Winter is still a time for the growth and the warmth of community at Quaker Center despite the colder temperatures.  We brought in the new year with 27 companions for the Year End Retreat and we just hosted 26 people last weekend for an enriching look at the radical Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his nonviolent approach to social transformation.  One of the leaders, Be Scofield, has an incredibly resource rich website, www.godblessthewholeworld.org with awesome video clips of King, some of which are recently released.  Please check out the website and enjoy!

We are looking forward to more nonviolence training as we host Dorothy Henderson, Head of School at the Woolman Semester, who will facilitate our learning of Nonviolent Communication and how we can answer to that of God in others during everyday interactions, and also in our meeting communities where conversations can sometimes be quite challenging.

We have had a busy fall with two wonderful programs that filled our weekends with fellowship and understanding.  Both workshops left participants feeling rejuvenated and inspired.  We have another delightful program coming up with John Calvi, The Goodness Workshop, Nov. 4-6th.  We’ll review our lives engaging in hope, and wonder, seeking where trust lives in relationship as we map the crossroads of our spiritual paths.  We are offering a $100 “bring a friend” discount for those who register together between now and November 1st.

Our plans for the Music and Dance Retreat are coming together nicely.  We have a professional caller for the dance on Saturday night and numerous opportunities for singing, playing and dancing together throughout the weekend.  We have all of Quaker Center set aside for this less formal, family-friendly, and inexpensive retreat so be sure to join us December 2nd – 4th!

Finally, we are making plans for the Year End Retreat from December 29th – January 1st.  We will focus on the themes of letting go, transformation, forgiveness, renewal, taking hold and looking ahead as Friends. We will seek peace with the spiritual work of living as people of God in a broken world. Join co-leaders: Bob Runyan, Janet Leslie, Jim Anderson, and Kathy Runyan to welcome 2012 with this time together.

October 2011 News from Ben Lomond Quaker Center

Quaker Center’s website has a new look and feel.  We now have online registration and a new blog! Check out the new photos and get all the information you need and register online for all our upcoming programs: To Be Broken and Tender with Margery Post Abbott and Kathy Hyzy from Sept. 30 – Oct. 2nd., John Calvi’s, The Goodness Workshop from November 4th-6th, and our two December programs, the Music and Dance Weekend from December 2nd-4th and the Year-end Retreat, from December 29- January 1, co-led by the Runyans, Janet Leslie and Jim Anderson.

Quaker Center in the early fall is blessed with delightful weather and glorious blue skies all day long.  We recently enjoyed the youthful energy from a brief visit with the Woolman Semester students who stayed here during their food intensive.  We are grateful to San Jose Friends who expressed their enthusiasm for supporting youth by offering two scholarships for young people to attend a Quaker Center workshop. Please remember that Quaker Center will not turn away anyone who cannot pay even the most subsidized rate on our sliding scale, so please don’t let cost be an obstacle if you want to attend a program.  And we hope that all monthly meetings will support members and attenders, young and old, partnering with Quaker Center in our efforts to nurture the spiritual lives of all regardless of  their financial means.

We’re hoping to see lots of Friends at these at these enriching workshops.  To that end, we are offering a $100 bring a Friend discount if you bring a newcomer to a Quaker Center program.  See you soon!

QUAKER CENTER NEWS:
Quaker Center announces our new Friend in Residence program. Experienced Friends are invited to live, study, worship, and work at Quaker Center for periods of six weeks to six months.

Quaker Center offers Quaker meeting for worship Monday through Saturday from 7:30 until 8:00 AM. Extended meeting for worship is offered on Thursday, continuing until 9 AM.

View our 2011 program schedule and register for our upcoming programs: our three youth camps, Community Work Camp, “Savvy Activism and Spirit-led Witness” with Shan Cretin and Joe Morris, and “To Be Broken and Tender” with Margery Post Abbott.

The Ben Lomond Quaker Center Association is pleased to announce that Bob and Kathy Runyan of Chico (CA) Meeting are our new Quaker Center Directors. They began their employment here in mid-March. Click here to learn more about them.