March 2025 – Meeting for Worship on the Occasion for Business
GRASS VALLEY FRIENDS MEETING
Of the Religious Society of Friends of the Truth
College Park Quarterly Meeting, Pacific Yearly Meeting
MINUTES & RECORD
Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business
March 9, 2025
We met in a hybrid meeting in person at the meetinghouse and on Zoom.
Present: Dorothy Henderson, clerk; Jennifer Smith, recording clerk; Stuart Smith, Amy Cooke, Chamba Cooke, Judy Hamilton, Nora Lisette, Juniper Lisette, Keith Runyan, Doug Hamm, Reed Hamilton, Dean Olson, Lo Hamm, Don McCormick, Kathy McCreery, Dianne Marshall, Mary Starr, Gordon Starr, elder to the clerk; Sharon Davisson, & Peter ORourke
The Meeting opened with silent worship.
Clerks’ Remarks and Query
We call this gathering our Meeting for Worship for Business. We think of the word Meeting as our beloved community. We think of worship as seeking Spirit’s will (or other preferred title) and seeking beyond. We often think of the word business in a negative context. But here we are putting business into practice.
Query: How do you prepare yourself to come together and put those three words together: meeting/community, worship/seeking, and business both Quaker and in the world?
Friends spoke out of the silence:
Quakers set out to do good and end up doing well. We have a history of successful business people in our Quaker world. If our community is doing things that are trustworthy, we will end up doing well.
Can we have a meeting for worship as one person? Yes. We often think of community as part of other human beings. But, we are a part of nature. We are a part of this community and part of the greater communities around us.
When we are in Meeting for Worship, we are opening ourselves to find what the true order of things is, to be guided by Spirit. Meeting for Worship for Business is to be guided by Spirit to find our actions in the world.
One member finds it difficult to combine worship and business. Often strong feelings can get involved. Making our business meetings more worshipful helps keep these things in perspective and allows us to take care of the business at hand.
Another Friend expressed difficulty with strong opinions during Meeting for Worship for Business. He shared that hhen in community, when we are looking for direction, when you put it forth into the business meeting, it is time for you to let go and let God deal with it through the community.
It’s good to worship, but it’s better to take action, especially when you know why you’re doing it. The need is urgent and we feel it. This is why we bring our meeting, worship, and business together.
Growing up Quaker you do not get a lot of instruction on what it means to be a Quaker. I always had an understanding that Meeting for Worship for Business is when we practice being Quakers, and when we put our beliefs into action. When we are gathered together, the knowing becomes greater. The point is practicing. In all of the business of our lives, and in Meeting for Worship for Business, we strive to come from that place of Spirit.
Love is worship.
Make sure we have a positive vision of what we’re fighting and working for. I seek a world where all life is sacrament. Where what we do, say, think, and feel is honored and respected. This Friend expressed gratitude for the circle and community we are sitting in today. I didn’t prepare, I was prepared.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
(see reports appended, committee clerk is noted in bold)
Spirit and Witness: Amy Cooke (2024-2027),Stuart Smith (2023-2026), Reed Hamilton (2022-2025), Sharon Davisson (2022-2025), Dean Olson (2023-2026), Dorothy Henderson (ex-officio, GVFM Clerk)
Amy Cooke gave the report, appended.
How are love and truth alive and moving among us? Friends spoke out of the silence:
In this Meeting, Truth is moving through me in a “jerky” fashion. This Friend misheard the query, and though we were asked what is a “lie” in this Meeting. It’s all part of the fun.
Another Friend expressed a leading and a question of whether we should create a Minute representing this meeting to take to the gathering with our local representative, Kevin Kiley, tomorrow.
Paris Friends Meeting has been holding a circle with other groups in the middle of Paris standing silently. This Friend had a vision of many different circles across the world and the oneness of all people. She has wondered what it would be like to hold a circle like that in this community. A circle of silence.
Another Friend has been questioning the difference between her Buddhist past and her Quaker present. She has been mourning our species desire to do harm. When we are in community, I can feel our heartbeat and images going around our circle. We feed and care for one another. There is a joy when we come to unity.
Another Friend shared a spiritual experience while sitting in Quaker meeting where she experienced a vision during the silence. She saw all the members with a glowing flower in the place of their hearts, and these hearts unfold like flowers before Spirit, each flower connected to a beam of light, and all beams of light connected to one source in the ceiling. We are all different, but when unified, we are all connected.
