As Way Opens
Tonight, I am struggling for words, because as I type this “As Way Opens” I am being updated by my F/friends in Silverton, Oregon (where our family moved from before coming to Indiana) regarding the impending wildfires that have them currently at a Level 3 evacuation of the town.
I have never seen anything quite like this in all my time on earth or especially while living out in the Pacific Northwest. From the photos which our friends are sharing, the sky in the surrounding area has literally turned red and the streets of the city are filled with smoke. It looks apocalyptic to say the least. Some friends even made some awkward jokes of that nature, to make it seem a bit easier as they packed children and important possessions into their vehicles and headed to the coast or to family member’s homes out of harm’s way.
And to think, today, was the first day back to school in Silverton, Oregon. Obviously, the day was cut short as many had to leave class early to get ready to evacuate. I cannot fathom the emotions, confusion, and utter frustration on top of all that they have faced already with the pandemic.
These truly are unprecedented times, especially when it has become almost common place to receive alerts from friends that they have been “marked safe” from fires, hurricanes, protests, Covid 19, and so much more. And in reality, so many others are not “marked safe” and are still struggling.
Will you join me this day in holding in the Light the people of Silverton, Oregon and the surrounding areas, the firefighters sacrificing their lives, as well as those suffering throughout our nation trying to put out the many “fires” they are facing.
Lord have mercy,
Bob
Quaker-Affiliated Organizations
To the Women of Western Yearly Meeting
From Lynn Peery Mills, Presiding Clerk of USFW-Western (lynnpmills@gmail.com)
The Pandemic we’re experiencing is giving us opportunities to evaluate the ways we’ve done things in the past and to envision how we might want to do them differently in the future. As some of you know, what we call the United Society of Friends Women (USFW) began here in Western Yearly Meeting in the 1850’s because sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ worldwide was becoming more important to Christians everywhere than it had been previously and Quakers had no formal way for that to happen. Quaker women were joining missions groups from other denominations in order to meet this need. A woman from White Lick Meeting (Mooresville, Indiana), Eliza Armstrong Cox, decided that Friends needed their own group, so she founded what we know as USFW. Our mothers and grandmothers attended USFW meetings regularly and raised money for the places around the world that Quakers felt called to go to share the Gospel.
Times have changed. Many of us still feel that keeping the connections we have with Quakers around the world is vital and many of them still can benefit from our financial contributions. However, we can easily see needs nearer to home that cry out for our attention. Also, many of our mothers and grandmothers did not work outside of the home so they found the meetings of USFW to be enjoyable times of fellowship. Most of us, however, do work outside the home, or did before we retired, and we have found other places to meet our fellowship needs. Another change that I see is that we feel pulled in so many directions that we need ways to meet our own spiritual needs rather than being asked to do something more. Hence, attendance at USFW events and general interest in the work of USFW has dwindled considerably.
As I think about life after the Pandemic subsides, I wonder what you women of Western Yearly Meeting (WYM) would find beneficial? How can we combine keeping in touch with Quakers in other countries, addressing needs in our own communities, and meeting our needs for spiritual renewal and fellowship? I would enjoy hearing from you about things you are doing to meet needs in your communities, ways you are keeping in touch with Quakers around the world, and suggestions for WYM women to deepen our spiritual life together. As you can see, my email address is at the top of this letter.
As have many groups during the Pandemic, the WYM women’s group has been pretty dormant this year. We are, however, having our Fall Conference via Zoom on September 22nd from 9:00 a.m. to noon. We will hear Betty Heshelman, from Mooresville Meeting, share about the trip she and her husband, John, took to Ramallah, Palestine, in 2019 to visit the Quaker schools there, and we’ll be hearing from Crystal Vance, a devotional speaker and writer from Plainfield, sharing with us words of encouragement for challenging times. I hope you will consider joining us that morning. More details will be forthcoming in early September, both about the conference and about using Zoom, in case you aren’t familiar with it.
