Author Archives: Doug
“The Experience of Interdependence,” by Lisa Steele-Maley
Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, August 15, 2025, by Lisa Steele-Maley
Each summer, I noodle over the idea ~ and the experience ~ of Interdependence.
I know this is spurred on by a desire to create counterbalance to the annual celebration of independence every July and I suspect it is sustained by watching the plants and insects of the garden interact with each other and the waxing and waning of sun, rain, and wind.
I, perhaps like many of you, was raised in a family and culture that values independence. As I have grown older, I have seen how the idea of independence creates a separation that contributes to environmental and human exploitation, consumerism, competition, overwork, and dominion over creation rather than responsibility to it.
The ideal of independence also keeps us from asking for help, leaning on friends, and fostering community, no doubt helping to create the epidemic of loneliness.
To be fair, Independence does have its place – it allowed this country to originally become independent from the greed and control of a ruler king. It allows children to grow up and into their own lives. Because we are independent, we make up our own minds on matters of moral and ethical consequence. We love. We dream. We create. We can, in fact, choose to live our way toward a more whole, just, and loving world.
But independence also creates a scar. You have heard of the idea of original sin? I think of separation as our original wound… and many of the wounds we experience in our lives and inflict on others stem from that original hurt.
Interdependence is our true nature. Our brief lives on this Earth are truly interwoven, intermingled, and interconnected with all other beings throughout time and space….
We can not actually be independent of each other. We are wholly interdependent on each other, on the Earth that sustains us, and on a holy living truth that is greater than ourselves. Whether they name this unifying divinity God, Buddha Mind, Universal spirit, Brahman, Pachamama, or Holy Mystery, most traditions point to a sacred that is both immanent (within us) and transcendent (all around us).
It is this holy weaving ~ around, within, above, below, and between that assures and reminds me that we inter-are.
Inter-are comes from the word inter-being, coined by the buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. He says “ I was looking for an English word to describe our deep interconnection with everything else. I liked the word “togetherness,” but I finally came up with the word “interbeing.” The verb “to be” can be misleading, because we cannot be by ourselves, alone. “To be” is always to “inter-be.” If we combine the prefix “inter” with the verb “to be,” we have a new verb, “inter-be.” To inter-be and the action of interbeing reflects reality more accurately. We inter-are with one another and with all life.” This concept of interbeing really gives our American minds, bred on independence, something to chew on.
It is in letting this concept integrate into my body and heart that I can really live into it, creating a counterpoint for my mind that can get stuck in habitual loops that reinforce the myth of separation.
In our bodies, we have no choice but to know that we inter-are. After all, we require air every minute, water and food each day. The living, breathing world quite literally sustains us.
We breathe in because our bodies require oxygen. We breathe out carbon dioxide. Trees take in the carbon dioxide that we exhale and release oxygen. We are co-breathing with trees all of the time. This is perhaps the simplest and most profound example of interdependence that I both know and also pay little attention to most of the time.
But paying attention to the many ways that I am in fact connected to All That Is has been particularly helpful this summer amidst the fullness and frantic pace of the news cycle that keeps my lizard brain on high alert.
Paying attention with my whole body, letting my senses inform and bless me re-members me to my true belonging to this living world. I don’t need to do anything to be worthy of it. It is simply already true.
I’ve had the opportunity to swim a bit this summer. Every time I get in the water, I lay back and float for a while, feeling the water hold and suspend me while the sun warms my face. It’s been really nourishing to remind myself that I am always this supported.
During a humid morning a few weeks ago, I was startled by the intoxicating dream-like fragrance of the blooming milkweed. I smelled it before I saw it. As I drank in the smell, I noted that the flowers are offering themselves to the pollinators of the insect world and I am an adjacent beneficiary. Later that day, when I noticed the monarch butterflies fluttering from stalk to stalk, my body recalled the morning’s fragrance. I could actually feel the butterfly’s attraction to the flowers as an expansion in my own heart.
I said a minute ago that I don’t have to do anything to be fully integrated in the web of connection. That is true, and it is also true that I can actively work to tend and weave the web of connectivity with my actions and sacred imagination.
When I introduce one friend to another, I am weaving a web of connection by bringing together two people whose lives may be enriched by knowing each other. When I usher a fly out of my house instead of swatting at it, I am supporting and enhancing the life of another being. When Leslie broke her ankle and put out a call for help, she was building new strands of connection. When I responded to her invitation, I reinforced the integrity of the web. We are co-weaving with one another.
We are, in fact, always giving and always receiving. As I attune to interbeing in this season, I recognize reciprocity everywhere. As Robin wall Kimmerer says, “All Flourishing is Mutual”
A few nights ago, the night was humid when I laid down for sleep. The window beside the bed was open but the air felt still and the night sky was silent. It was calm. Peaceful. Yet, as I lay there, a thought intruded, “this is the kind of night that bombs are dropped on.”
I brought my hand to my suddenly racing heart. (Studies have shown that this simple touch activates the vagus nerve which plays a role in regulating the nervous system.) My thoughts went to far away lands – to Gaza, Ukraine, Yemen, and Iran – and it felt abundantly clear that the safety that I was enjoying in that moment was not guaranteed. It does not have to be this way and it can change in a heartbeat.
Laying in bed with my hand over my heart, I let my sacred imagination weave a connection to another mother in another land, a mother laying in bed with fear in her heart, and hunger in her belly as the night sky rang with the sounds of destruction.
I prayed with her for peace, for the safety of her children, for space to grieve the immense losses that she has already suffered. I prayed that she might wake to a quiet sky and a table graced with fruit and bread to nourish her family. I prayed that the planet will recover from the devastating pollution and destruction of war. I prayed that humanity will someday heal from this violent separation that is created by distinguishing “us” and “them”. As I drifted from prayer toward sleep, I felt a touch of peace born of connection and faith.
In just a few minutes, laying in bed, I moved from isolation and desolation to profound connection and peace. It is all so much bigger than I can know.
I’d like to close with the words of Joanna Macy, a brilliant thinker and activist who developed the Work that Reconnects. She died on July 19 of this year at the age of 96.
Trusting the Spiral
Active Hope is not wishful thinking.
Active hope is not waiting to be rescued
By the Lone Ranger or by some savior.
Active Hope is waking up to the beauty of life
On whose behalf we can act.
We belong to this world.
The web of life is calling us forth at this time.
We’ve come a long way and are here to play our part.
With Active Hope, we realize that there are adventures in store,
Strengths to discover, and comrades to link arms with.
Active hope is a readiness to discover the strengths
In ourselves and in others;
A readiness to discover the reasons for hope
And the occasions for love.
A readiness to discover the size and strength of our hearts,
Our quickness of mind, our steadiness of purpose,
Our own authority, our love for life,
The liveliness of our curiosity,
The unsuspected deep well of patience and diligence,
The keenness of our senses, and our capacity to lead.
None of these can be discovered in an armchair or without risk.
– excerpted from Active Hope by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone
“Living in the Life and Power,” By Noah Bishop Merrill (Putney Meeting)
Message given as New England Yearly Meeting Secretary at NEYM Annual Sessions, August 2, 2025
I want to speak about convincement, about becoming implicated in each other’s faithfulness, and about our Testimony. I want to speak about living in the Life and Power. Some of what I share may be difficult to hear, but these are difficult times. I trust with all my heart that we are eternally held, and pray that our Guide will help us hear whatever we need to hear.
Almost 20 years ago now, I spent five years of my life engaged in a ministry of humanitarian aid, advocacy, and peace activism in support of people internally displaced or made refugees as a result of the United States’ invasion of Iraq in 2003, its precursors, and its devastating aftermath.
In those years, I encountered daily, with visceral intensity, the evidence of what the weapons of war do to human families, to the human body, to human hearts and souls. Working alongside a group of Iraqi, Palestinian, and American activists, we sought to partner with efforts to find vitally needed support for people in need of significant and often lifesaving medical care.
When not in the Middle East and West Asia, through the support of several US-based organizations, I had the opportunity to travel across the United States, telling stories, with permission, that some of the people I had worked with had trusted me to share. They were stories of profound suffering, abandonment, shattered hopes, broken lives. Stories that would defy comprehension, if they weren’t true.
They remain with me still, etched in memory. A man my age paralyzed by a fall from his roof caused by the concussive impact of bombs falling on his neighborhood. A young woman learning to live with unremovable shrapnel in her body, the only survivor of a missile’s destruction of her whole house and family, including her baby daughter. A 6-year-old boy burned from head to toe by an explosion caused by a U.S. Marine raid on the camp where he and his family had taken shelter from sectarian violence. A woman’s face burned by acid, part of attacks by sectarian militias who had been armed and empowered by the U.S. occupation forces. Their trust in me, and their yearning for their stories to be shared with a world seemingly or willfully oblivious to the hell they were living, spurred me on.
In those days, I was mostly fueled by anger. It drove me. I remember how it felt to bear witness, face to face, to the stories and the experiences like these I have just shared. The weight of that burden. Maybe some of you have felt a burden like that, in your own context. Perhaps some of you are feeling that kind of burden here and now.
Sometimes, the only relief that I could feel was when I was speaking to a group of people in the United States, and I realized that the pain that I had shared had brought tears. Knowing that I had disturbed people’s hearts, that they had felt in some small way the pain of those whose stories I carried, that I had made them hurt. Anger is an insufficient word for how I lived my days. So is guilt. So is obsession.
In 2008, I was in Syria, in a neighborhood that was later reduced to rubble in the Syrian civil war to come.
I’ll always remember the words. “He wants to meet you.” For weeks, we had been hearing stories about a man who had suffered profoundly, unspeakably. People said we should speak with him, but his location was a secret, out of fear of retribution given what he had been through; Syria was an uneasy refuge for those fleeing violence and chaos in Iraq in those days.
But now we had been approached with an invitation. To meet with this man, to drink tea, and to hear his story. One of the man’s companions led us to the place, through the winding streets of the Old City of Damascus.
The man was seated and waiting for us. After the tea was poured, he began to tell his story.
He was an Iraqi Christian, he said, part of one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. His ancestors had lived in Iraq for centuries, largely peacefully with their neighbors of all faiths.
But when the war came, and the chaos followed it, ethnic and religious minorities began to be increasingly targeted by rival sectarian militias, groups intent on creating polarization, mutual distrust and division, and fear, leading to ethnic cleansing.
He told me how a gang of men with their faces covered with black masks dragged him from his bed into the street. They took him to the basement of a now-empty house somewhere he didn’t recognize. And there, in that cellar, they tortured him. Not for any action he had taken, but simply because of his religious identity, and to serve as a warning to others. And then, in sacrilegious mockery of his most deeply held faith, they ended that night of horror by hanging him on the basement wall. They crucified him. And they left him to die.
With whatever partial consciousness he had remaining, he prayed. He prayed that God would free him from this suffering, even if it meant helping the end come soon so that he wouldn’t have to endure the pain and humiliation any longer. He prayed that Jesus would save him from the evil that had been unleashed among his neighbors and in his country, that Jesus would save his country.
It was then, he said, that the miracle happened. He said that he saw an image of Christ, bearing the same wounds he bore, coming toward him amidst the shadows and desperation. But, he said—and this he said was important—this Presence didn’t take away his suffering. The One he experienced as Christ didn’t take him down from where his broken body was hanging.
Instead, as he described his experience, the Presence of the Living Christ joined him in his darkness and desperation, climbing up to accompany him where he was hanging on the wall to share with him completely in his suffering and misery and grief and yearning for justice. And in that moment—though time seemed to fade away—he told me that he felt an all-embracing sense of peace, an overflowing of a profound joy. And then, everything went dark.
When he awoke, he realized that he had been thrown in a vast garbage heap, left for dead. And somehow, through step by grace-filled step, he was given the strength to escape the neighborhood, the city, the country. With help from Muslim friends, he crossed the border into Syria, was found again by caring people there, and offered this place to live, and to heal.
