ISRV Minutes
November 13, 2008 meeting
Location: Home of Suzette Mariel of the Baha’i Community; Danville, CA.
In Attendance: Dan O’Connor (Chairperson); Mike Peterson (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints); Brian Stein-Webber (Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County); Steve Strane (St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church); Suzette Mariel (Baha’i Community).
Announcements:
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, along with Community Presbyterian Church, is co-sponsoring a jobs faire, most likely to be held at the Danville Stake Center at 655 Old Orchard Road in Danville. The time and date is to be announced. Those interested in participating in this event should contact Mike Peterson Michael@petersonhome.net .
- The Interfaith lighting of the Menorah will be held at Beth Chaim Synagogue on December 21, 2008 this year, the first day of Chanukah. The time is 7 p.m. All I-SRV representatives are invited to attend, but please RSVP, directly to dgoldblatt@cethchaim.com as to how many are coming. Also, each community, which is planning to attend, is asked to provide one Menorah lighting designee and identify that person in advance by RSVP, as well.
- There will be an interfaith choir Christmas concert at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on the evening of December 14, 2008. Both of our major local high school choirs (MVHS & SRVHS) will be performing. All are invited, including the general public. If you have questions or comments about it, or have a group of choristers, who would like to participate, please contact Mike Peterson at the email address listed above.
Retreat:
An interfaith retreat, primarily intended for the leadership of our various member communities, is now scheduled at San Damiano Retreat Center, located at 710 Highland Dr; Danville, CA 94526. The date is March 12, 2009 (a Thursday). This will preempt and take the place of our regular ISRV meeting for March. The hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Registration will be at 9:30 a.m. The event will begin with an opening convocation in the chapel at 10 a.m., sharp!
Many thanks to the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County for agreeing to serve as official hosts for the event in that the daily liability insurance requirements imposed by San Damiano will be met by their master policy. They have also agreed to advance the necessary deposit to reserve the space, which is to be reimbursed to them by participant fees, paid in advance of the event.
Our current vision is to divide it into three sessions, plus a 75-minute break for lunch, which is served by the retreat and included in the price. Socializing and strolling the grounds after lunch and during other break periods is encouraged. Also, if you wish to split the day and attend only a portion of the sessions, you are welcome to do so, although it should be emphasized that—if you can only attend one session—please do your best to make it the opening session, which begins at 10:10 a.m. and lasts until lunchtime (noon) with at least one break in the interim.
Here’s the program, which was unanimously agreed upon by those in attendance at today’s regular I-SRV meeting:
- The opening program will be, “Let’s discuss our areas of disagreement, beginning with the hotly contested California ballot measure, Proposition 8.” Ground rules will be announced in advance to ensure that the discussion is entirely constructive, or as nearly so, as possible. No one’s religious or doctrinal views will be challenged. The discussion will initially be directed toward developing a clearer understanding as to the official positions, if any, of the various member communities and why—primarily for clarification purposes. There appears to be considerable misunderstanding in this area.
From understanding we get peace.
If, and only if, the discussion appears to be productive, constructive and respectful of one another’s views, the dialogue may proceed to a sharing of opinions as to the relative merits of any and all considerations a person might make in deciding whether or not to support a measure, such as Proposition 8. In this way, we feel that we will develop a greater appreciation for the struggles, concerns, fears and pain associated with all those affected by the issue.
It is NOT necessary that we agree on anything!
- We are intending to leave the balance of the day’s schedule soft and pliable, so that we can improvise and retarget, according to the momentum and consensus of the group. Our default second subject is to look for matters of religious agreement, so that we can better celebrate the common values which unite us. All I-SRV representatives and their delegates are encouraged to submit possible additional discussion topics—preferably in advance—so that we will have many inviting options at the ready.
- A session devoted to sharing and defining our concepts with respect to a supreme being, force, emotional centering influence (such as love) is under consideration. If enough ground is covered in the time allotted, we may also be able to get into other religious concepts, such as our respective views of the afterlife, if any. Another topic that was brought up today is the concepts of sin and forgiveness. This session will most likely be conducted by Brian Stein-Webber.
