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| A Publication of Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends | March 2000 |
We are all ministers. How often have we heard a newcomer to Meeting ask "So where does the minister sit?" I'd venture that the usual reply is "All Friends are ministers." To which the novice gives a puzzled look, thinking, "They're all ordained? What is this?"
And indeed the truth is, "we are all ministers," one to another and to those beyond the Quaker community. Through our testimonies and queries, we are made aware of the need to care (minister) to the physical and spiritual needs of others. These ministries are also encouraged and reflected in scripture and the life of Jesus. Using all these sources as guides to ministry, Friends have always endeavored to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and care for the sick and imprisoned. For over three centuries Friends have given unselfish service to those in need.
In the Meeting community, ministry presents itself in many ways. Faithfully attending Meeting, teaching religious education, serving on committees and caring for buildings and grounds are but a few of the many manifestations of ministry. These leadings give Friends an opportunity to lovingly and humbly serve (minister).
The faithful ministers at my monthly meeting are Blueberry, Banana nut, Lemon poppy seed and Bran. They regularly appear each first day and play an extraordinary role in the health of the Meeting. They are the mainstays of what might be called York's "Muffin Ministry." OK, the secret is out. The MM in York MM stands for Muffin Ministry. Although Friends no longer record ministers, I understand some of the above named were recorded in "Friendly Recipes of the Warrington Quarter." This particular ministry was one Friend's leading to make a time for Friends and Attenders to get to know each other. Lively and friendly conversation and joys and concerns shared over light refreshment after Meeting for Worship have significantly increased our opportunities to minister to each other.
From vocal to vacuuming, in Meeting House or far off lands, all forms of ministry are important to the health and well being of the Religious Society of Friends. Ministry is our hearts and hands doing God's work. It brings great joy to all. And so, when we consider ministry we can easily say "We are all ministers" ordained by the Spirit and led "not to be served, but to serve". (Matthew 20:28)
Lamar Matthew
A vital tradition among Friends is universal ministry, in which each and every Friend is called to exercise those gifts of ministry as given in and directed by the Inward Light. Recognizing and nurturing ministry requires both individual and corporate discernment that such gifts truly are those of the Spirit. The Religious Society of Friends has a long history of discerning God's will through worship. Justly celebrated examples of such individual callings include John Woolman and others less well known, such as Samuel Bownas. The discerned relationship between the individual and the supporting community is a covenant with God. At the heart of the covenant is being called forth to perform God's service and responding to this call with faith, fidelity, love, and truth. Individual and corporate discernment are required to see whether the ministry is rightly led, and if so, to carry it out.
What is often described as the first covenant is that of God with Abraham, Moses, and their descendants. Described by George Fox as an outward covenant, God gave laws, rituals, forms of worship, and a priesthood to teach the people the forms they must know, and offered in return, righteous lives, forgiveness of sins, and blessings on the land He gave them. George Fox's revelation--Christ is come to teach His people Himself--leads to the understanding of an inward covenant. The Spirit of Christ teaches and empowers us to do God's will, and the experience of the Spirit of Christ interprets Scripture--including the descriptions of a new covenant, as referenced in the following passages:
"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord. "I will put my Law within them, and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying 'Know the Lord' for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more." [Jeremiah 31: 31-34, New American Standard]
I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, and I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness from the prison. [Isaiah 42:6, NAS]
Under this new covenant, Friends might again gain both the perfection of Adam and Eve in the Garden and social justice on earth. Christ's Spirit would show people where they had fallen away but also give them the life and power to act. Fox organized the Society of Friends to follow "Gospel Order" in which the members together seek an understanding of God's will. Bound together in love, serving the truth and one another, Friends find unity and act together. Fox's teaching follows that of Jesus to the Apostles:
… This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you… You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [John 15:12,14-15 NAS]
And it echoes that of Paul in the first letter to the Corinthians, describing how to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good and how all are made into one body, to drink of one Spirit. [1 Corinthians 12:11-13 NAS] It is of this body and this Spirit that Paul writes,
Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous…
[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails… [1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, NAS]
Barclay refers to this "spiritual and mystical" body in describing how ministry ought to be ordered and carried out:
It is by the light or gift of God that all true knowledge of things spiritual is received and revealed. It is also by the strength and power of these, as they are made manifest and received in the heart, that every true minister of the gospel is ordained, prepared, and equipped for the work of the ministry… Those who have received this holy and unspotted gift have received it without cost and should give it without charge (Matthew 10:8). They should certainly not use it as a trade to earn money. But if God has called any of them from their regular employment, or the trade by which they earn their living, they should receive such worldly necessities as food and clothing. It is lawful for them to accept these as far as they feel allowed by the Lord, and as far as they are freely and cordially given by those with whom they have shared spiritual matters… As in a physical body there are many members, all contributing to the preservation and composition of the whole, there are also many members in this spiritual and mystical body possessing different gifts of grace and of the spirit. [Robert Barclay, Barclay's Apology in Modern English, edited by Dean Freiday, The Barclay Press, 1991, p. 171]
A Friend's ministry may begin with a concern or leading an inward compulsion. Usually, the concern or leading begins with the Friend. More rarely, others may discern a calling for a Friend before he or she first recognizes the inward compulsion. The Friend must test the leading, asking whether it indeed comes from God. Traditional tests include a sense that the leading is Spirit-led, accords with Scripture and the testimonies of Friends. John Woolman notes that the "first motion" with him was love manifested in a particular directive to speak or act.
Friends seek to follow daily the smallest promptings of the Spirit. For new leadings (or major changes) they generally will seek clearness in worship with other Friends. Leadings or concerns will also be tested through corporate discernment. In doing so, a Friend generally will seek clarification of the leading or ministry in the clearness process through the Monthly Meeting. A clearness committee will generally be drawn from the members of a Friend's Monthly Meeting. The clearness committee works through a rigorous process of discernment to find greater clarity concerning the concern.
The clearness committee will worship and labor with the Friend, questioning the Friend about the strength of the leading, the Friend's understanding of what he or she is called to do, the nature of the Friend's gifts and resources, and those that may be required to carry out the leading. Historically, in some cases, this process took years. The committee may suggest the individual do further preparatory work, or may consider that the time is not yet ripe.
