News from Velasco Friends Meeting — and a Suggestion for World Quaker Day

News from our sister meeting in Velasco from the sister meeting committee, August 2023

Yadira Cruz Pena, the pastor of Velasco Meeting was one of the representatives from Cuba Yearly Meeting (CYM) to New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM) last week.  She shared this photo of Velasco Friends meeting outside this week in a service blessing a member’s home.  I sent her a photo of Portland Friends meeting outside at the Friends School. We agreed that in nature, God’s presence can be easily felt.

She also shared this photo of her oldest daughter holding the “Church’s baby”.

We have begun planning how Velasco, Durham and Portland can have a joint or concurrent event on World Quaker Day on the first Sunday in October. We cannot be in person and probably cannot be on zoom together, but with creativity, we can feel each other’s presence.

We are sending some spices and the photo album we shared with Durham and Portland to Yadira with a delegation traveling from New England to Cuba in September. 

CYM and NEYM are beginning to explore ways that the two yearly meetings can be more closely connected even in these difficult times.

“Individuals in Community,” by Martha Hinshaw Sheldon

The message at Durhgam Friends Meeting on August 13, 2023 was given by Martha Hinshaw Sheldon, our member now living in Northern Ireland.

Greetings from Coleraine Friends Meeting.  Been in Northern Ireland for two years this summer.  

Busy days!  Helping my parents move and was the registrar for New England Yearly Meeting.  Love the job.  Love the people. Love sorting and packing!

This is in contrast to my not so busy retirement days in Northern Ireland where I volunteer with the National Trust, Corrymeela reconciliation center and other odd activities.

Two weeks ago I spoke of being individuals in a community versus being a community of individuals.  Where do we focus?  On ourselves or on our community?  

At Yearly meeting there were 402 individuals.  Some more attentive to the Spirit and community than others.  In my humble opinion.  Some seemed just interested in hearing their own voices.  As we do. Who am I?  Who are you?  Both.  Sometimes one?  Sometimes the other? 

When growing up in Wellesley Friends meeting I learned of the GreenCircle.  A way of peace and reconciliation, a way of being in community.  In a circle all are equal.  No one is at the head of the table.   No one is in the front or behind.  

Another image.  The Third Way.  Palestinian lawyer, Jonathan Kuttab wrote of a third way in the conflict in Palestine and Israel where I first heard of this concept.  We tend to think of us versus them.  Only two ways to solve conflict.  In the third way there are more than two ways.   Multiple ways.  I believe that is what Jesus taught.  Alternative ways to see the world.  Ways that take into account the whole community rather than the winner and loser.  

Joseph and Jesse Bruchac, from the Abenaki nation, shared stories and music as keynote speakers at NEYM.  Jesse is an author and native languages speaker, Joseph a storyteller.  One story told how animals became smaller when humans were created.  Their telling of this story and others is on the NEYM website.   My summary version is this.  When humans were created the other animals were angry and wanted to be rid of them, these strange creatures.  The creator soothed each creature with a touch, a stroke, a word of calm. This decreased their ferocity and size to not harm humans.  Except for the mosquito.  The vampire spider.  

Because the earth is not for the comfort of humans.

Community is not the stage for individuals.  

Community is for all to be heard and listened to, for all to be equal, for all to hear of the wisdom of the Spirit, the creator, the Other.  Wisdom is not from one voice but from a weaving together of voices. Weaving together of voices that may introduce a third way or more, of leadings based on being open to the wisdom of others, especially those who may be contrary to us.   For when we are not willing to listen to others we are not willing to learn of new possibilities, new solutions.  In our listening I invite you to ask others why they feel or are led in a certain way.   (

I invite you to be willing to be open to a third way, a way led by the Spirit and not our own desires or wants.  I do not believe that our wants and desires are bad and the Spirits are good and that they conflict but that sometimes our wants and desires may not be what is best for the community and from Spirit.

This is not always easy but it does lead to a peace of mind and soul.   This I know.  

Woman’s Society Silent Auction, August 13-21, 2023

 Update: The Woman’s Society silent auction continues at the Meeting House this Sunday Aug. 20th, and concludes at the annual potluck Aug. 21st, to which all are welcome. Funds go to LACO in memory of Margaret Wentworth.

Items are being sought for this year’s silent auction being sponsored by the Woman’s Society. All proceeds will go to LACO, the Lisbon Area Christian Outreach food bank.

The auction itself begins Sunday, August 13, and concludes with a 6pm potluck supper at the Meetinghouse.

Isaiah 58: 6-12

At Durham Friends Meeting on August 6, 2023, Renee Cote, co-clerk of Ministry and Counsel, read Isaiah 58:6-12, the theme of this year’s New England Yearly Meeting annual sessions, August 5-9, 2023. “Like a Watered Garden: Open to Grace, Loose the Bonds of Injustice.”

Isaiah 58:6-12 (New International Version)

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

“Recognizing and Appreciating,” by Richard Rohr

In opening worship on July 30 at Durham Friends Meeting, Wendy Schlotterbeck read this meditation from Richard Rohr, posted on the website of the Center for Action and Contemplation.

Recognizing and Appreciating, by Richard Rohr

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Contemplation is a kind of seeing that is much more than mere looking because it also includes recognizing and thus appreciating. The contemplative mind does not tell us what to see but teaches us how to see what we behold.  

But how do we learn this contemplative mind, this deep, mysterious, and life-giving way of seeing and of being with reality? Why does it not come naturally to us? Actually, it does come momentarily in states of great love and great suffering, but such wide-eyed seeing normally does not last. We return quickly to dualistic analysis and use our judgments to retake control. A prayer practice—contemplation—is simply a way of maintaining the fruits of great love and great suffering over the long haul and in different situations. And that takes a lot of practice—in fact, our whole life becomes one continual practice.  

