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 the 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. Online meeting for worship. Check the email blast for the link.
Every first Saturday of the month: An event in the afternoon or evening, which may include a potluck. Check the Upcoming Meeting Events section for details.
Every fourth Saturday 2-4 p.m. Women's Tea at the meetinghouse.

October 3, 4pm, First Saturday program and potluck. The program starts with a tour of the garden, followed by worship sharing on the topic of the earth and spirituality. The potluck will start at 5:30. Come for all or part. We will have a suggestion box for your ideas for future First Saturdays.

October 4, second hour “Celebrating the Quaker Way.” Small group religious education discussion. Book available from Library.

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 of the month potluck at 6 pm, worship at 7:15

Friday, October 16, 5 p.m. to Sunday, Oct. 18, noon: in-person or Zoom gathering at Ben Lomond Quaker Center, More information and registration here. All Individuals, families and attenders are welcome. Routine business will be kept to a minimum. There will be times for interest groups, programs for children and teens, and a meeting space for Young Adult Friends. Past minutes are posted, and updated info available at the CPQM website. Contact Karen, our CPQM rep, if you have questions.

December 4-6, in-person Music and Dance weekend

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

Advices and Queries: Personal Relationships

In daily relationships with others, both inside and outside the home, our lives as Friends speak immediately and lastingly. In these relationships, our faith may also be severely tested. We are called to respond to that of God in everyone: we are all children of God. Friends celebrate any union that is dedicated to mutual love and respect, regardless of the unique make-up of the family. We strive to create homes where the Spirit of the Divine resides at the center and where the individual genius of each member is respected and nurtured.

Human sexuality is a divine gift, forming part of the complex union of body, mind and spirit that is our humanity. In a loving adult relationship in a context of mutual responsibility, sexuality brings delight, fulfillment and celebration.

The presence of children carries a special blessing as well as responsibility. Children bring unique spiritual gifts — wonder, resiliency, playfulness and more. Recognize and honor the Divine Light within children and treat them with the dignity and respect that is due to all people. Listen to and learn from children; share with them those values and practices that are central to our own lives. Special care must be given to resolving problems between adults and children in a manner that gives equal weight to the feelings and needs of both children and adults. Tender parenting is one of the critically important peace vocations in our society.Make every effort to offer all parents the personal and institutional support that this challenging work requires.

Take a strong stand against any form of abuse, whether that abuse is minor or severe, and whether it is emotional, physical or sexual in nature. The terrible impact of abuse on the most vulnerable members of our families creates lifelong suffering for its victims and is a major source of violence in our society. Perpetrators are themselves usually victims of similar violence and should be approached with compassion as well as firmness.

Do I make my home a place of friendliness, joy, and peace, where residents and visitors feel God’s presence?
Are my sexual practices consistent with my spiritual beliefs and free of manipulation and exploitation?
What barriers keep me from responding openly and lovingly to each person?
Do we open our thoughts, beliefs, and deep understandings to our children and others who share our lives and our hospitality?
Do we provide our children and young adults with a framework for active, ongoing participation in the Meeting? ‍ ‍

Approved Action Minutes from Meeting for Business 9/13/2026

Minute #1, 9/13/2026: Santa Cruz Friends Meeting approves the narrative portion of the August 8, 2026 minutes of Meeting for Business.  APPROVED

Minute #2, 9/13/2026 on Immigration, Detention, and Deportation
The Santa Cruz Friends Meeting, a member of the Pacific Yearly Meeting Religious Society of Friends, affirms that of God in all people. We stand in opposition to the violation of human rights and human dignity, including, but not limited to, construction and operation of immigration-related detention centers. They deny due process, disrupt families, harm children, and damage the fabric of healthy communities. We deplore the cruel and unjust removal of those in the US seeking asylum, including those whose temporary protected status has been revoked.  We call on Quakers and people of conscience everywhere to take spirit-led action to confront these immoral developments. APPROVED

Minute #3, 9/13/2026 Opposing Military Conscription
In alignment with Quakers’ long history of opposing war, the Santa Cruz Friends Meeting strongly opposes military conscription. Registration for the Selective Service creates an impossible choice in which young men must choose between their faith and morals and their obedience to the government. We urge repeal of the automatic registration requirements passed by Congress in 2026. We oppose compelling young men to participate in violence. We support abolishing the Selective Service and the draft and urge our representatives to cosponsor the Military Selective Service Repeal Act (S. 4537) introduced by Senators Wyden (OR), Paul (KY), and Lummis (WY). The draft is an outdated and unnecessary relic that must be abandoned. We encourage our representatives to take all necessary actions to support civil liberties and peace. APPROVED

Minute #4, 09/13/2026: Santa Cruz Friends Meeting directs the treasurer to make the above donations before the end of the year. APPROVED

Quaker Center Quote of the Week

“I know I am made from this earth, as my mother’s hands were made from this earth, as her dreams came from this earth and all that I know, I know in this earth…”

“The way of the river is sacred, and this grove of trees is sacred, and we ourselves, we tell you, are sacred.” Susan Griffin “Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her”

“A cosmos which has intelligence at every level” Rupert Sheldrake

“Every purely natural object is a conductor of divinity, and we have but to expose ourselves in a clean condition to any of these conductors, to be fed and nourished by them. Only in this way can we procure our daily spirit bread”. John Muir

“That we take plant words in through our nose or our skin or our eyes or our tongue instead of our ears does not make their language less subtle, or sophisticated, or less filled with meaning. As the soul of a human being can never be understood from its chemistry or grammar, so cannot plant purpose, intelligence, or soul. Plants are much more than a sum of their parts. And they have been talking to us a long time.” Stephen Harrod Buhner Lost Language of Plants.