Women of First Friends, we encourage you to ponder this and give your feedback to Lynn at the email address above!
WYM and FUM 2020 Mission Projects: Each year Western Yearly Meeting (“WYM”) and Friends United Meeting (“FUM”) designate mission projects for us to consider and help. WYM is a Quaker organization of which First Friends is a member and consists of approximately 32 monthly meetings located in Indiana and Illinois. FUM is a Quaker international organization based in Richmond, Indiana and consists of a number of yearly meetings around the world. These mission projects are the primary way that folks at First Friends can assist Quakers in parts of the world that can use our help.
The WYM project for 2020 is for the benefit of the Belize Friends School. The school needs financial assistance for its operating expenses and the WYM goal is to raise $15,000. You might recall that in 2017 WYM also designated Belize as its project but monies raised at that time were designated for re-locating the school and expanded ministries including community services and the starting of a Friends meeting. Many of you knew Dale Graves, a member of Mooresville’s West Newton Friends, who poured his heart and soul into the Belize school and surrounding area and was the driving force that enabled the Belize school and Friends meeting to become what it is today. While Dale is no longer with us, there is no doubt that Dale would be very proud of the ongoing efforts to improve the Belize school and Belize Friends meeting.
The FUM project is to assist the Friends in Turkana who are celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Turkana Friends Mission. Turkana Friends was founded in 1970 in Kalokol, Kenya. It began as a project of East Africa Yearly Meeting and FUM. Turkana Friends Mission has grown from one location to a vibrant multi-site Quaker community that, among other things, oversees six nursery schools and six primary schools. The number of meetings in Turkana Friends Mission has increased dramatically in the past few decades from seven village meetings in 2002 to twenty-five meetings in 2019.
We at First Friends Indianapolis seem far removed from our fellow Quakers around the world and FUM and WYM are organizations that help connect us through worthy projects each year. Please help these Quakers in Belize and Turkana as you are led. Checks should be made to First Friends with a notation as to whether the monies should go to (WYM) Belize, (FUM) Turkana, or split between these projects. Thank you.
Thank you to Sylvia Noble for sharing this piece of writing from the Quaker Earthcare Witness newsletter. If you’d like to sign up for the newsletter, please visit www.quakerearthcare.org.
I am a tree
By Cai Quirk
I am a tree, rooted in the bedrock of divine love. I am no longer trying to be a stone wall or surround myself with one. Walls are strong but they divide, are inflexible, less connected to the earth and the divine. A tree is rooted, grounded, yet flexible. A tree can bend in the wind or under snow, shifting back and healing any damage once the pressure has passed. A tree cannot live without the ground that roots it in standing tall, cannot live without others around it exchanging gifts. Trees give gifts of fruit, shade, cleansed air, homes for many species, and are given gifts by bees pollinating flowers, animals carrying seeds to new places, sun giving light to turn to food, rain nourishing roots, joyous birds singing in their branches. Trees carry messages to each other on the winds and through the earth. When one doesn’t have enough nutrients, others share through underground root systems. They support one another. They can grow and change. They are all unique. They can heal from wounds. They live in balance, yet flowing with the cycles of seasons. Their branches make music in the wind. They do not try to be something they are not. Changes are not immediately seen. They are in cycles of growth as they are meant to be. When a branch breaks or is cut off, more growth springs up in new places. They aren’t proving anything to the world, just living into their true selves, rooted and grounded in divine love, water from deep within the divine earth running through all veins, infusing each and every cell.
Joys & Concerns
Friends in Meltzer Woods ~ Thanks to Mary B for sharing these photos of Friends walking in Meltzer Woods preserve! These trying times can still be an opportunity to see new things!
Many thanks to our food pantry volunteers last week! Linda and Rik L; Phil G; David B; Christie M; Carol and Jim D and newcomer and fast learner, Penny P. We were glad to have Penny join the volunteer group as several of our regular helpers were unable to assist. Thanks to Penny and all our volunteers for assisting 70 families.
Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities
Indy Festival of Faiths – Celebrating FaithFully ~ The 8th Annual Indy Festival of Faiths will be celebrated online on Sunday September 13, 2020 from 1:00-2:30 pm. The theme for this year’s festival is Celebrating FaithFully: Our Faith, Our Traditions, Our Cultures, and Our Community. We hope that you will join us for Indiana’s largest celebration of our rich religious diversity. This is a wonderful family friendly event for all ages. We encourage you to have a viewing party with your family, cast it to the family TV, or meet up online for a virtual viewing party. Watch the Festival live on Facebook and engage with us during the livestream. Each year, Center for Interfaith Cooperation (CIC), hosts Festival of Faiths to advance the core message of their mission to increase religious literacy, build empathy for folks with a different faith background, and create opportunities for open and candid conversation about religion. The CIC is partnering with Jill Ditmire to broadcast the event live from the WFYI’s studios where many of the interviews were pre-recorded. To experience Festival of Faiths, go to: www.festivaloffaiths.com. Live stream the event from their Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CenterForInterfaithCooperation And their YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnS_sLXEjVshQ9RhzKJVPVw. See you all on Sunday!
Small Group Meetings. If you are part of a small group that would like to meet at First Friends – or are interested in joining a group – please let us know. First Friends will potentially start opening the building to small group meetings starting in October. All gatherings will be limited in size, and participants will be required to wear face coverings and follow other social distancing protocols. If you are interested, please notify the office at: office@indyfriends.org or 317-255-2485.
Our current available meetings:
Unprogrammed worship - Mondays at 11:15am
Unprogrammed worship - Wednesdays at 6:45pm
Unprogrammed worship - Sundays at 9:00am
Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading
Men’s book club
Serenity Now
Women’s book club
Men’s Threshing Together
Seeking Friends book class (starting Sept 20th 9:00 a.m. on Sunday)
Kids Pre-k through 1st grade Sunday School class (starting Sept 20th at 9:00-9:30am on Sunday)
2nd - 5th grade Sunday School class (starting Sept 20th at 12:00 - 12:30pm on Sunday)
Youth Group will start on Sunday Sept 27th at 1:00 - 2:30 (future gatherings to be determined after this kick off)
Silent Meetings for Worship on Zoom!
Starting September 13th at 9 am, we will gather for Meeting for Silent Worship each Sunday
Join us for Meditation every Monday at 11:15 am
Wednesday Unprogrammed Worship meets every Wednesday at 7 pm.
Courtyard Friends: Weather permitting, join us as we meet in person simultaneously with our Zoom Friends on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays in the courtyard (6 feet away) at the Meeting House. Wear a mask, bring a chair, and a tablet or phone if you’d like to personally sign onto the Zoom link from the courtyard. Restrooms are available.
Send us your pictures! Because we still can’t be together in person, we are asking people and their families to dress in their favorite sports apparel, take a photo, and send your photos to the office so we can include them in the Sunday service on September 20th, which will be our Sunday School kickoff. Please submit to office@indyfriends.org before Wednesday, September 16!! We can’t wait to see you and your family!
