Langley Hill

• Interchange, Spring 2008
• Peace Call, 2007
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2006
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2005
• Tom Fox
• Interchange, Spring 2006
• Interchange, Fall 2005
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2004
   
• Interchange, December 2004
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2003

We are ever hopeful that our planned Meeting House renovation will occur this coming year. The changes to our space are in part to accommodate our ever burgeoning youth program, and to make the building ADA compliant.

Many members continue to be active in local and international social issues, such as Iraqi resettlement, state death penalty laws, and issues of race and discrimination.

Under a banner expressing the belief that “Torture is Wrong,” and “Torture Violates God’s Will,” many of us stand vigil at the entrance to the nearby CIA Headquarters. We do this on the third Sunday of every month and invite others to witness with us.

Langley Hill Friends have listened with care to the message from the Yearly Meeting Peace and Social Concerns Committee. A special Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Peace was held in October. It was an extension of our regular Meeting for Worship on First Day, and was filled with heartfelt messages, and challenges about peace and peacemakers.

Langley Hill also continues to participate in the weekly silent vigil for peace on the West Lawn of the US Capitol. This vigil, started by Langley Hill members, has met weekly for over five years, since October, 2002, six months before the Iraq war began. It continues to elicit many comments and questions from passing visitors to the Capitol Building, especially those from overseas.

The Peace and International Outreach Committee at Langley Hill also has continued our monthly Vigil against Torture, at the main entrance to the CIA, on every third First Day. We stand with a banner that says “Torture is Wrong” on one side, and “Torture Violates God’s Will,” on the other. We see this as a Friendly act toward our neighbors, since our Meeting House is located just behind the CIA in Northern Virginia.

In addition, our Meeting has recently begun discussions with a local Church of the Brethren on a Peacemaker award, to be given during end of year honors at local high schools. We see this as part of expanding our dialogue with other Faith groups in our area.

We also spend time after rise of Meeting once a month writing letters in a manner suggested by FCNL to our elected representatives and Senators on ending war and promoting peace

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews 1:11

The Langley Hill Meeting community started 2006 with our member and former clerk, Tom Fox, in continuing captivity in Iraq, having served as a witness for peace there with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). When news of his death reached us March 10, we began a long period of grieving, being supported by messages of sympathy from within the Yearly Meeting and from around the world and lifted up with messages and gifts that touched us deeply as a community. Friday night vigils held while he and the three other CPT staffers were held captive continued into a period when we helped organize three memorial services in the months after his death. We were stretched, but, in most cases, responded with humility and grace.

Eventually two of us – members of his support committee -- were asked to speak on Tom’s life and death at Yearly Meeting sessions. It proved to be a powerful experience for all involved. And as the months followed, gifts kept coming: songs appeared in his memory, a quilt is being lovingly made for his family, books were written about him and presented to us. We experienced expanding rings of support. We learned about strengths and skills we did not know we had. We are still in the trauma of his witness and death, yet we have learned about resurrection. We are tired and have been drained; yet we have been filled.

Inspired by how Tom transformed his life to live out his values in the midst of war and violence, we, too, are seeking to be Spirit-led and give outward expressions to our inward leadings. As a meeting, we felt led to contact 800 Friends meetings nationwide to urge them to continue Tom’s work of locating and identifying Iraqi detainees for the benefit of their family members. As individuals, many of us are trying new spirit-led ministries: teaching our children in First Day School for the first time, trying new careers, offering workshops, applying for grants, opening doors of hospitality, and reaching out to other faiths through such networks as the Northern Virginia Women’s Interfaith Fellowship. We especially cherish the cordial friendship we have developed with the All-Dulles Area Muslim Society.

In our weekly worship together, we relish the silence. Often, vocal ministry is rich and profound; yet sometimes it is weak. Our ability to resonate with the full expression of God’s voice – our confessions, our testimonials, our openings, our declarations – may not be fully seasoned. Numerous interruptions during our worship together disturb many. We also need practice as listeners. Do we come to Meeting prepared to share in worship? Do we have the courage to fully hear truths we may not believe? Do we find it hard to hold individuals in love when their vocal ministry seems shallow?