To begin to see with new eyes, we must observe, and usually be humiliated by, the habitual way we encounter each and every moment. It is humiliating because we will see that we are well-practiced in just a few predictable responses. Few of our responses are original, fresh, or naturally respectful of what is right in front of us. The most common human responses to a new moment are mistrust, cynicism, fear, knee-jerk reactions, a spirit of dismissal, and overriding judgmentalism. It is so dis-couraging when we have the courage to finally see that these are the common ways the ego tries to be in control of the data—instead of allowing the moment to get some control over us and teach us something new! 

To let the moment teach us, we must allow ourselves to be at least slightly stunned by it until it draws us inward and upward toward a subtle experience of wonder. We normally need a single moment of gratuitous awe to get us started. [1] 

In her book on spirituality and parenting, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg emphasizes the special awe that arises from paying attention to our ordinary lives:  

The twentieth-century rabbi and theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel [1907–1972] wrote a lot about “radical amazement,” [2] that sense of “wow” about the world, which he claimed is the root of spirituality. It’s the kind of thing that people often experience in nature—at the proverbial mountaintop, when walking in the woods, seeing a gorgeous view of the ocean. But it’s also, I think, about bringing that sense of awe into the little things we often take for granted, or consider part of the background of our lives. This includes the flowers on the side of the road; the taste of ice cream in our mouths; … or to find a really, really good stick on the ground. And it also includes things we generally don’t even think of as pleasures, like the warm soapy water on our hands as we wash dishes. [3] 

References: 

[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr, Just This (Albuquerque, NM: CAC Publishing, 2017), 7–9. 

[2] Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism (New York: Macmillan, 1976), chap. 4. Cited by Ruttenberg, Nurture the W0w, 293. 

[3] Danya Ruttenberg, Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting (New York: Flatiron Books, 2016), 56–57. 

“Roots, Stones and Baggage,” by Brown Lethem

The July 23, 2023 worship at Durham Friends Meeting was begun by Richard Brown Lethem reading poems from his recently published chapbook, Roots, Stones and Baggage. It is available from  Bamboo Dart Press.

Roots, Stones & Baggage is a collection of paintings and poems that span over seventy years of his life. Both the poems and the paintings take many stylistic turns that mirror those of his life. Works written and painted in Missouri, Paris, Brooklyn, Maine & California reflect those surrounding sometimes taking flight into the ether and at other turns digging into the core of all things.

Durham Monthly Meeting Minutes, July 16, 2023

Revised version, August 2, 2023]

Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends met for the conduct of business on Sunday, July 16, 2023, with 9 people attending from the Meetinghouse and 5 by Zoom.

  1.    Meeting Opening                                                                                                                

        Dorothy Curtis opened the meeting with a prayer of thanksgiving.

2.     Approval of Minutes of June 2023 — Ellen Bennett

Acknowledgement from FCNL (change from FWCC) for K J William’s gift will be corrected in the minutes.

            Meeting approved the minutes with the above correction.

3.     Finance Committee: Second request for funds for Bolivia

A Quarterly Report from the Finance Committee will be given in September.

The request for approval for a gift to the Bolivian Youth Group, addressing food security and working under the care of Friends International, was presented again after initial consideration at the June Meeting for Business. Research on food scarcity in Bolivia indicated that there has been substantial drought over past 10 years in this region, resulting in a large world-wide initiative to send aid. A recent update publication from FWCC described both this situation and the international support.

Emma Condori Mamani, our Meeting for Worship message-giver, spoke about the food security project, specifically with respect to the families in the highlands who have been hit hard by climate change. The process by which the families are selected to receive aid is thorough, requiring a great deal of work.

Emma then stepped away from the meeting for the approval discussion of this item. Leslie also stepped away, leaving eight Friends in Meeting for the ensuing discussion, as well as for discussion of Item 4.

Meeting approved the donation of $500 for the food security project. Individuals may support this project, as well. Information on how to do this will be shared via a Friends Note with the request that donations be submitted by August 1st.

4.     Ministry and Counsel — Renee Cote, Tess Hartford

Renee read the recommending letter from Martha Hinshaw Sheldon and Linda Muller for Leslie Manning to be recognized as a recorded minister in the Society of Friends (see attached).

The Meeting approved immediately and joyfully, with thanks to Martha and Linda.

Renee reviewed the remainder of the M&C Report (see attached).

5.     Library Committee — Dorothy Hinshaw

There has been discussion among clerks and library committee that, in honor of beloved Friend, Margaret Wentworth, Meeting name our library the Margaret Wentworth Library. 

Meeting approved.

6.     Trustees — Sarah Sprogell                                                                                                 

        Trustees report was read (see attached).

7.     Use of Parsonage Funds Discussion

        Please refer to attachment summarizing past suggestions.

To begin discussion, Clerk summarized three recommendations: Consolidate accounts, calculate a percentage draw on restricted/designated funds to support operations, and increase support for the cemeteries.  The Finance committee will return in September with a recommendation about the consolidation of funds, not including the Parsonage Fund.

Trustees will consider: How much funding do we need to continue as a healthy meeting? Finance Committee will consider: How do we disperse/allocate those funds?

At Monthly Meeting in September, Meeting will seek to agree upon answers to these questions.

8.     NEYM Annual Sessions Representatives

No need for representation expressed by Meeting.

9.     Additional Items

Meeting expressed its great appreciation to Dorothy Curtis for attending the triennial of the United Society of Friends Women International, in conjunction with Friends United Meeting and Quaker Men, and acknowledged the challenges in travel that Dorothy experienced. Dorothy agreed to give a report to Monthly Meeting in September about her experiences.

Durham Monthly Meeting has supported Maine All-Care. The Meeting recently received a request to add its name to a letter in support of the Medicare for All Act 2023, HR 3421. (Please see attached letter.)

Meeting approved adding Durham Friends Meeting’s name to a letter in support of Medicare For All.

