As Way Opens
I am in the midst of an intensive 2-week class at Earlham School of Religion heading into my last year of seminary. The class I am taking is Quakers and the Bible and we have spent a significant amount of time reading and reflecting on a number of early Quaker writings that were important documents in birthing this new movement of Quakerism. Early Quakers knew the Bible well, embraced it and believed in the Words of God represented by the Bible but they could not accept that the Bible was The Word of God. They saw the Bible as a document that pointed us to look at the moon - but it was not the moon! The Word of God is Christ, Spirit, Inner Seed, the essence that we can’t adequately explain, and no words will ever describe it even in the Bible. Early Quakers wanted everyone to experience this real Presence and for me its foundational in why I am a Quaker.
But the real joy I found in this class (and vaguely knew existed) were the number of Quaker women that wrote, spoke and influenced this movement between 1650 - 1700. We have all heard about Maragert Fell and she is one of my heroes. But there was Sarah Jones, Sarah Blackborow, Esther Biddle, Dorothy White, Mary Pennington, Joan Vokins, Barbara Blaugdone, Susannah Blandford, Rebecca Travers, Elizabeth Bathurst, Anne Gilman, Elizabeth Hendericks, Mary Waite, Anne Whitehead, Katharine Whitton, Dorcas Dole and Theophila Townsend. I am in awe of how these women were leaders in the early Quaker movement, wrote eloquently, delivered messages in Meetings and spent much time in jail for what they believed. It’s pretty incredible that in the 17th century, women who had no rights or standing in the culture were elevated to this level in a male dominated society. These women were willing to leave their families and go to prison for these beliefs. This was revolutionary at the time.
I think about this as a woman of color has been selected to be the Vice-Presidential pick for the Democratic campaign today. It doesn’t matter our politics - we should rejoice that a woman of color has been identified as qualified and that her voice is brought forward to potentially lead us. Republicans and Democrats should rejoice in this progress whether we vote for her or not. Quakers led the way for this 350 years ago and this is part of our history that we stand on today. I plan to read the writings of every one of these Quaker women and pray that I will be as brave as they were.
Joys & Concerns
Joyce B would like to send her sincere thanks to everyone who has reached out to her as she recovers from surgery! She appreciates all the calls, cards, meals, help, and prayers sent her way. Her recovery is going well.
Please pray for the Trout family, who lost their teenage son, Logan Trout. Logan was the son of Kathy R’s cousin. Logan collapsed and died while running cross country with Brownsburg High School. The EMT’s could not revive him. Please hold his family in the light during this extremely difficult time. Kathy’s cousin Ken and his wife Melissa have 4 other children, Kendall, Hayden, MacKenzie and Jacob. Logan was the baby and the youngest of all the children in their family’s generation. Read more at https://www.wishtv.com/news/local-news/brownsburg-hs-student-dies-after-medical-emergency/.
Please pray for Phil and Verna B’s family during this time. Verna and Phil B informed us this week that their great nephew, Nathaniel Carl Mroz was killed in a boating accident on Lake Wawasee. Nathaniel was well known as the captain of the football team at Hamilton Southeastern High School and was currently pursuing his Bio-technology degree at Indiana University. His funeral will be virtual from Grace Church (Fishers Campus) on Olio Road at 7pm this Thursday. Nathaniel had just turned 21 years old on August 8th. Please consider sending a card to Verna and Phil and hold the family in the Light in this difficult time. You can read Nathaniel’s obituary at https://flannerbuchanan.com/obit/nathaniel-carl-mroz/.
Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities
NOTE: No Monthly Meeting this Sunday ~ Please note that the Monthly Meeting for Business that would normally fall on this coming Sunday, August 16 has been cancelled. Of course we hope you will still join us for Fellowship Hour at 11:00am on Sunday by visiting https://bit.ly/FF-FellowshipHour.
Are you ready to help people in need? The First Friends Meal Ministry is happy to provide meals to those in need of a bit of help, such as while recovering from surgery or going through a difficult time. This ministry is such an important and tangible ministry in our Meeting that connects and supports all of us. We need more folks to join us in this ministry- we can add your email to our ministry group and you can decide if the request for a meal is something you can do at the time. Lynda S and Vicki W lead this ministry and we have an app that allows for easy sign up for a meal. Will you join us in this important ministry? If you’re interested, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.