In meetings with a concern for business, we stand astride a tension between immediate events and the slower, spirit-centered Quaker method of deliberation where we find comfort and clarity. This year – despite the public spotlight -- our business meetings remained fulfilling. In conducting business together, we have not always been as tender with each other as we would wish, and standing with each other in love as well as conviction continues to challenge us. And yet, we have generally met the demands made on us with grace. One challenging piece of business in seeking incorporation as a religious organization (a new opportunity under Virginia law) was to join together corporately to define our God-centered decision-making process in legal language. One tool that we do not use well are the queries; currently these are occasionally read but were not addressed this year by the community.

Amongst us are many faithful Friends who help volunteer to build and sustain our community as an outward expression of their spiritual commitment: the newsletter committee, religious education organizers and teachers, clerk and recording clerks, support committees, clearness committees, risers, greeters, schedulers, and steady financial contributors. Even behind the scenes and less known to most are Spiritual Formation practitioners and committee members at each Meeting who hold us, “the body,” in God’s grace during both worship and business. This work is held in Light and prayer.

Our religious education program for children continues to flourish, with 50 regular attendees in six classes, ages three through High School. The curricula focused on Quaker values in the spring and Bible studies in the fall. Classes were made possible by more than 20 adults who volunteer to help. This year was remarkable in that the burden of teaching – often borne largely by parents of participating children – shifted somewhat to others in the Meeting, bringing their broad perspectives and rich life experiences to the discussions of Quaker values. Some have chosen to work with the children all year long, providing precious continuity during this troubling period.

The High Schoolers (Junior Monthly Meeting) add: This year we saw a great change in our attending members – all the seniors graduated and went off to various colleges. A new group of young Friends entered to try to fill the void. We are helping them take on leadership positions. Meanwhile, we have raised money for Heifer International through bake sales and car washes. In class, we examined Quaker values related to the Bible.

Events throughout the year helped bind our community together: potluck lunches, a Halloween party, game nights, and even a pool party. Outwardly these are social events. At a deeper level they build spiritual bonds. This was especially true of a joyful experiment: a 25-hour Christmas candlelight open house when we practiced peace as a community. Our souls are thus knit more closely together.

Some of us are exploring various roles of eldering and inter-visitation, both of which only bear spiritual fruit if conducted in deep faith. Others are exploring the consequences of Friends’ testimonies: equality (and the racism that indicates its absence), peacemaking (the continuing weekly vigil at the U.S. Capitol under the banner “Seek Peace and Pursue It”), and forgiveness (inspired by the Amish response this year to the schoolhouse killings in Pennsylvania and our own response to Tom Fox’s abductors and killers).

On many fronts we are working to help bring peace to the war-torn Middle East and other parts of the world. Events closer to home also cause us spiritual anguish: Virginia’s recent referendum prohibiting same-sex contracts, Virginia’s continuing use of the death penalty, and new Federal legislation allowing the CIA to continue using torture. To protest this law, we moved one First Day, while still in worship, to the CIA entrance to stand in silence under the banner, “Torture is not God’s Will.” Where is the Truth in discerning how we should act in the face of these political actions? Can we rely on the vision of a few to be the full community’s calling?

Networking with other meetings nearby on BYM business, joint peace actions, William Penn House programs, local AFSC initiatives, Friends Wilderness Center, and other special events all provide us fruitful soul food and nurture. These are enriched further by individuals participating in special issue conferences, Pendle Hill seminars, FGC Gatherings, and the enriched spiritual life our children enjoy at the BYM summer camps.

Often we seem to be bumping up against the boundaries of our comfort zones. We feel challenged by the Holy Spirit to see the world around us in new, more sacred ways. Over the past year we faced profound challenges and sought deeply for God’s will. Under stress we sought the Light together. Some have been wounded, some have moved on from our fellowship, some have been left feeling deeply tired. Yet, in this search, we have united in Spirit with many people worldwide. This indeed is cause for rejoicing.

