You are invited to join with Quakers from around Maine for the All Maine Gathering hosted by Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting on Saturday, May 3. It will be held at the South China Community Church, 46 Village Lane, South China, Maine 94358
Program: A Quaker Spin on the Spiral of Active Hope led by Mark Rains
The program for All-Maine Gathering will include opportunities for personal reflection and sharing, leading into small group exploration of Macy and Johnstone’s book and videos for “ACTIVE HOPE: How to face the mess we’re in with unexpected resilience and creative power”, with resources which Friends can take back to their meetings and communities. Brief queries will focus on gratitude, inspiration, concerns, possible action steps, obstacles, and supports. Small groups for lunchtime conversations may emerge to explore four spiraling steps from “experiencing gratitude” and “honoring specific concerns” (climate, exploitation, immigration, democracy, etc.), through ways that Quaker faith and practice (e.g. SPICES) can inform “seeing concerns through new eyes” and “going forth”, as led and supported.
Provisional schedule
8:30 Mugs & Muffins
9:00 Meeting for Worship followed by introductions
10:30 Program
12:00 Lunch – Soup will be provided. Contributions of bread, veggies, fruit & desserts are welcome.
1:30 Worship sharing / continued discussion
2:45 Closing & Clean-up
~ The Vassalboro QM Leadership Team: Mark Rains, Cynthia Harkleroad, Holly Weidner, Janet Hough
The daffodils have popped in my front yard, and that means spring is here! Camp is, of course, the quintessential summer activity for many of us. But spring is a very special season for camp, as well. As the Camp director, two of my favorite things happen during this season. Firstly, I get to talk with campers and their families about the upcoming summer. I love meeting you on Zoom, or having a phone call, and talking with your camper about hopes for the summer season. Please feel free to reach out if you’d like to do this!
My second favorite thing about spring is that we host our Volunteer Work Weekend (May 16 – 18) at camp. It is so fun to come together with camp families, alums, Friends, members of our camp committee, staff members, and neighbors. In a weekend, our property goes from looking bedraggled after the long winter, to fresh and organized for a new season. If you’ve never attended work weekend, please know that we would love to have you! It is so heartening to feel like part of a team doing something that matters. There are roles for all kinds of volunteers: cooking, cleaning, raking, painting, sorting, laundry, and organizing. Scroll below to learn more and register for work weekend!
This newsletter also contains information about: A Camp Timeline Project Reminders for Registered Families Seeking Your Recyclables for Art! An Available Rental Weekend in September And more!
Looking forward, Anna Hopkins, Camp Director (207) 877-4302, director@friendscamp.or
Our annual volunteer work weekend is happening Friday, May 16 – Sunday, May 18 at Friends Camp! Work weekend is an opportunity to spend time at camp, helping prepare the property for the summer alongside others who care about camp. Volunteers should come prepared to participate in physical labor. Children are welcome to attend, but there is no kid’s program for the weekend, so families should plan on supervising their children the whole time. Use this link or click the button below to register! Volunteers are welcome to join for all of or any part of the weekend. Meals will be served from Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast. More information, including a packing list, will be sent out at a later date.
Tasks will include: raking & clearing pathways removing leaves and debris from cabin areas cleaning preparing the camp kitchen preparing flower & vegetable gardens minor carpentry projects outdoor painting
If you have skills in a particular area, like carpentry, painting, gardening, or you own tools or equipment that could be useful for any of these project, please let us know! We are especially appreciative when people can lend their skills to camp.
Introducing: Camp Timeline Project!
During the summer of 2024, former counselor and office manager Erin Carr began the process of archiving the historical materials from Friends Camp’s beginning through the decades is has existed. This included director’s notes from the early days of camp, minutes from camp committee meetings, old daily schedules, and many pictures and videos. This summer, we plan to create a physical timeline that documents camp’s history and includes some of these historical materials, and we want your input!Is there a moment or event that you think should be included in the timeline of Friends Camp? Fill out this form and tell us about it! We are hoping the timeline will be installed by the end of the summer. For now, check out these photos from the summer of 2000! Above is campers performing in Aviary at a variety show. Below are campers playing basketball (the hoop is attached to the Health Hut – wild!) and a picture of Snipe cabin.
Reminders for 2025 Registered Families
For families with campers registered in 2025, the summer is feeling closer than ever! We are so excited to have your campers with us this summer. Head over to our website to download and read through the handbook for campers and parents. The handbook contains lots of handy information to prepare you for coming to camp, including what to pack for your session. There are also a few upcoming deadlines to be aware of. Reach out to our office with questions about either of these deadlines. May 1: Health forms due. Log into your Camp Brain account to complete the online health form and to upload immunizations and physician’s forms. June 1: Tuition due in full. Pay via e-check or credit card online, or mail a paper check to Friends Camp.
Seeking Your Recyclables!
Our Friends Camp Meetinghouse is our most creative space at camp. This special space (first constructed by Friends in 1806!) plays host to all different kinds of creative arts including drawing, painting, fiber arts, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, and more. We love to turn cast-offs into art. We are currently seeking the following items that can be dropped off to Friends Camp during our May volunteer weekend or at any camper drop-off. To arrange another time to drop off supplies, please email Anna at director@friendscamp.org. If you have a large stash, we may be able to arrange pick-up!
Tile samples Paint samples Shoe boxes Baby food jars 35mm film canisters Marbles and aquarium glass rocks Bottle caps (plastic and metal) Corks, Dowels, PVC pipe,Wire, Wood scraps (balsam is great!)
Ribbons Cabinet hinges and knobs Screws, nuts, bolts, and washers Beads (plastic, wood, and glass) Paint brushes (any condition, no wider than 2″) Cardboard tubes (wrapping paper, bath tissue, paper towel) Tissue boxes Can tabs Tissue paper Tension clothespins
Rental Weekend Available
The weekend of September 12 – 14, 2025 is available to rent for family reunions, group retreats, weddings, or other events! Friends Camp has multiple large buildings that can host up to 100 people, open fields & wooded areas, ample housing, and lakefront access. If you are interested in renting camp for a weekend event, please reach out to director@friendscamp.org or 207-877-4302.
Register for the Young Friends Spring Retreat
Register today for the Young Friends Spring Retreat, which will be May 2nd-4th at Framingham Friends Meeting. The theme for this retreat is “Nurturing Creative & Spiritual Practices.” Read more about the retreat and register at neym.org. Young Friends retreats are special opportunities for high schoolers in New England to take a deeper dive into building community and exploring the Quaker way together. Join Young Friends for a weekend at Framingham Friends Meeting where we will explore art, music, worship, and other practices that give meaning to our personal and communal lives. Registration closes April 28th.
Social Media Staff Intros!
Each year on our Instagram page (@friendscamp) we introduce our staff for the upcoming summer. Follow us and stay tuned to learn about all the counselors, kitchen staff, and other staff members who will be at camp this summer. Below is our staff from 2024 – many of whom will be making an appearance again this summer! Can you guess who?
Woman’s Society Minutes, March 17, 2025, and also the USFWI NE Spring 2025 Newsletter
Present: Dorothy Curtis, President, Nancy Marstaller, Treasurer, Susan Gilbert, Secretary.
Cards: For Friends.
Program and Devotions: We took turns reading the newsletter Marion Baker wrote and sent us from the USFWI Northeast Regional Meeting held February 2, 2025.
Treasurer’s Report: Two hats knitted and donated to WS by Martha Sheldon were sold for $35. We have $85.58 in our account.
Minutes: Susan read the 2.22.2025 minutes.
Tedford Meal: Team D, Dorothy Curtis, and Kim Bolshaw with a contribution from Susan Gilbert brought meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, banana bread, and gingerbread to Tedford House. The April 5 meal will be made by Team E, contact person Nancy Marstaller. Durham Friends provide dinner for Tedford House on the first Monday of each month. Contributions of prepared food or money for the Team to buy food for Tedford are always welcome.
Other Business: At the 3.16. Meeting For Worship, Dorothy Curtis presented Syretha, Nancy’s daughter, with a quilt she finished for the birth of her first child, Lulu, which was given and received with tears and joy. The blocks had been embroidered by Clarabel Marstaller, Margaret Wentworth, Bea Douglas, Kitsie Hildebrandt, Sukie Rice, Dorothy Hinshaw, Sue Wood, Nancy Marstaller, Dorothy Curtis, Linda Muller, Harmony Brown, and Deanna Coro. In the thank you card to Dorothy from Syretha, Joe and Lulu, Syretha wrote “Thank you so much for …the gift of the quilt…it means so much to me to have a quilt with squares done by so many people I have known and loved, that they will touch Lulu even though they never got to meet her here on earth.”
