As Way Opens
On Labor Day, Sue, my parents, and I traveled to Chicago to spend some time in the Loop with our son, Sam. To give us his perspective, he decided to take us on a whirlwind tour of the School of the Art Institute campus and surrounding areas. If you did not know, the SAIC campus is spread out throughout the Chicago Loop and includes many tucked-away gardens and natural areas around the Art Institute.
If you have been to this area in Chicago, you probably know it for Millennium Park, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, and the famous “Bean” – which as an art student our son respectfully and correctly identifies as Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate. But what you may easily miss in this bustling urban jungle of tall buildings, large sculptures, dark alley ways, noisy elevated trains, honking cars, and lots and lots of people, is a sanctuary of sorts. With a quick turn from all the people and noise of the city, Sam introduced us to the Lurie Garden.
Suddenly, we found ourselves in what Chicago calls the city’s secret garden. Made of large plots of native plants, this space was intentionally created to offer rest and renewal for humans and wildlife alike. Sam shared with us that this is where he could go, take off his mask, and eat his lunch last year during the difficulties of being a college student during a threatening pandemic. The space with its holy silence is almost overwhelming for being surrounded by the city. As you stand within this space you feel as if you have been transported from the noise of the city to a private field in the middle of the country. The buzzing of the bees frolicking in the wildflowers, the breeze blowing through the leaves of the trees, and the water trickling down the inlaid fountains, all make this place both special and sacred. We devotionally paused to take it in.
This experience made me ponder how busy and chaotic the world around us seems and the way it blinds us from the beauty, peace, rest, and renewal awaiting us around the corner of our lives. I wondered how often people pass the Lurie Garden never even realizing it was just a step away from the hectic life just outside. It was clear from our experience in the garden that the people who entered, slowed their pace, observed the natural beauty, and breathed deep the peace and rest offered them.
This week, I hope you will take time to seek places like the Lurie Gardens in your life. You and I may be surprised by what the Divine has put just off the path of our lives to help us escape the chaos of our world.
Grace and peace,
Bob
Quaker-Affiliated Organizations
IFCL – Redistricting News ~ Friends, we are approaching the midnight hour for redistricting in Indiana.
On September 14, the House Republicans release their proposed new maps for Indiana House and Congressional districts. A mere two days later, the House Elections Committee will hold a single day of hearings at the Statehouse for the public to weigh in. Senate Republicans will release their proposed maps for the Indiana Senate on September 21, with Senate Elections Committee hearings for public comment on September 27.
In anticipation of these formal actions on redistricting, a group of half a dozen Indiana faith leaders, including Beth Henricks, participated in a press conference sponsored by All IN for Democracy in front of the chapel at the Statehouse. Their mission: to appeal to the conscience of members of the General Assembly as they embark on weighty redistricting decisions that will affect all Hoosiers for the next decade. What does their faith call them to do? A video of that event is here: (https://www.facebook.com/cacindiana/videos/3000412153562200)--a 32-minute listen that is well worth your time over a cup of coffee. It is our hope and prayer that elected members of our legislature will listen.
In the week ahead, several redistricting events are planned by All IN for Democracy, the redistricting coalition of which IFCL is a part, that you may feel led to attend. On September 13 at 8pm Eastern, there will be an online webinar to help equip anyone who wants to testify at the House Elections Committee hearings on September 16. The link to sign up is here: Webinar Registration - Zoom. On September 16--the date of the actual hearings--there will be a rally at noon on the Statehouse steps to call for fair maps. And a phonebanking/textbanking event to contact your elected representatives directly about fair maps is in the works (date to be determined). Please stay tuned for further details, and hold our representatives in the Light. Thank you.
Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities
Health & Safety Update ~ Now that the Meetinghouse has reopened, the Reopening Committee has dissolved and health and safety policy is now agreed upon by Clerk’s Council. Here is the current policy:
· We ask folks to continue wearing masks while inside the building - if a small group is meeting and everyone is vaccinated, then folks can take off the masks. We continue to monitor the Covid numbers in Indiana.
· The choir will sing on Sept 26th, and will have singing masks.
· The kids will gather for children’s worship with masks for all.
· Fellowship hour will continue with individual snacks and coffee and water/coffee with individually poured drinks.
Shawn P’s Last Performances ~ As we say goodbye to Shawn as our organist at the end of this calendar year, we would like to share the dates that Shawn will be playing the organ at the Meetinghouse, in case you’d like to be there for some of his last days on the bench! Look for Shawn during Meeting for Worship on Sep 12, 19; Oct 10, 17; Nov 14, 21; Dec 5, 12, & 19.
USHERS and GREETERS Needed - Interested in serving the Meeting by volunteering as an usher or greeter? We are very short-handed at this time. Contact Jim Kartholl at jkartholl8@gmail.com or call/text 317-507-9751 if you can help out.
2021 Fall Kickoff! ~ We are excited for this year’s fall kickoff which will begin on Sunday, September 12th. Everyone is invited to wear your favorite sports team gear that day!
· Seeking Friends will meet in person and by Zoom at 9:00am. We will pick up where we left off in “Everything is Sacred” by Richard Rohr and Patrick Boland. Join us via Zoom at the meeting time by clicking this link: https://bit.ly/SeekingFriends.
· We will have two children’s worship classes (older and younger kids) who will meet during the service and will be back in our kids rooms.
· Nursery service will be available.
· At this time, there will be no Sunday school for children or youth.
