch beverages and dessert provided by Scarsdale Friends
1:10 p.m. Purchase Quarter Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business

For additional information: bort-brown@att.net or sweisfeld@juno.com or 914/779-8354

I’ve pasted in the table of contents for the issue below – check it out!

Peace,
Sara Burke
Peacework Co-Editor

2 From the Editor’s Desk

4
Torture and Other Secrets

by John Calvi =
Either you are moved to act against = it,
or you stifle
and smolder.

5
When the Torturers Come Home

by Liz Keeney
I think it takes a lot to wound someone so badly that they can do the = kinds
of things my father did.

7
Sexual Violence as a Tool of
Genocide
by Andrea Smith
The project of colonial sexual = violence
establishes the ideology that Native bodies are inherently violable — = and
by extension, that Native lands are also inherently violable. =

10
With Gacaca, Rwanda Combines
Traditional and Modern Justice Systems =
by Roxanne Lawson
Gacaca has the potential to be the = most
thorough process ever undertaken to bring rank and file perpetrators of genocide
to justice

12
The Nobel Peace Prize that
Could Have = Been
by Joseph Gerson
Since Hidankyo’s founding, its = members
have traveled the world to describe what they experienced and to demand the
= elimination of nuclear weapons.

14
Traveling for Peace: Deciding
When & Where to Join International Peacemaking = Teams (review)
by Christel Jorgenson =
Taking a Stand addresses those who = have
a sense of outrage, who want to act but find the rallies and the letters insufficient,
yet may have hesitations, too.

15
Torture’s Dirty Secret: It
Works
by Naomi Klein
The people being intimidated need = to
know enough to be afraid but not so much that they demand justice. =

16
The Tiger Cages of Con Son

by Don Luce
Using maps drawn by a former Tiger = Cage
prisoner, we diverted from the planned tour and hurried down an alleyway between
two prison buildings.

17
"General Pinochet at the
Bookstore" (poem) =
by Mart=EDn Espada

18
Prisons within Prisons: The
Campaign to Close the Control Units =
by Jamie Bissonnette
Prisoners describe feeling = "dead
to the world." Life becomes defined by deprivation.

19
Another Kind of Force
by Nancy Hastings = Sehested

Where did we get the peculiar idea = that
further punishment and diminishment of a person’s life will create = better
human beings?

20
Human Rights and Victim Justice

by Renny Cushing and Susannah = Sheffer

Justice for victims — whose human = rights
have been so completely violated — does not come from violating the = human
rights of others.

22
Pieces (Events, Gatherings,
Opportunities, Resources, Campaigns) =

24
Tribute to Rosa Parks
from The Highlander = Center

While Rosa Parks was indeed = remarkable,
her story is also about collective action, willed risk, intentional plans, =
and mass movement.

Short
= Takes:
6 Bring Home the = Mass.
National Guard
6 US Military = Recruiting Data
Available
8 Resources on Sexual = Violence
and Native Organizing
10 Crisis in Darfur, = Sudan

13 Thanks to Lobbying, "Bunker
Busters" a Bust =

Sara
Burke, = Co-Editor

Peacework = Magazine

American Friends Service = Committee

2161 Massachusetts Ave.

Cambridge, MA 02140

617/661-6130=

www.afsc.org/peacework