7 Butty Place,
Hamilton, Ontario.
L8S 2R5
Clerk: Roberta McGregor
Sundays: 9.30 a.m. study group
11.00 a.m. Meeting for Worship
Coming Events:
March 17 & 18, 1.30-5.30 Visioning Process:
Sat/Sun with follow up on Sun, March 25
Mar. 25 First Day School "Build a Birdhouse Day"
All welcome! Need friendly adults to help with this project. Call Jean at 628-6654 or Betty at 648-1598
April 1, First Day School outing to Cambridge Butterfly House. All welcome.
April 21, Interior Painting Bee. All are encouraged to attend. For more information contact John or Dick
April 29 Garden work bee followed by BBQ. Patio stones to straighten, weeding, tidying, and simply enjoying our new garden.
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The Vagabond
The vagabond is not dogmatic, son.
He sees the light of God in everyone
And knows that every church of God is true
And mosque and synagogue and temple too.
His heart reveres the cross and what it means
and Mother and the Son called Nazarenes.
He honours other signs for what they are,
The eastern crescent and the David star.
At Buddah's shrine he too will bow his head;
He has respect for what Confuscius said.
The Hindu Gita he will understand
And to the Taoist extend a helping hand.
What ere the road to God may be
The vagabond would give it dignity.
His motto for this earth and men thereof
Is brotherhood respect a brother's love.
(submitted by Bea Fletcher)
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Food Banks Need Help
Harriet Woodside reports that it was mentioned at the Child Poverty meeting that there is an acute shortage of food in local food banks right now. Please consider donating to your nearest food bank at this time and pass the word around.
Housekeeping Request
Before donating items for housekeeping, uch as tissues, or tea, please consult with Janis Muller who is the person on the Housekeeping Committee responsible for supplies.
(from Mona Callin)
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Worship and Ministry
Live adventurously. When choices arise, do you take the way that offers the fullest opportunity for the use of your gifts in the service of God and the community? Let your life speak. When decisions have to be made, are you ready to join with others in seeking clearness, asking for God's guidance and offering counsel to one another?
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El Salvador Relief and Rebuilding
Canadian Friends Service Committee is accepting donations earmarked for El Salvador relief work to assist with the results of the recent earthquake. CFSC will be working with American Friends Service Committee on this. Donations may be made to:
Canadian Friends Service Committee
60 Lowther Ave, Toronto M5R 1C7
A message for FDS members and friends : Birdhouse Building Day - March 25, 2001
This First Day School activity is open to all. We shall be making the bird houses during FDS but can continue afterwards if there is interest.
On the subject of birds and their nesting needs, I found this in "Songbirds in Your Garden" by John K. Terres. I thought most of us would enjoy it.
`A Bird's Need for Nesting Material
Before I started to attract birds, I never thought they might suffer from a shortage of nesting materials. Perhaps most birds don't ordinarily, but the story of the materials that a house wren once put in her nest would make you believe so.
After the nesting season was over, a curious housewife living in Ames, Iowa, examined a house wren's nest in her yard. She found the following items, which she separated and counted:
52 hairpins, 68 large nails, 120 small nails, 4 tacks, 13 staples, 10 straight pins, 4 pieces of pencil lead, 11 safety pins, 6 paper clips, 52 pieces of wire, 1 shoe buckle, 2 fish hooks, and 3 garter fasteners.
This pair of house wrens seemed to have had a taste for hardware, but their choice was unusual. We can supply birds with natural nesting materials, and have fun doing it. '
See next month for details on how we can do this!
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Tips for Sustainability
Contact your local councillor or the Mayor to make known your feelings about environmentally destructive planning processes such as the urban boundary expansion or the Red Hill Creek expressway
The easy to remember phone number is 546-CITY
A Friendly Meeting in Meadowvale
On February 25, four of us travelled to Meadowvale near Georgetown, to meet with three sisters, Catherine Kirby, Rosemary Wilson, and Betty Codlin. The sisters have Quaker roots through their mother, Janet MacDonald, and have connected with our meeting over the last few months. Since they are not keen on winter motoring, we offered to join them for a Meeting for Worship in Rosemary's home.
The long awaited journey was very special. One of us commented that it was the most meaningful thing that had happened to her in a long time. We especially appreciated the chance to get to know one another better. Meeting for Worship in Rosemary's living room was a particularly spiritual experience. The fine old house with hooked rugs and other crafts was a very lovely setting. The food was exceptionally good.
We had a wonderful opportunity to share in many ways including tears and laughter. We look forward to the spring when Catherine, Rosemary and Betty may be able to join all of us in Hamilton. We give thanks for a special day and have hopes for a warm continuing connection.
(submitted by R.M.)
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Clerk's Corner
As an enthusiastic talker, I am reminding myself of the virtues of silence and succinct speech. I suggest that we as a meeting, consider avoiding the self-indulgence of overly lengthy ministry. Discerning real leadings of the spirit can be difficult. The following quote may be useful:
"Each Friend who feels called upon to rise and deliver a lengthy discourse might question himself - and herself-most searchingly as to whether the message could not be more lastingly given in the fewest possible words, or even through his or her personality alone in entire and trustful silence. `Cream must always rise to the surface.' True, but other substances besides cream rise to the surface, substance that may have to be skimmed off and thrown away before bodies and souls can be duly nourished" ( L. Violet Holdsworth, 1919, in minutes of CYM 2000)
Donations of items to Meeting
Gifts in Kind: Books, videos, furniture, etc
Friends can donate non-cash gifts such as books, computers, shares, etc. to the Meeting. You should inquire first if the property is desirable to the Meeting, either to keep or sell/barter etc.
In its pamphlet "Gifts and Income Tax" Canada Customs and Revenue gives these guidelines:
- The charity should get the gift appraised before it can issue a tax receipt to the donor.
- The charity's staff can appraise the article if
a) the value is $1000 or less;
b) an independent appraiser cannot be reasonable located; or
c) the appraisal involves unreasonable expense, even though the value of the gift is more than $1000.
We very much encourage you to consider gifting books to our library.
For example, you may wish to purchase a new book, read it, and donate it to the Hamilton Meeting. So long as it is in new condition, we will be able to appraise it for the purchase price. A receipt is helpful but even if you don't have it, we can appraise its value by reference to a book catalog or online bookseller.
The library cttee has a project underway to compare our holdings to a Quaker Core Collection list and may identify volumes which we lack and someone wishes to donate from their own collection.
Also the committee wishes to establish an Environment and Ecology section in our library, so books, videos, tapes etc may be welcome.
Since the holdings of Quaker books in the Hamilton Public and McMaster University libraries are quite limited, it is possible that we can arrange for a donation of titles to them through Hamilton Quaker Meeting
Please understand that we cannot accept in advance offers of gifts-in-kind.
So make your intentions known to the Treasurer or Clerk and we will gladly work with you.
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