The next Meeting for Business will be September 17th.

10.   Closing Worship

Members were asked to pause to reflect on the ways in which individuals come together in community, and how to acknowledge those individuals and their differences in ways of participation.

Respectfully submitted, Ellen Bennett, Recording Clerk

Attachments:

Proposed Meeting Agenda

Draft Minutes of 6.18.23 Business Meeting

Description of Friends International Bilingual Center, Bolivia

Ministry and Counsel Report

Parsonage Fund Ideas

Letter in Support of The Medicare for All Act of 2023 (H.R. 3421)

Report from the Kenya Triennials

[Updated August 1, 2023] Our member Dorothy Curtis has safely and happily returned from her travel to the USFWI and FUM Triennials in Kenya. (That’s every-third-year or so gatherings of U.S. Friends Women International and Friends United Meeting, for those not familiar. She will make a report on the experience at the September 17 Monthly Meeting for Business.

Meanwhile, here is a link to the combined Epistle from the Triennial.

And here is a report on these gatherings from Marian Baker, also from New England Yearly Meeting that includes some photos of Dorothy in Kenya among Friends:

Rept.-from-Kenya-USFWI-Triennial-2023

Thessalonians 1 (NIV)

The worship message at Durham Friends Meeting was given by Emma Condori-Mamani (Friends International Bilingual Center, Bolivia) and centered on Thessalonians 1:

Paul, Silas[a] and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace to you.

Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Faith

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith,your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

For we know, brothers and sisters[b] loved by God,that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power,with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You knowhow we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joygiven by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven,whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Time of Remembrance for Kitsie Hildebrandt, July 30, 1 to 4pm, Orr’s Island

From Kitsie’s family, posted on her Caring Bridge site:

Hello Family and Friends, 

We will be hosting a time to gather and remember Kitsie on Sunday, July 30th from 1pm to 4pm at the Orr’s Island Schoolhouse. 

You all are invited to stop by anytime between 1pm and 4pm on July 30th to share memories of Kitsie and celebrate her life. This will not be a formal service, so please, come as you are at a time that works for you. 

We will have lots of pictures of Kitsie through the years, some of her artwork, and lemonade to share. 

Thank you all for your love and support, we feel it and it helps, 

Sarah, Bill, Willis, Lori, and Matt

Orr’s Island Schoolhouse info: 1594 Harpswell Islands Rd., Orr’s Island, ME 

Notes: When parking, please be sure not to block the Fire Station, which is right next door. Car pooling is encouraged because parking is limited.

Agenda and Materials for Business Meeting, July 16, 2023

The materials for the July 16, 2023 business meeting can be found at this link.

Proposed Agenda, July 16, 2023

Open with worship
Minutes of Previous Meeting (link here)

Second request for Approval from Finance Committee: Description of Friends International Bilingual Center (FIBC), Bolivia

Ministry and Counsel Report

Library Committee Request “Margaret Wentworth Library”

Trustees Update

Continued Discussion of use of Parsonage Funds (specific suggestions are welcome)

Name representatives to NEYM Annual Sessions

New Business: Consideration of Support for H.R 3421, The Medicare for All Act of 2023

Close with worship

From Friends Journal: “Distinguishing Audacity from Hubris,”by Sharlee DiMenichi

Durham Friends Meeting Clerk Leslie Manning lifts up this article from the June/July, 2023 issue of Friends Journal:

Friends Journal recently spoke with the heads of several Quaker organizations about the spiritual resources they draw upon to power their work, as well as the sometimes painful leadership lessons they have learned.

• Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, director of the Quaker United Nations Office, was moved by the example of a Friend in Durban, South Africa, who went to prison for refusing military conscription in the early 1980s.

• Bridget Moix, general secretary of Friends Committee on National Legislation, grew up Catholic and recalls having a lot of spiritual questions to which she did not get satisfying answers. She found Quakerism’s emphasis on experience and action fortifying, and draws strength from belonging to a community that dares to believe peace is possible.

• Tim Gee, general secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation, draws inspiration from the parable of the sower, which is recounted in the Gospel of Matthew. In the parable, a farmer scatters seed on patches of ground with varying degrees of fertility. The seeds represent Jesus’s message about the reign of God, and the soil represents human hearts that receive and allow it to grow to different degrees of abundance. Gee considers it FWCC’s duty to take care of the metaphorical ground. 

Click through for more testimonies from leaders at Friends General Conference, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, and the Belize City Friends Center…

“Where Am I Going? Live Adventurously,” By Leslie Manning

On July 2, Leslie Manning offered a message that included the Merton Prayer

She also quoted from Advice 27 in Britain Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice:

Live adventurously.

When choices arise, do you take the way that offers the fullest opportunity for the use of your gifts in the service of God and the community?

Let your life speak.

When decisions have to be made, are you ready to join with others in seeking clearness, asking for God’s guidance and offering counsel to one another?

Psalm 118

On Sunday, June 25, 2023, worship at Durham Friends Meeting was unprogrammed, and following our regular worship there was a memorial service for Margret Wentworth. Both featured readings of Psalm 118, one of Margaret’s favorites.

Psalm 118 (KJV)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.

Let Israel say:
    “His love endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say:
    “His love endures forever.”
Let those who fear the Lord say:
    “His love endures forever.”

When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
    he brought me into a spacious place.
The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?
The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
    I look in triumph on my enemies.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in humans.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me,
    but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
11 They surrounded me on every side,
    but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
    but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
    in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
    but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my defense[a];
    he has become my salvation.

15 Shouts of joy and victory
    resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
16     The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
    the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
17 I will not die but live,
    and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has chastened me severely,
    but he has not given me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of the righteous;
    I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord
    through which the righteous may enter.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
    you have become my salvation.

22 The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
23 the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 The Lord has done it this very day;
    let us rejoice today and be glad.

