Friend to Friend September 23, 2020

September 24, 2020

As Way Opens

Today, I put on a dead man’s pair of socks. That seems a weird or maybe irreverent way of putting it, but it is true. This morning, I woke to my usual Tuesday routine - took a shower, brushed my teeth, put on my clothes and then went and picked out a fun pair of socks that fit my mood. Now, if you have ever noticed, I have quite a collection of fun socks from Star Wars to Keith Haring designs and just about everything in between. I even have a pair of shish-kebob socks for that rare occasion (honestly, I think I have worn them once and we were not having shish-kebobs). Yet, this morning, I knew which socks I was going to grab, because as I was waking up, I had my friend, Dan Rains, on my mind.

Dan and I used to compare socks after Meeting for Worship each first day (see photo). He had a wonderful eclectic collection as well. One of his that always caught my attention was a pair of bright yellow and pick socks that never matched anything he was wearing. You could see them coming from a mile away. I remember one day, as he would often do, he stopped by my office to chat on his way to play golf. Here he was in shorts and a three-button shirt looking ready to head out on the course. But then I noticed he was wearing those brightly colored socks and it brought a smile to my face.

I would often go and sit with Dan and we would talk for hours. Whether it was while getting his chemo treatments or as he rested in his home, one of our first things to do was compare the socks we were wearing. Often, if I knew I was going to visit, I would put on a unique pair. One day, just weeks before Dan passed, I visited and he was again wearing those bright yellow and pink socks, but this time I realized what the design was on them. The socks were covered with copies of Andy Warhol’s “Cow” screen prints from 1966. Dan was unaware that they were Andy Warhol – he just thought they were brightly colored cows. As a fan of Andy Warhol’s art, I found them even more exciting and we had an even better conversation that day.

Well, after Dan passed, Susan gave me a small brown bag and said she knew how much both Dan and I shared a love for socks. When I opened the bag, there were several pairs, but right on top were those brightly colored Andy Warhol socks. Maybe Susan knew just how much those crazy socks meant to me or maybe not. All I know is that when I am feeling low, when I am feeling defeated, when I am needing a boost to my day, I seek out those socks. They empower me and remind me of good times, good conversations, and good Friend that I miss.

Thank you Dan, for brightening our day with your socks, and may we all find ways to brighten the lives of others around us in unique and joyful ways in these trying times!

Grace and peace,

Bob

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

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.

Joys & Concerns

A BIG thank-you to our food pantry volunteers: Rik L, Phil G, Penny P, Christie M, David B, Carol and Jim D. Thanks to the continuing dedication of our volunteers!

Congratulations on Retirement, Brenda! After a 40-year accomplished legal career, General Counsel Brenda R is retiring from the Office of Judicial Administration. She is being thrown a retirement party and ceremony on Zoom, where the Supreme Court and staff will thank Brenda for her service. Congratulations, Brenda, on a well-deserved retirement!

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

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 hear from someone at the Meeting and feel connected. Our college students this year are Ellie A, Sam H, Eli S, Chelsea T, and Kendal T. If you’d like to participate, please email the office at office@indyfriends.org, and we’ll give you the mailing address of a student so you can send your support. Please consider connecting with our students this year!

Join the Women’s Book Group! First Friends women's book group is still welcoming new members. The group is reading the Universal Christ by Richard Rohr, which explores the distinction between and unity of the historical Jesus and the ever-present and everlasting Christ described in the gospel of John. The first two chapters have led to some lively discussions of Jesus as God's avatar, a brother, as the Christ Within; the meaning of grace and salvation; and the concept of a personal God, among many other ideas. The group meets semi-monthly, but once a month attenders and those who don't have time to read the chapter are welcome. Starting in October, the group will shift its meetings to the first and third Thursdays of the month.

The next meeting is Thursday, September 24 at 6:30 p.m. For further information or to RSVP, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Free Printer Cartridge ~ Carolyn H has an Epson 78 ink cartridge pack available if anyone would like it (for free). Please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Sunday School Classes Now Available! Sunday School has kicked off and will be happening each Sunday on Zoom. Please join us for these offerings!

Sunday School class (younger kids) – Sundays at 9:00am
Meeting ID: 841 2873 6740; password: 3030
Sunday School class (older kids) – Sundays at 12:00pm
Meeting ID: 850 7241 6861; password: 3030
Seeking Friends – Sundays at 9:00am
Unprogrammed Worship – Sundays at 9:00am

Illuminate: Acts ~ Curious how the book of Acts might relate to you? Then join the First Friends Zoom Bible Study on Thursday evenings at 7:30. They have just begun the Illuminate Series’ study of Acts (available here: http://www.barclaypressbookstore.com/ILLUMINATE/Illuminate-Acts.html). This series is recommended by Bob Henry. The group has a broad range of theological perspectives. Open to all regardless of religious or spiritual affiliation. Contact the office to sign up: office@indyfriends.org or 317-255-2485.

Kent F Invites You to a New Small Group! Several months ago, Bob, Beth and I were talking about the possibility of a small group for Quakers interested in two things. First was to learn more about the Quaker spirituality and traditions. Second was to develop a little group of Friends who could share their lives and insights.

Bob and Beth suggested John Woolman’s Journal. Frankly, I had never heard of it. However once I started looking into John Woolman and his Journal, it seemed to be the perfect first book. His Journal lays out his spiritual development and how he practiced it in North America between about 1740 and his death in 1772. In addition to his spiritual development, Woolman was active as an abolitionist during the years before the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The question of slavery was not something that was of interest only in the South. Slaves were a fact throughout all of the original colonies, and they remained a very contentious topic in the development of the Declaration and the Constitution.

I want to invite you to join this group at the Meeting House for this first book. We’ll meet four times, 7:00pm, alternating Mondays starting October 12 and continuing on October 26, November 9 and 23. We’ll cover about thirty pages each time.

About eighteen months ago we started a Men’s Book Group that has met regularly on alternate Thursdays come rain, shine, snow or Covid. The format is that books are suggested by members. Everybody comes prepared. We model our Quaker belief that everybody shares. My thought is that this new group will follow the same approach.

Please contact the office if you’re interested. The group will be limited to seven more.

Garden Poems and Inspiration as Summer Fades Into Autumn

Writing this on the last full day of summer, I have noticed a slight dread in the air as people imagine colder weather and being indoors more as COVID still clings to us. I prefer to focus of the crisp leaves of autumn and beautiful fall colors. I refer lovers of nature and gardens to look to the arts and great poets to inspire us and elevate our thoughts. I am reminded by Frost’s words, that powerful storms can be scary, but they are a passing phenomenon. I even picture his kneeling flowers bowing their heads in prayer because all of us are buffeted by difficulties in life and need to turn to friends, family, God and (surprise!) even strangers for strength and comfort. In turn, they look to us for nourishment, understanding and praise.

Lodged by Robert Frost

The rain to the wind said,

‘You push and I’ll pelt.’

They so smote the garden bed

That the flowers actually knelt,

And lay lodged—though not dead.

I know how the flowers felt.

William Blake was wary of organized religion. The poem below may suggest the Garden of Eden and the loss of it. Commandments and prohibitions can kill joy we found in the fair gardens of our childhood. A chapel that springs from the midst may or may not have been there all along. Life and love symbolized in the poem’s garden’s living beauty is replaced by death and tombstones. As I ponder the poem I think of battles within as I wrestle with changing spiritual notions as they are revealed to me throughout my spiritual journey. Right now I think of how many of us are mourning the closing of our building, but the architectural structure of our Meetinghouse is not our church; rather, it is the people. We worship in myriad ways. We meet in other places and socially distance. Also, there is a continuity that stretches from those who first brought our Meeting to life to those here now. We are their living legacy and the recipients of love passed on. We keep the Meeting alive through our words, actions prayer and love. First Friends is a living, breathing spiritual powerhouse of peace when we make it so. It is up to us. Some call Christians the Body of Christ because all of us together make the Meeting function. Parts may be sick. Parts may be healed. Parts may have different beliefs and experiences as did the blind men who described the elephant from their separate perspectives. Yet, we are all one if we are to grow and thrive. Acceptance and tolerance are necessary for a healthy body. We decide who we are, Friends.

The Garden of Love by William Blake

I went to the Garden of Love,

And saw what I never had seen:

A Chapel was built in the midst,

Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,

And Thou shalt not writ over the door;

So I turn’d to the Garden of Love,

That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,

And tomb-stones where flowers should be:

And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,

And binding with briars, my joys and desires.

Speaking of continuity of generations, the cycle of life and the changing seasons, the next poem is written by a woman known for her gift of gardening. She saw the legacies handed on by one generation to the next. She experienced and witnessed rebirth.

New Feet Within My Garden Go by Emily Dickinson

New feet within my garden go—

New fingers stir the sod—

A Troubadour upon the Elm

Betrays the solitude.

New children play upon the green—

New Weary sleep below—

And still the pensive Spring returns—

And still the punctual snow!

The next poem gently mocks humankind for our focus on the passing of time and our own knowledge of our limited existence. Auden chides us for wasting time mourning what we haven’t yet lost or gained, chatting away existence while other creatures bask in the glory of the moment. He amuses us by wanting to preserve the lack of language in species of birds and vegetables so he can simply enjoy them luxuriating in their activity. He teases us by toying with the idea of whether we are better off because of our words and self-awareness. (Noises are ok.) He tips his hat to Frost (Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening) in the last line. We humans have responsibilities, after all.

Their Lonely Betters by W. H. Auden

As I listened from a beach-chair in the shade

To all the noises that my garden made,

It seemed to me only proper that words

Should be withheld from vegetables and birds.

A robin with no Christian name ran through

The Robin-Anthem which was all it knew,

And rustling flowers for some third party waited

To say which pairs, if any, should get mated.

Not one of them was capable of lying.

There was not one which knew that it was dying

Or could have with a rhythm or a rhyme

Assumed responsibility for time.

Let them leave language to their lonely betters

Who count some days and long for certain letters;

We, too, make noises when we laugh or weep:

Words are for those with promises to keep.

In these fitful times, let us remember to count our blessings. May we take care to use our God-given gifts. Auden’s tombstone epitaph is a worthwhile reminder to all:

In the prison of his days

Teach the free man how to praise.

~Nancy

Voting Update~ Remember that the last day to register to vote is October 5. Please check your registration today https://indianavoters.in.gov. Don’t miss your opportunity to re-register if you were purged from the rolls.

