Peace and Social Concerns Committee, 1/17/19
Present: Ka R, Diane C, Roger C,
Avery J, Will S, Ken H, Dan G.
The meeting opened with a time of
silence.
1.Roger agreed to clerk for tonight’s meeting. Ka is taking minutes.
2.January letter-writing will be organized by the Race and Class
group.
3.Friends Concerns: Other
Organizations (FC:OO): For this year, P&SC will be reactive in this matter:
responding to people who want to advocate for an organization, new or
continuing, for support, but not reminding or inviting individuals to continue
with organizations they have represented previously. Roger reported that a newsletter note
inviting advocates brought none.
4.Resistance Center support: Roger will contact Cat about getting our proposal
for support of the Resistance Center for Peace and Justice on the agenda for
the February meeting for business. Avery will present the proposal. Roger will
send Avery the statement which we proposed earlier.
5.Statement of concern for Jews:
There are 3 Jewish faith communities
in our area centered at JCA in Amherst, CBI in Northampton, and Temple Israel
in Greenfield. We agree that Mount Toby is belated in responding to the
shootings in Pittsburgh and in stating our caring and concern for these communities.
Friends agree that we at Mount Toby need to oppose anti-Semitism in our society. We propose that this statement be sent to the
communities named:
“Dear Friends,
“Dear Friends,
“We want you to know you are in our thoughts. You are our friends, our allies, our family. We are holding you in the light in these
difficult times.
"We join in the statement of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends,
representing Quakers in New England, which was issued on November 3, 2018, and
which follows:
This week, Quaker communities of faith across
the six New England states are mourning with our Jewish neighbors the deadliest
act of violence against Jews in this country’s history. We mourn with all
who are targeted by hate. We join our hearts in grief with the
grieving. We search for ways to respond to the corrosive evils of
anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and the persecution of those labeled as “other,”
even as we acknowledge our own complicity in these sins. We yearn for
justice, for healing, for refuge for those most at risk. In town squares,
in places of worship, in living rooms, in legislative offices and detention
centers, we unite with countless others to protect people from further
violence, violence fueled by false prophets preaching
fear.
Each day brings further anxiety, violence, and vitriol, while some
charged to be leaders incite the worst in us as human beings. We are
surrounded by stories of hatred, division, and despair. And yet, we know
this: The story of Love will endure.
This week, in the face of the mass murder of Jews at prayer,
Jewish doctors and nurses treated the man who opened fire in the Tree of Life
Synagogue. A stranger in a parking lot cradled the 12-year-old boy whose
grandfather was one of two black people shot and killed by a white man outside
Louisville, Kentucky. As some deny the basic humanity of transgender
people and people seeking asylum, communities respond with acts of radical
love, inclusion, and sanctuary. In these and so many unnamed acts, amidst such
suffering, we see the infinite Love of God.
It is the testimony of the Religious Society of Friends that God
is at work healing the brokenness of the world and the brokenness within each
of us. Nothing can hold back the unshakeable power of Love in this time,
and throughout all time. What matters in this moment–in every moment–is
how we choose to participate in this eternal story. Our lives must proclaim
that this Love is stronger than all fear.
We commit to live today trusting in this Truth. The words we
say and the choices we make in the coming days and weeks must bear witness to
Love in concrete acts of connection and care, in our homes and neighborhoods,
in our schools and workplaces, in the coming elections, as communities of
faith, as people who call this country home, as those seeking refuge and those
offering it. We must waste no opportunity to love.
We must seek the grace to keep free from the politics of rage,
division, numbness and dehumanization, even toward those we may perceive as
enemies. We must nurture in each other the courage to come together
across difference, to resist hopelessness, to renounce a worldview that treats
anyone as disposable, to affirm that the Spirit of God dwells in
everyone. With each person, in each moment, each place—this movement
grows.
This is the time for a politics of presence, of radical
relationship, of mutual aid and reconciliation. It’s a time to be
witnesses, storytellers of the broken-hearted Love that overcomes the powers of
fear. Let the walls of separation come crashing
down.
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)
Fritz Weiss, Presiding Clerk.”
Roger will package this for the February MfB and get it to Cat. We agreed
that P&SC should continue this discussion, possibly drafting a policy
statement, at our next meeting.
6.P&SC concert
series: The Finance Committee wants to set up a separate bank account for the
concerts, with the Treasurer and two Friends from P&SC authorized as signers
on the account. This will allow a more systematic record of the finances of the
series. The agreement between P&SC and the meeting
regarding an annual donation, if any, to the meeting should be reviewed.
David Scott will set up the bank account and Roger will transfer the $$ into
it.
7.We discussed a regular meeting time for the committee and
agreed on third Thursdays. The next meeting will be Feb 21, 2019.
We closed with a time of silence.