Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends convened in worship on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013, at 12:05 p.m. with 10 present. Clerk Sarah Sprogell read a portion of the 2013 New England Yearly Meeting of Friends gathering epistle. Dorothy Hinshaw volunteered to be Recording Clerk for the day.
1.) The 2014 budget and 2013 Treasurer’s report will be presented at the January Monthly Meeting for approval.
2.) Edwin Hinshaw reported that the Nominating Committee will have a completed report in January. Most committees are full.
3.) Margaret Wentworth suggested that we meet for Meeting for Worship in the Vestry during the winter to save fuel.
4.) We approved that we meet in the Vestry in January, and at January monthly meeting revisit this decision.
5.) Edwin Hinshaw reported on behalf of an ad-hoc committee of Peter Crysdale, Nancy Marstaller and Edwin Hinshaw appointed by Ministry and Council. The committee was instructed to seek professional leadership from Craig Freshly, director of Good Group Decisions, to lead two Vision Sessions. The committee met with Craig and recommends the following: that the Vision Sessions be held Jan. 12 and Jan. 26, and that Craig be appointed as the facilitator of these meetings. He will prepare an invitation to members and attenders to participate in the Vision Sessions, and record themes, conclusions, etc. to be shared with the meeting. “The purpose of the sessions is for Durham Friends Meeting to develop clear vision regarding how we define ourselves as a meeting, what characteristics we seek in a new pastor, and how to handle compensation for the new pastor.”
6.) The meeting approved Craig Freshley as facilitator for the two Vision Sessions.
7.) The meeting approved the estimated fee for Craig’s services be taken from money budgeted for the Pastoral Search Committee.
8.) The Christian Education Committee reported that they recommend Wendy Schlotterbeck as our Youth Minister for 2014. The committee expressed appreciation for her dedication to the youth, as reflected in the many positive responses to the evaluation questionnaire.
9.) We approved continuation of Wendy Schlotterbeck as Youth Minister, January to December 2014.
Peter Crysdale encouraged all to hold this transition period in prayer. Sarah Sprogell re-read a portion of the New England Yearly Meeting epistle.
The meeting adjourned at 12:55 p.m.
— Dorothy Hinshaw, substitute Recording Clerk
Woman’s Society Festive December Meeting
By Angie Reed
Woman’s Society met Dec. 16 at Angie Reed’s home. Twelve women attended. The Program and Devotions were offered by Daphne Clement from the Blueprint program written by Martha Hinshaw Sheldon, “Courage Takes Many Forms.” We all chose and read papers that had various courageous acts written on them, such as “The courage to be patient,” “the courage to tell someone you really like them,” and “the courage to speak up when your views are different from the majority.”
The secretary’s and treasurer’s reports were read and approved. We agreed to send $100 to Kickapoo and for December’s Adopt-a-Nurse. Woman’s Society funds are low and we decided we need to do a fund-raiser. We will have a silent auction at our February Meeting at the Meetinghouse at 6:30 p.m. with the meeting taking place at 7 p.m.
The annual Yard Sale and other fund-raisers were discussed. Kitsie Hildebrandt and Nancy Marstaller said that they would no longer be organizing the Yard Sale and it was agreed that Woman’s Society would not sponsor it this year. We have offered this event to other groups in the Meeting and there has been interest expressed by the Youth Group to take over sponsorship. Woman’s Society members are still available to help with portions of this sale, especially the book sale portion that funds Meetinghouse Library purchases each year. We also discussed sponsoring a spring bean supper or another type of dinner to fund Woman’s Society Projects.
The Tedford meal for December did not happen and the January Meal is to be done by Kitsie’s team. The Card Ministry was completed and Daphne Clement graciously offered to fill the vacancy as the organizer of this ministry.
Prayers were asked for Zadock Malesi, who is Education Secretary for African Friends United Meeting and has been doing good work educating local schools on a curriculum of non-violence.
As this was our annual Christmas Meeting, gift bags were prepared and dispersed and the mitten tree donations were inventoried and packed to be transported to the agency that will do the dispersal. We enjoyed a wonderful gift exchange with Abby Fortune acting as gift elf, and enjoyed refreshments provided by Angie.
The next meeting will be on Jan. 20 at 7pm at Sue and Daphne’s home. All are welcome.
Visioning meetings with Craig Freshly
By Margaret Wentworth
The first step in seeking a new pastor is to decide what sort of person we want and what we would expect him or her to do. So on January 12 and 26, we will hold two visioning meetings, facilitated by Craig Freshly. We will start with a potluck right after meeting, and hold the discussions from 1:00 to 2:30. This is an opportunity to help the Meeting decide what our needs are, and how we can go about fulfilling them. Please plan to come!