Nancy Marstaller brought up the Quaker way of expressing to each other that we are unique and wonderfully made in the image of God. She also commented that for Durham Friends quilt making and giving is important to us as it demonstrates caring.
For St. Patrick’s Day,Dorothy ended the meeting the Irish prayer:
May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, And rains fall soft upon your fields.
Peace and Social Concerns Committee calls to the Meeting’s attention bills before the Maine legislature that are of particular importance to the Wabanaki Alliance.
To find your legislators go to www.maine.gov and type voter lookup into the search bar. Select Government: eDemocracy: Voter Information Lookup and enter the name of your town.
Important Wabanaki Legislation
132st Legislature
Updated March 28, 2025/ Originally posted February 18, 2025
These bills have been voted out of committee and will go to the full Legislature for a vote soon.
Sponsor: Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) The Wabanaki Alliance supports this bill.
SUMMARY This bill amends the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act and the 2023 Mi’kmaq Nation Restoration Act to prevent the state from taking Wabanaki land for public uses, often referred to as “the right of eminent domain.” This would apply to land located within Passamaquoddy Tribe territory, Penobscot Nation territory, Houlton Band Trust Land and the Mi’kmaq Nation Trust Land. By removing language that gives the state eminent domain power over tribal lands, LD 958 restores a fundamental principle that the Wabanaki Nations are sovereign governments with inherent power to regulate their territories. Read the full bill text >>
STATUS: Public hearing April 4 The Committee on Judiciary will hold a public hearing on this bill at 1pm Friday, April 4 in Room 438 of the State House.
TAKE ACTION
Submit testimony. Follow the steps in the Legislative Toolkit on this page to submit testimony in support of this bill either in writing before the hearing or during the hearing via Zoom or at the State House.
Contact your legislators. If your legislators sit on this committee, email them and ask them to vote Ought to Pass on LD 958. You can also share your written testimony with your legislators and ask them to support the bill. Find your legislator here»
Write a letter to the editor. Turn your testimony into a letter to the editor! Find tips and newspaper contact info in our LTE Guide.
Listen in. If you can’t attend the hearing in person, you can listen in HERE.
Sponsor: Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec) The Wabanaki Alliance supports this bill. Read our testimony >>
SUMMARY This bill provides that a citizen of a federally recognized Indian nation, tribe or band in Maine is not required to pay a fee for admission to any state-owned park, historic site, camping area or beach managed by the State. The bill also specifies that to qualify for free admission, a person is required to present a qualifying tribal identification, as approved by the respective tribal government, to the park attendant or other designee of the Director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands within the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Read the complete bill text»
Sponsor: Rep. Allison Hepler (D-Woolwich) The Wabanaki Alliance supports this bill.
SUMMARY This bill amends several laws pertaining to fishing for elvers in Maine, the miniature transparent “glass eels” that leave the open ocean to enter estuaries and ascend rivers in late winter, early spring and throughout the summer months. Proposed changes would:
Reduce the penalty for selling elvers without using an elver transaction card from permanent suspension for the first offense to three years for the first offense and permanent for a second offense.
Allow an elver fishing license holder to empty, under supervision, another license holder’s tagged fyke net.
Prohibit elver harvesters from holding elvers for longer than 6 hours and from holding elvers within a residential dwelling. Violation of these provisions is a Class E crime.
Change the elver fishing-license lottery date from Feb. 15 to March 15.
STATUS: Voted OTP by the committee The Committee on Marine Resources held a public hearing on LD 44 March 13 (read the public testimony) and held a work session March 13. The committee voted the bill ought to pass as amended. The bill next goes to the full Legislature for a vote.
TAKE ACTION
Contact your legislators. Contact your legislators and ask them to vote YES on LD 44. Find your legislator here»
[NOTE: Durham Friends Meeting will hold its April 2025 Meeting for Business on April 27 at noon.]
Falmouth Quarter is scheduled for April 26th and 27th. On April 26th we will join A Journey of Peace and Friendship: Kindling Moral Courage, Kindness and Connection”. This is an event designed to be an antidote to the fear, division and chaos our communities are experiencing currently: it is being planned by a multi-faith planning group gathered by Sherri Mitchell, Penobscot writer, activist and attorney. Shirley Hager and Andy Burt from Midcoast Friends Meeting are part of the organizing group. Please also see this website for more information: https://www.landpeacefoundation.org/events
Sherri writes: “We are bringing together a multi-faith, cross-cultural group to organize a 7 day processional prayer/unity walk to uplift the dignity and sacredness of every living being. We will begin with a ceremony at the Penobscot Nation Boat Landing on April 22nd (Earth Day), where Wabanaki people will welcome all those who have come to this land seeking refuge, asylum, or simply a better life. We will also honor Mother Earth who holds and nurtures us all.
We will begin our processional following the opening/welcome ceremony with a five mile walk. Each of the following days, we’ll begin and end our day of walking with a prayer, ceremony, or ritual led by one of the faith groups joining the walk. We intend to invite people to join us in those moments of prayer, even if they cannot join the walk. On the 29th, we will arrive in Augusta and hold a collective ceremony, with prayers, songs, and shared vision at the state house.
We will also be reaching out to those with perceived differences and asking them to walk together during the walk, this includes politicians, religious groups, etc., to help connect and humanize one another. Our goal is to uplift all that we hold most dear, we want to celebrate one another, show our care for another, and amplify moral courage, kindness, and connection. “
On Saturday the 26th the day will begin with a prayer circle at 8:30, followed by a 5 mile walk and a midday celebration, multi-faith worship, and feast. Friends are welcome to join the prayer circle, and the walk or just come to the feast and celebration. In the afternoon there will be another 4 mile walk. We will send details of where the procession is, and organize carpools later.
The quarter will also gather Sunday 4/27 afternoon at a meetinghouse to be determined to receive and forward State of Society reports, Memorial Minutes and reports of those with recognized ministries.
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends DRAFT Minutes, March 16, 2025
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends met for the conduct of business on Sunday, March 16, 2025, with 14 people in attendance at the Meetinghouse and three people by Zoom.
1. Meeting Opening
Clerk opened the Meeting with a traditional Irish blessing from the book Earth Prayers From Around the World.
“May the blessing of light be on you, light without and light within. May the blessed sunshine shine on you and warm your heart till it glows like a great peat fire, so that the stranger may come and warm himself at it, and also a friend.
“And may the light shine out of the two eyes of you, like a candle set in the two windows of a house, bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm; and may the blessings of the rain be on you — the soft, sweet rain. May it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers may spring up and shed their sweetness on the air. And may the blessings of the Great Rains be on you, may they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there many a shining pool where the blue of heaven shines, and sometimes a star.
“And may the blessing of the Earth be on you — the great round earth; may you ever have a kindly greeting for those you pass as you’re along the roads. may the earth be soft under you when you rest upon it, tired at the end of a day, and may it rest easy over you when at the last, you lay out under it; may it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be off from under it quickly and up and off, and on its way to God. And now may the Lord bless you all and bless you kindly.”
2. Approval of Minutes of February 16, 2024 — Ellen Bennett
Meeting approved the February minutes.
3. Ministry and Counsel — Tess Hartford, Renee Cote
The State of Society Report was read aloud. The report that was read differed from the report that was distributed in advance of the meeting; it included modification of the last paragraph.
Suggestions were made to spell out acronyms, e.g., LACO. as well as a few others. All changes to the Report are included in the attachment.
Meeting approved the report, with gratitude.
4. Statistical Report— Sarah Sprogell
The Statistical Report was reviewed (see attachment). A question was asked about financial contributions to New England Yearly Meeting and the connection to the number of members. There is no longer a per head requirement for the Meeting contribution to NEYM.
Looking at Yearly Meeting records for trends, the YM is losing about 1.5% of its membership every year, and at Durham Friends Meeting, we are on that trend line. This is true of most YMs in the US. We review our annual budget and consider our YM contribution every year.
Meeting accepted the report, with gratitude.
5. Trustees Report —Sarah Sprogell
The Gathering Room and kitchen need new light fixtures. A very reasonable quote was offered, slightly more than $2,000, for replacing all the lights, including the lights for the Exit signs. Bulbs will be replaced with LEDs.
Meeting approved this expenditure, coming from the capital fund.
6. On the use of Rachel Carey-Harper’s Donation — Linda Muller
After conducting some research, Linda Muller and Sarah Sprogell recommend the Meeting donate the remaining $1,000 (out of the original $2,000 gift) to Safe Voices, a domestic violence, direct service organization working in Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin Counties. This is a geographic area of greater risk, many towns without standing police departments. Over 2,700 women were served last year.
Meeting heartily approved this contribution.
Rachel has asked us to view a website called Healing Voices, which she is involved in creating. Information will be included in the April newsletter.
