Thanks to everyone who helped launch our Quakers Saturday Morning Sale last year. It was great to have help cleaning and painting the garage, donations to sell and Friends turning up to set up tables on Saturday mornings. After a well-earned break, we're starting again this Saturday morning, 16 January, 8 am till 12 noon.
Tell your friends it's at Quaker Cottage 4 Oakura Ave, Woodford.
We've found books and old vinyl LPs popular. But Frances has collected a true wardrobe of style in vintage (and not-so-vintage!) clothes. And there are small appliances and some collectable kitchenware. So grab a bargain, join us in raising funds to support our favourite QSA project in Africa, which helps students to learn how to grow food for their own lunches.
And if you just feel like a chat, the kettle's always on. See you on a Saturday morning soon.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
ARE YOU A QUAKER AND DON'T KNOW IT?
Try this quick quiz!
Is peace important to you?
Do you long for a simpler life?
Do you wish for a safer and more loving community?
Do believe there is some good in all people?
Do you believe in the equality of all, irrespective of race, class, gender, sexual orientation and religious belief?
Would you like to see an end to poverty in the world?
Do you believe that people should listen to each other with respect?
Would you like more stillness and silence in your life?
Do you think our society has lost the plot on integrity?
Do you long for great inner peace and serenity?
Do you believe in the spiritual aspect of all nature?
Do you believe you can have a personal and direct connection with God?
If you said yes to most or all of the above contact the Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) immediately. You may be a Quaker without knowing it!
Contact www.Quakers.org.com.au or call Mark 0425 233 144, Brett 02 4758 8705 or Frances 02 4757 2160
Is peace important to you?
Do you long for a simpler life?
Do you wish for a safer and more loving community?
Do believe there is some good in all people?
Do you believe in the equality of all, irrespective of race, class, gender, sexual orientation and religious belief?
Would you like to see an end to poverty in the world?
Do you believe that people should listen to each other with respect?
Would you like more stillness and silence in your life?
Do you think our society has lost the plot on integrity?
Do you long for great inner peace and serenity?
Do you believe in the spiritual aspect of all nature?
Do you believe you can have a personal and direct connection with God?
If you said yes to most or all of the above contact the Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) immediately. You may be a Quaker without knowing it!
Contact www.Quakers.org.com.au or call Mark 0425 233 144, Brett 02 4758 8705 or Frances 02 4757 2160
FRIENDS IN DEED
Our Friend Heather Saville is still travelling round Australia, doing media interviews, speaking to local meetings and university groups about the history of Quaker Service Australia, Friends in Deed. The research for and writing of this book was a huge job and took years out of - if not off - her life. But the reviews have shown that it was all worth it!
Visit the Quaker Service Australia website www.qsa.org.au to order the book and while you're there, you might consider giving a gift from the Living Gifts catalogue, to support QSA projects in such places as Cambodia, India and Uganda.
Visit the Quaker Service Australia website www.qsa.org.au to order the book and while you're there, you might consider giving a gift from the Living Gifts catalogue, to support QSA projects in such places as Cambodia, India and Uganda.
FROM OUR FRIEND ROSEMARY ('ROWE') MORROW
How did studying permaculture change the way I see the world?
Permaculture was my niche. In a way, there wasn’t a lot that was new because agriculture, horticulture and environmental studies had supplied much natural science for me. It was the whole approach which enchanted me. It was interactive and overlaid and interconnective of all disciplines.
I was also intrigued by finding a course that began with ethics. None of my other studies had ever mentioned the word.
Now I was at home. I had found a way to reconcile my need to grow food for food security, with the need to create habitat, preserve and restore Indigenous land systems. So when I began to teach permaculture, I made sure my courses have these goals.
In 1978 I had become a Quaker and realised that their testimonies gave me a creative and meaningful way to live. I decided that an ethical life was the one which offered the most value and interest, compared with lifestyle materialism. It seemed to me, and still does, that the ethical life is stimulating and challenging, never fully achievable yet it can be monitored and, that everything we do and say has consequences, so it’s vital to live life ethically.
