AGATE PASSAGE FRIENDS MEETING

Meeting for Worship with attention to  Business

          August 13, 2006

 

Present:   Bob Major, Bob Fernandez,   Michael Moore,  Lisa Down,  Millie Royce,  Bob Royce,  Craig  Jacobrown, Roberta Wilson, Judy Brown.       

 

The Meeting opened with silence out of which the Clerk read a passage from the Australian Book of Discipline having to do with what to do with differences when they occur in the Friends Meeting.

 

The minutes were corrected by the Treasurer and approved.   The Treasurer will be changing the minutes about our financial matters in the copy of the minutes which is on our web site.

 

Announcements  Mid week Meeting for Worship will be held at Dorothy and Jim Rana Meadow’s home in Poulsbo this coming week on Wednesday, August 16, at 7:30 p.m.

 

 Meeting of the Network of Spiritual Progressives  with Congressman Jay Inslee will be held at the Suquamish United Church of Christ Thursday, August 17 at 7:00 p.m. Topic:

Restoring Heartfelt American Values

 

Change of a Regular Meeting time.  The mid-week meeting for worship held at Dorothy and Jim Rana Meadow’s home will henceforth, Meeting decided, be held on the fourth Wednesday of the month.  The next one (after August 16) will be held on Wednesday, September 27 at 7:30 p.m.

 

Treasurer’s Report  The Treasurer reported that we have received a little over 50% of our budget to date and that we are about 60% through the year.  Thus  far we have spent $443.00 more than we have budgeted.  We still have enough in the bank to cover current bills.  Rental of the hall is paid through December  The telephone book display ad will not be continued.   The newspaper ad will also be canceled. There has also been a request for support for the Pickett Fund and for Quaker Earthcare Witness to add to our donations this year.

 

Near East Yearly Meeting The money contributed to Evan Welkins’ travel fund to go to  Lebanon for the Near East Yearly Meeting has been shifted at the donors’ request
into the Meeting’s general fund since there will be no Near East Yearly Meeting this year.

 

Letter in Support of Lt. Watada  The following shortened letter was approved: 

 

“We of Agate Passage Friends Meeting wish to extend our support for Lieutenant Ehren Watada for the courageous stand he has taken against the invasion and occupation of Iraq.  Lt. Watada believes that the U.S.A.’s preemptive war and the resulting occupation and violence in Iraq is illegal and finds participation in that war  unacceptable for him and his conscience.

 

As Quakers we have a longstanding and deep commitment to support Conscientious Objectors (COs) who take a stand against participation in war when the forces within a culture call persons to use violence.   We see Lt. Watada as a person of conscience who has sought to make a clear distinction between what is morally acceptable and what is morally unacceptable. 

 

Clearly Lt. Watada is a brave soldier.  He is not only willing to go to prison for his beliefs he is also a man of deep conviction who is willing to fight and die under certain circumstances and equally unwilling under others.  Lt. Watada and others like him deserve not only our support but our deepest gratitude for opening hearts and minds to a new perspective on what it means to take a conscientious stand against violence.”

 

Craig Jacobrown was asked to follow up this shortened minute by preparing for Meetings later  approval a second minute in which he outlines the ideas the Meeting put forth in the discussion and in the longer version of the minute we considered about expanding the definition of what it means to be a Conscientious Objector.

 

First Day School Program     Lisa Down    presented another idea for structuring our First Day School as follows. 1. The First Day school would be held during Meeting for worship but instead of all adults being invited to participate on the last Sunday of the month  only three or four adults would join the children in addition to the project leaders 2.  In addition once about every three months  we would gather for a whole Meeting intergenerational program like the Christmas Program, the Easter or spring program and two other all meeting programs. 3. The mini-generational group would meet outside while the weather is good, but we would also explore meeting in homes within walking distance near the Seabold Community Center  4.  The First Day School Committee would present the structure and activities and dates to the Meeting for an entire year at a time so that Meeting attenders would know what they could expect on any given date. 

 

The Threshing Session      It was decided that  the Threshing Session called for September 8 with a potluck at Judy Brown’s home would be shifted to a planning session in which we would spend time thinking  about which activities would give us the most fulfilling and joyful times with our children.    After this Meeting the First Day Committee would prepare the year-long schedule from the ideas that emerged.  A number of ideas about possibilities were put forth:  i.e. children interviewing adults about their lives,  Build a library or box of treasures for the children etc. 

 

At the end of the  meeting  it was felt that the sense of the Meeting was to adopt the “mini-generational children’s program proposal.”:

 

The Meeting closed with thanks to those who stayed and silence at 1:05 p.m.

 

Lisa Down and Judy Brown Recorders