If the members of the clearness committee do find that leading comes from God, they are themselves recognizing a covenant with God. This covenant includes not only the Friend with the original concern or leading, but those Friends who will lend their oversight, support, and other resources to join in carrying out the covenant insofar as they can discern it at that time. If the Friend is clear and the ministry is rightly ordered, the clearness committee will work to find an oversight committee of the Monthly Meeting who will help the Friend in carrying out the covenant. In essence, these Friends will co-minister with the Friend, by helping the Friend to discern throughout the process what God requires next, in each shift and change of circumstances, to fulfill the covenant. Ongoing discernment is required, as Friends seek not to overrun their leadings.
Friends such as John Woolman and Samuel Bownas who traveled in the furtherance of their ministry sought travel letters from their Monthly Meetings. They often traveled accompanied by others. They met with other Friends who oversaw their ministry, and they themselves engaged in ongoing reflection and self-examination of their actions and the fruits of their labors. They and other Friends speak of keeping to the foundation of the ministry and of "keeping low."
These are some of the manifestations of a well-ordered ministry. Friends also speak of the importance of minding the process, the means rather than the outcome, the ends. It may be that "Way Opens" or it may be the incremental seeds of change are planted.
As is implicit in the covenant, in Gospel Order, it should be clear that two outcomes should not occur. First, no individual should attempt (or be allowed) to carry out a ministry by himself (or herself) without benefit of oversight or support. Friends cannot recognize another Friend's ministry and allow it be carried only by one person, without support. There are no "Lone Rangers" in Friends' ministry. Second, if Friends agree that a particular ministry is a response to God's call, they cannot themselves turn deaf ears to that call. In approving a ministry and accepting the scope of a ministry Friends commit themselves in love and in Truth to that ministry. In doing so, they commit themselves to support that ministry. Whatever resources are in their power to commit, let them commit them. Friends cannot ask others to support what we ourselves will not.
Friends who undertake to oversee and support such a ministry take it on as a ministry themselves. In doing so, they together consider their individual gifts and how to combine them. Some will undertake to discern what the Spirit requires, asking about the Friend's daily spiritual practice, daily concerns, and meeting periodically to worship with the Friend. Others may assist in administrative or other matters, finding resources and smoothing the way. Some may travel with the Friend, or review what more distant Friends may have learned and reported about the ministry.
The oversight and support endures for the length of the ministry. And when the ministry is accomplished or it becomes time to lay it down then these Friends join in that decision and share the responsibility.
All, together, are faithful to God's call. In doing so, perhaps contemporary Friends can live up to their illustrious reputation. Then Friends can take pride in the past "our pristine glory, when it was said, even by our enemies, they so love one another that we shall never be able to break them down." [Rebecca Travers, 1676 letter to George and Margaret Fox, quoted in Britain Yearly Meeting, Faith and Practice, 1995, 19:54.]
Sharon Stout, Co-clerk
Nurture and Recognition of Ministry
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Quaker Arts Camp: There is no shortage of space at the Quaker Arts Camp in its new location. Please pick up an application at Meeting or call the BYM office for more information.
Inward Bound: As many may have read in the last Interchange, Barry Morley has announced his retirement from the Inward Bound program. The program is in a state of transition and the Camping Program Committee is hoping that someone will emerge with a leading to steer this program. We will cut back, for the present, many of the events Barry sponsored. We will continue the Memorial and Labor Day family weekends, and we are looking for people who are interested in organizing these weekends. In the meantime, we welcome suggestions of programs for adults and we welcome leaders who might be interested in developing adult "camping" programs under the care of the Camping Program Committee. Contact Josh Riley, Camp Administrative Secretary, in the BYM office if you are interested in helping to lead or have suggestions for programs.
Josh Riley, Camp Administrative Secretary
Opequon Site Committee: The Quaker Arts Camp will be moving to Opequon Camp near Winchester, Virginia this summer. We are looking forward to returning to the site after a long hiatus. I wish to invite f/Friends to join in the important work of supporting the Quaker Arts Camp and Opequon. A new subcommittee is forming to coordinate this work. We welcome any interest and are looking for people to join the committee. We are also seeking a clerk. Please direct any questions to Josh Riley in the BYM office. In addition, any one-time (or occasional) support for work weekends, donation of supplies, etc. is also appreciated. Please contact me about this as well; I would love to put you on a list!
Josh Riley
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Camp Work Weekends
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Yes, it's hard to get used to writing 2000, but a new century means a new opportunity to get some improvement in our criminal injustice system. There are a lot of things that should be done, and I'll just list a few of them:
I'm not bringing up all these problems with the criminal justice system to play "ain't it awful" but to remind us of the work to be done. What can we do to bring about change? Communicate! It has been said "Never complain to someone who can't do anything about the problem." The people who can do something are the lawmakers, both local and national. Write to them, e-mail them, phone them, grab them in their local offices. Yes, all that, but one legislator once told us "We respond to what our constituents want, so get letters published in the newspapers and we'll know what the public wants." So the public needs to be educated - and more articles are appearing critical of over-incarceration and of executions of the innocent, so there's hope. If you can write something complimentary about your legislator, his clipping service will see that he gets it - and maybe reads it. Talk radio is another medium to try but you have to be at the ready to make use of it.
Jack Fogarty
As the Young Friends held their February Conference, we strove to operate more in the manner of the greater Yearly Meeting. As the new members settled in, and the new executive committee found its stride, we focused on our various committees and their goals for this year. As a member of our Epistle Committee for two years and clerk of it this last year, I brought before the Young Friends Business Meeting a proposal to create a standing Epistle Committee for the Young Friends. The BYM Epistle Committee meets to read and consider the epistles from Quaker groups around the world. I hoped that the Young Friends Epistle Committee could do the same. My idea was approved, and we have held our first meeting and our first reading. So we move along hoping that through the consideration of others' ideas and spiritual leadings, we can increase our own spiritual understanding.
