By Jo-an Jacobus
The September issue of “The Best of Friends” will carry representations of what our community is doing
creatively. But that will happen only if you choose to share what you are doing. We would like to see what it is
that gives your heart its delight — if you would be willing to share that with us. Don’t hide your gifts under a
bushel; bring them into the light for all to see.
The nuts and bolts: It can be anything “flat” or a photo of something “not flat” (remember Glenice’s sweater
and Curt’s new family). Poetry, short prose, music lyrics, drawings, paintings, photos, photos of sculptures, of
a dance performance, of … If you think of something we haven’t, check it out with us, Jim McCarthy, Daphne
Clement, Jo-an Jacobus. We’ll let you know if we can make it fit onto a piece of paper.
If you need help with having something scanned, get in touch with Jo-an. It must be a flat object no larger
than 8.5 x 11 inches. For written material it would be helpful if it was in some version of Word. If that is not
possible, please email me and let’s see what the options are. We will find a way! Images need to be in .jpg
format, high resolution is helpful.
Please note, the deadline is earlier for the creative submissions than for standard news submissions.
Creative works must be submitted to Jo-an by Wednesday, Aug. 1, at 5 p.m. at mjo.anjacobus@gmail.com.
We would love to see your creative side. Please share with us.
Falmouth Quarterly Meeting at Durham July 28
By Margaret Wentworth
The schedule for the upcoming meeting of Falmouth Quarterly Meeting is quite different from the usual. We
will be meeting here at Durham but we won’t be starting in the morning as we normally do. This is the schedule for
the day:
12:30 p.m. Soup and snack
1:00 p.m. M&C
2:00 p.m. Worship
3:00 p.m. Business
4:00 p.m. Play! Bring a canoe or kayak to paddle Runaround Pond, |
or wear sturdy shoes to hike Cox’s Pinnacle
5:30/:45-6:45 Picnic begins
7:00 p.m. Program with Ray Sirois: “Enlightened by the Science of Climate and Water
— Empowerment for a Sustainable Future”
These times are flexible except the 7 p.m. start of the evening program. Please join us for what promises to be
an enjoyable and memorable day.
Parsonage Trellis Raising
Gather to prepare the ground and raise the trellis and to prepare to build
the Louis Marstaller bench at the Parsonage. We’ll meet on Saturday,
July 14, at 9 a.m., with a picnic lunch planned at 12:30 p.m.
Contact Daphne Clement for more information.
From our Pastor
From our Pastor’s message of Sunday, April 15, 2012
Rufus Jones grew up near here in South China, Maine. In his book “Trail of Life through the Early Years,” he wrote about what it was like to grow up as a Friend, to grow up “Quaker.” In the following quote, he is talking about what going to Meeting was like when he was just about 10 years old. He says: “Very often in these meetings for Worship, there were long periods of silence … I do not think that anyone ever told me what the silence was for. It does not seem necessary to explain Quaker silence to children. They feel what it means …”
Then on the next page he says: “Sometimes a real spiritual wave would sweep over the Meeting in these silent hushes, which made me feel very solemn and which carried me – careless boy that I was – down into something deeper than my own thoughts, gave me a momentary sense of that Spirit who has been the life and light of people in all ages and in all lands.”
It is that same “something deeper” that we are gathered this Easter in family Worship to recognize and to celebrate. What we are actually doing is FEELING … in the same way that Rufus Jones says Quaker children feel and just know why they’re sitting here together even without explanation. We are feeling our way down to the place where we get it that God is with us. Since that first Easter morning when Mary sees that the stone has been rolled away, when she meets and recognizes Jesus there in the garden; since that very morning we have all had direct access to the Light of the risen Christ. And Friends have always seemed to know that we find it in our own hearts. From the oldest of us to the youngest it is this that we come to know in Meeting for Worship.
But, until George Fox made his great discovery on Pendle Hill in England, until he had his direct experience of God — of the inward teacher — the risen Christ; until then, for nearly 1,500 years (and sometimes even today) this kind of knowing was almost forgotten. It got hidden, locked away really, in church ritual. And for most people hope got postponed, put off to the distant future … till the end of time.
Hope postponed reminds me of our human tendency of putting off until tomorrow what might be better done today. Why? Because moving the very present reality of God close at hand, into the future, into another time … a second coming … could be a way of saving the actual practice of Christianity for later. If we say “Christ is risen” but continue to see this spiritual reality only as a metaphor, something that is not real and certainly not very practical, we may be able to convince ourselves that it’s OK to cut some corners where justice is concerned. We may be able to rationalize slashing budgets for social programs, but continue to spend countless billions on armaments. These are the sort of corners that we might not cut so easily, if we knew, really deeply knew, felt from our own experience, that Christ is risen, eternally present among us. Would knowing this deepen our integrity and compassion?
At Easter we do this every year — we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection — but what, I wonder, does this inner resurrection actually look like? I know myself that I have been slow to understand and receive the guidance
of this Light. I think this is largely because the inner experience can be quite subtle, and because the Light of the inner resurrection shows up in the most ordinary places and times. It shows up in the everyday events of our lives.
Remember how from time to time you’ll have a flash of insight or a wise moment when you perceive some deeper truth, perhaps a truth that once you see it you just know and have always known it to be true?
Or perhaps you are working on a problem and suddenly you see your way forward, you just know how to proceed? These are, I think, gifts … gifts of the spirit to our better selves. But, for so much of my life I misunderstood them to be the product of my own mind. I did not understand the source of that still small voice within — I did not understand just how intimate God is, or what part Spirit plays in our daily lives. I do not think that I often realized just how much help we really receive. This is how it is: the inner resurrection helps us trace the footsteps of God as they wind their way through the ordinary moments of our lives.