7. 250th Anniversary Celebration —Ellen Bennett
A proposal was made to spend, from communications line in the budget, up to $250 for a banner for the horse shed. Communications committee will research this and get back to the Meeting.
Possible event dates to celebrate our 250th are an event in July, one in October, and a lecture to be given in concert with the Durham Historical Society.
8. Peace and Social Concerns — Ingrid Chalufour
No report.
Donations will be gratefully accepted to help defray the cost of framing the Wabanaki posters that will hang in the Vestry/Gathering room. In addtion, the request was made to check out the website to read about LD 958 that concerns eminent domain and Wabanaki lands.
9. Library — Dorothy Hinshaw
The request was made to increase this year’s budgeted amount to $300, in part to renew the Meeting’s Pendle Hill pamphlet subscription and to purchase pamphlets not currently in our library. It was suggested that the library budget line be charged, and if we go over budget for this year, it tells us something — overages can provide important information — as we prepare future budgets.
Meeting accepted this approach.
10. Makers Cafe Update — Outreach Committee members
As a Maker Cafe group, we would like to continue to host these events, beyond the initial three as a trial run, and ask for approval to continue.
Meeting approved continuing the Maker Cafés.
11. Other Business
The request was made to honor Gabriel’s first birthday this month, with a cake and singing. Someone will check with Laura and Ezra for the best Sunday to do this.
12. Closing Worship
Clerk closed with a blessing by Diane Neu, from Earth Prayers from Around the World.
Blessed be the works of your hands, O Holy One. Blessed be these hands that have touched life. Blessed be these hands that have nurtured creativity. Blessed be these hands that have held pain. Blessed be these hands that have embraced with passion. Blessed be these hands that have ended gardens. Blessed be these hands that have closed in anger. Blessed be these hands that have planted new seeds. Blessed be these hands that have harvested ripe fields. Blessed be these hands that have cleaned, washed, mopped, scrubbed. Blessed be these hands that have become knotty with age. Blessed be these hands that are wrinkled and scarred from doing justice. Blessed be these hands that have reached out and been received. Blessed be these hands that hold the promise of the future. Blessed be the works of your hands, O Holy One.
Respectfully submitted, Ellen Bennett, Recording Clerk
For many years — more than I know — members of Durham Friends Meeting have made quilts to be given away. In recent years, the quilts have been given to the parents and grandparents of newly-born babies associated with the Meeting. They have also been made and gifted for other reasons. One of those quilts recently made it’s way back to Durham Friends, a gift in return of Faye Passow, an artist in Minnesota. (You can learn more about Faye here and here.) The quilt had originally been made for and given to her grandparents. We are very grateful to Faye Passow for this gift.
“I am the daughter of Lydia Passow (Booker), who was the daughter of Harold and Jennie Booker, who were members of the Durham Friends Meeting. When my mother a teenager their house burned down and they went to live with an aunt, whose house also burned down. During that time this quilt was created for them by members of the community. I believe but am not sure many were members of the Meetinghouse.
“I currently have this quilt and have no descendants to pass it to and am thinking that it might be of interest to either the Meetinghouse or a local historical society. I am writing to you first as I think you may know many of these names or their relations and might suggest the proper place for this quilt.
“… The quilt was put together in 1943. The names on the quilt are:
Please forgive any spelling errors. The names are stitched in and not always readable.”
Here is the quilt, being shown in the Meetinghouse. Two of our quilters, Dorothy Henton Curtis and Angie Henton Reed are holding it.
In a further message, Faye Passow provided a photo of her Booker family.
“I’m sending a photo of the Booker family. Harold, upper left, would be my grandfather. Jennie Booker sits below him. Mabel Russell was my great aunt, married to Fred Russell. Mary Tarr is most likely the Mary Booker of the quilt square. She is my great aunt also, sister of Harold. She was married in 1944, so after the quilt was created. She died in 1994. The unknown men in the photo are probably Harold’s brothers: Ralph Howard Booker and Raymond Phillips Booker. Harriet Booker was married to Ralph.
“My grandfather’s parents were Eugene Loring Booker and Sarah (Sadie) Rowena (Cox) Booker. She is likely the Sadie you refer to. Born 1868, died 1928.
“Barbara (Russell) Weldon and Doris (Russell) Dupal are the only close relatives remaining that I know of in Maine. One of Doris’ children is married to a Reed, which I believe there is a firewood business in Durham related to the Reed family.
“Also – Ella M Brown, another name on the quilt, was my grandmother Jennie’s mother.
“Minnie Winn was probably Margaret (Brown) Winn, daughter of my grandmother’s brother Hugh. He worked at Worumbo for 50 years and apparently was known affectionately as “Jumbo” for his large size. My grandfather was an electrician at Worumbo.
“Mildred Winn was probably the wife of Carl, son of my grandmother’s brother Hugh.
“There is also an Aunt Jennie on the quilt who may be Jennie Lind (Brown) Douglas, aunt to my grandfather.
“My mother was prolific at searching out family genealogy and wrote a book on Booker and Brown ancestors. She was a member of the DAR, Colonial Dames and the Mayflower Society. She also as a side, was interested in Shiloh as a phenomenon and I have a couple of books on that subject.”
Rachel Carey-Harper, a Quaker in New England Yearly Meeting, recently made a gift to Durham Friends. (At the same time she made similar gifts to other Meetings in NEYM.) She asked us to re-donate this money to causes of importance to us. Here is what we have done.
From the February 2025 Meeting Minutes: The Meeting received a $2,000 gift from Rachel Carey-Harper. She expressed a desire that the money support people who are affected by the ways in which our government is no longer funding organizations, e.g., immigrants and refugees, LGBTQ+, Women’s shelters, etc. The money may be given to more than one organization. The suggestion was made that a portion of the funds go to domestic violence survivors. Several people spoke in support of giving to Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services (MEIRS) today, the need being immediate. Clerk proposed giving $1,000 to MEIRS today, and return next month to discuss allocation of the remainder. Meeting approved this proposal.
From the March 2025 Meeting Minutes: “On the use of Rachel Carey-Harper’s Donation — Linda Muller. After conducting some research, Linda Muller and Sarah Sprogell recommend the Meeting donate the remaining $1,000 (out of the original $2,000 gift) to Safe Voices, a domestic violence direct service organization working in Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin Counties. This is a geographic area of greater risk, many towns without standing police departments. Over 2,700 women were served last year. Meeting heartily approved this contribution.”
Rachel Carey-Harper has asked us to look at and give feedback to Healing Reflections, a new website launched with support, collaboration, and guidance from Barnstable Friends Preparative Meeting and approval of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting. The website focuses on grounding ourselves in what connects us, healing that which separates us from each other, and ways we can move forward in love. They would like to know if you think there is anything being presented that is contrary to basic Friends faith and principles. We are encouraged to contribute to the “From the Orchestra” section which includes messages or reflections sharing our sense of Spirit.
You can learn more about the family business, Eden Hand Arts, which Rachel Carey-Harper now owns, HERE.
Friends Camp has let us know that there are still spaces available for kids of all ages at Friends Camp this summer — but those spaces are going fast. Also there are camperships (scholarships for camping) available for all ages.
Friends Ca,p i the Quaker Summer Camp of our Yerarly Meeting, and located in China, Maine. It is a wonderful way for kids to build community with other young Friends, develop their Quaker identity and have a wonderful adventure.
After the restrictions placed on our community by the COVID pandemic were lifted and we began to meet in person in spring 2023, 2024 was a time of renewed spirit of being together and flourishing through our in-person worship. We had an infusion of energy with our new Meeting Care Coordinator. Her devotion to finding message bringers from within and outside the meeting and her efforts to use her connections across the Yearly Meeting and in the community have brought us greater connection outside the meeting.
When our Clerk stepped down at the end of 2023 and no new Clerk stepped up, Durham Friends Meeting began the practice recommended by Faith and Practice of rotating the clerkship through the committee clerks. This has been a rewarding experience for the committee clerks who have not been in the role of Meeting Clerk before. It has called up the different spiritual gifts as well as developed new skills in the way of corporate discernment.
The Makers Café is our latest outreach to the wider community. Begun through conversations that evolved into an ad hoc committee, the Makers Café events began at the end of 2024 with a wreath-making evening. The “Makers” describe this outreach as “trying to provide a welcoming, offline place for folks to hang out, learn, and connect. We want to share our Meetinghouse with a wider community. We want to help neighbors meet neighbors and help people learn how to make things, together.”
We continue to participate with other area churches in preparing meals at the Tedford Shelter in Brunswick and to support the Lisbon Area Christian Outreach food pantry, as well as renewing our involvement with the Brunswick Area Interfaith Council.