The core of the Quaker tradition is a way of inward seeking which leads to outward acts of integrity and service. Friends are most in the Spirit when they stand at the crossing point of the inward and outward life. And that is the intersection at which we find community.
-- Parker Palmer, 1977

The year 2005 was one of spiritual depth, loss, learning, testing, and transformation for our community. In small groups and in weekly worship we experienced the spiritual abundance of silent worship together. The balance of ministry to silence enriched our souls. Our shared worship forges a community of nurturing love and inclusion that bears fruit in unexpected ways. In this world of instant communications, multi-tasking, and the internet, it is difficult to clear away the distractions of the outer world to make time for Meeting -- to hear the “still small voice” of God. We are truly waiting on the Lord, caring as richly as we can for each other.

During Thanksgiving weekend, our beloved member and former clerk, Tom Fox, who was serving a second year as part of a Christian Peacemaker Team in Baghdad, was kidnapped. This shock affected us all -- our hearts ached in uncertainty. Yet, this transformative event has connected us to like-minded spirits worldwide and led to deeper worship, better ministry, and more centered business sessions. [In March, 2006, while this paper was being drafted, Tom’s body was found on the streets of Baghdad. Now we are wrestling with the profound meaning of such devotion and sacrifice as Tom’s.]

The continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other social and political issues weigh deep and hard on many of us. Sometimes our vocal ministry reflects this distress. Each week throughout the year, we have faithfully helped sponsor a silent vigil at the United States Capitol under the banner, "Seek Peace and Pursue It." Women from the Meeting are active in an interfaith women's group that seeks to increase understanding among many faiths. Tom Fox’s regular e-mails, before the kidnapping, gave us front-row seats to life in Baghdad. Since then, the prayers, vigils, overnight witnesses, and letters of love and support from around the world continue to transform us. We struggle to embrace the full meaning of his steadfast, forgiving, nonviolent witness.

At the end of the summer, two members of the Meeting passed away, after long and difficult illnesses. Both had become spiritual pillars of the Meeting. Noah Belton, at 20, the longest surviving victim of degenerative Alexander’s Disease, was finally released from this earthly life. The love that he and the Belton family engendered over the years will be long remembered by all who knew him. Anne Henderson – loving mother and wife, First Day School organizer, wise committee member, social activist, mentor – died after a two-year struggle with cancer. In both cases, their memorial services were preceded by immediate meetings for worship as soon as the news of these deaths reached us. These meetings were among the most blessed and powerful any of us have ever experienced. We discovered that when crisis overwhelms us, we draw together in worship and prayer. As individuals and as a community, we miss these three dear people. We continue to draw strength from their wisdom and memory among us. Worship both shapes our community and nurtures us individually. It seems that people are stopping to think, before speaking, “Is this just for me, or for me to share?” Our worship together feels less predictable, more alive to the Spirit, than in some past years. Monthly business sessions (held immediately following meeting for worship) have been spiritually strong this year. There is silence and depth where needed, despite severe time constraints. In general, we have been able to wait until we are ready to move forward together. We have moved beyond our meeting house renovation planning to more spiritual issues. We are learning to wait for collective wisdom through reverent listening.

Children are an integral part of our community at Langley Hill, and our religious education program is strong. Regular participation in the First Day School program hovers around 60 children and youth, with another 10-15 occasional attenders. These younger Friends are both enthusiastic and active in our Meeting. During the 2004-5 academic year, younger children studied Quaker history and living out Quaker testimonies, creating and performing several small plays and role-playing dramas to portray Quakerism in action. The junior high class visited other congregations, with an especially touching visit to a nearby mosque. The time spent by teachers, assembly leaders, and First Day School organizers is a true gift to the whole community.

Committees are key to building community, not only for the work they do, but for the opportunities they provide for us to connect with one another. In addition to our traditional committees, ad hoc committees on renovations and fund raising also were active and contributed to the vitality of our Meeting. Two new committees were established: one to form a separate 501(c)(3) corporation, a “friends of” group to try to raise funds for the renovation. The other is a working group to explore issues of racism within Quakerism. Others are working on end-of-life information packets, relations with Friends United Meeting, and intervisitation to better understand the attitudes and perspectives of Friends elsewhere. All of these efforts – including those involving complex business practices – are based on spiritual discernment and striving to make decisions based on what seems to be God’s leading.

The long-planned renovation of the meetinghouse gets closer, but its resolution relies on county reviews over which we have no control. Financing renovation costs has been a divisive issue. However, in the face of these uncertainties, our community is striving to become more resourceful and patient.