As he finished his story, my hands were shaking—with rage, despair, and powerlessness. It was as if all the burdens that I had been carrying in those years, all of the horror and the anguish of the evil of which we are capable as humans broke like a dam in my head and heart. I was unable to speak, maybe even to think. For a long time, I couldn’t lift my head to reach his eyes.
And then he spoke again: “Wait, my friend. This is why I wanted to meet you. This is what I wanted to tell you, this is what I believe you need to know, and what I want you to share—Did you hear that He came? And do you see that I am Alive?” His eyes, I now saw, were shining. And his face was radiant with light and joy.
In that moment, I suddenly understood that he had called me there not for him, but for me, and all whose hearts might be opened by his testimony. The story he had called me there to hear was not—at its heart—the story of an encounter with evil, but of an encounter with the power of being met by the peace that the world cannot give, and brought home into the transforming power of God. It was a story of Life triumphing over death, a narrative outpost in enemy-occupied territory, a breaking in of divine Love restoring human dignity and personhood in a parched wasteland of despair. And this was the story to which he had called me to bear witness—through sharing this experience in his life, and, if I chose it, in my own living as well.
Friends speak about moments of conviction in our spiritual lives, when we come to see the condition of our hearts and souls with a clarity and starkness that offers an almost irresistible invitation—even a crying need—to change and grow. This encounter was such a moment for me.
I came to see that, in my quest for justice, and even in my yearning and advocacy and organizing for peace, I had so often been bearing witness not to the Life and Power, but to the power of anguish, tragedy, terror, and evil. I had been preaching what could be called a “gospel” of despair. There was no “good news,” only more anger, more struggle, more relentless fighting to assuage my conscience and keep the nightmares at bay. And in this way of living, there was no invitation to another kind of Life. I was sunk down in the ocean of darkness and death; the ocean of Light and Love seemed like a fantasy.
I realized then, with a shudder that swept my whole body, that I was in the tendering presence of a human being who had come to live in the Life and Power. And in this encounter, the cords that bound about my heart began to loosen. The burden I had been carrying, and the way I believed I had to carry it—with anger, desperation, and the need to control, to fix and save—began to change. And in the breaking of my heart, a living stream of joy began to flow—slowly at first, then growing, as I attended to it, to be of service in ministry. It had been there all the time, waiting. And in the many years since, while I have often been distracted, denied it, dishonored it, or suppressed it, I know that it has never stopped flowing.
“Living in the Life and Power.” George Fox, one of the founders of the Religious Society of Friends, used these words to describe his experience of the inward reshaping of his heart that made him unable to engage with outward weapons in the warfare and social turmoil so rampant in the bloody times in which he lived, and in which the Quaker movement was born.
Reflecting on a meeting with recruiters for one of the armies who claimed that they were fighting for justice, liberation, and the Kingdom of God, who had seen his gifts of leadership and were seeking to give him a military commission to command soldiers in battle, he wrote in his journal,
“I told them that I lived in the virtue of that Life and Power that takes away the occasion of all wars and strife … I told them that I had come into the covenant of peace, which was before all wars and strivings were.
This testimony to a direct experience of the Spirit at work in a life, and in the lives of those around that person, has been at the heart of what Friends have called “testimony”—the ways in which the liberation and repatterning of our hearts, and the actions arising and patterned by that freedom and joy, bear witness to the Truth, as Friends have used that word, to describe not a set of principles or list of rules or a catchy acronym, but a relationship—that is, a relationship and journey with the Spirit, present and active, at work in our world, within, among, and through all whose hearts are willing.
We can help remind each other, when we inevitably forget or get distracted or confused or frustrated. Our meetings’ rhythms of common life are intended for that purpose. In our own Faith & Practice, that trusted handbook on this pilgrimage together, the query for the twelfth month that is read in many of our local meetings for worship, including my own in Vermont, reads:
“Do you live in the virtue of that Life and Power that takes away the occasion of all wars? …when discouraged, do you remember that Jesus said, “Peace is my parting gift to you, my own peace, such as the world cannot give. Set your troubled hearts at rest, and banish your fears.” – John 14:27 (from F&P 1985, pg. 147)
Queries such as this are designed to help us reflect as a worshipping community on what is most essential in our living tradition, and how it shapes our living. Because this is the essential part: Friends have found that this seeking, this abiding, this growing and testing and acting in the Spirit, is a pilgrimage on which we need accompaniment. Some of us are given frequent or overwhelming experiences of this spiritual reality, others only glimpses. For some of us, our experience has yet to reflect the words we hear about worship, about leading, about living in relationship with this tender, unshakeable, and infinite Love Who seeks us. And that is why we need each other. As my friend in Syria was for me in that moment of conviction, we are called to present to one another, to help unbind each other’s hearts.
I have spoken about joy, and I want to take care not to be understood to glorify suffering or urge passivity, or to suggest that mere “happiness” is an antidote or a thin bandage that we should cultivate to cover over the very present manifestations of humans’ capacity for evil—in these times, or in any. These platitudes are the story our society is selling all around us. I am speaking about something different when I speak about this kind of joy.
New England Friend and minister Elise Boulding gives words to this difference with clarity and power:
For the real difference between happiness and joy is that one is grounded in this world, the other in eternity. Happiness cannot encompass suffering and evil. Joy can. Happiness depends on the present. Joy leaps into the future and triumphantly creates a new present out of it. It is a fruit of the spirit, a gift of God—no one can own it … Joy is the ultimate liberation of the human spirit. It enables the human being to travel to the very gates of heaven and to the depths of hell, and never cease rejoicing.
These are times of terror, of scattering, of collapse, when evil masquerades as truth, and despair is crouching at the threshold. When corruption seems ascendant, and mercy is outlawed by human authorities. Yet they are also times of healing, of remembering, of new vision, of weaving and reweaving the threads of covenant community in ways more resilient, more authentic, more willing to invite and share our testimony to the Life and Power in which we have covenanted to travel on this adventure of faith.
The Religious Society of Friends, our local meetings, were never meant to be places for the welcoming, respectful practice of hyper-individualism. The discovery and nurture of these fellowships, centered in worship, was always intended to help Friends gather and be gathered by the Spirit into local covenant communities—anchored and shaped in worship, nourished in fellowship and mutual care, formed in exploration of our living tradition, and sent forth by the overflowing of Love in our hearts into service and love of neighbor in the whole of our lives. And all of this, all these fruits of this journey together, however imperfect, are our Testimony.
But there is one thing needful. We must not allow ourselves to fall into despair of the living water, even in this parched wilderness. It is the witness of countless generations, who like us suffered and struggled and mourned and rejoiced and lived and died in faith, that the Life and Power we seek is closer than breath to us, always seeking new channels through which Love might continue to come into the world.
There is a fragment of a poem, a gift from Denise Levertov that has become a prayer to me—and a vow—one that speaks to me in the deserts of my soul; I hope it might speak to us:
Don’t say that there is no water
to solace the dryness at our hearts
It is still there and always there
with its quiet song and strange power to spring in us
up and out through the rock.
How Durham Friends Meeting Came to Be On This Land in Durham, Maine
When we gather for worship each week, we remind ourselves that We Worship on Land That is a Homeland for the Wabanaki. How did our Meeting come to be where it is, on land that is a homeland for the Wabanaki?
Wabanaki is a word that encompasses Native American peoples that lived in what is now Maine before European settlement: the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Abenaki.The Abenaki lived in the Androscoggin and Kennebec River valleys (also west and south into present-day New Hampshire and Vermont). With other indigenous peoples in what is now New England and Atlantic Canada, they were decimated by disease in the early 17th century. And then they endured a number of wars (late 17th and early 18th centuries) involving the Wabanaki, neighboring indigenous groups, the English and the French colonial powers and their settlers.
It was after the conclusion of these wars in 1775 that our Meeting was established in Durham. This was about 14 years before Durham (then called Royalsborough) was recognized as a town. At first, the Quakers who had moved into the area from Harpswell, Falmouth, Weare (N.H.) and places further south worshipped in one another’s houses. Then they acquired the land on which our Meetinghouse sits from one of these earliest members. We can work our way backward from the purchase of the parcel by the Meeting to earlier times when it was unquestioned Abenaki land.
On November 25, 1791, a man named Joseph Estes and his wife Mary Estes sold a one and a half acre parcel to Joseph Rogers and George Philbrook “for and in behalf of the people called Quakers, known by the name of Durham Monthly Meeting.” They paid two pounds. (A distinct U.S. currency had not yet been created in the new republic.). All of these people were part of a group of Quaker farm families who moved to the area in the mid-late 18th century.
Here is a link to a scan of the deed. The Meeting possesses this original deed. Some of it is printed and some hand-written. It appears that New England Yearly Meeting (founded 1661) had printed up a number of such documents for newly forming Meetings to use in acquiring land, the particular Meeting to fill in the particulars.
The deed states the meets and bounds of the parcel on which Durham Friends Meeting built its current Meetinghouse. (Actually a succession of Meetinghouses, earlier ones having burnt to the ground.)
How had Joseph and Mary Estes (themselves Quakers) come to own the larger parcel from which they sold off a corner lot?
Almost certainly they bought it from a group of English land speculators that called themselves the Pejepscot Purchase Company (or Pejepscot Proprietors). The Pejepscot Proprietors had gained control of a larger tract of land earlier. (At the end of this post there is a map of various large land company holdings b y English proprietors in 17th century Maine.).
In the 1760s, when conditions seemed right, the Pejepscot Proprietors marked out the plan of a settlement that would become the town of Royalsborough. (Royalsborough was renamed Durham after the Revolutionary War.) They had that portion of their holdings surveyed by Joseph Noyes; you can see a copy of his 1766 map here. Joseph and Mary Estes bought a lot in this now surveyed land in the new town, and it was a corner portion of that lot that the Estes sold to the Quaker Meeting.
So how had the Pejepscot Proprietors come to have title to this land? In 1714, they had purchased a large portion of what is today midcoast Maine from Richard Wharton. For a few decades after their purchase things were too unsettled in the midcoast — clashes between English settlers and native Americans — for any new settlement, but by 1766, most of the surviving native Americans in the Androscoggin and Kennebec Valleys had moved inland, toward the St. Lawrence River. Remember 1725 was the year of the slaughter at Norridgewock.
In turn, how had Richard Wharton come to have title, or at least title recognized by the Massachusetts colonial government and thus by the English King and Parliament? In 1620, King James I granted a charter to the Plymouth Company (the New England Charter). The Plymouth Company was a group of English nobles many of whom lived in and around Plymouth, England. This Charter covered all the land in the Americas between the 40th and 48th parallels, a huge tract.
In 1632, The Plymouth Company in turn granted a Charter to Thomas Purchase and George Way, two Englishmen. Purchase moved to these lands; his kinsman Way stayed in England sending provisions to Purchase. Purchase maintained a trading post, most likely at the Brunswick/Topsham falls. (Many histories of Brunswick start with Purchase as if he were the First Man.)
In 1683, with Purchase and Way no longer living, their heirs sold the land to Richard Wharton.
That same year or perhaps the next, looking to add legitimacy to his title to the land, Wharton entered into an agreement with a group of Abenaki led by a Native American known to us as Warumbo. You can see that Warumbo Deed (or Wharton Deed) here.
The Warumbo Deed was signed shortly after the conclusion of what we have come to call King Philip’s War (1675-78), the first of the several Abenaki-English wars fought between 1675 and 1763.
While there was a good deal of litigation in later years between the Pejepscot Proprietors and the rival Kennebec Proprietors about the boundaries of this Warumbo deed, it seems clear that Royalsborough (Durham) was agreed by both to be part of the Pejepscot lands.
Should we respect the Warumbo Deed as honestly passing title from Native Americans to colonial settlers? Knowledgeable opinions vary somewhat, but most scholars agree that if any deed in Maine between Native Americans and colonial settlers should pass muster, the Warumbo Deed is the one. There were plenty of coerced or dishonest deeds, but this one seems honest and freely entered into.
