Santa Barbara Friends Meeting (Quakers)

Next opportunity 4/19

Southern California Quarterly Meeting Spring (virtual) Gathering Saturday April 24 -please register to join!

Please join Nonviolent Austin on Wednesday, March 24, at 6:00 PM EST, for a virtual book launch for Against the Hounds of Hell: A Life of Howard Thurman (UVA Press, 2021) by Peter Eisenstadt. Dr. Sarah Azaransky, Associate Professor of Social Ethics will be joined by the book’s author Peter Eisenstadt, EDS at Union’s Dean, The Very Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, and Assistant Professor of Homiletics Rev. Dr. Timothy Adkins-Jones. Our panel will discuss the life and works of ...the renowned theologian, author, and civil rights leader Howard Thurman and they will probe the intersections of black theology, innovative liturgy, and social justice. Purchase the book from UVA Press and use promo code: 10NEWYEAR to get 30% off. About Against the Hounds of Hell: A Life of Howard Thurman An inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, and other leaders of the civil rights movement, Howard Thurman was a crucial figure in the advancement of African Americans in the 20th century. Until now, however, he has not received the full biographical treatment he deserves. In Against the Hounds of Hell, Thurman scholar Peter Eisenstadt offers a fascinating exploration of the life of this great religious thinker and activist. The first significant African American pacifist, Thurman, was the first African American to meet Mahatma Gandhi. An early and outspoken feminist, environmentalist, and advocate for social and economic justice, he was one of the first and most insistent mid-20th century proponents of racial integration. At the same time, he was a key figure in the emergence of mysticism and spirituality as an alternative to formal religion. Against the Hounds of Hell will, at last, establish this multifaceted historical personage as a leading figure of 20th-century American politics, religion, and culture. Peter Eisenstadt is editor of The Encyclopedia of New York State, associate editor of The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, managing editor of The Encyclopedia of New York City, and executive board member of the New York Academy of History. See more

Congresswoman Barbara Lee is joining this incredible gathering of women-

"...historic peace church contributors that have made efforts to intervene against the militarization of youth have been Quaker member groups such as War Resisters’ International in London and Truth in Recruitment in Santa Barbara, California. These efforts have been some of the strongest representatives of the push-back on programs of the Department of Defense in the United States and the Ministry of Defence in Britain designed to recruit youth into military service."

As we all remember Lawrence Ferlinghetti (who died this week at the age of 101), let us not forget his prose missive "Poetry as Insurgent Art" (1975-2007), which begins, I am signaling you through the flames. The North Pole is not where it used to be. Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest.... Civilization self-destructs. Nemesis is knocking at the door. What are poets for, in such an age? What is the use of poetry? The state of the world calls out for poetry to save it. If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of apocalyptic times, even if this meaning sounds apocalyptic. You are Whitman, you are Poe, you are Mark Twain, you are Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay, you are Neruda and Mayakovsky and Pasolini, you are an American or a non-American, you can conquer the conquerors with words. You have to decide if bird cries are cries of ecstasy or cries of despair, by which you will know if you are a tragic or a lyric poet. Conceive of love beyond sex. Be subversive, constantly questioning reality and the status quo. Strive to change the world in such a way that there’s no further need to be a dissident. Read between the lives, and write between the lines. Be committed to something outside yourself. Be passionate about it. But don’t destroy the world, unless you have something better to replace it. If you would snatch fame from the flames, where is your burning bow, where are your arrows of desire, where your wit on fire? The master class starts wars. The lower classes fight it. Governments lie. The voice of the government is often not the voice of the people. Speak up, act out! Silence is complicity. Be the gadfly of the state and also its firefly. And if you have two loaves of bread, do as the Greeks did: sell one with the coin of the realm, and with the coin of the realm buy sunflowers. Wake up! The world’s on fire! Have a nice day!

Our own Stephen Pope , clerk of the Santa Barbara Friends Meeting, award winning filmmaker!

Update on the Jones Fire clean up at Sierra Friends Center, formerly John Woolman School and Woolman Semester.

Our Anti-Racism statement on Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice's (CLUE SB) website. https://www.facebook.com/cluesb

Santa Barbara Friends Meeting is joining with Central Coast Friends Meeting, the Ojai Worship Group and Southern California Quarterly Meeting to invite Friends to a memorial Meeting on Zoom, to be held at 4:00 PM PST on Saturday, Feb 20 on the Santa Barbara Meeting’s zoom channel (see www.sbfriends.org for the links and phone numbers)

Hi Friends! Please give to support this book project: History of John Woolman School A book capturing the history of John Woolman School, a Quaker education venture in California, and the powerful impact of its alums.

You still have time to enjoy a front row seat to our next segment of LAS NOTICIAS FROM THE BORDER. This week special guest Pedro Rios and Paola Villasenor PEDRO RIOS Pedro Rios is director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S./Mexico Border Program. He oversees a program that documents abuses by law enforcement agencies, collaborates with community groups, advocates for policy change, and works with migrant communities.... PAOLA VILLASEÑOR Paola Villaseñor, better known by her nickname Panca, is a painter, muralist, street artist and illustrator born in San Diego, CA, US. Thematically, her work focuses on the dichotomy and decay of humanity using neon and pastel colors, grotesque figures and distorted shapes. She has been working between Mexico and the United States since 2004 making wheat-paste art, indoor murals, large scale outdoor murals and paintings on various different surfaces. https://viacafe.org/pages/las-noticias-from-the-border-guest See more

All families are invited! November 7 and 8.

Friends of Color Fall Retreat

A Quaker in prison writes about having COVID.

Fall Fellowship is the annual fall gathering of Southern California Friends. All are invited to join!

Pickles guide to online meeting for worship!

Information about incorporating children into our Friends Meetings-

"...the question is, what are Fair Ed. people afraid of? They are afraid of this map https://www.nationalgeographic.com//10/changing-face-amer/ which shows how the complexion of the American population is becoming less and less white. They are afraid that their power and supremacy as White people will end." Barbara Parmet

Tonight at 4:30 PST, American Friends Service Committee’s call to free all prisoners-

Before the president ordered that federal executions begin again, there had only been 3 people put to death by the federal government since 1976. Since the new order, 5 people have been executed. This is a story by Billie J. Allen who is on federal death row.

You are invited to join Liz Oppenheimer, Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative, and Marijke van Roojen, Northern Yearly Meeting for an 8-week virtual affinity group,... White Friends Receiving the Ministry of Friends of Color: The POC Pre-Gathering Epistle, to engage with the queries posed in the Epistle. Co-sponsored by Friends General Conference's Spiritual Deepening and Ministry on Racism Programs. See more

Will Congress Expand Military Draft Registration to Women? Truth in Recruitment and the Santa Barbara Friends Meeting (Quakers) and the Central Coast community in a virtual Town Hall with U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal to discuss proposed legislation that will require women to register for the military draft. #resist #nodraft #abolishthedraftforeveryone