Early morning musings

This morning I am thinking about movies and immigration.  "McFarland, USA" is a movie currently playing in Baton Rouge.  It tells the true story of a caucasian high school coach in a predominantly hispanic community in 1987 who forms a cross country track team.  In the telling of this story, we get a beautiful picture of the Mexican culture, of families and food and hard work and good music.  Humanity unfolds as Coach White leads his team to state championships year after year.  The color barrier disappears as the whole community comes together for the good of all. 

It is a good lesson for all of us.  There is so much anger directed toward the immigrants who have come to our country from the countries south of our border.  Look back over our history as a nation and you will see that no immigrant group ever brought about the ruin of America.  Each culture that established itself here adapted and then enriched our melting pot.  Today is no different.  There are an estimated 5 million people in our country who did not follow proper regulations to come here.  But they are here.  Going to our churches. Educating their children in our schools.  Paying rent to American landlords and buying houses.  Shopping in the grocery stores and the malls.  Working hard at hard jobs to make a living, just like the rest of us.  Their families grow with births and diminish with deaths.  Just like the rest of us.  They pay taxes yet their wages reflect deductions that go into systems they may never have access to. 

In the absence of any leadership in our legislative branches toward resolving what has been called "the immigration problem," President Obama has issued an executive order to open the way to citizenship for some of the people already living and working in our country.  Everyone will not automatically receive amnesty.  Everyone will not automatically be allowed to work toward citizenship.  Deportations of people continuing to cross our border without proper documentation will continue.  This executive order addresses the estimmated five million people already here.

Our faith tradition tells us to welcome the stranger.  Our testimony of equality tells us to treat these immigrants with respect.  Integrity reminds us to speak honestly about situations we know personally and not repeat stories from the news media about "those people."  By extending acceptance to the strangers among us, we create the peace Quakers try to support in the world.  Diversity makes our communities richer as we learn to live and play together.  What have you done lately towards a peaceable kingdom?  Let your actions speak truth to power.

For Baton Rouge Friends Meeting Jubilee Year, 2015!

"Starting from within, working in a circle, in a sacred manner, we heal and develop ourselves, our relationships and our world." taken from a blog, Laura Lein-Svencner, lone crow art. I want to come here daily, and starting from within, working in a sacred manner, heal and nurture myself, my relationships and my world. Anyone want to meet me here?

What is our "Faith and Practice"

After this sunday's Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business, I had to search for just what "Faith and Practice" the book really is to Quakers. It seemed odd that a people who didn't have any creed would have "rules and regulations", and so to the web I go.

From what I can gather, it is a statement of how any particular yearly meeting is structured and the processes used within it.  It speaks of tradition within the yearly meeting and shares some spiritual truths as revealed to past Quakers. This quote from 1656 is meaningful, I believe, in placing value on FP's among Quakers:

Dearly beloved Friends, these things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all, with the measure of light which is pure and holy, may be guided: and so in the light walking and abiding, these may be fulfilled in the  Spirit, not from the letter, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.

Advices from the elders at Balby, 1656
Britain Yearly Meeting 
Quaker faith & practice, 1995, §1.01 

The old English aside, it definitely says FP's are not rules and regulations. Some yearly meetings, our own included, do not have their our own Faith and Practice but refer to another yearly meeting's FP for guidance, putting even more distance between outlining traditions and serving as rules and regulations.

Peace, light and laughter. Sheila

I don't know why I keep writing in this blog, but I do.  Wish there was some way to see who and when anyone else looks at this.

Here is some information which we found interesting a few months back in a First Day School class on  "Quaker Iconography." 

                         The Red and Black Star logo of American Friends Service Committee

        AFSC adopted the eight-pointed red and black star in 1917.  While its origin remains a mystery, the story of the star dates back to the Franco-Prussian war.  At that time, the British Daily News was using the star to mark shipments "...for the relief of French peasantry."  The News extended Quaker relief workers permission to label their shipments with the star, qualifying their supplies for reduced customs fees.  Whenever the eight-pointed star is used, it represents shared Quaker roots and a commitment to humanitarian service and the spirit in which it is provided.

Rain, rain, go away.  Come again another day!

As in, another day several weeks from now!!  It will surely take that long for everything around here to dry out.  Especially the chicken yard!  Danny put a solid roof over the chicken yard in his recent renovations to make the space more predator-proof.  Still, with the lay of the land, the wind, and the tiny holes in the used tin, the ground is saturated.  Our flock of chicks, still not completely feathered out, is so confused.  We raised their small pen up onto bricks so their bedding stays dry but all around them...water, water, water.  Maybe they will begin to think they are ducks?

Which is sort of like people...we know in our hearts what kind of a person we are but sometimes circumstances bring doubt to our minds.  I thought I was a chicken but maybe I'm a duck.  When these days roll round, as they surely will, take some time for listening to God, for no one knows us better than our creator.  Pray.  Read.  Apologize as needed.  Hug as often as possible.  Rest in the knowledge that, just as you thought, you are not a duck.  You are a chicken, a glorious and beautiful chicken.

Good morning!
I saw this video, compliments of one of the Fayetteville Friends, and thought you all might enjoy it.  I didn't remember that Dame Judi Dench was a Quaker but after watching this interview, it came back to me that I had read it earlier.

Lots going on out this way.  Danny is refurbishing the chicken yard to prepare for our new shared flock of six Amercauna (sp?) hens.  We won't have eggs until early fall, but already we are enjoying having chicks again.  I have my first rehearsal this evening of a dinner theatre show here in Denham Springs that I'm working with as manager.  YaYa is here for a few days doing her painting magic on a chest of drawers we have in the library.  LIFE IS GOOD!

Let us know what you think of the video...or anything else that might be on your heart and/or mind.

Pam

youtu.be/oKwlRRv6EiU

Let's see if I can make this work...

     I've been really enjoying the Quaker Speak videos produced each week by FGC (Friends General Conference).  Each one is about 5 minutes long.  Each one touches on a new aspect of Quakerism.  Each one is well done and informative.  I'm going to post this and then see if clicking on the website address below will take me from our blog page to the videos.  Cross your fingers...

quakerspeak.com

Oh, boy!  Check one more thing off my "I can do this!" list.  So now, YOU can enjoy the videos, too.  How about sharing your thoughts on a specific one here in our blog??

In the Light,
Pam