“T’was First Day Before Christmas” – Leslie Manning
Created by Leslie Manning and presented at the Christmas Program, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013
T’was First Day before Christmas and all through the Meetinghouse
Not a creature was stirring, not even the Meeting mouse.
The Mitten Tree was hung by the doorway with care,
In hopes that each knitter would donate a pair.
Worshipers were nestled all snug on their benches,
Musing on Quakers from Foxes to Denches.
Nancy and Clarabel were planning to groove,
While Sukie and Choir would get us to move.
When out in the parking lot there arose such a clatter,
Some sprang from their seats to see what was the matter.
And there, on a blanket of new fallen snow,
Two weighty Friends were going at it, toe to toe.
Oh, No! “We ought not have a program,
A tree in the Meeting Room! We don’t have a liturgy,
that’s gone – Just like Naylor’s groom.”
“But, Friend, can’t you see we are all kinds of Quakers!
If we don’t adapt, we’ll be gone – like the Shakers!”
Right into that fray jumped a jolly old elf,
Our own fount of wisdom, Margaret Wentworth, herself.
“Christmas”, she said, “is more than the day.
Christ’s birth is lived as a path, as a Way
For all homeless parents to find room in our hearts,
Whether out at a manger Or working at WalMarts.
We are called to feed all of God’s children,
Bellies and souls, so shall we fill them;
To treat each other with love and respect,
To offer to ease the weight of neglect.
We don’t need a star to show us the Light,
We know in our hearts to do what is right.
So, friends, let us gather, As we do every week,
And honor the meaning of
“Let your life speak.”
Recipe for Caramel-apple Pudding
This recipe comes from Margaret Wentworth. She hosted the November Woman’s Society meeting at her apartment and served this creation. There were many requests for her to share the recipe.
Caramel-apple Pudding
Dough:
1 ¼ C brown sugar
1/3 C shortening
¾ C milk
2 C flour
4 tsp baking powder
A little salt
Syrup:
1 1/3 C brown sugar
3 C water
1/3 C butter
Boil for 2 minutes Mix dough ingredients together. Put 1 ½ C apples (or more) into a baking dish. Pour the batter over the apples and pour the syrup on top. Bake at 350 Fahrenheit for about an hour. The baking dish should be no more than half full, as it rises about double while cooking. The dough will rise to the top and the syrup will make a very sweet gravy below it.
Contributions for Kickapoo Friends Indian Center
By Clarabel Marstaller
During the month of November we will have the opportunity to contribute to the Kickapoo Friends Indian Center in McCloud, Oklahoma. Friends work with the Kickapoo tribe began in 1883 when a school was started and farming took place on the Center’s property to educate the Kickapoo in raising crops.
For a while the Kickapoos lived for the summer season in Oklahoma and went to northern Mexico for the winter. In Oklahoma their homes were wicki-ups, created of tree limbs and bark. For many years now their homes have been of modern construction.
Directors of the Kickapoo Center are Brad and Christine Wood. Christine is a Kickapoo. They lead a Friends Meeting with an active youth group, and sponsor several other activities.
Durham Meeting’s interest has focused on work with the Kickapoos due to the service of Isaiah and Affie Douglas and several of their children, who went to the Kickapoo Center in the first decade of the 20th century. Isaiah was the farmer.
Our contributions will go to the Kickapoo Center. During November there will be containers on the refreshment table for contributions. Thank you!
“Advent 2013” – Peter Crysdale
Advent 2013
By Peter Crysdale
Come with me to a little town in the mountains in Austria. The year is 1816. There’s a little church in the town called St. Nicholas. The story goes that the organ was broken. It was Christmas Eve. The pastor Joseph Mohr had written a poem a year or two earlier. He gave it to his friend Franz Gruber and asked him to compose some music — simple music that could be played on the guitar. The music and the words for ready in time for midnight mass. “Silent Night” was born, perhaps the most wonderful Christmas carol of all.
Silent night holy night,
All is calm all is bright.
Round yon Virgin mother and child,
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace. ———————-
Come with me, we will leave Austria and go to Spain, the year is somewhere in the middle of the 1500s. We’re off to visit a Carmelite monk named John; here are some of his words. They are best read aloud.
One dark night filled with love’s urgent longings –
Ah, the sheer grace. I went out unseen— everything was still—
there was no other light or guide – than the one that burned in my heart.
This guided me more surely than the light of the moon to where He was waiting.
Him who I knew so well.
Oh guiding night more lovely than the dawn oh, night that has united the the lover and his beloved
I went out from myself I left my cares forgotten among the lilies.