Benjamin Zuses
I recently attended my first Young Friends conference as a Friendly Adult Presence. To be honest, despite my love for the Young Friends as a group and as individuals, I was expecting it to be, at best, a mildly enjoyable exhausting burden. As the weekend drew nearer and I looked over my calendar at all the other recent weekends that had been consumed by committee meetings and other BYM activities, I dreaded the event even more. I very much wanted to see the Young Friends, many of whom I had known for years at the camps, but I also wanted to unpack my belongings, put up shelving and continue settling into the group house I moved into three months ago.
Much to my surprise I found the weekend to be far more personally fulfilling than it was tiring or burdensome. The reason was a simple one: I have found few things more awe-inspiring, humbling, or satisfying than watching young adults "do" Quakerism. They live it and do it. In my experience at the camps and in Young Friends, I have found that young people do it best.
There is nothing quite like settling into a deep silence with 75 teenagers who, only moments ago, were drumming, singing and shouting. There is nothing quite like witnessing the Young Friends or camp staff do business out of worship with deep respect for one another and for the process. Sure it's zany and disruptive and everyone is lying in a pile, but this is perhaps why it works.
As I approach my eighteenth year of involvement in the camping programs I remain unwaveringly convinced (brainwashed, perhaps) that our youth programs are our greatest ministry. I need only look as far as my own home to see this reflected. I live with five f/Friends who have all been involved with the camping programs for many years (seventy years if you string them all together). For four of the six of us, our experience as a camper or counselor offered the first real exposure to Quakerism. All of us are still involved in some way with the program, and more to the point, all of us consider ourselves Friends (maybe to become members at some point).
I remember vividly when a weighty adult presence at camp referred to the camping program as a ministry. I had never thought of it that way, or at least had never used a word like ministry to describe it. Asserting that our youth work is a ministry is perhaps a semantic roadblock for some, but we need only poll a group of Young Friends or campers to understand: our programs are powerful and convincing. They are powerful because the communities we create at camp and in Young Friends are examples of Quaker faith and practice lived in love. Very simple yet very rare.
The Young Friends reminded me of this over the weekend, and Valentine's Day was the most appropriate holiday for witnessing the life and love behind the work I do. Friends have said to me over the years, "you can't work at camp forever, Josh." I am delighted to prove them wrong as I continue to be led to serve this powerful ministry that made me. I invite all to join in this important work.
Josh Riley
Each of us is encouraged to seek the ways in which we are called to minister to others. "Speak, for thy servant hears," is our prayer. (I Samuel 3:10), as written in Part I, B4 in Faith & Practice of Baltimore Yearly Meeting. To hear we must be listening to all the ways God speaks to us. Have you heard the exhortations of Meeting members who ask, even beg for Friends to step forward as teachers in First Day School? Have you considered that this may be an invitation from God? We have many excuses for not stepping forward. We have no time. We are new to Friends. We don't know what to teach. There is among Friends a huge tool box, filled with every tool we could ever need: past First Day School teachers, school teachers, curriculum materials, retreats and of course our children. Every time I volunteer to teach, whether for a day or a year, I learn a new way of looking at the world from the children I teach. Once my four year old son asked me "Mommy, when I was in your tummy, did I see God?" My first and hurried reaction was " No, of course not." But then I wondered, is this possibly the Holy Spirit reminding me that I too am a holy child? I was eldered by my own child! Ministry is very much like the song "Love Is Something if You Give it Away, You End Up Having More". The more we listen and answer the call to attend to one's ministry, the more we are nurtured by others ministering to us. We have been told that we must become like children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Why not go to the best ministers we have to teach us that sense of wonder, joy and love - our children.
Baltimore Yearly Meeting's Religious Education Committee is sponsoring a retreat for the nurture of First Day School teachers. The focus of this retreat will be to care for the needs of RE teachers as we recognize their call to minister to our children. Retreat will be held at Shiloh Quaker Camp, April 28 - 30. Contact Margo Lehman at the Yearly Meeting Office or e-mail (BYMRE@aol.com) for more information.
Margo Inglis Lehman, RE Secretary
To Friends Everywhere
Greetings,
Friends met for the 328th session of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Eighth Month 2-8,1999, on the parched campus
of Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA. 556 Friends enjoyed the balmy late summer weather. Among us were 55
Young Friends, and 92 Junior Yearly Meeting (and younger) Friends. Our ages ranged from 7 months to over 90 years.
We welcomed the presence of Isaiah Bikokwa, missionary to Friends Church in East Africa, serving at Sambura Friends Mission; Abisai Nandoya, Vokoli Yearly Meeting; Sarah Mwanzi and Selly Olindo, Nairobi Yearly Meeting; David M. Blamires, Britain Yearly Meeting; John "Jack" and Robin Powelson, Intermountain Yearly Meeting; and Thomas Taylor, Lake Erie Yearly Meeting, former staff member of Friends World Committee for Consultation. We also noted epistles from Suzanne O'Hatnick (Baltimore, Stony Run) currently working in Bosnia and Adrian Bishop (Takoma Park) and Bette Hoover (Sandy Spring), among others with the Kamenge Reconstruction & Reconciliation Project in Burundi. They as well as your epistles, which were the basis of our pre-meeting retreat, reminded us that we are part of a wide spread body of Friends. The week continued "Exploring Friends Around the World - Listening and Learning." Friends were grateful to Isaiah Bikokwa, who, with his Bible Study group, brought the ministry of song to a tense business meeting.
In his annual report, our General Secretary, Frank Massey, challenged us to consider : 1) Who are we as Baltimore Yearly Meeting? 2) What are we seeking to accomplish as a Yearly Meeting? and 3) How will we accomplish this work? His words may well have been prophetic; this has been a year for addressing profound issues and taking risks.
Reports from the camp directors demonstrated that those programs continue to offer occasions to be patterns and examples. The "rough stuff" of the camping experience provides the vehicle for individual spiritual development and personal transformation.
