As Way Opens
This past Sunday, First Friends participated in the Indy Festival of Faiths hosted by the Center for Interfaith Cooperation. This was the nineth annual event in Indianapolis. For the last two years this event was held virtually due to the ongoing pandemic. Even though this year we were in a new location, Military Park at White River State Park made for a wonderful gathering place. The weather cooperated beautifully making it a nearly perfect ambiance for mingling among the many booths, listening to the sacred music, watching the fashion show, and having conversations with people of different faiths.
This year our Quaker booth was hosted by Friends from our Meeting, as well as Fairfield, Valley Mills, and North Meadow Friends Meetings. Beth H and Ed M represented First Friends by caring our banner in the parade of faiths to kick off the event. Throughout the day we interacted with a variety of people with a plethora of different backgrounds at our booth. We were excited to see the number of young adults interested in the Quaker Way. As usual, many were surprised that Quakers still exist outside their history books – another reason we need to be present at these events.
Many thanks go to Ed M for organizing this effort, our First Friends Ministry and Council for their financial support, and all those from First Friends who worked the booth and shared the Quaker Way. It was also good to have so many from First Friends attend the festival and stop by our booth to say, “Hi.” Even, our new superintendent, Shawn McConaughey and his wife Katrina stopped by for a while.
In a world where religious differences too often separate people and communities, this event continues to help the people of Indianapolis learn to work together, celebrate with one another, and respect our growing muti-faith society. Be watching in September of 2023 for how you too can participate in the next Festival of Faiths.
Grace and peace,
Bob
Joys & Concerns
Festival of Faiths a Success! Ed M would like to send thanks to all the people who made our participation in the Festival of Faiths possible this year. Thank you to Beth, Bob, Kathy and Bill F, and Sara and Mike B. We were joined by folks from Fairfield, Valley Mills and North Meadow meetings. We had a great time talking with people who were curious about Quakers. They seemed to get excited when we talked about the Quaker Testimonies (aka the SPICES).
Quaker Affiliated Organizations
IFCL -- Elections 2022 Voting Rights Webinar Sept. 28
The 2022 elections are just around the corner! You're invited to attend a free Voting Rights webinar next Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m., sponsored by the All IN 4 Democracy coalition. It will provide important updates on what's happening with election issues and elections administration, from the national, state, and local perspective. Speakers from Common Cause Indiana, the League of Women Voters of the United States and LWV Indiana, and the Chicago Lawyer's Committee on Civil Rights will be featured and take your questions.
The registration link is here: Webinar Registration - Zoom
Please feel free to share this link with your friends and neighbors. And remind them to register to vote, to double-check their registration to confirm their voting district in light of recent redistricting--and to vote!
Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) -- Now Hiring!
RWSR is seeking candidates for three senior leadership positions. All positions are fully remote. An eligible candidate must have legal authorization to work in the U.S. The full job descriptions (with salary information) are hyperlinked below.
The Associate Secretary of Operations is a senior leadership position responsible for organizational operations including accounting, bookkeeping, budgeting, and financial and legal transactions that promote the mission of RSWR.
The Associate Secretary for Advancement is a senior leadership position responsible for promoting the mission of RSWR, including all development, communications, and public relations.
The Associate Secretary of Programs is a senior leadership position responsible for implementation of international programs, and educational outreach and programming.
Note that the list of qualifications in each description are desired qualifications--no one has all of them, and successful candidates will bring a variety of life experience to their work.
Please share this with anyone you think would be a good fit. This is an exciting time in the life of RSWR, with expanding programs abroad and at home. Maybe one of these positions is a good match for you?
Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities
Men’s Threshing Together ~ Again this month, we are moving Threshing Together to the 4th Thursday of the month, September 22 at 7pm. Please see the Fall Schedule for locations. If you are interested in gathering with 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! This group is trans inclusive/LGBTQ supportive.
SAWS Ramp Build ~ The Shalom Zone is planning another SAWS ramp build on the morning of Saturday, October 1st. SAWS is an organization that designs and builds ramps for folks who need a wheelchair and cannot afford a wheelchair ramp on their own. No experience is necessary...if you can carry some lumber and pound in a nail, then you qualify! The build usually begins at around 8 am and concludes around noon. Further details about time and location will be provided at a later date. The Shalom Zone needs to get its list of volunteers together no later than today. If you would like to volunteer or need more information, please contact the office. First time volunteers must complete the volunteer form before their first build. This form can be found on the SAWS website: www.sawsramps.org. Thank you.
Seasoned Friends Is Back! Seasoned Friends will gather again for the first time in a few years since the pandemic on Thursday, Sept 29th at 11:30. We will have a soup and salad lunch together and talk about the things we would like to experience together as a group over the next few months. This has been a wonderful gathering in the past for anyone over 50 that appreciates gathering for food, fellowship and interesting activities. We welcome anyone that considers themselves a Seasoned Friend to join us. If you’re interested, please RSVP to the Meeting Office at office@indyfriends.org or 317-255-2485.
Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading would like you to join us from virtually anywhere in the world as we discuss The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel (388 pages) Everyone is welcome!
Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.
The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?
As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.
An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.
We will gather in the Parlor and via Zoom starting at 7 pm EST on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 led by Carolyn T.
Oak Leaf is searching for 33 titles to pick for next year. Each book must have at least 10 copies available at the Indianapolis library. Please contact the office with your favorite titles to consider for 2023! We will gather them for October survey and have the big reveal at our annual lasagna dinner on November 29th! Everyone is welcome!