Now come with me to Washington, D.C., and meet a man named Gerald May, a psychiatrist who wrote several important books on the spiritual life. In 1995 he was diagnosed with cancer and began a heavy-duty course of chemotherapy. The cancer was put into remission. However his heart was damaged by the chemo and he spent the last few years of his life waiting for a heart transplant. He wrote a book on the dark night of the soul. Then he died. He had discovered the monk named John, the Spanish Carmelite monk — John of the Cross. The dark night of the soul has a kind of morbid reputation in Christian circles. However Gerald May discovered it to be profoundly beneficial. He described it as a process of the Spirit freeing us from the deceptions and attachments that keep us from knowing our true selves.
Silent Night Holy Night The darkness is not sinister Just have to sing Silent Night to experience that. A freeing is going on beneath what we can put into words. Silent night bestows hints of a deeper Divine activity. From the obscure (the dark night) a guidance rises and moves gently through our lived experience – comforting, and steadying through all and sundry. I expect you’ve been there while you were singing or listening to that carol. it brings a deep stirring and awareness of our longing hearts. Advent is the season of the longing heart.
Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the site.
Glories stream from heaven afar.
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia.
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born.
Silent night holy night,
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus Lord at thy birth, Jesus Lord at thy birth.
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends
November 17, 2013
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends convened in worship on Sunday, November 17, 2013, at 12:40 p.m. with 13 people present. Clerk Sarah Sprogell read from the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Faith and Practice (page 102): “Group Worship Differs from Private Devotion — Those who persevere in group worship know that is differs from private devotion, as the music of an orchestra differs from the music of a single player.”
1.) Susan Rice brought a preliminary budget for 2014 as prepared by Finance Committee. This draft raises a number of questions, which we will continue to discuss in December. At this time we look toward adopting the 12-month interim pastor budget option, with the understanding that it will be modified when we come to clarity on the permanent arrangement. It was suggested that we separate out the annual appeal from monthly contributions in our income projections.
2.) Betsy Muench reported that the Finance Committee brings the question “What percentage of full-time ministry can we afford given the past three years’ history of our income flows?” 3.) Sarah Sprogell is talking with potential members for the pastoral search committee, but the committee has not been filled yet. Names will be brought to the December meeting.
Friends have suggested that before we begin the search process that we take time to discern what we hope for the future of the meeting, for a new minister, where we see ourselves going as a meeting, what kind of financial remuneration can we offer, and other questions. This is a moment of opportunity for the meeting as a whole to help guide us forward with our visions and dreams. It was decided that we ask Ministry and Counsel to formulate a process and shepherd us through this discernment.
4.) Nancy Marstaller reported for Ministry and Counsel.
a. A new telephone tree is available.
b. Isaac Wood has requested to be removed as a junior member
5.) It was approved that Isaac Wood be removed as a junior member.
6.) Daphne Clement gave her pastoral report. (Her move from the parsonage to her new home in Brunswick is complete.) Everyone she has been visiting is doing well.
7.) David Marstaller reported for Trustees.
a. The loggers plan to be finished in the woods by the end of November.
b. One of the abutters to the Lunt Road property is very interested in purchasing the land.
Negotiations are in process for a sale of the land for $31,500.
8.) The meeting approved the recommendation made by Christian Education Committee that the Christmas Program be held in the evening of Sunday, December 22, with a pot-luck (time to be decided). It was further approved that the offering taken at the Program be given to Ramallah Friends School. Monday, December 23, will be the storm date.
9.) Edwin Hinshaw made a preliminary report for Nominating Committee.
10.) The appointment of David Marstaller to the Nominating Committee to begin in 2014 was approved.
11.) Clarabel Marstaller reported that Durham Meeting’s three representatives to Quarterly Meeting were in attendance there. A more complete report will be in the newsletter.
12.) The minutes of Monthly Meeting were approved during the meeting.
The meeting adjourned in the Spirit at 2:45 p.m.
— Susan Rice, Recording Clerk
Durham Friends Woman’s Society Meeting
November 18, 2013
By Angie Reed
Twelve women met at Margaret Wentworth’s apartment for our monthly meeting. Jo-an Jacobus offered the devotions and program from this year’s Blueprints. It was titled “Listening for the Voice of God” and was written by Mary Glen Hadley about a time when God gave her courage. We were asked to share times when we needed to look to God for courage in our lives.
In business, we approved last month’s minutes and the treasurer’s report. The Tedford Meal for November was ham steaks, baked beans, pasta salad, green beans, corn bread and a desert. We have two new members for Tedford teams who have lost members, but we could use more help! If any Durham Friends attendees or members would like to join a team, please speak with Kitsie Hildebrandt or another Woman’s Society member.