25 Lord, save us!
    Lord, grant us success!

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
    From the house of the Lord we bless you.[b]
27 The Lord is God,
    and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
    up[c] to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
    you are my God, and I will exalt you.

29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.

Durham Monthly Meeting Minutes, June 18, 2023 (Draft 2, June 27, 2023)

Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends for the Conduct of Business met at noon on Sunday, June 18th, with 7 people attending at the Meetinghouse and 3 people via Zoom

  1.    Meeting Opening — Leslie Manning                                                                                 

Leslie opened the Meeting with a moment of silent centering.

2.     Approval of Minutes of May 2023 — Ellen Bennett

It was noted that under item #6, the word “to” needed to be added to the last sentence.

               Meeting approved the minutes with the correction above.

3.     Finance Committee — Sarah Sprogell, Dorothy Curtis

The committee reviewed the handbook and offered a suggested addition to bring the entry for the Finance Committee up-to-date. Add one sentence to the end of the descriptions for both the Committee and for the position of Treasurer: “If there is no treasurer,” etc. (Please refer to attachment.)

                        Meeting approved this addition.

The committee also recommended changes to the description for requesting funds from the charity account, specifically with respect to time-sensitive and emergency requests. Please refer to the attached document for the proposed changes.

                        Meeting approved the changes.

The committee presented a request for funds from the charity account to support food security for Bolivian Friends. A Youth Group working under the care of Friends International Bi-lingual Center in La Paz have put together a project to provide seed potatoes, as well as potatoes as a food source. The committee recommends a donation of $500 in support of this project.

Questions posed included the severity and length of the drought conditions and whether there were restrictions placed on who can receive donations.

                     Meeting agreed to preliminary approval of the request with research between now and next month, when the request would return for final approval. FWCC will be contacted about the extent of their current work in Bolivia to determine the extent to which it might touch on the work of the Youth Group.

Meeting gave first approval last month for a donation to the Center for Wisdoms Women.  Request was brought forward for final approval.

                Meeting approved.

Handout was shared of ideas for Parsonage Fund dispersement. Clerk recommends Friends review the suggestions, think about them, including Trustees’ request that money be used to support infrastructure of the meeting, including cemeteries.  Will take this topic up at July MM.

4.     Nominating Committee — Linda Muller

The committee recommendation that Mey Hasbrook serve as contact for FWCC.

                        Meeting approved.

Clerk noted that we need both a Clerk for next year, as well as a Treasurer — two leadership positions that are important. The role of Clerk may be shared among the clerks of current standing committees. However, a single Treasurer to oversee finances and be responsible for bookkeeping would serve to guarantee the fiscal health of the Meeting.

The Meeting voiced its great appreciation of Clerk’s good work, further highlighting the importance of continuity in this position.

5.     Ministry and Counsel update — Renee Cote, Tess Hartford

No report.                                                                                                    

6.     Other business

October 1st Potluck:  This is an idea for reaching out to the wider Quaker Community as well as our local geographic community; a kind of “open house”. Science fair atmosphere was suggested, with tables showcasing the many things the meeting is engaged in, e.g., book project, Cuba Meeting, Woman’s Society, Triennial. A rolling slide show was also suggested. The request was made that the intergenerational events committee continue to work on this.

7      Closing Worship — Leslie Manning

Clerk shared three pieces of correspondence. The first was a thank-you from Robin Mohr from FWCC for a gift that KJ Williams has made in honor of Durham Friends Meeting. Funding will create spiritual and practical tools.

Clerk then read both the Meeting’s introductory letter and Velasco’s response for Kim Bolshaw’s travel to Cuba.

Friends approved Clerk writing a letter of introduction for Dorothy Curtis for her trip to Kenya.

The Meeting noted its appreciation for the gift from the Masonic Lodge to support Dorothy on her travels to Kenya for the Triennial. 

                Meeting approved Clerk writing a note of thanks to the the Lodge.

Respectfully submitted,

Ellen Bennett, Recording Clerk

Ancient York Lodge Contributes $1000 for Dorothy Curtis Travel to USFWI Triennial in Kenya

Wayne Ackley joined Daniel Henton in making an announcement at the end of Meeting for Worship on June 18. The Ancient York Lodge of Masons # 155 (Lisbon Falls) gave Dorothy Curtis a check for $1000 to support her travel to the United Society of Friends Women Triennial Gathering July 2-8 in Nakuru, Kenya.

Wayne had made the motion to the Masonic Lodge, and it was approved unanimously. Dan is the Lodge Master; Wayne is the Lodge Deacon. (And it was Wayne’s first visit to Durham Friends Meeting.)

Meeting members (most especially Dorothy) voiced their gratitude to the Masonic Lodge for their generosity. Dorothy leaves for Kenya on June 27.

“Being a Father,” by Doug Bennett

Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, June 18, 2023

Today is Ellen and my 26th wedding anniversary.  It’s a pretty important day in my life.  Most of you know Ellen; perhaps you can understand how very fortunate I feel to have her as my life partner.  Our very best project together has been being the parents of two wonderful boys – men now – who bring us great pride and joy. 

So another thing about today is that it’s Father’s Day.  Today I want to say a few things about fatherhood, which is pretty important to me — being a father myself twice over. 

The Bible might seem to be a place to start; it’s often a place we start when we think about important things.  But the Bible – at least in my reading – turns out to be an odd place to look for understanding fathers.  Think about the New Testament.  Joseph is a most unusual father because he had to adjust to the fact that his wife-to-be was pregnant even before he married her, and not by his doing.  He seems to have been a good father, but he pretty much disappears in the gospels after the nativity story.  Jesus isn’t a father in any human sense.  Nothing is said about the disciples being fathers.  The same with Paul.  And so forth: there’s just not much there about fathers.