The cost for early bird sign-ups, through January 1, 2009 is $37 per participant, which is the barebones price that San Damiano is charging us. Also, as an added incentive to sign up early, while spaces last, you are encouraged to invite those members of your faith based community, whom you feel would most benefit from and constructively contribute to such a conference. They needn’t be ISRV representatives, but unless they are responding to an offer prior to December 11, 2008, they MUST BE expressly invited by an I-SRV representative. The reason for this is because it was decided that every community has outspoken individuals, whose input is difficult to modulate. You know who they are. Everyone else you choose to invite and sign up not later than January 1, 2009 is welcome.
Please send your checks for $37.00 made payable to Dan O’Connor, Trustee (PO Box 847; Danville, CA 94526), and I will put them into my attorney’s trust account, pending disbursement to either San Damiano, or the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County to repay their advance. For income tax purposes, if you so request, you will be given a letter at the conference, signed by me on my attorney’s letterhead, saying that your funds were used to pay for a day long Interfaith—San Ramon Valley Conference, held at San Damiano Catholic Retreat.
If you wish to pay by credit card with a $2.50 additional fee (bank handling charges) per participant, please let me know and I will put a button on my website, which will allow you to do that.
As we are required to give a 90-day cancellation notice, refunds will not be given, once you sign up. However, you may designate someone else to attend in your place, right up until the 10 a.m. convocation commences.
After January 1, 2009, the price will go up (most likely to $50 each) to have a few dollars in reserve in case we decide to bring in any paid speakers, such as a luncheon speaker, or honored guests, most likely various icons of the interfaith movement in our area, or incur expenses for supplies and such.
Thanksgiving Eve Celebration
For those of you who chose to take the time and trouble to fill out the Thanksgiving Eve questionnaire, bless you! Considering all of the time and energy that went into planning and executing the program, it seems to me that taking a few moments afterwards to evaluate what we’ve done with an eye toward future events is a wise use of our time.
Here’s a link to the results: http://www.danoconnor.com/isrv/isrv_document_index.htm
Most notably, at least two faith-based communities expressed their disappointment at not being able to have a substantial number of their members attend. They each asked whether or not I had a DVD so they could show it to their entire congregations! On the one hand, it’s sad that we missed this opportunity. On the other, it would be even sadder if the survey respondents had not pointed this out.
Much additional and very useful information was provided for future reference. The next Thanksgiving Eve celebration will be held at Peace Lutheran Church at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25, 2009.
Good Friday Celebration
I hereby request that any of our Christian faith based communities, who are interested in hosting this year’s Good Friday celebration, please let me know. Once I know who’s available to host, I will do my best to conduct an equitable selection process. E.g, For Thanksgiving Eve preferences, we drew numbers at the September I-SRV meeting.
Tear Down the Walls
Tear Down the Walls planning has been postponed until after the first of the year.
ISRV Directory
In view of the number of times I’ve been asked for “another copy of the ISRV representative directory,” I’ve decided to post it online, username and password protected. If/when I am asked by each of you for a copy of the directory, I plan to refer you back to the link below. I have set up a username and password for this particular item. If you need it in advance of our next meeting, please let me know and I will send it to you. Not all items in the document list will require a password. But, I felt the directory should be protected.
Please try your best to keep track of the link, username and password for future reference.
Here’s the link: http://www.danoconnor.com/isrv/isrv_document_index.htm
Spiritual Thought or Prayer
The meeting concluded with a prayer by Brian Stein-Webber.
The San Ramon Valley United Methodist Church will host the January, 2009 meeting in their Wesley Center, immediately behind their church, located at 902 Danville Blvd., Alamo, CA to be held at 11:30 a.m., on Thursday, January 8, 2009 (second Thursday in Jan.)
If there is anyone whose congregation is available to host the April, 2009 meeting, please let me know, particularly if you have not hosted one since May, 2008. You have all been very generous so far, and I thank you very much. Have you noticed that each I-SRV meeting during my tenure has been held in a different venue?
The February meeting will be held at the San Ramon Valley Islamic Center and the May meeting will be held at St. Timothy Episcopal Church in Danville.
May the Spirit of Peace fill your hearts,
Dan O’Connor
For ISRV
|
