HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Let our hearts be full of both, thanks and giving.
From all of us at First Friends, we hope you have a wonderful holiday!
Quaker-Affiliated Organizations
Right Sharing of World Resources -- Something to Give Thanks For!
With Thanksgiving approaching, Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) offers a way for us to think about all we have that we so often take for granted. This "gratitude calendar," available in both adult and children's versions (see links below), lists one item a day for each day of November. For each item earning a "thank you," participants are invited to give a small donation to Right Sharing. A way of giving to Right Sharing while becoming more aware of the many things we have to be grateful for…
Give 1 cent for every electric outlet in your home
Give 1 cent for every bike, ball, skateboard, Frisbee
Give 1 cent for every faucet in your home
Give 25 cents for the right to vote...
In gratitude for the support of First Friends of RSWR over the past year. -- Phil Goodchild
https://rswr.org/gratitude-calendar
https://rswr.org/sites/default/files/2018-06/Adult-Gratitude-Calendar.pdf
https://rswr.org/sites/default/files/2018-06/Childrens-Gratitude-Calendar.pdf
Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities
Office Hours & Friend to Friend Next Week ~ Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the office is closed both today and tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
NOTICE: Monday Worship Change of Time ~ Please note that Meditational Worship on Mondays is being permanently rescheduled to 12pm starting this Monday, November 29. Worship will conclude at 12:45pm.
Blue Christmas Service & Luncheon ~ All are invited to our special Blue Christmas service which will be held during Meeting for Worship this Sunday, November 28. We will honor loved ones who have passed. This service recognizes the struggles that many people face during this season. After meeting for worship, we’ll meet in the parlor to share a light lunch and fellowship and have a facilitated discussion about our losses and grief. If you’d like to join us for this gathering, please RSVP to the office (office@indyfriends.org) and let us know how many people you plan to bring.
College Care packages - It is time to send care packages to our college students as they prepare for their exams at school. We are asking that everyone help fill the boxes with goodies like candy, cookies, cards, and other treats. Please bring enough for all 12 of our college students. Don’t have time to shop? We will gladly accept monetary donations! Just leave your check in the offering plate on Sunday with the notation “college packages” or donate online at www.indyfriends.org/support and choose “College care packages”. Please make sure all donations are in by Monday, November 29. Thank you for your support!
LAST CHANCE to Order Poinsettias! You can order red or white Poinsettias in 6-inch pots for $8.00 each. All orders must be submitted to the office by THIS SUNDAY, November 28th. Order forms are available each Sunday, or you can place an order at https://forms.gle/fEm2tdEMhKUYg1jr6. You can pay by sending a check to the office with the notation of "poinsettias"; or visit https://www.indyfriends.org/support to pay electronically. Under funds choose "Flower Order.” Happy Holidays!
Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading would like you to join us from virtually anywhere in the world as we discuss Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl
Growing up in Alabama, Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents--her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father--and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child's transition to caregiver.
And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds--the natural one and our own--"the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love's own twin."
Illustrated by the author's brother, Billy Renkl, Late Migrations is an assured and memorable debut.
We will gather at the Meeting House and via Zoom starting at 7 pm EST on Tuesday, November 30, 2021 led by Sue H.
First Friends Financial Update: The Meeting seeks financial support. We are experiencing a significant deficit, and your help is needed to close the gap. To donate online, go to: indyfriends.org/support/#givenow, or text to give at 317-768-0303.
Other means of helping are available through automatic giving, stock gifts, estate planning, and donation of IRA Required Minimum Distributions. For more information, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org or 317-255-2485.
Additionally, members and attenders are encouraged to visit the 2022 pledge webform to plan ahead for next year.
First Friends Commits to Co-sponsor an Afghan Family with Exodus Refugee ~
Congratulations First Friends for making a 90-day commitment to co-sponsor a family of Afghan evacuees with Exodus Refugee. Monthly Meeting approved the request from a core group of vetted volunteers and helpers who have been preparing the way for weeks. The whole Monthly Meeting is now supporting this effort.
First Friends will help set up a household and assist the Afghans to become acclimated to a whole new way of life in Indianapolis. Monthly Meeting is agreeing to raise $5,000 to support this effort.
The following write-up is shared by a seasoned volunteer.
Thanksgiving
When you sign up to help an immigrant family, maybe you would rather not because you are already so busy. But you tell yourself, "It's just a couple hours, and someone should help those people." When you meet the family, you may find them bitter or depressed. Fearful and dependent. Or demanding, asking, for too much. You may feel the family is like a stranger whose true persona is a mystery. You may struggle to make simple conversation when there are so few common words among you.
