Queries for Adult Education November 27

How can we as a community and as individuals support UFM members and attenders experiencing economic difficulties?

Thoughts and queries which may help guide our discussion:

From Pendle Hill pamphlet number 259, Stewardship of Wealth by Kingdon Swayne: “The concept of stewardship as I use it here goes far beyond its common use as shorthand for charitable giving. It expresses both the notion that what is mine legally is not really mine, and its corollary that my custody of wealth imposes on me an obligation to use it responsibly…ultimately , none of us owns anything.”

Swayne paraphrases John Woolman: “Be content with a small income and conveniences that are not costly, to lead a life free from “much entanglements”. Look to the sources of conflict and oppression in our possessions. Turn all the treasures we possess into the channel of universal love.”


From Faith and Practice (NPYM): Mutual Care: “Our need for love and care, and our response to this need in others, make up a rich part of our lives. In an exchange truly grounded in love, each of us is both giver and receiver, ready to help and accept help. Neither pride nor fear keeps ups from the unconditional love and care of God manifested through others. Let neither comfort nor self-centerdness blind us to need of others.

We listen to one another with openness of heart and in good faith, aware that greater wisdom than our own is required to meet our human needs. We lift up our hearts to the Source of all wisdom and power.

Are we charitable with each other?

Are we sensitive to each other’s personal needs and difficulties and do we assist in useful ways?”

Other queries:


How can (or does) UFM model John Woolman’s statement: “…Of all we call ours, we are most accountable to God and the public for our estates: In this we are but stewards, and to hoard up all to ourselves is great injustice as well as ingratitude.”

With limited resources, how can UFM best discern how best to use our resources?

Can you think of examples in which stewardship at UFM seemed Spirit-led?

How can we better serve those in our community in financial need?
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RantWoman feels endlessly blessed with prodigious capacity to rant and ramble, but RantWoman is doing the best she can to post the queries unadorned and to wait until after Sunday to inflict upon the world what churns up out of her own practical and spiritual compost heap

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Seattle Occupied

From this week's bulletin:

Peace and Social Concerns Committee asks that Friends hold the Occupy movement, our police and our elected officials in the light. We hope that a common ground of love and humanity will enable young activists and others to invigorate our democracy, give voice to the real concerns of American people, and to discern a way forward.

Friday evening November 24, from 6-9 pm Susanna Kromberg of Salmon Bay Meeting will be serving as "chaplain" at the Interfaith tent at the Occupy Seattle encampment at Seattle Center Community College.

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Holding Space

This item about Quaker practices around listening absolutely falls in RantWoman's put it in the blog as filing cabinet column, and not just because it is on the internet instead of in some dusty pamphlet for RantWoman to sneeze over:

http://chronicler-3.blogspot.com/2011/11/holding-space.html

RantWoman is interested in both the theological language used to formulate the eldering or spiritual support discussed and the process elements involved in the meeting described here. RantWoman, of decidedly not straightforward faith admits to a certain program evaluator's reflex about "does it work?" But if one thinks of RantWoman's recent "this I know experimentally" item, what do we mean, "does it work?"

RantWoman also notes with care the convenor's acknowledgment of his need to care for himself spiritually. RantWoman has no official training in counseling, spiritual direction, pastoral attention to the life of a community. Instead RantWoman keeps stumbling into situations where such gifts are highly topical, where something in RantWoman's experience speaks to the situation EVEN when what speaks to RantWoman is a sense of being out of her depth, needing more care than can be had with only superificial increments of time.

Scratch that: RantWoman may be out of her depth, but RantWoman of late frequently also hears others about her even more at sea than RantWoman, at sea to the point they cannot even interact with RantWoman's points. RantWoman is meditating about"we are all ministers of God" and how we are called to care of each other with or without any specific academic or cultural credentials, with or without a tradition of some in a community being recognized for seeking and achieving training in specific areas.

RantWoman so wishes she felt like George Fox on Pendle Hill about all this. RantWoman would even settle for clarity about how to proceed among her own Meeting.