As living matter, we integrate the physical and the spiritual. It’s where Spirit and Matter meet. As we move into action, whether it’s creating a Minute, a circle of silence, or other matters we are working on, this is where Spirit and matter meet.
We have had a member express a desire to create a minute from the whole meeting. Should we go forward and create a Minute as a meeting, or send this back to Spirit and Witness to clarify.
Several Friends would like to add a Minute to the end of this agenda so it can go to the office of our representative tomorrow. This way we have time to sit with this question to season during our Meeting for Worship for Business.
What issue, of the many political issues facing us, do we want to speak to? Is it the Inflation Reduction Act? Is there something else we want to address?
Another Friend shared about how to talk with someone who has a different opinion, and how to persuade them effectively. If people listen to you, they are more likely to not be defensive. Do we understand Rep. Kiley’s position? What is our purpose in speaking to him?
It is important for us to go into a potentially hostile meeting tomorrow and represent ourselves in the way we want to show ourselves to the world. We should speak to this representative, who is being bullied by the public, as an individual who could be a potential ally.
Could there be something else, other than a Minute, that could be the outcome?
The 2025 State of the Meeting Report will be sent out over the email tree and be posted on our website. If there are concerns about the report, Friends can reply to Judy over email and it will be sent on to the Clerk and Spirit and Witness.
MINUTE (Pending until 4th Month): Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves the 2025 State of the Meeting report, appended.
MINUTE 2025.03.01: Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves the following change to the Spirit and Witness job description. One paragraph of the Spirit and Witness job description has read: “Provide ongoing coordination and care of the relationship between Grass Valley Friends Meeting, College Park Friends Educational Association (CPFEA) and Sierra Friends Center (SFC).” We replace that language with: “Provide ongoing care of the relationship between Grass Valley Friends Meeting, the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), and the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan tribe.”
Stewardship: Gordon Starr, Pat Phillips, Reed Hamilton, David Bowman. Dianne Marshall (ex-officio, Newsletter editor), Mary Starr (ex-officio, Treasurer), Don McCormick (ex-officio, Librarian), HaileyWilson (ex-officio Tech Support).
Gordon Starr gave the report, appended.
There were questions about the rug, and if we need to discuss this, or if Stewardship is recommending it be replaced. Stewardship is recommending that the rug should be replaced.
Stewardship will bring potential replacement options forward in the future.
Do we need to discuss this with CHIRP as our landlords? They use this space also. We are not clear that this rug belongs to us. Dorothy will contact CHIRP about the rug.
It was clarified that this rug actually belongs to our Meeting and was listed among our belongings and placed with our belongings during the transition.
There was a concern about not getting rid of the rug until there is a replacement available. The rug helps with controlling acoustics in the room.
Dean has offered to take the old rug in the future, if needed.
Yes, we agree that Stewardship can go forward with replacing the rug, pending approval from CHIRP.
It was recommended that the Stewardship Committee be the only group involved in the aesthetic choice of the rug, not the entire meeting. They will still need to bring the cost of the rug forward to the meeting as a whole. If Friends have concerns, express them to Stewardship.
There was a clarification about the increase in the dues. Pacific Yearly Meeting has changed their payment structure from pay-as-you-can, to an actual amount because the previous method was not working.
It was requested that in the future we do not use the phrase “Library Committee” and instead use the phrase “library position sharing.”
MINUTE 2025.03.02: Grass Valley Friends Meeting requests that the Stewardship committee bring a recommended expenditure to replace the rug in the meetinghouse to Meeting for Worship for Business for approval. We delegate the removal and replacement of the rug to the committee, with our blessing.
Welcome: Peter O’Rourke (Website and Facebook coordinator), Kathy McCreery, Don McCormick, Pat Phillips, Cheryl Hendrickson, Cindy Bliss, Lo Hamm, Judy Hamilton (ex-officio email coordinator), Nancy Anderson (ex-officio directory clerk).
Jennifer Smith read the report, appended.
Nominating Committee: (terms as noted), Gordon Starr: 2022-2024, Judy Hamilton: 2022-2024, Dean Olson 2023-2025, fosten wilson 2024-2026.
No report was given.
MINUTE 2025.03.03: Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves Don McCormick, Judy Hamilton, and Kathy McCreery for a shared position of Librarian.
Children’s Program: Keely McDonald, Doug Hamm, Judy Hamilton, Dean Olson, Reed Hamilton, Don McCormick, David Cowan, Lo Hamm.
