As Way Opens
I serve as the clerk of the Right Sharing of World Resources board and we had our semiannual meeting last weekend at the Benedictine Center in Beech Grove. This is an amazing and effective organization that provides seed money to women in Sierra Leone, Kenya and India to start their small business and change their lives, their children’s lives and their standing in the community. The Board covered the usual stewardship responsibilities and then heard from our in-country representatives that traveled to the United States for a first-time-ever consultation with all of us. Their sharing with us on the impact of our grants to the women in their countries was powerful. We all felt the significance of God’s hand in this work. We had an amazing activity Friday night where we threw yarn to each other and had to answer one of 18 questions provided. We learned about each other in some deep ways and created a web of connection. We created this web and didn’t want to let go as we knew that this would never be the same again. I was thinking about this as I drove to the Meeting today. The color of the leaves was incredible today on Kessler. I knew that we only have a couple of days until this magnificent color display is gone. I think about how our web might only last for an evening but impacts all of us for years. This organization has brought us into a web of connection with thousands of women in India, Kenya and Sierra Leone. This gathering showed us how we can connect with women that we don’t personally know or will never meet but we are deeply gathered together in Spirit.
We have several folks from Kenya here this Sunday that will speak about our work in Kenya (we are sponsoring a project in honor of our beloved Ann P). I hope many of your will join us to hear about this amazing work. Samson and Lotan will share about the specific work in Kenya during our combined Sunday School hour. Samson will give the message on Sunday and we will have a light lunch after Meeting for Worship to hear more about our work in Kenya. I hope you can join us and share in this continued web.
Beth
Joys & Concerns
Let’s give a big thank-you to our food pantry volunteers from last week: Phil G, Dan H, Linda and Rik L, Mara S, and Carol and Jim D. We were kept busy as we served 101 families!
Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities
Fall Festival! ~ Maple Seeds Preschool Co-Op (MSPC) will be hosting their annual Fall Festival on Saturday October 26th from 4-6pm. It will be held here at First Friends—All MSPC and First Friends families are welcome to come and be a part of this fun evening. There will be face painting, pumpkin decorating, a bounce house, a chili cook-off, a raffle, and more! Costumes are welcome! We hope you will join us!
Join us for a Special Sunday! This coming Sunday, October 27, we are taking a break from our Fall Sermon Series to welcome Right Sharing of World Resources Field Representatives, Ababu Samson and Lotan Migaliza from Kenya. Things will start on Sunday in our parlor at 9am with a combined Sunday School gathering to hear more about their work. (We will still hold unprogrammed worship at 9am; it will be held in Seeking Friends during this time.) At 10:15am Samson will be bringing the message during our Meeting for Worship. Samson and Lotan will both be available after worship for our fellowship hour where we will be providing a Simple Meal. Please plan to join us this Sunday! Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) is an independent Quaker not-for-profit organization sharing the abundance of God’s love by working for equity through partnerships around the world. For more check out: https://www.rswr.org/. Together as a Meeting, thanks to the generous efforts of our congregation, we have been sponsoring a project through RSWR—find our last update in the September 18, 2019 issue of Friend to Friend (which can be found here: https://www.indyfriends.org/blog?offset=1569434958578). Beth will also be in Fellowship Hall after Meeting for worship, selling coffee, tea, and chocolates for RSWR.
Ababu Samson is the RSWR Field Representative. He seeks out new groups that could benefit from RSWR funding and introduces Right Sharing to them. He oversees all the programming, assessing the needs of each group and arranging and attending all trainings. Additionally, he keeps on touch with all the past funded groups.
Lotan Migaliza conducts the in-depth Business Management training for newly funded groups. Although he is very strict and emphasizes rules and procedures, his manner is funny and engaging, and the groups love his training.
Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading is this coming Tuesday night! Sue H will be leading The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama XIV and Desmond Tutu on the 29th of October at 7 pm in the Parlor. Click link for the New York Journal of Books Review: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/book-joy-lasting-happiness-changing-world All are welcome!