The resurrection lets the Truth of God’s Presence shine.
So, it’s Easter and we celebrate the beauty of God’s world. We celebrate the shining Truth of the Resurrection, and we give thanks … for all the help we do receive.
For, He is, indeed, Risen this day.
From our Pastor
From our Pastor’s message of Sunday, April 15, 2012
Rufus Jones grew up near here in South China, Maine. In his book “Trail of Life through the Early Years,” he wrote about what it was like to grow up as a Friend, to grow up “Quaker.” In the following quote, he is talking about what going to Meeting was like when he was just about 10 years old. He says: “Very often in these meetings for Worship, there were long periods of silence … I do not think that anyone ever told me what the silence was for. It does not seem necessary to explain Quaker silence to children. They feel what it means …”
Then on the next page he says: “Sometimes a real spiritual wave would sweep over the Meeting in these silent hushes, which made me feel very solemn and which carried me – careless boy that I was – down into something deeper than my own thoughts, gave me a momentary sense of that Spirit who has been the life and light of people in all ages and in all lands.”
It is that same “something deeper” that we are gathered this Easter in family Worship to recognize and to celebrate. What we are actually doing is FEELING … in the same way that Rufus Jones says Quaker children feel and just know why they’re sitting here together even without explanation. We are feeling our way down to the place where we get it that God is with us. Since that first Easter morning when Mary sees that the stone has been rolled away, when she meets and recognizes Jesus there in the garden; since that very morning we have all had direct access to the Light of the risen Christ. And Friends have always seemed to know that we find it in our own hearts. From the oldest of us to the youngest it is this that we come to know in Meeting for Worship.
But, until George Fox made his great discovery on Pendle Hill in England, until he had his direct experience of God — of the inward teacher — the risen Christ; until then, for nearly 1,500 years (and sometimes even today) this kind of knowing was almost forgotten. It got hidden, locked away really, in church ritual. And for most people hope got postponed, put off to the distant future … till the end of time.
Hope postponed reminds me of our human tendency of putting off until tomorrow what might be better done today. Why? Because moving the very present reality of God close at hand, into the future, into another time … a second coming … could be a way of saving the actual practice of Christianity for later. If we say “Christ is risen” but continue to see this spiritual reality only as a metaphor, something that is not real and certainly not very practical, we may be able to convince ourselves that it’s OK to cut some corners where justice is concerned. We may be able to rationalize slashing budgets for social programs, but continue to spend countless billions on armaments. These are the sort of corners that we might not cut so easily, if we knew, really deeply knew, felt from our own experience, that Christ is risen, eternally present among us. Would knowing this deepen our integrity and compassion?
At Easter we do this every year — we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection — but what, I wonder, does this inner resurrection actually look like? I know myself that I have been slow to understand and receive the guidance
of this Light. I think this is largely because the inner experience can be quite subtle, and because the Light of the inner resurrection shows up in the most ordinary places and times. It shows up in the everyday events of our lives.
Remember how from time to time you’ll have a flash of insight or a wise moment when you perceive some deeper truth, perhaps a truth that once you see it you just know and have always known it to be true?
Or perhaps you are working on a problem and suddenly you see your way forward, you just know how to proceed? These are, I think, gifts … gifts of the spirit to our better selves. But, for so much of my life I misunderstood them to be the product of my own mind. I did not understand the source of that still small voice within — I did not understand just how intimate God is, or what part Spirit plays in our daily lives. I do not think that I often realized just how much help we really receive. This is how it is: the inner resurrection helps us trace the footsteps of God as they wind their way through the ordinary moments of our lives.
The resurrection lets the Truth of God’s Presence shine.
So, it’s Easter and we celebrate the beauty of God’s world. We celebrate the shining Truth of the Resurrection, and we give thanks … for all the help we do receive.
For, He is, indeed, Risen this day.
Durham Monthly Meeting Minutes, April 15, 2012
The meeting opened at 12:30 p.m. with 12 people present.
Clerk Sue Wood opened with a reading from New England Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice: “No Bond But Love and Fellowship” by Rufus Jones (page 122) followed by a period of worship.
1. Clarabel Marstaller reported for Ministry and Counsel. They are working on an Inquirer’s Packet, which should be ready April 22.
2. David Reed reported for Trustees. The windows for the nursery room doors are in and look great. The stove in the meetinghouse kitchen has been serviced and is working now. The pilot lights have all been turned off so there is no propane gas usage except when we are using the stove. The result is that air quality in the meetinghouse is dramatically improved, as well as reducing our use of fuel. People will need to be shown how to light the burners and oven. Please see David for instructions.
3. Susan Rice, Daphne Clement and Wendy Schlotterbeck reported for Peace and Social Concerns (P&SC): a.) Lisbon Area Christian Outreach (LACO): We will have a monthly “shopping list” of the LACO food-
pantry needs that will be available for when friends do their shopping. This April/May we are asking for hearty soups, crackers, brown rice, cereals and cans of fruit. The Meeting will hold a pig-roast benefit dinner for LACO on Sept. 29. There is a spaghetti dinner to benefit LACO on May 19 at the Holy Trinity Church in Lisbon Falls. Friends are being asked to contribute desserts.
b.) There will be a benefit dinner for the Kakamega Orphan Project on Saturday, June 23. It will be a BBQ chicken and strawberry shortcake dinner.
c.) The community garden at the parsonage is coming along very well. David Marstaller has agreed to build a trellis there. P&SC is also planning to have a bench, which we will dedicate in memory of Louis Marstaller. We hope to have this completed by Memorial Day weekend so we can dedicate it after Worship on May 27.
d.) 350.org is calling for a global “Connect the Dots” action on May 5 and May 6, envisioned as a world- wide “action” which calls for a reduction of carbon fuels and for care for our environment. Durham Friends Youth Group and Peace and Social Concerns will be organizing a photo of the Meeting participating in this campaign after worship on May 6. Our environmental action will be to begin planting the community garden on that day, and to plant some fruit trees. We will also encourage carpooling and bicycling to the meeting on May 6, as a first step to further carpooling.