Most of the Warumbo Deed concerns the boundaries of the parcel in question, and some concerns the payment. Still, it does contain an arresting provision that we all should know.
Provided Nevertheless yt nothing in this Deed be Construed to deprive us ye Saggamores Successessors
[?] or People from Improving our Ancient Planting grounds nor from Hunting In any of s’d Lands Comgo [?] not Inclosed nor from fishing or fowling for our own Provission Soe Long as noe Damage Shall be to ye English fisherys…
That is, Warumbo and his fellow sachems reserved the right to hunt and fish and fowl on the lands they were ceding so long as those activities didn’t disturb the English fishing activities. This right the Abenaki never surrendered.
All the land titles in present-day Durham as well as most in Brunswick and in some neighboring towns share this history.
+++
+++
Warumbo Deed //Wharton Deed, 1684
To all People to whom these presents shall come, Know yee that whereas neere Threescore years Since Mr. Thomas Purchace Deceased Came Into this Country
as we have been well Informed did as well by Power or Pattent derived from ye King of England, as by Consent, Contract, & Agreement with ye Saggamores and Proprietors of all the Land Lying on ye Easterly Side of Casco Bay & on both Sides Androsscoggan River, & Kennibeck River,
Enter upon & take Possession of all ye Lands Lying five [?] miles Westward from ye uppermost falls In said Androsscoggan to Maquoit on Casco Bay & of the Lands on the other Side Said Androsscoggan River from above said falls down to Poiepscott, & Merry Meeting Bay,
to bee bounded by a Southwest by Northeast Lyne, to Run from ye Upper part of Said falls to Kennibeck River,
& all ye Land from Maquoit to Poiepscott and to hold ye Same Breadth where ye Land Will Bear it, Down to a place Called Atkins His Bay neere to Sagadehocke, on ye Westerly Side of Kennibeck River,
& all ye Islands in Said Kennibeck River & Land between S’d Atkins his Bay Smals Point Harbour the Lands, Ponds and Rivers Interjacent, containing there [?] In Breadth about three [?] English miles more or less,
and Whereas wee are Well Assured ye Major Nicholas Shapleigh in his Lifetime was goth by Purchase from ye Indian Saggamors our Ancestors & Consent of Mr. Gorgos Commes.
Particularly of a Neck of Land Called Meraconeey and an Island Called Sebasco Diggm,
and Whereas ye Relicts & Heirs of S’d Mr. Purchase & Major Nich. Shapleigh having reserved accomodations for their Severall familyes Sold all ye Remainder of the aforesaid Lands & Islands to Richard Wharton of Boston, Merch’t.
and for as much as Said Mr. Purchase did personally possess Improve & Inhabit att Pojepscott aforesaid neere ye Center or middle of all the Lands aforesaid for neere fifty years Before the Late unhappy War
and wheres the Said Richard Wharton hath Desired an Inlargement upon & Between the Sd. Androsscoggan & Kennibeck River & to Incourage ye Said Richard to Settle an English Town & promote ye Salmon & Sturgeon Fishing by which we promiss our Selves greater Supplyes & Reliefs
Therefore and for other good Causes & Considerations and Espechially for & In Consideration of a Valuable Sermon [?] Rec’d from the S’d Wharton in Merchandize
wee Warumbee, Darumkin, Wihikermett, Wedon Dombegon, Neononganset and Nimbanizett Chief Saggamores of all ye aforsaid & other rivers & Lands adjacent Have in Confirmation of said Richard Wharton’s title and Propriety fully freely & absolutely Given Granted Ratified & confirmed to him the s’d Richard Wharton all the aforesaid Lands
from ye uppermost of Androscoggan falls five miles westward & soe down to Maquoit & by ye s’d River to Pejepscott
& from ye other side of Androscoggan falls all the Land from said falls to Pejepscott asnd Merry Meeting Bay to Kennibeck & towards ye wilderness
to be Bounded by a Southwest and Northeast Lyne to Extend from ye upper part of s’d Androscoggan uppermost falls to said River of Kennibeck
and all the Land from Maquoit to Pejepscott & to Run & hold ye same Breadth where ye Land Will bear in
to Atkins his Bay in Kennibeck River & Small Point Harbour in Casco Bay and all Islands in Kennibeck and Pejepscott Rivers & Merry Meeting Bay & Casco Bay within ye aforsaid Bounds
Especially the afors’d Neck of Land called Meracaneey and Island Called ye Casco Diggin [?].
Togeather with all Rivers, Rivoletts, Brookes, Ponds, Pooles, Waters, Water Courses, all Wood trees of Timber or other Trees, and all Mines, Mineralls, Quarryes & Especially ye Sole & Abfolute Use and Benefitt of ye sturgeon & Salmon fishing In all the Rivers, Rivoletts, & Bays aforsaid and in all Rivers Brooks, Creakes or Ponds within any of ye Bounds aforsaid and alfoe
Wee ye said Saggamores Have upon ye Considerations aforsaid given granted Bargained Sold Enfeoffed and Confirmed and doe by these presents Give Grant Bargain & Sell alien enfeoffe & confirm to him ye s’d Richard Wharton
all ye Lands Lying five miles above ye uppermost of said Androscoggan falls In Breadth & In Length holding ye Same Breadth from Androscoggan falls to Kennibeck River & to be Bounded by ye aforsaid Southwest by Northeast Lyne
and a paralel Lyne at five miles Distance to Run from Androscoggan to Kennibeck River as aforsaid togeather
with all profitts, Priviledges, Commodityes, Benefits & Advantages & particularly ye Sole propriety Benefitt and advantage of ye salmon & sturgeon fishing within ye Bounds & Limits aforsaid.
To have & to Hold to him the said Richard Wharton his heires and assigns for ever all the afornamed Lands Priviledges & premisses with all Benefitts Rights Appurtenances or advantages yt now doe or heereafter shall or may Belong Unto any part or parcel of the premisess fully freely & absolutely acquitted & Discharged from all former & other Gifts grants Bargains Sales Mortgages & Incumbrances Whatsoever
and wee ye said Warumbee, Darumkin, Wihikermett, Wedon Domhegon, Neonongasket, and Nimbanizett Doe Covenant & grant to & with ye said Richard Wharton yt wee have In our Selves good Right and full power thus to confirm and convey the premisses and every Part thereof against all & every Person or persons that may legally Claim any Right, title, Interest or propriety In ye premisses by from or under the aforenamed Saggmores or any of our ancestors or Predecessors.
Provided Nevertheless yt nothing in this Deed be Construed to deprive us ye Saggamores Successessors [?] or People from Improving our Ancient Planting grounds nor from Hunting In any of s’d Lands Comgo [?] not Inclosed nor from fishing or fowling for our own Provission
Soe Long as noe Damage Shall be to ye English fisherys,
Provided alssoe yt nothing herein Conteined Shall prejudice [?] any of ye English Inhabitants or Planters Comg [?] at present actually possesses of any part of the Premisses & Legally Derivesingo [?] Right from s’d mr Purchace & our Selves or Ancestors.
In Wittness whereof wee ye aforenamed Saggamores Well understanding ye Purport heerof Doe sett our hands and Seals at Pejepscott this Seventh Day of July In the Thirty Sixth year of the Reigne of King Charles ye Second and In the Year of our Lord one thousand Six hundred Eighty and foure.
The Marke Warumbee
of Darumkin & a Seale
of Wihikermett & a Seale
of Nimbanizett & a Seale
of Wedon Domhegon & a Seale
of Neonongansket & a Seale
August 2025 Durham Friends Meeting Newsletter
Durham Friends Meeting Minutes, July 20, 2025
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends Minutes, July 20, 2025
Ellen Bennett — Recording Clerk
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends met for the conduct of business on Sunday, June 15, 2025, with thirteen people in attendance at the Meetinghouse and two by Zoom.
1. Meeting Opening
Clerk, Renee Cote, opened the meeting with a quote that begins John Punchon’s Portrait in Grey. It is the fourth verse from the poem The Brewing of Soma, by John Greenleaf Whittier:
Drop Thy still dew of quietness
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
[This is also the fourth stanza of the hymn “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind”.]
2. Approval of Minutes of June 2025
In item number seven of the June minutes, “Puente de Amigos” is the organization cited that could help with Kirenia’s travel.
3. Approval for suspension of Monthly Meeting for Business in August — Renee Coté
4. Ministry and Counsel Report —Renee Coté
Supporting Juno Kay in her need for medical care. (Please see report for greater details.)
The Clerks group approved sending monetary support to Juno from the Charity account on an expedited timeline.
Clerk read the certificate of transfer from Narramissic Valley Monthly Meeting regarding Margaret De Rivera’s transfer of membership. The certificate included words of praise for her three decades of membership there and her good works on behalf of the community and Quakerism. Durham Monthly Meeting will send an acknowledgement.
The Clearness Committee assembled for Shelley Randall recommends that she be admitted to membership. In honor of her membership, Shelley will receive New England Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice.
5. Peace & Social Concerns — Ingrid Chalufour
An article describing the Social Justice Book Project has been submitted as a feature article for the winter issue of Friends Journal.
There was a brief report about the planned event on October 4th, preceding World Quaker Day on October 5th — a tribute to Quaker activism, including the 99 minute film “Citizen George” about George Lakey. A list of Quaker activists, known to the Meeting, who have made significant contributions to Quakerism, their communities, and the world, is being assembled for recognition on October 4, as well. Please see report.
Printed material from a variety of sources should be made available for attendees, who are being invited to the October 4th event from a variety of faith organizations.
6. Trustees Report — Sarah Sprogell
Please see report.
Trustees seek approval of increased cost of replacing bulkhead.
Trustees seek approval for new language on the sign which is placed at the corner of the property.
The proposal from a Durham community member to purchase the 50 acre woodlot was shared. The Trustees believe it should not be sold. There was discussion about other possible uses of the tract. Any alternative/future uses of the 50 acres, e.g., putting in trails for community use, should be aligned with conservation purposes.
7. Finance: No report
8. Other business
The ad hoc committee tasked with considering ways to freshen the gathering room suggested moving the file cabinets and re-hanging historical pictures and photographs in the entry foyer as first steps.
The Meeting has been asked by the Durham Historical Society if there is interest in participating in the 250th Anniversary Parade — the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Participation would provide an opportunity to be clear about our values and our message. This request will be reviewed again in September. All are asked to think about our potential role and what we want to “say”. Meeting will respond to the request in the interim.
About 12 people met for this summer’s Falmouth Quarterly Meeting. There was time for reflections and queries and song. The steps the Quarter might take to support trans-gender individuals was discussed. The minutes addressing sexual orientation and gender identity, from Brunswick and Durham and a strong letter from Portland to the local press, will be shared at Yearly Meeting sessions.
Those gathered also discussed naming someone to the Maine Council of Churches, and building a clearness committee for that individual. The current representative has served in the role a number of years.
A Meeting member raised that this country, and the world, are going through very trying times, but the Meeting doesn’t seem to have taken firm hold of our role, our spiritual role, in facing the challenges. It was urged upon us that we think about this. Troubles have many faces and may aspects. Of all those, the unkindness to immigrants stands out. What do we have to say about this and who do we say it to? Note that there is a 2020 statement on immigration, a collaboration among Britain Yearly Meeting, Quaker Council for European Affairs, QUNO, FCNL, AFSC. Now especially we need to insist on basic humanity — the humane treatment of immigrants. The 2020 collaborative statement will be put up on the website.
It was noted that NEYM has a monthly support call for people involved in immigration issues in each of the six New England states.
Also important is the education of one another about both Quakerism and the complexity of these issues.
9. Closing
Clerk closed meeting with a moment of silence.