Adult Quaker Affirmation ~ We are glad to offer an adult Quaker Affirmation class series which will begin on Sunday, October 2, 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. Anyone is welcome! If you’re interested, please contact the office.
Recycling Event! The Shalom Zone plans to have its yearly recycling event with Recycle Force on Saturday, October 8 from 10:00am to 2:00pm. If an item runs (or used to run) with a plug or a battery you can recycle it! This year it will be held at Epworth United Methodist Church, 6450 Allisonville Rd. A $25 donation is required for monitors, televisions, and appliances containing Freon (fridges, freezers, ac units and dehumidifiers). Other monetary contributions are greatly appreciated. This is a great opportunity to clean out your basement, garage, closets, attic and responsibly recycle unwanted electronics and appliances.
CTS Invites You: Community learning through a theological lens ~ Christian Theological Seminary (CTS) invites you to several series of online lectures and discussions to help understand how our faith and our money are intertwined in both our individual lives and in our society. There are three 6-week online courses which will be hosted online on Wednesday evenings from 6-8 p.m. During the Fall 2022 course, “Christianity, Consumption and Capitalism,” Dr. Robert Saler, Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture at Christian Theological Seminary, will facilitate a series of guest lecturers including Andrew Whitehead and Joseph Tucker-Edmonds among other sociologists, economic thinkers and religious practitioners. These lectures and discussions will help us understand how our faith and our money are intertwined in both our individual lives and in our society. Subsequent courses, “Christianity and Poverty” (Winter 2023) and “Christian Practices of Economic Justice” (Spring 2023), will help you dive deeper into these topics while providing a space to discuss practical and faithful actions for justice. For more information and to register, visit https://www.cts.edu/academics/our-life-in-common-series/.
Did you know? – Easterseals Crossroads has free family activities for those with disabilities! You might know Easterseals Crossroads from previous Christmases where we partnered with them to provide gifts for families in need during the holidays. Did you know Easterseals also provides events and services for adults and children with disabilities? One of their events will even take place here at First Friends! All the below events are free of charge and open to anyone. Contact the office if you’d like more information about any of these events!
· Parents Night Out - Event for a child with a disability in the age range from 6 months-12 years of age and any sibling who falls within that same age range. These events take place on the first, second, and third Fridays of a month. Families drop off at the Easterseals Crossroads building on Kingsway Drive at 6:15 pm and pick up at 9:30 pm. Children play in a respite area and there is also a park that kids play in when weather is appropriate. Caregivers qualify for a free gift card 1 time in a 2 month window.
· Parents Day Out - Same as Parents Night Out except on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month and the hours are from 10:00 am-2:00 pm.
· Teen Night Out - The last Friday of each month unless otherwise noted. Mainly occurs at the Easterseals building on Kingsway Drive and parents will be notified if it is a special community outing, such as the October 28th event here at First Friends! Ages for consumers are 13-17 years old. Only the child with the disability is able to attend this event. Time for the event is from 6:00 PM-9:00 PM
· Friday Night Out - This is the 2nd Friday of each month and is available to any consumer with a disability who is 18 and over. This mainly occurs at the Easterseals Crossroads building unless a community outing is planned. Hours of the event are from 6:00 PM-9:00 PM. Respite staff usually plans a theme and we provide a meal or snack and a craft, but adults are free to do their preferred activities as well.
Please bring your unneeded footwear of ALL types to the Donation Station in Fellowship Hall. Changing Footprints is on track to provide 50,000 pairs this year from our North Indy location alone. Demand for footwear is increasing, and our supply is dwindling! In addition to many Indiana nonprofits, we recently have been supplying shoes for people affected by the Kentucky floods. This summer we have provided footwear to organizations in Guatemala, Dominican Republic, and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thanks for your support!
The Stamp Program is Still as Active as Ever! The stamp program is still in full swing! The program collects and resells stamps to raise money for Right Sharing of World Resources, a nonprofit organization that provides grants (note corrected terminology) to female-owned businesses in Sierra Leone, India and Kenya. So be sure to save your stamps, and leave or mail your donations to the Meetinghouse. Another issue of the program’s newsletter, $tamping 4 Dollar$ is available! View it here.
Bread for the World: First Friends Offering of Letters ~ “Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. Moved by God’s grace in Jesus Christ, we advocate for a world without hunger.” This is the mission statement for Bread for the World, an organization that many of you are familiar with and others may not yet have discovered.
Started in the 1970’s by a Lutheran pastor in NYC, concerned people wanted to find a way to end the root causes of hunger rather than always reacting to the results of hunger. It was determined that this effort would require legislation by elected officials to provide funds and programs to feed hungry people in our country and around the world. The hope was to end hunger by 2030. As that date approaches, millions of people in the world are still battling food insecurity.
This is where we can help. On October 30, First Friends will have an Offering of Letters. We are asking you to join us in Fellowship Hall after Meeting, to write letters to support the passage of the Global Malnutrition Act. As of this writing, the bill has passed in the House but has not yet come to the Senate floor. Senator Young is a co-sponsor of the bill but Senator Braun has yet to sign on. Our letters will encourage Senator Braun to vote for this bill and to also increase the amount of money to continue vital programs such as SNAP and WIC.
In the next few weeks, you will be reading more about Bread for the World. Please consider taking part in the letter writing process with us on October 30.
This Week’s Queries
Consider someone you know who is suffering. Then ask yourself the following queries:
· Do I see and understand their suffering?
· Do I feel their suffering deeply in my emotions and feelings?
· Am I being led to have compassion on them?
Is there a way I might bring relief to their suffering in the present?