Shalom Zone’s 5th Tuesday Event: Bread for the World ~ Join your Shalom Zone neighbors and learn about Bread for the World, an organization with an international, national and local presence. It will be held on Tuesday, October 29 from 7:00-8:30pm at Allisonville Christian Church, 7701 Allisonville Rd. Bread for the World provides a collective Christian voice urging our state and our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. Our presenter will be Mark Lynch, and following the presentation, a letter writing exercise will provide an opportunity to send letters to your congressional representatives. Please consider joining us for this event.
Do you have a new baby or young child you would like to have dedicated? We are seeking out families who are interested in having their child (children) dedicated to God during an upcoming Meeting for Worship. For those who may be unfamiliar with Baby/Child Dedications, they are intended to be a public testimony by the parents/family that they will train their children in the Quaker faith. The Meeting will also be asked to affirm that they, as a faith community, will seek to encourage and support the parents in bringing up the child in the Quaker faith. Quakers believe a direct experience with God is open to people of all ages. Our hope is that this dedication will set your child on a path to experience their Inner Light and the Spirit’s leading. The idea of dedicating a child to God can certainly be found in the Bible. Hannah was a barren wife who promised to dedicate her child to God if He would give her a son (I Samuel 1:11). And in Luke 2:22 you will read the account of Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the temple after forty days in order to dedicate Him to God. If you would like to have your child dedicated, please contact Rebecca at the Meeting Office (office@indyfriends.org). We hope to have multiple dedications during a Meeting for Worship in November.
Meditational Woods Bird-of-the-Month for October
Pileated Woodpecker: The Infrequent Attender
In Quakerism we have attenders, both frequent attenders and those who are more infrequent. Similarly, in the bird world of the Meditational Woods, there are “infrequent attenders.” Today’s bird is one that is always in the area, but only visits once in a while.
Usually the bird announces its presence with a raucous “kek-kek-kek” call, especially while in flight. Twice in recent months, including early October, a pileated woodpecker flew to a telephone pole just east of the parking lot. The crow-sized bird landed at the top of the pole in such a way as to allow him to look over it, and in all directions. For a full twenty minutes he remained immobile and vigilant. For what was he looking? Was he watching me, or looking for another woodpecker? Perhaps food? Pileateds frequent tree stumps, searching for large ants to eat. They nest in woodlands or in neighborhoods with large trees.
Notice that I refer to this individual as “he.” In both cases of recent telephone pole sitting, the bird was a male. The red mark from the base of the bill across the cheek indicates that this is, indeed, a male. If it were a female, that mark would be black.
As with our other, human, infrequent attenders, I hope the Pileated Woodpecker is welcome at First Friends anytime!! ~ Brad J
Jeff Rasley has a new book! Jeff Rasley has just released a new book titled You Have to Get Lost Before You Can Be Found: A Memoir of Suffering, Grit, and Love of the Himalayas and Basa Village. It's about changing direction in life after finding new meaning in middle age working with a remote village in the Nepal Himalayas. It's also an adventure travelogue through the Himalayan region of Southeast Asia. There are many photos of the Himalayas, mountain climbing, local people and indigenous cultures. First Friends' involvement in helping to establish the Basa Village Foundation is part of the story. There are more pictures in the e-book, and they are all color photos. The cost of printing so many color photos in a paperback was too great, so there are fewer photos and they are black and white in the printed version. You can find the book on amazon at https://www.amazon.com/You-Have-Lost-Before-Found/dp/1696951860. Fore more information visit www.jeffreyrasley.com.
Serenity Now, Book-Based Support Group!
Next Meeting: The second meeting of the newly formed First Friends book-based support group will be at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31, in the meetinghouse parlor. Coffee and bagels will be provided. This confidential group of five participants (so far) is for those experiencing family and relationship challenges. Our first book selection is The Mastery of Love, a Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship by Don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements. This meeting, we will discuss the intro and first chapter of this small and easy-to-read book. If you would like to try out the group and need a copy of the reading, please email the office at office@indyfriends.org. We expect to publish a schedule for the rest of 2019 after this meeting.