INDIANA GENERAL ELECTION - November 3, 2020

Deadline to Request an Absentee-By-Mail Ballot by Mail, Fax, Email Or In-Person: Application Received by Thu Oct 22, 2020 11:59PM

In-Person Absentee Voting (Early Voting): Tue Oct 6, 2020 - Mon Nov 2, 2020 12:00PM

Deadline to Return Completed Absentee-By-Mail Ballot: Ballot Received by Tue Nov 3, 2020 12:00PM

Polls Open for In-Person Voting: Tue Nov 3, 2020 6:00AM - 6:00PM

Several volunteer organizations have been helping people get information and assistance to access the vote. Several members of our Meeting have been helping get accurate information to the community: Jan Hise, Barbara Oberreich, Brenda Rodeheffer and Mary Blackburn have been working with VoteRiders.org, VotebyMail, IndianaCitizen, or Indy Community Yoga Voter Squad and there are sure to be more members working quietly to help strengthen democracy in our area.

One story from this week: The Marion County Election Board is staffed to handle the “normal” election season. They have 10 fulltime staff who prepare for elections that usually involve recruiting poll workers and seasonal staff to manage the polling station logistics. In a pandemic with reduced number of traditional poll workers available, they have had to pivot by limiting polling stations. Normally they receive about 10,000 absentee ballot requests during an election. Now they are anticipating over 150,000 absentee ballots. That load involves printing ballots, instructional information, a postage paid secure ballot envelope and a postage paid mailing envelope. Everything must be sorted, placed in envelopes and voter registration checked, before the ballots can be sent out. Quite a logistical nightmare for a team that has to perform this new process in the short time between the conventions and final candidates being selected by all parties.

A volunteer group of citizens is assisting with absentee ballot preparations. Brenda Rodeheffer and Mary Blackburn have signed up to help.

1. If you are a registered voter in Marion County you can help the Marion County Election Service Center (MCESC) do this important work.

2. MCESC ONBOARDING - You must be officially onboarded by HR at the Service Center before you can do any work. This will entail a brief intro, education and signing a confidentiality agreement. This will be done on specific days by MCESC HR personnel The Center HR head has provided the following Onboarding sessions:

a. SIGN UP FOR ONBOARDING - https://signup.com/go/qKoyZnn Select one of the dates below and you will see ONBOARDING slot.

b. September 30th – 2pm- Onboarding Session

3. Sign-Up for work shifts – Please sign up for any and all shifts you can commit to. I have set up the schedule through Nov. 6th (there will be ballot processing and vote counting in the days after the election.

a. IF YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN ONBOARDED – we really need your help this week! Please sign up for as many slots as you can. We won’t have another wave of volunteers until late in the week

b. IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN ONBOARDED – Please sign up for shifts that are AFTER your scheduled on-boarding date – see above.

4. ALL VOLUNTEERS – must wear mask – must wear closed-toe shoes

NOTE: Please bear with us – we will have growing pains, we will have process challenges, we will have down time – know we are all dedicated to the same goals of ensuring every Marion County Voter that requests an absentee ballot receives one in time AND every absentee ballot cast gets counted!

Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for September:
Blackburnian Warbler – A Fancy Hat

At end of August I had already selected Blackburnian Warbler to be the featured bird for September. Although I had never yet seen the species on any of my spring visits as it came through on its way up north, I did see it in late September of last year, while on its way south to winter somewhere from Panama to Venezuela. I birded the Meditational Woods several times in the past couple of weeks to try for migrating warblers, and wouldn’t you know, there it was again! A favorite tree for this species seems to be the silver maple that is just beyond the north fence near the northwest corner of the woods. Getting a good look is a challenge, as the many layers of branches and leaves provide a series of only brief glances. The bird is usually up high, searching for small caterpillars and spiders on or in the bark.

Framed in black, the bright colors of orange and yellow on the head remind me of the brightly colored hats worn to church by women on Easter and Mother’s Day in years past, though perhaps not in Quaker meetings. However, here in the bird world, it is the males who show the brightly colored garb. But by the time you read these words, this gentleman, pictured here as in spring, will have exchanged the orange for a duller yellow, and the black patterns, while still present, will be subdued. That is how I saw it last week. For those of you who like to look at bird pictures in books or on the internet, other warblers present that day were Bay-breasted Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler. ~Brad J

Silent Meetings for Worship on Zoom!

We will be gathering for Meeting for Silent Worship at 9 am every Sunday via this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86730649575?pwd=N05JZWZ1Vy9BaTh1U2ZnNkI5WHNVdz09 (Meeting ID is 867 3064 9575; password is 3030).

Join us for Meditation every Monday at 11:15 am via this Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/934298999?pwd=VGoxS0hnR0syVkp6anZxU2FEZlpvdz09. (Meeting ID is 934-298-999; password is 303203)
Wednesday Unprogrammed Worship meets every Wednesday at 7 pm. Join us via this Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/641511035 (Meeting ID is: 641 511 035).

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.

What Have We Learned? How Can We Apply It? How have our nation’s recent racial and healthcare crises affected the fight to end poverty? What have they taught us about our nation and our community? And how can we use those lessons to strengthen poverty-mitigation efforts? Christian Theological Seminary (CTS) invites you to join in their Faith & Action Project Fall Event: Examining Current Crises and Poverty. Join in online as they address these and other pressing questions with national and local leaders in the drive for justice and an end to poverty.

The evening will begin with award winning journalist, documentarian, and author Soledad O’Brien in conversation with Dr. Leah Gunning Francis, dean of faculty at Christian Theological Seminary. This unique conversation will focus on Solendad’s insights on what happening in our country right now that is creating an opportunity to address poverty in a deeper way. Following this conversation, Dr. Gunning-Francis will moderate a panel of local leaders discussing Central Indiana antipoverty efforts and the barriers that must be overcome to free people trapped in poverty in our city. The event will be held Wednesday, September 30th at 12:00pm EST. If you’re interested in this event, you can register online here. For more information, visit CTS’s website at www.cts.edu.

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 might I need to learn about managing my inner Light and Darkness during this spiritual autumn?
As I learn to “let go” of the things that get in the way of my relationship with God (and my neighbors), am I also looking for the buds and signs of resurrection in my life?
When I realize that things in life are not permanent – how flexible is my soul to embrace that change?

(From self-led guide)

How might I utilize the arts to enhance my spiritual journey and prayer life?
What artists speak to the condition of my soul? How might I spend time with their work(s) this week?
What might I “create” that will draw me closer to the Divine?

Comment

Friend to Friend September 16, 2020

September 21, 2020

As Way Opens

I read Richard Rohr’s daily blog from The Center of Action and Contemplation and I was particularly moved by one of his posts this week. It spoke to my condition as we face fires, hurricanes, divisions, loneliness, unrest on the streets and deaths. I share the entire post with all of you as we navigate during these difficult times. Remember there are no dead ends.

"The genius of Jesus’ ministry is that he embraces tragedy, suffering, pain, betrayal, and death itself to bring us to God. There are no dead ends. Everything can be transmuted, and everything can be used. Everything.

It seems that everybody wants to take easy sides. It’s so consoling for the ego to have an answer; to be sure that my position is the final and only true answer. Yet, as Paul says, on the cross Jesus becomes the sin and the problem. He identifies with the wound, the pain, and the suffering (2 Corinthians 5:21). He does not stand apart from it but enters into it. What a paradox, what a mystery!

Jesus tells Peter, “Peter, you must be sifted like wheat. And once you have recovered, then you, in your turn, can strengthen your companions” (Luke 22:31–32). Until there has been a journey through suffering, I don’t believe that we have true healing authority. We don’t have the ability to lead anybody anyplace new unless we have walked it ourselves to some degree. In general, we can only lead people on the spiritual journey as far as we ourselves have gone. We simply can’t talk about it beyond that. That’s why the best thing we can do for people is to stay on the journey ourselves. We transform people to the degree we have been transformed. When we can somehow be compassion, not just talk about compassion; when we can be healed and not just talk about healing, then we are, as Henri Nouwen said so well, “wounded healers,” but not before.

It always comes through the wounding. What we do when faced with our deepest wounds determines whether there is authentic spirituality at work or not. If we seek to blame other people, accuse, attack, or even explain and make perfect, logical sense out of our wounds, there will be no further spiritual journey. But if, when the wounding happens, we find the grace and the freedom to somehow see that it’s not just a wound, but a sacred wound, then the journey progresses. Then we set out to find ourselves, to find the truth, and to find God.

It’s all about what each of us does with the wound. If we ourselves have never walked through some kind of suffering, whether betrayal, abandonment, rejection, divorce, loss of job, struggles with sexuality, we probably will give people “head” answers. We don’t touch or heal their hearts because our own have not been transformed. I don’t think it’s any accident that in most of Jesus’ healings, he physically touches people. He’s showing that healing cannot be done through the head, through explanations, theories and theologies, or quick, “logical” conclusions. It must somehow be a communication of life and love energy, held even at the cellular level."

Beth

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Friendly Reminder about Friend to Friend Submissions! Wednesdays in the office are very busy—as some of you may know it’s our recording day for our Sunday services, as well as catching up on other office work for the entire week! As such, please be kind to the office and submit your articles for Friend to Friend by 3pm Tuesday each week. Thank you for your cooperation!

Free Printer Cartridge ~ Carolyn H has an Epson 78 ink cartridge pack available if anyone would like it (for free). Please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

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. Today is the last day to submit! We can’t wait to see you and your family!

Civic Health in the Midst of a Public Health Crisis ~ The Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center invites you to a free Zoom virtual event featuring guest speaker Bill Moreau. Bill Moreau is president of the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation Inc., a non-partisan, non-profit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed, engaged voters in Indiana. ICEF is a nonpartisan, non-profit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed, engaged Hoosier voters. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. In Bill Moreau’s words: “We are working to increase the number of engaged, informed Hoosiers so Indiana can get out of the bottom of states for registration, turnout and civic literacy.” The event is being held via Zoom tonight, September 16 at 7:00pm. If you’re interested in joining, the Zoom link is https://butleru.zoom.us/j/99214902454, Meeting ID 992 1490 2454. If you have any questions, please contact indypeaceandjusticectr@gmail.com. Please consider joining us tonight!

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 at office@indyfriends.org.

We are excited to begin offering Sunday School again this year—this time, virtually! Sunday School will officially kick off this Sunday, September 20. Please join us for these offerings!

Sunday School class (younger kids) – Sundays at 9:00am
Sunday School class (older kids) – Sundays at 12:00pm
Meeting ID: 850 7241 6861; password: 3030
Seeking Friends – Sundays at 9:00am
Unprogrammed Worship – Sundays at 9:00am

All are invited to Fellowship Hour and Meeting for Business ~ After virtual worship this Sunday, we hope you will join us at 11:00am on Zoom for combined Fellowship Hour and Monthly Meeting for Business. You can join through computer or phone! To join please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

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 hear from someone at the Meeting and feel connected. Our college students this year are Ellie A, Sam H, Eli S, Chelsea T, and Kendal T. If you’d like to participate, please email the office at office@indyfriends.org with the name of the student you’d like to sponsor, and we’ll give you their mailing address so you can send your support. Please consider connecting with our students this year!