There are more fathers mentioned in the Hebrew Testament, but not many positive exemplars.  Moses had a father named Amram.  But his wife, after hiding the baby for a few months, put him in a basket to float him downstream.  Amram didn’t play much of a role in Moses’s life growing up.  Abraham had a son – Isaac – quite late in life.  Then God commanded Abraham to sacrifice the boy, and Abraham was ready to do it until God stopped him at the last minute.

Samuel was the son of Elknah, born after Elknah’s wife, Hannah, had prayed for a child.  When that prayer was answered, she sent the young boy off to serve the priest at Shiloh.  So Elknah didn’t play much of a role as father.  David was the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons.  He became a shepherd until Samuel came for him and sent him on the road to serving in King Saul’s court. Eventually David became Saul’s successor as king.  I guess Jesse was a good father, but we don’t know much about that.

Get the picture?  There’s not much about what fathers do in raising their children in the Bible.  It isn’t a story about fathers who help mold their children and set them on the right path.  I don’t know quite what to make of that.  But I will say it’s one of the reasons I’m uncomfortable with people saying the Bible has a lot to teach us about marriage or the family.  Its focus is elsewhere. 

And there’s this: the Bible, or at least most translations, keep referring to God as “our Father,” confusing “fathers” with “God.”  The nature of “God” is a beyond-me topic for me, but I’m pretty clear that being a father isn’t being God-like.  I don’t think that’s a good way to think about it.  There are too many mistakes and too much impatience and worry in being a Dad to have it resemble God. 

So let me speak more personally – about my experience.  About being a father.

I’m a father of two wonderful sons, Tommy and Robbie.  I also had a wonderful father, and he had a father.  (The fathers going further back I only know about from family stories and obituaries and census records.) 

My father’s name was Frank, and his father’s name was Frank.  Frank (Senior) always called my dad, “Son.”  Invariably.  I don’t think I ever heard him call him anything else.  Neither Frank was ever given to expressing much emotion (they were men from New England, after all), so it took some years to realize that part of my grandfather calling my dad “Son” was an expression of how important it was that he had a son.  Being a father meant a lot to him, even if he didn’t seem to show that much in an outward way.  I now think it may have been the most important thing in his life. 

Well, “Son” (Frank Jr.) had a son – that’s me – and now I have two sons.  And the older one has two daughters.  So it goes on, and on, and on.  Today, on Father’s Day, I miss my own Dad more than I could ever tell you, and I miss my grandfather, too.  And today, especially, I get why it was a big deal for my grandfather to have a son — two sons, actually — how proud he was, and how many big expectations he had for his sons.  (I also miss Ellen’s dad, a very special man, and I know she does, too.)

Big expectations: I’ll come back to those. 

Time has passed; I’ve grown up and, well, grown old.  I called my mother’s father, at his request, simply Bob or Bobby. That was just who he was. He was delightful.  I called my father’s father (Frank, Sr.) “Dad’s Dad.”  It seemed perfectly straightforward, until I began to realize that my friends had various other names for their grandfathers, but none of them had a “Dad’s Dad.”  When I became a grandfather, my son Tommy asked me what I wanted to be called, and it was immediately clear as day: I wanted to be “Dad’s Dad.”  And so I am.  Once I had a Dad’s Dad; now I am Dad’s Dad.  If my granddaughters were here today, they might tell you I do a lot of “goofin’ around.”

It’s more than just the name or the title.  I’ve begun to look like my Dad’s Dad.  My walk looks like his, and so on.  I’ve stepped into the role, and there’s nothing more important to me than being a Dad and a Dad’s Dad. 

So what do Dads do? 

I once heard a child psychologist talk about being a father.  I love this pithy sentence from him:  “My job is to love my children unconditionally and to design consequences.”  The loving your children unconditionally is big and mysterious in some ways, but I think you get that part of his instruction.  “Designing consequences?”  I think he meant children need to learn that what we do has consequences, some good, some terrible, and in growing up we need to be aware of those consequences.  We don’t want our children to experience what happens if they get hit by a car so we tell them they shouldn’t play in the street and that there will be a consequence if they disregard that guidance. They might have to go to their room, or sit on the front steps for a while.  We design consequences, mild, instructive consequences that show them the way.

Being a father is about providing, about supporting, about teaching.  Sometimes it is about comforting your children when they are sick or sad, and sometimes it is about setting limits when you think children may cause harm to themselves or others. 

Being a father is also about tickling and about singing silly songs.  It’s about “goofin’ around.”  It’s about walking your child back to sleep in the middle of the night.  It’s about building Lego castles and cars, about special birthdays and birthday cakes, about helping your child ride a tricycle and then a bicycle and then (if you’re lucky) a unicycle and then watching him ride a very tall unicycle (that’s a giraffe) in big parades.  Or so it was for me.  It’s about helping with math homework and showing how to drive a stick shift car.  And then it’s about having him show me things. 

A very hard part of being a father is having expectations for your children.  Expectations.  In a word or two: it’s important to have expectations and it’s just as important to let them go. How do you know when it’s right to do each, having expectations and letting them go? That’s a toughie.  I realize how important it was to me that my dad had expectations for me: high expectations.  He wanted me to do well in school, and perhaps become a chemist like him.  I know that it was hard for my dad when I veered off in directions different from his expectations. 

We had some tough conflicts over his expectations and my choices.  I’ll spare you the drama;  we got through them, eventually.  And again, I want to say that I’m glad he had those expectations, and even gladder that he could let them go.  He let me make my own choices.  I still live within the framework of some of his expectations – those expectations I chose to accept.  I try to be someone he’d be proud of. 

Fatherhood: having expectations, presenting those expectations day-by-day, and then letting them go, or at least some of them.  That’s the deal, along with unconditional love. 