With space made for the Spirit, we have been reminded that Divine presence may not make for comfortable business meetings. Our long-treasured diversity has brought forth difficult issues. Friends from Virginia Half-Year's Meeting brought us a minute on Equality of Rights for Same-sex Marriages. In his cover letter, Henrik Schutz, clerk of Virginia Half-Year's Meeting, closed by saying:
Virginia Half-Year's Meeting Friends are well aware the question of equality of marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples raises deep and important questions among individuals and monthly meetings. ... Our minute is not intended to suggest we have found all the answers to these questions, but we do believe that this is the time to engage one another in a process of spiritual discernment. We invite and urge Friends to join us.
This minute has been referred to Monthly Meetings for further seasoning. A Minute from Young Friends also spoke eloquently to this issue. [See the Young Friends epistle.] Carefully crafted minutes from Young Friends and from Alexandria Monthly Meeting dealt with the use of tobacco at Young Friends conferences and how best to nurture one another as we deal with this divisive issue. Young Friends reached out to other Friends in the "Produce Department", an intergenerational series which found some of us as kumquats and others as "ava-guava-java-chokes" or "mangolopes." They also facilitated an interest group on the smoking issue. Their care for one another and for the Religious Society of Friends was a spiritual gift to all of us; we rejoice in their growth and in the future which they represent. We humbly seek to follow their courage and example of loving leadership. In the present, they also brought us hugs -- exercise and humor -- when we needed it most.
How best to support those Friends whose ministry we have embraced also exercised us. We still search for discernment on how and when to release Friends and how to create an appropriate environment of accountability. We are not clear what functions are best done by Monthly Meetings and which would be better done by the Yearly Meeting.
Our new Recording Clerk, Ron Mattson, brought us the special ministry of reading each minute immediately after the consideration of the business to which it referred. This practice and the added silence it brings deepened our worship.
Yearly Meeting sessions seek a necessary balance between conference activities and business. Workshops, Bible study, and other opportunities for fellowship were as always a rich part of our program. On the last evening, our chorus brought us a new Quaker carol, "Christmas day is every day the Light is born in me."
Thomas Taylor began the Carey Memorial Lecture with song: John Greenleaf Whittier's hymn "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" to the C. Hubert Parry melody in E-flat as the Europeans sing it. His experience of the familiar Quaker words in a new setting encouraged for him a fresh assessment of their meaning. The language we use, our assumptions and our individualism can all get in the way of hearing each other. We in the United States are not always good at learning about foreign cultures we visit. We tend to assume that "we are the world" and so the world is just like us. He strongly advised that we do a whole lot of listening and watching and refrain from trying to rearrange someone else's furniture. In all probability we do not understand all that is going on. He called on us to
find a common space inside each person where the miracle of God's redeeming love is at work....
As Friends of different cultural and theological traditions, perhaps we have to exercise more our capacity to be interpreters, to concentrate more on hearing others, in their own languages and tongues [whatever] the point of view of our religious clothing.1
As we prepared to go our separate ways, rain came, bringing life to the dry ground. We pray that the healing waters of the Spirit will be with us as we continue to seek God's Truth. We carry with us questions:
On behalf of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Lamar Matthew, Presiding Clerk
1 Loida Fernandez, Mexican Friend & interpreter in Faith In Action, FWCC Report.
The Confederate flag flying on the South Carolina capitol has created a controversy with the NAACP urging a boycott of South Caroline until the flag is removed. The Civil War has been over for 135 years! It was a brutal conflict. Approximately 1.1 million people or 3% of the population died during the conflict. Sherman marched to the sea destroying everything on the way. Little or no healing or reconciliation occurred. Reconstruction, share-cropping, Jim Crow segregation, discrimination, the Ku Klux Klan, and continued bitterness has resulted. Personally one of my great grandfathers had three brothers killed in the war and another great grandfather had three brothers wounded, two so severely that they never became functioning members of society.
Will a similar history repeat itself in Burundi? How does a society which has been torn apart heal itself? How do individuals who have experienced nightmarish tragedies recover? Even with the end of the conflict, will not these wounds if left to fester lead to suicide, alcoholism, random violence, child and wife abuse, and the possibility of a new cycle of violence?
The Burundi Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Center will tackle these questions. Its objectives are to:
The project, a partnership between Burundi Yearly Meeting of Friends and FPTP's African Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI), will support a team of four people, two Burundians and two internationals, who will spend three months in training in Burundi and three months in training in trauma healing and reconciliation in South Africa. The team will then return to Burundi and set up the Burundi Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Center. The proposal describing the project in detail and a shorter brochure can be obtained from African Great Lakes Initiative, c/o David Zarembka, 17734 Larchmont Terrace, Gaithersburg, MD 20877 or email: davidzarembka@juno.com or telephone (301)208-1862.
At this point we need help in two areas:
This is a very ambitious project, particularly in the scope of what it plans to achieve—promoting the healing and reconciliation of a society torn asunder by internal conflicts.
David Zarembka
Pat Kutzner, released Friend under the care of the Indian Affairs Committee, continues to live in Cuba, NM among the Torreon/StarLake Chapter of the Navajo Nation, to whom she has been f(F)riend, role model, teacher, development advisor, mentor since late 1996. Meanwhile, her BYM oversight committee (a subcommittee of Indian Affairs) continues to work on the assignments given to it at Sessions last August. But at our February meeting, we found ourselves musing on broader questions. During that committee session we took some time to contemplate how it was that over $12,000 had so quickly flowed in to the BYM office for the support of Pat Kutzner's work, immediately following our early December fund appeal letter sent to all the Friends and attenders on the BYM mailing list. We felt a yearning to hear more from individual Friends about the insights and hopes and prayers which motivated these supporters to respond so generously, so promptly. We were led in our committee session to consider whether there is perhaps more in the way of the Spirit moving than any one of us could yet understand.
Here is what one Friend wrote when he sent a check to BYM in support of Pat Kutzner's work: "Just wanted to give my strong endorsement of Pat's work with the Navajo... Just last week I read your October newsletter... As usual, it was great... You can quote me as someone who 33 years in grassroots development in Latin America — I can attest that Pat is right on. She has an unusual grasp of the proper strategies and techniques of working with poor people and with indigenous people... Let's keep her there as long as she wants to be... and they want her....We can't let this end."