Judy Hamilton gave the report.
OFFICER REPORTS and REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS
Treasurer: No report given.
Pacific Yearly Meeting: Doug Hamm gave the report.
College Park Quarterly Meeting: No report given.
Interfaith Nevada County: Dianne Marshall gave the report.
Sharings from the wider Quaker world:
The new Paris, France meeting house is open. The Cooke’s held a workshop there.
Guilford College, a Quaker College, is under financial duress and is hitting the enrollment cliff. They still have accreditation this year, but it is unclear if they will be able to maintain that in the future. They are looking for ways to stabilize their finances.
College Park Quarterly Meeting will be held April 25 – 27 at Ben Lomond Quaker Center.
There is a Quaker Call to Action on March 30th. More info soon.
Revisiting the Concern from earlier about the Inflation Reduction Act, and creating a Minute for our meeting.
We need to revisit the request for a Minute earlier in the meeting.
We have a critical opportunity. The actions of our representative Kevin Kiley will affect millions of lives going forward, especially considering the Earth and our stewardship going forward, with the Inflation Reduction Act.
Quaker Earthcare Witness has approved the protection of the Inflation Reduction Act and will have a Quaker Call to Action on this soon.
We are unsure whether a Minute or individuals showing up or writing letters will be more weighty on this issue.
If we write a Minute, it will be added to the presentation. It does not replace the letters and showing up.
Do we have a minute arising from us today on this issue?
Is Keith able to craft a Minute for us, since he is the best versed in this issue? He is willing to craft language for this.
Friends feel led that we are feeling moved to focus on this issue moving forward, but a minute is not needed at this moment. There is more work to be done on this in the future.
One Friend suggested that we include other faith groups to create a larger collective action.
Do we want to empower Keith Runyan to be our representative of the Meeting to go forward and speak to Kevin Kiley about this issue tomorrow?
MINUTE 2025.03.04: Grass Valley Friends Meeting reached unanimity to empower Kieth Runyan to speak on our behalf to Kevin Kiley and his representatives, tomorrow, March 10th, on the preservation of the Inflation Reduction Act.
CLERK’S REMARKS:
We brought something important into our community and worked with it. The world entered here and we have done our business in the spirit of worship and community.
ITEMS SEASONING or CARRIED OVER
MINUTE (Pending until 4th Month): Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves the 2025 State of the Meeting report, appended.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
College Park Quarterly Meeting: The Spring meeting of College Park Quarterly Meeting will be at Ben Lomond Quaker Center the weekend of April 25-27, 2025.
A memorial for Carol Fuller will be on Saturday, April 26.
Facebook: please follow the Grass Valley Friends Meeting page, or join the Facebook Grass Valley Friends Meeting group. If you share a post from the page, your friends will see it, and it helps our visibility. Follow this link.
The 2023-2024 PacYM General Directory. The directory is now available. The Directory is for use by members and attenders of monthly meetings and worship groups within Pacific Yearly Meeting and by Friends serving on Pacific Yearly Meeting committees. It is not to be shared beyond this community. Dorothy and Don have the new password for the PacYM Directory.
Carl Magruder: You can follow Carl’s healing journey on the CaringBridge.org website HERE. Friends have also set up a daily Meeting for Healing from 7:30 to 8 am (Pacific) on Zoom here or contact Amy Cooke at amylisette@gmail.com for the link.
Contributions to Grass Valley Friends Meeting are gratefully accepted. You can give by mailing a check to Mary Starr or through Tithely on the website or our newsletter.
READING OF THE RECORD AND MINUTES
The record and the minutes were read, corrected, and approved.
If you are giving a report to GVFM, please send the actual report to the recording clerk at jenniferjksmith@gmail.com THE WEDNESDAY BEFORE MEETING FOR BUSINESS and share with both Dorothy and Jennifer.
GVFM Newsletter Reminder: Please have items into Dianne Marshall by Tuesday at 10 am.
The Meeting closed with silent worship.
Respectfully recorded by Jennifer Smith, recording clerk.