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Restorative Circle Workshop December 3

Restorative Circle workshop Sat, Dec 3 in Seattle

Dear friends,

Please join me at this Restorative Circle facilitation workshop on Saturday, December 3, 2011 from 9:30 - 5:00 in Seattle (at the Center for Spiritual Living).  Registration is open at:  http://www.spiritualliving.org/classes.

I have been studying Restorative Circle practice for the last year and a half and very inspired by how it compliments our Compassionate Listening practices.  It provides a structure of shared leadership and empowerment for a community - whether a small family to a large organization.

It empowers everyone, keeping all parties out of the triangle and into self responsibility and mutual understanding. The deeper one's practices and skills of Compassionate Listening, the deeper the healing and transformation in the Circle process. I hope you will join us and learn more!

Here is some information:

Are you interested in greater harmony in your community, family and organizations? Can you imagine engaging conflict in a way that builds relationships?

Would you like to learn about Restorative Circles, cultivate compassionate communication, and practice restorative justice?

Is your family, organization or neighborhood interested in Seattle Restorative Circle Pilot Project, a project of the Compassionate Action Network?

A "Restorative Circle" is a restorative justice practice that empowers communities to deal with conflicts in a way that efficiently and effectively meets the needs of those involved and deepens connections among its members. Restorative Circles (RC) harness the generative wisdom and shared power of community. The facilitated RC process supports people to step into important and bold conversations with safety and provides a mechanism for vibrant, ongoing, community-based restorative justice systems.

Developed in Brazil by Dominic Barter, this practice is used in a wide range of groups, organizations, schools, court systems, communities, workplaces, and families around the world and is beginning to take off in Seattle and surrounding communities. In the immediate aftermath of a Seattle police officer's fatal shooting of John T. Williams, a First Nations wood carver, a Restorative Circle was held between Police Chief John Diaz, top department officials, and the grieving family. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014113565_diazreport03m.html.

Now we are engaged in a Pilot Project to create a restorative justice system in Seattle based upon Restorative Circles. See the CAN website: http://my.compassionateactionnetwork.com/profile/RestorativeCirclesSeattle.

The workshop on December 3rd will allow you to explore the Restorative Circle practice for yourself and, if you like it, consider participating as a leader in establishing restorative systems in your own communities. It provides participants with the experience and support to embrace conflict in a way that deepens connections, empowers all individuals, and builds strength of community. In this workshop, we provide foundation for the elements and purpose of each part of the restorative circle process, and create a supportive environment within which participants engage in hands-on facilitation. We also guide participants in considering the adoption of restorative circle systems in their own communities.

Please register for the workshops at http://www.spiritualliving.org/classes or in person at Center for Spiritual Living Seattle.
COST: $75 per person if registered by November 27 at 9pm, $95 after. DISCOUNTS to $55 per person for early registration of groups of two or more.**

Mark your calendars! A future Restorative Circles Facilitation Workshop will be held on March 10, 2012 9:30 - 5:00 and a deepening workshop will be held May 5, 2012.

The December 3, 2011 Restorative Circles Facilitation Workshop will be facilitated by Andrea Brenneke and Susan Partnow.

Andrea Brenneke is a passionate advocate for justice and facilitator of individual and community healing and empowerment. She practices civil rights and employment law at MacDonald Hoague & Bayless in Seattle and is a certified mediator. http://www.mhb.com/.  She also serves as a licensed practitioner with the United Centers for Spiritual Living, Seattle. Andrea has been offering facilitation in Restorative Circles and working with communities to build restorative justice systems using Restorative Circles since 2010.