The Woman’s Society continues to meet monthly, mostly at the meetinghouse and on Zoom, and occasionally at a member’s home. We are a small caring community that seeks to support each other and any member of the meeting who might be in need of extra support. We have devotions and a program from Blueprints, a booklet published by the United Society of Friends Women International (USFWI). We have continued to hold plant sales, jam and jelly sales, and silent auctions, donating the proceeds to projects of the USFWI and to local organizations.
The primary activity of Peace and Social Concerns has been their leadership in the formation of Mawoluhkhotipon (Mou-look-ha-deeb-in), meaning We Work Together. Working with the Pejepscot Portage Mapping Project and representatives of the Brunswick Town Council, this organization states its mission as follows: “Mawoluhkhotipon is a community group of Wabanaki and their allies supporting projects that engage the Brunswick community in learning more about and reflecting upon the rich history and culture of the Wabanaki people of this region.” Members of Durham Friends Meeting are actively involved in the steering committee, the group working on signage and naming on public land, and the group working with the public schools to increase Wabanaki studies at all levels.
The Social Justice Book Project, an offshoot of Peace and Social Concerns, had the benefit of a grant from Obadiah Brown’s Benevolent Fund during the 2023-2024 school year. These funds allowed teachers to document how they used the Social Justice books given by the meeting. The project used the teachers’ work to create four guidebooks: Creating an Anti-Bias Classroom Community, Exploring the Black Experience in America, Exploring Wabanaki History and Culture, and a Guide to Building a Social Justice Book Project. These guidebooks are available online at https://www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org/?p=6895.
In addition to our ongoing financial support for the Puente de Amigos group, we sent one person to visit our sister meeting in Cuba in 2024, and supported the preparation for two members to be part of the 2025 delegation.
We continue the practice of using our charity account for financial support where we discern that such support is needed.
Although we had no increase in membership, we experienced new energy with attenders old and young—a spiritual elder and some parents and their new baby, who has delighted us with his own vocal ministry. Sadly, we lost five members to either death or transfer to other meetings in 2024.
We continue to recognize the need for ongoing healing in our community. We are aware that the lingering effects of hard problems and conflicts that arose during the three years of the pandemic require our care and attention. We are committed to working together with love and respect and to healing the wounds that remain. Just as our outreach confirms our sense of purpose, our time together always reminds us of the faithful love that continues to hold our small and sturdy community.
Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, March 16, 2025
“Be a good ancestor. Stand for something bigger than yourself. Add value to the Earth during your sojourn.” – Marian Wright Edelman
Last fall, when Ingrid, Cindy and I cleaned out the Sunday School cupboard we found a small box labelled “Time capsule” with messages that Durham Young Friends and others created on Childrens’ Day June 12, 2011. Evidently it didn’t get buried in the ground as planned! It seemed like the start of a message to me and I offered to bring one sometime. The opening to contemplate past voices of Durham Friends arrived this week,and it seems a good followup to Doug’s message last week about the history of our meeting.
Last month I had the privilege to visit the Acoma pueblo outside of Albuquerque NM. This is my understanding of their story and hope it accurately reflects their story. The Acoma people have continuously occupied the area for over 2000 years. They built a town- now called Sky City around 1100 atop a 365 ft mesa. Until the 1950’s it was only accessible by climbing the stone wall vertically using chiseled recesses in the rock. Everything including water, food, bricks needed to be carried up the steep rock wall. Acoma elders still choose to live there even with no electricity or running water. They are resilient people. In the past 2000+ years, they have experienced massacres over and over, enslavement and Spanish colonialism, climate change, enforced conversion to catholicism. In the 20th century, their children were removed by our government and by 1922 most were in Christian boarding schools.
A remarkable part of the Acoma pueblo atop the mesa is the huge Adobe church built at the command of the Spanish in the 1600’s. Acoma men were forced to walk 30 miles away to fell tall 40 foot ponderosa pine trees and carry them back and up the rockwall to build the church roof.Men women and children were forced to build this church. No record exists about how many Acoma died as a result of slave labor. But the church exists today and holds many stories, both painful and miraculous. How Queen Isabella who initially ordered the enslavement and massacre changed her mind and stopped the killing of the Acoma. How President Lincoln singled out the Acoma and several other pueblos and wrote into law their sovereignty.
Our thoughtful and knowledgeable tour guide, Brandon, told the history of the trauma and resilience of his people. He said the Acoma have chosen to share their stories and allow visitors. They have been able to survive by compromising at times but more importantly holding a spirit of forgiveness in order to not be racked with hate. As we stood to walk out of the church, I asked him how he and his community are feeling in the current day. He said they are terrified, angry but resolute in maintaining their culture amid the current political situation. He worries about his kids and the children in the community. He said they have been threatened with deportation and chuckled about the irony- where will they send us back to? His Aunt called him recently and was fearful and depressed. He told her to remember the Beatles Song “Let it be.” Their community will stand together, and band with the other 18 Pueblos in New Mexico to fight injustice both for them and for everyone’s children.
When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom Let it be And in my hour of darkness She is standing right in front of me Speaking words of wisdom Let it be And when the broken-hearted people Living in the world agree There will be an answer Let it be For though they may be parted There is still a chance that they will see There will be an answer Let it be
Our meeting family has been around for many fewer years than the Acoma- only 250. And we have many stories of the people and events that make up the fabric of our community. Last week, Doug gave a wonderful account of some of the tales of our meeting. We have experienced trauma but also the power of the Spirit that has bolstered our resilience and sustains us. And we have shared many sacred hours.
Each of us also is part of our biological family with its share of love and trauma and resilience and sacred moments. When I was looking through family documents and papers on my recent visit to my dad, I found a letter that troubled me. It was from a family member and was a cruel, vengeful account of several experiences this person witnessed from other family members. I was troubled because it was told from a narrow perspective as each of us is prone to do. This letter accused other family members of damaging our family beyond repair, and in my view were inaccurate and didn’t leave room for discourse on healing. In talking with a friend about what to do both with this letter and my response she told me about her experience working as a hospice chaplain and the dilemma people face with family stories that reflect a bad decision or human frailty but can be destructive. Some stories become stuck in the past and don’t allow for healing or redemption. Her wisdom to me was to sort through what family stories are constructive to pass on and what stories may be acknowledged, faced head on, but possibly reframed or not passed on. Allow the story to run its course. I was reminded of Brandon’s wisdom about holding our stories with a spirit of forgiveness.
My current ruminations are around stories- my family stories, my Meeting family stories and our country’s stories. How do I, how do we, recount our history? We have so many stories- our conversations, relationships, events. How do we account for human frailty, unkind words, injustice that we have inflicted or received? Which stories have no purpose, which can we reframe to strengthen bonds of love and wholeness? These are all questions I’ve been wrestling with. What legacy do I want to leave my family, my Meeting family, my community, my world?
James Baldwin wrote:
“This is why one must say Yes to life and embrace it whenever it is found — and it is found in terrible places; nevertheless, there it is.
For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have.
The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.“
2. Ministry & Counsel- State of Society- Tess or Renee
3. Statistical report, Trustees report- Sarah
4. On the use of Rachel Carey Harper’s donation, Linda Muller and Sarah Sprogell recommend we donate $1000 to Safe Voices, a domestic violence organization working in Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin Counties. They have 3 shelters, 2 for victims of domestic abuse and 1 for victims of sex trafficking and exploitation. Currently Safe Voices is the only provider for support services and shelter for these needs within their 3-county area. Last year they served over 2500 individuals within their 3-county area.
Rachel requests info on website, details will be posted on our website
5. Get banner as part of 250th celebration? Approve up to $200 from general fund for purchase?
6. Peace & Social Concerns announcements- Ingrid
7. Library – request to increase budgeted amount to $300- Dot
Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
There might be a materials charge; details provided when you write to sign up or inquire.
6:30-8:30 Maker Cafe with The Peterson String Band
Free and open to the public. No sign up required.
Bring a project to work on. Some knitting, stitching, writing, reading, drawing, coloring, carving, or whatever you want. And if you don’t bring a project that’s okay too.
Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, March 8, 2025
Older than the Declaration of Independence. Older than the United States of America.
That’s how old this Meeting is. Founded in 1775, this is our 250th year as a Quaker Meeting. The Declaration of Independence won’t have it’s 250th anniversary until next year.
Since before there was a United States; 45 years before there was a Maine, we Friends have been worshipping together in this corner of Durham, regularly and faithfully, week in and week out for 250 years. That is 13,000 1st Days. I bet we have not missed many. This year is our Anniversary. It is an occasion for celebration.
