Website: santacruzquakers.org
Contact email: scfm@santacruzquakers.org
Look for the weekly email blast on Friday at 5 p.m.

First Day Schedule

10:30 a.m., Meeting for Worship.
12:30 p.m., Second First Day. Meeting for Worship for the Purpose of Business. Zoom available.
9:30 a.m., Third First Day. Advices & Queries worship sharing. In person at the Meetinghouse.
9:45 a.m., Hymn singing. In person in the worship room. Check the email blast for the schedule.

Live Oak Friends Meeting in Salinas welcomes Santa Cruz Friends to its Zoom worship, held on the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Sundays at 11:00 a.m. Check the email blast for the link.

Meeting Calendar

Every Monday, 9:15 a.m. Quaker hike. Contact Mimi for location.
Every Tuesday, 10 a.m. All men are invited to meet for coffee and conversation at The Shrine.
Every Thursday, 7-8 p.m. p.m. Online meeting for worship. Check the email blast for the link or log on through the webpage homepage.
1st, 4th, and 5th Wednesdays Faith Community Shelter at the Meetinghouse.
Second Hour, April 26 Presentation by Claudia Krich and her husband Keith Brinton, former co-directors of the American Friends Service Committee program in Vietnam. In 1975 they stayed after the collapse of South Vietnam as witnesses. More details about the presentation, and the book detailing the events here.

Quaker Center Calendar

Every morning, 7:30 a.m. Quaker Center online Meeting for Worship.
Every Wednesday, 10 a.m. Quaker Center online Worship Sharing.
First Wednesday, 6 p.m. Potluck in the Orchard Lodge followed by worship at 7:15 p.m.

Tuesdays in May, online 6:30 to 8 p.m. Organizing for Climate Resilience with Cherice Bock. This virtual series will explore ways that individuals and faith communities can begin to build climate
resilient communities.
May 15-17, in-person. The Quaker MBA? with Eric Lindner. Do the Quaker Testimonies have a home in the world of business? Yes! Eric will give reasons why Quaker Testimonies are an advantage in commercial affairs.
May 29-31, in-person. Geography of Change, with Valerie Brown. Program is currently full. Send an email to nico@quakercenter.org to join a waiting list.

For more information on these and other Quaker Center programs, see: http://www.quakercenter.org/programs/

Quaker Center Quote of the Week

“Bring the whole of your life under the ordering of the spirit of Christ. Are you open to the healing power of God’s love? Cherish that of God within you, so that this love may grow in you and guide you. Let your worship and your daily life enrich each other. Treasure your experience of God, however it comes to you. Remember that Christianity is not a notion but a way.” ~ Britain Yearly Meeting’s Quaker Faith & Practice: Advices and Queries

Queries
• Where is the power of the spirit in your life?
• Is your worship guiding you?
• How does God come to you?
• To follow faith is a way of life. Are you a follower?

Approved Action Minutes from Meeting for Business, 3/8/2026

Minute #1, 3/8/2026: Santa Cruz Friends Meeting approves the narrative portion of the February 2026 minutes of Meeting for Business.

Minute #2, 3/8/2026: Santa Cruz Friends Meeting approves the State of the Meeting Report.

Minute #3, 3/8/2026: Santa Cruz Friends Meeting will co-sponsor a candidates' forum, organized by Central Coast Advocates for Peace in the Middle East, on topics of war and peace. The forum is scheduled to take place in the Meeting House on April 25 from 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Minute #4, 3/8/2026: Santa Cruz Friends Meeting approves Heidi Jett to serve on the Worship and Ministry committee through March of 2028 and Priscilla Williams to serve on the Property, Finance and Stewardship committee through March of 2027.

Advices and Queries: Meeting for Worship for Business

Come to Meeting with hearts and minds prepared to be open and faithful to the leadings of the Spirit. Then the conduct of business will lead to truth, unity, and love.

When a matter is before the Meeting for Business, each person present contributes to the corporate search for a decision that accords with the will of God. Inaction is a form of action. Silent worship in the Meeting for Business contributes to the process of achieving unity.

Listen attentively to others’ words and use the silence between messages to reflect carefully on what you might contribute. When you are clear, speak simply what is in your heart, without repeating what has already been offered. While making your insights clear, lay aside personal opinions and attend to what God requires.

