Sunday
Saturday
Thursday
To many of us at Barnstable Friends Meeting, it seems that as a society we are at an inflection point.
Great and horrible things are afoot and collectively we can choose which path to take. As this time requires active, diverse, powerful and spiritual ways to move us personally and societally forward toward the goal of beloved community,please share with white people you know who might need to learn a bit more about why Black Lives Matter.
https://tools4racialjustice.net/
May all our lives speak Truth, Justice,
Peace and Love,
Barnstable Friends Meeting
Wednesday
CALENDAR
Every Sunday -- Meeting for Worship
10:00am -- 2 Dr. Lords Rd. Dennis MA
ALL ARE WELCOME
COME CHECK US OUT
NOTE: in the summer months the property is the space for the Eden Hand arts
Barnstable Friends Meeting is a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FOR INFORMATION ON QUAKERISM IN GENERAL VISIT:
http://www.neym.org/ ~~ OR ~~ http://www.quaker.org/
A PERSONAL BLOG OF ONE MEMBER'S SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS
http://reflectionsfromtheeaglesnest.blogspot.com/
Barnstable Friends Meeting is a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unprogrammed Worship
contemplation, silent prayer
At the center of Friends worship is the core belief in God as “present in dwelling teacher”. The silence of unprogrammed worship is not empty silence. During the silence there are heroic things happening. The Spirit is gently nudging each person in worship toward a central truth. The gathered meeting is the way of discerning that truth and ministry is the way that truth breaks the silence and is experienced.
http://www.neym.org/ ~~ OR ~~ http://www.quaker.org/
A PERSONAL BLOG OF ONE MEMBER'S SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS
http://reflectionsfromtheeaglesnest.blogspot.com/
Toward real peace in a beautiful world
Toward Real Peace in a beautiful world -- published in Cape Cod Times Oct. 16, 2014
Recent letters to the editor criticize County Human Rights commissioner Elenita Muniz for saying “…everyone who is white-skinned is racist.” One author says she "…should be investigated for hate speech and terminated.” My purpose for writing is not to judge or get into an argument. Rather to offer a personal statement originally written in 2002 (with slight updating). It also contains a prayer from me and my Friends Meeting for this holiday season, a time of Light returning....Hello, my name is Rachel and I'm a racist. No, I'm not secretly a member of the KKK; rather I have come to admit that my attitudes and assumptions around race are unmanageable in a just society. I look to a Power greater then myself to restore me to sanity.Just as our collective thinking about what it means to be an alcoholic has changed from simply a derelict with a paper sack to include "respectable" people, so my personal thinking has changed regarding the affliction of racism. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a racist as a person who “…believes that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.” While I certainly don't consciously believe this, what about an unconscious belief because of being raised in white privilege? Doesn't this count?At a very early age I was very carefully taught and conditioned. Being from a "good" Quaker family, it was most easy for me to deny any part of this problem. Of course prejudice is wrong. And after all, Friends were on the forefront of the civil rights movement. Yet white privilege has affected the very structure of my mind. I viewed white practices, customs and attitudes as the norm against which others were to be compared. My spirit requires that I now struggle with the results of these attitudes and entitlements not enjoyed by other groups, including:• Not having to see or feel that Ferguson or all such incidents — before and after — are in any way connected to me or are my problem.• Still looking at faces of my society’s leaders and seeing mostly people of my race (congress is 87% white yet people of color make up 30% of our population).• Having my race be the source of all the art and music "Great Masterpieces.”• Being taught in school about all the famous explorers, philosophers, leaders, etc. who happened to all be members of my race. The list goes on.Although I have been slow to precisely name my addiction, I have been in recovery for some time now. Knowing that I am FAR from perfect, I try to educate myself, promptly admit it when I am wrong regarding issues faced by people of color, and work at make amends. Just as importantly, I seek through prayer to bring spiritual energy for a solution both within my heart and the world. I look forward to someday reaping a harvest of Joy, Light and Oneness......In closing we ask each reader: Are we morally, spiritually and visibly, stepping into this moment? Are we bearing witness both to the injustice and also to how Spirit is being made manifest for us at this particular time and situation? How do we build a truly beloved community that embraces that of God in everyone? Are we a part of this awakening, speaking Truth about who we are in relationship to all humankind, all our relations?At this season, may each of us be lamps of pure Love and Light to bring a new dawn of real peace into this beautiful world.Rachel Carey-HarperBarnstable Friends Meeting
Friday
Thursday
Our Letters to the Editor
(letter appeared in Cape Cod Times August 20, 2015)
Not a Solution
Doing away with the Noah shelter is not a solution and could make the problem worse. Reduce the number of beds available and people will still be here, some causing more problems not less. Moving the shelter makes it hard for people we don't have cars to get to work or mental health services which doesn’t help. Ending homelessness need a layered approach. We need 1. some sort of housing that is affordable for people working minimum wage jobs, 2. housing, education and job development for people who have gone through recovery from addiction, etc but not solidly on their feet and for people beginning recovery, like Homeless Not Hopeless 3. a place like Noah shelter.
Most of all though, we need compassion. We need to understand that this is holy work. The Bible specifically demands hospitality toward the other "for you were strangers in a strange land" (Lev. 19:34 and see Ex. 12:49). Isaiah states that one of the duties of those spiritually connected is to "give thy bread to the hungry," and to "bring the poor that are cast out to thy house" (Isa. 58:7).
Where will people go if Noah Shelter is closed? Will you bring people into your home? What happens in January and zero degrees? What if it was your son or father, your sister or you?