We celebrate anniversaries: birthdays, wedding anniversaries, deaths of prominent people and loved ones, important dates in history. Our 250th Anniversary is notable, and not just to those who worship here. It is notable, too, for Durham, for the residents of Midcoast Maine, for New England Yearly Meeting, and for Quakers everywhere. But it is especially important for us who worship here now – in the present and in the future.
As we look back across the years, we remember many individuals who have been part of this Meeting, helped shape it and sustain it.
We remember individuals who were part of the life of this Meeting, no longer with us: Margaret Wentworth, Sukie Rice, Bobbie Jordan, Louis Marstaller, Clarabel Marstaller, Macy Whitehead, Eileen Babcock, Bea Douglass, Kitsie Hildebrandt, Charlotte Ann Curtis, Helen Clarkson, Sue Wood, Phyllis Wetherell. No doubt you can think of others, and think, too, of the dozens and dozens of others who passed away enough years ago that no one of us present today has specific memory of them. They, too, are part of our story. The earthly bodies of many of these Friends are interred in the cemeteries we maintain.
For many decades we had pastors, and we remember them: Ralph Green, Jim Douglass, Daphne Clement, Doug Gwyn – and many more.
Some left bequests to the Meeting that make possible what we do today: Woodbury, Bailey , Pratt, Cox, Pennell, Goddard, Douglass, Babcock. Those funds are a kind of inheritance from the past, and they help fuel our present. In parts near and far there are quilts that have been sewn to welcome babies to this world.
Our beloved Meeting house is another kind of inheritance. We first built a Meetinghouse on this site in 1790, and another in 1800. This current brick Meetinghouse, our third on this site, dates from 1829. It, too, is a gift from the past that sustains our Meeting today.
We should make our marking of this anniversary in this year a time of remembering people and events that have shaped us.
There is a great deal about the history of this Meeting that I do not know. Much of it can probably be learned from the Minutes we have faithfully kept. We do, however, know some of the large context.
Here is one way to mark the 250 years. Friends gathered in worship here during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the endless recent wars. Through all these wars, we have prayed for understanding, for mercy and for peace. Over these centuries we have cared for our members in times of trouble, and assisted our neighbors.
For centuries, this place has been the home of the Abenaki. The placed we call Maine, today, was further settled by European immigrants as part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Over the course of the 1600s and early 1700s, these settlers displaced the indigenous Abenaki. By disease, by swelling numbers of immigrants, and sometimes by violence, the Abenaki were pushed aside and away. We remember that the Abenaki were here first, and we should.
Over that very same course of time, 1650 or so to 1750, the religious movement we call Quakerism was coming to life, first in England but spreading quickly beyond England. In 1642, in the midst of the English Civil War — a religious war between Protestants and Catholics — George Fox had his epiphany on Pendle Hill. He realized God would speak to him in the present. He gathered others and they created a movement: “primitive Christianity revived.” Less than two decades after Pendle Hill there were Quakers in what is now Rhode Island. Fox visited the Americas in the 1670s.
The first Quaker Meeting in what is now Maine took place about 1730, in what is today Berwick. Midcoast Maine, where we are, was beset by strife and war between colonial settlers and native Americans until about 1770. When that quieted down, our Meeting began in 1775. Farmers came here from Harpswell and from southern Maine. Their first Meetings were held in the log houses they built. There is just 130 years or so from the epiphany on Pendle Hill to the founding of Durham Friends Meeting – about half the number of years that follow from the founding of this Meeting to today. For two-thirds of the time there has been Quakerism anywhere, there has been Quaker worship at Durham Friends Meeting.
It is right we think of the Declaration of Independence when we think of the year of our founding. Quakers in New England and this Meeting: we were established in strivings for religious reform and religious liberty.
The first European-style religious organization in these parts was the Congregational Church, the established church of Massachusetts Bay Colony. The first religious service of these Congregationalists of which we have record was in 1717, and took place outdoors at the falls between Brunswick and Topsham.
Religious freedom as we know it was not respected here at that time. There was an official religion, and everyone was expected to follow its ways. It was not OK in Massachusetts Bay to be anything other than a Puritan (a Congregationalist). Roger Williams was driven out of Massachusetts Bay in 1636. Ann Hutchinson was driven out in 1637. The Quaker Mary Dyer was hanged on Boston Common in 1660 – hanged for preaching “the diabolical doctrines” of the “cursed sect of Quakers.”
So far as we know, the coming of Quaker worship in Royalsborough (now called Durham) in 1775 was just the second such European-style religious organization to begin services here in this area – and therefore the first non-Congregationalist organized worship. We Quakers were a feisty bunch, the religious renegades – the independents.
Freedom of religion was not officially recognized in Massachusetts until 1780, a few years after we began. After 1780 other denominations entered the picture. The Baptists began to worship in these parts in 1783, Universalists in 1812, Methodists in 1821, Unitarians in 1829, Episcopalians in 1842, and Roman Catholics about 1860.
In our early years we helped spread the Quaker manner of worship more widely in Maine. The Hattie Cox history from 1929 says this Meeting “mothered groups of Friends in Lewiston, Greene, Wales, Leeds, Wilton, Pownal and Litchfield.”
Quakerism has not been an unchanged or unchanging thing during all these years. At times we have adopted new ways, smoothly. At other times, not so much. There used to be separate entrances to this very Meetinghouse for women and for men, and a sliding wall that allowed them to meet together or separately. Some of you can remember when the benches were rearranged into a square. At other times there have been schisms. When Elias Hicks and his followers divided American Friends (especially in Philadelphia and Baltimore) in the 1820s, we stayed with the Orthodox Friends, as did most of New England Yearly Meeting.
In the middle of the 19th century, when Englishman Joseph John Gurney preached evangelical zeal to American Friends, this Meeting with many others in our Yearly Meeting followed the Gurneyite path, while others, those we call Wilburites, stayed with the older ways. In time, that Gurneyite path brought us hymn singing and later brought us to have pastors. We did not used to have hymn singing or pastors.
Through the years there has been a Religious Society of Friends, Quakers have alternated between two modes. Sometimes we separate ourselves a bit from the world and try to live on our own terms keeping to our own ways. At other times, we have seen our ways as something to try to spread to others both through ministry and through social action. This Meeting has had periods of both, but today, you all know, we are very much of a ‘spreading our ways to others’ inclination.
Today, we are simultaneously a place of spiritual worship and support and a hub of activism. That activism has many faces: a food ministry through Tedford and LACO, opposition to gun violence, social justice education for the young, welcoming assistance to migrants, support for Native American causes, affirmation of same-sex relationships, prison reform, connection to Cuba Yearly Meeting. We take guidance from AFSC and FCNL. This is a great deal for a numerically small Meeting.
An anniversary is a time to remember and be grateful for the past. It is also a time to take stock of the present situation, and then to recommit ourselves, as a Meeting.
In our current circumstances, I find myself thinking of what Lincoln said to the Congress in 1862: “The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” Our anniversary is a time for fresh thinking about who we are and what we want to do together.
We are a smaller Meeting today than we have been for much of our history. Still, we are a sturdy Meeting, one filled with remarkable people. I look around this room each Sunday and I see many Friends who are deeply faithful and also deeply engaged in making the world better. I see individuals who do the work of many. Our numbers may be fewer, but the presence is astonishing.
There is a future before us, and we all hope a 300th anniversary, and a 350th, and on and on. It is our future to make.
What’s most important, for me at least, is that here in Durham, at this place, there continues to be worship every First Day after the manner of Friends. “After the manner of Friends”: I don’t mean that in any formalistic way. I don’t mean we have to open with a hymn and close with announcements and a hymn. I mean rather that each time we gather we are alert to what God has to say to us now. That is our most important inheritance, and also our gift to the those yet to come: the confidence that God is speaking to us today, the faith that God will speak to us when we still ourselves and listen.
Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, March 2, 2025
Did you ever wish you could talk to animals when you were a kid?
I did. As a child, I longed to understand them—not just their behaviors, but their thoughts, their emotions, the stories they held in their bones. But like most childhood dreams, I let it fade as I grew older. The world has a way of convincing us that wonder is something to outgrow.
And I might have believed that—until the day I saw a documentary about Anna Breytenbach, a professional animal communicator from South Africa. In the film, she connected with a black leopard named Spirit who had been deeply misunderstood in captivity. But through deep listening, she was able to hear him—to understand the grief and pain that lived in his body.
Something inside me cracked open as I watched Anna transform Spirit’s life through communicating with him and his human caretakers.
For the first time since I was a child, I believed my dream of being able to talk to animals wasn’t just a fantasy—it could be my reality.
A few years after I saw the documentary, Spirit visited me in a dream.
In the dream, I was leading an animal communication retreat, guiding others into silence, when Spirit emerged from the darkness. His black coat gleamed like liquid night. He pressed his forehead against my third eye, sending a ripple of energy through my body.
