I’ve been reading a biography of Elizabeth Fry (1780 – 1843) that I bought from the USFW used book table in the meetinghouse. The biography is itself a century old and USFW used book table in the meetinghouse. The biography is itself a century old and better ones have probably been written since. But I’ve been inspired by reading it. I’m only about half-way through it at the time of this writing, but here are some interesting points so far. Elizabeth Gurney grew up in a wealthy Quaker banking family in Norwich, England. She was one of eleven children, mostly sisters. But a brother, Joseph John Gurney, would become a key actor in the evangelical renewal of Friends. His travels in America in the 1830s were a watershed event that strongly influenced Friends, including here in New England. Elizabeth and her sisters were “gay Friends” – which in those days meant that they rejected the traditional plain dress, speech and lifestyle of Friends. They enjoyed literature, “mirth,” singing and even dancing(!) Betsy wore purple boots with scarlet laces, even to meeting for worship. The family were members at the Goat’s Lane Meeting in Norwich. She and her sisters disliked going to meeting – or what they called being “goatified.” Elizabeth’s story reads something like a Jane Austen novel that goes off the rails. At age fourteen she asked her father to take her to see the women in the Norwich House of Correction. The conditions she saw there horrified her, causing her to ask, “If this is the world, where is God?” She became a religious skeptic, but still caught between her love of diversion and her grief at social conditions outside her comfortable home. A major turning-point came when she was seventeen and William Savery, a traveling Quaker minister from America, spoke at her meeting. His message (two and a half hours long!) reached her powerfully. He came to the Gurney home for breakfast the next morning and prophesied great things about Elizabeth. She wrote that Savery’s “having been gay and disbelieving only a few years ago makes him better acquainted with the heart of one in the same situation.” Her sisters were annoyed by the changes in Elizabeth in the following months. She became more serious, kind, and charitable to the poor. She preferred reading the Bible to dancing, became more patient, humble and plain. What a drag! During a trip to London, a “weighty” elder Friend, Deborah Darby, also prophesied great things of her. Elizabeth wondered, “Can this be?” At age twenty, she married Joseph Fry, of another Quaker banking family in London. She started a school for girls and did various works of charity. But her greatest work would take place at the Newgate prison in London. Its terrible conditions had claimed the lives of some Friends in the early days of persecution in the
1600s. On average, five deaths occurred there every month from lack of ventilation and overcrowding. The criminal and mentally ill were thrown together. Men, women and even minors were executed for offenses as minor as theft and forgery. About four executions occurred daily. The French evangelical Friend Stephen Grellet visited Newgate in 1813 and went at once to Elizabeth Fry to ask her to help the 300 women prisoners and their children there. The degrading conditions of the prison (and the alcohol available to anyone with money to buy it) led to degraded behavior, outright mayhem at times. Fry spoke to that of God in the women and children by treating them with respect, assuring them of God’s love and her own for them, and offering education for the children along with productive work for the women. The results were immediate and profound. The ventilation didn’t improve but the overall atmosphere among the prisoners did. Fry also campaigned against capital punishment for theft and forgery, arguing that it showed a higher regard for property than for human life. Stay tuned for more on Elizabeth Fry in the next newsletter. Doug
Monthly Archives: May 2016
Durham Monthly Meeting Minutes, April 17, 2016
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends convened in worship on Sunday, April 17, 2016 with twelve people present. In Sukie Rice’s absence, Doug Gwyn agreed to serve as recording clerk for this meeting. He will send out draft minutes to all present for additions/improvements. Clerk Sarah Sprogell opened the meeting by reading a quotation from the current revision of New England Yearly Meeting’s book of faith and practice, page 117, on the inward teacher and personal transformation. Doug Gwyn gave his pastor’s report. He continues to arrange for a variety of speakers to bring the message in worship. Sukie Rice spoke April 3 and Nelson Ida, pastor to the Kakamega orphanage, spoke April 10. Craig Freshly will bring the message April 24, while Doug is speaking at Central Philadelphia Meeting. Gene Boyington has agreed to speak May 10 and it is probable that Dorothy Selebwa of Kakamega will speak June 26. A meeting of committee clerks, released ministers and treasurer was a useful conversation held in the parsonage April 6. Midweek meetings have resumed and will utilize a variety of formats. Ron Turcotte reported for Ministry and Counsel. Friendly Eights groups have all met at least once, except for one that is still finding its way. Several other items of business are in process. Youth Minister’s report – Wendy Schlotterbeck is out of town and unable to report. Katharine Hildebrandt gave the treasurer’s report. For the first quarter of this year, she reported $17,008.55 in expenses, against $12,828.93 in income and $2859.43 in transfers, leaving a negative year-to-date balance of $1320.19. She noted that declining interest income from our various funds is impacting our finances. Her report was accepted with appreciation.