4. It was approved that we should build a commemoration bench using P&SC funds. 5. It was approved that we plant two peach trees and put out a basket to receive contributions to pay for them. 6. Margaret Wentworth reported for the Library Committee. Old periodicals have been recycled. We will save
the boxes for future use. Library Committee would like to hold its meetings on the 5th Sundays.
7. Katharine Hildebrandt brought the Finance Report for March. The total General Fund Income for March was $3,561.89 and the Expenditures were $5,461.94. The year-to-date finances for the General Fund shows that Income for January 1 – March 31 period was $12,881.55 and the Expenses were $17,098.83. This means we are running a $4,217.28 deficit for the first three months of 2012. Her report was accepted with gratitude. 8. Daphne Clement gave her pastor’s report. It has been an active April, especially around Easter time. The
reading group that has been meeting on Wednesdays has been rich. The community garden is proceeding very nicely. Contemplative prayer will be held on Tuesdays in May.
9. Registration has opened for the Friends General Conference Gathering at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston (July 1-7). People planning to go are encouraged to sign up early to get their choice of workshops.
10. Jo-an Jacobus reported for the Website Committee. Wendy Schlotterbeck will be helping on the technical level to get information onto the website. The Committee is very appreciative of this help she is giving.
11. Susan Rice reported that the Ad-Hoc Fundraising Committee is actively meeting. They see that raising consciousness around the operating budget deficit is an important part of raising money to meet that deficit.
12. Quarterly Meeting will be held on April 28 at Portland Friends Meetinghouse. Approved for representatives are Leslie Manning, Clarabel Marstaller and Susan Wood.
Minutes of the meeting were approved during the meeting. The Meeting adjourned at 1:55 p.m. with a period of worship.
By Nancy Marstaller
Fourteen women met at Muriel and Karen Marston’s. Their recent work on the house makes the place just glow.
Margaret Wentworth led the program and devotions on the theme “God Speaks Through Others.” The author of the lesson in our Blueprints quoted Psalm 46: “As the deer panteth for water, so my soul panteth for you, oh God.” We shared how God can speak to us through others or in ways we might not recognize.
We sent many cards: thinking of you, birthday, get well, and thank you. Our treasurer reported a balance of $2,140.94, with $2,000 dedicated to a meetinghouse sound system. The April Tedford meal was chicken and rice, green salad, fruit, brownies and
cheesecake. Angie and her team will provide the May meal.
We are asked to pray for all Friends attending the Friends World Committee for Consultation world conference in Kenya. We planned details of the NE USFW meeting to be held at the meetinghouse on May 12 and the Yard Sale on May 26 (see related articles!). In closing our meeting, we held in prayer all those who could not join us for the evening.
We enjoyed Karen’s fabulous refreshments, the antics of their dog, and each other’s company before heading into the night. Our next meeting will be Monday, May 21, at Nancy’s house, with Angie leading devotions and Dot Hinshaw leading the program. Hope you can come!
Woman’s Society April Meeting Notes
Respectfully submitted, Susan Rice
Woman’s Society April Meeting Notes
By Nancy Marstaller
Fourteen women met at Muriel and Karen Marston’s. Their recent work on the house makes the place just glow.
Margaret Wentworth led the program and devotions on the theme “God Speaks Through Others.” The author of the lesson in our Blueprints quoted Psalm 46: “As the deer panteth for water, so my soul panteth for you, oh God.” We shared how God can speak to us through others or in ways we might not recognize.
We sent many cards: thinking of you, birthday, get well, and thank you. Our treasurer reported a balance of $2,140.94, with $2,000 dedicated to a meetinghouse sound system. The April Tedford meal was chicken and rice, green salad, fruit, brownies and
cheesecake. Angie and her team will provide the May meal.
We are asked to pray for all Friends attending the Friends World Committee for Consultation world conference in Kenya. We planned details of the NE USFW meeting to be held at the meetinghouse on May 12 and the Yard Sale on May 26 (see related articles!). In closing our meeting, we held in prayer all those who could not join us for the evening.
We enjoyed Karen’s fabulous refreshments, the antics of their dog, and each other’s company before heading into the night. Our next meeting will be Monday, May 21, at Nancy’s house, with Angie leading devotions and Dot Hinshaw leading the program. Hope you can come!
Witnessing for a Faithful Budget
By Leslie Manning
Pete Sirois, a Pax Christi member from Madison, and I lobbied our elected representatives after attending Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C. We were part of a group of 750 clergy and faith leaders from many denominations witnessing for a faithful budget, immigration reform and reductions in military spending.
I also presented a workshop on “Effective lobbying of state and local government” and participated in several discussions of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture’s video “Torture in our Backyard.” Maine’s efforts to reduce the use of solitary confinement are a feature of that film.
Reminder: We need Plants for the Woman’s Society Yard Sale!
We have a loyal following at our plant sale section, so please, if you are dividing/growing plants and have extra, consider donating them to the yard sale. We have pots available in the entryway and the horse shed and could use extras if you have pots to donate. Just leave them with the others. Wayne Hollingworth has brought soil if anyone needs extra to pot up their plants. It’s in the horse shed too.