Respectfully submitted, Ellen Bennett, Recording Clerk
Kirenia Criado Pérez Traveling Minute, July 25, 2025
On July 25, fifteen Friends from Durham and Portland Friends Meeting joined in a potluck supper at Durham to welcome and enjoy fellowship with Kirenia Criado Pérez. The pastor of Havana Friends Meeting, she is traveling among Friends in New England this month before participating in NEYM’s Annual Sessions and giving the Bible half hours.
Below is her traveling minute. She is carrying several copies because there isn’t enough room on one for the notes added at the many visits she is making along the way. This is the second copy.
“Practicing Compassion,” by Leslie Manning
Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, July 13, 2025
“If you want to be happy, practice compassion.If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.” — The Dalai Llama
“Our human compassion binds us one to another –not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” — Nelson Mandela
What is Compassion? One common understanding, which I embrace, is that it is standing with people in their suffering and working together to alleviate it.
When Madiba “Nelson” a name give to him by an English school teacher, Mandela, a privileged prince of his people, allied with their suffering under the oppression of apartheid, he lost his status, his liberty and forfeited his ability to speak or act on behalf of those who could not speak or act for themselves. Sentenced to life imprisonment at a penal colony on a remote island, he was assigned to break rocks all day, every day, for 18 years. After contracting tuberculosis, he was relocated to the mainland where he was under pressure to ally with the ruling government as they came under increasing international pressure to “solve” their dehumanizing policies. His life sentence continued.
“The South African government periodically made conditional offers of freedom to Mandela, most notably in 1976, on the condition that he recognize the newly independent—and highly controversial—status of the Transkei Bantustan and agree to reside there. An offer made in 1985 required that he renounce the use of violence. Mandela refused both offers, the second on the premise that only free men were able to engage in such negotiations and, as a prisoner, he was not a free man.” — Encyclopedia Britannica
He was finally released in 1990, having been banned from public life on and off since 1952.
Yet, during all that time, his writings were smuggled out and published, his speeches taught and quoted, his will was never broken. And, he learned to forgive his captors and embrace non violence and active resistance.He was able to practice compassion not only for the injured and oppressed, he actively practiced compassion for their oppressors. He instituted the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as president of the country that had persecuted him, under the leadership of Desmond Tutu. The world celebrates Madiba Mandela Day on July 18.
In the words of the scientist and healer, Louis Pasteur, who gave us the germ theory of disease, which is once again under attack: “One does not ask of one who suffers: What is your country and what is your religion? One merely says: You suffer, that is enough for me.” — Louis Pasteur
And where do we stand , Friends? In our testimonies of Integrity, Peace, Community, Simplicity, Equality and some would add Service, are we seeking to live those values into the world?
Are our lives the “patterns and examples” as urged on us by George Fox? How do we “Answer that of God” in everyone we meet?
We do not do it alone, we do it in and with beloved community and in the words of Irish Friend Simon Lamb, (and for those of us who remember Edie Lamb Whitehead, she was a member of this same family, as her life showed) in speaking to an international gathering of Friends in 2002
“So here is God laying the burden of responsibility for changing our sad and broken world on our shoulders. For early Friends saw it as being called to bring the kingdom of heaven here to earth now. But God could not and does not abandon us to handle this task on our own. Nor does God expect us to achieve miracles purely in our own strength. That is why our living experiential relationship with God is so essential. For in this relationship is our strength. Our daily knowledge of God walking by our side, carrying us when we do not feel up to the task, encouraging and convincing us when we need that extra push, forgiving us when we choose to ignore or reject those burdens laid upon us, is what drives us into action and supports us while we carry out the responsibilities we are called to.” — Simon Lamb, Ireland YM, FWCC, 2002.
Picnic for Kirenia Criado Pérez, Thursday, July 24, 5 to 7 pm
From Portland Friends Meeting:
Please join us for: a picnic on the Eastern Prom of Portland to celebrate the visit of Kirenia Criado Pérez, a member of Cuba Yearly Meeting and pastor at Havana Friends Church.
When: 5 to 7 pm, Thursday, July 24th
Where: Near the playground of the Eastern Prom in Portland.
Food: Bring your own picnic or enjoy one of the many food trucks.
Parking: There is plenty of street-side parking in front of the playground and adjoining basketball courts. (See photo above.)
Seating: Please bring a blanket or chair. We’ll have a few extras to share.
Accessibility: There is a 10-foot hill from the sidewalk down to the picnic area. To the left of the playground is a gentler ramp.
Need Assistance?: Bart, Brooke, and others are available to help you get from your car to the picnic spot. Just give us a call at Bart’s cell phone: 207 899 5937. You may also alert me ahead of time.
Quaker Statement on Migration, 2020
At Monthly meeting yesterday, reference was made to “A Quaker Statement on Migration,” a joint statement issued December 8, 2020 from the American Friends Service Committee, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Britain Yearly Meeting, the Quaker Council for European Affairs, and the Quaker United Nations Office.
Meeting members were encouraged to read it and consider how we might lift this up today, nearly five years later. Here is the statement:
“Shifting the World Toward More Compassion, Light and Hope,” by Martha Hinshaw Sheldon
Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, July 20, 2025
I was initially asked to share a message this morning after a scheduled trip to the West Bank with a group of Quakers led by Max and Jane Carter from NCYM who have led trips to the West Bank for many years and who have volunteered at the Friends school in Ramallah many times. Our aim for the trip was to listen to and hear stories from people in the West Bank and to do some work at the Friends School and nearby olive groves. To be Living Letters. We send letters to share stories, plans, dreams, concerns, success, – to connect and support each other. By being present and observing life in the West Bank the annual living letters trips create opportunities for those participating to be a presence, to see what life is like for those who have been trapped in a system that does not allow for much freedom and autonomy. It allows for those in the land to hear that they are not alone.
The trip did not happen due to the ‘war’ (a war implies 2 groups fighting on equal terms) in Gaza and the bombs between Syria and Israel that happened a few days before and during the departure times of those in the group. Flights from the UK and EU to Tel Aviv were cancelled a week before the departure date. Max and Jane and those going from the US had flights cancelled but were able to find alternative flights and made it half way before being turned back to the US.
So instead of stories from the trip that did not happen I give you other related stories. A conversation with a friend, inspirations from Rania Maayeh, the Friends Girls School principal, one of many challenges for Palestinian students in the West Bank, a philosophy from a book, stories from the Gospel of Matthew, 2 words, and Rick’s story.
A friend – Visited me a few days ago and there was much laughing. He is very funny. Laughing with him allowed for him to hear my saying ‘the women said what?’ after he called an older female a girl. Laughing and listening allowed us to hear each other. How can we say our truth in ways that others will listen?
Rania. Steadfast, intense desire to care for, support and protect the staff and students of Ramallah Friends School (RFS). Resilience, the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. The message Rania is sharing with Yearly Meetings throughout the country and will be sharing more at New England Yearly Meeting.
“For over 150 years, RFS has stood as a living witness to what education, rooted in justice and love, can achieve. Founded in faith. Sustained by Resilience. Focused on the Future.”
Shadi Khoury – Oct 18 2022, Israeli military forces raided the home of Shadi Khoury, a 16 year old RFS student, in East Jerusalem, beating him, dragging him barefoot and blindfolded, and detaining him without charge or legal representation. He is not alone. Many young teens are arrested without a charge and held without legal representation. The school issued a statement condemning the violence and calling for Shadi’s release. A court hearing was finally held Thursday, 17 July 2025 with decisions to be made in September. A prayer offered “May the heavens open up for him.” Words. Opening up new visions, images for healing and transformation.
Olives. The fruit that has sustained the Palestinians for thousands of years. Samid a way of thinking and being that has sustained many Palestinians for thousands of years.
Samid. The Third Way. By Raja Shehadeh. A Journal of the West Bank. “Between mute submission and blind hate– I choose the third way. I am Samid.”-
The term “Samid” (or ṣamīd in Arabic) is part of a key Palestinian cultural and political concept called Sumud (or ṣumūd), meaning “steadfastness” or “steadfast perseverance”. It emerged after the 1967 Six-Day War as a form of resistance against occupation using a third way between violent struggle and passive submission.
Jesus teachings. A third way. My understanding of Jesus’ teaching to turn the other cheek, walk the second mile, and to give your cloak to your oppressor gives the same message. A third way of reacting to others and the oppressor.
Word, concepts. Semitic and Chosen. Semitic – relating to or denoting a family of languages that includes Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic and certain ancient languages such as Phoenician and Akkadian, constituting the main subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic family. Relating to the peoples who speak Semitic languages, especially Hebrew and Arabic.
The Chosen people of Hebrew and Christian scriptures was debated at Earlham School of Religion. Were they chosen to be in a particular land or chosen to be a light to all the nations. Biblical scholars have evidence that it could have been either interpretation. Not a simple answer.
Rick, a friend of mine, was a participant with Christian Peacemaker teams who, for many years have been a peaceful presence in conflict areas around the world. They observe and make known injustices incurred. One day Rick and a few others in his CPT team and some Palestinians were walking and observing in a West Bank village when a group of soldiers approached them with machine guns and a menacing attitude. They seemed to be on the verge of intimidating Rick’s CPT group and the Palestinians with them. Tensions rose. Rick’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and listened for a bit. He then held the phone out to one of the younger soldiers and said, ‘Its your mom.’. A palpable shift occurred in the soldiers.
How can we be steadfast and resilient using our imaginations to help shift the world toward more compassion, light and hope?
Falmouth Quarterly Meeting Minutes, July 19, 2025
Falmouth Quarterly Meeting, July 19, 25
Hosted at Wendy Schlotterbeck’s home at 79 Skillings Corner Rd, Auburn, Maine
Present: Fritz Weiss, Portland (clerk), Marian Dalton, Brunswick, Christine Holden, Brunswick, Susan Gilbert, Durham, Sarah Sprogell, Durham, Tom Antonik, Portland, Wendy Schlotterbeck, Durham, Paula Rossvall, Portland, Mimi Marstaller, Durham (recorder), Sue Reilly, Portland, Ann Dodd-Collins, Portland
We opened singing together and sharing songs that we loved; concluding with the old girl scout song “Peace I ask of you O River, Peace peace peace…”
Land acknowledgement
Maine Council of Churches representative. We approved Jessica Eller-Fitze, Ann Dodd-Colins and Petra Doan for a nominating committee with charge to consult with Diane Dicranian, and bring a nomination to the Quarterly October business meeting. The rep will serve a three year term which starts in January 2026. Vassalboro also needs to approve the person at their November meeting.
We approved inviting Leslie Manning to join the committee.
We offered the following advice to the nominating committee:
- Go to the website, read their statements.
- Read the job description for the role.
- Attend a webinar.
- Seek someone who is committed to the responsibility and the likely political actions this role will entail.
- Seek someone who will bring forward the peace testimony.
- Seek someone willing to communicate to Friends outside the council.
- Seek someone who is deeply connected to source, to God, rooted in Quakerism.
- The person needs to be aware that they are representing all Maine Quakers, not just Falmouth Quarter.
- Keep in mind: this is a public position. The Quaker in this role will face arguments or pushback from folks (Quakers & non-quakers) who do not agree with the positions of the council.
- Be clear about the difference between a role on this council and the Maine Committee for Public Policy.
Support for the LGBTQAI+ community –
We read the minutes from Brunswick (attached) and from Durham (attached) and the letter from Portland (attached). Is there something that we would like the quarter to do?
There was clarity that it is important celebrate the trans folks who are a part of all our communities, and that we will work to advance justice and equality for the LGBTQAI+ community. Our relationship is more than solidarity, it is a relationship of community and family.
We considered several options:
- Write a minute (or a bundle) and send it to NEYM’s presiding clerk and ask that YM consider endorsing it or perhaps sending it out to the other Quarters for their engagement. This is a concern which cannot wait; trans and queer communities are experiencing “churches” condemning and threatening their existence.
- Support Pink Havens’ (Me) work creating welcoming villages for trans folks in Maine
- Write a statement that acknowledges the value in each of the statements from Monthly Meetings (Durham, Brunswick, Portland) and quotes the parts that are particularly powerful or held in common.