More About the Group: Subsequent books may focus on particular types of relationship challenges, interpersonal skills or barriers to healthy functioning (according to the needs of participants). It is expected that members may float in and out of the group based on the focus of the books chosen. Group members seek to support one another through reading, sharing our experiences and self-awareness, and listening without judgement as we navigate challenging situations. Please note: This group is a self-help group, NOT a therapy group, and is NOT facilitated by a licensed therapist. We have chosen the group name, Serenity Now, as a reminder to seek—moment by moment—release from our futile attempts to change what is not ours to change, the courage to change what we legitimately must, the wisdom to know the difference, and the humor to laugh at ourselves when we inevitably blunder.
Join us for a Harvest Pitch-In! All are invited after Meeting for Worship on Sunday, November 3rd to participate in a harvest pitch-in. This event is put on by the Community Garden committee. It will be held during fellowship hour in Fellowship Hall—although if the weather is nice we may have a picnic outside. We will be asking everyone to share a dish. Keep an eye out for more information next week!
Eco-Film: Reinventing Indy Power ~ You’re cordially invited to November’s Eco-Film themed, Reinventing Indy Power. Please bring your favorite foods and learn more about the Beyond Coal to Clean Energy Campaign here in Indiana. It will be held on Friday, November 1 from 7-9pm at Cross and Crown Lutheran Church, 5233 E 79th St. (Please notice this Eco-Film is on the first Friday in November.) Just recently, USA Today and the Weather Channel featured Indianapolis Power and Light’s (IPL) Petersburg coal plant, where some of our electricity is generated, as one of the nation’s 22 “Super Polluters”. Super Polluters are the worst toxic and climate polluters in the nation. The IPL Petersburg coal plant is one of four super polluters located near Evansville, IN. The Petersburg coal plant is contributing to climate change, and premature death for residents near the plant. In 2019, Indianapolis Power and Light will create an energy plan for the next 20 years. Community discussion will follow the film. Snacks are provided! This is our chance to have a say in how our utility generates electricity for our community. Together, we can make a difference for our communities’ future. We hope you will join us.
PREDATORY LENDING: NOT THE QUAKER WAY? On Sunday, November 3, you are invited to gather in the parlor after Meeting for Worship to become familiar with the Indiana laws governing short-term "payday" loans and their implications for borrowers.
Suppose that your full-time minimum-wage job allows you to pay rent on your apartment and feed your children--but just barely. An attack of appendicitis keeps you from work for nearly two weeks, and rent is due. You can borrow the money rather quickly and easily, but at usurious interest rates. How can you pay it back? And what if you cannot pay it back?
The purpose of the meeting on Nov. 3 is to open an inquiry:
Have any other organization or faith communities served the unbanked by creating alternatives to predatory payday loans?
If so, might we participate with them in this work?
If not, might we create one ourselves?
What might we as Friends do to help alleviate the plight of our disadvantaged brothers and sisters?
Please join us in the parlor, immediately following Meeting for Worship. A light lunch will be provided. If you have questions, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.
West Central Area Meeting Program and Dinner- You’re invited! All Friends are cordially invited to join us for the West Central Area Meeting program and dinner on Sunday November 3 at Valley Mills Friends. There will be a short business meeting, which should conclude by 3:30 PM or so, and the area meeting will follow. Craig Overmeyer will present a program on 'productive conflict.' He's an Indiana consultant and author with Quaker roots. His new book on this topic will be out in December. At 5:00 PM there will be a pitch-in dinner. We hope you will join us!
Greetings to all the women of our meeting! Please join us in the parlor on November 10th for a meal to further discuss the Enneagram test that we found out about during the Women's retreat a couple of weeks ago. We would like to discuss how it affected you and what we want to do from now on to sustain this group. If you would like some more information or would like to take the test for free, please go to Enneagram Tests: https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test. During this meeting, we will also discuss reviving the Women at the Well but in a different way. We are going to meet right after worship so please RSVP to office so we can plan on the correct amount of food - office@indyfriends.org or 317-255-2485.
This Week’s Queries
Who deep down do I want to dominate? Who do I want to exercise control over? Who don’t I mind belittling, shaming, or making feel less-than for my own benefit or desires?
Who experiences my fierce anger the easiest? Do they deserve it? Have I tried to understand him/her, and have I taken the time to look inside myself at the root of my own wrath?
Who undeservedly receives my violent responses, or who do I wish them upon? How often have I wished someone removed from my life (even dead), or wanted to physically hurt someone to make myself feel better?