That was the correspondence between Quakerism and permaculture. They had in common: care for people, simplicity, community, ethical use of money and right livelihood. They both render infinite positive outcomes when practised.
I went further and realised that my work with the earth and people could have ethics in every segment. For example we could have ethics for our water use, and the way we treat soils and other living species.
So the spiritual and the secular were coming together.
At the same time my appreciation, observation and awareness of life and its processes really developed. My body and breathing would almost stop when I considered the whole of life and my being able to reflect on it – to see, heat, touch, taste, tell, read about life. I couldn’t believe that Life was, and that I was conscious and part of it.
I became tender in my heart for all life, but sometimes harder on many humans for their lack of appreciation and gratitude for the fact that they are taking part in the great miracle which is Life. Later I was even further awed by cosmology and how remote the chances were that life could occur at all. I still can’t think about it without swallowing hard. I have moved to holding all people compassionately.
Rowe is a member of Blue Mountains Local Meeting
and the author of Earth-User's Guide to Permaculture.
Permaculture was my niche. In a way, there wasn’t a lot that was new because agriculture, horticulture and environmental studies had supplied much natural science for me. It was the whole approach which enchanted me. It was interactive and overlaid and interconnective of all disciplines.
I was also intrigued by finding a course that began with ethics. None of my other studies had ever mentioned the word.
Now I was at home. I had found a way to reconcile my need to grow food for food security, with the need to create habitat, preserve and restore Indigenous land systems. So when I began to teach permaculture, I made sure my courses have these goals.
In 1978 I had become a Quaker and realised that their testimonies gave me a creative and meaningful way to live. I decided that an ethical life was the one which offered the most value and interest, compared with lifestyle materialism. It seemed to me, and still does, that the ethical life is stimulating and challenging, never fully achievable yet it can be monitored and, that everything we do and say has consequences, so it’s vital to live life ethically.
That was the correspondence between Quakerism and permaculture. They had in common: care for people, simplicity, community, ethical use of money and right livelihood. They both render infinite positive outcomes when practised.
I went further and realised that my work with the earth and people could have ethics in every segment. For example we could have ethics for our water use, and the way we treat soils and other living species.
So the spiritual and the secular were coming together.
At the same time my appreciation, observation and awareness of life and its processes really developed. My body and breathing would almost stop when I considered the whole of life and my being able to reflect on it – to see, heat, touch, taste, tell, read about life. I couldn’t believe that Life was, and that I was conscious and part of it.
I became tender in my heart for all life, but sometimes harder on many humans for their lack of appreciation and gratitude for the fact that they are taking part in the great miracle which is Life. Later I was even further awed by cosmology and how remote the chances were that life could occur at all. I still can’t think about it without swallowing hard. I have moved to holding all people compassionately.
Rowe is a member of Blue Mountains Local Meeting
and the author of Earth-User's Guide to Permaculture.
MEETING CALENDAR FOR NEW FRIENDS
Meeting for worship is held every Sunday at 10. We often turn up 10 or 15 minutes early to say hello to one another, maybe to have tea or coffee if we missed it at breakfast, or to sit quietly in the meeting room, leave the train or the car far behind and centre ourselves, so that we are ready for worship.
Worship lasts for about an hour and is generally silent. We believe that when we gather together as a meeting, we are better able to listen to the word of God or the spirit within us. There is no minister or priest; there is no sermon. Occasionally someone may say a few quiet words that they feel impelled to share with the meeting. We believe those words come from the spirit and they are referred to as 'vocal ministry'. But many meetings pass in total gathered silence.
On the 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month, meeting for worship is followed by a shared lunch. You may have heard about 'potluck' suppers or dinners in the United States - same thing. Each of us brings a contribution. If you can cook or make sandwiches, great. If that's not your talent, bring something from your garden or a shop. It could be hot food (there is an electric stove and a microwave). It could be fruit, bread or cheese.