Our ad hoc committee assignment does end in August 2000, so we are seeking the right way to offer a report which touches on the longer term oversight options. One next helpful step for all of us may be developing some queries to ask interested Friends to consider in a timely fashion and a suitable setting. Initially these might be included in a letter of thanks sent to the contributors. Perhaps another occasion for reflection could take place in a worship sharing group, or in a workshop/interest group, held while BYM is next in session at Wilson College. [Let our clerk, Pete Schenck know if you would like to be an early recipient of these queries. His e-mail is pschenck@CapAccess.com]
So to use Laurie Wilner's words about "prayerful optimism" from her Registrar's report in our 1999 BYM Yearbook — where she thanks the many Friends who came forward to help one another feel welcomed and cared for during our annual sessions at Wilson College last August — "prayerful optimism" can provide a good place for us to stand and await volunteer support beyond our expectations and hopes and dreams. We thank all those Friends who have provided financial encouragement for Pat Kutzner's continuing work with the Torreon StarLake Navajo people.
Bob Fetter
In order to provide Interchange readers with a new perspective on the work of Friends House Moscow, this report comes to you through the courtesy of the FHM staff, Galina Orlova and Sergei Nikitin (with minimal editing). Because Interchange space prohibits printing the most recent FHM Quarterly Report (October-December 1999) in its entirety, the extracts selected may whet your appetite for more! One item, the Alternatives to Violence Program, is familiar to many Friends and continues to be one of FHM's strongest contributions; it has been omitted here only because of its length and detail. No omissions should be considered to reflect upon the importance of the project.
FHM and the War in Chechnya FHM supported a Prayer Vigil in Moscow; provided office equipment and facilities for Sasha Gorbenko, participating in the Vigil, for sending information to Western media. FHM staff wrote articles and sent them at the requests of Austrian and Hungarian Friends. We also applied to Russian NGOs with a suggestion to organise a march to Grozny in order to save and help our civilians from ruins. Staff members participated in public protest actions in Moscow.
Support of Conscientious Objectors Sergei went with Sergei Sorokin (a legal advisor for COs) to Nizhnii Novgorod, where a meeting with local COs was arranged with the help of FHM and a co-ordinator of our project, Andrei Toumanov. The meeting was well attended and was covered in local TV news as well as in newspapers. It was a very helpful event. The same kind of meeting with COs is to be was held in Gatchina, near St. Petersburg where Sergei Sorokin will give a talk.
After the talks given by Sergei Sorokin (arranged by FHM), a negative response from a Nizhnii Novgorod newspaper "Delo" came. An article written by a correspondent who had attended the meeting with Sorokin was titled, "I can sell my Motherland and my mother at fair price". The idea of the article was that some strange "peacemakers" travel around encouraging youngsters not to go the army and the "peacemakers" are paid by foreign funds, (e.g. Ford Foundation). Similar articles were published in Novosibirsk. Another newspaper published a positive article on the subject.
Our contact person responsible for the CO project in Gatchina was attended by a militia officer (who was wondering who had sponsored such a work). He (FHM contact) was expelled from his rented office as a result of the work of legal advice given to young people. He was also summoned to a public prosecutor and was questioned about funding again. He tried to make a contact with the Head of the local military registration and enlistment office for possible co-operation on the matter of COs and alternative service but the latter refused. After that our co-ordinator was also summoned to the Economic Crime Department.
Sergei went to Dzerzhinsk, near Nizhnii Novgorod, where one of our CO projects is going. He met with the coordinator of the project, also met three COs, two of them belong to different churches and are eager to do any socially useful voluntary work. It was decided to look for ways of arranging alternative service.
[NOTE: Information related to the establishment of alternative service projects is needed and will be greatly appreciated. Please contact LauraNell or FHM at addresses below.]
Friends House Moscow and the Moscow Friends Meeting FHM supports Moscow Friends Meeting, paying rent for premises where meetings for worship take place. Also FHM always offers space for small meetings of f/Friends. Staff translates articles from Quaker periodicals into Russian for distribution among Moscow Friends.
Supporting the Buzuluk children's sanatorium The group of Friends who went to Buzuluk for AVP workshop also visited the children's sanatorium we had been in contact before to meet the children and some money from an American truck driver Jonathan Thomas and his neighbors was handed over to the director of the sanatorium for new mattresses for children's dormitories. The old mattresses were urine soaked and very smelly. It helped the sanatorium to buy some mattresses. Also Roswitha Jarman helped with mattresses project funding. Mr. Thomas and his friends want to carry on their help and now they are heading for arranging a computer class for the sanatorium's patients. We think it is a good idea that such projects as this one might be adopted by meetings, communities, schools, or other groups.
Contacts We made contacts or met with Suzanne Hoff of Service Civil International, Sue Dixon of Quaker Voluntary Action, [and] we had several meetings with Chris Hunter of Centre for Peacemaking. Inna Tereshchenko, the Head of Odessa Regional Group of Mediation visited FHM. We also had not a very pleasant visit for routine checking made by a local district militia officer who came to FHM premises following the bombing in Moscow. Head of an NGO from the city of Iaroslavl Ms. Gorozhankina visited FHM in order to find possible ways of co-operation. In connection with the Chechen war a number of contacts were made with human rights organizations: "Common Action", Moscow Helsinki Group, "Glasnost" foundation, Buddhist monks.
Our next update should reach you in March 2000. To receive an electronic version of the quarterly report directly from FHM, please send your request to fhm@glasnet.ru
If you would like to receive the Friends House Moscow U.S. newsletter, please contact Julie Harlow at 1163 Auburn Drive, Davis, CA 95616 , telephone (916) 753-6826, email: fhmus@aol.com
Donations to support my expenses to the annual board meetings in Moscow can still be sent to James Riley, Treasurer, Hopewell Centre Monthly Meeting, P.O. Box 165, Winchester, VA 22604. These, too, are tax-deductible. Baltimore Yearly Meeting Friends have supported and encouraged me in so many ways: your prayers, questions, financial support, the bright look on your faces as you ask, "When are you going to Moscow?"all these have sustained me more than I can express! Thank you.
