Palmetto Friends
Please join Columbia Friends for a Second Hour Program on December 27th at 11:30 to hear the spiritual journey of Lori Donath from Columbia Friends Meeting.
Lori Donath participates in various groups within Columbia Friends
Meeting; the rest of the time she mothers two young children, wrangles a wild yarden, and teaches about/studies language, culture, and social
life at the University of South Carolina.
Join us Sunday:
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.
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:
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/