USFW’s Annual Fall Conference ~ All women are invited to the Western Yearly Meeting’s women's group (USFW) annual Fall Conference meeting. It is happening Tuesday, September 22 at 9:00am EST. You are invited to come even if you haven't participated in USFW or if your Meeting doesn't have a women's group. Opening remarks will take place from 9:20 - 9:30 or so. Betty Heshelman, from Mooresville Meeting, will share about her trip to Ramallah in 2019 from 9:30 - 10:30. Then we will hear from Crystal Vance, a noted devotional speaker from Plainfield, who will be sharing encouraging words for challenging times. If you’d like to join, contact the office for the Zoom link.

Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for September:
Blackburnian Warbler – A Fancy Hat

Community Gardeners Plan Harvest Festival for 2021; Fall Recipes Offered

Community gardeners are planning for a Harvest Festival in 2021. We are still enjoying and sharing produce. We thank all volunteers who have helped keep up the communal spaces by planting, fertilizing, mowing, weeding and educating. We continue to invite people to pick and take home some of the colorful zinnias from the Hope plot and now from the food pantry plot to the west of it. Thank you to those who helped harvest and deliver to the Mid-North Food Pantry. Thank you to our high school project volunteers, Lena and Elena.

Some gardeners are planting autumn plots. Those who are not are getting ready to clean out their plots in preparation for next season. Remember that fall leaves dug into plots can help replenish the soil.

Since Labor Day has come and gone and our Festival is postponed I have more family recipes. I am thinking of apples, persimmons and nuts—not exactly veggie crops, but for old time’s sake I offer these recipes anyway. One veggie recipe is included-- especially for Penny P. Enjoy!

¼ cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 beaten eggs

1 1/3 cups flour

1 cup butter milk

1 teas. soda

1 teas. vanilla

½ teas. salt

2 cups persimmon pulp

Great Aunt Nira’s Persimmon Pudding

Method

Cream butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs. Dissolve soda in butter milk. Add salt and vanilla—add alternately with flour, beating well. Bake at 350 degrees in a greased and floured pan—25 or 30 minutes or until it is done to touch. Remove—let cool before serving. Pudding will settle after removing from oven. Serve with whipped cream or lemon sauce, as desired.

Great Aunt Eva’s Cider Apple Butter

Red apples not peeled but cored and quartered. Cook and rub through colander.

4 quarts apples

4 cups sugar

Boil 1 gallon of cider until consistency of thin syrup, and add to apples and sugar.

Place in un-covered large sauce pan on roaster and set in oven. Cook to desired consistency and stir once in a while—

Seal while hot. [As a special treat for the children, Aunt Eva would melt candy red hots into the recipe until the apple butter turned pink, or even red depending on the amount of candy added!]

Great Aunt Eva’s Hickory Nut Cake

1 cup butter or oleo

2 cups sugar

3 cups sifted flour

2 teaspn cream of tartar

1 teaspn soda

1 teaspn vanilla

½ teaspn salt

1 cup sweet milk [white milk]

Yolks of 2 eggs

Whites of 7 eggs

1 pint hickory nuts, finely chopped

Instructions:
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add 2 well-beaten egg yolks. Add all sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk and vanilla. Fold in stiffly beaten whites of 7 eggs. Lastly add chopped hickory nuts which have been dredged with 1 teaspoon flour. Bake in oven at 350 degrees about 20 minutes. Makes 3 large layers.

Icing for outside:

2 egg yolks beaten stiff
1 whole egg
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
Boil until forms soft ball. Spread on top and sides. Also, a good icing is made of boiled heavy cream and sugar.

Filling:

1 pint milk
½ cup sugar
1 tablspn sugar
2 whole eggs

Cook and cool—then add 1 cup finely chopped hickory nuts. This to be used between layers.

Cousin Beth’s Corn Relish [Here is one veggie recipe]

1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon instant minced onion
1 teaspoon celery seed
¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup water
1 12 oz. can (1 ½ cups) whole kernel corn
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons finely chopped green pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped pimiento [pimento or cherry pepper]

Combine first 8 ingredients in saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens and boils. Stir in green pepper and pimiento. Chill. Makes 1 ¾ cups.

~Nancy

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)

Where does that leave us on Election Day?

One solution is for younger Americans to step up.

For more information, see or share a flyer here: https://bit.ly/2PCBUvs

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)

When this week, will I venture outside and observe the changes taking place in creation?

How can I be more open to God’s surprises around me and more open to change?

As the leaves begin to “let go” what in my life might I need to “let go” of that binds us from spiritually growing?

Comment

Friend to Friend September 9, 2020

September 10, 2020

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!

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!

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.

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.

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

Where does that leave us on Election Day?

One solution is for younger Americans to step up.

For more information, see or share a flyer here: https://bit.ly/2PCBUvs

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?

Comment

Friend to Friend September 2, 2020

September 4, 2020

As Way Opens

I have become quite taken with a woman named Elizabeth Bathurst that lived between 1655-1685. She was one of the female leaders of the early Quaker movement. I learned about her and read her Quaker treatise in the wonderful book called Hidden in Plain Sight Quaker Women’s Writings 1650-1700. This book, published in 1996 by editors Mary Garman, Judith Applegate, Margaret Benefiel and Dortha Meredith identified a number of these women that wrote extensively and had a huge impact our our Quaker faith and yet these women have been ignored and forgotten until the last 25 years.

Elizabeth Bathurst was born in 1655 and raised an English protestant. She was a sickly child and therefore spent much of her youth alone reading the Bible and other pious books. She was very intelligent, and her writings show her level of intellect. Originally, she believed the accusations of the detractors against the Children of the Light, but her whole family became convinced Friends in 1678. Elizabeth experienced the same repudiation that many other Quaker men and women experienced by their churches of origin as she spoke out about this new way of experiencing God’s presence within each person When she went to Samul Ansley’s Presbyterian church where she was a member to preach against predestination and for universal redemption, the congregation violently rejected her ministry and rejected her. It seems like her writings on behalf of Quakers are what got her into trouble. She traveled to Bristol and faced persecution there. She was imprisoned in Marshalsea and with her weak body it was a very difficult experience, but she wrote that God renewed her spirit there. She died at 30 years old only seven years after her convincement.

During her life she wrote Truth’s Vindication, An Expostulatory Appeal to the Professors and The Sayings of Women. I studied Truth’s Vindication and this treatise came out a few years after Robert Barclay’s Apology and has similarities in providing a systematic approach to the faith and beliefs of Quakers. It is interesting that we all know about Barclay’s Apology and yet we have never heard about Elizabeth’s document.

Elizabeth organized the document into three parts; a defense of the points that detractors of Quakers were bringing forward, the principles of Truth and a confutation of people’s false opinions. In her defense of the accusations against Quakers, she covered their beliefs on Scripture, the humanity of Christ, the Resurrection of the body of Christ and of the Saints, the sacraments, original sin, free will, inherent righteousness, the possibility of a total fall from true grace, perfection, and infallibility.

Elizabeth took each of these points and wrote persuasively to declare the Children of the Light beliefs. I was amazed at the extensive use of book, chapter and verse from the Bible that she identified throughout the document. There were hundreds of references so her knowledge of the Scriptures must have been immense. She forcefully declared of the Quakers “they do believe all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets.” The detractors argued that the Quakers believe in the Bible in their own way and while they may believe there is Truth in the Scripture “they do not believe they are the Word of God and the Rule of Faith Life.” She answers quite eloquently saying that Quakers “believe the Scriptures so far as Scripture itself requires Faith in itself: that is, they are able to make wise unto Salvation, through Faith, which is in Christ Jesus, being given Inspiration of God, according to that of the Apostle, 2 Tim 3:15-16.”

Elizabeth took on the second part of the criticism that Quakers don’t honor the Scripture as a way of faith and life. She stated that Scriptures are important for doctrine, for reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness and an example for living in good works. But the faith of our Life must be the direct Word, Jesus Christ that lives in our conscience and is our Inspiration. Galatians 2:20 says that the Life that I now live in the Flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. John 14:6 says that he is the Way, the Truth and Life; no man cometh to the Father but by him. John 16:13 says his Spirit that leads into all Truth. Therefore, the Scriptures are important and point us to a more perfect life, yet we should model our faith and practice after the one True Spirit, God and Jesus Christ the Word that was here in the beginning, here now and here for all time.

Elizabeth Bathurst, through her experience of God’s power and her deep convictions resulting from that experience, spoke out in ways which broke down the gender barriers and expectations of their time and culture. She utilized the Bible to make her points yet continually emphasized the direct experience of God and our continued revelation. As we reflect on 100 years of a woman’s right to vote, I know Elizabeth broke significant grounds for us and I am thankful for women like Elizabeth that were courageous and inspiring.

Beth

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

To the Women of Western Yearly Meeting
From Lynn Peery Mills, Presiding Clerk of USFW-Western (lynnpmills@gmail.com)

Women of First Friends, we encourage you to ponder this and give your feedback to Lynn at the email address above!

Joys & Concerns

Let’s give a big thanks to our Mid-North Food Pantry volunteers: Phil G, David B, Kathy and Bill F, Virginia and Derek S, Linda L, Christie M, and Jim D. These volunteers were kept busy as 70 families were served. Also thanks to Ruth K, Lena K and Elena H who deliver food from the community garden plot to the food pantry. Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers!

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Silent Meetings for Worship on Zoom!

Starting September 13th at 9 am, we will be gathering for Meeting for Silent Worship each Sunday

(There will be NO MEETING on Labor Day) Join us the following Mondays for Meditation at 11:15 am
Wednesday Unprogrammed Worship meets every Wednesday at 7 pm.

Covid Brings Out Nostalgia and Old-Time Recipes

Let’s go back in time or out to the countryside. Covid has me waxing nostalgic. Last year at this time, groups of First Friends volunteers had finished our stint at the Indiana State Fair Dairy Bar—a fun fundraiser where we were dipping ice cream, grabbing sandwiches and ringing up purchases for gay (in the old sense of the word)and hungry State Fair customers. I miss the smiles, laughter, tastes, sights and scents.

Thinking of the Fair reminds me of my Hoosier people, the ones who raised me, taught me their values and modeled ways to navigate life. They often had blue ribbon entries in the fair from canned and baked goods to handiwork to grand prize livestock including sheep, bulls and dairy cattle. My cousin rode western and dressage in the horse shows. Most of my family had spent portions of their lives raising cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens and crops even as we were easing out of an agricultural age and taking on city jobs and careers. Sometimes we would buy produce and eggs from roadside stands if we weren’t raising or producing our own. That would include my immediate family since I was raised a city girl.