“You have forgotten how to listen,” Spirit said.
His voice wasn’t human, but it vibrated through me like I’d always known the language.
“Your purpose is to help humans remember—to teach them to speak with us, with all life.”
I woke with a strong sense of being guided by Spirit, but I never could have predicted what would come next.
About a year later, in the summer of 2024, I was invited to attend the World Plenary Gathering of Quakers in South Africa. It was an amazing opportunity, but what sealed my decision to go was an image I saw online while researching places to visit – a photograph of a leopard named Una, a captive female living at a wildlife sanctuary called the Daniell Cheetah Project.
Her golden eyes gazed into my soul, almost like she was calling me, and I knew I had to meet her.
In August, I boarded a plane and flew 18 hours to Johannesburg, where I spent two weeks in deep, deep worship with Quakers from all around the world.
I had a wonderful time at the World Gathering, though I did have a small crisis of faith partway through, which I’m sure some of you can relate to – but that’s a story for another time.
After the gathering, I went to the airport, picked up a rental car and quickly taught myself how to drive on the other side of the road, which was a lot easier in reality than it was in my head, thank goodness!
A few weeks into my trip, I arrived at The Daniell Cheetah Project where I met…
…Una, the leopard from the photo, and Vega, her male companion.
If Una was the sun, Vega was the storm. Most of the time, he was calm, moving through their enclosure with quiet intensity. But at feeding time, the storm would break…
…and he would lash out, snarling and charging the fence, his frustration spilling over.
The keepers dismissed Vega’s aggression, affectionately calling him special while doting on sweet, gentle Una.
But when I looked into Vega’s eyes…
…I saw pain beneath his rage.
One evening, I sat quietly by Vega’s enclosure, reaching out to him with the silent language I was learning to trust.
“What’s hurting you?” I asked.
A flood of images and emotions surged through me—vast, open spaces, the scent of wild grasses, the weight of a world he was meant to belong to and the unbearable ache of knowing he never would.
“I don’t belong here,” he told me, leaning his heavy head against the chain link fence separating him from his freedom.
His grief struck me with the force of a river breaking through a dam as it converged with my own ocean of despair. It was an ancient, aching sorrow that held the weight of generations, of wild instincts caged and freedom taken away. It was betrayal, rage, the agony of knowing his soul was too vast for the bars that held him.
I recognized his grief. I had felt it before—the pain of being trapped in a place that doesn’t fit, the helplessness of having no way out. I had known betrayal, too. I had been hurt by people I trusted, and in some ways, I had caged my own wildness within the confines of fear, expectation, and the silent rules of a world that teaches us to tame ourselves – to trade instinct for obedience, longing for practicality, intuition for logic, and freedom for the illusion of safety.
A world that builds cages not just for animals, but for people – separating families at borders, locking away those deemed ‘other,’ enforcing invisible walls of oppression that tell us who belongs and who doesn’t.
Vega’s captivity was made of steel and chain-link. Mine, like so many others, was built from stories designed to keep us small, afraid, and disconnected from the wildness and freedom that is our birthright.
I could have turned away. But I stayed. I opened myself to him.
I let his grief pour through me, hollowing me out with the unbearable weight of our collective pain as I wept for all the captive souls whose freedom will never be known.
I allowed the dense, excruciating energy to move through me like a current, channeling it down, down, down into the Earth beneath me. I imagined the soil drinking it in, transmuting our pain like rain, holding it in the vastness of something ancient enough, strong enough to transform it.
As the energy moved, something shifted. The storm raging inside Vega softened. His breath slowed. His body relaxed. He leaned against the fence and grumbled his thanks, assuring me that “We can walk together on this path towards healing.”
The following night, I returned to find both Vega and Una waiting for me.
This time, their energy was different—less guarded, more open. They had something to tell me.
I closed my eyes and listened.
What emerged was less like a conversation and more like a marriage counseling session—two leopards, bound together in captivity, struggling to reconcile their reality with the vastness of what they had lost. Vega’s voice, raw and untamed, carried the sharp edges of grief. Una’s, softer, held the weight of quiet endurance.
They told me they were aware that they were expected to breed and posed a heart wrenching question to me:
“How do we raise a child in captivity?”
It wasn’t a question of biology. It was the kind of question that stretches across species, across time—a question whispered in the aching hearts of parents who have been stripped of the ability to give their children the life they deserve.
I heard it in Vega and Una’s voices, but I also heard it echoing through the generations of people who have known forced displacement. Parents cradling their babies in refugee camps, undocumented families fearing the knock of an immigration officer, entire cultures severed from their roots, their traditions, their homelands.
“Will our children ever know what it means to be free?”
I felt the depth of their sorrow, the fear that their children would never belong to the vast, open spaces that still lived inside their blood.
“They will know,” I told them. “Because of your sacrifice.”
I assured them that one day their babies would be released into a protected reserve, free to roam and reclaim the wild that is their true home.
I also reminded them that even in captivity, the wild is never truly lost. It lives in the marrow, in the muscle, in the stories that live in our bones.
And in the same way, the wild within us stirs, moving through us like a quiet rebellion against everything that threatens to confine our spirit.
Two months after I left South Africa, Una and Vega gave birth to their first son, Nico.
Nico’s birth reminded me of a powerful encounter I had with a wild leopard in Kruger National Park.
The leopard was draped across a rocky outcrop, the rising sun painting his coat in hues of fire and shadow. As soon as the vehicle’s engine turned off, he turned his regal head and looked me dead in the eyes as though he’d been waiting for me, like we had a divine appointment scheduled.
In that instant, I felt the invisible thread that stretched between him and Nico, between Vega and Una, between all the caged and the free.
I thought of Spirit, urging me to help humans remember our connection with the wild world.
I thought of Una, calling me across time and space to help her and her mate reconcile their fate.
I thought of Vega, of the grief he carries in his body, and the way it had mingled with my own and our collective grief and poured through me into the Earth.
I thought of Nico…
…born into captivity, but carrying the wild inside him.
And I thought of us—of humanity, of the ways that we, too, have been severed from our wildness.
We have been told that captivity is normal. That we must shrink to fit within borders, within laws, within cages built of fear and control. That the wild parts of us—the instinct, the longing, the untamed knowing—must be buried, forgotten, domesticated.
But I do not believe that.
Because the wild does not die. It waits. It remembers. It calls.
And all we need to do to hear it is listen.
To listen with the ears of our heart.
So, I invite you to transfer authority from your head to your heart and listen to the wild yearning within you as we settle into worship.
+++
Briana Halliwell is a member of Vassal;boro Friends Meeting. She is a contemplative activist, creative communicator, wandering mystic, and intuitive interspecies communicator who hears a Divine Call to weave the forgotten web of connection back into the places (both personal and collective) where colonizer consciousness has spread the lie that humans are separate from each other and the Earth. Briana is acutely aware of what she calls the “Cosmic Ache” – as an empath and vessel of Divine Source, she can feel in her body the collective wounds of humanity and the more-than-human beings with whom we share the Earth. She is called to help humanity heal from the deleterious effects of global colonization through helping people to reconnect with their innate belonging to the wider Earth community.
Present: Dorothy Curtis, President, Nancy Marstaller, Treasurer, Susan Gilbert, Secretary, Dorothy Hinshaw, Martha Sheldon, Kim Bolshaw.
Cards: For Friends.
Program and Devotions: We took turns reading the Blueprints article “Seeking a New Church Family”, by Lisa Lickel. Scripture Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hymn: “In Christ Alone.” Having downsized their lives upon retirement, Lisa and her husband moved to a quiet, rural location and looked for a new spiritual community. They found true welcome in the small local Quaker Meeting and began practicing Quaker worship and values.
Minutes: Susan read the 1.20.2025 minutes.
Treasurer’s Report: Nancy sent $380. to Tedford. We have $100.58 in our account. We discussed organizations we usually give to, SASSAM, New Beginnings, and Wayfinder. We will begin by sending $50. to SASSAM this month.
Tedford Meal: Dorothy Curtis’s Team C will bring the March 3rd meal. Durham Friends provide dinner for Tedford House on the first Monday of each month. Contributions of prepared food or money for the Team to buy food for Tedford are always welcome.
Other Business: Marthaknitted some beautiful hats to be sold at the Meeting House, with proceeds to benefit Woman’s Society causes. We will send this money to New Beginnings. Nancy would like to hold the April meeting at her home in Harpswell.
Nancy showed a photo of Velasco Friends with Mimi Marstaller, Kristina Evans, and Maggie Fiori in attendance.
Dorothy ended the meeting with a quote from Abraham Lincoln:
“I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.”
