Bulletin 11.23.2018
Simplicity
Way of the Spirit Retreats
Several SCYMF are alumni of Way of the Spirit, a retreat and learning program from the wisdom of the Quaker way. If you know them, they might use words like “life-changer,” “rebirth” or “got me grounded.” They may describe enjoying “a feast of spiritual food” or “growing confidence in God’s guidance.”
Read more participant comments on our website, with details on the the start of the 2019 retreat cycle, February 15-18 in Mt. Angel, Oregon: https://goodnewsassoc.org/spirit/ Be immersed in Spirit with group support and topics like: “self” and God, discernment, varieties of prayer, spiritual giftedness, leadings, spiritual accompaniment, and everyday prophets. Apply now.
Free, online Show N Tell meetings with pictures and stories can help to discern if Way of the Spirit might be a fit for you. The same content will be offered twice in December through Zoom.com (no account needed). You can use your phone for audio only, or connect visually with a smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer. Preregister through one of the links below.
Get Away Give Away 2019
From Clyde Parker: It has been my hope that SCYMF churches can find ways to be together, minister together and build relationships. Our spring trip of 35 years seems to me to be the very kind of ministry that could do just that. Eugene Friends is committed to making this trip open to a group of up to 65 folks. We can facilitate transportation and the coordination of the project if local meetings will promote it within their fellowships.
Click here to view the GAGA Info Sheet.
From the Nominating Committee: We are forming a task force to help the meetings hold threshing sessions around the question, “What is God calling us to do?” We will be discussing this at our next Area Gathering, February 16, 2019. We need volunteers for this task force. If you are interested, please send your name, contact information and home meeting or individual affiliation to nominating@scymf.org.
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Simplicity is not just a move to have less stuff; it’s a way of seeing and loving all created things. Much like purity of heart, simplicity is a way of seeing through God’s eyes, a way of recognizing the sacred in all things. Such a view makes one loathe to waste the resources at one's disposal. Simplicity is always a corollary to purity of heart and cannot be separated from that virtue.
Since simplicity recognizes the divine origin in all things, it moves us to love all things
according to the Creator’s purpose for them, even those that are manufactured from the Earth’s resources. We find that purpose for created things by being transformed so that we see all things through the eyes of God.
Simplicity sees wealth through God’s eyes as well. Both the rich and the poor encumber
themselves with money-making ventures at great cost to their families, their lives (often devoid of joy), and the chance for a meaningful experience of church as community. Thomas Hamm puts it very well: “Luxury is a contagious and killing disease. It creeps into all classes and types of people. The poorest people often exceed others in their ability to indulge their appetite. And the rich frequently wallow in those things that please the lusts of their eye and flesh and pride of life” (Quakers in America, p. 100).
Lastly, simplicity is a deterrent to war and wasteful disputes that grow out of our desire for
more. As James indicates, when one puts material things above love, really bad things happen. Greed and covetousness kill the soul and tend to block our love for created things and dull our ears to God’s instruction.
Stan Thornburg, adapted from the 2012 Daily Reader |
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Announcements
Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is delighted to announce the availability of the new Young Adult Friends Development Fund. Please visit the World Office website to read the case statement, invitation to apply and download the application form. These documents are also available in Spanish. For questions, please feel free to write to Susanna Mattingly.
Quarterly Gathering will be at West Hills Friends Church on Saturday, February 16, 2019. Our next annual session has been scheduled tentatively for May 24–26, 2019.
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