I miss the family reunions on Mom’s side where we had those prize-winning cooks and plenty of fresh farm food--tomatoes, corn, green and other types of beans, beets, onions, radishes, squash, melons, pickles, cabbage, greens, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, chicken and dumplings, casseroles with fresh herbs, ham, puddings, cakes, and pies. We liked lip-smacking grilled-in-the-husk corn and meat and potatoes cooked outdoors. Sweet iced tea too! Ok, I didn’t like that so much! We played in barns, played hide-and-seek in cornfields, swam, boated, watched football, and played badminton and croquet. We washed and dried dishes as we caught up on family and everyday news. Even my Dad’s side would sometimes attend Mom’s side’s reunions. How I would love to relive those times and run up and hug all those beautiful family members! (I even dream about hugs in these no-hugging-allowed days of Covid.)

Those relatives no longer with us live on in my heart. In homage to them and to the earth’s bounty I am sharing some of their old-time recipes. Ingredients like lard and sugar were balanced out with lots of exercise and an abundance of veggies. Of course my relatives had a practical side too and would use grocery goods when fresh and canned supplies were no longer available. Frying wasn’t recognized as an unhealthy practice then. I picked some family recipes with ingredients and methods used less often today. Even language and equipment have changed somewhat. I inserted bracketed information to add clarity.

Third-Great Grandmother Hudson’s Sorghum Cookies

1 cup sorghum

1 cup sugar

1 cup lard

1 Tablespoon soda dissolved in ½ cup boiling water

1 beaten egg

1 Tablespoon ginger (or use part allspice and cloves)

½ teaspoon salt

Add enough flour to make soft dough that can be rolled. Roll about ¼ inch thick—cutout.

Bake on greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees—but do not overbake. Will keep well.

Great Aunt Nira’s Skillet Cabbage

4 cups chopped cabbage

2 cups celery--sliced thin

1 small mango—finely chopped [green pepper]

1 onion—finely chopped

1 large tomato—cut up—(or use canned tomatoes)

¼ cup bacon fryings

2 teaspoons sugar

Salt and pepper to taste.

Method

First fry celery slowly in bacon fat—about 15 minutes. Then pour all other ingredients in skillet with celery, and cook 10 minutes only. Stir occasionally. Good warmed over, but don’t over-cook. Use half the recipe for two people. Serve with cornbread.

Great Aunt Eva’s Black Walnut Pudding [Definitely different than English walnuts]

Put following in baking dish, set over slow fire to simmer while preparing other ingredients.

1 ½ cup light brown sugar

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

3 cups boiling water

1 stick butter

½ teaspoon salt

The Batter

½ cup brown sugar & 3 tablespoons butter creamed together

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder sifted together

1 cup sweet milk [white]

½ teaspoon salt

Chop 1 cup black walnut meats medium fine. Dredge this in part of the flour, then add to other mixture. Drop this batter a spoonful at a time in the simmering sauce above. Bake at 300 degrees until brown.

I don’t have all the recipes anymore, but I have many fine memories. Family reunions and meals around the table used to be times for conversation and bonding. They are wonderful traditions to continue or revive. I hope this article helps you recall some of your fond memories and the people who love and loved you. If so, share those memories, recipes and dishes with those you love. Get out the old photo albums, slides, movies, letters and recordings. (Maybe it’s time to take steps to preserve them.) Let me know if this article helped you remember past and present blessings in your life. ~Nancy

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!

Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading would like you to join us from virtually anywhere in the world as we discuss Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live by Rob Dunn Even when the floors are sparkling clean and the house seems silent, our domestic domain is wild beyond imagination. In Never Home Alone, biologist Rob Dunn introduces us to the nearly 200,000 species living with us in our own homes, from the Egyptian meal moths in our cupboards and camel crickets in our basements to the lactobacillus lounging on our kitchen counters. You are not alone. Yet, as we obsess over sterilizing our homes and separating our spaces from nature, we are unwittingly cultivating an entirely new playground for evolution. These changes are reshaping the organisms that live with us -- prompting some to become more dangerous, while undermining those species that benefit our bodies or help us keep more threatening organisms at bay. No one who reads this engrossing, revelatory book will look at their homes in the same way again.(goodreads.com) Terry T will be leading the discussion in via Zoom starting at 7 pm on Tuesday, September 29, 2020. Please contact the office at office@indyfrineds.org for the Zoom meeting information.

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

Where does that leave us on Election Day?

One solution is for younger Americans to step up.

For more information, see or share a flyer here: https://bit.ly/2PCBUvs

Are you ready to help people in need? The First Friends Meal Ministry is happy to provide meals to those in need of a bit of help, such as while recovering from surgery or going through a difficult time. This ministry is such an important and tangible ministry in our Meeting that connects and supports all of us. We need more folks to join us in this ministry- we can add your email to our ministry group and you can decide if the request for a meal is something you can do at the time. Lynda Sherer and Vicki Wertz lead this ministry and we have an app that allows for easy sign up for a meal. Will you join us in this important ministry? If you’re interested, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Queries for the Week

(From online service)

Who is the Gerasene in you?
Where does your story intersect with his?
In what ways have I been ‘“living in the tombs”?
How can I embrace God’s healing for me?

(From self-led guide)

How do I respond to opportunities to establish personal and professional relationships with people whose backgrounds differ from mine, whether across class, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, or ability?
In what ways do I work to change society so that everyone has equal opportunities?
How can I speak up and take action in a loving way when I see and hear injustices?
How do I “speak truth to power” in ways that honor the human dignity of people on all sides of an issue?

Comment

Friend to Friend August 26, 2020

September 4, 2020

As Way Opens

Last week on August 18th, President Trump made a proclomation for the 100th Anniversary of the Ratification of the Nineteen Amendment giving women the right to vote. The proclomation stated that, “This milestone in American history was the product of the tireless efforts of suffragists and other advocates for women’s rights, who steadfastly pursued their vision of a more just and equal society… As we commemorate this historic event, we also celebrate the incredible economic, political, and social contributions women have made to our Nation.”

Many of those original suffragists were Quakers and have left a wonderful legacy for equality in our country and the world. I would like to introduce you to one of those Quaker suffragists whose tireless efforts and steadfast pursuits created a more just and equal society. You may notice as you read her story that her efforts and the reactions to them are very similar to those we see as the fight continues today for equality in our nation and world.

Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977) was born into a Quaker family that strongly believed in equality. She graduated from Swarthmore College which was founded by the Religious Society of Friends with a degree in biology and continued on to earn a master’s degree in social work.

For Alice attending suffrage rallies were a family affair, as she attended most of them with her mother. When she realized her social work alone would not solve the problem of discrimination against women, and that current suffrage efforts were slow-moving and ineffective, she traveled to England and made her voice know in the suffrage movement there.

Before long she was back in the United States (1910) and began working on creating change at the federal level for the passage of the 19th Amendment. She was known for this bold saying:

“There will never be a new world order until women are a part of it.”

It was Alice who became a strong activist and organizer. She is known for planning the 1913 protest parade in Washington, D.C., and at her lead, suffragists stood in front of the White House displaying protest banners through all kinds of weather in 1917. Later that fall, Congress retaliated against the protesters and increased their jail times. Alice was arrested and taken to the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia, where she and the other women were beaten, starved, not allowed to sleep, and forced to live in filthy rat-infested cold cells. Alice was a fierce activist and on one occasion went on a hunger strike. She ended up being force-fed by guards before being put into a hospital where they considered her insane.

Nevertheless, Alice persisted, and continued to be arrested seven more times and jailed on three more occasions in England and another three times in the United States. Once the 19th Amendment finally passed, Alice continued to plan for more legal progress for women and went on to earn a law degree in 1922 from the University of Pennsylvania. She would later pen the words to the Equal Rights Amendment influencing the charter of the United Nations.

(adapted from “Profiles Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage,” Lacrosse Tribune)

We should be honored that Quaker Alice Stokes Paul and many other women persisted for the rights of all women throughout the world and for leaving a legacy for our young daughters to look up to as they take up the mantle of equal rights and work to make a positive contribution to society! For more about the Quaker impact on the American Suffrage Movement click here.

Grace and peace,

Bob

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

FCNL Head Recognized as Faith Leader to Watch in 2020 ~ The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) appreciates the recognition given to General Secretary Diane Randall as one of the “Faith Leaders to Watch in 2020.” The list of 15 faith leaders was released recently by the Center for American Progress (CAP).

In a statement citing the 15 faith leaders, CAP stated: “Religious communities offer a clear moral voice in support of civic engagement, the peaceful transfer of power, combating voter suppression, and protecting the ability of marginalized communities to participate in elections.” The list included leaders across many Christian traditions as well as Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, and others.

To read the story in its entirety, visit https://www.fcnl.org/updates/fcnl-head-recognized-as-faith-leader-to-watch-in-2020-2901

Support FUM’s Online Auction Please support Friends United Meeting in this time of financial crunch by visiting the online auction and bidding on the lovely handmade items:
https://www.friendsunitedmeeting.org/resources/online-auction

Read about other FUM news including the fruits of collaboration among Friends organizations in Africa and Cuban Friends respond to COVID-19: https://mailchi.mp/fum/fum-e-news-25-august-2020?e=f8045113f7

Joys & Concerns

Thank you MNFP volunteers! It was another busy day at the food pantry for First Friends. Volunteers: Phil G, David B, Kathy and Bill F, Virginia and Derek S, Linda L, Christie M, and Jim D. These volunteers were kept busy as 70 families were served. Thanks to our dedicated volunteers.

We want to see what is bringing you joy during the Pandemic: Our Friend Nancy had this great idea for us to submit photos to Friend to Friend so we can stay visually connected (they may even end up being shown during the prelude of our virtual distancing Meetings for Worship if you give permission). Feel free to send your photos with a brief caption to office@indyfriends.org.

This week, we have (left to right above): LeeAnn exploring a fairy garden. Susan showing one of Dan’s favorite books, A Prayer for Owen Meany, to the “socially distanced” Fun Quakers gathering. She also shared some of Dan’s thoughts about it. Dan the Man striking a manly pose and wearing a manly countenance. Kathy teaching Nancy how to host Zoom!

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Where does that leave us on Election Day?

One solution is for younger Americans to step up.

For more information, see or share a flyer here: https://bit.ly/2PCBUvs

A Wildlife Wonderland at First Friends ~ Hummingbirds, butterflies, birds, and bees are some of the creatures that have increased populations at First Friends. Our members and attenders have planned, planted and nourished native trees, gardens and plants. We have provided food and shelter for many living species. In just a few years some of us have seen major increases in the wildlife populations. We are richly blessed.

This year I have seen many hummingbirds dancing through the sky. I took photos of one lingering in the Community Garden. Last year I found a furry nest of baby bunnies in one of my plots. This year I wrote a limerick about the discovery.

I put black fabric on my garden plot

to keep weeds from overtaking the lot.