Respectfully Submitted, Susan Gilbert
2024 Durham Friends Woman’s Society Treasurer’s Annual Report
Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, February 23, 2024
Right now, as we meet here in Durham & Portland Maine, Quakers are gathered for worship in Gibara Cuba for the closing Sunday worship of Cuba Yearly Meeting. With them are eleven Friends from New England, including Kristna Evans and Mimi Marstaller from Durham and Maggie Fiori from Portland, four adults and three children from Dover meeting and one from Providence meeting.
Friends began worship this morning earlier than we did, and will continue after we close. I am hoping to share, as much as I am able, the experience of worship and of Friends in Cuba.
The church in Gibara is full – everyone has walked to worship this morning- from their homes or from the dormitories. It’s 80 degrees, the front door of the church is open, the breeze off the harbor blows through the windows.
The service begins with song – everyone knows the songs and everyone sings together enthusiastically. Jesu’s band accompanies the hymns. I saw a photo of the band earlier this week at Puerto Padre. This year there is a saxophone, a bass guitar, a drummer and Jesu.
The theme for this years gathering is “a family on a mission” The Chorus is “We are the community of God”. Each year CYM composes a song for sessions. The Verse is Acts 2:42 (Pentacost)
“The Fellowship of the Believers
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. “
After singing, a pastor will share a message on the theme and the verse: and the community will participate, sometimes interrupting, sometimes agreeing sometimes arguing. As Friends everywhere know, Cuban Friends know that we experience god directly and intimately and that authority rests in that experience, not in the person of the pastor. In Cuba, Friends share during a message, as well as out of the silence.
Judy Goldberger wrote in a recent newsletter from FUM that:
“[In Cuba} I was immersed in communities who KNEW and trusted the constant presence of G*d. Who used their minds and hands and hearts to their full capacity, but knew they were not acting alone, knew they didn’t carry the burden of outcomes.
I’m privileged [in the US]. My intellect knows G*d is by my side, but it’s so easy to fall into trusting the work of my hands, and taking on the burden of outcomes. In Cuba, so much was out of our hands. The power could go out at any time. We might need to pull over and let the bus engine cool off. The pharmacy shelves were bare of western medicines. The doctors couldn’t run basic diagnostic tests.
But God was always with us, revealing Godself through each other, and giving Cuban Friends power. Not mastery, but power. As I return to the United States, where I’m privileged to be able to get what I want instantly, let me remember that. To confuse power with mastery is the road to despair. Let us reveal Godself to each other, in our workplaces, in our communities, with power.
Above the cross, in the Friends church in Delicias, it reads, “The place of Your presence.” And it is also everywhere I walk.
[As Jorge Luis , clerk of CYM said} “Somos seres humanos, no somos angeles.” (We’re human beings, we’re not angels.)
Back in Boston after eight days with Cuban Quakers, I don’t even know where to begin. G*d was truly as close as our breathing and moved among and through us. I was witness to the deep joy and deep heartbreak that Cuban Friends live with every day. I miss them already and my heart is a little larger now.” —Judy Goldberger, New England Yearly Meeting
I hear in Judy’s reflection a meditation relevant to the verse that has been at the center of worship during sessions: Acts 2:42, The Fellowship of the Believers
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (the passage continues) 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.
This verse comes after the community has experienced the spirit descending upon them at Pentecost. They have been drawn together, have spoken in many languages and understood each other, have been mocked by the community and have been formed into this fellowship of believers. Judy’s description is a description of a community that has been formed into such a fellowship and that is gathering today praying and feasting together.
I’ve sat with the theme “a family on a mission”.
One of the realities in Cuba now is that everyone has had people they love leave the island. They cannot return and they cannot be visited. Caring for family is complicated. The Cuba Friends are wrestling with how to remain in relationship with those they love who are absent. How to include them in the fellowship of believers. –
We in our country are living through a time where those we love are being targeted, because of their identity, their heritage or their job and it is unclear if we can protect them. My daughter works for USAID and she has been called a criminal, a lunatic and corrupt by rich and powerful men. How do we enfold those we love who are in harms way into the power of our fellowship of believers. In Judy’s reflection she links both the deep joy and the deep heartbreak that Cuban Friends live with as part of their experience of God moving among them. That stretches me – Do I recognize the deep heartbreak that I live with as part of God moving through us? This theme – “a family on a mission” has felt particularly tender both in the lives of Cuban Friends and in our communities.
After the message the children will lead the gathered community in song. There are a lot of children, singing and dancing enthusiastically. The whole congregation is singing and dancing with the children. The Epistle from CYM to Friends everywhere will be read, any new pastors will be installed and any retiring ministers or elders will be honored. The clerk will offer a prayer at closing and the whole community will gather for a luncheon feast. Local Friends will walk home, Friends from other meetings will crowd into whatever transport have been found to return home and the New England Friends will go to Holguin Airport and catch the 3:00 flight to Miami.
Revival Sing: ”When the world is sick, ain’t nobody feeling well, and at camp we’re so beautiful and strong.”
Queries: What have we experienced as a community that has forged us into this fellowship of believers, who gather and pray together and break bread together?
Do we know the feeling of the power of God’s presence among us, how do we recognize this and not mistake mastery of our hands and the authority of the world for the power of God’s presence?
Present: Dorothy Curtis, President, Nancy Marstaller, Treasurer, Susan Gilbert, Secretary, Kim Bolshaw.
Cards: For Friends
Program and Devotions: We took turns reading the Blueprints article by Jill Jay, “God Speaks, Do I Listen? Philippians 4; 6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. A single mother of 3, Jill had a deep commitment to help young children with learning. Through many challenges, she continued her own education, and learned ways to make a great difference in children’s education. Looking back, she observed her own growth in learning to listen and trust what God had to tell her.
Minutes: Susan read the 12.16.2024 minutes.
Treasurer’s Report: Nancy said we have $535.58 in our account. $430. was raised from the silent auction, and will be sent to Tedford Housing.
Tedford Meal: Nancy’s team B provided ham, mac and cheese, milk, fruit and dessert. The February 3rd meal, brought by Sarah Sprogell’s Team C, will include both meat and vegetarian chili, cole slaw and corn chips. Durham Friends provide a meal for Tedford House on the first Monday of each month. Contributions of prepared food or money for the Team to buy food for Tedford are always welcome.
Other Business: There will be a meeting of the Northeast Regional USFWI on February 22 at 9 AM. A Zoom link will be provided by Marion Baker. There will be three speakers. The theme is how to help younger people in their ministry. The organization needs a treasurer.
Dorothy ended the meeting with a quote from Elvis Presley: “Values are like fingerprints, nobody’s are the same but you leave ‘em all over everything you do.”
Thursday, March 20, 2025: Make a Hand Broomwith Ezra Smith(please pre-register)
5:30-6:30 Learn How to Make a Hand Broom with Ezra Smith
Advance sign up required. Space is limited to 12, then we start a waiting list. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
All supplies provided. $10-$20 donation is collected on site.
Ezra is a woodworking teacher at Maine Coast Waldorf School.
6:30-8:30 Maker Cafe with Live Music by Fanning the Breeze
Free and open to the public. No sign up required.
Bring a project to work on. Some knitting, stitching, writing, reading, drawing, coloring, carving, or whatever you want. And if you don’t bring a project that’s okay too.
Fanning the Breeze is Michael Fenderson and Bobbi Goodwin. They are two teachers who love sing-alongs and anything that pulls community together for good work and fun! They were recently spotted at the annual Thompson’s Ice cutting day in South Bristol.
5:30-6:30Make a Hand Broomwith Ezra Smith
All supplies provided (donation collected on site).
Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
6:30-8:30 Maker Cafe
Live Music Fanning the Breeze
Hot drinks, snacks, and light supper available. All ages, genders, and beliefs welcome. No Charge for thr Maker Cafe, donations welcome
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Please bring a project of your own to work on. Some knitting? Mending? Painting? Sculpting? Crafting? Carving? And if you don’t bring a project, that’s okay too.
Please don’t bring your phone or other screen-based devices. This is an offline place where we try to connect with
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends met for the conduct of business on Sunday, February 16, 2025, with 15 people in attendance by Zoom.
1. Meeting Opening:
Clerk opened the meeting with a prayer by Howard Thurman.
Open unto me — light for my darkness
Open unto me — courage for my fear.
Open unto me — hope for my despair.
Open unto me — joy for my sorrow.
Open unto me — strength for my weakness.
Open unto me — wisdom for my confusion.
Open unto me — forgiveness for my sins.
Open unto me — tenderness for my toughness.
Open unto me — love for my hates.
Open unto me — Thy Self for my self.
Lord, Lord, open unto me! Amen.
2. Approval of Minutes of January 2025 – Ellen Bennett
Meeting approved the January minutes.
