God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever present help in distress.
Therefore, we fear not,
though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.
Psalm 46:1-2
To Friends everywhere:
Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) gathered
at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 29 Seventh month to 3
Eighth month, 2003, for our 332nd Annual Sessions.
The weight of the world’s violence lay heavy upon our spirits as we
were challenged by our theme, “Called to be Peacemakers.” During the Yearly
Meeting retreat, Fran and Ed Norton guided Friends to reflect on the spiritual
source of the peace testimony by posing the query “What does it mean to
‘mind the Light’?”. In small
worship sharing groups, we spoke of remaining faithful to the Light when
darkness seems to prevail within our Meetings or our world.
Our opening plenary speaker, Mary Lord, Director of the Peace
Building Unit of the American Friends Service Committee, strengthened us in our
calling by reminding us that the foundation of our peacemaking is knowing that
God is our refuge and strength. Therefore we are not paralyzed by fear.
In stillness we hear the voice of God and find the place of refuge from
which we can act. Affirming that
lasting peace can come only through the transforming power of God, Mary
challenged us to discern what transformation we need to make in our time.
Our yearning to live in “that Light and Power that takes away the
occasion of all wars” finds expression among us in how we treat one another
and how we bring up our youth. Peace and security come from a culture of
community, compassion, love, and faith. Reports from directors of our four camps
echoed this theme. In response to a fire circle query, “What makes you
happy?” one young camper answered, “Knowing there’s a God to depend on.”
During these difficult times we take courage from the experience of our youth
that “doing hard things makes you feel really good about yourself.”
We endorsed Young Friends’ decision
to embark on an electronic exchange with youth in Northern Ireland; this
project came about through the leading of a Young Adult Friend, Leslie Keffer-King.
We felt the Yearly Meeting transformed by love as Michele Levasseur, our
departing Youth Secretary, expressed her gratitude to the Yearly Meeting and our
youth. While more than forty Young
Friends encircled us and held us in the Light, we conducted our business.
Our Junior Young Friends (JYFs) program sponsors four weekend conferences
each year for our middle school age youth to address their feelings of isolation
in their schools, especially around issues of war and peace. Junior Young
Friends, while participating in a peace vigil in Washington, D.C., were
surprised to learn that seasoned police could be frightened by the presence of a
large number of singing children. We were told of the powerful worship sharing
that happened right after the vigil.
We gave collective thanks to Friend
Pat Kutzner for her seven years of ministry, embraced and supported by the
Yearly Meeting, with our friends of the Torreon/Starlake Chapter of the Navajo
Nation. Three adults and three children from Torreon joined us in our sessions,
while seven children from Torreon attended our camps this year.
Although our formal support of Pat’s ministry ends with this yearly
session, Pat intends to continue the work and we are grateful for the
friendships made, bonds established, and the programs launched.
The new Torreon Working Group under the Indian Affairs Committee will
look for ways to continue the relationship that Pat has so effectively started
with the Chapter.
We experienced the power of laughter and play as all ages came
together in worship to sing and dance the Hokey-Pokey with new words that
expressed our Called to be Peacemakers
theme:
You
put the peacemakers in, you take the warmongers out
You put the peacemakers in, and you march and sing and shout
You
do the power shuffle, and you turn this world around
And
that’s what it’s all about.*
Our testimony of equality prompted the Working Group on Racism to
conduct a Listening Project that probed views and attitudes within the Yearly
Meeting on diversity among Friends. This was an effort to understand our views
as a preliminary step to becoming a more open, welcoming, and diverse community.
We also approved the request of the newly renamed ad hoc Committee on
Gender and Sexual Diversity Concerns to extend its charge to include advocacy as
well as education. We continue to
labor in love with Friends United Meeting (FUM) regarding the impact of FUM’s
policies and practices on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons.
Our Friday night plenary session featured Lamar Matthew, presiding clerk, and
Frank Massey, General Secretary, describing their participation in the February
Friends United Meeting pastoral visit to Ramallah.
Members of Yearly Meeting heard the distress in our Friends’ voices as
they recounted the violations of basic human rights experienced daily by
Palestinians and the continuing violence experienced by both Israelis and
Palestinians. The rebuilding of the
Ramallah Meeting house is a hopeful sign that peace can come if hope remains.
We have to live in peace or we don’t live at all.
In the Carey Memorial Lecture, Paul Lacey, Professor emeritus of
English at Earlham College, centered on the connection between making peace and
telling truth. Using Denise
Levertov’s poem, “Making Peace,” as a springboard, he reminded us “that
peace is not something which is found but something which is made….”
Peace grows from truthfulness, as “we find the right words for the
right deeds and put them together in right order” to “bind ourselves to
pledges we can keep.” In
Levertov’s poem, “a voice from the dark called out, ‘The poets must give
us imagination of peace….’” Paul
called on us as Friends to dedicate ourselves “not to slogans but to tasks”
and to make “peace pulse out into the world.”
We approved a minute supporting Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and its
member and employee Priscilla Adams for her refusal to pay military taxes.
For many years we have similarly supported our General Secretary, Frank
Massey, in his family’s refusal to pay military taxes.
In the parable of the talents we hear of the servant who was given a
treasure and was afraid to use it. The
Peace Testimony is surely one of our treasures.
Our approval last fall of a minute reaffirming our historic Peace Testimony
led us in these sessions to approve the drafting of a press release highlighting
this reaffirmation. The press
release and minute are attached to this epistle.
We also attach a copy of our minute of encouragement and support of
Dominican Sisters Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert, and Jackie Hudson for their
courage and faith in committing acts of civil disobedience and accepting prison
sentences.
On Behalf of Baltimore Yearly Meeting
The
Epistle Committee
*“The
Power Shuffle” by Steve Schumacher, Ginny Frazier, and Paulette Meier