Prayers were asked for the Barber family in Belize, who have had many trials and tribulations in their family and the students they serve. A few women at the meeting also asked the group to pray for others they knew who are in need of prayers. The card ministry was done. Our member who leads the card ministry is moving to another state and Woman’s Society is looking for another member to take on this role and coordinate the card ministry. It was confirmed that Woman’s Society will sponsor Christmas Bags for up to 10 individuals or families. We will also request donations of mittens, hats, scarfs and gloves to be hung on the mitten tree so these items may be donated to local organizations that serve populations in need. We all agreed we will have a homemade Christmas gift exchange at our next meeting. Fudge is encouraged.
The Meeting ended with a closing poem by Kitsie Hildebrandt. We adjourned to refreshments of caramel apple pudding, grapes, mixed nuts, crackers and tea provided by Margaret.
The next Meeting will be our annual Christmas Party, which will be held on December 16 at Angie Reed’s home at 7 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
Falmouth Quarterly Meeting held October 26 at Windham
By Clarabel Marstaller
Falmouth Quarterly Meeting met Saturday, October 26, at Windham Friends Meetinghouse. Three representatives from Durham Monthly Meeting attended, plus others of our Meeting.
Brian Drayton of Weare, N.H., Meeting led the program on “Recording Gifts of Ministry.” Brian traced the history of recording; most individuals have been recorded in recognition of their spoken ministry, acknowledging that the person is endorsed by his/her monthly meeting and then by the quarterly meeting. Several recorded ministers of Falmouth Quarterly meeting were present and spoke of their experiences as recorded ministers. Three of these were from Durham Meeting.
In the business meeting, first approval was given to laying down Oxford Hills Monthly Meeting, which has only two or three members, no property, and few assets (already distributed). The Quarterly meeting adopted a budget of $675 for the year. Income is from constituent monthly meetings and from offerings at the business meetings.
The meetinghouse in Casco, Maine, which is under the care of Windham Meeting, will be a feature of the celebration of the town of Casco, “Casco Days,” in 2014. Friends of the Quarter will be involved in the July 4 parade and gather for a picnic afterward.
AFTER MEETING REFRESHMENTS SCHEDULE
December 2013 to February 2014
Thank you for being willing to prepare refreshments!
Please switch if needed.
Directions are posted in the kitchen. Supplies need to be donated- check what is already available in the kitchen. “Basic” refreshments are coffee, milk and/or half & half, tea, juice, and crackers. People appreciate having cheese, sweets, veggies, or fruit, but it can be as simple as you like. The Woman’s Society makes this schedule with people who come to Meeting regularly and have been willing to prepare refreshments in the past. We have not checked with each person regarding dates. If you would like to be added to or taken off this list, see Nancy Marstaller. Thanks!
December
1 Kathy & Harmony Brown
8 Jeannie Baker Stinson & family
15 Linda Muller & Jim McCarthy
22 Eileen Babcock, Mildred Alexander
29 Nancy Marstaller, Jo-an Jacobus
January
5 Margaret Wentworth, David Dexter
12 Dorothy & Ed Hinshaw
19 Brenda Masse, Wayne Hollingworth
26 Kitsie Hildebrandt, Sarah Sprogell
February
2 Sukie Rice, Don Goodrich
9 Dotty DeLoach, Susan Wood
16 Angie & David Reed
22 Dorothy Curtis, Daphne Clement
New Address
Friends, as of Dec. 14, I will have a new address:
Phyllis Wetherell Apt. 206, Friends Fellowship Community 2030 Chester Blvd., Richmond, IN 47374
It is difficult to think of leaving this terrific Meeting and all you nifty folk but sometimes one doesn’t have another choice. I am having more and more difficulty walking and even standing so need to be someplace where I can have help. Friends Fellowship is a retirement place of 300 folk, some of whom I already know from the 20 years I lived in Richmond. Part of my heart will always be with Durham Meeting but I know how fortunate I am to be able to start this new venture. With much love and much good cheer to all, Phyllis
Christmas Gift Bags
By Angie Reed
Please bring in notepads, pens, pencils, calendars, hygiene items, various small gift items and candies to help the Woman’s Society fill its Christmas Gift Bags. This will help continue the tradition of providing a package stuffed with goodies to people in our meeting community who are unable to share in the holiday festivities at the Meetinghouse. If you have someone in mind that may benefit from a bag, please let a Woman’s Society member know and we will try to honor the request. Donations for the bags will be accepted from now until Sunday, December 15. Thank you for your help!