The Northern Virginia Friends School, founded with our blessing and supported by board members and volunteers from our midst, continues to thrive. Many of our members and attenders are active in the wider world of Friends: BYM, FCNL, FGC, AFSC, FWCC, FUM, William Penn House, Friends House Moscow, Friends House Retirement Community, etc. This community and worldwide outreach enriches all of us as we come to perceive the catalytic roles Friends may be able to play addressing our own differences and healing the greater world’s distresses. We take our witness seriously and recognize it as the basis for rejuvenation.

In closing, our Junior Monthly Meeting (JMM) summed up the year for us all:

In Junior Monthly Meeting, we have covered a range of topics over the past year. Both our sorrows and joys have been extreme, as we dealt with everything from the loss of Friends, including Anne Henderson, Noah Belton, and Tom Fox, and the Penney’s move to the Eastern Shore area, to the acceptance of all senior JMMers into college.
 
Junior Monthly Meeting attendees had the sad and joyful experience of attending Noah’s memorial service and remembering the joyous life-filled days we were gifted to have with him. Later in the year, JMM created pages to add to a scrapbook of memories of Noah. These pages acted as a remembrance of the spiritual value brought by Noah. Following Tom Fox’s capture, JMMers attended several vigils to hold Tom, the Iraqis who were missing Tom’s much needed help, Tom’s friends and family, and Tom’s hosts in the Light. Through this trying year, abundant in its tribulations, our community has somehow grown closer, when it seemed we could come no closer than we were last year.

Approved Fourth month 23, 2006

Dear BYM Friends,

Langley Hill wants to express our deep appreciation for the outpouring of support from all over the Yearly Meeting since our member, Tom Fox, was abducted in Baghdad in November. Your messages, prayers and tender presence have been great comfort to us as we seek to understand what we are called to do to help Tom, Norman, Jim, and Harmeet, and to advance their mission of peace.

This has been both a wrenching and very rich time for the Meeting community. We struggle daily with the personal grief and anxiety that accompanies the abduction of a loved one. Yet we recognize that we have only recently joined the large and growing number of families who's loved ones are missing, injured, dead or in other ways permanently damaged by war in Iraq and elsewhere. Our grief is personal, but in no way unique.

Tom's abduction has brought into sharp relief our need to reach beyond our own circle of F/friends to help create peace in the world. One of our responses has been to invite members of all faith traditions to share our journey through the Friday night interfaith gatherings for peacemakers that we have been holding since December 10. Each week we have asked a member of a different faith tradition to share a brief presentation of his or her experience of peacemaking within that tradition. Those present are then encouraged to speak out of the silence about their own experiences and journeys, and then to join us in fellowship at rise of Meeting.

These extended periods of worship have been extremely grounding for many of us. They remind us that we are called first to listen to God and to shape our actions accordingly.

Langley Hill Friends have been led to deepen their ties in interfaith work, to visit members of Congress to lobby for enforceable anti-torture

legislation, to strengthen our relationship with the area Muslim community, and to many other individual and corporate responses reflecting our commitment to creating and nurturing peace. We continue to try to discern our way. We welcome participation in any of these projects from other members of the Yearly Meeting.

We have no way of knowing when or how the hostage situation will resolve itself. We keep Tom and his companions in our prayers and try to take up some of the work they are not now able to do. It is not always clear where that path is taking us. We ask for your prayers and help as we try to learn to be effective peacemakers.

Marge Epstein,
Langley Hill

On November 26, 2005, our member Tom Fox was kidnapped in Iraq, and the life of Langley Hill Monthly Meeting changed significantly. Tom was in his third Iraq tour with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), an organization sponsored by Friends United Meeting, the Mennonites, and the Church of the Brethren. In the first days after the kidnapping, the Meeting worked to cope with being suddenly in the public eye, with reporters and TV crews all seeking interviews and information about Tom and his family. We organized an outdoor candlelight vigil near an Arlington, Virginia Metro stop on the evening before the kidnappers had threatened to kill the CPT hostages, with members of the Meeting and others reading passages from Tom's Iraq blog. We were gratified to receive support from the local Muslim community, with whom we have developed strong relations since 2001, as part of the worldwide call to have the CPT hostages released. We are also grateful for being held in the Light by many BYM Monthly Meetings, as well as Quaker Meetings and other churches around the country.