- We could send the three documents to NEYM to be distributed as advance documents.
What is possible at Sessions this year? We could ask Sessions to distribute our minute/letter of concern to other quarters so that we can have a discussion of it next year at Sessions.
The clerk shared that the YM Presiding Clerk Rebecca has indicated that she would like Quarters to have an opportunity to report what has been going on in the quarter. He suggested that Falmouth Quarter could ask for time in this section to share the three statements. He also shared his personal opinion that faith communities need to speak strongly & loudly if we are to counter the public statements by Christian figures who are threatening great violence to trans folks.
We approved this preamble to the letters when presented to the NEYM:
“We received with appreciation the minutes in support of our queer community and family from Brunswick and Durham and the letter of concern from Portland, and wish to state the view of Falmouth Quarterly Meeting that as Quakers we unite in celebrating our belief in the diversity of God’s creation. We ask all meetings in NEYM to discern the appropriate actions to be taken in this time of urgency. “
We ask our clerk to share this minute and these documents with the presiding clerk and request time at Sessions to discuss this issue.
Friends approved this preamble and the minute requesting the clerks’ role at Sessions.
Closing worship
Respectfully submitted, Mimi Marstaller
Agenda and Materials for July 20, 2025 Business Meeting
The Agenda and Materials for the July 20, 2025 DFM Business Meeting can be found HERE
Agenda
Monthly Meeting for Business, July 20, 2025
Opening
Approval of June 2025 Minutes
Approval for Suspension of Monthly Meeting for Business in August
Ministry & Counsel Report
Peace & Social Concerns: Ingrid: Brief report about the October 4 event (George Lakey film)
Trustees: Sarah: short report. Trustees have recommended that DFM does not sell the woodlot, but would like to hear the thoughts of others.
Additionally, Sarah was contacted by Durham Historical Society about the 2026 anniversary parade. Bring before MM.
Finance has no report.
Falmouth Quarter to Meet July 19, 2025
[UPDATED] Falmouth Quarter will gather at Wendy Schlotterbeck’s home at 79 Skillings Corner Rd, Auburn, Maine on July 19th.
Our summer quarterly meeting is a time for community, for visiting, for conversation, for play and for catching up. Wendy’s house has a big backyard, big deck, fire pit, and a frog pond. It is ¼ mile from Lake Auburn with hiking trails and kayak possibilities for before or after.
Our plan for this meeting is:
· 10:00 Arrival – singing, greeting,
· 10:30 Worship and Meeting for business with two agenda items:
o Three meetings in the quarter have approved minutes supporting and celebrating transpeople. Does the quarter endorse any further action?
o We need to name a representative to the Maine Council of Churches by October – will someone join the naming committee to bring a name forward in October.
· 12:00 Lunch – food will be prepared, please augment with potluck offerings.
· 12:45 gather for singing and for a facilitated time for sharing stories
· 2:00 closing worship
· Yard games – badminton, croquet, (can anyone contribute corn hole?)SAVE THE DATE:
Woman’s Society Meeting Minutes, June 16, 2025
Durham Friends Woman’s Society Meeting Minutes 6.16.2025
Hybrid Meeting held at Nancy Marstaller’s home in Harpswell
Present: Dorothy Curtis, President, Nancy Marstaller, Treasurer, Kim Bolshaw on Zoom: Susan Gilbert, Secretary, Dorothy Hinshaw, Joyce Gibson, Qat Langlier
Cards: For Friends.
Program and Devotions: We took turns reading from Blueprints, “Weeping May Endure For A Night, But Joy Comes In The Morning”, (Psalm 30:5) By Dr. Rubai Mandela. Her article discussed how our lives can be joyous, also painful, and her deep devotion to scripture, prayer and trust in God. Though the loss of her beloved nephew caused her to grieve, her faith gave her a path forward. We discussed how we have grown through loss and distress, learning to better handle difficult and volatile situations.
Treasurer’s Report: Nancy told us that the plant sale earned $1060. One half will be given to the Good Shepherd Food bank, the rest split between USFWI fund for education of girls in Kenya and the Ramallah Friends School in Palestine.
Minutes: Susan read the 5.19.2025 minutes.
Tedford Meal: Kim’s TeamA provided Hot dogs and beans, potato salad, watermelon, clementines, apples and bananas. The July 7 meal will be handled by Team B, Nancy Marstaller contact person. 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.
Next Meeting: September 15 at 7 PM. We will hold our annual Woman’s Society Potluck Dinner at the Meeting House on August 18 at 6 PM. There will be no meeting in July.
Other Business: Kim relayed that our Cuba Yearly Meeting Friend, Kirénia Criado Pérez will be visiting Maine this summer. There will be a picnic welcoming her on Portland’s Eastern Prom on Thursday, July 24 and a gathering at our Meeting House on Friday, July 25. Kirén will lead the Bible half hour at Sessions in August.
Dorothy closed the meeting with this poem by Florence Earle Coates:
Who walks the world with soul awake
Finds beauty everywhere;
Though labor be his portion,
Though sorrow be his share,
He looks beyond obscuring clouds,
Sure that the light is there!
Respectfully Submitted, Susan Gilbert
July 2025 Durham Friends Meeting Newsletter
Kirenia Criado Pérez Potluck, July 25, 5 to 8pm
Kirenia Criado Pérez, a member of Cuba Yearly Meeting, pastor at Havana Friends Church, and professor of New Testament and Greek at Matanzas Theological Seminary Is coming to New England to share her message in the daily Bible Half Hour at NEYM’s annual sessions. Before sessions, she will be traveling among Friends in New England and will be in Portland and Durham on Thursday July 24 and Friday July 25.
At Durham Friends Meeting, there will be a potluck supper and conversation with her on Friday, July 25, 5 to 8pm.
Her schedule for those two days is below, from Fritz Weiss. All in Falmouth Quarter are encouraged to participate in some of the following. Participation is particularly encouraged among those who might like to travel to Cuba on one of the next delegations to come and learn more about our relationship and the current situation in Cuba.
Thursday July 24
Kirenia will arrive from Dover Meeting in the morning.
Est: 11:00 Visit to Friend’s School with members of the Sister Meeting Committee – I hope that Sara Primo and Brooke Benson with Doug McGown (board member and fluent Spanish speaker) will present the school to Kirenia & maybe do some initial brainstorming about how the school might be able to support the Puente relationship. Sue and Sydney will come
Est 12:30 Lunch at Portland Pie in Falmouth, with as many of the sister meeting committee members as can make it. Friends who have travelled to Cuba are invited to join us – please RSVP
2:00 Program / Forum at PFM – There will be an invitation to this specific event later with more details. Please be aware that we will not be talking about the politics in our country or in Cuba, doing so would violate Kirenia’s visa and put her at risk.
· Short history of Puente (Fritz)
· Kirenia sharing with translation (Sue and Bart)
· Q&A
· Worship with Songs
· Drinks and snack
Est 4:00 wrap up
Break
5:00 – 7:00 + Community celebration, potluck picnic on the Eastern Prom by the payground (Rain site PFM meetinghouse) – A specific invite to all will be sent out separately – The hope is that all of our community is represented.
Friday July 25th
AM –Kirenia will visit Friends Camp,
Mimi and Maggie (recent travelers) will show her around, introduce her.
Hopefully Anna B (camp director) will be able to consider possible ways the camp can be involved in the Puente relationship.
Lunch at Camp
PM Fritz to drive Kirenia to Durham – 5-8 Durham potluck and conversation
Home to Fritz & Paula’s
Saturday July 26th
There is an opportunity for breakfast before we drive Kirenia to Hanover NH. If you are interested in this please let me know.
“Embracing the Prophetic Imagination,” by Doug Bennett
by Doug Bennett, In remembrance and appreciation of Walter Brueggemann (1933-2025)
Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, July 6, 2025
Today I want to talk about Walter Brueggemann, a theologian, and not a Quaker. He was born in 1933, ordained in the United Church of Christ, and spent his long life teaching and writing, first at one seminary then another. He died just about a month ago. That’s a large part of why he’s on my mind.
Or maybe it’s better to say I want to speak of an idea of his that is important to me, the idea of The ‘prophetic Imagination’. That is the title of Walter Brueggemann’s most famous book. The Prophetic Imagination; it was first published in 1978.
For me, Brueggemann is important because we are at a particularly difficult time in the United States today. Brueggemann helps me see how best to understand and to act in the face of such difficult times. It is all too easy to get swept up into the politics of the moment. There’s a great deal that seems wrong: with democracy, with the rule of law, with honesty and integrity, with Russia and Iran, with immigration, with climate change, with medical care, with taxes. Whichever side you are on in these disputes, there is a huge political agenda in front of us. It can seem like our pursuing that political agenda is entirely consistent with our religious beliefs. The two seem to merge. Brueggemann would have us see things differently.
What does Brueggemann mean by this : The Prophetic Imagination? He means a kind of understanding that is an inheritance of ours, through the Bible, from a faith community of many, many generations, and leaders and prophets. It’s a way of knowing what we are called to do. Brueggemann thinks this perspective, this prophetic imagination, is an essential richness of the Bible. Our embracing the prophetic imagination is the door to fully joining with that faith community. And it’s more than understanding: going through that door requires us to act.
Brueggemann’s starting point is the assertion that the faith community of today has lost its way as it so often has done before. He thinks we have lost our way by embracing the culture around us. When he wrote the book in 1978, he described that culture around us as “consumerist.” I think that word is familiar enough among us that I don’t need to try to explain it. Still, I might use different words to describe the culture around us today: militaristic, individualistic, pleasure-centered, wasteful, short-sighted – these words also come to mind. You might substitute even others. (Brueggeman sometimes spoke of the dominant culture as a ‘royal consciousness’.) We’re lost by becoming lost in that culture.
Brueggemann would have us act in response to all that is wrong around us. The key is to stop embracing that culture around us. In being Christians, good Christians, or just good people, he would have us stand outside that culture. He would have us take our bearings not from being part of that culture but from some better, some healthier understanding.
“The task of prophetic ministry,” he says, “is to nurture, nourish and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.” (p3) Our bearings come from an understanding alternative to the dominant culture.
He argues that stepping outside that dominant culture is more important than any particular cause – more important than working for fair elections or justice for migrants or mitigation of climate change. So he adds:
“Thus I suggest that prophetic ministry has to do not primarily with addressing specific public crises but with addressing, in season and out of season, the dominant crisis that is enduring and resilient, of having our alternative vocation co-opted and domesticated” (emphasis added).
It is the “alternative vocation” that is important to him. That is prophetic ministry, and it requires a prophetic imagination. An alternative vocation asks us to take a stance outside the dominant culture.
Brueggemann would have us find a life stance from the Bible – but from the Bible seen in a certain way. Brueggemann is important to me because he helped me see how to read and use the Bible. For me, it’s not history, it’s not timeless rules for conduct, it’s not prediction of the future. It’s a reflection on the challenges of human beings trying to understand God and of what being faithful looks like.
Brueggemann would have us find our bearings from the ways of seeing and acting that were developed by the Old Testament prophets, from Moses forward. The New York Times obituary of Brueggemann says , quoting Conrad Kanagy, his biographer, that “a passage in the Book of Jeremiah had a particular impact on Dr. Brueggemann because it connected knowledge of God directly to service for the poor.” God says: ‘To care for the poor and the needy, is this not to know me?’ according to Jeremiah. Understanding these words “was a crystallizing moment for [Brueggemann], as he recognized that the text did not say, if one has knowledge of God, then they will care for the poor,” Dr. Kanagy wrote. “Or that if one cares for the poor, they will get knowledge of God. Rather, it simply declares that ‘the care of the poor is knowledge of God.’” [Conrad Kanagy, Walter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination: A Theological Biography (2023)]
In The Prophetic Imagination, Brueggemann pays particular attention to Moses, but also prophets like Jeremiah and Samuel and Micah — and yes, Jesus, too. Brueggemann knows Jesus is more than a prophet, but he thinks we will see Jesus more clearly if we place him in this tradition – the tradition of the prophetic imagination.
