Please join us October 31-November 2nd for Fall Fellowship in the beautiful San Bernadino Mountains!
Because Fall Fellowship happens to coincide with Halloween this year, we got to thinking about spiders and all manner of creepy, crawly things. This led to some deeper thoughts on how our Quaker Faith enables us to see beauty in every living thing, even those creatures that may disgust or frighten others. The children’s program will be exploring these thoughts further through a mixture of discussions, songs, stories, games, and Halloween-themed art projects. We hope that your children or teens can participate!
We know that some of you may be hesitant about coming on Friday Night since your family may be looking forward to a night of Trick-or-Treating in the neighborhood. If this is the case, you are welcome to come on Saturday morning instead. Kindred Gottlieb-Gutierrez is trying to organize Saturday morning transportation from Union Station or a similar centralized location. If you’re interested in that option, please contact Kindred (kindredg@gmail.com).
If you’re on the fence about coming to Fall Fellowship, perhaps this Q&A will help you decide.
If you’re not on the fence, you can register right here, right now!
Also, if you’ve already registered, but didn’t include a payment with your registration, you can pay here.
Q: What are the dates of Fall Fellowship? A: Fall Fellowship will run from late in the day or early in the evening on Friday, October 31 until early afternoon on Sunday, November 2 .
Q: Where is Fall Fellowship being held? A: Because our usual location, Temescal Canyon, hasn’t yet reopened after the PalisadesFire, we will be meeting this year at the Pali Retreat Center in the San Bernadino Mountains. The address is 30778 Highway 18, Running Springs CA.
Q: What is the cost? A: There will be no charges for children or teens, other than a $25 registration fee. For adults who are willing to stay in a room in a group cabin, the recommended contribution will be $375 (plus a $25 registration fee) per person. Each group cabin accommodates up to 12 people, however, we plan to assign no more than 4-6 per cabin. For adults who prefer a private room, the recommended contribution will be $500 (plus a $25 registration fee) per person. Most private rooms have 3 or 4 beds, so they are suitable for a small family. For adult commuters, there will be a charge of $120 per person per day, plus a $25 registration fee.
Q: Is there financial help available? A: Yes. If your family needs financial assistance to attend, you can request a subsidy from your Meeting, the Quarter, or both. Please let us know.
Q: Will transportation be provided? A: We hope to arrange car pools or buses to help people get to Pali on both Friday and Saturday. Please call Kindred Gottlieb-Guttierez at (213) 220-6113 for more information.
Q: What kind of activities will be available for adults? A: Our program has not been finalized yet, but we plan to present mini-workshops with exercises selected to concentrate on community-building, conflict resolution and forgiveness. It will be a great opportunity to reunite with Friends across the Quarter, make new friends, and enjoy the beauty of our surroundings.
Our theme for the weekend will be “Healing our Community and Using our Community for Personal Healing.” We will present mini-workshops with exercises selected to concentrate on community-building, conflict resolution and forgiveness. As always, our underlying theme is enjoying each other’s fellowship and meeting friends from across the Quarter while resting in a natural setting.
You’ll notice we are not gathering at Temescal Canyon. They’re still recovering from the firestorm, and expect to be available next year. Meantime, Pali Retreat, while a longer commute for most of us, offers accommodations that meet our needs. We hope to see a full gathering of Friends for this weekend.
The weekend includes both Hallowe’en and Día de Muertos. If you would like to help with plans for that, please contact Kindred Gottlieb (kindredg@gmail.com) and/or Louse Sherikar (louise.sherikar@gmail.com).
If you would like to host an interest session or an affinity group, please let me, Dan Strickland (danstrickland2001@yahoo.com), know so we can include you in our schedule planning.
Meals will be provided as part of our contract with Pali Retreat, with all options available.
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
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).
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.
Spring Gathering, usually held the last Saturday in April, is a time for Friends young and old from SCQM to gather in worship and community. Ministry & Counsel committee provides a reflection on the Spiritual State of the Meeting reports that each Monthly Meeting and Worship Group has submitted. We’ll have an interest group on Friday evening and gather for worship, plenaries, and fellowship on Saturday.
SPRING GATHERING at ORANGE COUNTY FRIENDS MEETING Registration is open
EVERYONE is warmly invited to attend Spring Gathering at the end of April to enjoy fellowship with Friends from across our Quarter.
Are you curious about how other Friends Meetings and Worship Groups are navigating life as a spiritual community in these shifting times now that the pandemic is not so intense? We’ll hear excerpts from Meetings’ Spiritual State of the Society Reports and have worship sharing opportunities together.
The Children’s Committee is planning lots of fun activities including candle-making. In addition, children will have an opportunity to fold-form a copper bowl with metalsmith Marne Ryan.
Get to know other Teens in Southern California! Junior Friends aged 12-20 are invited to attend Spring Gathering on Saturday for fun, fellowship, and community building led by Linus Hartigan (co-clerk of PacYM’s Jr. Yearly Meeting).
The Peace & Social Concerns Committee is hosting an online interest group Friday evening at 7 PM, exploring where we are and what is next for us as individuals, within our meetings, and our Quarter, on the journey towards “radical transformation” and a fully welcoming and inclusive, beloved community.
Saturday’s schedule is from 9:00 – 3:15 (Pacific time). All program activities will be available for those joining us in person and via Zoom, except the children’s program, which will be in-person only.
Orange County Friends Meeting in Costa Mesa will be hosting the in-person gathering at their campus 2845 Mesa Verde Drive East, Costa Mesa, CA in the larger space where the Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist neighbors have their sanctuary (Daniels Hall). There will be ample space for everyone who would like to attend in person,
Covid-19 Safety Policy: Everyone is expected to wear high-quality masks when inside and maintain social distancing between members of different households. If you are sick please stay home. All are welcome regardless of vaccination status.
Lunch: OCFM will be providing a simple lunch and refreshments during the day on Saturday and will be asking for donations to cover the cost of hospitality.
There is an outside courtyard area where we can enjoy refreshments and lunch together.
Friends joining us online will be able to join in our shared virtual space with everyone gathered in Costa Mesa as well as online (except for when we are in smaller breakout groups and at lunch).
May we gather with openness, humility, and a spirit of loving-kindness and gratitude. May we come together to listen, share, and learn from each other and look towards the future of the Quarter.
In peace and with gratitude,
Jane Blount, SCQM Clerk
2022 Spring Gathering Schedule
FRIDAY, APRIL 28
Time
Activity
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Toward an Inclusive Community
SATURDAY, APRIL 29
Time
Activity
9:00 – 9:30 am
Arrival, coffee and tea, Greet Friends
9:30 – 12:00 pm
Worship, Plenary 1, State of Society Reports Part 1