Christmas Offering To Go to Ramallah
By Clarabel Marstaller
The offering taken at our Christmas program, December 22, will go to Friends School in Ramallah, Palestine. The Girls School was started first, the result of a girl in Ramallah asking Eli Jones (visiting from South China, Maine, in 1869) if he would open a school for girls in Ramallah (a small school for boys existed in Ramallah at that time). Schools were started in homes and in 1882 a building was completed — which was the start of the Friends Girls School. Meanwhile, a boys’ school was held in a home in Ramallah. In 1914 a building was in place. However, it was used as a hospital during World War I, first by the Central Powers and, as England prevailed, by English troops. In 1918 it began serving its original purpose. Today the girls’ school is the Lower School and the boys’ school the Upper School, both coed. New England Friends were very much involved in the early years of the schools. Joyce Ajlouny, director of Ramallah Friends School, visited our Meeting a few years ago. The schools are very up-to-date in their academic and technological life, thanks to their value in the Mideast. Our offering will help them meet the challenges they face.
Swap Before You Shop on Dec. 1
By Brenda Masse
Special Events will be hosting the Durham Friends annual Re-Gifting Swap on Sunday, December 1, during refreshment time after Meeting for Worship. Please bring GENTLY used items to swap and get a jump-start on your holiday shopping! It is a great way to save the earth and your wallet! See Brenda Masse for further details.
Mitten Tree
By Angie Reed
Please bring in any homemade or purchased mittens, hats and scarves and pin them to the Christmas Tree Banner in the vestry of the Meetinghouse. After the Woman’s Society’s December meeting the gathered items will be donated to local groups whose clients are in need. Donations will be accepted from now until December 15. Let’s warm those fingers and ears!
Christmas Potluck and Program
Reminders
Contemplative Prayer Group will be meeting on the second Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at 24 Cedar St., Brunswick. There will be a Christmas Eve worship service at 7 p.m. on Dec. 24.
Harvest Dinner for LACO
Don Goodrich, left, oversees the pig roast at the Sept. 28 Harvest Dinner to benefit the Lisbon Area Christian Outreach’s Food Pantry. Right, Linda Muller tries out the gymnastic wheel that provided a fun diversion for young and old alike at the dinner.
Volume 2013 Issue 11 November 2013
From our Pastor:
The medieval theologian and mystic Meister Eckhart said that the most real kind of prayer is the prayer of gratitude.
For the past three years I have stood on the Facing Bench, most Sundays, and offered to Durham Meeting a message (a number of them have been published here in our Durham Friends Newsletter). Most of my life, before coming to Durham, was spent in preparation — in getting ready to be a part of Durham Friends Meeting. There were years of life experience, nearly a decade as a Hospice Chaplain, and nine years of post-graduate theological study. Once I arrived — quite quickly — almost immediately, I could say: I am at home, at home in the parsonage, at home spiritually in Durham Meeting, at home in Maine.
Now that it is time for me to retire, I’d like to say a little about what it’s been like to prepare and to rise in Meeting for Worship to offer a message. I’d like to say something about where these messages have come from.
The clearest thing that I can say about vocal ministry — the Sunday messages — is that each of them has been a surprise … a gift. I’d sit down to prepare, thinking: “I’ll say this or that …” only to be surprised, again and again, by a completely unforeseen direction taken. Once mid-message I even found myself suddenly wondering what the astronauts felt when they gained God’s perspective, seeing the whole Earth — as one. How amazing!
Many of you have heard me say that after eight or so months I had really said all that I had to say. There was a time of learning to be willing to have no idea what the next message would be; a time of learning to wait and to listen. And, of course, to pray. So I am full of gratitude … and coming to understand that it is from the deep well of our Worship together that I have been drawing the spiritual sustenance to rise and offer a message. Our covered Worship together is where the messages come from.
And so, during the transition in our Meeting, I invite us all to enter a time of being willing to wait, to listen and to pray together as we are led toward a future that will no doubt be full of surprises … and, of course, gratitude.
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends
October 20, 2013
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends convened in worship on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2013, at 12:20 p.m. with 14 people present. Clerk Susan Wood read “Living Fellowship Needs Fresh Forms” by Anna Thomas and E.B. Emmet from the Meeting as a Caring Community section of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Faith and Practice (page 121).
1.) Wendy Schlotterbeck gave the Youth Pastor Report. Durham Young Friends gatherings have begun for the new school year. They meet on the third Friday night of each month, and started it off with a campfire and harvest party. Almost all the young people in the group will be going to the NEYM Youth Retreat in November in Portland.