Join the Peace Church Conversation ~ The next meeting of the Peace Church Alliance will happen on Thursday, August 20 at 5:30pm. All are invited to join this discussion. For the Zoom link, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org. If you’d like to join the network, you can do so here. Thanks for your support, participation, and action at this critical and sensitive time!
Men’s Threshing Together ~ Hey Men! Join us for a Zoom Happy Hour with Men's Threshing Together on Thursday, August 20 at 7:00pm. Bring your favorite beverage and connect with us on Zoom and let's check-in and see how everyone is doing during this pandemic! Pastor Bob will be hosting this event. See you at Happy Hour (our normal time - 7pm just on Zoom!) To join, please contact the office for the Zoom info at office@indyfriends.org.
Join Samantha R and her sister Jillian R for Personal Finance education! We have two upcoming sessions on Insurance & Savings August 20th at 6 pm, and Home Buying & Renting August 27th at 6 pm. Any questions? Reach out to the office at office@indyfriends.org.
Next Thursday, August 20th we'll be gathering for free over Zoom and would love for you all to join us to learn more about insurance and savings! This may not seem like the most exciting topic, however insurance and savings are a big part of our financial well-being! Insurance and savings help defend and protect you against life events that could spell disaster financially without proper protection. Insurance protects you as you build wealth and savings make many of life's larger purchases possible. Join us and we will share helpful tips and information.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/113935658622
DISCLAIMER: We are not insurance agents. We do not sell insurance products. We have taught courses on this topic and that has allowed us to provide an unbiased perspective
Voter Information for the General Election ~ Are you determined to vote in the general election this fall, but a little confused (or nervous!) about what the pandemic might mean for Indiana's election process? Vote.org is a reliable, easy to use, non-partisan voter information resource that can be used to check deadline dates, confirm your voter registration status, find out the location of your polling place, and/or apply for an absentee ballot if you want to vote by mail. Vote.org is national in scope, with links to individual states. Just follow the link to Indiana, which will lead you through the process on the IN.gov website for registering or for making an application to get an absentee ballot. There are strict time deadlines, and the volume of voting by mail this election is forecast to be very high, so it would be best to act soon! Thank you for voting this year.
What Will You be Doing on Election Day? ~ One of the many challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic in an election year is that elections officials foresee a shortage of poll workers. Typically, the majority of poll workers are over the age of 61, and over a quarter of them are over 70. Because they are the most susceptible to the virus, many of these seniors have indicated they will not work the polls this November.
Where does that leave us on Election Day?
One solution is for younger Americans to step up.
Did you znow that in Indiana, high school students as young as 16-18 can serve as poll workers? And that Indiana law treats this service as an excused absence from school? Requirements vary depending on what county you live in, but the non-partisan WorkElections project has gathered all the information you need to apply, wherever you live (https://www.workelections.com/). For all ages, if you want to be a poll worker, some training is required and (unless you're in high school) you must be a registered voter in your county of residence to work at one of its polling places. See the WorkElections website for specific county-by-county requirements.
At a pivotal moment in American history, when many of our most pressing problems can seem insurmountable and it's hard to know just how to help, you can act. You can enable others to perform one of the most sacred of civic duties: voting on Election Day. By serving as a poll worker, you will be doing something non-partisan, a matter of civics, not politics. And in the 2020 Elections, you can claim to have helped your neighbor--and defended democracy.
For more information, see or share a flyer here: https://bit.ly/2PCBUvs
New Teen Volunteers Grace and Beautify our Garden
The Community Garden is the lucky recipient of two new energetic volunteers. They are our own Lena and her friend Elena. Seniors at the International School of Indiana, they are required to complete a CAS (Community, Activity, and Service) Project as part of the curricula to earn the International Diploma. The school accepts students from kindergarten through 12th grade. They come from all over the world—places like Europe, Argentina and China. It is a good place to practice French and Spanish, the second and third languages that the girls speak. Elena grew up in a bilingual household, so French is the newest language for her.
“Elena and I are very excited for the collaboration aspect of this project and partnering with First Friends,” said Lena. “We have really enjoyed getting to know Nancy and Sam and are excited to extend this collaboration to other members of the garden as well!” Ruth, Lena’s mother, introduced Sam and Lena while informing her that Sam is an alumna of the ISI. Lena and Elena met in sixth grade and have become close friends. According to Elena the ISI curriculum is rigorous but the school feels like a second home to her since she has always attended there. She thought working with a “trusted companion” would be more fun for this particular project than working with students she did not know as well. The undertaking stresses prolonged community service, planning and student initiative. Both girls preferred a project that stretched beyond the school into the outside community. They enjoy the idea of the environmental benefits of a garden.
