As Way Opens
Last Night, As I Lay Sleeping
Last night, as I lay sleeping,
I dreamt - marvellous error! –
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?
Last night, as I lay sleeping,
I dreamt – marvellous error! –
That I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt – marvellous error! –
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.
Last night, as I slept,
I dreamt – marvellous error! –
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.
Antonio Machado 1875-1939
Ruthie
Joys and Concerns
Thanks to all! ~ Thanks to all who helped to make the buddy bag program a success. Thirty buddy bags were delivered to Allisonville Elementary School (“AES”) last week to go to kids who need food assistance during fall break. The administrators at AES were amazed at the food that was in the bags and mentioned how much the kids would love them. You at First Friends made this possible. Thanks for your help. And a special thanks to Jody for organizing this endeavor.
Food Pantry ~ Thanks to everyone who helped at the Mid North Food Pantry in September. While some of our regular volunteers were not available, other folks at First Friends stepped up to fill this void. We at First Friends truly are a family that is there to help each other when needed.
It was inspiring to have so many additional volunteers for our committed time (first and third Wednesday of each month) to support the Mid North Food Pantry. Several of our committed volunteers were out of town and our Meeting responded with a strong showing of volunteers on Sept 21st.
The MidNorth Food Pantry has a great need for volunteers for the first Monday and Friday of each month. If you could help support this need please let the office know.
Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities
Please note: It seems that once again we have lost our connection for medically recycled pill bottles (the ones like you get you Rx pills in). The folks who were using them to fill medical prescriptions are no longer doing that. If you bring them to Meeting, we will recycle them as plastic just as we would any other plastic.
Can you spare an easel? Thanks to Nichole, on Sunday, October 23 we will be hosting the “Giving Voices to Ghosts” exhibit items. We will have the items on display throughout the meeting to view on your way into the Meeting and during Fellowship hour. We are asking everyone if we may ‘borrow’ their easels! Any size works—from standing easels to table easels! If you have a spare easel, we’d appreciate if you could bring it to the Meetinghouse by Thursday, October 20 so we can set up the displays! Thank you for your help!
‘Streams of Living Water’ theme for this Sunday will be the Evangelical Tradition: Discovering the Word-Centered Life. Mary Ellen will lead the Sunday School Class in Coffee Circle and Ruthie will speak about this in Meeting for Worship; seeing the good news lived and hearing the good news proclaimed. What is the good news? What is your good news? Join us!
Participate in our "Sponsor a College Student" project! Just select a student off the board in the meetinghouse and send them notes, cards, treats, etc throughout the school year so they hear from someone at the Meeting and feel connected. We still have 2 students that need to be sponsored. Please call the office if you would like to participate in this important ministry.
Join us at the Giving Voices to Ghosts exhibit tomorrow, Thursday, October 6th from 3 to 5 pm at the Marian University Art Gallery. Friends will meet in the FFM parking lot at 2:30 pm and carpool from there. Art Gallery Director, Crystal Vicars-Pugh will greet us at the gallery at 3 pm and Nichole will make every effort to be there by 4 pm to answer any questions we may have. American Friends Service Committee gave aid and food to starving children and pregnant women in Germany after both World Wars. As a ‘Thank You’, beautiful artworks, poems, stories and letters were sent from those children back to meetings in the States will be on exhibit.
Have you met Nichole Mathews? She sings in our Choir, is a treasured member of our Meeting, and is also getting a lot of press! She’s the one, who along with the “students in her German honors and advanced placement classes [at Hamilton Southeastern High School] began translating the letters, poetry and artwork, and she double-checked their work last year. Crystal Vicars-Pugh, the Marian University Art Gallery director, agreed to exhibit the work at the MU gallery.” So says an article in the Fishers paper “Current”. If you haven’t visited the exhibit, it will be open through Friday October 7th. AND, Nichole will be speaking in Meeting for Worship on Sunday, October 23rd, sharing about this incredible story. Pieces of the exhibit will be on display throughout our Meetinghouse that day. Don’t miss this part of our Quaker story! http://currentinfishers.com/giving-thanks-german-class-translates-letters-exhibits-art-from-wwi-and-wwii-children/
Rick Juliusson, co-Director of the Monteverde Friends School in Costa Rica, will be joining us next Tuesday, Oct.11 at 7:00 in the First Friends meeting room to share stories and inspirations from their Quaker school in the cloudforest. Established in 1951 by Friends from the Fairhope Alabama Meeting and elsewhere, Monteverde has become a model for environmental sustainability and intentional community. The school is celebrating its 65th year and continues to provide bilingual Quaker education for 120 children ages kindergarten to grade 12. Rick will talk about the history of the community and school, and opportunities such as study abroad, volunteering, gap year, and bilingual musical theater summer camp. See more at: www.mfschool.org
Seasoned Friends Annual Fall Luncheon with weenie roast in the courtyard and squash soup for all friends around retirement age will be Wednesday, October 12 at 11:30am. Salads or desserts may be contributed if desired. Special guests Beth and Dan will be coming to bring great music! Please RSVP to the office. Don’t miss out on this fun time with friends!