Maybe that’s what I find so strange about the dads in the Bible.  There’s nothing said about their expectations for their children.  Not Joseph for Jesus.  Not Amram for Moses.  Not Abraham for Isaac. Not Elknah for Samuel.  Not Jesse for David.  For Jesus, for Moses, for Isaac, for Samuel, for David what’s in the Bible is all about God’s expectations for them, and the importance of embracing those expectations. 

I listen for God’s expectations, too. That’s supremely important.  Most weeks that’s what we’re here talking about, God’s expectations for each of us and for all of us.   Still, I would have wanted Jesus and Moses and Isaac and Samuel and David to have earthly dads, too, who had expectations for their sons, high expectations —and then let them find their own way. 

Happy Father’s Day one and all. 

Also posted on River View Friend

Agenda and Materials for Durham Friends Business Meeting, June 18, 2023

The materials for the June 18, 2023 Meeting for Business can be found at this link.

Proposed Agenda for Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business, June 18, 2023

Opening Centering

Minutes of Previous Meeting, May 21, 2023

Finance Committee

Nominating Committee

Updates

— Ministry and Counsel

— Peace and Social Concerns

Closing Worship

Meeting for Listening: The Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings, June 24, 9am to 3pm

On June 24th, “Meeting for Listening: The Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings” is an opportunity for Friends across New England to reflect together on the spiritual life in our local meetings:  to dream together; to identify the resources meetings have to offer each other; to unpack themes in State of Society reports, as well as trends from statistical reports; and to explore what’s possible now.

From 9am to 3pm, Friends can gather together in-person or Zoom in. You can register for the event here online. There will be a local cluster participating at Midcoast Meeting House in Damariscotta, ME.  This is a smaller group of Friends connected to the other participants via a shared Zoom connection.  If you are interested in participating from this site, please contact clerkmfm@gmail.com.  If you plan to attend on-site in Concord, please register by June 20th, if possible.

Meeting for Listening: The Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings

Saturday, June 24, 2023, 9am to 3pm, Concord Friends Meeting (NH) and also via Zoom from Midcoast Meeting.

​Join us for a day of worship, prayer, celebration, and discovery. Come together to explore the gifts and paths that our meeting’s challenges have offered us the past year. Let’s see where Spirit is alive in our communities. 

​We will reflect on the life in our local meetings to see where we can inform the Yearly Meeting on how to best support local meetings through programmatic priorities.

​Together we will:

  • ​Dream together
  • ​Identify the resources meetings have to offer each other
  • ​Unpack themes in State of Society reports as well as trends from statistical reports
  • ​Explore what’s possible now

​A guiding quote for the day will be the following:

​“Friends are most in the Spirit when they stand at the crossing point of the inward and outward life.  And that is the intersection at which we find community. a place where the connections felt in the heart make themselves known in bonds between people, and where the tugging and pullings of those bonds keep opening our hearts.” (Parker Palmer, A Place Called Community, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #212, 1977)

​This meeting will be planned and hosted by the clerk of Ministry and Counsel, the clerk of the Meeting Accompaniment Group, and by the Program Director.

​Participants can participate in this event on-site at Concord (NH) Meeting, via Zoom, or gathered with a local cluster connected via Zoom.

​There will be a local cluster participating from Midcoast Meeting in Damariscotta, ME. If you are interested in participating from this site, please contact clerkmfm@gmail.com

​ If you plan to attend on-site in Concord, please register by June 20th, if possible. This will help us comfortably accommodate everyone.

​We are looking for volunteers who are willing to serve as event greeters and tech assistants. If you are interested in volunteering, email Nia (nia@neym.org).

​Questions? Suggestions? To contact the gathering hosts, email Carl Williams (mc-clerk@neym.org)

Covid Precautions for this event

​All in-person participants over the age of 4 years must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 (with boosters strongly encouraged for all eligible). Friends are encouraged to test at home before the event.  Stay home if you are experiencing Covid symptoms. Participants who have recently tested positive must follow the CDC guidelines for isolation and exposure. Masks are optional and the choice to mask will always be respected. There will be indoor and outdoor dining spaces.

“A Flag for Juneteenth,” by Kim Taylor

The message at Durham Friends Meeting this week was a reading, by Cindy Wood, of A Flag for Juneteenth, by Kim Taylor (Holiday Books, 2023). This message was part of the Social Justice Enrichment Project being carried through by our Peace and Social Concerns Committee.

Expert quilter Kim Taylor shares a unique and powerful story of the celebration of the first Juneteenth, from the perspective of a young girl.

On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, General Gordon Granger of the Union Army delivered the message that African Americans in Texas were free. Since then, Juneteenth, as the day has come to be known, has steadily gained recognition throughout the United States. ln 2020,a powerful wave of protests and demonstrations calling for racial justice and equality brought new awareness to the significance of the holiday.

A Flag for Juneteenth depicts a close-knit community of enslaved African Americans on a plantation in Texas, the day before the announcement is to be made that all enslaved people are free. Young Huldah, who is preparing to celebrate her tenth birthday, can’t possibly anticipate how much her life will change that Juneteenth morning. The story follows Huldah and her community as they process the news of their freedom and celebrate together by creating a community freedom flag.

Debut author and artist Kim Taylor sets this story apart by applying her skills as an expert quilter. Each of the illustrations has been lovingly hand sewn and quilted, giving the book a homespun, tactile quality that is altogether unique.

Woman’s Society Zoom Meeting Minutes, May 15, 2023

Present: Dorothy Curtis, President, Nancy Marstaller, Treasurer, Susan Gilbert, Secretary, Kim Bolshaw, Mey Hasbrook.

Cards: Kim will send cards to Friends.