The plan worked quite well

For all I could tell.

Underneath: nesting bunnies—a lot!

Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for August

Northern Flicker: Special Talk

Couples who have been together for a long time have special ways of communicating. After 40 years of marriage, Naomi and I often use shortcuts as a convenient way of quickly passing on sometimes complicated thoughts and ideas. It could be a word or two, a tone of voice, or even a look, all of which can “express volumes’” It is a sharing between spouses, and also co-workers or close friends.

The Northern Flicker is a species of woodpecker that visits the Meditational Woods from March to October. I have found them on almost every visit this season. During mild winters like we have had in recent years the flicker may overwinter, especially if it can find its favorite food: ANTS!! This could be in the ground, or as I have pictured it, a colony in a stump. Notice in the picture the bright yellow underwing and undertail; the former name of this species was “Yellow-shafted Flicker.” By the way, the black moustache (malar) mark is on the male only.

Now back to communication. Like other woodpeckers, male flickers have a drum unique to flickers. The male also has a kek-kek-kek song. It is the special “flicka-flicka-flicka” call (done by either gender) that relates to the human story above. This flicka call is exclusively between the male and the female. When I am out doing a bird survey, counting the number of each species, and I mark down a flicker doing the “flicka” call, I know to look for its mate nearby. There will likely be a duet. ~Brad Jackson

Are you ready to help people in need? The First Friends Meal Ministry is happy to provide meals to those in need of a bit of help, such as while recovering from surgery or going through a difficult time. This ministry is such an important and tangible ministry in our Meeting that connects and supports all of us. We need more folks to join us in this ministry- we can add your email to our ministry group and you can decide if the request for a meal is something you can do at the time. Lynda S and Vicki W lead this ministry and we have an app that allows for easy sign up for a meal. Will you join us in this important ministry? If you’re interested, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Queries for the Week

(From online service)

Environment

Value what’s local

Where do I live or want to live?
How can I live most of life near that place?
What kind of commute is sustainable?

Time

Value presence

With whom do I spend time? Why?
How much extra time do my commitments cost?
What could I insource?
What kind of job allows the time I need elsewhere?
Am I on devices too much, and if so, would a digital disconnect help?

Money

Value generosity

How can I make my resources available to others?
How can I keep spending low?
Which investments now will pay off later?
Does my spending reflect my overall priorities?

Parenting

Value slow growth

What’s the right amount of unstructured time for my kids?
How can I keep commitments light to preserve the calm they need for open-ended exploring and curious learning?
Where does all the technology distract from what’s good?

Arts

Value mastery

What tasks completely immerse me (where do I experience flow)?
Outside of work, what could I create or produce?
Does my leisure time reflect my values?
Where do I achieve quality?

(From self-led guide)

Where does my soul need affirming during these difficult times?
How are the secret places of my heart moving from a “noisy workshop” to a “holy sanctuary” of adoration and peace?
How will I make more time this week to connect to my Inner Sanctuary and divine Center?

Comment

Friend to Friend August 19, 2020

August 20, 2020

As Way Opens

On Monday night I took some time to watch Michelle Obama’s speech during the opening of the Democratic National Convention. It clearly had a different tone and message than other political convention speeches as it focused around two subjects - empathy and character. No matter our political leanings, these two subjects can be found under and further explored in our Quaker S.P.I.C.E. of Integrity.

The advices under the Integrity section of the Friends General Conference website give us a better picture of this Quaker distinctive and help us see its importance in our lives and world.

When we live with integrity, alone or as a faith community, our words and deeds ring true. We are able to hear when there is discord between our values and our words or actions, and we often sense when others in our community are “out of tune” with their own truth, or when, as a community, we do not seem to be following the same conductor.
Giving testimony to truth and integrity also means refusing to place things other than God at the center of one’s life–whether it be one’s own self, possessions, the regard for others, belief in principles (such as rationality, progress, or justice) or something else. It is the understanding that even good things are no longer good when they supplant God as one’s center.
Community plays a critical role in discernment. Integrity calls us to recognize our gifts and our flaws alike with humility, helping each other lovingly to “let our lives speak,” the truth as we know it. When we live with integrity, we hold the imperfections and dark places in ourselves and our communities to the Light, remembering that our mistakes and flaws may help us understand the pain and burdens of others or even become a spring for ministry. Living with integrity requires that we not “outrun our guide.” Rather, as Carolyn Stephen wrote, we do our best to “live up to the Light we have,” knowing that “more will be given” when we are ready.

No matter if we are going to the polls, going to work or school, spending time with family, or just trying to make it through another day during this pandemic, integrity cannot be lost. It must again become essential and speak to our current condition. I thank Michelle Obama for being willing to hold the “imperfections and dark places” in our own lives and our nation to the Light this week so we would be reminded of the importance of integrity again. May you and I “live up to the Light we have” today!

Grace and peace,

Bob

Joys & Concerns

First Friends Helps Changing Footprints ~ Several folks from First Friends recently helped Changing Footprints in its move to a new location. Tables, supplies and many, many bags and boxes of shoes needed to be moved. A BIG THANKS to Ann H, Deb and Phil G, Kathy and Bill F, and Carol and Jim D for their efforts with this move.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Judy D! Judy is celebrating a milestone birthday this week! Happy birthday, Judy!

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Join the Peace Church Conversation ~ The next meeting of the Peace Church Alliance will happen on Thursday, August 20 at 5:30pm. All are invited to join this discussion. To join, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org for the Zoom link. If you’d like to join the network, you can do so here. Thanks for your support, participation, and action at this critical and sensitive time!

Join Samantha R and her sister Jillian R for Personal Finance education! We have two upcoming sessions on Insurance & Savings August 20th at 6 pm, and Home Buying & Renting August 27th at 6 pm. Any questions? Reach out to the office at office@indyfriends.org.

This Thursday, August 20th we'll be gathering for free over Zoom and would love for you all to join us to learn more about insurance and savings! This may not seem like the most exciting topic, however insurance and savings are a big part of our financial wellbeing! Insurance and savings help defend and protect you against life events that could spell disaster financially without proper protection. Insurance protects you as you build wealth and savings make many of life's larger purchases possible. Join us and we will share helpful tips and information.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/113935658622

DISCLAIMER: We are not insurance agents. We do not sell insurance products. We have taught courses on this topic and that has allowed us to provide an unbiased perspective.

Men’s Threshing Together ~ Hey Men! Join us for a Zoom Happy Hour with Men's Threshing Together on Thursday, August 20 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 link.

Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading would like you to join us from virtually anywhere in the world to discuss Becoming by Michelle Obama. In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same. (goodreads)

Nancy S will be leading the discussion in via Zoom starting at 7 pm on Tuesday, August 25, 2020. For the Zoom info, contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

New Keycard Policy ~ In partnership with the office team and the reopening committee, the trustees are initiating a new system to borrow keycards for events held outside on the property at First Friends. Here is a simple application (or the office will have you sign a printed copy upon pickup of the key). It includes the new procedures for use including a due date to return the keycard. At this time, the trustees have chosen not to initiate a deposit to borrow a keycard. We want to maintain a welcoming spirit among friends and support small grounds wishing to meet together. You can assist all of us by kindly returning the keycard at the conclusion of an event.

A Guy and Some Watermelon Seeds

Anyone can plant seeds whether they are a kindergartener or a senior citizen, whether they are a farmer or have never planted anything before. Some seeds are more intriguing than others and the idea of planting watermelon seeds enticed one First Friends youth. Nolan planted the seeds, babied them and swirled the vines around inside his Community Garden family plot, neatly and artistically. I asked him about his adventure and this is his wise and candid reply:

It was a very fun experience. At first I did not know how they would turn out. Once they started to grow I was excited. I picked three watermelons too early. I cut up two of the three to see if they were ripe; they were not. I put the third in a brown paper bag with a ripe banana. After about two weeks I took the watermelon out and cut it open. It was good but it could have used a little more time in the bag. Right now I have seven or more watermelons growing. From this experience I learned that I need to wait a lot longer to pick the watermelons and if one is not ripe then the others are most likely to not be ripe as well so I should put them in brown paper bags.

Most of us can identify with this. We learn as we risk and try. I am impressed by Nolan’s ingenuity, perseverance and faith. I believe he will have some delicious, ripe watermelons to eat for his season finale. Once I was impatient to plant after readying a plot and did so too early. I learned. We grow when we learn from mistakes. My gardening motto is, “All gardening is an experiment,” because there are variables from weather to pests to individual knowledge that determine the outcome. Most of us harvest something from a garden. Throughout life we reap and sow. Sometimes we share the bounty; sometimes we lift one another through trying times. What follows is a quick summer recipe for a mouthwatering treat to feast on and lift your spirits. It is especially scrumptious on a sticky hot day!

Quick Watermelon Feta Salad
(sweet and savory, crunchy, creamy, juicy, colorful and yummy)

Though the combination of ingredients may sound off-putting at first, like the salt Mom used to sprinkle on her slice of watermelon (Yuck!!!), it can be surprisingly refreshing and delicious.

Ingredients: Chilled seedless watermelon, cucumber, fresh MINT, goat or sheep’s milk feta cheese and lime dressing (lime juice, pure virgin olive oil and honey or garlic if you want). The mint makes all the difference!! Don’t be afraid to alter ingredient amounts to fit your tastebuds!

Optional add-ons: red onion; avocado; basil; walnuts; cashews; black pepper; chili pepper for some heat

Prepare the ingredients. I recommend making this shortly before mealtime since you want if FRESH, FRESH and FRESH. Carve out the rind of an eight-pound watermelon to use as a bowl or just cut away the rind with a knife. Cube watermelon or use a melon baller. Crumble a block of feta cheese yourself if you want more flavor or use the shortcut of about 2 cups pre-crumbled feta. (Mom would approve of the salty feta complementing the watermelon.) Slice, cube or mince 1 cucumber. Longer English cucumbers have a thinner peel you can retain and you need not worry about its tiny seeds. If you use the more common, squatter cucumber, cut out the seeds and peel the thicker rind. You may use decorative cuts to keep some of the green tones and to play with design. Yes, you can play chef! Dice or thinly slice 1 red onion and/or 1 avocado if you are using them. Select small herb leaves or thinly cut about 1 cup larger leaves since they have a tendency to turn brown once they are wet.
Gently mix all the above ingredients together unless you want to save the herbs for the top.
Prepare the lime dressing. Combine about ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil and juice from about 3 limes. Some people prefer lemons. Add either 1 minced whole garlic clove or about 2 tablespoons of honey depending on the direction you want to take the dressing. Pour in three quarters of it and save the rest to drizzle over the top.
Sprinkle on the toppings you have chosen. You may want to garnish with sprigs of fresh herbs. Drizzle lime dressing atop the watermelon salad. Dressing is optional since the salad alone is delicious.
Serve, say grace and eat your salad with relish—meaning enthusiasm.