Rachel Carey-Harper for Barnstable Friends Meeting (a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisset Monthly Meeting)
Doing away with the Noah shelter is not a solution and could make the problem worse. Reduce the number of beds available and people will still be here, some causing more problems not less. Moving the shelter makes it hard for people we don't have cars to get to work or mental health services which doesn’t help. Ending homelessness need a layered approach. We need 1. some sort of housing that is affordable for people working minimum wage jobs, 2. housing, education and job development for people who have gone through recovery from addiction, etc but not solidly on their feet and for people beginning recovery, like Homeless Not Hopeless 3. a place like Noah shelter.
Most of all though, we need compassion. We need to understand that this is holy work. The Bible specifically demands hospitality toward the other "for you were strangers in a strange land" (Lev. 19:34 and see Ex. 12:49). Isaiah states that one of the duties of those spiritually connected is to "give thy bread to the hungry," and to "bring the poor that are cast out to thy house" (Isa. 58:7).
Where will people go if Noah Shelter is closed? Will you bring people into your home? What happens in January and zero degrees? What if it was your son or father, your sister or you?
Rachel Carey-Harper for Barnstable Friends Meeting (a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisset Monthly Meeting)
(letter appeared in Cape Cod Times, published 5/29/2014)
Dear Editor,
While we applaud Harwich Conservation Trust's hope to purchase 40 acres in Harwich ("Scrambling to buy some history" May 26 CCTimes), we are concerned that it would be a purchase of stolen land only once removed from the family that perpetrated, and for centuries profited from, the theft in the first place. By what right did the land transfer from Wampanoag people? In all likelihood it was through the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. Receiving stolen property is a crime and in many cases there is no statue of limitations. We encourage people who are not descendants of the original inhabitants to consider this because the harm that has been done and the privileges enjoyed by our ancestors and even today by us personally, whether we know it or not, have serious consequences for our souls. That of God within, the essence of who we really are, exists in eternity, therefore serious wrongs do not dissipate with the passage of time. There is a good way to move forward in an effort to be in right relationship with our indigenous neighbors. The long journey of healing begins with the first steps of interrupting the behavior and knowing about and acknowledging the harm. There are alternatives including a donation of the property to Native Land Conservancy, Inc. 19 Pine Road Mashpee, MA 02649. This way, true love can prevail.
Rachel Carey-Harper, Barnstable Friends Meeting (a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisset Monthly Meeting)
While we applaud Harwich Conservation Trust's hope to purchase 40 acres in Harwich ("Scrambling to buy some history" May 26 CCTimes), we are concerned that it would be a purchase of stolen land only once removed from the family that perpetrated, and for centuries profited from, the theft in the first place. By what right did the land transfer from Wampanoag people? In all likelihood it was through the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. Receiving stolen property is a crime and in many cases there is no statue of limitations. We encourage people who are not descendants of the original inhabitants to consider this because the harm that has been done and the privileges enjoyed by our ancestors and even today by us personally, whether we know it or not, have serious consequences for our souls. That of God within, the essence of who we really are, exists in eternity, therefore serious wrongs do not dissipate with the passage of time. There is a good way to move forward in an effort to be in right relationship with our indigenous neighbors. The long journey of healing begins with the first steps of interrupting the behavior and knowing about and acknowledging the harm. There are alternatives including a donation of the property to Native Land Conservancy, Inc. 19 Pine Road Mashpee, MA 02649. This way, true love can prevail.
Rachel Carey-Harper, Barnstable Friends Meeting (a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisset Monthly Meeting)
(letter appeared in Cape Cod Times, published 12/02/2012 )
Truth
A recent article about clearing the homeless camps says its purpose was to "encourage people living in them to get off the streets" but is this true? The high price for a rental apartment, "affordable housing" geared to middle income wage earners, coupled with the extreme difficulties that any organization has in establishing a group living situation and the many bylaws of our towns seems designed to punish rather then help. To walk a path to solve this problem requires reassessment, both community policies, priorities and personal attitudes.
We are ALL part of the Divine whole; the illusions of the world do give way to the infinite place of Love like the sun through a Cape Cod foggy morning. Rather then punish the poor, the disabled, those who sleep in the dust , you and I can be part of the solution. We are all related, more same then different, each of us doing our very best to fulfill our divine purpose with all our stumbling even if we can't see it in the "other". Let's be examples of healing not harm, focusing on Light in heart and mind and spirit and walk cheerfully through this together.
Rachel Carey-Harper, clerk
Barnstable Friends Meeting, Marstons Mills
A recent article about clearing the homeless camps says its purpose was to "encourage people living in them to get off the streets" but is this true? The high price for a rental apartment, "affordable housing" geared to middle income wage earners, coupled with the extreme difficulties that any organization has in establishing a group living situation and the many bylaws of our towns seems designed to punish rather then help. To walk a path to solve this problem requires reassessment, both community policies, priorities and personal attitudes.
We are ALL part of the Divine whole; the illusions of the world do give way to the infinite place of Love like the sun through a Cape Cod foggy morning. Rather then punish the poor, the disabled, those who sleep in the dust , you and I can be part of the solution. We are all related, more same then different, each of us doing our very best to fulfill our divine purpose with all our stumbling even if we can't see it in the "other". Let's be examples of healing not harm, focusing on Light in heart and mind and spirit and walk cheerfully through this together.
Rachel Carey-Harper, clerk
Barnstable Friends Meeting, Marstons Mills
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)