Susan Partnow is a community builder, mediator, organizational development and training consultant. She serves as a catalyst for positive changes through workshops, retreats, and coaching. Co-founder of Conversation Cafes and Let's Talk America, and former advisor to National Coalition on Dialogue and Deliberation, Susan facilitates processes to transform conflict and promote co-intelligence in ways that expand collective capacity, such as Open Space, World Cafe and Appreciative Inquiry. She is a Sr. Trainer and co-creator of the Advanced Training and Certification track with The Compassionate Listening Project. As founder and Executive Director of Global Citizen Journey she has led delegations to Ghana, Nigeria and is training Peacebuilders in Liberia in Compassionate Listening and Restorative Circle practices. A former teacher and speech pathologist with B.A. and Secondary Credential from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.A. from Northwestern University, Susan wrote Everyday Speaking for All Occasions and currently works as Sr. Organizational Development consultant for Swedish Medical Services. http://www.susanpartnow.com/.

For more information about Restorative Circles and the work of Dominic Barter, please visit his website: http://www.restorativecircles.org/.

Questions? Feel free to contact Andrea Brenneke at abrenneke@gmail.com or 206.696.1843 or Susan Partnow at susanpartnow@gmail.com or 206.783.8561.

** Because a restorative circle works best as part of an established and ongoing restorative justice system, we encourage two or more individuals from a community or organization to take the workshop, learn to facilitate, and support one another in the establishment of a system that works for their own community

Susan
Susan Partnow
Sr. Certified Facilitator, The Compassionate Listening Project
4425 Baker Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
tel. 206-783-8561
fax 206-782-7786
http://www.compassionatelistening.org/

http://www.susanpartnow.com/ Partnow Communications, Organizational Development, Consulting & Facilitation
http://www.globalcitizenjourney.org/ Founding Director
join our mailing list
http://www.conversationcafe.org/Co-Founder

"When we seek for connection, we restore the world to wholeness. Our seemingly separate lives become meaningful as we discover how truly necessary we are to each other." --Margaret Wheatley

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Dear Santa Claus

Dear Santa Claus,

First of all, if you need to argue about whether or not RantWoman has been a good girl, it's going to take either a long prickly phone conversation or really a lot of email. Between Charm School, the continued fermentation of RantWoman's spiritual compost heap, and RantWoman's well-documented capacity for telling WAY too much of the truth, RantWoman regrets to inform you that you are not even first in line to argue the matter.

Second, RantWoman really does not recommend crawling around her building's ventilation system trying to deliver presents anyway. As usual, RantWoman is really going to need some Divine presense for the season regardless, so unless you and the reindeer need some serious psychodrama, how about you and I together figure out how to help some kids struggling with too little of something have enough for at least one day?

And by the way, could you please deliver us all from TOO many opportunities to overdose on

--holiday cavils and complaints, especially by almost everyone in RantWoman's circle who needs stern reminders of all we have to be grateful for.

--too much angst, anguish, ennui, aggravation....

Peace and love

RantWoman

Oh wait, you wanted to hear from the Real RantWoman.


I will not offer irreverent comments about other people's spiritual practices.

I will not offer irreverent comments about other people's spiritual practices.

I will not offer irreverent comments about other people's spiritual practices.

I will not offer irreverent comments about other people's spiritual practices.

Wait. Let's begin with tidings of great joy throughout the land: Meeting for Business took less than 10 minutes to decide that on Christmas day we can bear the thought of the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet worshipping with us at 9:30, at 11:00 and throughout any post-worship socializing as long as he has one or more chaperones.

The Safest Sex Offender on the Planet has more chaperones listed with the Department of Corrections than any other sex offender in WA. Ensuring that there are chaperones about should not be difficult. RantWoman may have to beg off if Sensible Auntie has the World's Most Irrepressible Nephew n tow, but RantWoman is getting ahead of herself.

Business Meeting got eldered by a newcomer on multiple grounds, some of which RantWoman unites with. Sex offenders get one level of public fixation; other people who commit crimes of violence or substance abuse qualify for MUCH less supervision and post-release support. Second, in Friend Newcomer's "home" Meeting, somewhere in Philadelphia, Christmas is just a day like any other. Yeah, thought RantWoman, in terms of taditional Quaker custom we're definitely heterodox on that point. Christmas falls on Sunday this year anyway and a really good party is always a blessing.