Questions or comments may be directed to LauraNell Morris, 4119 Davis Place, NW #101, Washington, DC 20007; phone: (202)342-9169; e-mail: lauranell@att.net
LauraNell Morris
The 13th Biennial Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists, will be held June 23-25, at Earlham College, Richmond, IN. Presentations will include a wide range of Quaker biographical and historical topics based on archives of the Religious Society of Friends since the 1660's. Quakers have played significant roles in women's and Native American rights, the antislavery movement, education, world pacifism, and economic development.
Information and registration materials are available from Joelle Bertolet; Friends Historical Association; Haverford College; 370 Lancaster Avenue; Haverford PA 19041; email fha@haverford.edu, or visit our website at http://www.haverford.edu/library/fha/fha.html
(Meets concurrently with The Friends Association for Higher Education and the Friends Council on Education)
Spirituality in Action: Quakers in Education in the New Millennium, June 22-25 will be hosted by Earlham College. Earlham is eager to invite Quaker teachers who teach in public schools (or schools other than Quaker). The College is making a special effort to see that this conference addresses their hopes and concerns. The featured speaker is Parker Palmer, a vital and noted Quaker educator, speaker, and workshop leader.
The 2000 Gathering of Friends is at the University of Rochester, New York, July 1-8, 2000. The theme is Deep Roots: New Growth. Deep Roots is our unshakable goundedness in the Spirit and New Growth symbolizes our response and aliveness in Quakerism and the fruits of the Spirit. "The deep roots come from our meetings for worship, our 350 years as a Religious Society, and our witness for over 100 years as Friends General Conference," explains Gathering Planning co-clerk Ernie Buscemi.
Junior Gathering provides programs for infants through junior high school; a high school program is planned, and the Adult Young Friends program has a variety of activities for Friends age 18-35.
Detailed information about the Gathering is available in the Advance Program. The Program is mailed to all Friends on Yearly Meeting mailing list in March. You may request a Program by contacting FGC at 1216 Arch Street, 2B, Philadelphia, PA 19107, (215)561-1700 or e-mail: gathering@fgc.quaker.org
The FGC Religious Education Institute, August 17-20, Massanetta Springs Conference Center, near Harrisonburg, VA is a program for Quaker educators and parents with children's program. Workshop topics include: Quaker parenting, spiritual formation groups, meeting the needs of a small Meeting, children and worship, curriculum previews for adults and for children. Contact FGC for additional information
Friends Historical Association announces its Spring Meeting to be held May 7, 2000 with a presentation by Catherine C. Lavoie, (Historian, Historic American Buildings Survey, Historic American Engineering Record, "Friends Meeting Houses of the Delaware Valley: The Evolution of a Building Form").
Events begin at 10:30 a.m. with Meeting for Worship at Shrewsbury Monthly Meeting Shrewsbury, New Jersey. Followed by a BYO Lunch (beverage and dessert provided by the Meeting). Presentation by Catherine Lavoie begins at 1:00 p.m.
Request additional information from Joelle Bertolet, email: fha@haverford.edu or phone: (610)896-1161.
"A People Led to Testify" is the theme for the March 16-19 Annual Meeting of Friend World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas. The Metropolitan Chicago General Meeting will host the meeting at the Illinois Beach Resort and Conference Center in Zion, Illinois, near Chicago. Representatives from around the Section will come together in worship. Through fellowship and business, Friends will work to discern together the work of FWCC.
Couples preparing for commitment, newly committed or committed for decades are invited to deepen their relationship and explore new ways to express their love for each other in a weekend retreat led by Joan and Rich Liversidge under the care of Baltimore Yearly Meeting Committee on Nurture and Recognition of Ministry and Friends General Conference. (Call (301)854-1011)
The 8th International Conference on War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns is to meet in Washington, DC, July 6-9, 2000. This event is co-hosted by the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee and the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund. The common theme that brings attendees together is a strong belief in conscientious objection to military taxes.
Friends United Meeting is an association of Friends meetings and ministries in eleven countries. The Board and staff of Friends United Meeting work together with Friends at the local and regional levels to administer international and cross-cultural ministries and to provide consultative services, Friends books and curriculum, and resources for evangelism and spiritual renewal.
World Ministries' international program continues to be strengthened by addition of field staff. David Romberger joined the team in Belize, and Dwaine, Becky and Sarita Williams in Jamaica. The growing edge for FUM in reaching unreached people is in Samburu, Kenya, where Michael Wasike and Joseph Malongo joined Isaiah Bikokwa in full-time ministry. New churches, dispensary and nursery schools were established in cooperation with Samburu people.
Chicago Fellowship of Friends acquired full ownership of their building in downtown Chicago. This will allow countless opportunities for ministry to their rapidly-changing Cabrini-Green neighborhood.
Quaker Life, published ten times a year, continues to cover major news of Friends, from the appointment of South African Friend Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge as deputy minister of defense to Quaker war-tax cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Topical issues concerned racism, evangelism, and right to life concerns. Devotional and biblical features included the serial publication of the first chapter of Richard Foster's newest book, Streams of Living Water.
Friends United Press continues to publish books that focus on Quaker distinctives. Friends United Press published five new titles in 1999, two of which were co-published with Sessions Book Trust in York, England.
Deaths: Carolyn Spaulding, 6/22/99
Friends shared potluck and experiences on Winter Community Night, Saturday night, February 19. We especially encourage new attenders to share with seasoned Friends a relaxed, informal discussion about our spiritual journeys and what this religious community means. We'd like to explore what new participants are seeking. We hope this gathering will become an annual tradition.
Marriages/Ceremonies of Commitment: Ward Hitchings to Carol Hitchings, 2/5/2000
Births: Aden Edward Moree-Sanders, 8/17/99 to Melinda Moree & Elizabeth Sanders
Deaths: Joyce F. Keyser1/2/2000;
Deaths: Kimberly V. Thompson, 2/13/99
Deaths: Shirley Stuart, 11/10/99
Charlottesville has had much to celebrate. The Saturday after Thanksgiving Vicky Miller and Andy Simms celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary by renewing their vows in a Meeting for Worship. The following weekend Ed Wayland and Mary Bowers were married under the care of the Meeting.