2.) Susan Rice brought the Finance Report for September. It was noted that there was a transfer of $6000 from the Bernice Douglas Fund to the General Fund, as approved by Monthly Meeting to keep us from overdrawing the account. There was also a transfer of $1,750 from the Student Loan Fund into the General Fund, as approved by Monthly Meeting. Income for September was $4,319 and expenses were $4,838. The end of the month balance for September was $3,009.
a.) Finance Committee will bring a draft budget for 2014 to the November Monthly Meeting. It was requested that all committees let members of Finance Committee know their needs for 2014.
b.) We plan to review our expenditures for all paid ministry to discern what we believe we can afford in 2014.
3.) It was confirmed that the Meeting will pay all our budgeted obligations for 2013.
4.) It was approved that we spend up to $190 to print and distribute the annual appeal. This is in addition to the current budget.
5.) Nancy Marstaller reported for Ministry and Counsel.
a.) A welcoming letter has been written to send to visitors with a lovely drawing of the Meetinghouse created by Ketura (Ketty) Stinson.
b.) The Maine Council of Churches is encouraging all churches to hold prayer meetings for civility in public discourse on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m., a few days before the election. It was approved that we hold one here at the Meetinghouse at that time.
6.) Margaret Wentworth reported for Trustees.
a.) Trustees recommend that Jeff Goodman and his wife Christie be invited to come to live at the parsonage during an interim period. They would pay for electricity, heat and propane, including the current pellet bill. They would be asked to make a contribution to the meeting of a minimum of $100 a month.
b.) The septic system needs to be pumped. This will be a capital expense.
c.) The water has been tested for drinking at both the parsonage and the Meetinghouse (through the filters). Although the water is safe to drink in both places, there are many tiny black flecks in the water at the parsonage. It was recommended that Trustees ask Eric Oransky to evaluate this problem.
7.) It was approved that Jeff and Christie Goodman be invited to live in the parsonage as recommended.
8.) It was approved that the septic system be pumped.
9.) It was approved that the Treasurer be authorized to pay the water test bill from the Capital Account.
10.) It was reported that the Sept. 26 Pig Roast Harvest Dinner netted $740 for the LACO Food Pantry.
11.) A Search Committee for a new pastor of up to six people needs to be created. Possible names were suggested and those people will be asked by our clerks.
12.) Quarterly Meeting will be held Saturday, Oct. 26, at Windham Meeting. Representatives will be Margaret Wentworth, Daphne Clement and Clarabel Marstaller.
13.) It was approved that there be an opportunity for contributions to be made in November for the Kickapoo Friends Indian Center in McCloud, Oklahoma.
14. The minutes of Monthly Meeting were approved during the meeting.
The meeting adjourned in the Spirit at 2:10 p.m.
— Susan Rice, Recording Clerk
Christmas Potluck and Program
By Dorothy Hinshaw The Christian Education Committee would like to announce that the Christmas Potluck and program will be held on Dec. 22, Sunday evening, at 5:30 p.m. The snow date will be the next day, Monday. Supper starts at 5:30 p.m. and the program at 7 p.m.
Prayer on Civil Discourse – Nov. 1
On Nov. 1, the Maine Council of Churches will be holding a day of prayer on civil discourse for the election. MCC invites congregations across Maine to participate in a public prayer service to promote civil discourse and prayerful discernment in public life the weekend before Election Day. For more information, please contact: info@mainecouncilofchurches.org or call 207 772-1918.
Contemplative Prayer Group
Contemplative Prayer Group will be meeting on the second Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at 24 Cedar St., Brunswick.
AFTER MEETING REFRESHMENTS SCHEDULE
November 2013 to February 2014
Thank you for being willing to prepare refreshments!
Please switch if needed.
Directions are posted in the kitchen. Supplies need to be donated- check what is already available in the kitchen. “Basic” refreshments are coffee, milk and/or half & half, tea, juice, and crackers. People appreciate having cheese, sweets, veggies, or fruit, but it can be as simple as you like. The Woman’s Society makes this schedule with people who come to Meeting regularly and have been willing to prepare refreshments in the past. We have not checked with each person regarding dates. If you would like to be added to or taken off this list, see Nancy Marstaller. Thanks!