So what does this way of seeing and acting look like?
Well what does Moses see and do? He sees his people, the Jews, in captivity in Egypt. They know this captivity isn’t right, but Moses sees them becoming resigned to this captivity. Egypt is becoming their home. They are settling in, even coming to worship Egyptian Gods and falling away from YHWH.
So, Brueggemann reminds us, Moses becomes a critic of this captive life. He is anguished more than he is angry and what he sees his people doing. He is troubled but also compassionate. And he becomes more than just a critic. He imagines something better for the Israelites: escape, migration, even a Promised Land. He leads his people out of Egypt. It turns out to be a long, hard journey, but over years he keeps alive a better hope. He acts to bring about that better future. Along the way, he helps his people see God more clearly, the real God, not the gods worshipped by the Egyptians. He helps them understand being faithful.
Skipping over other prophets, we can see Jesus in just the same way, and Brueggemann thinks we should. He sees Jesus as a critic of the culture around him. And this Jesus imagines something better. That something better takes even the disciples by surprise in the end, however. Jesus seems to them like a compelling reformer, perhaps even someone who will lead a movement against the Romans. Instead Jesus imagines and leads us toward something much more audacious: not just a victory over the rule-bound Pharisees and Sadducees, not just a victory over the Romans, but a victory over death itself. Along the way, Jesus helps people everywhere see God more clearly. And see what faithfulness looks like.
Criticism and an imagined, better future. Those are the two parts of the prophetic imagination. They have to go together. Criticism without that imagined better future isn’t of much use. An imagined better future not grounded in accurate criticism also isn’t of much use.
We need both. That’s seems simple, doable. But Brueggemann tells us something else. In the culture that surrounds us, there are always critics and always people, organizations, movements, parties engaging in criticism and pointing to a way forward. If we simply follow these parties and organizations and movements, we may find ourselves even more deeply enmeshed in the unhealthy dominant culture. We need to follow the right prophets, the real prophets, the prophets that are attuned to God. We need to be careful not to follow the world’s, the culture’s self-described prophets. We need to grow in our understanding of God and become yet more faithful to where God would lead us.
In troubled times we will often encounter movements that share this or that piece of our criticism. They may object to this war. They may want to reform this policy or that practice. Immigration or racial justice or gun control or climate change or gender identity or hunger may be their causes, just like these issues are part of our cause – our criticism and our imagined future. Even so, the road of these social and political movements is not likely to be our road. Those movements, those parties are not our prophets. We need to follow prophets who honestly, faithfully and courageously listen to God. We need to follow prophets who find their leadings in what God is saying to them. Both Moses and Jesus (and the other prophets) seek justice, but they act with compassion and they support those on the margins.
Brueggemann was not a Quaker, and I don’t mean to present him as a closet Quaker. But his conception of a prophetic imagination is very much aligned with what I see Quakers doing when we are at our very best. His conception of a prophetic imagination is very much aligned with what I see Durham Friends Meeting doing when we are at our very best.
“Critical” and “energizing” are key terms for prophetic ministry. They need to go hand in hand.
Any given day, any given week, members of this Meeting are engaged in criticism and engaged, too, in energizing work towards a better imagined future. Immigration, racial justice, gun control, climate change, gender identity, hunger: these may be what one or another of us is working on. In this work, we may find allies for this action or that protest in this or that organization or this or that political party.
Nevertheless, we are called to see things more deeply, and to work towards a transformation that is yet more fundamental. At our best, we are not just interested in social and political change. Just aiming for social and political change risks staying within the framework of the dominant culture. As Bruggemann says,
“Social radicalism has been like a cut flower without nourishment, without any sanctions deeper than human courage and good intentions” (p8).
Courage and good intentions are not enough. We are called to go deeper and farther. Our taproot, our nourishment, lies in faithfulness.
I’ll just end with this passage from Brueggemann:
We need to ask not whether it is realistic or practical or viable but whether it is imaginable. We need to ask if our consciousness and imagination have been so assaulted and co-opted by the royal consciousness that we have been robbed of the courage or power to think an alternative thought … the imagination must come before the implementation.”
New England Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions, August 1-6, 2025
Register Now! Registration closes July 14.
Find all the information about Sessions and how to register at https://neym.org/sessions
Find all the information about Sessions and how to register at https://neym.org/sessions
“New Life, New Consciousness — Peace,” by Tess Hartford
Message given by Tess Hartford at Durham Friends Meeting, June 1, 2025
Good Morning, Beloved Friends,
This morning I would like to submit that this message will ultimately only scratch the surface. While praying over, studying, reflecting and listening over the last several weeks, what comes forward is a need that I have — a need to express something that has persisted with me for many, many years.
So, I am taking a leap of faith in order to bare my soul before you, to allow you to see and hear a glimmer of what is a continual movement towards a hopeful new awareness.
I have spoken in your company over the years about my spiritual formation, the path I have walked for as long as I can remember. This journeying, my journey, has taken many and varied turns and forks in the road. I have shared with you my love and gratitude for being born and raised the the Catholic tradition. I have spoken from this place about how it has been for me growing from girlhood to maidenhood to motherhood, and some of the hurdles, challenges and blessings I have experienced.
Before I move on from there, I want to acknowledge the deep gratitude I hold for all of you and the fact that you would even sit here this morning and graciously listen as I share about my spiritual walk. Aho! I bless you.
As I have chosen to embody as woman in this lifetime, I have been keenly aware of and sensitive to many of the way in which femaleness is regarded and treated in this physical world. I am not going to go down the treacherous way of naming the abuse, the neglect, the shaming or the atrocities that women down through the ages have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of of the systems of domination and contempt that have been in power for far too long. We all know them. As well, we all know that everyone, boys and girls, women and men, all suffer because of these worldly power structures — structures that are not truly grounded in the Divine, even though there may be claims that these atrocities are divinely ordained.
At the tender age of 70, I am keenly aware of the lies and deceptions on so many fronts that promote a culture of death and degradation of all life on our beautiful Mother Gaia! Every direction in which I turn and look, I see and witness the wreckage and deception that have led us all to the precipice on which we now find ourselves.
As I prefaced my message earlier, I am only scratching the surface. Sharing some thoughts:
In the book Active Hope, by Joanne Macy and Chris Johnstone, there are ideas, exercises and group processes introducing the idea of our innate potential for resilience and positive actions to take towards healing — the healing of our individual wounds, and our collective wounds. As one small community alone, we are an amazing forcefield of goodness and justice and compassion**. So I want to bring this message around to what I first desired to bring. Over the many weeks I have been listening and searching for the words, the meaning, some glimmer of the heart of the Divine, beating among us.
- First, there is new life springing forth amidst the collapse all around us. Look for it!
- Second, each of us is responsible for birthing a new consciousness, for examining the beliefs that we embody that are contrary to the divine inheritance for which we have been fashioned. Think on it.
- And thirdly, when we do honor, truly honor the Creator’s life within each of our hearts, we will know peace. The peace that Jesus named when in his human expression of earthly life — he called it the peace that surpasses all understanding.
Friends, I thank you again for your respect and your giving of your attention to the thoughts that I have been wanting to share.
Finally, I wish to share a blessing that I received just last week — a blessing that came through a young indigenous woman through Instagram, of all places. It came through a video of her in several beautiful natural settings. It begins with her narrating while squatting along a stream bed, her hand dipping into the flowing water with these words:
My devotion knows no church, but it moves through everything I touch.
I don’t follow a path because I am the path, walked moment by moment through blood and breath and bone.
I’ve never lacked faith. What I lack is tolerance for cages built in God’s name, for the need to call it God at all, because the moment we name it, we make it Other.
And from that split, the first lie is born.
Status … salvation sold like product. I’ve seen it.
When mystery is made into a brand; when individualism wears a robe and calls itself spiritual.
So, I do not bow to those who weaponize devotion.
I do not serve Gods built on shame or dogmas that fear the wildness of my naked body.
I do not believe peace is real if it cannot look injustice in the eye.
How do you speak of oneness while turning from the wounds of the world?
I want no place in such a temple.
I do chant. I breathe. I offer. I bow. But not to be saved, but to be pure.
I do it because I am already holy. I am already whole, already here.
This body is my consort, his breath is my prayer, this life is the feast I share with the beloved.
I came to incarnate, to feel it all, to kiss the ground with every step,
to love what bleeds and breaks and so becomes.
I’m not here to follow a path.
I am here to offer myself entirely to the path of life itself again and again.
I return to the spiral, unlearning the roles, burning the names and continuously rebirthing myself.
My devotion knows no church, but it moves through everything I touch.
Some Important Dates in the Life of Durham Meeting
Author unknown; written after 1990.
Durham Friends Meeting Minutes, June 15, 2025
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends met for the conduct of business on Sunday, June 15, 2025, with eleven people in attendance at the Meetinghouse and one by Zoom.
1. Meeting Opening
Clerk, Sarah Sprogell, opened the meeting by reading a letter received by the Meeting from FWCC in response to a donation given on May 1, 2025. The letter is attached.
2. Approval of Minutes of May 2025
Meeting approved the May minutes.
3. Ministry and Counsel Report — René Coté
Please refer to the report.
Meeting has not yet received an approval from Naramissic Meeting for the transfer of Margaret De Rivera’s membership to Durham Monthly Meeting. Clerk will follow-up with Naramissic.
Shelley Randall’s letter asking for Meeting membership was read aloud. (Please see letter that is attached).
Meeting approved a clearness Committee for Shelley that will include Martha Hinshaw Sheldon, Wendy Schlotterbeck, andRene Cote.
A memorial minute for Diana White is in process and will be a joint effort between Portland and Durham monthly meetings, with final approval by Durham Meeting.
Rene Cote will serve as Meeting Clerk in July.
Meeting heartily approved Joyce Gibson to serve on Ministry and Counsel.
4. Peace and Social Concerns — Ingrid Chalufour
Please see report.
The Wabanaki studies project with Kate Furbish teachers in Brunswick was reviewed. This project grew out of the Social Justice Book project. The Brunswick School Board’s Curriculum Committee will be hearing about the success of the initiative at the next School Board meeting.
Peace and Social Concerns has taken up a project to look at strengthening Wabanaki studies K-12 in Topsham, Brunswick and Bath. The plan is to initiate this project with a one-day event some time this coming fall/winter.
The Committee requests that the Meeting approve showing the movie Citizen George here at the Meetinghouse as part of our 250th birthday celebration. Help with marketing and staging the event will be needed. It was suggested that the event take place the Saturday before World Quaker Day on October 5. Because George Lakey loves to sing, it was suggested that opening the evening with singing before the film would be appropriate.
Meeting approved showing the movie as an event here at the Meetinghouse.
Peace and Social Concerns is always looking for members to join the committee. It was suggested that this request be repeated at every meeting, and note that people can join the work of the committee on an ad hoc basis — given areas of interest and expertise.
Meeting expressed its deep appreciation for the amount of work that P&SC has done.
5. Seasoned Item: Donation to Newton, NJ Quaker Meetinghouse — Sarah Sprogell.
Meeting approved the request to donate $250 to Newton Meeting.
Doug Bennett will draft an accompanying letter.
6. Update on Use of Building Request by Brunswick Meeting — Sarah Sprogell
Brunswick Meeting is continuing to look more broadly into places to hold their meeting for worship. We will continue to be flexible and open to the possibility of having Brunswick meeting here.