As usual, we had a delightful holiday potluck and carols the weekend before Christmas. It was followed the next morning by a program put on by the children. This year Betsy Tucker directed them in a play showing the birth of Jesus from the perspective of different birds. On Christmas Eve we had two candle-light meetings for worship, both of which had powerful messages.
We are saddened by the fact that Virginia has already held two executions this year, especially as both men were minors when the crimes were committed. We are working hard with petitions and post cards to have the twenty-one day rule repealed.
The Meeting hosted a tour of some Underground Railroad areas and invited the members of Oxford and Little Britain Monthly Meetings to join them. It was an enjoyable tour. Currently Lancaster County, PA is attempting to learn where the trails were.
Each Sunday during Advent, a child read a short passage and lighted a candle on the Advent wreath. Also, a Christmas dinner, gift exchange, and a Christmas Eve service were among the December activities. Our annual intergenerational Christmas program highlighted a children's finger-play dramatizing the song, "The Friendly Beasts". Mittens from the mitten tree were given to families of St. Elizabeth School of Baltimore.
The T.L.C. (Tender Loving Care) Committee has complied information packets for visitors. The packets include information on Quakerism, committee responsibilities, and a brief history of the Meeting.
The Unity with Nature Committee organized roadside cleanup for an area of Darlington, The Committee is encouraging more recycling.
Deaths: Porte W. Way, 1/14/00
Friends became concerned about the tragedy of Columbine High School and decided to address the issue of violence in the schools. We sought to reach out to the high school to offer conflict resolution programs. The school was not receptive, relying on its own programs to address this concern. The Meeting decided to turn its focus to its own children and make sure they developed a good level of acceptance for everyone and a zero tolerance for violence. A goal of the Meeting, by studying cultures of the world, was to instill a sense of "that of God in everyone."
Friends were encouraged to share with First Day School accounts of travels to other parts of the world. The children researched traditional costumes and one First Day dressed in traditional costumes of various religions. The children researched flags and created replicas. They displayed these flags when Gettysburg was host to Quarterly Meeting in December. Folks attending Quarterly Meeting could vote for the best poster, and the Meeting sent a check of $35 to UNICEF. The children attending Quarter also made literacy kits for Haiti.
363 High Street, Dayton, VA
After unavoidable delays, Harrisonburg Friends completed settlement, on February 3, 2000, on the purchase of a meeting house. This clears the way for preparing it for occupancy. (Until a name change is approved by business meeting it is referred to as Friends Meeting at 363 High Street, Dayton, Virginia. (Phone: (540)879-9879 or P.O. Box 781, Dayton, VA 22821)
Harrisonburg Friends held its annual Christmas candlelight service December 19th. It featured a pageant by the youth. Ministry and Worship held a one-day retreat during the late fall on vocal ministries. Douglas Steere's On Speaking out of the Silence was used as a preface to discussion.
The Meeting served a frugal meal on November 21st. Contributions from the diners were donated to Pat Kutzner for her work with the Navajo Indians.
Deaths: James O. Bond, 11/9/99
Deaths: Verna Smith, 12/26/1999
The Meeting hopes that you will join efforts to reduce school gun violence. With the ongoing tragedy of our nation's schools being victimized by students with firearms, it is painfully clear that we all need to be concerned about guns in the hands of children. The Meeting is investing energy in a simple grassroots effort to make a difference A Gun Free Day on TV. This effort is proposing that all of the TV networks commit to televising no gun related violence on Easter Sunday, April 23. As a religious community, we think you would agree this would be a wonderful way to remind people throughout the entire nation of Jesus' message of peace.
This grassroots effort will take the cooperation of television networks and local stations, religious communities, educators, the business and corporate community, and our national and community leaders. Visit the website (www.GunFreeDayOnTV.org) to find out more.
We have had worship-sharing to seek the State of the Meeting to find new directions. It has been deep spiritual searching. We have become aware of the pressure on a small part of the membership to take care of the responsibilities of the spirit, temporal journeys and the finances to maintain the Meeting.
Births/Adoptions: Ellen Marie Stroud, 11/25/99 to Ron & Lyne Stroud
Patapsco Preparative Meeting is now holding business meetings on fourth Sundays at 12:00pm. Meeting for Healing is each second Sunday at 6:30pm. We update announcements on our web site weekly: www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/4135 and use it to store our business meeting minutes, quarterly newsletters, pictures of picnics, etc. We published our first quarterly newsletter in November focusing on the theme of community. The February newsletter will focus on simplicity.
Claire Salkowski is now a member of the University of Delaware faculty. Herbert Hoopes recently observed his ninetieth birthday.
Little Falls held a Christmas Cantata on December 12. The Meeting also held a Christmas Eve meeting for worship, a first for Little Falls. On December 19 Judy and William Harlan held "Christmas in the Barn," an annual event of carols and readings, followed by cookies and hot chocolate at the schoolhouse.
Virginia Remsberg, Lisa Spenser, and Maureen Clarke attended the BYM Women's Retreat at Camp Wo-Me-To. Little Falls will be the host to Chesapeake Quarter on June 11, 2000.
"Quakerism 101" is back by popular demand. Between January and May twelve sessions that provide an introduction to Quakerism are scheduled. Topics are built around a curriculum developed by Marsha Holliday entitled "Silent Worship and Quaker Values: An Introduction." Subjects include: Unprogrammed Quaker Worship, Life is Sacred, Quakerism is Experiential and the Experience of God is Universal, Revelation is Continuing, the Roots and Branches of Modern Quakerism.
In preparation for developing the annual "State of the Meeting" summary, the Committee on Ministry and Worship scheduled a worship sharing on "the meaning of membership in the Richmond Society of Friends." Messages helped formed the basis for an open discussion and worship sharing on the "spiritual state of the Meeting," held at the home of Dan and Monica Shaw.
Plans are underway for the annual Spring Retreat in May. We look forward to workshops, star-gazing, a talent show, and growth in community.
Roanoke Friends have been meeting regularly to reflect on selections from Amazing Grace, by Kathleen Norris. The series, called "Quaker and Other Religious Literature" encourages participation beyond the Meeting, and some non-Friends have joined us. Lynchburg Indulged Meeting, under the care of Roanoke Friends, meets monthly for pot luck, discussion and a social action activity. This past month they fringed scarves to be sent to the AFSC Kosovo project.