IFCL presents a conversation on Islam and the Refugee Crisis with Michael Birkel and Cole Varga. Michael Birkel is a Quaker author, and Earlham School of Religion professor. Cole Varga is Executive Director of Exodus Refugee Immigration Inc. Join us on Friday, October 14 at 7:00PM in the parlor at First Friends Meeting. For more information, contact the office.
You are invited to see ‘Blood on the Mountain’, a showing at Epworth United Methodist Church on Friday, October 14, 7-9pm. Blood on the Mountain is an Eco-Film and searing investigation into the economic and environmental injustices that have resulted from industrial control in West Virginia. This new feature documentary details the struggles of a hard-working, misunderstood people, who have historically faced limited choices and have never benefited fairly from the rich, natural resources of their land. Blood On the Mountain delivers a striking portrait of a fractured population, exploited and besieged by corporate interests, and abandoned by the powers elected to represent them. This showing is free and open to the public!
Meditational Woods Work Day ~ October 15, 2016 9am-12pm ~ Meet us in the Woods to help care for our trees and outdoor worship spaces! We will be picking up the fallen limbs and brush from our recent storms, removing weeds and invasive plants and edging the walking path. Wear long sleeves and bring your favorite gardening gloves and tools. You can help Terry tidy up the patio garden, assist Norma and Amy weed the Peace Pole area or just help out where you prefer. Come join us afterwards at ThreeWiseMen where we will convene for lunch. Go West on Kessler to Compton and turn left into the parking lot before you get to Broad Ripple Avenue.
Fall Festival! ~ MSPC will be hosting their annual Fall Festival on Saturday October 15th from 4-6pm. First Friends attenders and members are welcome to attend and be a part of this fun evening. There will be a bounce house, their annual chili cook-off, crafts and more! Info on RSVP’ing coming soon!
Indianapolis Center for Congregations Seminar at First Friends! Supporting and Encouraging Creativity in Congregations ~ You're invited to explore creativity and the arts in congregations. In this highly interactive workshop, you will gain confidence to lead your congregation into a more imaginative and creative culture while learning how to cultivate the "creatives" already in your midst. Because this workshop is using the First Friends Meetinghouse, we have been given 5 slots open for our members/attenders to attend for free! The workshop is 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday, October 26, 2016 in Fellowship Hall. Please let the office know if you are interested in attending. It will be first come first serve. For more information, please visit https://centerforcongregations.org/workshop/supporting-and-encouraging-creativity-congregations
Ecological Guidance and the Sense of the Divine (By Keith Helmuth) ~ The fate of the human now hangs on our engagement with ecological guidance; the task Thomas Berry calls “the Great Work.” The sense of guidance provided by the ecological worldview is not unlike a new revelation, perhaps even a new sense of the Divine. We may not have an adequate name for this new sense of the Divine, and that’s probably a good thing. A little caution is in order after several millennia of such certainty, and the often unfortunate results of this mindset. Rather than clamping onto a new sense of certainty, authentic ecological guidance seeks a fully rounded understanding of the Human-Earth relationship; it grows from a sense of presence and beauty; it responds with respect, cooperative reciprocity, reverence for life, and an ethic of right relationship. Read more at www.quakearthcare.com
Follow us on Twitter! Need some Quaker inspiration through the week? Follow @Indy1stFriends on Twitter for inspirational and informative postings on Quakerism and happenings within our meeting and community. Find us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/indy1stfriends
Leave a green footprint! ~ The Earth is an amazing and beautiful place. All its riches will last, so long as we learn to use only what we need.
How can we help take care of the Earth?
Tip #1: We can start at home: doing chores, cleaning, and picking up our own things.
Tip #2: We can recycle cans, plastic, paper, and cardboard.
Tip #3: We can hold on tight to our plastic bags, balloons, toys, and other stuff outside, so they do not end up in trees or streams.
From 16 Things Kids can do to Help Care for the Earth, by Dana Kester-McCabe, 2006.