7. Update from Quarterly Meeting — Sarah Sprogell
Please note the following:
- Meeting for listening, June 21— via Zoom or in-person at Portland Meeting
- Kirenia Criado Perez, Pastor of Havana Meeting, will be visiting this summer from Cuba Yearly Meeting and holding workshops at Yearly Meeting sessions. She will be in Maine in July 24 and 25, and would like to visit both Portland and Durham meetings. The Sister’s Meeting Committee is requesting use of the Meetinghouse for July 25, as well as assistance in hosting a simple event here for Kirenia. Someone from ???????? [1] will in contact with our congressional delegation to ensure that Kirenia’s travel will not be encumbered or restricted as a result of new Federal restrictions. Note that for a 7/25 event both Kristna Evans and Shelly Randall speak Spanish, as well as Margaret De Rivera, and may be available to help with translation.
Meeting approved use of the Meetinghouse for the event on July 25.
- Review of Minute of Solidarity with LBGTQIA Community from Brunswick Meeting, and DMMF proposed Minute, to Falmouth Quarter.
The Brunswick minute was read aloud. Concern was raised about the document focusing largely on political issues without reference to the divine and our testimonies. It was noted that it seems important not to focus on a single issue, but on the broader range of important issues facing us at this time.
The central question was are we in unity with Brunswick and the issue this statement addresses. The answer is, broadly, “yes”, and it prompted us to craft our own statement, growing out of the Meeting’s deep commitments to the testimonies.
Durham Friends Meeting approved a Minute on Sexual Orientation in February 2004. A proposed draft minute from Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends, building on the 2004 minute, was read. It is important that we not only protect but truly celebrate diversity in humanity and the gifts that this diversity brings to all of us. (A copy of the draft minute and the 2004 minute are attached.)
It was noted that the use of the word ‘unity’ over ‘solidarity’ better reflected the sense of the Meeting. Sharing both statements at Falmouth Quarterly meeting will generate good discussion.
Meeting agreed that we are in broad unity of concern with the Brunswick minute.
Meeting approved the Durham MMF statement as an accompaniment to the Brunswick minute.
Meeting approved Wendy Schlotterbeck and Sarah Sprogell as representatives to Falmouth Quarter at the July 19 meeting where these minutes will be discussed.
8. Other business
Meeting minuted its deep appreciation to Sarah for her service as clerk
Meeting minuted its deep appreciation to the Recording Clerk.
9. Closing
Respectfully submitted, Ellen Bennett, Recording Clerk
“Father’s Day,” by Shelley Randall
Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, June 15, 2025
I haven’t paid much attention to Father’s Day in recent years.
For a number of reasons:
One of which is that my father of almost 50 years – my Step-father, James Cannon, passed away almost 12 years ago and after that I focused on my Mother and my relationship with her and her care. It was really important to me that I feel complete when she died because my biological father, Donn Randall, had been taken from me and us so suddenly, without warning when I was eight years old. I vowed I would be with my mother during her decline, however that looked.
And, notably, I blamed my biological father for how he left us so suddenly, abandoning me, I felt.
You see he and I had experienced together a very random and very tragic event involving the death of a toddler. And my father could not bear it, this loss of life that he had caused through no fault of his own.
I need to repeat that through no fault of his own. And I was the witness. I was there with him when it happened, this random tragic act.
He could not endure the suffering caused by the guilt and shame that he carried as a result. So, about a year and a half later, one cold and rainy September night, after a day of drinking, he got into his car, the same car that had killed the child, drove off the road and through a guardrail one rainy September night.
He stayed in a coma for 18 months, enough time for my resourceful mother to find another provider for her and us 4 kids, my step-father, who stepped up to the plate. My step-father’s hubris to take on the care of 4 rambunctious kids under the age of 15, borne of love for my mother and of his youth, I suppose. They were only 40 years old.
And my father, I imagine, seeing us well taken care of at that time passed on, 2 days after my mother and step-father’s wedding.
But my point is that I was really angry and remained really angry at my father for abandoning me, leaving me holding the bag, so to speak, or the baggage of this random tragic accident that no one else in my family experienced. I felt he had taken the easy way out, you see. And I was left to navigate my growing up on my own. My mother was caught up in her new life with her new husband. And my crazy older brothers were still reeling from the abrupt departure of our father.
So I dismissed my father. For decades I never sought his comfort or his counsel from the other realms.
Though he did come to me one night when I was in despair in my mid-twenties. Heart broken and confused by being spurned by a man I loved, my father came to me without words. I suppose to let me know that he was there, watching over me. And I took great comfort in that knowing for the moment, that I was loved… even by a ghost…
Over the decades my step-father was with us, I grew quite fond of him. He was quiet and unassuming, a curious man with a wonderful sense of humor and sense of integrity. And we shared many tender moments together. I remember in my early thirties, on long winter nights, my mother, my step-father and I would sit by the fire having dinner together. And I basked in the warmth of a family structure I had always longed for, as an only child.
And then circumstances changed, my step-father got sick, he and my mother couldn’t manage their old house so they moved into assisted living. A death knell for Step-father, who loved his space and quiet time and a social boon for my mother who always loved a good party.
And circumstances for me changed as well. After a few major losses in my life, a marriage, and a career, I began to look to strengthen my Spiritual life and connections through various means.
So, I signed up for a trip to visit the realms of Gods and Goddesses of ancient Egypt with a group of spiritually-minded travelers.
And In November of 2023, days before my 65th, we found ourselves in the Great Pyramid of Giza at night. We climbed up the ramp through the narrow, dimly lit passageway to the King’s chamber which contains a granite sarcophagus, the tomb of the Pharaoh Khufu. It was there that my father made his loving presence known to me along with my mother. The two of them together in Spirit. It was then that I knew that I needed to forgive my father. It was there that I saw I needed to begin to shed the armor I had encased myself with – an attempt to protect myself from further wounding.
Suddenly, I acknowledged in the core of my being, the incredible burden of shame and guilt my father must have carried after the incident. All eyes of the small, tightknit community in the mid 1960’s on him. Afterall, he had killed a little boy, a son, a brother and grandson, while his three sons at home were healthy and vibrant. I opened my heart and found the compassion that I had locked away from him for 55 years.
A great weight lifted from my body in that pyramid in November of 2023, and I felt a freedom and lightness, opening up to a love that had always been there but that I had never allowed.
I returned home and tried to cultivate that love for him through the few memories I had of our shared times together, short lived as they were. One in particular stands out. My father would wake me up early on a Saturday morning and the two of us would ride our bikes the mile and a half to the beach together. Just the two of us. Away from the rough and tumble of my three older brothers and the critical eye of my mother. Basking in the stillness of the early morning sun glinting off the ocean, the long beach stretching out in front of us. It was thrilling to be there with my father, just the two of us.
After my experience in Egypt I felt open to my father and my mother holding me in Spirit, supporting and encouraging me. And I felt like I had permission to delve deeply into the nooks and crannies of my early life, replete with grief, confusion, despair and anger. So I began writing it all down, the good, the bad and the ugly. I relied on God, my relationship with Mary Magdalene and my Spiritual community to contain me during this deep dive.
And then, this winter, the winter of 2025, right in the middle of my love affair with Mary Magdalene, my feeling of being settled in my faith with God, Jesus showed up to me. He showed up in a powerful, full-bodied way, the way I find myself doubled over, on the floor, my body convulsing with sobs. Looking back at my journal, I find that he appeared on the Spring Equinox. Fitting. A new relationship, an awakening to love.
I had not been terribly interested in Jesus up until then, he, having been co-opted by many nefarious movements, systems and individuals. I could leave well enough alone, I thought, content with Mary Magdalene, the Archangels who I called upon often and the sweet symbolism of the various animals and birds I encountered daily. And God. I’d known God for a very long time.
So when Jesus came knocking I wasn’t prepared. But I was curious enough to ask, “Why are you here?”
The answer gave me pause. “I am here to show you gentle and kind masculine energy”, came the simple yet profound reply.
Yeah…I guessed I could use that. I guessed, in fact, I needed that.
During my travels in Mexico, I used to go into the churches and cathedrals in the towns I stopped in. These places of worship were the focal points; the plaza and the markets always in close proximity to the holy structures. I loved the art, the frescoes, the guilded and ornately carved wood framing the ceiling paintings and the statues of the Saints and animals. All these works of art exuded devotion to Jesus and God and Mexico’s beloved Virgen de Guadalupe. Even the simplest churches and chapels radiated loving care.
I used to go into the churches and sit in a pew to prayer and give thanks for the opportunity I had to experience this devotion to God, to Jesus and to the Saints. Most often I would begin to cry, overcome. And I never knew why. I still don’t know really. But I suspect, now, that Jesus was in my heart and I just wasn’t ready to acknowledge him. I just wasn’t ready.
And when I came back to Mid-coast Maine, I went to a Catholic church, hoping that I could replicate those sweet and tender moments, without success. The churches always felt barren and staid.
So when Jesus showed up in my life on the Spring Equinox in 2025, I knew how portentous it was. And I wanted to make sure I marked it so that I would not dismiss this experience and pretend Jesus was not with me. So that I would be held accountable and begin to consciously cultivate a relationship with him.
For my chaplaincy program, I had to present a Sacred Art project to my class. I, of course, chose Mary Magdalene but I also included a symbol of Jesus and depicted a cross on my shoulder. A bold statement that was difficult for me, given the current cultural backdrop – horrible and cruel actions taken by government and religious officials and individuals in the name of “Christianity”.
So here is Jesus, now ensconced in my heart, that is where I feel him, left side of my chest, tender and soft. Not like Mary Magdalene who, I see in front of me, beckoning me forward towards adventure and the next project. Or God who is more Universal, more ineffable and overarching to me and always “there”.
I’m not quite sure what to do with Jesus and I don’t pretend to know him well at this point but I am working on building a relationship with him, to learn about masculine gentleness and kindness as he suggested. But again, given our cultural context, I’m often insecure and filled with doubt. And I’m not sure I can always trust the stories in the New Testament.
So I am starting with the premise that Jesus is the embodiment of Love. That regardless of what others say and what is written in the New Testament, I feel in my heart that Jesus is love. So from there, I try to make conscious decisions to include him in my prayers for myself and for others. His name does not roll off my tongue as easily but I am trying.
And I think now that I would not have come to be introduced to Jesus had I not allowed my father back into my life. Had I not engaged in the process of putting myself in his shoes and having compassion for this 38 year old father of four whose mundane actions had snuffed out the life of a two year old. That was my initiation to Jesus’s path, compassion and forgiveness.
And When I think about Jesus’ love I am reminded of my father’s and my Step-father’s kindness and gentleness towards me.
This is a new path for me, to be open to love from Jesus, to ask for love from Jesus and to see Jesus’ love shining down on others. And it is a practice that I will continue because each time I open my heart to Jesus’ love, I feel it pulse and expand and I feel like crying, just like when I was sitting in those pews in the cathedrals in Mexico with the devoted widows, praying for peace and forgiveness.
So today, in honor of “Father’s Day”, I honor those values of my father, my step-father and of Jesus; Love, compassion, gentleness, humor and integrity.
And now, more than ever, we need to uphold that masculine energy that Jesus so embodied.
Happy Father’s Day everyone. May it be filled with Love, compassion and forgiveness.
“I Am About to do a New Thing,” by ALOK
| ALOK (they/them) is a poet, comedian, public speaker, and actor. ALOK’s literary works “Beyond the Gender Binary,” “Femme in Public,” and “Your Wound, My Garden,” have garnered global recognition. Middle Church recently invited ALOK to deliver a sermon in honor of Trans Day of Visibility. It includes a poem called “I’m About to Do a New Thing.” You can watch it here. |
Middle Church (the Middle Collegiate Church) is a United Church of Christ church located at 112 Second Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. This is how they describe their vision:
Our Vision
Middle Church is a multicultural, multiethnic, intergenerational movement of Spirit and justice, powered by fierce, revolutionary Love, with room for all. Following in the Way of Jesus’ radical love, and inspired by the prophets, Middle Church is called by God to do a bold new thing on the earth. We aim to heal souls and the world by dismantling racist, classist, sexist, ethnocentrist, ableist, cisheterosexist and other systems of oppression.
