As Way Opens
This past Monday, I had the honor of participating in the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration presented by the Shalom Zone Communities of Faith and hosted by Cross and Crown Lutheran Church. It was a beautiful celebration, but one thing that has continued to speak to me was the presentation of The Drum Major for Justice Award.
This year’s recipient was RecycleForce of Indianapolis. For those who are not familiar with Recycle Force, they are a non-profit organization that is committed to reducing crime through employment and job training, while improving the environment through electronics recycling.
After the drums sounded, Andrew King, Director of Inventory and Product Control at RecycleForce came forward to receive the award and share some words. Andrew was there for more than just accepting the award. He also came to give testimony to RecylceForce’s work and the change that was made possible in his life. Andrew told us of being incarcerated and afterwards being released to live under an overpass. Because of the “Good Samaritans” at RecycleForce, Andrew’s life was changed forever, and he was given a second chance. It was a moving testimony.
Dr. King spoke just before his death that after he was dead and gone, he hoped that people say he was drum major - a drum major for justice, a drum major for peace, a drum major for righteousness. Each of us are being called to be “drum majors” in our communities - to lead in the cause of justice, peace, and righteousness and help set the pace for others to follow.
I am deeply blessed that our Shalom Zone Communities of Faith work with RecycleForce. And I am thankful they are seen as a drum major for change in people’s lives and making this world a healthier and safer place to live.
For more information about RecycleForce, go to RecyceForce.org.
Grace and peace,
Bob
Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities
IMPORTANT NOTICE: January Meeting for Worship ~ Clerks council has decided to suspend in-person programmed Sunday worship services. Unprogrammed services will still happen via Zoom, except for Sunday Unprogrammed which will also happen in-person at 9am Sundays January 23 & 30. For the official statement, click here.
Office Notice ~ Please note that our Office Administrator Rebecca will be gone until January 31. During this time Bob and Beth will answer calls and emails and cover office duties. If you are in need of something, please bear with the office during that time!
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! Please note that there will be no Men’s Threshing Together meeting for January. We plan to pick it back up in February. Please see the schedule here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11F_3lXxX3ZNRAW1yoowKrA2H2iDDLqvP/view
You’re Invited to Alhuda Mosque Tour- POSTPONED ~ Our trip to Alhuda Mosque in Fishers has been postponed to Saturday, February 12th at 10:00am. We will have a tour and a time for questions and answers. Please let Beth know if you would like to join us—there is still time to sign up!
Adult Quaker Affirmation POSTPONED ~ Please note that our adult Quaker Affirmation class series start date has been postponed to begin on Sunday, February 6th, from 11:30-1:00. This is an 8-week study of what it means to be a Quaker. It will cover Quaker history, theology, and what Quakers are doing in the world today. Spots are still open! If you’re interested, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org
Save the Date – Mark your calendar for Saturday May 7th for a day retreat called the Linda Lee spirituality gathering where we will examine and experience a mystical life in a practical way. The retreat will run from 10:00 – 4:00 at the Benedictine Center. Linda Lee’s books will be available. Retreat cost is $30. More information will follow.
FCNL: Setting Quaker Lobbying Priorities for the 118th Congress ~ Every two years, Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) asks Friends around the country for help in setting the focus of our advocacy work. Starting now until mid-April, you and your community of Friends can participate in this discernment process to influence the priorities that we at FCNL will advocate for during the next Congress starting in 2023. Join us for our January Quaker Changemaker event to get inspiration from Friends’ experiences bringing Friends together through this process and get ready to engage your community to do the same.
Register to join the conversation on Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. EST.
Current Field Committee clerk Deb Hejl and former Policy Committee clerk Alex Stark will discuss the FCNL priorities process with moderator Bobby Trice. Learn what engaging in this process can look like, and then bring this knowledge to your Quaker communities to inform FCNL’s legislative agenda.
To register and for more information, visit https://www.fcnl.org/events/setting-quaker-lobbying-priorities-118th-congress.
Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading would like you to join us from virtually anywhere in the world as we discuss The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich ~ Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction ~ Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.
Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new “emancipation” bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress. It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill isn’t about freedom; Congress is fed up with Indians. The bill is a “termination” that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity. How can the government abandon treaties made in good faith with Native Americans “for as long as the grasses shall grow, and the rivers run”? Since graduating high school, Pixie Paranteau has insisted that everyone call her Patrice. Unlike most of the girls on the reservation, Patrice, the class valedictorian, has no desire to wear herself down with a husband and kids. She makes jewel bearings at the plant, a job that barely pays her enough to support her mother and brother. Patrice’s shameful alcoholic father returns home sporadically to terrorize his wife and children and bully her for money. But Patrice needs every penny to follow her beloved older sister, Vera, who moved to the big city of Minneapolis. Vera may have disappeared; she hasn’t been in touch in months, and is rumored to have had a baby. Determined to find Vera and her child, Patrice makes a fateful trip to Minnesota that introduces her to unexpected forms of exploitation and violence, and endangers her life.
We will gather via Zoom starting at 7 pm EST on Tuesday, January 25th led by Rhonda C.
Here is the NYTimes review:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/books/review/night-watchman-louise-erdrich.html
First Friends Financial Update: The Finance and Development Committee expresses gratitude to the First Friends family for financial support of the Meeting throughout 2021. As reported at the January Monthly Meeting, First Friends closed the year with a financial surplus, reversing the losses of 2020. Thank you to all who have donated, and your continued support in 2022 is much appreciated.
Scholarship Opportunity – Noblesville Friends is offering six $500 scholarships in different areas of study for undergraduates and graduate studies. Applications should be submitted between January 15th and March 30th. Go to www.noblesvillefriends.org/scholarship.php for application and recommendation form.
Queries for the Week
· How have you allowed the myth of time- the “strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills” to impede you from action?
· Have we spent much time contemplating something “radical,” i.e., a solution that goes to the root of the problem, that questions the most fundamental of our assumptions?
· How are you personally inspired by Dr. King’s dogged commitment to the writing of this letter in the direst of circumstances? How can you take action?