The sale will be on May 26 this year, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. We ask that you bring plants no earlier than May 20, and you may bring them up to the morning of the sale. Please label with type, color if you know it, and any special growing considerations (shade, sun, vigorous spreader, etc.).
Thanks for all your past support. If you have questions, see Nancy Marstaller.
Contemplative Prayer Group
Contemplative Prayer group will be meeting in the meetinghouse on Tuesdays beginning at 7 p.m. through May. The group will then take the summer off.
From Glenice Hutchins:
On April 20 I will be one-third into my radiation treatments. So far I feel well but tire quickly. All your support and prayers have been such a blessing. The healing service sustains me as I lie under the mask. Thanks to all.
Peace, Glenice
Copier Paper Storage and Copier Functioning
By Jo-an Jacobus
I’m sure you’ve heard it before: “Be sure to take the copier paper you didn’t use out of the machine and put it in the ream wrapper in the case box and close the box.”
Annoying process isn’t it? And slow, when you are in a hurry. I mean, what can it really hurt? It worked fine without any hassles. What’s the big deal?
For whatever reason, the copier is very sensitive to the moisture level in the paper, even though we buy paper that is for use with machines that have paper-jamming difficulties. If the lid of the case box is not all the way down, if the ream wrap has been ripped off so it can’t be wrapped around again, even if those things happen at the beginning of a ream, it may be enough to jam the copier.
Then you could be the person on the other end of that conversation, “Who left the paper in the machine? It has jammed 6 (12, ___ ) times! I can’t get it to run through! I need this for Monthly Meeting ( ______ Committee), now!”
The meeting needs for all of us who use the copier to slow down and treat the paper the way it needs to be treated to keep the copier running smoothly. The copier repair person comes as needed to set it to rights again but often the paper is the issue. For us to find that out costs a minimum of $40. We can each do our part by being kind to the copier and in using less paper that will go straight into the recycle bin.
New, and hopefully easier and more effective, ways of storing the paper are being set up and will be in place before long. Until then, please take the paper out of the copier, put it back in the box and put the lid firmly on the box.
LACO Benefit Dinner May 19
By Margaret Wentworth
Holy Trinity Parish of Lisbon Falls is holding a spaghetti / lasagna dinner to benefit the Food Pantry run by Lisbon Area Christian Outreach. It will be held Saturday, May 19, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the church, 67 Frost Hill Ave., Lisbon Falls. The tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for young people. If you are unable to attend but would like to support LACO, buy a ticket in advance but let LACO keep it to pass along to a client of the Food Pantry.
$6 = 31 pounds of food from Good Shepherd Food Bank, but it could also mean … $6 = an evening out and nice dinner for a LACO client.
Durham is to provide desserts for this benefit dinner. As we go to print the details on this part of the plan are not yet available. Listen for announcements at Meeting or contact Margaret Wentworth or Daphne Clement for more information.
Yard Sale May 26 8-1
From our Pastor
The Transition Movement
The last weekend in February 2012, Steve Chase and his partner, Katy Locke, brought to Durham Meeting a daylong seminar on gathering Transition Communities. Steve Chase was the Plenary Speaker at New England Yearly Meeting sessions in 2011. The theme of the 2011 Yearly Meeting was “Called to Heal a Broken Earth.” The DFM event was well attended by both Durham Friends and visitors from nearby communities. Below are excerpts from a paper Steve has written:
“Blessed Are the Organized
Why Quakers Should Consider Joining the Transition Movement”
by Steve Chase “Our lives are caught in a system/culture/society that exploits people and the planet, and leaves us spiritually wanting.”
In his paper Steve Chase quotes a Statement from a 2011 Young Adult Friends Gathering held at Mt. Toby Friends Meeting: “Back in the mid-1600s, Quaker founder George Fox called on the emerging Quaker Movement to help transform the world. The early Friends called this effort the “Lamb’s War,” a term to evoke the nonviolent revolutionary ministry of Jesus … Early Friends clearly felt that it was their responsibility to raise up a new spiritual and community renewal movement …” He suggests in his paper that “there is a strong ethical common ground between” the Religious Society of Friends and the Transition Movement, noting: “Like Quakers, the broader Transition Movement is committed to:
“Earthcare: recognizing that the earth is the source of all life, that the Earth is our only home and that we are a part of the Earth’s web of life, not separate from it.
“Peoplecare: supporting and helping each other to live in a way that is not harmful to ourselves or the planet, and to promote just and healthy societies.
“Fairshare: ensuring that the Earth’s limited resources are utilized in ways that are equitable and wise for both the present and the future wellbeing of the human family and the entire biosphere. … [&] the Transition Movement is visionary, upbeat, and invitational.”
An Invitation
So, how can we at Durham Friends Meeting join the Transition Movement? Well, in many small ways, by the choices we make regarding our personal use of natural resources. And you can come and help with creating the Durham Friends Community Garden. If you are hearty there are plenty of jobs to be done; if not, please bring a plant (tomato, herb or other vegetable) and plant it in one of the raised beds. Stop by from time to time and pull a weed or three. And when it’s harvest time come and gather in the harvest. God’s miracle of creation: from a single seed comes plenty. And lastly, if in the past year there have been physical challenges for you, just come and enjoy the beauty of creation while sitting on the soon to be created bench beneath the new (soon to be created) trellis where our grapes will grow. And there will, I hope, be plenty of flowers. Pick a few, take them home or share them with a friend.