November
3 Sarah Sprogell, Eileen Babcock
10 Sue Wood, David Marstaller
17 Betsy Stivers & family
24 Charlotte Anne Curtis, Clarabel Marstaller
December
1 Kathy & Harmony Brown
8 Jeannie Baker Stinson & family
15 Linda Muller & Jim McCarthy
22 Eileen Babcock, Mildred Alexander
29 Nancy Marstaller, Jo-an Jacobus
January
5 Margaret Wentworth, David Dexter
12 Dorothy & Ed Hinshaw
19 Brenda Masse, Wayne Hollingworth
26 Kitsie Hildebrandt, Sarah Sprogell
February
2 Sukie Rice, Don Goodrich
9 Dotty DeLoach, Susan Wood
16 Angie & David Reed 22 Dorothy Curtis, Daphne Clement
22 Dorothy Curtis, Daphne Clement
Kenyan Crafts Marketplace
A Christmas Crafts Fair Selling Kenyan Made Goods to benefit the Kakamega Orphans Project
Saturday November 9th 10:00 to 2:00 St. Jude’s Church 134 Main Street, Freeport
Handbags, scarves, woven bowls, carved wood animals, Christmas tree ornaments, nativity scenes, soapstones and more…. Great Gifts! St. Jude’s is located on the corner of Main and School Street, Freeport across from the post office. Parking in the rear. For information, please call 318-8531 or email: sukierice@comcast.net
Youth Story
January 2014 Youth Story: Christian Education
February 2014 Youth Story: Library
March 2014 Youth Story: Ministry and Counsel
April 2014 Youth Story: Peace and Social Concerns
From Our Pastor:
Feb. 13 marked the first of the 40 days before Easter. And as modern Friends, we understand why our spiritual ancestors, early Friends, had small regard for the liturgical calendar: each and every day is indeed just as Holy as the next. Early Friends resisted letting their lives be prescribed by the liturgical year because that calendar was enforced not by the Power of God but by the power of the church. It was the power of the church that dictated how one could or could not worship, and it was the civil power of the church that Friends resisted.
But, I wonder what they would say today, now that our society has become almost completely secular? Since the power of the church that George Fox protested is now gone, I wonder what he might say about our bending a bit toward the liturgical year?
So, right now it’s Lent, the 40 days before Easter and what might that mean for us as Friends today?
I think that because in theory, at least, we do recognize that every day IS Holy, but in practice most of our lives are so full, so full to overflowing with commitments that even George Fox might approve the potential turning inward, the spiritual preparation that Lent may offer.
He might like it that we take time to hold in our intention the Holiness of these days: Taking time to focus our attention on the spiritual, taking time to open to the deeper wisdom of our biblical tradition.
For instance, when Moses encountered God for the first time at the burning bush, he asks, “What shall I call you?” The answer he gets is “Yahweh” meaning “I will be.” What kind of a name is that? It’s not exactly a name at all. Maybe we can imagine it with three dots following it: “I will be …” many things to many people. “I will be …” understood and experienced in lots of different ways. “I will be …” the power within all possibility.
In the Old Testament God’s name could not really be spoken, it was understood that the ultimate power behind all that is and all that will be is really beyond definition. We cannot really name God, for to do so turns the verb “I will be …” into a noun, a known entity. You might notice that some translations of the Bible try to do this by subtly translating “I will be” as “I am.”
In the New Testament, Jesus reveals to us what knowing this Living Dynamic Presence, this “I will be,” intimately looks like. He models a new way of being in relationship with Yahweh, the Living Presence, verb to Be. He models a new way of living, relating, and Being with each other, and living lives centered in the potential of God’s active Living Presence. He asks that his followers step off the path that must reduce and define the Living Presence.
And, to do this experimentally, because it is our own firsthand experience of this Living indefinable, Yahweh, this verb to be, it is out of knowing God this way, that our own confusion about who we are, about our own real identity is born. And Jesus hoped, I imagine, that we too could learn to live lives engaged as he did with the Living Dynamic Presence.
This way of knowing the Living Presence of God, Yahweh, was something that George Fox really understood. It was “this” he knew “experimentally.” When early Friends found unique metaphors for sharing their faith, for describing their relationship with Yahweh, with this verb to Be, they used words like the “Motion,” “the Principal,” the “pure and Living seed,” the “Inward Teacher.” Do you see how all of these words, these names for God have vitality and more Power than any noun. When we are asked to “sink down into the Living seed” this suggestion is more dynamic and alive than any static definition that has mostly been used throughout history to speak about God. Early Friends borrowed from the Old Testament understanding of the “Light” and used this image of Light to express their first-hand experience of the Living Christ.
Faith for early Friends was a powerful first hand way of knowing God, Yahweh. They did not confuse verbs for nouns, in the way that can reduce and take the life of the Living Presence out of our human spiritual experience. When they used words like “silence,” as in expectant waiting in silence, they did not mean “the silence,” the kind of silence that is a noun, the kind of silence that is just empty. They meant waiting in Living Silence, the Living Being of God, Yahweh, as a Way to meet with and interact with the “Motion,” the action of the Living verb, to BE, Yahweh.
So, during this 40 days, let us take the practice of waking up to the Living Presence, as a dynamic real relationship, let us during this 40 days begin to ponder the difference between what the Church has called “the resurrection,” clearly a noun, and let us, instead, during this Lent, wonder.