a. Sarah Sprogell’s suggestion was approved, that we have treasurer’s report quarterly instead of monthly, with the provision that the treasurer or finance committee can report anything more urgent at any monthly meeting. We will put the quarterly reports, in abbreviated form, in the Meeting newsletter. Tess Hartford brought the report from the Christian Education Committee. Their main business presently is Wendy Schlotterbeck’s annual evaluation. Tess will distribute an evaluation form to members of Christian Ed and Ministry & Counsel, and to the parents of the Meeting’s youth. They hope to renew Wendy’s contract/agreement in June. Tess raised a concern that the Committee is getting smaller. Jo-an Jacobus said she would relay this concern to Nominating Committee. Clarabel Marstaller resigned from the Committee in March. Doug Gwyn read a minute of appreciation from the Committee for her 67 years of service to religious education in our Meeting. The minute was heartily approved. Margaret Wentworth presented the Trustees report. They are obtaining estimates for replacement of the meetinghouse roof and reinforcement of its underlying structure, in order to install solar panels in the future. They plan to approach the Fundraising Committee to explore how to finance this undertaking. They are starting to explore creating guidelines for the interment of cremains, which are becoming a more frequent choice for those using our cemetery. We may need to consider smaller plots accordingly. The horse shed roof needs repainting and repair. Don Goodrich is removing large stones, stumps and seedlings from behind the horse shed so that it may be mowed this year. He is doing this for free, as he plans to use the stones elsewhere. Gene Boyington will continue with tree-removal near the entrance to the parsonage parking lot. Trustees plan to use a sign-up sheet again this year for spring cleaning, rather than to organize a clean-up day. A working party will be formed to remove the carpet from the worship room. Ron Turcotte, Katherine Langelier and Doug Gwyn were approved to work on this. They will see if Paul Wood and Craig Freshley can be recruited for this project as well. The Friends Community of New England has an air purifier they can lend to the Meeting to help with mold issues that are a problem for one attender. The cell tower plan has been presented to the Durham Planning Board and is going through their process. It was suggested that we may need to schedule an open Trustees meeting for concerned members and attenders to discuss issues surrounding solar panels on the meetinghouse roof. This was approved as a useful step. Sarah Sprogell gave some details from our 2015 statistical report to the Yearly Meeting. We gained seven new members (3 new Friends, 4 transfers from other meetings). We lost four by death or by aging out
from junior membership. Our attendance averaged right around 40, showing some slow growth. Falmouth Quarterly Meeting needs a representative to attend the June annual meeting of the Beacon Hill Friends House in Boston. Interested persons can contact Sarah. Clarabel Marstaller reported on the Falmouth Quarterly Meeting held at Windham Friends April 2. The morning was taken up with a worshipful hearing of State of Society reports from our various monthly meetings and a memorial minute for David Hall from Brunswick Meeting. Leslie Manning reported on the work of the Maine Friends Committee on Public Policy and the Maine Council of Churches. After lunch a presentation on Give Kids a Chance was given by two members of Windham Friends. Clarabel also reported for the United Society of Friends Women. The Durham women hosted a meeting for all USFW Friends on April 9, with 10 attending. A USFW Triennial will be held in Iowa in July. Two carloads will go from our Yearly Meeting. Sarah Sprogell reported that Portland Friends Meeting is exploring entering into sister meeting relationship with one of the Cuban Yearly Meeting meetings. One possibility would be for them to share our sister meeting relationship with Velasco Friends. But no definite action or request has been made. Clarabel Marstaller relayed a suggestion from Cynthia Muench that we add signs to the two doors into the worship room, requesting that people silence all electronic devices. Jo-an Jacobus volunteered to work on this. The meeting closed around 2:15.