As the last two months have progressed, with the CPT hostages still being held, our activities and concerns have blossomed beyond simple concern for Tom Fox the person to a broader concern for how we can continue the type of work that Tom was doing, building interfaith and intercultural bridges and seeking justice for prisoners held in Iraq. We have held a regular series of Friday evening interfaith vigils, with 30-40 people in attendance, focused on peace. Following 90 minutes of worship sharing discussion, we break for fellowship, and then the vigil continues by candlelight until the next morning. Our Peace Committee is leading an effort to press our local Members of Congress to call for the release of information about all people being detained in Iraqi prisons. Although it has been a time of trial for our Meeting, we feel a renewed spirit of community, and energy to work for peace in the wider world.

Submitted by Doug Smith,
Langley Hill

Noah Abraham Belton, age 20, died from Alexander’s’ Disease on eighth month 26, 2005; Anne Henderson died of cancer on eighth month 30, 2005.

Members and attenders of Langley Hill Meeting experienced both deep nurturing and some feelings of being unsettled during 2004. The Presidential election, surrounding world events, and planning for a renovation of our meeting house weighed deeply on many Friends. Messages in vocal ministry reflected this stress, and our planned renovation continued to challenge Friends.

Concern over world events in 2004 was on the hearts of Friends during worship and at other times. We continued to gather in silence weekly on the West Lawn of the Capitol under our banner, "Seek Peace and Pursue It." Women from our Meeting were active in an interfaith women's group that seeks to increase understanding between ourselves and our Muslim and Christian neighbors. One of our members, Tom Fox, further strengthened our knowledge of the situation in Iraq by being part of the Christian Peacemaker Team in Baghdad. His email posts have personalized the war in Iraq and deepened our understanding of how a U.S. presence in Iraq is impacting its citizens. There is strong identification with and support for Tom's work.

The politics during this Presidential election year were a part of our concern for the world. Many in our meeting were deeply disappointed with the outcome of the election, and there is some general sense that the country must have time to heal. We ask ourselves, what is the testimony of Friends for the coming years? Young Friends, as well as older ones, felt a particular yearning for more social justice and peace activism.

Led by a talented and dedicated clerk, we wrestled with whether to move forward with a renovation that has been in planning for many years. During this time that required much patience, members experienced fears, doubts, and joys. We sought to understand God's will for us as we tried to balance renovations that will make the meeting house accessible for all and serve our needs for the next 50 years with the basic Quaker value of simplicity. Sensitive leaders provided many opportunities for Friends to express their views. Supported by the efforts of many who worked to design the renovation and others who focused on fund raising, substantial headway was made. Among other actions, members and attenders provided significant pledges and funds for renovation, we held an auction and a concert to raise funds, and Young Friends held bake sales and a car wash to support the renovation (specifically, the elevator). We cherish the efforts of all of those who are working so hard on the renovation.

A depth of silence is found at our meeting for worship-it is a safe place because we are loved in the best sense. However, we were challenged to stay spiritually focused, and we sensed a great need for deep, centered worship. We were able to address this, in part, through initiating an "optional" time for gathering at 9:30 am to provide an additional half-hour for worship. While we value the variety of voices that bring us vocal ministry, this richness needs to be balanced with seasoning. There is a need for more outreach and education, particularly for newcomers. We continue to search for ways to provide for worship, while accommodating those who arrive after worship has started.

Children are an integral part of our community at Langley Hill, and we have a significant number of families who are attracted to our strong religious education program. Regular participation in the First Day School program hovers around 60 children and youth, with another 10-15 occasional attenders. These younger Friends are both enthusiastic and active in our meeting. During 2004, our junior high and high-school age young people visited other congregations, continued discussions about sexuality and homosexuality, and began compiling a scrap book chronicling the history of Langley Hill Meeting. Younger children studied the Bible during the first half of the year. During the remainder of the year, they focused on Quaker history, creating and performing several one-act plays to portray this history

Religious education opportunities for adults included a series on Spirituality in Quakerism, and several sessions based on Rex Ambler's "Experiment with Light." We also began a monthly discussion group on personal theology. Those who participated found these to be meaningful activities. We retired a long-standing Sunday morning Bible study group-due primarily to lack of participation, and this is missed by some.