At the end of the summer all of our surplus produce will be donated to the LACO Food Bank. We will save some for our Harvest Supper and Pig Roast (proceeds also to LACO).
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends Minutes of March 18, 2012
The meeting opened at 12:35 p.m. with 19 people present.
Clerk Sue Wood opened with a reading from New Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice: “Sense of Community.” In it, Fox writes, “Friends are not to meet like a company of people about town or parish business…” but to wait on the Lord. George Selleck writes, “It is important that the meeting for business should begin with a genuine period of worship, with an awareness of the real presence and direction of Christ in the worshipping fellowship.”
1.) Clerk Sue Wood read a letter from Tess Hartford requesting tuition assistance for her granddaughter Ariana Andrews for Friends Camp. This request was approved.
2.) A letter was read from Dorothy Grannell of Friends World Conference for Consultation-New England regarding the April “Salt and Light” Conference in Kenya. There will be people from New England attending that conference who would like to visit Monthly Meetings to share their experiences.
It was approved that we extend an invitation to join us on Sunday, May 13, for a potluck and gathering. This will be following the Saturday United Society of Friends Women-New England meeting during which there will be a report from some of these people.
3.) Katharine Hildebrandt brought the Treasurer’s Report both for February and year to date. It was noted that Income for the two months was $9,318.35. But she will need to dip into the General Savings Account to meet the expenses for March. Income for February was $4,128.67 and expenditures were $6,742.92 for the General Fund. Capital expenses for February were $15,066 which completed the purchase of the pellet boiler system; this came out of the Capital Fund.
4.) Wendy Schlotterbeck reported that Ministry and Counsel will be co-sponsoring a Seder Supper with Christian Education on April 5 at 6:00. All are welcomed. Families especially are invited. There will be an Easter sunrise service at the Weed Simpson Cemetery on River Road in Brunswick this year at 6 a.m. A request is being made that people wear their name tags as there is an increase in new people coming to the meeting.
5.) The Meeting approved that Trustees should use the $100 needed to fix the land-line telephone in the Meeting. Trustees remind people not to park under the basketball net, especially now that the weather is good.
6.) Susan Rice reported for Peace and Social Concerns. They were very happy with the workshop on Transitional Communities that Steve Chase and Katy Locke gave and look forward to continuing with some of the ideas and the spirit of the Transitions movement.
Peace and Social Concerns plans to have two fund raising dinners this year: one for Kakamega at the end of June and one for the Lisbon/Auburn Christian Outreach Food Pantry in the autumn. Holding these two dinners for “sharing the wealth” were approved.
7.) Daphne Clement brought the Pastors’ Report. Reading group will be held on Wednesdays in April at 6:30 p.m. (reading the Gospels of Thomas and Mary Magdalene) and Contemplative Prayer gatherings will continue again at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays in May.
Daphne is looking forward to the Meeting’s having a community garden by the parsonage. She has great plans for it and looks forward to a large participation by Meeting members and attenders.
It was approved that Markus Schlotterbeck be invited to bring the message on April 22 following his three and a half month visit to Palestine. He will be asked to speak at a pot-luck on that date. We hold Markus in prayer for his safety.
8.) Sally Skillman reported that Special Events Committee is preparing for Easter.
9.) Wendy Schlotterbeck reminds us that that Jonathan Vogel-Borne has resigned as Secretary of New England Yearly Meeting, effective as of the end of December. Wendy is on the search committee for a new Secretary and welcomes ideas and applications for the position.
Minutes of the meeting were approved as the meeting was held. The Meeting adjourned at 1:55 p.m. with a period of worship.
Respectfully submitted, Susan Rice
Woman’s Society March 19 Meeting
By Angie Reed
On March 19, 17 women and one young woman met at the Meeting House for this month’s meeting. Kitsie Hildebrandt opened the meeting, asking for Devotions to begin. Devotions were given by Dotty DeLoach, who led us in singing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” Angie Reed led the program using the reading program book “Praying in Color.” All who attended had the opportunity to create a personal “praying in color” and share in a group coloring activity.
The Annual Treasurer’s Report for 2011 was presented by Margaret Wentworth. This past year the Woman’s Society raised $3,689.21 and gave away $3,300.06 to many worthy causes — including the “Adopt a Nurse” Program.
The remainder was spent on group expenses, including our annual national dues and books for the Adult and Young Friends reading programs.
Prayers were asked for the Friends Theological College Program, which, in addition to other services, provides ministry to the Kakuma Refugee Camp. This Camp serves more than 90,000 refugees who have been forcibly displaced from countries in East Africa because of war.
The Tedford meal for March was salad, sloppy joes, lasagna, a casserole, buns and chocolate chip cookie bars.
A date was set for the yard sale: It will be on the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. Items can be donated NO EARLIER THAN MAY 13. Concern was expressed by members about the difficulty cleaning up at the end of the yard sale. This is because of large items that have been donated, despite our annual request that no items larger than a microwave be donated.
Various ideas were discussed about how to make this policy more clear to people who donate items to the yard sale. This yard sale is primarily organized and run by the female members of the Meeting who have difficulty handling large items. Often, Woman’s Society gets charged a disposal fee to get rid of large items, which decreases revenue raised by this yard sale.
If people who have donations have any questions or concerns about this, please see a Woman’s Society Member.
At the end of the business meeting all gathered to enjoy the refreshments provided by Theresa Oleksiw and Abby Fortune.
To end the meeting Kitsie read a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem. The next meeting will be on April 16 at 7 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
Please wear your nametags!