~Nancy

Local Compost Service Available ~ Ben Wertz’s non-profit organization Full Circle has created a compost service available to anyone located on or near the north side of Indianapolis. The service is $15 a month for bi-weekly pickup. Buckets are provided and switched out bi-weekly. Contact ben@fullcircleinitiative.org if you would like to sign up. This is an important practice for the community. The food waste collected will be turned into rich soil for community gardens in Indianapolis. The money generated from the service will likely be used to buy a truck to facilitate soil transport for community gardens.

Where does that leave us on Election Day?

One solution is for younger Americans to step up.

For more information, see or share a flyer here: https://bit.ly/2PCBUvs

Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for August
Northern Flicker: Special Talk

Are you ready to help people in need? The First Friends Meal Ministry is happy to provide meals to those in need of a bit of help, such as while recovering from surgery or going through a difficult time. This ministry is such an important and tangible ministry in our Meeting that connects and supports all of us. We need more folks to join us in this ministry- we can add your email to our ministry group and you can decide if the request for a meal is something you can do at the time. Lynda S and Vicki W lead this ministry and we have an app that allows for easy sign up for a meal. Will you join us in this important ministry? If you’re interested, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Queries for the Week

(From online service)

Where might the Spirit be leading me to gain some new perspective this week?
What “mental chains” are holding me back from seeing?
In what ways am I longing for renewal, renovation, and change?

(From self-led guide)

In what areas am I struggling with being more open?
What obstacles are getting in the way of this openness?
What area might I need to focus more on this week to help me with my openness (disciplines, community, prayer, silence, being a caring presence, simple listening, adoration, or friendship)?

Comment

Friend to Friend August 12, 2020

August 13, 2020

As Way Opens

I am in the midst of an intensive 2-week class at Earlham School of Religion heading into my last year of seminary. The class I am taking is Quakers and the Bible and we have spent a significant amount of time reading and reflecting on a number of early Quaker writings that were important documents in birthing this new movement of Quakerism. Early Quakers knew the Bible well, embraced it and believed in the Words of God represented by the Bible but they could not accept that the Bible was The Word of God. They saw the Bible as a document that pointed us to look at the moon - but it was not the moon! The Word of God is Christ, Spirit, Inner Seed, the essence that we can’t adequately explain, and no words will ever describe it even in the Bible. Early Quakers wanted everyone to experience this real Presence and for me its foundational in why I am a Quaker.

But the real joy I found in this class (and vaguely knew existed) were the number of Quaker women that wrote, spoke and influenced this movement between 1650 - 1700. We have all heard about Maragert Fell and she is one of my heroes. But there was Sarah Jones, Sarah Blackborow, Esther Biddle, Dorothy White, Mary Pennington, Joan Vokins, Barbara Blaugdone, Susannah Blandford, Rebecca Travers, Elizabeth Bathurst, Anne Gilman, Elizabeth Hendericks, Mary Waite, Anne Whitehead, Katharine Whitton, Dorcas Dole and Theophila Townsend. I am in awe of how these women were leaders in the early Quaker movement, wrote eloquently, delivered messages in Meetings and spent much time in jail for what they believed. It’s pretty incredible that in the 17th century, women who had no rights or standing in the culture were elevated to this level in a male dominated society. These women were willing to leave their families and go to prison for these beliefs. This was revolutionary at the time.

I think about this as a woman of color has been selected to be the Vice-Presidential pick for the Democratic campaign today. It doesn’t matter our politics - we should rejoice that a woman of color has been identified as qualified and that her voice is brought forward to potentially lead us. Republicans and Democrats should rejoice in this progress whether we vote for her or not. Quakers led the way for this 350 years ago and this is part of our history that we stand on today. I plan to read the writings of every one of these Quaker women and pray that I will be as brave as they were.

Joys & Concerns

Joyce B would like to send her sincere thanks to everyone who has reached out to her as she recovers from surgery! She appreciates all the calls, cards, meals, help, and prayers sent her way. Her recovery is going well.

Please pray for the Trout family, who lost their teenage son, Logan Trout. Logan was the son of Kathy R’s cousin. Logan collapsed and died while running cross country with Brownsburg High School. The EMT’s could not revive him. Please hold his family in the light during this extremely difficult time. Kathy’s cousin Ken and his wife Melissa have 4 other children, Kendall, Hayden, MacKenzie and Jacob. Logan was the baby and the youngest of all the children in their family’s generation. Read more at https://www.wishtv.com/news/local-news/brownsburg-hs-student-dies-after-medical-emergency/.

Please pray for Phil and Verna B’s family during this time. Verna and Phil B informed us this week that their great nephew, Nathaniel Carl Mroz was killed in a boating accident on Lake Wawasee. Nathaniel was well known as the captain of the football team at Hamilton Southeastern High School and was currently pursuing his Bio-technology degree at Indiana University. His funeral will be virtual from Grace Church (Fishers Campus) on Olio Road at 7pm this Thursday. Nathaniel had just turned 21 years old on August 8th. Please consider sending a card to Verna and Phil and hold the family in the Light in this difficult time. You can read Nathaniel’s obituary at https://flannerbuchanan.com/obit/nathaniel-carl-mroz/.

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

NOTE: No Monthly Meeting this Sunday ~ Please note that the Monthly Meeting for Business that would normally fall on this coming Sunday, August 16 has been cancelled. Of course we hope you will still join us for Fellowship Hour at 11:00am on Sunday by visiting https://bit.ly/FF-FellowshipHour.

Are you ready to help people in need? The First Friends Meal Ministry is happy to provide meals to those in need of a bit of help, such as while recovering from surgery or going through a difficult time. This ministry is such an important and tangible ministry in our Meeting that connects and supports all of us. We need more folks to join us in this ministry- we can add your email to our ministry group and you can decide if the request for a meal is something you can do at the time. Lynda S and Vicki W lead this ministry and we have an app that allows for easy sign up for a meal. Will you join us in this important ministry? If you’re interested, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Join the Peace Church Conversation ~ The next meeting of the Peace Church Alliance will happen on Thursday, August 20 at 5:30pm. All are invited to join this discussion. For the Zoom link, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org. If you’d like to join the network, you can do so here. Thanks for your support, participation, and action at this critical and sensitive time!

Join Samantha R and her sister Jillian R for Personal Finance education! We have two upcoming sessions on Insurance & Savings August 20th at 6 pm, and Home Buying & Renting August 27th at 6 pm. Any questions? Reach out to the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Next Thursday, August 20th we'll be gathering for free over Zoom and would love for you all to join us to learn more about insurance and savings! This may not seem like the most exciting topic, however insurance and savings are a big part of our financial well-being! Insurance and savings help defend and protect you against life events that could spell disaster financially without proper protection. Insurance protects you as you build wealth and savings make many of life's larger purchases possible. Join us and we will share helpful tips and information.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/113935658622

DISCLAIMER: We are not insurance agents. We do not sell insurance products. We have taught courses on this topic and that has allowed us to provide an unbiased perspective

Where does that leave us on Election Day?

One solution is for younger Americans to step up.

Did you znow 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.

For more information, see or share a flyer here: https://bit.ly/2PCBUvs

New Teen Volunteers Grace and Beautify our Garden

The Community Garden is the lucky recipient of two new energetic volunteers. They are our own Lena and her friend Elena. Seniors at the International School of Indiana, they are required to complete a CAS (Community, Activity, and Service) Project as part of the curricula to earn the International Diploma. The school accepts students from kindergarten through 12th grade. They come from all over the world—places like Europe, Argentina and China. It is a good place to practice French and Spanish, the second and third languages that the girls speak. Elena grew up in a bilingual household, so French is the newest language for her.

“Elena and I are very excited for the collaboration aspect of this project and partnering with First Friends,” said Lena. “We have really enjoyed getting to know Nancy and Sam and are excited to extend this collaboration to other members of the garden as well!” Ruth, Lena’s mother, introduced Sam and Lena while informing her that Sam is an alumna of the ISI. Lena and Elena met in sixth grade and have become close friends. According to Elena the ISI curriculum is rigorous but the school feels like a second home to her since she has always attended there. She thought working with a “trusted companion” would be more fun for this particular project than working with students she did not know as well. The undertaking stresses prolonged community service, planning and student initiative. Both girls preferred a project that stretched beyond the school into the outside community. They enjoy the idea of the environmental benefits of a garden.

“Both of our families enjoy gardening but our experience with it has been somewhat limited. So we are excited to learn more about it and engage with different aspects of gardening,” said Lena. The girls are discussing the possibility of starting their own fall garden plot at First Friends. Currently they are helping with the upkeep of the Hope and food pantry plots. In addition to watering, debugging and weeding, they are committed to making regular produce deliveries to the Mid-North Food Pantry. Using their initiative, they supplied and placed a bin in the garden for additional pantry donations. They have already delivered food, contributing to yet another community. They met with Chelsea and Kendal to discuss Chelsea’s plans for her Girl Scout Gold Star project: a rotating compost bin.

The new garden hands introduced themselves to other gardeners in person and on Marco Polo, an audio-video platform the gardeners use as one method to connect. The students showed the viewers signs they created for the garden.

“The inspiration for the signs came from our interest in art and design and was a way to use our pre-existing skill set within the context of the garden,” said Lena. The girls wanted to use their creativity to make aesthetically pleasing signs that would complement the flowers and plants.

“We wanted to incorporate fun and bright colors and imagine how what we made for people might make them feel,” said Elena. “We thought the signs would be homey, uplifting and make people feel welcome,” she said. They coated the signs with an indoor/outdoor varnish and kept some to re-treat the wood in the future.

“We’re so excited to become more integrated into the garden community, and this being said, we want to be available for anyone to contact us regarding any help needed in the future!” said Elena. Both girls repeatedly use the word “fun” when they describe their joint project. They want to meet more people, have many little jobs, visit often, work consistently, and be a part of their new community and its outreach. I believe we can give them a “thumbs up” on that account and a couple green thumbs besides! Welcome ladies! We are so glad to include you in our garden family!

~Nancy

Local Compost Service Available ~ Ben W’s non-profit organization Full Circle has created a compost service available to anyone located on or near the north side of Indianapolis. The service is $15 a month for bi-weekly pickup. Buckets are provided and switched out bi-weekly. Contact ben@fullcircleinitiative.org if you would like to sign up. This is an important practice for the community. The food waste collected will be turned into rich soil for community gardens in Indianapolis. The money generated from the service will likely be used to buy a truck to facilitate soil transport for community gardens.

Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for August
Northern Flicker: Special Talk

Help for Indiana Homeowners ~ Gregory W. Porter, Indiana State Representative, recently announced details about Indiana’s Hardest Hit Fund, a federally funded program that provides mortgage payment assistance to eligible Hoosier homeowners. If you or someone you know are an Indiana homeowner who has fallen behind on your mortgage payments or is unable to make future payments due to an involuntary financial hardship, the Hardest Hit Fund could help you stay in your home. For more information, click here.

Queries for the Week

(From online service)

Where might the Spirit be leading me to gain some new perspective this week?
What “mental chains” are holding me back from seeing?
In what ways am I longing for renewal, renovation, and change?

(From self-led guide)

In what areas am I struggling with being more open?
What obstacles are getting in the way of this openness?
What area might I need to focus more on this week to help me with my openness (disciplines, community, prayer, silence, being a caring presence, simple listening, adoration, or friendship)?

Comment

Friend to Friend August 5, 2020

August 6, 2020

As Way Opens

Back before the pandemic entered our lives, Sue, my parents, and I attended a special talk being given by the author/pastor Rob Bell in Indy. I wasn’t sure what to expect because it was new material and the title was somewhat bland, An Introduction to Joy. So, after finding our seats at the Fountain Square Theatre among a sold out crowd, Rob entered and opened by addressing my curiosity about his topic. He acknowledged that with a title like An Introduction to Joy we would be requiring a subtitle. Immediately, on the screen appeared what he said was a terse and short subtitle:

How To Be Less Cynical And
More Honest About the Subversive
Truth That Lurks Just Below the
Surface of Pretty Much Everything.

That set the tone for the next hour and a half. That night, I laughed harder than I have laughed in a long time, I came to tears a couple of times, and finally, I left realizing that I had been introduced to a joy I was missing. The world was already rather “heavy” back in September when we heard Rob speak, but in many ways, I found it a preparation for the times we are in now. If there is one thing that is missing in our world currently it is joy.

A few weeks ago, Rob Bell announced that he was going to post, for free, his talk, An Introduction to Joy on YouTube for us all to enjoy. On my day off as I was preparing for Yearly Meeting, I sat down and listened again to Rob’s talk. I laughed again, shed more tears, and once again was introduced to a joy I was missing. I immediately shared the video on Facebook and encouraged others to tune-in. One friend who watched, mentioned how his words almost seemed prophetic – and I think they were.

I want to challenge you this week, take an hour and a half alone or with someone who lives within your home, find a comfy chair, and watch, An Introduction to Joy. Here is the YouTube Video:

You can thank me later. ENJOY!

Grace and peace,

Bob

Joys & Concerns

Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading had a great meeting in July! It is a joy that meetings can continue safely online (left). If you’re interested in joining the group, find more info on their next meeting later in this newsletter!

A tree in memory of Dan R has been planted by Dan’s family in our meditational woods (right). All are invited to visit the woods, with safe social distancing, see the new tree, and pay their respects to our beloved Friend Dan.

Joyce B came through her surgery well and will be recovering in the hospital for several days.

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

First Friends Reopening Committee, August 2020

Dear Friends,

Here’s an update on where we stand.

Any budding optimism for a staged opening of the Meetinghouse that might have been implied by my former open letter to the Meeting has been.. tempered, to speak succinctly. We currently have no plans for opening the Meeting House to gatherings of any kind, sanctioned or unsanctioned. We are meeting regularly and holding in the light the many facets of needs of Friends, attenders, and outside groups (who rely on our building for their ministries) in balance with health and community safety.

Currently, we’ve agreed to allow small gatherings in the Meditational Woods, requiring attenders to adhere to current state and local guidelines regarding social distancing, face mask wearing, avoiding personal contact, and limiting gathering size.

Access to the outdoor grounds has been and will continue to be considered on a case by case basis. Individuals interested in hosting a small group may reach out to Rebecca to initiate a request. We’ve been able to accommodate group requests efficiently to date. Aside from the meditational woods, our property offers other useful and magnificent outdoor spaces - opportunities for gathering - and we’d like to open those to hosts and their groups who feel led to use them.

To better meet the needs of this potentially expanded use of the outdoor space at First Friends, we have decided to create a protocol for bathroom use as well as a plan for emergency building access.

The designated host of small groups approved to use the property will be given a key card for building access. We have recently asked the trustees to consider replacing the current locks with a digital numeric code system, incidentally an overdue security upgrade, but for now we will continue to use key cards.

The following requirements will be clearly posted at any points of entry:

Face masks required
No more than 2 persons are allowed in the building at any time
Access to the building is for bathroom and emergency use only
Small group host is accountable and responsible for key access and ensuring compliance with all individuals in the group
Hand sanitizer prior to building access is required (stations - [table, hand sanitizer, face masks] be set up by meeting host prior to gathering with materials provided by First Friends; meeting host is required to coordinate)

-Reopening Committee

Personal Finance Education ~ Join Samantha R and her sister Jillian R for Personal Finance education! We have three upcoming sessions on Debt & Credit- August 6th at 6 pm, Insurance & Savings August 20th at 6 pm, and Home Buying & Renting August 27th at 6 pm. Any questions? Reach out to the office at office@indyfriends.org.

This Thursday, August 6th we'll be gathering for free over Zoom and would love for you all to join us to learn more about debt! Now buckle up, this is NOT your run of the mill lesson on how to improve your credit score and good credit vs. bad credit! Credit cards, loans companies, car payments, and more debt are ways to keep you behind financially. Creditors are predators and when you free yourself from debt then you can start winning with money! Are you ready?! What have you got to lose? https://www.eventbrite.com/e/113935321614

Nancy S will be leading the discussion in via Zoom starting at 7 pm on Tuesday, August 25, 2020. Please contact the office for Zoom information.

Indy Winds Flute Choir presents a summer pop-up concert! All are invited to join the Indy Winds Flute Choir on Sunday, August 9 at 6:30pm for a concert at the Riverwood Park shelter, 7201 Crittenden Ave in Indianapolis. Both our own Lynda S and Carl B are a part of this choir group. Bring a chair, a cooler, or a picnic, and enjoy a concert of light music programmed to help you relax and enjoy the fresh air! Admission is free. See the flyer here: https://bit.ly/2DDIjng.

Community Garden Refuge ~ The Community Garden is a fun place to meet up with friends and neighbors. One can find solace and peace in this magnificent retreat. The fruits and veggies we harvest make some mighty good feasts. A tabletop bouquet is a sweet added bonus.

WYM Session Recordings & Feedback ~ Western Yearly Meeting is currently in the process of processing and uploading videos of some of the sessions. As they become available, you will find them on WYM’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX47NfqZHgEtvbbPK06pVew. Their channel already includes a powerful Quaker Lecture by Colin Saxton which (hint hint!) Pastor Bob will be referencing in his sermon this upcoming Sunday.

In addition, WYM is asking for feedback on their annual sessions. You can take the survey electronically by visiting https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GK8VFFT, or by printing a paper copy here and sending it in, or you may request a print copy mailed to you by calling 317-839-2789.

Queries for the Week

(From online service)

How am I tapping this Power and Divine Energy in my daily life?
What “hard things” do I need God to help me through, currently?
How might I be bold and bring life into my world this week?

(From self-led guide)

How am I tapping this Power and Divine Energy in my daily life?
What “hard things” do I need God to help me through, currently?
How might I be bold and bring life into my world this week?

Comment

Friend to Friend July 29, 2020

July 31, 2020

As Way Opens

I have been immersed in VBS this week. We have been premiering a video each evening and then hosting a zoom call with the kids that want to join us (Rebecca has done an amazing job of creating the videos). I have appreciated the theme of VBS this year that Jesus’s power will see us through and help us face hard things, be bold, have hope and make friends. Our kids have talked about the things they are worried about and the hard things they are facing. We are all facing hard things and we desperately need hope. Jesus is our hope. Jesus is the hope I turn to everyday. Jesus lived a life of compassion, contemplation, care for others, healing and wholeness, accepting those on the fringes and of sacrifice. These are the values I want to embrace and try to exhibit in my life.

I have been wearing our “Watch for God” bracelet the last 2 weeks as a reminder for me to watch for God every day. We can get so immersed in ourselves, our concerns, our fears, our challenges that we forget to look for God all day in so many ways. Our kids shared they have seen God in the outdoors, in friends, family, pets. I know that I often forget to do this as my ego keeps getting in the way. As an example, I watch all of these videos we prepare for worship and VBS and think about how I look fat, say uhm too much, lick my lips, notice my collar is askew etc…. Why do I do this? What does it matter? It’s a continual struggle for all of us to limit our egos and instead turn to see the face of God in our activities and experiences.

Each year our kids remind me of this and remind me of the simplicity and depth of Jesus’s love and power. Even though we did VBS completely differently this year, it was a meaningful experience for me. A huge thank-you to Bob H, Jim K, Sue H, Bill H and Rebecca L for making VBS great this year. Jesus’s power pulls us through and helps us do hard things.

Beth

Joys & Concerns

Let’s give a BIG thank-you to our food pantry volunteers from the 15th: Virginia and Derek S; Linda L; Kathy and Bill F; Christie M; Phil G; Carol and Jim D. Food recipients were gracious and thankful for the efforts of our volunteers.

Western Yearly Meeting annual sessions were a success! Bob was also recorded during the worship service on Sunday. If you’d like to see the service and Bob’s recording, you can watch it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=PSdd1JUN6y4 (his recording begins at 54:30). Or you can read the words Bob spoke here. Congratulations, Pastor Bob!!

Please pray for Joyce B. She will be having Hip replacement surgery on August 4. It had been pushed off due to the pandemic. Please pray for a successful surgery and speedy recovery for her!

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Remembering to Bless the Hands that Pick Your Food

Jennifer grows everything from herbs to flowers and vegetables in her well-tended plots in the Community Garden. She even neatly fenced in her largest raised bed that features climbing tendrils reaching skyward. She loves being outside watching her garden grow.

“I am acutely aware of how hard it is to bring the food to the table from the field,” she says. Her ex-husband, a Mexican, came to the U.S as a field worker along with his brother. Jennifer was not as aware about where her food came from until they were sitting down at the table to eat and she was serving asparagus. Her husband started talking about how hard it was to pick asparagus in the fields, how he was always having to bandage his hands.

Now Jennifer personally knows people who have worked in fields and factories in slave-like conditions. She speaks of a relative in the ‘90s who had to escape his untenable situation. She said he was picked up at the border by people who turned out to be human traffickers. They took him to a farmer who had made a deal with them. He was treated like a slave or an indentured servant. He had nowhere to live except where his employer placed him. He owed his boss for rent, food and everything else, including the trafficking fee. He soon realized that he would never be able to pay off the debt he owed with the pitiful wages he earned. He recognized the dark threat hanging over him. When the farmer drove the workers to town for their weekly laundry trip he chose to escape. He traveled from North Carolina to Maryland with nothing but the clothes he wore until he arrived on Jennifer’s doorstep.