Christian Education Committee Minute of Appreciation for Clarabel Marstaller’s Contributions
The Christian Education Committee minutes its appreciation for our beloved Friend Clarabel Marstaller’s many years of faithful work in Christian education for Durham Friends Meeting. When she resigned from our Committee in March, she mentioned that she has been involved in the work here since 1949 – 67 years! She has seen our Meeting and its work in religious education go through many changes over the years, and has worked creatively every step along the way. We are grateful for the continuity and resilience she has lent the Committee’s work. She has offered a deep well of experience and knowledge to draw upon. We hope we can continue to draw upon her insights and encouragement in the future. Thank you, Clarabel! For the Christian Education Committee, Tess Hartford, Clerk Approved at Monthly Meeting, April 17, 2016
Attracting an Audience
current unit focuses on mass media, and how language is used to reach a certain audience and achieve a certain purpose. I figured that the lessons would be easier to plan and assignments simpler to grade if I helped the class narrow down the possible topics to three or four, and everyone could write on one of those; we could get some basic subject knowledge in each area, and they could supplement their own standpoint with individual research. In one of the first class sessions, a Dana pointed out that bloggers often don’t take full advantage of the freedom that blogging theoretically provides, since they are afraid of being labelled as biased, or of being attacked for their opinions. I thought quite a bit
about her point, which, although not new to me, struck me as more significant for Palestinian bloggers than for American ones, and it influenced the way I wanted to teach the unit. We began focusing on tactics to gain and maintain an audience, with a critical eye to how commonly used tactics to win “views” on the internet can alter a message. Provocative, exaggerated or gossipy headlines, polemical language, humor and metaphor are some of the popular devices employed as “click-bait,” a phrase the students taught me. But does the use of these tactics impact the message? “I’m writing about feminism,” said Nour. “I can’t use a gossipy tone.” Her classmates retorted that she could; “OK, but I wouldn’t” she clarified. Why not? I asked. “It would be unethical,” “It makes the topic seem unimportant,” “People wouldn’t take the topic seriously.” We discussed the dance that bloggers must do, in attracting an audience, while maintaining the integrity of their message. I’ve been impressed with how thoughtfully they have considered what degree of “self-selling” is appropriate to their topic, since many have chosen weighty issues such as stereotypes of Arabs, young girls sold into marriage in Syria, and the dangers Palestinian children face when travelling across occupied territory to get to school. I imagine Early Friends having contemplated a similar challenge: the truth they wanted to convey was too vital to be diluted for the sake of mass appeal. And yet they had to make their new message feel compelling and alive. In one sense, Friends then and now have it easier than bloggers. The blogger’s message is evident only through his written language. Friends can count on their lived example to attract others to their truth, a “click-bait” strategy which seems to speak louder than words. Mimi Marstaller, Volunteer Teacher at Ramallah Friends School
Woman’s Society Meeting June 2016
Durham Friends Woman’s Society met at the home of Dorothy Hinshaw on June 20, 2016, with ten women in attendance for the meeting and the high tea which preceded the meeting. Angie Reed was not at the meeting so Katherine Langelier took minutes. Martha Sheldon presented the program from Blueprints which was written by Durham’s own Leslie Manning. In the business meeting, President Dorothy Curtis opened the meeting with Kitchen Table Wisdom, by Rachel Naomi Remen. The card ministry was discussed and carried out. Nancy gave the Treasurer’s report during which a collection was taken. The Children’s Day offering was $367.25 and we added to that from our treasury to make the donation $400, which goes to the USFWI Children and Youth Projects. The meeting discussed the previously approved donation toward expenses of our member attending the United Society of Friends Women International Triennial, which will be held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, July 7 – 10. Prayers were requested for our member attending the Triennial, for all the people attending the Triennial and attempting to attend. Prayers were also requested for a member with difficult issues. The women on the Tedford meal team for May gave a report. It sounded delicious and the story of getting it there provided quite a funny tale. The Nominating Committee gave a report: Nancy Marstaller will be our new Treasurer. After thanking Dorothy Hinshaw and Martha Hinshaw Sheldon for their hospitality and program we all headed back home. The next meeting will be held on July 18 at the home of Helen Clarkson.