Program and Devotions: Kim read from Blueprints “Abounding in Hope’’, by Nancy McCormick. Scripture: Psalm 96: 1-4. Hymns: Like the Woman at the Well and Great is Thy Faithfulness. This was the theme at Cuba Yearly Meeting, which Kim attended during her recent visit to our Sister Meeting in Velasco, Cuba. She found the Cuban Quakers joyful in the face of difficult, hard lives, also happy, helpful, and encouraging. She described them as not apologetic, welcoming her and including her as “one of the gang.’’ We discussed times in our lives when we  felt hopeful.

Minutes: Susan read the minutes from our 4.17.2023 meeting.

Treasurer’s Report: There is $11.05 in the account. We discussed fundraisers. The annual plant sale beginning May 25 and a silent auction beginning August 13 will benefit the Woman’s Society with proceeds from the plant sale going to the United Society of Friends Woman International children and youth projects.

Prayers: For Friends.

Tedford Meal: The June 5 meal was prepared by team A. July 3 will be brought by team B, leader Nancy Marstaller. Food or donations for Tedford House meals are welcome. 

Other Business: The WS will not meet in July. On August 21 we will have a pot luck supper at the Meeting House. Charities the Woman’s Society supports – New Beginnings (Lewiston kids needing help), USFWI (children and youth projects), Tedford House (shelter), Belize School Feeding Program, Ramallah School (special needs students), SASSM (victims of sexual assault) LACO (food pantry), LIHEAP (heating assistance). Wendy Schlotterbeck and Kim set up the plant sale. Kim made an informative sign for the Meeting House shed door listing charities. The Silent Auction will begin August 13 and end at the WS potluck on August 21. All are welcome to attend the potluck.

Thanks to all who contributed to the plant sale.

Dorothy ended the meeting with a quote:

Give thy heart’s best treasure,

And the more thou spendest,

From thy little store,

With a double bounty,

God will give thee more.

              — Adelaide A. Proctor 

Respectfully Submitted, Susan Gilbert

Eden Grace Has Passed Away

[Updated 23.6.13, and again 23.7.19]

Any who wish to attend Eden Grace’s Memorial Service at 1 PM on Saturday, July 22 over Zoom are invited to gather together at the meetinghouse.  The link is 

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82075151413?pwd=OFJhZUUwUGZTZ08zbitoeERhODJ5UT09

Meeting ID: 820 7515 1413; Passcode: 301733

Eden Grace, a resident of Maine, a member of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting, a longtime key staff member at Friends United Meeting passed away at the end of May at a hospice center in Scarborough.

A memorial service for Eden will be held on Saturday, July 22 at 1pm, under the care of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting in Boston.  There will be Zoom access; details will be posted here when available.

“God freely gave us the life of Eden Grace. Freely,” her husband Jim posted a few days after she passed. “This realization overwhelmed and enveloped me last night in a period of wakefulness. God had no obligation to give us this life. Like all of God’s gifts it was freely and abundantly given.”

Eden gave a message at Durham Friends on September 6, 2020 titled Telling the Truth About Whiteness. A collection of her essays can be found here.

From 2013 to 2020 she was Director of Global Ministries at FUM. Prior to that, she served FUM in Kenya.

Legislative Alert, June 2, 2023

Two bills of great importance to the Wabanaki are passing through the state legislature quickly before the end of the session this month. Hearings have already happened on these bills and they are moving to the legislature for votes. PLEASE let your Representatives and Senators know that you support these bills. More information about them is on the Wabanaki Alliance website.

 L.D. 2004, sponsored by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, and co-sponsored by six Republicans, including House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, of Winter Harbor, would allow tribes to benefit from most federal laws – past, present and future. Jurisdiction over serious crimes and gambling would remain under the state’s purview.

Currently, Congress must specifically make Maine tribes eligible for any new federal program or law that affects the state-tribal relationship, which tribal leaders say can include almost anything.
Talbot Ross’ bill seeks to flip that paradigm, forcing the state to lobby Congress to exclude tribes from any future legislation that applies to the nation’s Indigenous tribes. See the attached talking points that do not include the LD number yet.

The second bill, LD 1970, An Act to Enact the Maine Indian Child Welfare Act, is discussed in the talking points below.

Talking points for LD 1970: “An Act to Enact the Maine Indian Child Welfare Act,”sponsored by Rep. Donna Bailey, D-York.

  • 1. In 1978, the U.S. Congress worked closely with American Indian and Alaska Nativeelected officials, child welfare experts and families whose children had beenunnecessarily removed from their homes to pass the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.ICWA was designed to protect Indian children and families from biased child welfarepractices and well-documented disregard for their families and culture.
  • 2. In 1978, according to theNational Indian Child Welfare Association, nationwide 25% to35% of all Indigenous children were removed from their homes by state child welfareand private adoption agencies. As many as 85% of those children were placed outsideof their families and communities—even when fit and willing relatives were available.
  • 3. In Maine, according to a 2015 report of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth &Reconciliation Commission, Wabanaki children were placedin foster care in similarlyhigher rates than non-Native children prior to ICWA’s enactment in 1978. For AroostookCounty in 1972, the rate of removal for Wabanaki children was 62.4 times higher thanthe statewide rate for non-Native children. The rates for Maine were the second highestin the nation at that time. (Source:Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth &Reconciliation Commissionreport, page 21)
  • 4. Even after ICWA’s enactment, a disproportionately higher rate of Wabanaki children inMaine are taken into foster care than non-Native children. (Source:Maine WabanakiState Child Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commissionreport, page 21)
  • 5. ICWA serves the best interests of Wabanaki and other Native American children bykeeping them connected to their culture, extended family and community, which areproven protective factors. (Source:“The Indian Child Welfare Act Fact Sheet”preparedby the National Indian Child Welfare Association).
  • 6. ICWA has been labeled the “gold standard” in child welfare policy and practice by acoalition of 18 national child advocacy organizations. (Source:“The Indian Child WelfareAct Fact Sheet”prepared by the National Indian Child Welfare Association).
  • 7. Nearly 500 tribes, hundreds of supporters, and at least 87 members of Congress supportICWA as the abiding standard in Native child welfare. Source:Partnership With NativeAmericans).
  • 8. Maine’s U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and Rep. Chellie Pingree are amongthe 87 members of Congress who signed the “friends of the court” brief supporting ICWAin the pending U.S.Supreme Court review of ICWA’s constitutionality in theBrackeen vs.https://sct.nHaalandcase that is expected to be decided in June. (Source for‘friends of the court”congressional supporters: page 43-46).
  • 9. Maine is one of 26 states that filed “friends of the court” briefs in 2019 supportingICWA inthe pendingBrackeen vs. Haalandcase. (Source: Native American Rights Fund,amicusbriefs tribal side.)
  • 10. By enactingLD 1970, Maine would join 12 other states that have acted to codify ICWAprotections on the state level. This would protect Wabanaki children, families, cultureand sovereignty if the U.S. Supreme Court decides in June to weaken or destroyprotections that have been known as the “gold standard” of child welfare policies for 40 years. (Sources:Native Organizers Alliance Action FundandNative Americans RightsFund)