3. Ministry and Counsel — Renee Cote
After positive responses to retreat, the M&C proposes holding another retreat in September. This will be discussed again at a future meeting.
Brown Lethem is asking to transfer his Meeting membership to Claremont.
It was proposed that April’s monthly meeting for business be moved from the 20th, which is Easter, to the 27th.
Meeting approved moving the date of meeting for business.
4. $2000 Gift allocation — Nancy Marstaller
The Meeting received a $2,000 gift from Rachel Kerry. She expressed a desire that the money support people who are affected by the ways in which our government is no longer funding organizations, e.g., immigrants and refugees, LGBTQ+, Women’s shelters, etc. The money may be given to more than one organization.The suggestion was made that a portion of the funds go to domestic violence survivors. Several people spoke in support of giving to MEIRS today, the need being immediate. Clerk proposed giving $1,000 to MEIRS today, and return next month to discuss allocation of the remainder.
Meeting approved this proposal.
5. Trustees Report — Sarah Sprogell
Please see attached report. Gratitude was expressed for the ongoing work of Trustees.
6. Peace and Social Concerns — Ingrid Chalufour
Please see attached report. Note that while the mission of the committee is unchanged, the focus of the committee has shifted some of its attention to participating in the Portage Mapping Project in Brunswick.
The fourth Sunday book group that started last month is continuing and is a benefit to the meeting. Please notes that this is an activity that could be overseen by any group or committee.
The Social Justice Book project may be affected by the decrease in funding from the US Department of Education.
7. Finance Annual Report — Doug Bennett
Please see attached report. There are four points to keep in mind regarding Meeting finances:
We are very good at budgeting. We spend what we say we’re going to.
We make other expenditures, as well as receive income that are “off budget” e.g., spend money from the capital account, charity account, from the Sister City account, etc. We should try to come up with a framework for these expenses.
Weekly contributions counted towards our operating revenue are down significantly. 73% of income came from weekly contributions and automatic deposits in 2018. That is down to 48% this year, a decline of 26%. Making up for this, not quite half of our income is coming from our investments.
The total financial value of our Meeting is about $950,000.
Cemeteries, which are budgeted and managed separately, are also in good financial shape.
Suggestion was made that the Meeting articulate to all the importance of weekly contributions. Start passing the plate again!
8. Makers Cafe update — Ellen Bennett. Craig Freshley
Good session last month with Nancy Marstaller, and excited about this upcoming session with Emily Bell-Hoerth. We welcome ideas! It’s all about building community. And we are all grateful.
9. Other business
An observation: Recently we’ve had visitors to the Meeting who are interested in finding out more about Durham Friends. Things are “bubbling” around us.
For discussion at the next meeting for business, Meeting member Joyce Gibson offered the following:
1. She now has time to be more engaged in the meeting, 2. is missing adult Christian education, 3. and is interested in documenting who we are as a Meeting and our Quaker history. She is asking M&C to think about how we might approach furthering our education about who we are as Quakers and would like others to work with.
Clerk ask that we close with prayers of gratitude and hope, and reread the Howard Thurman prayer.
Respectfully submitted, Ellen Bennett, Recording Clerk
Agenda for February 16, 2025 Durham Friends Monthly Meeting
1. Decide if we want to continue to meet today or postpone until next week (considering if people have power and any are able to join by zoom) – Clerk, Nancy Marstaller
3. Ministry & Counsel report- Tess Hartford or Renee Cote: action item, move monthly meeting in April to the 27th, as the 20th is Easter
4. Nancy Marstaller- $2000 has been gifted to the Meeting specifically to use for people in this area who are struggling or may struggle due to our government’s policy changes, especially for work with immigrants and refugees, LGBTQ people, or those who’ve suffered domestic and/or sexual abuse. Several people have suggested the Maine Immigrant & Refugee Services, as they have lost federal funding. We do not have to give all to one group. Looking for suggestions and possible action.
5. Trustees Annual report- Sarah Sprogell, no action item
6. Peace & Social Concerns annual report- Ingrid Chalufour, no action item
7. Finance Annual report- Doug Bennett, no action item
**Live Music by Craig Freshley and Frederik Schuele
5:30-7:00Learn How to Make a Shashiko Embroidered Patchwith Emily Bell-Hoerth
All supplies provided ($7-$14 donation collected on site). Bring your clothes to mend! And sewing tools you may have. Mending helpers will be on site to assist with all mending projects.
Advance sign up required. Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot.
6:30-9:00 Maker Cafe
Live Music by Craig Freshley and Frederik Schuele
Hot drinks, snacks, and light supper available. All ages, genders, and beliefs welcome. No Charge for thr Maker Cafe, donations welcome
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Please bring a project of your own to work on. Some knitting? Mending? Painting? Sculpting? Crafting? Carving? And if you don’t bring a project, that’s okay too.
Please don’t bring your phone or other screen-based devices. This is an offline place where we try to connect with what we’re doing and who we’re with.
Celebrate the vital & varied ministries of younger Quaker women!
Winter Zoom GatheringofUnited Society of Friends Women International—Northeast Region
22nd of February, 2025, 9:30am to 12 noon Eastern Time
Join us for a panel of younger Quaker women with ministries,as we explore
“Lifting Up Younger Quaker Womenas They Live Into Their Sense of Call”
A Panel Moderated by Emily Provance of NYYM, with:
• Briana Hallowell from New England YM,
• Nicole Bennett Fite from New York YM, and
• Sussie Ingosi Ndanyi from Nairobi YM.
They will share the ways they have felt led by the Spirit todo an amazing variety of ministries, how they experienced their call, how they were supported to follow their leading, and ways older Friends can help lift up younger Quaker women.
Schedule: (all times EST)
9:30am Zoom opens for informal sharing/greetings
9:40am Devotions led by Pastor Janice Ninan of NYYM and translated into Swahili by Pastor Joyce Machaha of Nairobi YM
10:00am Introductions led by Marian Baker-NEYM
10:05am Panel – moderated by Emily Provance-NYYM
11:05am Small breakout groups sharing what arose during the panel
11:40am Singing in multiple languages led by Congolese Women
Please join us for a Meeting-wide retreat, open to all, on Saturday, February 8th beginning at 9 a.m. and ending no later than 3 p.m.
With worship, small group discussion and artistic expression, we will examine how to prioritize the work and good functioning of the Meeting given our current numbers, and reaffirm our commitment to one another as a Meeting and as Friends. And have fun in the process!!
Lunch will be provided.
It is a great opportunity to listen and learn together and to connect with our beloved community. If you can only come for part of the day, just come!! We welcome you!
Please let us know if you will attend by emailing durham@neym.org. Everyone is needed!
On January 25, 2025, Friends from Brunswick, Durham and Portland and one visitor gathered in person at Portland Friends Meeting and on zoom.
Those present shared news of and celebrated our community as meetings and as the community Friends in Southern Maine. We gathered with bagels, coffee and tea, and had lunch together.
The bulk of the morning was an exploration of what is required of us in these times. The facilitators noted that three themes informed the planning of the morning activity. These were i.) that all of us are impacted by what is happening in our country, ii.) that we need each other – that we are stronger together, and iii.) that in considering what is required of us, the language from Micah 6:8 “[What is required is] to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God” is more relevant than language of “callings” or “leadings”.
There were moments of discomfort as we named our economic class which is one variable which impacts how we are affected, and moments of celebration as we recognized all the ways we are already doing service. We concluded with an exercise of finding our path by gathering into four groups drawn from an article by Daniel Hunter which had been shared in advance. The groups were “Protecting People”, “Defending Civic Institutions”, “Disrupt and Disobey.”, and “Building Alternatives”.
Before Lunch Andy Granell shared that in his work for a book about the history of Quakers in Maine he had been reading the collected archives of Falmouth Quarter. There is an almost complete record of the quarter since it’s inception in the 1700’s.
After lunch we regathered to participate in a facilitated Visioning Session to provide our input on the future planning of NEYM Annual Sessions. The invitation was to engage in a conversation about how our Yearly Meeting’s practice of corporate discernment, our relationships with other Quakers, and our use of limited resources can most meaningfully contribute to the spiritual thriving of Friends across New England.”
Using materials provided by the NEYM Sessions Visioning Group and facilitated by Leslie Manning of Durham, a former clerk of the Sessions Committee, and Marian Dalton, Brunswick, the current Yearly Meeting treasurer, those present shared their experiences of sessions, and their hopes and desires going forward. Notes were taken and will be shared with the quarter separately. The notes will also be sent to the NEYM staff to incorporate into their work.
A theme that was present throughout the day was that these times are unprecedented and challenging and will require a deeply faithful response individually and corporately.
Fritz Weiss, Wendy Schlotterbeck, Mimi Marstaller and Leslie Manning