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends
Feb. 17, 2013
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends convened on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013, at 12:20 p.m. with nine people present. Clerk Sarah Sprogell read “The Meeting for Business” from New England Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice (page 114).
1. David Marstaller reported for the Treasurer.
a) The complete list of Account Balances for FY 2012 was distributed. It was noted that between $5000 and $6000 in interest from the Goddard Fund is added annually to our General Fund.
b) All the money from the General Fund Savings Account has been transferred into the Checking Account to keep the account solvent.
c) It was noted that we have changed our insurance carrier from Rogers to Church Mutual Insurance Company.
The Treasurer’s Report was accepted with special thanks for all the explanations that accompanied the report.
2. Approval was given to the Treasurer to “borrow” from the Bernice Douglas Fund at this time to meet operating expenses. Finance Committee can work out recommendations to resolve the cash-flow situation.
3. On Trustees’ matters: Daphne Clement reported that burst pipes in the Parsonage are being repaired. The water filter that was very clogged has been removed so there is a full flow of water at this time.
David Marstaller reported that many trees have been marked by the forester on the parsonage land, but it is not likely that logging will happen during this winter.
4. The Meeting recommends that Trustees have the logging done as soon as possible when the condition of the land makes it feasible. The proceeds from the logging will go into the Capital Fund.
5. Clarabel Marstaller reported for Ministry and Counsel.
a) Our co-clerks attended a clerking workshop at Powell House.
b) In regard to our speaker system, there will be one microphone on the facing bench and one will be used as a “roving” mic.
6. A memorial minute for Glenice Hutchins was read and approved and will be forwarded to Falmouth Quarterly Meeting.
7. A memorial minute for Muriel Marston was read and approved and will be forwarded to Falmouth Quarterly Meeting.
8. Daphne Clement gave her Pastor’s Report
a) The visit of Will Bontrager in March has been moved to Sunday, April 28.
b) Daphne will be away from March 24 to March 29.
9. Because Wendy Schlotterbeck is at the Washington, D.C., Keystone Pipeline / “Climate Forward” demonstration, Sarah Sprogell read Wendy’s Youth Minister’s report for January. There were many activities of the Durham Young Friends and the Youth Group listed in the report.
10. Christian Education Committee presented its Annual Report for 2012. The report was accepted with great thanks to the Committee for all the work and fulfilling activities of the Committee.
11. The schedule for Easter Sunday, March 31, will be as follows:
6:30 a.m. Sunrise service at Weed Simpson Cemetery off the River Road.
8:00 a.m. Pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. prepared by the men of the meeting.
9:00 a.m. Children’s activities, coordinated by Christian Education.
10:25 a.m. Meeting for Worship
12. The minutes of the Monthly Meeting were approved during the meeting. The meeting was adjourned in the spirit at 1:58 p.m.
— Susan Rice, Recording Clerk
Youth Minister’s Report
By Wendy Schlotterbeck The Passages class has continued exploring other faith communities. On Sunday, Feb. 3, six youths, three parents and I attended the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Auburn. The service centered on the origins of Unitarian Universalists and was geared towards kids. It was a perfect introduction to this church. So far we have visited Winthrop Friends, Portland Friends and the UU church. Our next visits will include Temple Shalom and the Boston Islamic Center. Junior Young Friends (elementary grades) have had three meetings and the kids are asking to continue. As one young friend said: “I wish we would meet every week! This is fun.” We are in the process of making a documentary about Durham Friends Meeting. During our last meeting we videoed many Durham Friends and will finish interviews at our next meeting on Sunday, March 3, from noon to 1 p.m. If you didn’t get the chance to be interviewed in February, please come March 3 and let us know you are interested! We hope to have the “film” ready for Children’s Day, June 9. Durham Junior Young Friends meets the first Sunday of each month at noon. Durham Young Friends (middle and high school grades) continues to meet the third Friday of each month at 7 p.m. We are gearing up for the Big Concert at 7 p.m. on March 22 preceded by a light supper at 5:30 p.m. It will be a tribute concert for Bee Douglas by renowned folk singer Joe Crookston. You won’t want to miss this uplifting event! Save the date! The Annual Family Campout at Betsy Muench’s seaside “compound” will be June 21-23. All are welcome! There is plenty of room for tents and a few beds are available in the house for the less hearty. The view is spectacular and the private sandy beach is a favorite of all ages! Some activities in the works: 1.) Three young friends have had their portraits painted by Martha Miller and we hope to have all completed by summer. Stay tuned for the opening of the Durham Young Friends Portrait Show! 2.) We plan to put a Durham Meeting cookbook together in the near future. We would love to have your recipes and stories about them for this special cookbook. Thanks for supporting the Young Friends!