-Do I attend Meeting for Business regularly
-Do I speak in Meeting for Business only when I am led to speak?
-Is the Meeting for Business held as a Meeting for Worship in which we seek divine guidance for our actions?
-Are we tender and considerate of different views, coming to a decision only when we have found unity?
-Do we give prayerful support for our clerks that they may be sensitive to the movement of the Spirit among us?

Quaker Quotes on Meeting for Business

“Keep your meetings in the power of God... And when Friends have finished their business, sit down and wait a while quietly and sit upon the Lord to feel him. And go not beyond the Power, but keep in the Power by which God almighty may be felt among you.... For the power of the Lord will work through all if...you follow it.” ~ George Fox, 1658

“The gift of the Clerk is to call forth the clerk in each of us” ~ Author unknown

“I have not mentioned community in all of this because I really do not believe community can be sought after directly, at least in the Meeting for Business. I believe it is discovered. When we sit together in silence, in humility, in common obedience, listening for that of God in each of us, and in patience, a bond of love grows among us that knits us together inextricably. This, I think, is the Good Order of Friends. Once more I want to turn to ancient Latin origins for a phrase of St. Augustine which helps me to understand what this is. He wrote “Ordo es Amorix,” Order is Love. In a way this sums up all we might say about the spiritual basis for the Metting for Business.” ~ Ellie Foster, 1986

Update from FCLCA
By Susan C

I am our Meeting’s representative to Friends Committee on Legislation of California (FCLCA), and have recently joined their Board. We are now in the midst of the 2026 legislative session and the governor has released his proposed budget. The legislature can approve, modify, or reject the governor’s proposals, and a final budget will be decided in June after negotiations. Now is a good time to let your local legislators know about your priorities for state expenditures.

You can read more about FCLCA’s budget advocacy here:

The California Budget and Policy Center has an easy to understand analysis of the governor’s budget proposal here.

The governor’s budget does not include any new revenue streams. Without new revenues, the state will struggle to have the resources to reduce the harm caused by the Trump administration. Many people in our state are suffering from rising prices and decreased services.

There are also two bills that FCLCA currently is asking people to contact their legislators to support. Links to these action items are on FCLCA’s Action Center webpage here.

Be sure to check that page frequently as new action items are added during the year.

1) The Affordable Insurance and Recovery (AIR) Act, SB 982, will stabilize the housing insurance market and protect Californians from climate-driven hikes. This bill would allow the Attorney General to take large oil and gas corporations to court to hold them accountable and protect Californians, who are currently bearing these costs through high insurance premiums.

2) AB 1165 (Gipson), the California Housing Justice Act, requires the state to assess how much ongoing investment is needed—and where those investments must be targeted—to solve housing instability and homelessness over the long term.

Let me know if you have any questions or would like help contacting your legislators.

“Be grateful for your life, every detail of it, and your face will come to shine like a sun, and everyone who sees it will be made glad and peaceful. Persist in gratitude, and you will slowly become one with the Sun of Love, and Love will shine through you its all-healing joy. The path of gratitude is not for children; it is path of tender heroes, of the heroes of tenderness who, whatever happens, keep burning on the altar of their hearts the flame of adoration.” ~ Rumi

A visit with Robert Broz of the El Salvador Projects
By Nancy W

In the middle of February, Hans and I had the pleasure of spending a week with Robert Broz, director of the El Salvador Projects, a program sponsored by Palo Alto Friends Meeting. The mission of the El Salvador Projects is to raise the level of education for the young people of the poorest communities in El Salvador. The mission was founded by Carmen Broz, Robert’s mother, who began her work in 1990 as a volunteer organizer under the care of the Palo Alto Friends Meeting. Today the program has expanded and Robert now coordinates and administers the programs in El Salvador.

Carmen was born and grew up in El Salvador, moved to California after high school, and eventually attended university. She married and raised her family in California, all the while staying in contact with her community in El Salvador. During the civil war in El Salvador, she returned several times to support threatened communities.