APPENDICES:
Spirit and Witness Committee report
State of the Meeting Report
Programs Subcommittee Report
Spring Meeting of the Clerks Report
Stewardship Committee report
Welcome Committee report
Nominating Committee report
Children’s Committee report
Treasurer’s Report
Pacific Yearly Meeting report
Interfaith Nevada County report
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Spirit & Witness Report
03.2025
Our committee met in worship this month to hold how, as early Quakers would say, Love and Truth is moving among us. What is alive for us as a Meeting community? We hold the awareness of our collective seeking for meaningful and worship-led actions in the present time. Dorothy, our clerk, has offered a gathering at her home to help in this discernment. And, while our committee came up with some possible actions, we felt deeply that this discernment needed to be held as a Meeting.
With that intent, we invite the Meeting to enter a time of worship, to speak to how Love and Truth might be moving among us. Our committee will listen to what arises among us, and look at what might be next. Do we need to schedule a longer time of worship and discernment? Are there clear actions coming forward?
—-Worship Sharing for 10 minutes —
We continue to be grateful for the work of the witness committee under our care, Toward Right Relations. Sacramento Friends Meeting has responded to the letter that the committee sent last month. The meeting reported that they are working with several groups to create urban food forests. After their clerk read the letter from TRR in their meeting – where it brought tears and gratitude, they now want to involve native people in the creation of this garden. They were looking for guidance on how to begin that weaving, and the TRR committee suggested looking into the California Intertribal Council and also mentioned ways to carefully and humbly approach Native people.
We bring the State of the Meeting report today for the first reading. The meeting’s feedback will go back to our committee and we will bring the final version back for approval in April.
—— Reading and time for feedback out of worship ——
The Programs Subcommittee brings the following report Don, Gordon, and Amy met and minuted the mission statement of the subcommittee:
Programs Subcommittee Minute 03.2025 Listening to the needs of our Meeting and the wider community, we respond with programs that offer opportunities for deepening our personal and collective spiritual journeys and meeting the longings for a world of peace and justice.
We are anticipating the following programs:
March 23: People’s experience of the Divine: Don McCormick
April 27: Nonviolence: Gordon Starr
May 4: Eco-spirituality, Keith Runyan
We confirmed that these programs are assumed to be public unless the facilitator requests otherwise.
We are grateful to bring a report on our newest future attender – Juniper Genevieve now weighs four pounds. Emilio and Keely hope to bring her home at the end of March. Judy and Dorothy will let the Meeting know if there are meal needs when they come home.
We also continue to support several meeting members as they navigate life challenges and changes.
We bring a report from our Spring Meeting of the Clerks. Peter O’Rourke, Gordon Starr, Amy Cooke, and Dorothy Henderson met on March 6 for the Spring Clerks Meeting and to convene the Naming Committee.
We heard a check-in on each of our committees. Overall, there is a sense that our committees are consistent in their meetings and their work. Our meeting is blessed with many engaged and committed Friends holding the various tasks in our meeting with dedication. And, many of us are stretched thin. Some Friends have had to step back from committee work due to changing circumstances. We hold the work of Nominating in the light as they seek those in the Meeting whose gifts can contribute to our collective efforts.
We also convened the Naming Committee for two open terms on the Nominating Committee. We recommend that one person serve a one-year term to ensure staggered terms. We will report back in April on our progress in bringing forward names to be considered.
Nominating Committee: (terms as noted),
fosten wilson 2024-2026
Dean Olson 2025-2027
New: 2025-2026 (one year term to insure staggered terms):
New: 2025-2027
As we hold the settling in time for the Nisenan community, we are moving slowly into the tending of this relationship. Shelly has sent a message out about the passing of her mother, Ginger, and we hold this tenderly. Several meeting members visited Uba Seo, the Nisenan gallery in Nevada City, last week.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Cooke, clerk
State of the Meeting Report
2025
Our clerk opened our meeting with worship and then gave us three (six) queries, one at a time to be answered out of worship. The three queries were:
How are you nurtured spiritually by our Meeting for Worship, Meeting for Worship for Business, and our Meeting Community? What are you longing for that has not happened yet?
What are the ways in which this meeting community has, over the last year, been strengthened and in what ways has it been stressed or challenged? How has that affected you personally?
What supports you being involved in our Meeting and being in the world as a Quaker? What inhibits you in being involved in our Meeting and being in the world as a Quaker?
We met on First Day, February 16th, one week after we had approved our yearly meeting being named in a suit being brought by ICAP. The sense of commitment and faith that had led us to say yes that day was present in our midst as we looked back at our meeting over the past year.