Committees are integral to our meeting, not only for the work they do, but for the opportunities they provide for us to connect with one another. In addition to our traditional committees, ad hoc committees on renovations and fund raising also were active and contributed to the vitality of our meeting. An ad hoc committee was established to help us wrestle with issues surrounding our relationship to Friends United Meeting in the light of their stance on homosexuality. Like Baltimore Yearly Meeting as a whole, we have not yet reached unity on this issue.

We are fortunate to have a generous number of seasoned Friends, including some who are active in wider Quaker groups. They provide guidance to our meeting.

The "busyness" and the logistics of traveling across neighborhoods in this metropolitan area challenge us as we continue to seek ways to support Friends. Through small group sharing, committee participation, and education/spiritual formation activities, we have tried to further develop a community that is centered around Quaker values.

For the past four years we have been progressing towards putting an addition to our building. We bought the building in 1961 for $7,000 and are looking at the addition costing $800,000! In the meantime we are looking for a place to meet each first day while the construction is proceeding. Hopefully, by the time you read this, we will have made our decision to go ahead. We have had several fund raisers and will have more in order to lessen the mortgage. Our first day school began the school year with 55 people. This is pushing our space. Another reason for needing the addition.

One of our members, Tom Fox, is working with the Christian Peace Makers team in Bagdad. He is able to send us e-mails once or twice a week to let us know what is going on. He needs to be held in the light by all. The team in Bagdad takes all the precautions they can while working with the people in the area.

Spiritual State of the Meeting Report - 2003

Meetings for worship have been well attended. Many found the silence deep and the messages meaningful. Some were concerned that a few Friends spoke too often and/or without proper seasoning. We seem to have learned to live with our differences and continue to struggle to improve the quality of messages and worship.

Meetings for worship with a concern for business have been skillfully and reverently guided first by our outgoing clerk and then by our new clerk. At times a fullness of Spirit facilitated our decision making. These meetings have been strengthened by instruction on the faith behind our practice offered by our new clerk as we reach decisions.

This past year our community was saddened by the deaths of four valued Friends. Through their openness, two of these Friends gave us the gift of participating in the process of their dying. The third died suddenly and the fourth, a founding member of our meeting, lived out of the area. There was rich sharing with the extended families during these times.

Preparations for the renovations to our meeting house have continued. We revisited our goals and plans several times to make sure we are moving together and in the right direction. We also are working to identify our financial resources to make sure we can complete the effort as planned with the improvements we desire for accessibility and to meet the needs of our community. There has been much inspired leadership and hard work from Friends involved in this effort.

Friends have been involved in many varied outreach, social justice, peace, community, and educational activities throughout the year. The Women's Interfaith Group, started after 9/11/2001 to bring together women in our area from Quaker, Muslim, and other religious backgrounds, has been particularly rewarding to many. Langley Hill women organized the 2003 Baltimore Yearly Meeting Women's Retreat. The weekly peace vigil on the west lawn of the Capitol, begun by our Peace & International Outreach Committee, ended the year under the leadership of a broader coalition. Other peace efforts have gone forward throughout the year. Work for Habitat for Humanity and with the Arlington/Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless has continued. The Northern Virginia Friends School opened its doors under the spiritual care of the meeting after many years of very hard work. The Library Committee has been active providing book reviews for the newsletter and announcing new acquisitions after meeting for worship, as well as reorganizing and recataloging the library.

Our First Day School has been well attended with some very creative activities. Our high school class is larger than in the past and has been quite active.

Various forms of adult religious education have helped newcomers and others understand Quakerism. We have also reached out to newcomers by writing notes of welcome to visitors and inviting them to share meals. Yet some long for a deeper sense of spiritual community in the meeting. We need to work harder at being genuinely interested in the inner journeys of those with whom we worship as well as other aspects of their well being.

Some of our committees have struggled with poor attendance and/or energy and leadership. Some of us find ourselves overcommitted, struggling with the Quaker leading to simplicity.

In the months ahead we expect to become more deeply involved in our efforts to renovate our meeting house. As we do so, we look forward to continuing the seeking of God's Truth and the building of a more loving community.