Category: 2nd Hour Program

Sounds of Silence

Brad Stocker inside a caldera of Irazu, a volcano in Costa Rica when the fog rolled in ahead of a front. He remembers it as one of the most silent moments he has ever experienced.

Brad Stocker, Quaker Earthcare Witness Steering Committee

Please join Columbia Friends and Brad Stocker for a Second Hour Program on December 20th at 11:30 to become more mindful of the way silence influences our care for the Earth.

Do not break the silence unless you can improve upon it.”

– William Ralph Inge.

We often mistakenly assume silence is the absence of sound and there is hardly ever a time that is so. It has been said that hearing is the last sense to die and so, we are encouraged to speak to those in a coma or near death. In this workshop we will explore silence in some of its varieties of uses and abuses. We will aim to become more mindful about how silence is functioning in our lives and effects our care for Earth.

Brad Stocker, Ed.D. was a professor at Miami Dade College. Brad served on the Council of the Earth Ethics Institute at the college for 20 years. He has a post- doctoral certificate in Ecology and Human Spirit and has been designing, developing, and teaching Earth Literacy workshops and courses since 1992. He is a member of Miami Friends Meeting and Quaker Earthcare Witness.

Quaker Earthcare Witness is a network of North American Friends and other like-minded people who are taking spirit-led action to address the ecological and social crises of the world, emphasizing Quaker process and testimonies.

The Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2934909472

Brad encourages everyone interested in QEW to consider signing up for the following publications:


 BeFriending Creation. Quaker Earthcare Witness publishes a quarterly journal, BeFriending Creation, that reports and celebrates what Friends and Friends Meetings and organizations are doing and
saying about the global crisis in ecological sustainability. 

Click here to read BeFriending Creation.


 QEW Pamphlets for Sharing.  QEW has more than 30 trifold pamphlets on a wider-range of Earthcare-related issues. Download the full pamphlet or order printed versions from our

Communications Coordinator by emailing [email protected].

There is no charge for pamphlets, but donations are encouraged to help cover printing costs and postage and handling
expenses.

QEW Earthcare for Children Curriculum. We have recently updated our Earthcare for
Children curriculum for First Day schools. You can download the printable PDF or each individual chapter by clicking here.
 QEW Earthcare for Friends Curriculum. Click here to read our newly updated curriculum, Earthcare for Friends, a Study Guide for Individuals and Faith Communities.

Spiritual Journey: Elaine

Elaine Frick

Columbia Friends have been hearing spiritual journeys of our members and attenders for several years as part of our Second Hour Programs.   Telling spiritual journeys is somewhat of a Quaker tradition.   

The following blog is a good start in beginning to understand the benefits of this practice:
https://awholeheart.com/2012/12/10/ten-elements-of-the-quaker-spiritual-journey-2/


Elaine, who is the Clerk of the Friend’s Book Club and our librarian, was the facilitator for the discussion of the book:

Our Life is Love: the Quaker Spiritual Journey by Marcelle Martin. 

 Please join us to hear her own spiritual journey for our second hour program November 15th. 

  

Peace Now

Peace Now: Clean Up, Not Build Up at Savannah River Site

This documentary film short asks viewers to hold onto visions of peace and stand against nuclear proliferation. Peace Now: Clean Up, Not Build Up at Savannah River Site (15 min.) introduces audiences to SRS and to challenges met and those upcoming, namely the proposed production of plutonium pits (triggers for nuclear weapons) at SRS. Placing SRS in the context of U.S. nuclear weapons development more broadly, Tom Clements of SRS Watch, along with South Carolina activists Leslie Minard and David Matos, inform and inspire on the long road to nuclear disarmament, where the work is hard, but the reward is priceless.

Tom Clements, Leslie Minard and David Matos have been invited to attend and answer questions after the showing of the video.You can view the video in advance here:   


https://columbiafriendsmeeting.org/hiroshima-august-8th-event/

Climate X Covid

We are living in rapidly changing times, facing challenges of monumental proportion: a global pandemic, climate change and related ecological disasters, and institutional racism and violence.
These challenges are connected and we cannot address any one of them without addressing all of them. What can we learn from our experience with Covid19, and how does that inform our
response to climate change? How do privilege and institutional barriers create disproportionate impacts from both a pandemic and ecological crises? What happens when we open ourselves to
kinship with nature and each other? What can we do?

Shelley Tanenbaum, General Secretary of Quaker Earthcare Witness will lead us in a discussion about these issues. Quaker Earthcare
Witness (QEW) is a network of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in North America and other like-minded people who are taking spirit-led action to address ecological and social crises from a spiritual perspective, emphasizing Quaker process and testimonies, including continuing revelation. Shelley is an environmental scientist with a focus on air quality. She has served as staff and a board member of QEW, Quaker Institute for the Future, Earthlight
Magazine and many other non-profit organizations

Please join Columbia Friends and Shelley Tanenbaum for a Second Hour Program on November 22 nd at 11:30 to discuss the interconnectedness of all of the major problems facing us in 2020 and how we can respond to them.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2934909472