After being eldered, Business Meeting had to consider logistics of accommodating The Safest Sex Offender's rules for himself about not being near children: it is the Safest Sex Offender...'s practice to move to another sectionin our worship room if a child sits in the same section where he sits. One Sunday, a young newcomer who did not know of the rule sat in the Safest Sex Offender...'s section; next a friend of the young Newcomer also sat in the same section and felt awkward when the Safest Sex Offender moved. On Christmas day, there tend to be more children than usual; Business Meeting agreed that any adults who are able will surround the Safest Sex Offender so he does not have to move.

Confessions:
--What with Ambassador Thwack and RantWoman's fabulous inate capacity for centeredness and Inner Blowtorch, it's all RantWoman can do many days to keep herself out of jail and we won't even talk about her proclivity occasionally toward civil disobedience. The point is, RantWoman is happy to be a chaperone but the Safest Sex Offender... is the one ultimately responsible for keeping himself out of jail.

--RantWoman is conscious that the Safest Sex Offender's obsessive fastidiousness about rules including things to do with children is partly his way of dealing with fear of public overreaction and hyperventilating, some of which has absolutely no relationship to the Safeest sex Offender...'s actual behavior. RantWoman is seasoning a leading about whether some of the new support and accountability committee's "support spiritual growth" activities might aim for different discernment in this area. Dear Friend, LOTS of us believe in you. We trust our chaperone practices. Even if one person goes off the deep end, there are LOTS of people around to...."

--Similarly, recently RantWoman spent part of her day's highly constrained quota of print consumption scraping her eyeballs over The Safest Sex Offender...'s conditions from the Department of Corrections, the document assembled from Meeting minutes, and especially the paragraphs about chaperones. RantWoman found helpful advice for everyday non-dating non visit in household situations like "everyone must remain clothed. Oh thank heaven! RantWoman is all for people being comfortable with their bodies. "Legally decent in the state of WA" also leaves more latitude than ANYONE needs to explore for this conversation anyway, but that seems like a pretty basic starting place.

--Then there is the point about not doing anything "irresponsible." Okay, RantWoman can make some guesses but how the heck is RantWoman necessarily supposed to know what constitutes "irresponsible" for the Safest Sex Offender....?

--The Department of Corrections / treatment program part of the conditions next mentions ...."civil penalties," assuming any lawyer is undeterred by RantWoman's utter lack of anything worth suing for, files a claim. In other words, we are still back to moral center and sense of social contract, and probably for a LONG sequence before any external levers would kick in.

--Next the conditions documents tell chaperones to report violations to Oversight. There has never been a violation that would get the Safest Sex Offender... barred for the specified month. In fact, even though some of the conditions seem muddled to RantWoman, the only things that have happened or not happend have to do with what different parts of our Meeting do about telling newcomers about this ministry. That topic is worthy of its own rant.

--RantWoman is new to the chaperone thing. RantWoman also cannot necessarily see either children the Safest Sex Offender wants to move away from or clear paths to move away. This makes for interesting dance about the Safest Sex Offender....'s rules for himself, which are stricter to begin with than either the Department of Corrections or the document in Meeting. This point is part of what is behind RantWoman's leadings. So RantWoman seasons....

--RantWoman's other problem: any children who might bump into a fully-clothed Safest Sex Offender... in connection with Meeting for Worship are as of the current situation MUCH lower on RantWoman's Fret about Chidren list than a whole bunch of other categories including:

--the world's most irrepressible nephew, for obvious reasons. Not that RantWoman is anywhere near the front of the line about who is expected to deal, but....

--baby gangbangers, the VERY occasional entanglement with sex trafficking, and general adolescent oblivious among fellow bus passengers. RantWoman rides in the front of the bus a lot. She cannot just shut off her ears. Dealing with that topic in a sensitive, centered way is a very big part these days of how RantWoman is called to live the peace testimony. For this reason, RantWoman is VERY glad to know of Project Safe Place. RantWoman thinks others in her Meeting might also appreciate this nugget of info but so far except for people who might read RantWoman's blog and not admit it, RantWoman keeps forgetting to say anything.