“[U.S.] people don’t understand how hard [Mexican] people try to do the right thing,” Jennifer said when talking about how hard undocumented immigrants work to try to become documented. She also spoke of a Mexican relative who merely wants to visit her but is not able because she must have income and property and is too poor to fit the criteria.

Jennifer believes the U.S. doesn’t recognize that many Mexican people might need refugee status. She used to live in Mexico and spoke of how she and her children feared being kidnapped by cartels.

“I know personally about the need to leave Mexico. People are often in dangerous situations.” She explained how young men can be threatened to join gangs and they want to run away so they do not need to do that and because they must find a way to support their poverty-stricken families. She explained how “U.S. businesses leave the back door open so they can obtain cheap labor.” Poor Mexicans are tempted by this arrangement and if they take these positions, which Americans typically don’t want, they lack health care and benefits. They also have no protection from the law. The country still needs the labor though, to feed the population. Corrupt employers sometimes call Immigration to conduct raids on payday at the end of a particular harvest when the migrant workers must move on anyway and are no longer needed. There are always more illegal immigrants to fill their vacated low-level jobs. New people will be hired illegally and treated accordingly.

Jennifer believes people are more aware of these inequities than ever before. Still, she is upset by people who have no compassion for the immigrants.

“Undocumented immigrants are still working in the fields, even with masks on. They have never stopped. They are planting, caring for the crops and harvesting. Meanwhile those who have no compassion and don’t think about where their food comes from are stuck in the house hoarding food,” she said. “They depend on the undocumented people for their food.”

She believes the “sins of the fathers,” like in the Black Lives Matter movement, are still with us and “the trauma is not over.”

“No matter what your political view is, we always need to provide food for the masses. No one wants field jobs because they want better jobs.” Then undocumented immigrants fill the less desirable jobs that we offer them. Before the undocumented immigrants, Jennifer is cognizant of the role of black slaves in working the crops.

“Always, it is the people who are disenfranchised that have to fill the void,” she said. “After black slaves the Mexicans, Central Americans, and other immigrants became the main sharecroppers and farmworkers. Some call it ‘contemporary slavery.’”

Jennifer KNOWS where her food comes from—her garden and the hands of others.

“I always bless the hands that picked my food,” she says. “I always remember the black slaves who raised the food first in this country because our country is built on slavery.”

~Nancy

Queries for the Week

(From self-led guide)

How might practicing equanimity help me as I struggle with the pandemic, racial unrest, and the political season our nation is in?
As I reflect on the mountains, what am I learning about God or my spiritual journey from them?
What pilgrimage might I need to go on, physically or spiritually this week?

Comment

Friend to Friend July 22, 2020

July 24, 2020

Back when we first moved to Oregon, I had a member of our meeting ask me a very important question for people in Oregon. He asked, “Are you a mountain guy or a beach guy?” Growing up a Hoosier and living most of my life in the Midwest, I had never once pondered such a query. I responded by saying, “I think I’m a beach guy.” That response was because I had never really been to the mountains. Sure, I had driven through them or stopped to look from a distance, but that was about it. I had been to the beach more times than I could count, so it must be the beach.

In the coming years, our family would take road trips. Many of which found us among the mountains out west. We found ourselves on Mt. Saint Helens, the Olympic Mountains, Mt. Hood, Mt. Washington, Three Finger Jack, The Grand Tetons, and even atop the mountains at Glacier National Park. Last week, we continued those journeys since coming back to Indiana by heading to the Great Smoky Mountains. Even though the elevations in the Great Smoky Mountains are about half of what they are in Glacier National Park, the views are still as stunning and unique with the “smoky” moisture layers and multiple shades of blue.

Come to think of it, the last time I was in the Great Smokey Mountains was after my senior year of high school before heading to college, just like our son, Sam. One place I wanted to return and take my family in the Great Smoky Mountains was Clingmans Dome. When I visited back in high school, I was not as aware of how we stole land from the First Nations people to make our national parks and to diminish the sacredness of the land. Today, at the base of Clingmans Dome the National Park System has placed an explanation which reads as follows.

“Clingmans Dome is a sacred mountain to the Cherokees, where the Magic Lake was once seen. The Great Spirit told the Cherokees that, “if they love me, if they love all their brothers and sisters, and if they love the animals of the earth, when they grow old and sick, they can come to the magic lake and be made well again. For Cherokees, these mountains have meant refuge, homeland, and a mythical and spiritual foundation for their people. During the Indian Removal Period of the 1800s known as the Trail of Tears, the mountains meant safety from pursuing soldiers. Today these slopes provide a refuge and offer inspiration for visitors from a hectic modern society.”

As I read that, I began to realize, I too found refuge in these mountains from our hectic modern society, the current pandemic, the racial unrest, and the political season. My family had headed to the mountains for healing, refuge and rest – all that a vacation should afford. But it was the Great Spirit’s words that spoke deep into my soul atop Clingmans Dome. As I looked out upon the silence and beauty from 6,643 ft. I heard our world being summoned by the Great Spirit in much the same way Jesus uttered the greatest commandments - love God, love ALL our brothers and sisters, even the animals of the earth, so that we can grow old and return to these sacred places for healing.

I sensed a rather straight forward leading in that moment - we are going to continue to struggle with receiving the healing benefits of the mountains, or creation in general, until we first put our priorities in order. I sensed deeply that unless we are more intentional about loving God, neighbor, even the animals, we are going to continue to struggle with finding the full benefit of all that we are offered. As I climbed back down Clingmans Dome, I found myself somewhat refreshed, having enjoyed the view, yet keenly aware that it was time to get back to those priorities the Great Spirit and Jesus had stated – to love God and neighbor.

Just maybe as I work to love God and my brothers and sisters, I will find myself becoming more and more a “mountain guy” and begin receiving the full benefits of all God wants to lavish upon me from the mountaintops of this world. To help us spiritually “head to the mountains” this week our Self-Led Worship Guide will be focused on spiritually looking at mountains – be sure to check it out.

Grace and peace,

Bob

Joys & Concerns

Meeting Safely! We applaud the “Serenity Now!” support group for continuing their meetings—in a safe manner! Here they are meeting in the courtyard, safely distanced from each other.

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Interested in our men’s small group? Last Spring Kent Farr helped start a men’s book club small group at First Friends. The group is currently meeting on alternating Thursday nights at the home of Derek Snell to take advantage of great weather and have space to spread out, with the garage and Zoom being our backups. If you would like to join us for the next group of discussions, please contact one of us directly. We’ll begin sharing the next book, a collection of Steven Crane's short stories "The Open Boat and other Stories" on July 23rd. We've chosen to explore Glennon Doyle's "Untamed" after that.

Western Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions! All are invited to join the WYM annual sessions this July 24-26. As a reminder, there will be no First Friends Sunday Service this weekend as all are encouraged to virtually attend the WYM annual sessions and Sunday service (where our own Bob Henry will be recorded!). The info on the events taking place can be found in their most recent email blast, which you can find here: https://bit.ly/WYM2020info. You can also find more information, as well as register on their website at https://www.westernyearlymeeting.org/2020vision. The registration deadline is tomorrow (Thursday)! To access the Zoom links each day when it is time to meet, please visit https://www.westernyearlymeeting.org/2020connection using password WYMQuaker (case sensitive!). If you have any questions, you can contact Western Yearly Meeting at westernym@sbcglobal.net.

Join us from virtually anywhere in the world as the Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading discusses Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink (558 pages).

In the tradition of the best investigative journalism, physician and reporter Sheri Fink reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amid chaos.

After Katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers chose to designate certain patients last for rescue. Months later, several health professionals faced criminal allegations that they deliberately injected numerous patients with drugs to hasten their deaths.

Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting, unspools the mystery of what happened in those days, bringing the reader into a hospital fighting for its life and into a conversation about the most terrifying form of health care rationing.

In a voice at once involving and fair, masterful and intimate, Fink exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals just how ill-prepared we are in America for the impact of large-scale disasters—and how we can do better. A remarkable book, engrossing from start to finish, Five Days at Memorial radically transforms your understanding of human nature in crisis. (goodreads.com)

Amy S will be leading the discussion in via Zoom starting at 7 pm on Tuesday, July 28, 2020.

Growing and Cooking with 깻잎 Perilla - By Heather D

Heather, one of our community gardeners, traveled to S. Korea last summer. She teaches Culinary Arts and is now growing Korean vegetables in our Community Garden. She has developed a taste for them and is sharing some of her expertise in this issue’s gardening article.

Perilla is a leafy Korean vegetable that has a pleasant taste somewhere between mint and basil and is a little peppery. Perilla is also sometimes called sesame leaf although it is actually part of the mint family. The Korean name for perilla is 깻잎 or kkaennip.

It's used in many traditional Korean dishes. Perilla is used alongside lettuce as a wrap for grilled meats. It can be made into a type of kimchi (naturally fermented and full of probiotics!), pickled, or even made into savory fritters! Perilla is also used as a filling for gimbap (also spelling kimbap) which is similar to Japanese sushi. The key difference is that gimbap has all cooked or fermented/pickled ingredients. It typically has seasoned beef or tuna, pickled daikon radish, and egg, wrapped in seasoned sticky rice and nori seaweed sheets. These recipes are available at www.maangchi.com.

Perilla is low maintenance and easy to grow. It does well in a large pot with self draining soil or outside in the ground. Simply sow perilla seed directly into the soil where you wish them to grow, covering them with a thin soil layer. They need partial to full sun and are self seeding for the next year.

Source: https://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/perilla-leaves

Buy local: Saraga International Grocery, located at 3605 Commercial Dr, Indianapolis

Buy online: Kizawaza's Seeds https://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_260-172.html

Support First Friends! Friends, during this time we are still in need of your support to keep the Meetinghouse going, to continue online Meetings for Worship, and to keep our ministries afloat. As we all learn to navigate this new world of social distancing together, we are happy to share new and easier ways you can continue to support the Meeting while stuck at home! First Friends now accepts online giving and giving through text. We also highly encourage setting up automatic payments with your bank! You can do so by signing into your online bank account and setting up payments to First Friends. Please visit www.indyfriends.org/support for more information or to give. If you have questions or would like to be walked through how to do it, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org or call 317-255-2485. Thank you for supporting First Friends, especially during these times!

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Service? Don’t worry if you missed it, you can watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BUvWo3lF4g. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday!

Queries for the Week

(From online service)

What are the practices I need to do to sustain me in this marathon?
What might I be willing to sacrifice?
How do I face my fear for the future?

(From self-led guide)

How am I being intentionally present to the love of God and allowing the Breath of God to fill and restore my soul?
What am I learning about the Spirit and its role in my spiritual formation?
How, each day, can I find time to just breathe?

Comment