Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business
Held at the Senior Citizens Service Center,
Bennington, Vermont
March 20, 2016
Present were Timmy Bullock, Dorothea Izzo, Priscilla Tracy, Roc Kaufman, Michael Thomsen, Auberta Galusha, Sam Humes, Marge Davis, Bain Davis and Juliet Wright
Most Friends are painfully aware of how our humanness falls short of the spiritual ideal, and of how fragile our process can seem. Corporate discernment of the will of God is a risky and imperfect proposition. In relying so extensively on the Holy Spirit, we make ourselves vulnerable to pitfalls and failures. However, far from begin a weakness, such vulnerability is central to our understanding of the power of worship (and business) “In spirit and truth.” To fall into the hands of the living God requires leaping, laying ourselves open to risk. Our commitment to this process, and our assurance of its outcomes, can only be proven [at the end of time], but still we give testimony to the truth we have been given, and are able to say that we have tested this method and found that it does indeed bring us into Unity with the will of God.
Eden Grace 2000
Out of the silence, the clerk read the above quotation from Eden Grace.
The recording clerk read the minutes for meeting for business, February 21, 2016. They were approved.
2016-11 Timmy Bullock reported on behalf of Ministry and Counsel. The minutes are appended.
2016-12 Meeting for Business recommends the following FCNL Priorities:
1. War: curtail military expenses; advance peace building and the peaceful prevention and resolution of violent conflict.
2. Climate Change.
3. Emphasize and fund all social programs: health care, from reducing drug prices to alternatives to for-profit instruments; to increased support for constructive societal health awareness, including physical, mental and social aspects; de-emphasizing incarceration.
4. Reverse Citizen’s United; cap corporate influence in government.
5. Work on global regulation of technology; promote dialogue on regulation of research and intrusion into privacy.
6. Consider stringent ethical guidelines for all genetic research and development as it impacts on humans, plants and other elements of the environment.
7. Promoting low tech, low cost person to person contact between groups in conflict: eg. Israelis and Palestinian or Iranians and Americans, using programs such as the hotline program Hello Peace.
2016-13 Meeting for business approves an allocation of $250.00 to support All Species Day. The money will be used specifically to pay for the printing and dissemination of flyers. The clerk will be in touch with Fidel Moreno for details on the name of the printer.
2016-14 Auberta Galusha will speak with Maryann St. John about providing materials on non-violent conflict resolution for All Species Day.
After a period of silent worship, the meeting adjourned.
Minutes for Ministry and Counsel
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Present were Timmy Bullock, clerk ex-officio, Priscilla Tracy, Auberta Galusha, Juliet Wright and Eliza Navias-Bell
Pastoral concerns discussed.
16-4 Ministry and Counsel Recommends the following FCNL Priorities.
1. War: curtail military expenses to allow more money for social programs; enact a peace tax to allow monies to be allocated for peace rather than war.
2. Climate Change.
3. Emphasize all social programs: health care, from reducing drug prices to alternatives to for-profit instruments; to increased support for constructive societal health awareness, including physical, mental and social aspects; de-emphasizing incarceration.
4. Reverse Citizen’s United; cap corporate influence in government.
5. Work on global regulation of technology; playing with DNA; promote dialogue on regulation of research; regulation of intrusion into privacy.
Consider stringent guidelines for genetic research and development.
??Where should we allocate person to person contact such as a hot line between Israeli-Palestinian groups of parents – set up hotline for a member of one group to talk to the other.
16-5 Ministry and Counsel asks meeting for business to consider a contribution to support Earth Day/All Species Day.