We found it helpful to look at the ways we are nurtured in our meetings for worship, our meetings for worship for business and our meeting community because we are nurtured in various ways in each. Our monthly potlucks support our sense of community, as do our work parties. They help us to have a stronger sense of WE, as we come to know each other outside of our more formal Quaker gatherings. The music before meeting continues to bring spirit into our meeting house each First Day before we begin worship.
Our spiritual life programs have strengthened our worship and our community. At the same time we long for more spiritual guidance and for the opportunity to sink down into longer periods of worship. We experience the depth and strength of spirit in our corporate worship and long to carry that out into the world in ways that are tangible and touch lives.
The quality of the clerking in our meetings for worship for business is also nurturing of our spiritual health. We are grateful for spirit-led clerking in our meetings for business. An example, in difficult or unclear moments, the clerk calls for silence to “interrupt the flow” when needed, helping us to settle before continuing. We sense that the silence created in that moment allows us to experience the presence of Spirit, of worship as grounding our business. That presence feels alive and is much appreciated.
As we reported last year, despite an overall increase of one member from last year, our meeting is much reduced in numbers from years past. On the positive side, we have become more concentrated—the spiritual presence, aliveness, as well as contributions to energy and finances have strengthened. We have an environment that supports open spiritual exploration and support. Our spiritual strength was well-used this past year as we held in the light the transition from Woolman to Yulića. We are grateful to have been invited to continue our worship in what we know as our Meetinghouse. Knowing that the Nisenan now possess their ancestral lands, we are aware of the gift of being able to walk on their land each First Day and sit in worship.
We sense also that we are drawing strength not only from those who worship with us each First Day, but from the presence of our elders who have gone before us, the Reynolds, the Baileys, Eve Hall, Bob Barns, Gloria Kershner, Deborah Aufdenspring, the Jorgensens and others. Their presence in our hearts sustains us.
At the same time, our reduced numbers mean that we are a more homogenous group, with less diversity and variety of both people and offerings. Our children’s program continues but has been reduced such that we are not sure of its future. We are also sobered by the awareness that in 2009 we had 51 members and we now have 29. If we continue to lose at this rate, we will cease to exist in twenty years.
We are an aging group, much like other meetings. This means we are not able to take on the tasks that we might have in the past and that is hard to acknowledge to ourselves and each other at times. On the other end of the spectrum we are heartened by two new arrivals. Juniper James, soon to be one year old, (members Nora Lisette and Keith Runyan, parents) and Juniper Genevieve, (attender Keely McDonald and Emilio Griffith, parents) soon to be one month old. They bring joy and light to our meeting family.
Some in our meeting have experienced the power of spirit such that personal transformation has taken place in the very Meetinghouse. For others, our meeting is the safest and most loving place in the world. And yet, there is a longing for the activism that was a part of our meeting when our peace and social justice group took actions with love. Being a light that all the world can see.
We close our report with questions that we raised to each other.
What is our future? Will we grow, or level out? Or will we die?
Why hasn’t the disaster that is happening in Gaza right now come up in our prayers or as a concern?
Why haven’t we been successful as a meeting in taking collective action?
Are we more concerned with the way of doing things than with doing things that need to be done right now?
How can we bring Spirit into our actions, instead of reactions? How can we be “clear and cool in our own mind” when we take actions?
Can we bring the depth and power of our corporate worship beyond our meeting house and help to heal the brokenness in our world?
We concluded our session by acknowledging that we had spoken with our hearts and our clerk had honored that. We closed with worship and gratitude.
Respectfully submitted,
Dorothy Henderson
Clerk
Stewardship Committee Report
Notes from meeting on February 27, 2025
Present: Gordon Starr, clerk, Reed Hamilton, Pat Phillips, Mary Starr, treasurer, Don McCormick, librarian.
Finance. Mary reported the total donations received for February were $1,780. Money paid out totaled $4,895; This included the annual PacYM dues of $4,002. Mary was uncertain when this was supposed to be paid, but the letter stating the amount was drafted in November so she cut them a check. The committee began questioning these dues; why so high and what they were they used for. We noted that dues went from $3,360 last year to $4,002 this year, an increase of over 30%.
This led Don, as a member of PYM’s Ministry committee to express his frustration with their (PYM’s) committee for the revision of Faith and Practice. He noted that eight years ago, this committee visited GVFM to gather suggestions of revisions we might want to see. Meeting took some time with this and submitted a number of ideas to simplify the processes for transferring and dropping membership. There has been nothing reported back as to the progress of their work in spite of multiple inquiries. We all agreed there is considerable room for improvement in this area.