By Ministry & Counsel
We have new attenders and visitors who don’t know all our names. Out of courtesy to them, and any forgetful regulars, please wear your nametag at Meeting. Some of you have already made them. They are in a box or basket on the shelf in the entryway. If you don’t already have one, or have forgotten it at home, there are blank nametags in the basket, so you make yourself one.
The Meeting thanks for your help!
Falmouth Quarterly Meeting
By Margaret Wentworth
Falmouth Quarterly Meeting will meet at Portland meetinghouse on April 28. The schedule is:
8 a.m.Ministry & Counsel (M & C members from all meetings are invited) 10 a.m.Meeting for Worship 11:15 a.m. Meeting for Business Noon(ish) Lunch, provided by Portland Friends 1:30 p.m.Program concerning prison reform, with emphasis on the problems of solitary confinement. There will be a video.
There will be a youth program on sustainability facilitated by Wendy Schlotterbeck. We will be watching a movie and building stick sculptures. Childcare will be provided.
Quarterly Meeting gives us all an opportunity to meet and worship with Friends from other meetings, and can be a great time of fellowship and inspiration! Do plan to come for all or part of the day.
Plants for the Woman’s Society Yard Sale
Wow, what an early spring we are having! If you are dividing/growing plants and have extra, please consider donating them to the yard sale. We have pots available in the horse-shed. This year’s sale will be on Saturday, May 26, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. We ask that you bring plants no earlier than May 20, and you may bring them up to the morning of the sale. Please label with type, color if you know it, and any special growing considerations (shade, sun, vigorous spreader, etc.). Thanks for all your past support. If you have questions, see Nancy Marstaller.
Spring Gathering of New England USFW
By Dorothy Grannell, of Portland Meeting and USFW-NE
The Spring Gathering of United Society of Friends Women – New England is being held at Durham Friends Meetinghouse on Saturday, May 12.
The schedule is: 10 a.m. Welcome 10:15 a.m. Worship 11 a.m. Program (Several women who
have returned from the 6th World Conference of Friends at Nakuru, Kenya, will speak.)
12 p.m. Business meeting, including: Plans for gathering at NEYM Sessions and fall gathering; previous minutes and other items from officers of USFW; decide on special appeal for next newsletter; news from Cuba and other women’s groups in New England.
12:30 p.m. Lunch
4 of 6
1:30 p.m. Program continues 3 p.m. Closing
All are welcome!
Yard Sale!
By Angie Reed
The Woman’s Society annual yard sale is right around the corner. The date this year is Saturday, May 26. As usual, it runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is a major event in the calendar of the Meeting and Woman’s Society. It takes the whole meeting to pitch in and work together to make this event the success it always is. A signup sheet for volunteers will be hung closer to the date.
Donations will be gratefully accepted beginning Sunday, May 13. We have a large gathering at the Meetinghouse on Saturday, May 12, and there just won’t be room for donations until Sunday.
It is now time to think about clearing out those knick-knacks that have been stored away … or, perhaps, still usable items from the children’s array of playthings, or from the utensil drawer of the kitchen. Books and other media are welcome.
Your imagination has no bounds, with one
exception: We cannot stress enough, please do not donate things that are not smaller than a small microwave. This year we are putting out the word more than ever before. This means, among other things, no furniture. We cannot take microwaves either. Most, if not all, of them are still on the table at the end of the day. This policy and notice have been made stronger because large items have been donated despite our annual request.
This yard sale is primarily organized and run by the female members of the Meeting who have difficulty handling large items. Often, Women’s Society gets charged a disposal fee to get rid of large items which decreases revenue raised by this yard sale.
If people with donations have any questions or concerns about this, please see a Woman’s Society Member.
Seder Supper
Ministry and Counsel and Christian Education April 5, at 6 p.m. All are welcomed. Families will be co-sponsoring a Seder Supper on Thursday, especially are invited.
Reading Group Starts New Round
By Daphne Clement
The reading group will start up again, this time to read the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. The meetings will be on
Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. at the meetinghouse and will begin on April 4. Contact Daphne if you are interested or for more information: 353.6354
Message on Palestine
Markus Schlotterbeck will be giving the message on Sunday, April 22, about his experiences in Palestine. A potluck follows meeting that day. Markus will also be speaking following the meal.
From Tess Marstaller
Peace Corps Volunteer, Cameroon
Asinge, Friends!
At a few degrees above the equator, my Cameroonian village in West Africa can at least depend on one thing arriving with consistency – nightfall at 6:30. Water in the public taps, phone network, electricity, the long promised road repairs, teachers for the new school year, cross your fingers but don’t hold your breath. Electricity has been out for almost a week now.
Today I traveled to charge my computer, only to find that riding over broken roads on motorcycles, or jungle humidity, or maybe lizard droppings, have gotten the best of my keyboard. So many letters don’t work, what I’ve typed looks like code! I’m typing by candlelight and have put out buckets to collect rain for my bath and dishes.
My alarm clock will be the bustle of early morning village life: chickens, babies, wood-chopping, open-fire cooking, neighbors yelling greetings to those trekking to their cocoa farms or hauling water.
It’s all part of my roller coaster ride as I try to integrate into my community as a Peace Corps health volunteer, the first foreigner to have a presence here in 20 years. The learning curve has been more like free fall as I get used to hearing “WHITEMAN” yelled as I pass by villagers still taken aback by my presence, and keep my front door open despite my desire for privacy to respect the culture of openness.
My job, helping this community identify and address their health development needs, has been the most rewarding, exasperating, and eye-opening experience I’ve ever been thrown head first into.