And if you forget or don't have time to bring anything, of course you should stay to eat with us. There is always enough to go round and in fact there are leftovers. Remember the Bible story of Jesus and the loaves and fishes! We laugh and talk over lunch and although sharing food is part of our worship, it is a lot of fun as well.
On the 2nd Sunday of the month, between meeting for worship and our shared lunch, we have a discussion on some topic of interest to us. It may be about how to achieve simplicity, it may be about peace, or Quaker history - any one of hundreds of subjects that Friends have written about and encounter in everyday life.
Friends love to listen to the views being shared, so each of us is allowed to speak once and we like to leave a short time in between contributions so that we can listen deeply to what has been said. Although of course we have different points of view, we don't interrupt or cut across what another speaker is saying, or leap in and contradict what is being said. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it is such a relief from the 'busy' conversations people take part in every day without really listening.
This is about the least threatening kind of 'discussion' you will ever experience. Friends do try to discern and move towards unity when action on some matter by the whole meeting is required - although that certainly doesn't mean that most of the time we all share the same perspectives and opinions!
Whether you call us Quakers or Friends, we embrace difference and individuality and seek always to be inclusive.
Every 3rd Sunday, after meeting for worship we have tea or coffee and then there is a meeting for worship for business. Visitors are welcome to attend this part of the meeting, and doing so would bring a deeper understanding of our faith at work. Occasionally there may be some brief topic, such as an application for membership, which may be confidential and the clerk may ask that you have a cup of tea while that is being discussed, but that will be arranged privately beforehand and please don't be offended. On the rare occasion that this happens, it is likely to be out of respect for someone's sensitivity. The Religious Society of Friends is not a group with some secret agenda and we welcome your interest.
Worship lasts for about an hour and is generally silent. We believe that when we gather together as a meeting, we are better able to listen to the word of God or the spirit within us. There is no minister or priest; there is no sermon. Occasionally someone may say a few quiet words that they feel impelled to share with the meeting. We believe those words come from the spirit and they are referred to as 'vocal ministry'. But many meetings pass in total gathered silence.
On the 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month, meeting for worship is followed by a shared lunch. You may have heard about 'potluck' suppers or dinners in the United States - same thing. Each of us brings a contribution. If you can cook or make sandwiches, great. If that's not your talent, bring something from your garden or a shop. It could be hot food (there is an electric stove and a microwave). It could be fruit, bread or cheese.
And if you forget or don't have time to bring anything, of course you should stay to eat with us. There is always enough to go round and in fact there are leftovers. Remember the Bible story of Jesus and the loaves and fishes! We laugh and talk over lunch and although sharing food is part of our worship, it is a lot of fun as well.
On the 2nd Sunday of the month, between meeting for worship and our shared lunch, we have a discussion on some topic of interest to us. It may be about how to achieve simplicity, it may be about peace, or Quaker history - any one of hundreds of subjects that Friends have written about and encounter in everyday life.
Friends love to listen to the views being shared, so each of us is allowed to speak once and we like to leave a short time in between contributions so that we can listen deeply to what has been said. Although of course we have different points of view, we don't interrupt or cut across what another speaker is saying, or leap in and contradict what is being said. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it is such a relief from the 'busy' conversations people take part in every day without really listening.
This is about the least threatening kind of 'discussion' you will ever experience. Friends do try to discern and move towards unity when action on some matter by the whole meeting is required - although that certainly doesn't mean that most of the time we all share the same perspectives and opinions!
Whether you call us Quakers or Friends, we embrace difference and individuality and seek always to be inclusive.
Every 3rd Sunday, after meeting for worship we have tea or coffee and then there is a meeting for worship for business. Visitors are welcome to attend this part of the meeting, and doing so would bring a deeper understanding of our faith at work. Occasionally there may be some brief topic, such as an application for membership, which may be confidential and the clerk may ask that you have a cup of tea while that is being discussed, but that will be arranged privately beforehand and please don't be offended. On the rare occasion that this happens, it is likely to be out of respect for someone's sensitivity. The Religious Society of Friends is not a group with some secret agenda and we welcome your interest.