· Youth Group will meet that day after Meeting for Worship with Aaron and Michelle and will have lunch and games starting at 11:30.
We hope to see everyone that day in their sports outfits! Please join us.
Gnostic Gospel Group by Ed M ~ Hello Friends! Lately I have been reading the Gospels with a mind to read ALL of them. By all of them I mean the non-canonical or Gnostic Gospels as well as the common ones we usually think of.
There are some very interesting facts about the so-called Gnostic writers. One is that generally they recognized the feminine aspect of the Divine much more than Catholic fathers.
I would like to get a study group together to study the Gospels with an emphasis on the Gnostic or newly discovered texts that we now have available. Would you like to join me? This would not be a Sunday school class so it would meet at a time that group members can agree on.
If you are interested in this possibility email, contact the meeting office (office@indyfriends.org, 317-255-2485). ~Ed M
Men’s Book Group, led by Kent F~ A couple of years ago, we started a men’s book group at First Friends. We meet every two weeks, usually a group of four gathering on Wednesday or Thursday evenings at seven to catch up and discuss the portion of the current book we've agreed to read. We take turns recommending books, which has led to a wide variety including history, inspirational and fiction. We've all enjoyed reading books we would not have chosen for ourselves, that have turned out to be challenging and delightful. Plus, hearing other perspectives in our discussions has been insightful and rewarding.
We are excited to grow this group with new members, and look forward to the diversity you can add to the group. If you are interested, contact the office- office@indyfriends.org.
Men’s Threshing Together ~ If you are interested in gathering with other men who mull over current issues or topics, where all points of view are heard, no decisions are made, and all in a non-threatening atmosphere over a meal, then Threshing Together is for you! Join us for our next in-person meeting on Thursday, September 16 at 7:00pm. See locations for 2021 here.
Participate in our "Sponsor a College Student" project! Just select a college student and send them notes, cards, treats, etc throughout the school year so they feel connected. We still have five students who need sponsored: Sam A, Sam M, Eli S, Isaiah S, and Sam W. If you’d like to participate, please email the office at office@indyfriends.org or see the posterboard in the Meetinghouse. Please consider connecting with our students this year!
Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for September
Turkey Vulture: Sanitary Worker
As a child I made friends with the workers who drove trucks through our neighborhood: the milkman, who gave us ice to suck on; the garbage man, who showed me how to work the handle to compact the trash; and especially the ice cream truck driver (no explanation needed). Sometimes I felt sorry for the trash worker who rode on the back of the truck, and lifted the trash cans, even in the pouring rain or 95 degree heat. I learned that there are some unpleasant jobs, and I learned to appreciate those who do them.
This month’s bird, the Turkey Vulture, can be seen any month from March to November, but especially now, soaring over the meeting property. It especially likes to perch on the high tension towers. As it soars, seldom flapping, it is using its large nostrils to try to smell a dead animal below, and if it does, oh boy…lunch!! Notice the bare head, which resembles in a way, the head of a turkey (hence its name). This lack of head feathers enables vultures to get right down into their meal. Any “material” left on their head will dry, and can easily be scratched off. Turkey Vultures search in groups, and will share a meal.
These birds do a great job in helping clear our property of dead rabbits, opossums, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, birds, and any similar creature!! Last month I laid the dead owl in the meadow near the towers. Now you know why. I would not want to be a vulture, but I sure do appreciate them!! ~Brad J
Joe Roberts to Speak on D. C. Stephenson of the KKK and the Indiana Trial that Helped Bring Down the Klan in the 1920s ~ Joe Roberts, retired attorney and Quaker from Noblesville Friends Church, will speak about the notorious D. C. Stephenson, former Indiana Grand Dragon, and the Ku Klux Klan, a notorious white supremacist hate group. He will speak on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 10 a. m. at First Friends in Indianapolis. His father, Justin Roberts, was Hamilton County Prosecutor at the time of the famous trial that convicted Stevenson of the abduction, rape and murder of a young state education official, Madge Oberholtzer. The aftermath of the trial helped rid Indiana of many corrupt politicians and aided in drastically reducing Klan membership by tens of thousands across the country. This is a fascinating personal story, told from a Quaker perspective, about local history that impacted the nation in the 1920s when Indiana was a stronghold of the KKK, a hate group which still exists today.
Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading would like you to join us from virtually anywhere in the world as we discuss The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See.
Set on the Korean island of Jeju, The Island of Sea Women follows Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls from very different backgrounds, as they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective. Over many decades—through the Japanese colonialism of the 1930s and 1940s, World War II, the Korean War, and the era of cellphones and wet suits for the women divers—Mi-ja and Young-sook develop the closest of bonds. Nevertheless, their differences are impossible to ignore: Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, forever marking her, and Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers. After hundreds of dives and years of friendship, forces outside their control will push their relationship to the breaking point.
This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a unique and unforgettable culture, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous physical work, and the men take care of the children. A classic Lisa See story—one of women’s friendships and the larger forces that shape them—The Island of Sea Women introduces readers to the fierce female divers of Jeju Island and the dramatic history that shaped their lives.
We will gather at Ruth K’s house outdoors and via Zoom starting at 7 pm EST on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 led by Carolyn T
Queries for the Week
Are we preparing ourselves for something new to be birthed amongst us?
What new beginning might we have the opportunity to embrace if we prepare ourselves?
And how are we responding to the endings happening around us?
Are we holding on to them?
Are we fearing them?
Are we glorifying them?
Are we seeing them as a failure?
Are we worried there will be no new beginnings?