Spiritual Nurturance Committee Report
Spring 2008, Chicago, Illinois

FRIENDS PRESENT: Kristina Keefe-Perry, Rochester MM, NYYM (acting clerk and minutes), Dick Grossman, Durango, IMYM, Catherine Stevens, Ann Arbor MM, LEYM, Mary Gilbert, FMC, NEYM, eric maya joy, pacific northwest, Marcie Ankron, Bloomington, OVYM, Noel Pavlovic, IYM, Bill Bliss, Ann Arbor, LEYM.

AGENDA:

Introductions—What brought you here?
Taking care of the small stuff Spiritual Nurture Cares for;
Mindfulness/Silent worship reminders during meals;
Someone from SN holding the clerk's table, sign up for that work;
Announcements for the cards, signing reminders;
An announcement to hold people in the Light, to prayerfully support folks.
The matter of committee identity and purpose, form
What to do of the clerkship?

1. Friends introduce themselves.

2. Don't forget the small stuff

—Silent worship reminders during meals

We will experiment with hand raising inspires silence at meals. Someone from SNC will raise their hand until the body recognizes and all are settled into grateful silence. Then talk can organically emerge…

—Someone from SNC holding the clerks table, sign up for that work.

We have traditionally held the group and clerks in prayer and offered a moment to stop, slow down has been monitored by the clerk. Some are more likely to exercise that option than others. Sometimes it is as a moment of silence, of breath or of dealing with the issues at hand.

—Meeting for worship for business - 3:40 p.m. — Mary Gilbert

—Meeting for worship for business - 9:15 — Marcie will do it

Get a glass and knife as a bell for the rest of the meetings

—Announcements for the cards, signing reminders

At dinner, Kristina will announce cards and ask Ruah to make sure that the cards get gathered and addressed and sent.

3. Committee identity and purpose, form

For the rest of this first meeting and all of our second meeting, Friends spent the bulk of our time together considering the purpose of the Spiritual Nurturance Committee. Noel Pavlovic came to us to frame his letter to the body (see Noel's letter) and bring a revised committee charge. The committee received that with gratitude for his faithful work and obvious caring.

We came to unity on the following committee purpose description for Spiritual Nurture Committee:

• To lovingly nurture and tend to the quality of QEW's spiritual connection with and inclusion of the Divine, the Creation, all of life and the Light within us all, in all our deliberations during our spring and fall meetings. We will be available to work with the clerk and recording clerk as necessary.
  
• To facilitate clearness and support individuals in their earth centered leading.
  
• To attend to pastoral care, such as: hold individual Friends in the Light during QEW's sessions, as requested. Facilitate opportunities for clearness/healing when conflict emerges among us. Facilitate writing cards/letters to Friends who are not able to attend sessions.
  
• To offer to the QEW Community, during meetings, program opportunities for study, reflection, experience, meditation on our spiritual interconnection with All that is.
  
  We will continue to sit in worshipful consideration of how we serve QEW.

We also want to hold out that it is of great importance that there be an articulated space for Friends exploring New Universe Story, Native Understandings and other faithful explorations of emerging understanding of earth-human relationships to gather in sharing, program and support. The relationship of this body to SNC is not clear yet, except that it is a distinct body.

4. Committee Clerk

Regarding the clerk of this committee, Friends asked Kristina to continue and she is not clear. She is committed to staying present to work in her monthly, regional and yearly meeting. She worries that too many "national" obligations take her away from this. She might be open to co-clerking. Kristina Keefe-Perry and Mary Jo Klingel are seasoning the idea of co-clerking.

The first conference call has been set for the week of June 7th or 8th

. . .details to be worked out at that time, and we will set a second September call time at that meeting.

5. SNC and Meeting Programming

SNC would like to provide an experiential program piece at the fall meetings (esp. in Atlanta)