Links to sources that might be useful:

  • 1.Native American Rights Fund summary of the Haalandv. Brackeen lawsuit brought byTexas and several individual plaintiffs who allege ICWA is unconstitutional.https://narf.org/cases/brackeen-v-bernhardt/
  • 2.Setting the Record Straight: National Indian Child Welfare Association’s fact sheet onICWA.https://www.nicwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Setting-the-Record-Straight2018.pdf
  • “Beyond the Mandate: Continuing the Conversation.”3.2015 Report of the MaineWabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
  • FinalState Amicus Brief -Brackeen v. Bernhardt4., signed by Maine and 25 other states.



Durham Monthly Meeting Minutes, May 21, 2023 (Draft)

Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends met for the conduct of business on Sunday, May 21, 2023, with 14 people attending.

1.     Meeting Opening

Sarah Sprogell called for people to gather for worship for the conduct of business. The opening reading was from Parker Palmer. “Friends are most in the spirit when they stand at the crossing point of the inward and the outward. And that is the intersection at which we find community. Community is a place where the connections felt in the heart make themselves known in bonds between people, and where the tuggings and pullings of those bonds keep opening up our hearts.”

May we stay open to one another as we conduct our business.                                    

2.     Request for Clerk of the Day

                        Meeting approved Sarah Sprogell serve as Clerk of the Day, with thanks.

3.     Approval of April Meeting Minutes — Ellen Bennett

                        Meeting approved the April Business meeting minutes.

4.     Finance Committee and Quarterly Report — Nancy Marstallar

Nancy reviewed the Quarterly finance report. We are on track with our percentages re: income and expenses. With respect to the physical plant, we have spent more than anticipated. However, this is likely to be offset because of a reduction in the use of fuel oil this winter.

                        Meeting accepted the quarterly report, with gratitude.

A Sisters Meeting Account has been opened. The Meeting previously approved and allocated funds for 2 travelers to Cuba ($8,000). However, only one went. Therefore, the request is to deposit the remaining funds ($4,000) from the checking account into the new account.

                        Meeting approved the deposit of these funds into the Sisters Meeting Account.

4.a. Woman’s Society via Finance Committee

Woman’s Society is asking approval to give the Center for Wisdoms’ Women in Lewiston $500.  Funds would come from the Charity Account. Two people spoke to personal experience working with the Center and attested that they do very good work. According to process, the request brought today will be seasoned for a month, and brought back to Meeting next month for final approval.

Woman’s Society: request that Plant Sale funds go to Children and Youth programs of the United Society of Women Friends International. There are four international programs focusing on education that have benefitted from support from past Meeting members.

                        Meeting approved that money raised from the Plant Sale go to these projects.

Woman’s Society would like to hold a silent auction beginning the week of August 13th with set-up in vestry. A potluck on Sunday, August 20th, would be the close of the auction.

                        Meeting approved holding a Woman’s Society auction.

5.   Ministry and Counsel — Renee Cote, Tess Hartford

M&C requests approval for an addition to the committee description in the handbook. Rene read the addition. “and secondarily to engage in outreach in the wider community”.

                        Meeting approved this addition/change.

In light of the recent changes in CDC recommendations and the ending of the pandemic emergency, Renee read an updated recommendation, on behalf of the Meeting, regarding masking. Discussion ensued around the idea of , and term for, a “designated area” for those who are masked, and the degree to which we could simplify the statement.

The Meeting settled on: “We approve that masks be optional in the building. While all attenders are free to sit where they wish, for those who seek additional shielding, there will be an area set aside “for mask-wearers only” identified in the meeting room.” We will try this for a period of time and revisit the effectiveness of the implemented changes in September.

                   Meeting approved the above changes to masking protocols in the Meetinghouse, and to revisiting the issue in September.

There will be a memorial gathering for Margaret Wentworth  on June 25th, at rise of meeting. Because Margaret was involved in so many organization, notes will be sent to area organizations with which she was involved. M&C will take responsibility for oversight and planning this event.

                        Meeting approved the date of the memorial. 

6.   Peace and Social Concerns — Ingrid Chalufour

Changes have been made to the committee description in the handbook. Ingrid read the new proposed description. It was recommended that the word “traditional” be omitted — Quakers have never rested on tradition; always present leadings.

                        Meeting approved changes as read after discussion.

7.   Trustees — Doug Bennett

Trustees are proposing changes to Handbook with respect to the meetinghouse and cemeteries. Doug summarized the minutiae of the changes (e.g., thermostat settings and frequency of mowing in the cemeteries). Kim asked that the line referencing closing the shades in the meeting room be deleted.

                        Meeting approved the proposed changes.

8.     Closing Worship

Meeting closed with silence in gratitude for the work done.

Respectfully submitted, Ellen Bennett, Recording Clerk