Category: Announcement

Fall Fellowship, usually held the first full weekend in November, is a time for Friends young and old from SCQM to gather in worship and community, traditionally in the beautiful setting of Temescal Canyon.  Keynote speakers enrich our lives with messages from the wider Quaker community, children and teens have a chance to gather, F/friends join in worship sharing, interest groups, meeting for healing, bible study, and fellowship.

Back to Basics:
The Roots and Fruits of Quaker
Testimonies Then and Now

November 3–5, 2023 at Temescal Canyon and via Zoom

Registration is open from October 1 – 29, 2023.

If you wish to send a contribution by check, please make it out to “SCQM” and mail it to:

SCQM, Attn Gary Wolff Treasurer, 1020 EL SUR AVE, ARCADIA CA 91006-4529

If you plan to make a financial contribution later, please use this donation link:

https://paypal.me/scqmtreasurer?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US

Dear Friends,

Many Friends expressed how nourished they felt by attending, either onsite or online via Zoom, Pacific Yearly Meeting’s annual session this past July.  I encourage you to read the epistle that came from the 77th annual session, which Centered the Voices of the Next Generation.  I hope Friends from Southern CA will feel nourished by gathering for our Quarter’s Fall Fellowship.

We are reminded that Friends have diverse identities, life experiences, and faith traditions. Some Friends come from generations of Quaker ancestors, other convinced Friends have Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, mono or polytheistic, or non-theist backgrounds.  As an inclusive religion and community of seekers, we strive each day to live with integrity and to listen for and see that of God, the Divine, the Light in all.  

Foundational to our experiential faith community are the Quaker Testimonies which we contemporary Quakers have come to “package” as the SPICES: Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, Stewardship or Sustainability.  Yet we can ask, are these our only testimonies?  Are there others?  What is a testimony?

The centering theme for this fall’s quarterly gathering is “Back to Basics – The Roots and Fruits of Quaker Testimonies Then and Now.”  Paul Buckley, a traveling Quaker minister and author will share with us his perspectives on the Quaker Testimonies in two presentations based on his recently published Pendle Hill pamphlet, Quaker Testimony: What We Witness to the World.   Paul’s presentations will look at early Quaker testimonies, what he considers the 5 essential characteristics of a testimony, how early Friends testified, and the more contemporary evolution of the Quaker “SPICES”.

In addition to our keynote presentations and worship sharing on Saturday and Sunday mornings we will have interest and affinity groups, wonderful children’s and teen’s programs, a meeting for healing, time for fellowship, hiking, plenaries, community night, and worship.

Please join us for SCQM’s Fall Fellowship on the beautiful grounds of Temescal Gateway Park in the Pacific Palisades, just north of Santa Monica, or via Zoom.  See below for details.

In peace,

Jane Blount

SCQM Clerk

Keynote Speaker

Paul Buckley is a member of Clear Creek Friends Meeting in Richmond, Indiana. In his late forties, he gave up paid employment to enroll in the Quaker Studies Program at the Earlham School of Religion. Since graduating, he has been a traveling minister and a writer on Quaker topics. He is known among Friends of all stripes for his workshops, short courses, and retreats. 

Paul has felt called to bring knowledge of important Friends to modern Quakers.  This has resulted in several books each on William Penn and Elias Hicks.  He has a special interest in how Quakers read scripture and co-edited The Quaker Bible Reader with Stephen Angell as well as a widely used pamphlet on the Lord’s Prayer. In addition, he has written several dozen articles on Quaker history, and contemporary Quaker faith and practice.

His most recent book is Primitive Quakerism Revived: Living as Friends in the Twenty-First Century. Paul’s presentation for Southern California Quarterly Meeting is based on a 2023 Pendle Hill Pamphlet, Quaker Testimony: What We Witness to the World, the product of twelve years of thought and contemplation on Quaker Testimony.

Interest Groups

Friday Nov 3rd 6:30 – 8:30 PDT 

Radical Hospitality: Join Lloyd Lee Wilson in a discussion on “Radical Hospitality…a way of being in the world that helps to bring the Kingdom of God into full realization …through inclusiveness toward all people, through letting go of personal cravings for possessions and power, and through noncoercion.” See more about the pamphlet and where to purchase it at Radical Hospitality – Pendle Hill Quaker Books & Pamphlets.

This is an online program (those coming Friday afternoon to help set-up are welcome to join us in Stewart Hall).

*Please see information about the Pendle Hill Radical Hospitality reading group on October 18:  https://pendlehill.org/events/pendle-hills-reading-group-october-2023/ 

Lloyd Lee Wilson is a recorded minister of the gospel in West Grove Monthly Meeting, North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative). His publications include Essays on the Quaker Vision of Gospel Order, Wrestling with Our Faith Tradition, Holy Surrender, Change and Preservation in the Same Current, and numerous contributions to Friends Journal, Quaker Life, Quaker Theology, and The Journal of North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative). His message is that “Christ has come to teach his people himself.”

Saturday, Nov 4th 2:00 – 3:45 PDT

The Seekers — Onsite and Online

Quakerism would not look the way it does if it weren’t for the Westmoreland Seekers, the people “gathered” by George Fox in the central English highlands. This group had already been meeting in silent worship for at least half a century before Fox showed up and much of the practice of unprogrammed Friends was adopted from this community which did not consider itself a religion. Kindred Gottlieb will facilitate a discussion about the early roots of Quakerism that long pre-dated George Fox and Margaret Fell.

Being Violent While Being Quaker – How long can I wear my sword? — Onsite and Online 

Dan Strickland will share his perspective as a karate student of 50+ years’ standing, how that squares or conflicts with being a Quaker, and what violence is in our lives. Will have a rich discussion around questions like, Does our aversion to violence affect our honesty?  Where is the balance between fear and hospitality?

FCNL and our Quaker Advocacy Community — Onsite and Online 

Come learn first-hand from advocates who have led successful issue FCNL campaigns through building people power and taking action. In this workshop we’ll focus on different ways you can work with FCNL and our Quaker advocacy community to advance our shared vision and values. These ideas can help our meetings and worship groups prepare for deeper work towards the world we seek. 

We will hear from young friends about their experience in the FCNL “Ambassadors” program; our regional FCNL Advocacy Coordinator, Jessica Bahena; and the FCNL Quaker Engagement Program Manager, Bobby Trice. Online and onsite attenders are welcome (onsite participants will meet in Stewart Hall).

Notes on Fall Fellowship

Registration

There’s a $25 fee for onsite attendees and $5 for online attendees. Extra costs are “pay-as-led”, with suggested amounts on the registration form. If you need financial help, ask your Monthly Meeting or Worship Group. Registration ends at midnight on October 22, 2023.

Important Forms and documents

Fall Fellowship Proposed Schedule