“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.” Robin Wall Kimmerer — Braiding Sweetgrass / The Serviceberry

This weeks queries:

-How does your relationship with the divine and your relationship with nature intersect, if they do?
-If they are divine, what does that make you?
-How is that divinity expressed?
-What does that mean for living?

When a few of us first envisioned a Women’s Tea gathering, it was not with a detailed plan or a specific outcome in mind. Rather, it arose from a simple desire: to create a welcoming space where women could come together, slow down, and share time with one another.

In a world that often feels hurried and fragmented, there is something quietly powerful about sitting around a table with a cup of tea. Conversations unfold naturally. Stories are shared. Laughter emerges. Sometimes there are moments of deep reflection, and other times we simply enjoy one another’s company. There is no agenda to accomplish and no expectation to be anything other than ourselves.

What has touched me most is the spirit of openness and hospitality that has developed within the group. Women from different backgrounds, experiences, and stages of life come together with curiosity, kindness, and respect. We listen. We learn from one another. We discover that while our paths may differ, many of our hopes, joys, struggles, and questions are shared.

The Women’s Tea reminds me that community is often built through simple acts of presence. It is less about doing and more about being—being available to listen, being willing to share, and being open to forming genuine connections.

My hope for the future of the Tea is that it continues to be a place where women feel welcomed, valued, and seen. A place where friendships deepen, where new voices feel comfortable joining, and where we can support one another in both ordinary and extraordinary seasons of life. I hope it remains a space of warmth, encouragement, and spiritual friendship.

In many ways, the Women’s Tea feels like an extension of what we seek as Friends: authentic connection, attentive listening, and a recognition of the Light in one another. For that, I am deeply grateful. 

The Womens Tea meets every 4th Saturday at the Meetinghouse.

News from Friends Committee on Legislation of California (FCLCA) Susan

Staff - Kevan Insko, Executive Director of FCLCA for 17 years, has retired. Kevan started as Development and Outreach Coordinator and grew her position to in-house lobbyist and executive director. We will miss her.
We are looking for a new Development and Outreach Coordinator. The ideal candidate will be a person with experience with non-profit administration, an understanding of Quaker values and traditions, and an enthusiasm to inspire grassroots activism amongst Friends. They will demonstrate commitment to the organizational mission, vision, history, and legacy of Quaker legislative activism. If you are interested, keep an eye on the Western Friend announcements, or contact Susan Campbell for more information.
Recommendations on propositions – You will be receiving your ballot soon. FCLCA researches the propositions on the ballot and makes careful recommendations on how to vote. This document is now on their website at  https://fclca.org/action-center I will also have a few hard copies at Meeting on Sunday. This is a great resource!

I have co-clerked Santa Cruz Meeting three different times in my life starting in 2011: once as co-clerk with one other person (one person for one year and a different person for the next year), once as a member of a three-person clerking circle, and again now as a co-clerk with Noreen. 

When I first was asked to clerk, I asked a lot of questions of the previous clerks, trying to understand the scope of the work and my own ability to do it. (It helped that I had been recording clerk off and on for several years so I had participated in Meeting for Business at the clerk’s side.)  I plunged in with the confidence that co-clerking would be doable because I’d have an experienced person to work with. I remember my first several times clerking M4B; I was nervous, but the strength and tenderness of our Meeting was palpable, so I began to settle into the feeling that we were indeed guided by God to find their will for our decisions. I read a lot, and the idea of the “sense of the Meeting” grew on me, so I gradually felt that I could articulate that sense—with the help of the Meeting as a whole.

Being co-clerk of the Meeting both allows and demands an awareness of the different issues affecting us and of the many activities that we do. Sometimes everything seems to be working smoothly and sometimes many issues come up at once. When there’s a flurry of activity, our committee/working group structure helps us prioritize where to put our energies first. Often we are able to discern the next steps with confidence; other times we stumble.

One of my weakest points is almost anything to do with finances, so I quickly seek guidance on issues around money; we are fortunate that many folks in the Meeting have extensive experience and can help us as a community seek the best way forward. 

Keeping track of the various issues that need attention can be a challenge, but the most difficult issues are the ones that carve into our hearts as people in community. We have faced some heart-rending challenges that have needed all our prayer, compassion, wisdom, and experience to work through and even then some people have left the Meeting in sadness and frustration. The best we can do is continue to seek God’s will as we move forward; for me prayer and community are both invaluable in working through the tough times. I’ve been co-clerk during some of those times, and the only difference for me was feeling I needed to answer more questions from more people. Otherwise, the ebb tide felt the same whether clerking or not.

A major joy of co-clerking is working out issues with the other co-clerk. Noreen and I have consistently had insights the other hasn’t, and we both ask the tough questions that need asking. In addition, we each have different resources for solving problems that arise. A further blessing is the ability to step back and let the other person take over when vacations or life and family matters demand more time.

We spend several hours during the week before Meeting for Business preparing the agenda. Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of organizing the information that committees and working groups give us, but even that requires some discernment—and often follow-up questions. Other times, we require a lot of emails, phone calls, and text messages to sort things out. It’s been very helpful to have the agenda and reports available for people to read before M4B; we can spend more time on the substance of the reports and on further discernment about proposed minutes for approval. 

I would say that knowing and loving our community, learning and knowing about Quaker process, welcoming feedback from folks, and trusting the Spirit to guide us are the most important considerations for clerking—and a sense of humor always helps! I have found lots of support and guidance from others (both near and far), and I know that a person never stops growing in this role.