Deaths: Leah Elizabeth Burg Felton, 12/21/99; Marriages/Ceremonies of Commitment: David Zarembka & Gladys Kamonya, 11/27/99; Elizabeth Hartge & Robert Hyatt, 12/4/99; Roland Walker & Alice Ewen, 12/4/99
Deaths: Robert Charles Heitman, 11/25/99; Joseph L. Wright, 12/31/99; Marriages/Ceremonies of Commitment: Mary Megan Quinlan & John David Mumford, 11/6/99
Our foot of snow slowed us down a bit, but Williamsburg Friends are happily back into a routine of morning worship at our new location. Attendance is consistent, and our meetings for worship have seemed especially blessed. Our second hour discussions feature several occasions of personal sharing by individuals, and Friends find these times particularly meaningful and enriching for our meeting.
Mindful of the fact that our new location (at the McMasters' home, 104 W. Kingswood Drive) is an interim move, we have the challenge ahead of us of finding and renting, purchasing, or building a meeting house of our own. Our immediate concern is how and where to invest funds conscientiously as we save for the future. Knowing that many monthly meetings have considered these issues, Williamsburg Friends would be grateful for any shared insights from others or examples of what others have done. Please tell us your stories, advice or suggestions, by e-mail at McMasterLR@aol.com or mail at P.O. Box 1034, Williamsburg, VA 23187.
Chesapeake Quarterly Meeting is scheduled for March 12, Solomons, Maryland and hosted by Patuxent Friends Meeting: 9:30 Meeting for Business, worship, lunch, and Chesapeake Creation inter-generational program (See program description below). Call Diane Kesler (301)884-5301 for hospitality.
This program of song and story will mark our passage into the new millennium, calling attention to the larger story of our participation in the evolution and ongoing life of the wonder-full place called Chesapeake.
Tom Wisner, Chesapeake environmental educator, musical and a graphic artist, will lead us in song and story.
Sara Ebenreck, member of Patuxent Meeting and coordinator of Environmental Studies area at St. Mary's College of
Maryland, will facilitate our discussion on how we envision the future of the Chesapeake. Copies of Patuxent Friends
minutes on the environment will be used as background for that discussion.
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Dear Friends,
These thoughts have been with me since last August at our annual session. I was asked to read the Minute on Changing the Name of our Yearly Meeting at a business meeting since the minute was approved by Langley Hill and I am currently the Clerk of the Meeting. I felt very uncomfortable speaking further during the discernment process that followed because I did not want to appear to be defending the minute-as we know Quakers never put themselves in the place of establishing a position on a concern and then defending it. The words that came to me have not gone away over the last six months. I felt led to write them down and by putting them in the Interchange hope for some dialog with Friends over the matter.
In Truth, in Very Truth as Jesus often said, we are not Baltimore Yearly Meeting. We stopped being BYM over thirty years ago when the Yearly Meeting office and records moved from Baltimore to Sandy Spring. Perhaps we could still cling to the name if the annual sessions were held in Baltimore, but they moved from that site even before the records moved to Sandy Spring. I kept asking, why are we lying to ourselves and others? What is the reason we are clinging to a name that no longer speaks the Truth? What came to me were two reasons--tradition and sentiment.
Friends, tradition would seem to work in opposition to George Fox's call to live in the awareness that "there is no time but the present time." We may reflect on the past, study the past, learn from the past but we should never place ourselves in the position of living in the past. It creates great danger for our spiritual growth. As for sentiment, this also would seem to work in opposition to the Friends testimony of continuing revelation. Emotional clinging to outmoded and outdated ideas has always been seen by Friends as a great spiritual entanglement as well.
I must admit to you that I am very concerned about a faith community that chooses to name itself to the world based on tradition and sentiment. I fear for our spiritual health.
Your Friend, Tom Fox, TFX51@aol.com; 7023 Rhoden Ct. Springfield VA 22151
P.S. I want to be clear that this is the individual leading of a member of Langley Hill Meeting. In no way did the Monthly Meeting endorse or approve this article.
Spring Yearly Meeting Day begins at 10:00 a.m. at Friends Meeting of Washington on March 25th. FMW members will provide Friday and/or Saturday night hospitality and lunch on Saturday. Coffee and cocoa will be available Saturday morning. Schedule: 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Committees meet -- Committee Scheduled to Meeting: Advancement and Outreach, Epistle, Friends Peace Teams Coordinating Council, Indian Affairs, Ministry and Counsel, Nurture and Recognition of Ministry, Peace and Social Concerns, Junior Yearly Meeting Staff, Religious Education, Right Sharing of World Resources, Search (closed), Stewardship and Finance, Trustees, Unity With Nature, Youth Programs Committee, Ad Hoc Committee on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns. 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Lunch 2:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Representative Meeting. Tentative agenda items for Representative Meeting: Friends Peace Teams Project, Update on Monthly Meeting consideration of Virginia Half-Year's Minute on Same-Gender Marriage, Friends United Meeting, Friends General Conference, Friends World Committee for Consultation, Role of Committees, Reports from Clerks of Yearly Meeting, Manual of Procedure Committee.
Child care is available during business and committee meetings.
Directions to Friend Meeting of Washington: 2111 Florida Ave NW, Washington D.C. 20008-1912, (202) 483-3310 You may wish to take the Metro to FMW; on-street parking is sometimes difficult.
Traveling by Metro. From the northwest: Take the I-270 spur toward I-495 east (Beltway) toward Silver Spring, but then take the exit for Route 355. You'll be headed south on 355, so you'll need to turn around, perhaps using a left turn onto a side street. Heading north, cross over I-495 (Beltway), where Route 355 is becomes the Rockville Pike, and look quickly to the right for the Grosvenor Metro stop (Red Line), with ample parking. From the northeast: From I-95, take I-495 (Beltway) west toward Silver Spring. Get off at Georgia Avenue northbound. Immediately look to the left for the exit to the Forest Glen station (Red Line), which has parking.