“Both of our families enjoy gardening but our experience with it has been somewhat limited. So we are excited to learn more about it and engage with different aspects of gardening,” said Lena. The girls are discussing the possibility of starting their own fall garden plot at First Friends. Currently they are helping with the upkeep of the Hope and food pantry plots. In addition to watering, debugging and weeding, they are committed to making regular produce deliveries to the Mid-North Food Pantry. Using their initiative, they supplied and placed a bin in the garden for additional pantry donations. They have already delivered food, contributing to yet another community. They met with Chelsea and Kendal to discuss Chelsea’s plans for her Girl Scout Gold Star project: a rotating compost bin.
The new garden hands introduced themselves to other gardeners in person and on Marco Polo, an audio-video platform the gardeners use as one method to connect. The students showed the viewers signs they created for the garden.
“The inspiration for the signs came from our interest in art and design and was a way to use our pre-existing skill set within the context of the garden,” said Lena. The girls wanted to use their creativity to make aesthetically pleasing signs that would complement the flowers and plants.
“We wanted to incorporate fun and bright colors and imagine how what we made for people might make them feel,” said Elena. “We thought the signs would be homey, uplifting and make people feel welcome,” she said. They coated the signs with an indoor/outdoor varnish and kept some to re-treat the wood in the future.
“We’re so excited to become more integrated into the garden community, and this being said, we want to be available for anyone to contact us regarding any help needed in the future!” said Elena. Both girls repeatedly use the word “fun” when they describe their joint project. They want to meet more people, have many little jobs, visit often, work consistently, and be a part of their new community and its outreach. I believe we can give them a “thumbs up” on that account and a couple green thumbs besides! Welcome ladies! We are so glad to include you in our garden family!
~Nancy
Local Compost Service Available ~ Ben W’s non-profit organization Full Circle has created a compost service available to anyone located on or near the north side of Indianapolis. The service is $15 a month for bi-weekly pickup. Buckets are provided and switched out bi-weekly. Contact ben@fullcircleinitiative.org if you would like to sign up. This is an important practice for the community. The food waste collected will be turned into rich soil for community gardens in Indianapolis. The money generated from the service will likely be used to buy a truck to facilitate soil transport for community gardens.
Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for August
Northern Flicker: Special Talk
Couples who have been together for a long time have special ways of communicating. After 40 years of marriage, Naomi and I often use shortcuts as a convenient way of quickly passing on sometimes complicated thoughts and ideas. It could be a word or two, a tone of voice, or even a look, all of which can “express volumes’” It is a sharing between spouses, and also co-workers or close friends.
The Northern Flicker is a species of woodpecker that visits the Meditational Woods from March to October. I have found them on almost every visit this season. During mild winters like we have had in recent years the flicker may overwinter, especially if it can find its favorite food: ANTS!! This could be in the ground, or as I have pictured it, a colony in a stump. Notice in the picture the bright yellow underwing and undertail; the former name of this species was “Yellow-shafted Flicker.” By the way, the black moustache (malar) mark is on the male only.
Now back to communication. Like other woodpeckers, male flickers have a drum unique to flickers. The male also has a kek-kek-kek song. It is the special “flicka-flicka-flicka” call (done by either gender) that relates to the human story above. This flicka call is exclusively between the male and the female. When I am out doing a bird survey, counting the number of each species, and I mark down a flicker doing the “flicka” call, I know to look for its mate nearby. There will likely be a duet. ~Brad J
Help for Indiana Homeowners ~ Gregory W. Porter, Indiana State Representative, recently announced details about Indiana’s Hardest Hit Fund, a federally funded program that provides mortgage payment assistance to eligible Hoosier homeowners. If you or someone you know are an Indiana homeowner who has fallen behind on your mortgage payments or is unable to make future payments due to an involuntary financial hardship, the Hardest Hit Fund could help you stay in your home. For more information, click here.
Queries for the Week
(From online service)
Where might the Spirit be leading me to gain some new perspective this week?
What “mental chains” are holding me back from seeing?
In what ways am I longing for renewal, renovation, and change?
(From self-led guide)
In what areas am I struggling with being more open?
What obstacles are getting in the way of this openness?
What area might I need to focus more on this week to help me with my openness (disciplines, community, prayer, silence, being a caring presence, simple listening, adoration, or friendship)?