Don did report that he is very happy with the current makeup of the library “committee” and it is working well.
The Rug. The condition and provenance of the rug in the center of our Circle of Worship was noted and discussed. We suspect it was likely donated by Mary Jorgensen and came from the Magic Carpet store in Nevada City. While appreciation was expressed for its intricate design structure, with the many faunae and flora found there to be a ready source of contemplation and speculation, its rather worn and tired condition was grounds for retirement or replacement. Would we need to season this?
And again, with concern for the quality of our Meeting House environment, there was discussion of covering the backs of the bookcases that face the room with fabric or sound deadening panels to enhance their appearance. We will explore options.
Our next meeting will be April 3, 2025 at 3:00PM on Zoom
Welcome Committee Report
Meeting for Worship – Welcome Committee
March 3, 2025 / 7:00PM / Zoom
Attendees: Judy, Nancy, Don, Cindy, Pete
Opening Worship
Potluck
Keith Runyon – New member welcome
Sunday, March 9th
Review Website reference to Meeting location
Authored by Anita, Don and Dorothy (see language below)
Reviewed and posted to website
Overview of Website
Discussed increase in queries through contact form on website
1 per week over pass few weeks
Website reference
Our meeting house is located at 13075 Woolman Lane, in Nevada City, California
[Map Link].
It is on a 232 acre site that is the ancestral land of the Nisenan people. Here there was once a thriving Nisenan village called Yulića. For the past seven decades this land was owned by Quakers and called Sierra Friends Center or Woolman. However, in 2024, ownership of the land was transferred back to the Nisenan. It is becoming, once again, the home of the Nevada City Ranchería Nisenan Tribe, and they enable us to continue to hold our Meetings for Worship on their land. As a Meeting, we continue to discern meaningful ways to support the sovereignty of the Nisenan people.
Closing Worship
Next Meeting – Monday, April 7, 7pm
Nominating Committee Report
No report was given.
Children’s Committee Report
03-2025 CPC Report
There have been many changes recently in the Children’s Committee. Due to the delightful arrival of Juniper Genevieve, our wonderful clerk, Keely, has turned her attention away from our committee for an undetermined amount of time. Thus we are in need of a new Clerk. Dorothy stepped in briefly to fill the gap, and Judy has graciously volunteered to become interim clerk until the new year begins in July.
Keely was also one of our four teachers and in that case, Gordon Bishop has graciously stepped in to take Keely’s place until June.
And we have lost David Cowen who has taken a job that makes him unavailable on Sundays, so we are lacking his serving as buddy for Third Sunday.
All of this means that we have been adjusting each week with our current committee members stepping in to take on more than one class a month, to provide full coverage. We are looking forward to the new slate to bring on a new teacher and new buddy. And then we will choose our new Clerk.
Family circumstances have meant that Kirk, Emma, and Olivia have not been able attend. We have been blessed to have Hailey express her commitment to continuing First Day School, despite being the only one who attends regularly.
We are considering changing the name of our committee to acknowledge that our one student is now sixteen years old. We recognize that will involve changing the language in the job description and are holding off making any changes until the new members are with us. Currently this is the teacher/buddy schedule:
First Sunday—Don McCormick, buddy Lo Hamm
Second Sunday—Doug Hamm, buddy Reed Hamilton
Third Sunday—Gordon Bishop (until June), buddy rotating of committee members
Fourth Sunday—Judy Hamilton, Dean Olsen, sharing buddy and teacher positions
Fifth Sunday—volunteers as available.
While it may seem that we are diminished, it should be noted that we have kept most of our teachers and buddies as well as our steady program going for the past eight years, through the pandemic and up to today. We are grateful for their steadfast service.
Respectfully submitted,
Dorothy Henderson, interim clerk
Treasurer’s Report
No report was given.
Pacific Yearly Meeting Report
The Representative Committee meeting (RepCom) took place online on two consecutive Saturdays. On February 22, the Meeting opened with silent worship and the reading of a land acknowledgement recognizing the many native people whose lives were adversely affected by Western expansion. We were reminded to be mindful of the needs of local indigenous people.
Yearly Meeting will be at Whittier College July 11th to 16th. The theme is Find Your Balance: Heart Reaching Forward. The three plenary panelists will be John Pixley, Aaron Terry, and Amy Cooke. Eli Fowler will be registrar again.
There is a search in progress for a site for the next couple years, possibly in Northern CA. Whittier College is trying to arrange a way to have us come back in the future.