Perhaps most moving has been teaching reproductive health to young women who are going through adolescence and womanhood without even basic information. The school curriculum includes no sexual education, though premature pregnancy and STD’s are major problems among youth. The first time I held a seminar for 7th – 9th grade aged girls I put out a “Question Box” for their confidential matters and could not hand out slips of paper fast enough for their outpouring of uncertainties. I cried reading them later, realizing I’d hit a nerve of serious need that I could actually respond to.
Helping them navigate pregnancy, child-rearing concerns, introducing the benefits of family planning, and sending the message that they can positively influence their own lives is a role I love. Doing so in the context of rampant need and the social and cultural complications I’ve been learning about for years is a dream come true.
Still, the going is slow. The heat, harassment and endless house malfunctions can make crawling out of bed utterly overwhelming. Yet, the headaches of trying to function where basic functioning often seems out of reach are made immediately worth it by the thrilling moments. Yesterday a nurse and I hosted the first session of a support group we are trying to launch for HIV+ women. It has taken months to find even a few women willing to share their status with others. Talking about the free treatment available to these women, who have never had autonomy over so much as a dollar, let alone their own health, was powerful.
Kids have been the golden ticket to feeling at home here. Their adoring greetings (“Auntie Tasse, Auntie TASSE!”) and laughter as we draw and play cards on my porch always brighten my day. I can’t wait until they return from their relatives’ holiday care so I can distribute the equipment and supplies you sent through the Women’s Society. What an amazing outpouring of childhood goodies that these kids have never known. My heartfelt thanks to you all. For pictures of my recent summer camp, check out my blog at tessincameroon.blogspot.com. For questions or more dialogue, email me at tmarstaller@gmail.com Thanks for your prayers of support!
An Invitation from the Parsonage
Creativity is a gift of the Spirit! And what is it that inspires us to create? The beauty of God’s creation; the love between us; a light heart; something funny or tender or even tragic … here is the sacred in our ordinary lives. Let us give voice to this, or capture it with your camera, your palette and your brush.
George Fox asked: “And what cans’t thou say?” and so does your Newsletter Committee.
Daphne Clement
September Newsletter
Dear Durham Meeting Friends,
In August we will not meet for Monthly Meeting and Woman’s Society enjoys an “Eat Out” together, so their report will be short. Because we will have an unusual amount of free space in the September newsletter, the Pastor and Newsletter Committee invite you, young and not so, member or not, to submit your original creations: works of art, photos, poems, short prose, lyrics that express faith or beauty, i.e. appreciation of the natural world, Spirit in your lives. Here is an opportunity; please join us in Durham Friends Creative Newsletter Issue. Artwork and photos need to be in jpeg format, high resolution would be best. For written content, it is lovely if it can come in some version of Word. Instead of either above, we can scan anything flat up to 8½”X11” but no slides. Dropping art or written work into an envelope works. The bottom line is to get it to us any way you can. We’ll take care of the rest and will return your treasure to you. Please submit your creative piece to arrive by Sunday, August 21st to:
In person: Jo-an Jacobus or Daphne Clement,
Via mail: Jo-an, 65 Preble Rd #18, Bowdoinham 04008; or Daphne, 848 Pinkham Brook Rd, Durham 043222
Or via email: mjo.anjacobus@gmail.com; or clement.daphne@gmail.com.
Just can’t wait to see what you’ll be sending in.
The Newsletter Committee
Durham Monthly Meeting Minutes, July 17, 2011
July 17, 2011
Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends convened on Sunday, July 17, 2011, at 12:15 pm with 16 people present. Co-Clerk Edwin Hinshaw read a quote from Thomas Kelly: “Social concern is the dynamic life of God at work in the world.”
1. Theresa Oleksiw and Leslie Manning reported for Ministry and Counsel.
a) Ministry and Counsel recommends that the new sound system be provided by Confield Associates. This system means there will be hand held microphones so that everyone will be able to hear. (It was determined that the hanging mics would not work in our meeting room.) It will cost between $1900 -$2100. Woman’s Society has $2000 earmarked for this. Finance Committee is asked to suggest how any cost over $2000 should be met. This recommendation was approved.
b) Because of child safety concerns for child care in the meetinghouse, M&C recommends having half windows installed in the nursery room doors for both of the access doors. Finance Committee is asked to look into how the costs for this would be met. This was approved.
c) The telephone tree is now available and will be distributed to all who are on the tree with extra copies available on the table in the library.
d) A questionnaire to assist in the annual evaluation of the Pastor will be done by forms that will be made available in the August newsletter as well as on the table in the library. Daphne Clement will also be filling out an evaluation. There will be a place on the form where members and attenders can say what they would like in the way of program offerings and when they might be available to attend such programs. M&C will bring a report of the evaluation and a recommendation coming from it to Monthly Meeting in November.
2. The Treasurer’s Report (attached) was distributed by Katherine Hildebrandt and was accepted with great thanks. Income for June was $2,936.03 and Expenses for June were $6,523.41. The significantly lower amount in contributions in June reflects seasonal differences.
a) It was noted that we budgeted $42,000 for contributions for 2011 and at the half-way point of the year, we have brought in $20,690, so we are very close to the budgeted projection. However our income for the first 6 months of 2011 is $4980 short of our expenses in the same period.
b) The Rise Up Singing benefit concert of the youth group brought in $1650. $650 went to pay the musicians. $250 has gone to sponsor a child at the Kakamega USFW Orphan Project. The youth group is still deciding how to allocate the rest of the money.
c) Finance Committee is still working on developing the method of making electronic transfers for people who want to make their contributions through automatic bank transfers.
d) $1261.26 is available as part of the compensation package for Daphne Clement to go to conferences. We approved allocating $500 of that to assist Daphne with her costs for going to New England Yearly Meeting sessions.