But one day you may find that enough words do come, and you may realize that someone who was a stranger has the driest, funniest sense of humor, is artistic and playful and hopeful and has born more sorrow and violation than you can ever imagine.
Eventually your own busy life may seem more expendable, so you may be inconvenienced because old cars always break down when the weather is worst. Sometimes, you may find yourself making seven trips to the license branch because if anything can go wrong for an immigrant, it most certainly will at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Or you may decide to sit with a family member at the emergency room for six hours, begging the doctor to pull strings at Medicaid to get the right medicine. You may even find yourself jumping on trampoline with the kids, the arcade's music blasting your eardrums numb because the parents have spent months cooped up with their children in a shelter, 24/7, and they need some time off.
When you decide to help an immigrant family, you may have to say, no, I can't help with that today. Or why don't you talk to your caseworker about that. But if your official or unofficial capacity permits it, you also may have to accept gifts from the family for the sake of their dignity: The snacks they receive from the food pantry that your husband is fond of. A homemade meal of goat meat, greens and rice. A blouse that the family thinks would look beautiful on you, purchased with a voucher they were supposed to spend on themselves.
Then one day you may realize that the people you think you have signed up to help, have actually been helping you all along. You may find that you have grown a heart, awakened to your blessings and allowed yourself to love and be loved in return. You may feel that the strangers from a strange land have somehow become family, and their great faith in God and in you has restored your faith in the world and yourself. For all this you may fall on your knees, thankful to a depth you have never felt before.
Vespers Annual Concert~ On Sunday, December 5th at 5:30pm we invite you to attend our annual Vespers concert, this year themed, “A Season to Celebrate!” The choir and a variety of our performers will be performing and it should be quite a delight. Following the concert there will be a complimentary catered dinner of Olive Garden, hosted by our Fellowship Committee. To help with planning, please RSVP here! We hope you plan to join us for the evening!
Annual Christmas Tea ~ Please join us on December 12th immediately after worship for the annual Christmas Tea. There will be lots of cookies and punch and fellowship. (For health and safety, cookies will be served rather than grab-your-own.) If you can donate cookies, they can be dropped off on December 11th from 10am-12pm, or on the morning of Sunday, December 12th. For more information, contact the office. Happy holidays!
WYM Looking for Associate Superintendent ~ Western Yearly Meeting of Friends Church (WYM) has an executive-level position open for Associate Superintendent. This newly-created position assists in providing support and leadership to WYM and reports directly to the General Superintendent. WYM consists of 33 meetings in Western and Southern Indiana and the Chicago area. Click here to view the position description. Applications, including a resume and three references, are due to scottmwym@att.net by December 10, 2021. Beginning date for successful applicant will be March 2022.
Afghan Family Assistance ~ First Friends recently approved becoming a co-sponsor of an Afghan family that is resettling in Indianapolis. As you are likely aware, the Afghans who resettle in the United States are folks who have assisted the United States in its longstanding effort to bring stability to Afghanistan. Most of these folks have come to the U.S. with nothing but the clothes on their backs and perhaps a small suitcase. We anticipate that a family will be assigned to First Friends very soon. Your help is needed for this “Whole Meeting” project. In addition to providing assistance in setting up an apartment; employment; English tutoring; registration for school and selective service; banking and finance; transportation and other activities, First Friends needs to raise funds to support this effort. Our goal is $5,000. We hope to achieve most of this goal yet this year but will also accept donations in January 2022. Checks should be written and sent to First Friends with “Afghan Family” noted in the memo section. Or you can donate on our website at indyfriends.org/support by choosing “Afghan Evacuee Assistance” as the fund or text 317-768-0303 with keyword “Afghan.” If you plan to make a contribution in 2022, we would appreciate that you send a note to First Friends with the amount that you intend to contribute in 2022. Time is running short in 2021 so your prompt response is appreciated. Quakers and other churches have always been eager to assist folks who have been victims through no fault of their own. Our time is now. Please help as you are led and are able. Thank you.
Queries for the Week
· As you center down, take a moment to thank whatever you name the Divine in your life for the blessings you have.
· Keep your ears and hearts open to the nudging of the Spirit - what is the Spirit asking of you this morning?
· And then take a moment to look around and sense your fellow Friends (the blessed company and holy fellowship) around you. How are they a sacrament to you in this silence?