The El Salvador Projects began in the community of El Bario, located in the Suchitoto department of El Salvador. El Bario was one of the first communities organized during the civil war, and was an active war zone. Despite this, people who had been forced out of the area returned to their lands in the mid-80s. Carmen accompanied therepopulation as one of the members of a SHARE caravan. The caravan was detained for three days, and Carmen was expelled from the country. When she was able to return to El Salvador in 1989, she contacted community leaders in El Bario to find out how she could help.

The El Salvador Projects were born. Carmen’s leading created programs to support education for youth and culminated in a K-12 school. The Projects now support students and teachers in that school, and provide no-interest loans for students who graduate to attend university. For a complete history of the project, see the The El Salvador Projects Communities page.

In addition to coordinating the El Salvador Projects, Robert also runs a guiding company out of Suchitito, called Gringo Tours. Robert is a fantastic tour guide – he and his wife, Tita, took us birding, and to several communities near Suchitoto where we met community leaders, and heard first-hand accounts of the war and the history of the area. This summer, the El Salvador Projects is offering an intergenerational service trip for intercultural exchange, relationship building, service, exploration, and reflection. The trip is from July 7-17th . For more information, see Service Learning Trips to El Salvador.

On Saturday April 4, 55 Quakers from 8 meetings in California (Central Coast, Live Oak, Monterey Peninsula, Palo Alto, San Jose, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Santa Barbara) gathered at Hidden Villa for a day-long retreat. The theme was “Open for Transformation: Being Quaker” and the objectives were to:

• Meet Quakers from other Meeting and strengthen the ties amongst us
• Enrich our day through nature, prayer and discussion
• Reaffirm what it is to “be Quaker”

The theme arose from Ben Pink Dandelion’s 2014 Swarthmore Lecture and book, Open for a Transformation: Being Quaker, in which he states: “If we as Quakers want our Quaker approach to faith to be vibrant, cohesive, coherent and socially useful, we need to be clear about what we are and what we are not.” (Mary, a member of our Worship & Ministry committee, led two study sessions earlier this year using the book.)

The lecture explores the theme of transformation, ending with a call for us as Quakers to return to a transforming and transformational faith. We were invited to pay attention to a few things as we went through the day:

• Do we have a clear and shared understanding of what it means to be Quaker?
• Are we able to communicate that understanding effectively, among ourselves and to the wider world?
• Is there a disconnect between what’s in Faith and Practice about our beliefs and processes and how we actually conduct ourselves?

Through large and small group discussions and activities, as well as worship sharing, we were invited to explore the theme. We opened with an introduction and warm up exercises, then moved into worship. The rest of the morning was spent in worship sharing, where we were invited to explore the following queries:

• What is it about Quakerism that drew you and what experiences made you ripe for Quakerism when you found it? (For birthright quakers - what keeps you engaged?)

• “We don’t need a separated priesthood: we’re all ministers.” What’s your reaction to that idea and to the description from Faith and Practice of how we, as ministers, can prepare for Meeting for Worship.

We ended the morning with a gazing exercise, designed to center ourselves in the present. The task was to gaze at the landscape for five minutes. After we found a spot, we were instructed to check in with ourselves: rooted body, open heart, quiet mind. At the end of the practice, we gathered in small groups to discuss our experience. Everyone agreed that it was a very powerful exercise. After lunch, we had a choice: a farm tour or an art project. The art project proved mystifying and rewarding. We divided into groups and chose a bag of art supplies with a theme: Openness, Transformation, or Simplicity, for example. Each bag held glue sticks, construction paper in varioussizes and colors, scissors, and stickers. After brainstorming for a few minutes, each group worked together to create a visual representation of the theme.

Our afternoon continued with more worship sharing, with queries on joy and happiness, and transformation -- how have we been transformed as a result of being Quaker? We were grateful for the 30 minutes of singing and the afternoon break. We closed the day with a large group worship sharing session. People expressed their appreciation for the theme; for the depth of the queries; for the deep and authentic sharing and listening; for the opportunity to meet new people; for the gazing exercise; for the “ah-ha” moments where something new came together; and for the care, preparation, and work of the organizing committee – Robin from Palo Alto; Rosemary from Central Coast; Thom from Live Oak; Sandy from San Mateo; and Deborah, Karen, Mary, Mimi, Alan, and Maren from Santa Cruz. A day well spent, indeed.