Gene Stowers gave the Financial report:
Contributions are getting tighter
The budget is posted on the RepCom site
There is a real effort being made to have the next annual session pay for itself
Judith Oman has been brought forward to join the nominating committee, waiting on approval
The Friends General Conference Lawsuit regarding Sanctuary has taken effect, but Pacific Yearly Meeting’s similar action has not taken effect quite yet.
Check the PYM website for committee reports of interest.
InterFaith Nevada County Report
InterFaith Nevada County Meeting, February 20, 2025
Location: Grass Valley Friends Meeting
Present: Representatives of The Grass Valley Friends Meeting (2), Dances of Universal Peace, Hospice of the Foothills (2) Ananda (3) Congregation B’nai Harim (1) Sierra Center for Spiritual Living (1), Frank Lawrence, UU Church (1) Methodist Church (1)
InterFaith Nevada County held its monthly meeting for February on the land that is now Yulića Village (formerly Sierra Friends Center). The meeting opened with heart-felt greetings, food and casual introductions. We then settled into silence. Dorothy Henderson, Clerk of Grass Valley Friends Meeting shared Psalm 1, (Grail translation) followed by silent meditation.
Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked
Nor lingers in the way of sinners
Nor sits in the company of scorners
But whose delight is the law of the Lord
And who ponders his law day and night.
Dianne shared the Land Acknowledgement written by Shelly Covert, Executive Director of the California Heritage Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), new owners of the land now known as Yulica Village. See page 2 for text.
Time was then taken for all gathered to share personal truths rising up today. One person spoke of gladness to be in a gathering where all may not envision their spiritual work the same, but all rejoice in each other’s way. A person from Ananda Village shared their annual practice of a week dedicated to service. This year several residents of the village went to Los Angeles to be of service to those affected by the fires. Another sang a moving song in a deeply rich voice. He spoke of the importance of music and of singing during this time. Many spoke of their personal work to be strong, be the Light during the chaotic times our country is now experiencing. A spiritual practice of reading The Nonviolence Statement was shared. People in attendance asked for this to be included with the notes of this meeting. See page 3 to read this Statement.
During the Announcements segment of our meeting, we were all reminded that the Ananda tulips will soon be available for visits. The Ba Ha’i Community shared news of an on-going First Sunday of the Month inspirational, informational gathering. See page 4 for details.
Our time together concluded with Frank Lawrence speaking on behalf of CHIRP whose staff were unable to attend today’s meeting. Frank, an attorney whose career has been devoted to matters of tribal law, took time to tell the group about what had transpired during the land transfer, the status of the tribe, and the Nevada City Ranchería Nisenan Tribe. He could have shared much longer, as there is so much to learn from him. Dorothy’s background as former head of the Woolman Semester Program and Frank’s knowledge provided us with an in-depth presentation that was appreciated by all in attendance.
The meeting closed with silent meditation and Dorothy offering her “Five ‘Ws’” *worship *walk *write *wait *wonder.
UPCOMING INC MEETINGS
March Meeting: Nevada County Jewish Community Center
March 20, 2025, 11:00a.m. -1:00p.m.
April Meeting: Ananda Village
April 17, 2025, 10:00a.m. to 12:00p.m.
Nisenan Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge the Nisenan people are still here among us today, though they are nearly invisible, and their story continues to be excluded from history.
We understand we are on Nisenan land that was never ceded, and the original tribal families have yet to recover from the near genocide of their people.
As a resident or visitor in Nisenan land, we support the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan tribe in efforts to stabilize their people as well as the campaign to restore tribal sovereignty through federal recognition.
Nonviolence Communications Statement
To prepare for our nonviolent actions by meditating on the lives, words, and deeds of women and men of nonviolence.
To refuse to insult our opponents.
To refuse to retaliate if injured.
To share our truth with clarity.
To listen with our hearts fully present and alert.
To remember that we focus on ( ) as a concrete instance of a global system-transformation and conversion which must begin with our own lives.
To acknowledge our own complicity and to claim our personal responsibility for ______.
To remain, especially in action which is firm and strong, always humble and gentle, never self-righteous.
To be open and respectful of one another, friend or opponent, always observing simple courtesy in conversation.
To refrain from violence of hand, heart, or speech.
To offer our actions as substance for our words, and our lives in service to our brothers and sisters.
To sustain this discipline through all its consequences, even under the legal violence of the state.