Homemade Pickle Recipes:
Watermelon and Beet from Family Archives
Phil G. read about Nolan’s watermelons in an earlier Community Garden article. His memory stirred and he remembered the watermelon rind pickles his mother, Ruth, used to make. That recipe was handed down from her mother, Dolly. I think the making of watermelon rind pickles is becoming a lost art. It takes a little time scattered over several days. Have you ever eaten watermelon pickles? Phil vouches for them. Here is the recipe:
Dolly ‘s Watermelon Pickles
Cut off green and pink portions of rind into 1 x 1.5 inch pcs. (3 qts. Or 5 lbs. rind, full recipe. I use ½ a watermelon and you probably would, too.) Soak at least 4 hrs. submerged in bottle of Lilly’s SLAKED LIME (calcium hydroxide—see drug store), and cold water. Drain and rinse well. If you can’t get Slaked Lime, get Alum from grocery store and use 2 T. Rinse well when it says rinse well. [Phil discovered that Lilly’s Pharmaceuticals stopped making slaked lime over 20 years ago. A Google search yielded Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime as a modern alternative sold at WalMart but he is uncertain of the quality or the amount to use.] Put rind in stainless steel pot. Cover with water and 1 T. salt. Boil until tender. Cool. Rinse. Begin the following: 1st Day. Boil 9 cups sugar, 1 qt. cider vinegar, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 T. whole cloves, 1 slice candy ginger, or 2 ginger roots, or ½ tsp. cracked ginger. Add 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and pour over rind in large pot. Repeat operation of heating juice and pouring over rind 4 times, over every day for 4 days. Let stand on back of stove during this time. On 4th day—Heat up juice. Pour over rind and pack into jars, heated. Insert piece of orange rind and lemon in ½ jar and on top. Seal. Push down rind and fruit with freezer paper, crumpled, to keep fruit covered with juice. Seal with rubber rings and seal tightly.
Yield, 6-7 2 ½ cups jars
Notes – While cutting rind, keep it in cold water. This sounds very complicated but it is not. It just has several steps. Slicing the watermelon (potato peeler best for the green part of rind) is the most tedious part. Bon appétit!
Love, Mom
I wash jars well, then put them in a 300-degree oven until I use each one for sealing. ~R.
Here is another pickle recipe from my family:
Great Aunt Eva’s Beet Pickles
Select medium size beets. Snip tops about 1 inch from beets. Scrub thoroughly. Cook in covered kettle with water about covering. When done slip the skins.
Take 1 cup of liquid in which beets were cooked—add 1 cup of vinegar and one of sugar.
Heat the beets in this liquid and seal hot.
These are a beautiful color, easy to make, and far tastier than the grocer’s canned pickled beets.
~Nancy
Small Drops Make a Big Impact! The average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day at home. If we manage our water resources wisely now, we will help prevent shortages in the future. Watch this clever YouTube video by Clear Choices Clean Water for more info: https://youtu.be/GNRleS33BxU.
Men’s Threshing Together ~ Hey Men! Join us for a Zoom Happy Hour with Men's Threshing Together on Thursday, September 17 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, contact the office for the Zoom information.
We are excited to begin offering Sunday School again this year—this time, virtually! Sunday School will officially kick off on Sunday, September 20. Our Seeking Friends class will meet via Zoom at 9am, and will be continuing their Rob Bell book. We will also have Sunday school classes for kids. The younger kids will meet on Zoom at 9am for a half hour, and older kids will meet via Zoom at noon for a half hour. All these classes will be offered at the same time each Sunday. Be on the lookout soon for Zoom links and information.
Our Library is Available through Mail! With the wonderful work done by the Library committee, we are happy to announce that you can now request library books to be mailed to your home! To see what books are available, simply search the online catalog here: https://www.librarycat.org/lib/john.moorma. When you’ve found a book you’d like to check out, contact the office at office@indyfriends.org or 317-255-2485 and we will mail the book out the following Wednesday. Mail or bring the book back when you’re done!
Perhaps you’d like to check out one of these NEW additions to our library, all centered on race, a very pertinent topic in our country today.
Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo
How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
So You Want to talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
The New Jim Crow; Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander
Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum
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 know 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
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.
Queries for the Week
(From online service)
What imaginative, loving expressions may I offer to make a difference in overcoming the evil in the world?
What vengeances must I forego to help end the cycle of violence, bring healing, and restore the world to wholeness and peace?
Where will I look for God’s universal and uniting truths that transcend nationalistic identities?
(From self-led guide)
What is making me tired, currently? Where might I need to pause and take a break this week?
Do I believe in the midst of this pandemic and all the unrest in our world that I am not alone?
What “rainbows” am I seeing that remind me of God’s promises and draw my eyes to the light breaking through the darkness of life?