3. Susan Rice and Leslie Manning reported for Peace and Social Concerns.
a) They wish to hold a second benefit dinner for Lisbon Area Christian Outreach (LACO) food pantry on Saturday, October 1. It would be a “Harvest Dinner and Pies” event. Shiloh and Church of the Brethren would be asked to carry this event with us. This recommendation was approved. Daphne Clement is offering to be the liaison for Durham’s connections to LACO for fundraising. This was quickly approved
b) On Saturday November 12th, Peace and Social Concerns is recommending that we hold a Kenya Crafts Sale and Tea. The crafts would be brought back from Kenya by Susan and the sale of them will directly benefit the Orphan Project. At a particular point in the day, there would be a “Kenyan Tea (and biscuits)” and a reporting from those who were part of the trip this summer. This was heartily approved.
c) On Sunday, January 29, 2012 (the 5th Sunday of the month) Peace and Social Concerns would like to invite Brunswick and Lewiston Friends for worship and a pot luck with a program on how war spending has affected our job economy.
4) Dorothy Hinshaw reported for Christian Education Committee:
a) The special offering taken on Children’s Day (for the Children and Youth projects of United Society of Friends Women [USFW]) was $215. Durham’s Woman’s society has contributed further funds to make it a total of $500.
b) Rally Day will be on September 11. Plans for the year will be reviewed at that time.
c) At the end of August there will be a training workshop called Our Whole Life (OWL) Training, for middle school and high school curriculum. Daphne Clement’s conference fees are already covered in her compensation package. The Meeting approved funding for Wendy Schlotterbeck and Katharine Hildebrandt through the Christian Education budget and Conference funds.
5) Daphne Clement gave the pastors’ report.
a) She attended Friends General Conference Summer Gathering in July where she co-led a “Spiritual Journey and Writing” workshop that was very well received. Nearly 1000 Friends from all over the world were in attendance and she appreciated living for a week in a “village of Friends.”
b) Pastoral visits continue. She gives special thanks to Bill Curtis who does an exceptional job on our lawns. The community garden is coming along very well.
c) Jim Douglas will be bringing the message on August 7.
d) The sign is a work in progress. It was decided that the sign will have the website on it instead of the telephone number.
5) The Meeting decided to give $1200 (a 10% tithe from our Charity Fund) to the Brunswick Unitarian Universalist Church to help the rebuilding of their church following the fire.
6) It was approved that Elizabeth Muench will serve as our Ministry and Counsel representation to NEYM until or unless another person is appointed to undertake this responsibility
7) Monthly Meeting will not be held in August.
8) The minutes of the Monthly Meeting were approved during the meeting.
9) The Meeting adjourned, continuing in the spirit of worship, at 1:40 P.M.
Susan Rice, Recording Clerk
Kakamega Update: July 2011
By Sukie Rice
I will be leaving for Kenya July 27, and am excited about this year’s trip. We have a great group of 14 adults and youth going, all ready for adventure. We’re carrying 30 storage bins of children’s clothing, gifts, art supplies sports equipment, sheets and towels. I am excited that this year we are bringing 258 fleece jackets and all the children will have a jacket now to keep them warm, thanks to all the sponsors,
Although the project was begun with a focus on the Care Centre, the High School portion of the Care Centre has steadily grown from three students in the first year to 58 this year. Please read the report and know that, without sponsorships, the boys would be in despair as to what to do with themselves and the girls would be pregnant by 16, with or without a young man to take care of them and their baby.
Woman’s Society July 18, 2011
By Nancy Marstaller
We met on a perfect summer evening at Helen Clarkson’s lovely home with its fantastic view. Margaret Wentworth led us in devotions and the program – taking highlights from the last two programs from our Blueprints lessons book. One was based on the story of Jesus healing the man who had been crippled for 38 years. Jesus asked if he wanted to be healed.
We pondered how sometimes we cling to old ways of life, even if new ways of being open to us. The known feels safer, even if we know the new way will be better for others and ourselves. We wondered how we might need to change our Woman’s Society so that we continue to be a group that meets women’s spiritual needs.
We talked about the past split in New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, and what might have happened if we had lived up to our ideals and the split never occurred. It’s sometimes hard to remember that we are looking for God’s will in our lives, not our own will’s desires.
In the business meeting, we sent “thinking of you” cards to several. Our treasurer reported a balance of $3540.93, of which $2000 is earmarked for the meeting sound system.
We decided to donate to several of the USFWI projects: $150 each to Keys to the Kingdom, Four Funds, Peace and Christian Social Concerns, and the Christian Service Fund and $100 to the Thanks Offering. Locally, we approved donating $100 each to Opportunity Farm, the Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine, and Tedford Housing.
We are asked to pray for those attending the Friends United Meeting Triennial, especially visitors from Kenya, many of whom have been denied visas by our government so won’t be able to attend. We pray for our policy makers, that their hearts be opened.
Our nominating committee reported that most positions have been filled for the coming year. They still have a couple more people to ask. We are so grateful to all who are willing to share in the roles needed to keep our society working. Jo-an volunteered to produce an updated contact list.
The Tedford meal in July was vegetarian and hot dog macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, green salad, watermelon, and cookies.
If you don’t already receive the NE USFW newsletter and would like to, let Clarabel Marstaller know. You may receive it by email or post.
Our August meeting will be our annual eat out on August 15 at 6 PM. We agreed we would like to go back to the Lion’s Pride. Theresa will check out making arrangements.
We polished off our evening with Helen’s delicious raspberry and cherry pies, and other goodies, after that we continued to enjoy each other’s company before heading into the warm summer night.
