Meeting for Worship for Social Justice and Action

This month we will gather for our Meeting for Worship for social justice and action.

The Meeting will begin in silence. One third grade student will share their Query (near the beginning of the meeting to give us focus). Meeting will close with a song. 

As way opens, teachers will take some time to reflect on our shared experiences at Meeting for Worship  Below are some ideas for framing a conversation and reflection (and reminders):

*What do we do to settle into the silence? Are we considerate of others in the silence? (Do we “take away” the silence from our friends?)

*How has Meeting helped us to build our LS community?

*In what ways might we see Meeting ideas or actions seeping into other areas of our lives?

*Are we mindful of our own Faith and Practice? Are we repeating messages? Are we speaking to each other (are we using names)?

*Are we giving the Meeting enough silence between messages? 

*What works for us as we try to settle ourselves into reflection?

*What do we do when we start to “unsettle”?

*How many messages should be shared during our 20 minutes? (remembering the meaningful silence that must follow each message)

Additionally, we will remind our community that this Meeting is a time to consider how we might move peacefully and actively forward in our lives.  

We will center on how Martin Luther King, Jr. let his life speak and how we can use that as inspiration as we shine our own lights.

In the news:

PUBLISHED: JANUARY 8, 2018 

"Yesterday the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) was included on a list of 20 organizations whose staff may be denied entry to Israel because of their support for the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Motivated by Quaker belief in the worth and dignity of all people, AFSC has supported and joined in nonviolent resistance for over 100 years. We answered the call for divestment from apartheid in South Africa, and we have done the same with the call for BDS from Palestinians who have faced decades of human rights violations." 

Read more here: https://www.afsc.org/story/afsc-among-human-rights-orgs-barred-israel

Resources for teaching:

Justice & Human Rights

"The rule of law presents a path for nations to create a just and humane world. Our resources on human rights examine international systems of justice developed in response to mass violence, past and present. These emcompass struggles around racism, religious intolerance, national origin, gender and sexuality, and sexual expression."

Read more here: https://www.facinghistory.org/topics/justice-human-rights

Here are some other Friends who let their lives speak for social justice and action:

·         Margaret Fell and Elizabeth Fry – prison reform

http://www.documentingdissent.org.uk/quaker-women-prison-reformers-at-lancaster-castle/

·         Bayard Rustin – civil rights

http://www.fgcquaker.org/resources/bayard-rustin-invisible-activist

·         Alice Paul – suffragist

https://youtu.be/HnQiXDW4urU

·         Lucretia Mott and Levi Coffin– abolitionists

http://www.harriet-tubman.org/supporters-of-the-underground-railroad/

·         Elizabeth Blackwell – champion of women’s education

https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/education/Biographies_Blackwell.htm

·         Edward Hicks – artist

http://nyti.ms/2dHOGrq

·         John Woolman – abolitionist and native American peacemaker

http://www.westrichmondfriends.org/FamousQuakers.htm

·         Rufus Jones – anti-nazi activist

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005212

A wonderful and simple picture book that notes other peaceful activists is Peaceful Heroes by Jonah Winter.

Live Simply So That Others May Simply Live

Simplicity is a challenging idea for many educators new to Quakerism. I often define it very simply with kindergarteners as thinking about what we need rather than all the things we want. I connect that thinking to the global thinking routine, the 3 Y's.

• Why might this matter to me?
• Why might it matter to people around me?
• Why might it matter to the world?

Below is an excerpt from a recent article in Friends Journal. It really expounds on the idea of Simplicity and the possibilities, ramifications, effects on the larger world.

From Philip Harnden in Friends Journal, 1/1/2018:

“Live Simply So That Others May Simply Live.”

“That message seems ready-made for Quakers, with our thrift-store wardrobes, our decluttered homes, and our plain meetinghouses. When we practice simple living, we collectively say a resounding no to the consumerism, materialism, and waste of modern industrial society.

But how often do we ask ourselves whether our simple living actually does enable other people to live? By living simply, do we really touch the lives of other people in the places where they hurt the most? And how attainable is a simple lifestyle for most Americans today?”

Read the full article here:

https://www.friendsjournal.org/simple-living/