Because our God is still speaking in many languages, we work in interreligious partnerships to uproot injustice, eradicate poverty, care for the brokenhearted, nurture our planet, and build the Reign of God on earth. This activism is fueled by our faith; our faith is expressed in art; our art is an active prayer connecting us with the Holy Spirit. Middle Church affirms the transformative power of moral imagination, reclaiming and reframing Christianity inside our walls, on the street, and in virtual spaces around the globe.
Agenda and Materials for June 15, 2025 Business Meeting
AGENDA, Monthly Meeting for Business – June 15, 2025, noon
Opening
Approval of May 2025 Business Meeting Minutes
M&C Report – Renee or Tess
P&SC Report – Ingrid
Seasoned Item – Donation to Newton NJ Quaker Meetinghouse – Clerk
Update on Brunswick Meeting’s request to use the building – Clerk
Correspondence from Quarterly Meeting – Clerk
- Meeting for Listening June 21, Zoom participation at Portland Friends Meeting 9-3
- Kirenia Criado Perez, visiting from Cuba Yearly Meeting
- Review of Minute of Solidarity with LBGTQIA Community from Brunswick Meeting, and DMMF proposed Minute.
Other – as needed
Close
Maker Cafe at Durham Friends, June 19, 2025, 5:30-8:00 pm
Thursday, June 19, 2025
5:30 Learn Ukulele for Absolute Beginners
6:30 Live Music with Meg McIntyre and Carlos Cuellar
5:30-6:30 Learn Ukulele for Absolute Beginners with Craig Freshley
- If you are ukulele-curious but don’t know the first thing about how to play one, this session is for you.
- We’re going to learn three chords and three songs in one hour: a folk song, a kid song, and a rock song.
- No experience necessary.
- No theory. No scales. We’re gonna jump and strum some tunes!
- Advance sign up required.
- Email Craig@Freshley.com to reserve your spot (note if you will bring a ukulele or if you would would like us to loan you one), or with any questions.
6:30-8:00 Maker Cafe with Live Music
Free & Open to the Public.
No advance sign-up required. Just show up.
Dinner and drinks available for donation.
Bring a project to work on if you like.
We’re the place where it’s cool to make stuff while you hang out.
Meagan McIntyre, violin, has appeared in concert at notable venues such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Jordan Hall in Boston and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Known for her versatility, she enjoys exploring a wide variety of musical styles. In addition to her regular participation in the new music concert series Vigourous Tenderness and regenerative arts company Hogfish, she has performed on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show with pop singer Halsey and Indie rock musician St. Vincent. Meagan is a member of the innovative and genre-crossing Amarantos String Quartet who bring their collaborative chamber music to diverse audiences and venues. She served on the faculty at both the Institute of Art Education in Porto Alegre, Brazil and the Portland Conservatory of Music. She studied at New England Conservatory and Indiana University at Bloomington. Meagan plays a Pierre Louvet, 1752 violin crafted in Paris.
Carlos Cuellar had been performing and composing music for 40 years. He studied music at Antioch College in Ohio and has taken workshops with various jazz artists. His group The Franklin Street Arterial opened for Gary Burton Quartet at City Hall and appeared on various radio and television shows. Their album continues to sell in the US and Europe. He plays in folk & jazz groups and also performs his original music. Carlos has also recorded music for television commercials and corporate and non-profit videos.
We’re taking July and August off – see you in September!
June 2025 Durham Friends Meeting Newsletter
NEYM Event, June 21: Meeting for Listening – The Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings
[Updated 25.6.10] NOTE from Fritz Weiss, Falmouth Quarter co-clerk: We will be hosting a “local cluster” at Portland Friends Meeting for the Meeting for Healing event described below. We will be zooming into the event together starting at 9:00AM. Please let Heather Denkmire know if you plan to attend for all or part of this event by replying to this email.
This event does coincide with Portland Pride – the parade will be starting around 1:00, so Friends may choose to come to the local cluster for the morning. For Falmouth Quarter. Love Fritz
Meeting for Listening: The Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings, A full day, hybrid event, Saturday, June 21, 2025
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 tuggings and pullings of those bonds keep opening our hearts. (Parker Palmer, A Place Called Community, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #212, 1977)
Join us for a gathering of Friends in New England caring for the nurture of spiritual life and ministry in our local faith communities. Together, we will:
· Dream together
· Identify the resources meetings have to offer each other
· Explore themes in State of Society reports and trends from statistical reports
· Discover what’s possible now
Our Yearly Meeting’s primary purpose is to support monthly meetings, to be a vehicle to share resources and experiences among and between us in order to better understand our life in the Spirit and to be able to listen more closely to the Teacher. With that in mind, we began holding an annual “Meeting for Listening.”
Last year, there was a strong sense of deep sharing, of drawing together. We left the day having heard about our unique challenges. We also shared the many places we face common obstacles and celebrate common joys.
Our next “Meeting for Listening” is scheduled for June 21, 2025. It will be a full-day, hybrid gathering where Friends can gather in different ways: on site at Hartford (CT) Meeting, in self-organized local clusters connected via Zoom, or individually via Zoom.
We gather to share with each other—to reflect on where Spirit is alive in our local worshiping communities. These insights and reflections will both inform programmatic planning in the year ahead and our annual Funding Priorities.
This year, we will focus on how meetings across our region are leaning into community. Participants will have the opportunity to explore three themes related to this leaning in:
· Renewal, including welcoming and integrating new attenders and new perspectives, religious education, and visibility in our local communities
· Loss, including smaller numbers, leadership changes, aging membership, and the resulting need to rethink care for buildings, resources, and meeting functions
· “These times,” including the spiritual condition of Friends in relation to the world, witness and engagement, discerning individual and corporate leadings, and the role of eldership.
Registration is now open. Whether you plan to participate via Zoom or gather with others, you can register for this free-of-charge event at neym.org/Meeting-for-Listening. If you plan to attend on site in Hartford, please register by June 12th if you can. This will help us comfortably accommodate everyone.
Are you led to host a local cluster in your area? If rather than traveling to Hartford, you are interested in inviting area Friends (for example, your Quarter) to gather at your meeting’s location in a regional cluster to participate in the gathering together, connected via a shared device or system, we would love to support you in doing so, as much as we are able. Contact us (mc-clerk@neym.org and Nia@neym.org) to begin a conversation.
Looking forward in faith, Carl Williams, Ministry and Counsel Clerk, Nia Thomas, Program Director
Important Wabanaki Legislation, 132st Legislature, Spring 2025
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.
The following information, and more, can be found on the Wabanaki Alliance Bill Tracker website at https://www.wabanakialliance.com/legislative-bill-tracker/
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 May 23, 2025/Updated March 28, 2025/ Originally posted February 18, 2025
Important Wabanaki Legislation 132st Legislature February 18, 2025
The following information, and more, can be found on the Wabanaki Alliance Bill Tracker website at https://www.wabanakialliance.com/legislative-bill-tracker/
To support these bills contact your legislators. You can find them by going 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.
+++
LD 14, An Act to Provide Indigenous Peoples Free Access to State Parks
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»
The Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry held a public hearing March 11 (read the public testimony) and a work session March 18. The committee voted that the bill Ought to Pass.
⚠STATUS: Passed initial votes in House and Senate!
The bill passed “under the hammer” (no roll call) in the Senate and passed the House 121-18 (see how your representative voted). The bill will undergo more procedural votes next.
+++
LD 958, An Act to Prohibit Eminent Domain on Tribal Lands
Sponsor: House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor)
The Wabanaki Alliance supports this bill. Read our testimony >> SUMMARY
This bipartisan 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. In committee, the bill was amended to stipulate that legislation would apply only to trust lands. Read the full bill text >>
Learn more in our Take Action Post on LD 958.
⚠STATUS: Committee voted OTP; Full Legislature will vote soon.
The Committee on Judiciary held a public hearing April 4 (read the public testimony). Committee members introduced an amendment that stipulates the legislation would apply only to trust lands. The committee voted 10-4 that the bill Ought to Pass as amended. It now goes to the full Legislature for a vote.
+++
LD 1474, An Act to Strengthen the Teaching of Wabanaki Studies in Maine Schools
Sponsor: Rep. Laurie Osher (D-Orono)
The Wabanaki Alliance supports this bill.
SUMMARY
This bill creates the position of Wabanaki Studies Specialist within the Maine Department of Education to oversee compliance with the 2001 Wabanaki Studies Law, which requires the inclusion of Wabanaki history, economic and political systems, and culture in the curricula of all public K-12 schools. According to
a 2022 report by the Wabanaki Alliance, the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission, ACLU of Maine, and the Abbe Museum, most school districts in the state have largely ignored the law since it was enacted, which prompted the introduction of this legislation. LD 1474 requires ongoing funding for the Wabanaki Studies Specialist and for contracted Wabanaki advisors to advance the implementation of Wabanaki studies across the state. LD 1474 also directs the state Board of Education to require completion of a Wabanaki studies component within teacher certification requirements and ensures funding is available to hire Wabanaki advisors and educators who would help the Wabanaki studies specialist create short-term courses that would be available to all Maine teachers. A similar bill (which also included additional provisions related to African American Studies) was approved by the 131st Legislature but died on the appropriations table last spring along with dozens of other unfunded bills. Read the full text of LD 1474>>
Learn more in our Take Action Post on LD 1474.
STATUS: Voted OTP by the committee; full Legislature will vote soon. The Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs held a public hearing April 22 (read the public testimony). The committee held two work sessions and the majority voted (7-6) that the bill Ought to Pass. It goes to the full Legislature for a vote next.
Woman’s Society Meeting Minutes, May 19, 2025
Durham Friends Woman’s Society Meeting Minutes 5.19.2025 Hybrid Meeting
Present: Dorothy Curtis, President, Nancy Marstaller, Treasurer, Susan Gilbert, Secretary, Joyce Gibson, Kim Bolshaw.
Cards: For Friends.
Program and Devotions: We took turns reading from Blueprints, “Story About My Experience – God Still Speaks” by Dr. Gladys Bunyasi of Kenya. Scripture – Psalm 46:10. Dr. Bunyasi’s son began experiencing convulsions and was diagnosed with epilepsy which did not respond well to medication. It was discovered that the boy was being bullied at school. The medication was stopped, and with prayer and faith, the convulsions ceased. Dr Bunyasi believes that through the miracle of her son’s recovery and his continuing successful life, God has spoken to her family.
Treasurer’s Report: We have $105.58 in the account. Nancy will send $55. gained from the sale of Martha Sheldon’s knitted hats to New Beginnings. We decided that of this years’ plant sale proceeds, half will go to the Good Shepherd Food Bank, the rest to scholarships at Ramallah School and school fees for girls in Kenya.
Minutes: Susan read the 4.21.2025 minutes.
Tedford Meal: Team A will prepare the June 2 dinner. Kim Bolshaw is contact person (207) 808-3007. 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.
Next Meeting: Monday, June 16 at 7 PM.
Other Business: Our annual plant sale has been set up and we made our first sale! It will continue for 2-3 weeks, unless we run out of plants more quickly. Feel free at any time during the sale to bring perennials or seedlings you can donate and label them. There are pots available in the horse shed if you need any. PROCEEDS: Plan to peruse the plants for something you might like. As usual, we will ask for donations, which will be used to support charitable work. Any questions? Check with Dorothy Curtis, Kim Bolshaw, or Nancy Marstaller.
Thanks for all your help and support!
Dorothy closed the meeting with this poem:
Spring Has Come!
Crocuses and buttercups
Are peeping through the sod;
And rows of bluest hyacinths
And beds of pansies nod.
The trees are dressed in fleecy green,
And some in pink and white;
The winter’s gone, and all the buds
Burst forth to our delight.
We thank God for the cheerful spring,
For sunshine and for showers,
For birds that sing their gleeful songs,
And outdoor playtime hours.
Respectfully Submitted, Susan Gilbert