WELCOME, FRIENDS!
Welcome to the Religious Society of Friends Blue Mountains Local Meeting!
We like the traditional name of our faith community - particularly the idea that we are Friends of the Light or Friends of the Truth. But we also know that most people like to call us by our shorter name, 'Quakers'. And that's fine by us.
So, welcome to Blue Mountains Quakers!
Whether you come to our Meeting House at Woodford by train or road, from the east or west, you will travel along a high ridge where the countries of two great Australian nations meet. The land of the Gundungurra people, on which our Meeting House stands, stretches as far south as Weereewa/ Lake George near Canberra, where people go to study or pursue a retreat at our peaceful Australian Quaker Centre. And the land of the Darug people extends as far north as the Hawkesbury River.
We feel privileged to meet in one of the most beautiful parts of Australia and walk lightly on Gundungurra country.
For non-Indigenous Australians, the Blue Mountains is a vast national park, with a series of villages spread out along its main transport routes. It has been for two hundred years a place of learning and contemplation, which has nurtured artists and scientists, and leaders in many fields; a place of excape from the summer heat down on the plains; a place of adventure and rest, challenge and healing.
But for the traditional custodians of the land it has been for many thousands of years home and family. We hear some of their wonderful stories of upheaval in the way its dramatic mountains and valleys were formed. We hear stories of generosity and welcome to people from countries far away, which were not reciprocated. We hear stories about the healing waters of its creeks and caves.
Anyone who has spent even an hour or two in the Blue Mountains experiences the many ways this unique country offers the body and the spirit restoration. So it is with gratitude and respect that Friends acknowledge the opportunity to meet here for worship.
The Meeting House is at 4 Oakura Avenue, Woodford, one of the mid-mountains villages, a five-minute walk from Woodford railway station. If you are coming from Sydney, the train trip takes about 95 minutes, but it's important to plan your trip, using the Cityrail trip planner, because trains generally run an hour apart. The trip by road is slightly quicker.
We'd love to see you anytime and we meet for worship at 10 every Sunday.
We like the traditional name of our faith community - particularly the idea that we are Friends of the Light or Friends of the Truth. But we also know that most people like to call us by our shorter name, 'Quakers'. And that's fine by us.
So, welcome to Blue Mountains Quakers!
Whether you come to our Meeting House at Woodford by train or road, from the east or west, you will travel along a high ridge where the countries of two great Australian nations meet. The land of the Gundungurra people, on which our Meeting House stands, stretches as far south as Weereewa/ Lake George near Canberra, where people go to study or pursue a retreat at our peaceful Australian Quaker Centre. And the land of the Darug people extends as far north as the Hawkesbury River.
We feel privileged to meet in one of the most beautiful parts of Australia and walk lightly on Gundungurra country.
For non-Indigenous Australians, the Blue Mountains is a vast national park, with a series of villages spread out along its main transport routes. It has been for two hundred years a place of learning and contemplation, which has nurtured artists and scientists, and leaders in many fields; a place of excape from the summer heat down on the plains; a place of adventure and rest, challenge and healing.
But for the traditional custodians of the land it has been for many thousands of years home and family. We hear some of their wonderful stories of upheaval in the way its dramatic mountains and valleys were formed. We hear stories of generosity and welcome to people from countries far away, which were not reciprocated. We hear stories about the healing waters of its creeks and caves.
Anyone who has spent even an hour or two in the Blue Mountains experiences the many ways this unique country offers the body and the spirit restoration. So it is with gratitude and respect that Friends acknowledge the opportunity to meet here for worship.
The Meeting House is at 4 Oakura Avenue, Woodford, one of the mid-mountains villages, a five-minute walk from Woodford railway station. If you are coming from Sydney, the train trip takes about 95 minutes, but it's important to plan your trip, using the Cityrail trip planner, because trains generally run an hour apart. The trip by road is slightly quicker.
We'd love to see you anytime and we meet for worship at 10 every Sunday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)