--Any child in or around RantWoman's Meeting who might, God/dess forbid fall into the zone of a comment RantWoman has made a couple times aroudn her Meeting "When RantWoman was a teenager, if anyone in the RantFamily had been willing to talk, say to SOMEONE at her house of worship, there would have been things to hear." RantWoman spent a whole HOUR in Business Meeting awhile ago speaking about things she keeps hearing as "shut up." RantWoman anachronistically posts the actual minutes. "Shut up" got edited out.
RantWoman has said several times several ways that she needs to speak in a different place than Business Meeting about all the things on RantWoman's mind. RantWoman freely admits she wants ways to check her own ferociousness about the topic in context of some concerns she has based on her experience of others' awareness and engagement. RantWoman is also not clear about what actions might make sense. However, RantWoman considers just being told "go talk to your counselor" insensitive at best. RantWoman is pointedly omitting the title of the Friend who made that comment and RantWoman is going to try AGAIN off-blog about a whole bunch of themes tied up with the topic.

--Next in ine for frets, not that RantWoman has ANY capacity to do anything about it, children who might bump into the digital inclusion volunteer RantWoman has written of previously with the, um, radioactive taste in porn. RantWoman has every indication that Digital Inclusion volunteer himself and the computer lab wher ehe works are attentive to issues of responsible behavior, but RantWoman feels like fretting a little anyway.

--and finally the well-watched tykes of our community who might cross paths with the Safest Sex Offender on the planet in worship on Christmas day.


Okay, okay, RantWoman is aware that holidays can bring all sorts of expectations about socializing with people who trample the boundaries of adults and children around them. RantWoman thinks it would be at least sporting to offer some kind of resource for coping with such.


Possibly topical, though RantWoman will try to do better and will post if delivered of such, on forgiveness and reconciliation:

http://aquakerwitch.blogspot.com/2011/11/thinking-about-forgiveness-and.html

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Seattle Unoccupied

RantWoman is really energized merely by the existence of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

RantWoman has also been feeling herself VERY humble and grateful to have a warm dry place to sleep and a cat to herd her to bed. RantWOman has so far felt NO call to do overnights but has walked through a time or two.

Once RantWoman made a specific effort to impart a concern which had crackled over bus radio while Metro was riding downtown; RantWoman was glad that the message sseemed to e holding afew days later when RantWoman visited again and happened to think to ask.

Crusty Activist friend "The Occupy people seem to be struggling about process. I think we old-timers could teach them a thing or two and maybe they need help."

RantMom to RantWoman "Honey, you could give them lessons."
RantWoman to RantMom "Mom, they seem like they are doing just fine without me."

Really Good Questions Friend: "We were down there visiting and I am amazed about the decisionmaking process. It feels just like Business Meeting to me."

Sunday November 20, Friends from our Meeting will hold Meeting for Worship at 2 pm at the multifaith tent at Occupy Seattle. RantWoman was glad to sign up.

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December 9-10 Talking about Race Event

I would like to invite you to the Seattle Race Initiative that will held on December 9th and 10th at Mount Zion Baptist Church. It is designed to help us have everyday and nonthreatening discussions about race. To assist with this, the Initiative has a remarkable Master Facilitator, Dr. David Campt, known as the Race Doctor (http://www.davidcampt.com/  ).

Friday evening will look at race through the lens of the arts, looking at ways that artists explore race through literature, dance, music, the spoken word and visual arts. We'll be led in a fun discussion about how we perceived the art then have Q and A with the artists. During the day on Saturday we will work in groups based on our work and/or interest identities. This is a great way to ensure that participants start with something important in common. The groups will have members of different ages, life stages, races and ethnicities, neighborhoods and experiences with race and racism.

While one weekend cannot change how Seattleites speak to each other, taking conversations about race out of the realm of blame is a great start. I hope to see you, your friends and family there!

Location: Mount Zion Baptist Church, 1634-19th Ave, 206.322.6500, www.mountzion.net
Cost: FREE
Meals: Provided
RSVP: l-emckinney@comcast.net

Thank you,
Lora-Ella McKinney

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