SEASONED GREETINGS

A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF ROANOKE MONTHLY MEETING Winter Edition 2019 - 2020

... In the bleak midwinter frosty winds made moan. Earth stood hard as iron. Water like a stone. If I were a wise man, would I do my part? Yet what can I give Him? Give my heart. WINTER AT ROANOKE FRIENDS MEETING december, january, february and early march

Every Sunday: 10:30 am: Meeting for Worship every sunday: following rise of worship: snacks and fellowship

First Sundays: 12 noon:potluck meal following rise of meeting at noon Collection of food items for back pack program on these Sundays (when school is in session) second sundays: 12 noon: Adult Religious Education Discussions Third Sundays: !2 noon, Meeting for worship with attention to business fourth sundays: 12 noon: Varied programs of interest to friends fourth tuesdays: 7:00 until 8:00 pm: Chanting at the Meetinghouse ) second wednesdays: 7:00 pm: evening worship. for more info: contat Gary Sandman: [email protected] every third saturday: 12 noon: peace vigil at roanoke city market buildings

OTHER EVENTS, AS THEY ARE SCHEDULED, WILL APPEAR ON THE MEETINGHOUSE CALENDAR AT THE MEETINGHOUSE, ON THE NEWSLETTER IS PUBLISHED 4 TIMES OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND ALSO WILL BE CIRCULATED VIA A YEAR, ON THE FIRST DAY OF EVERY EMAILS SEASON. THE SPRING NEWSLETTER WILL BE PUBLISHED ON MARCH 19, THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING (SPRING EQUINOX).

PLEASE NOTE THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR THE SPRING NEWSLET- TER IS MARCH 10TH.

REGRETFULLY, SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED AFTER THAT DATE WILL NOT APPEAR IN THE WINTER NEWSLETTER.

QUERIES AND ADVICES FOR WINTER

Simplicity Am I aware that the ways in which I choose to use my time, my possessions, my money, and my energy reflect my most deeply held values?

How do we support one another in our search for a simpler life?

What am I ready to release so that I can give my attention to what matters most?

What in my present life most distracts me from God? ALL AROUND THE MEETINGHOUSE... IMPORTANT REMINDER FROM RELIGIOUS ED COMMITTEE The committee reminds Friends that children’s RE only occurs on the first Sunday of each month. However, there is a childrens box on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in the gathering room thatc ontains snacks andlots of quiet activities for any children who come at other times.

Religious Ed Adult discussions are starting up again this fall. The committee is always seeking inspired Friends who have a topic to share.

Quaker Speak videos which have been very popular in the past will also be a part of the line-up. chanting We gather the fourth Tuesday of each month at the Meetinghouse at 7:00 pm for an hour of sacred chants from many faith traditions. Please join us. Chanting is a gentle but powerful way we can awaken to, be moved by, and create deeper union with the Spirit within and all around us. Simple melodies and simple words sung over and over can become extraordinarily powerful, especially when each chant emerges from and returns to deep silence. Enter into and become part of a sacred river of sound and silence, trusting that its current will take you where you need to go. midweek worship On second Wednesdays of every month we offer an evening Meeting for Worship at the Meetinghouse. Worship begins at 7:00 pm, lasting for one hour. Mid-week worship offers a rich opportunity for spiritual refreshment in the middle of the work week.

happy birthday

On January 4th, our dear Friend, Genevieve Waring will turn 95! As many know, Genevieve is a founding member of Roanoke Friends Meeting. Although she does not attend as regularly as she used to, she is still quite robust and active. Send her a card to commemorate this milestone birthday!

The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been. ~ Madeleine L’ Engle farewell and best wishes Roanoke Meeting bids a reluctant farewell to Russ and Sarah Baskett who have moved to northern Virginia. Russ and Sarah were a vital part of our Meeting community and will very much be missed. We wish them every happiness in their new home and look forward to hearing from them.

Wishes for a speedy recovery Recently, Susan Tyree had a nasty fall resulting in an even nastier fractured elbow. Following surgery on December 10th, she is currently in a cast as long as her arm in order to maintain her arm in straight alignment. Please hold Susan in the Light as she heals from a very painful break. She would welcome calls, notes and visits. Please call her landline: 540-334-2008 as her cell phone service is spotty. COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRIES It is a season of feasting and celebration for many but for some it is a challenge to merely subsist. An estimated 49.1 million Americans, or 16.4 percent, are food insecure; meaning their access to enough food is limited by a lack of money and other resources. That roughly equates to 1 out of every six Americans! Needs are especially great this year, so please remember those less fortunate.There are many agencies in the area that would welcome donations of food. Here are just a few: Call the numbers to check for directions and hours. RAM house: 343-3753 The Rescue Mission: 777-3794 Samaritan Inn: 343-1447 TRUST: 344-8060 Bethany Hall: 343-4261 The Presbyterian Community Center: 982-2911 The Salvation Army: 343-5335

Also, consider a monetary contribution to Feeding America Southwest Virginia. Feeding. They have served the 26 counties and associated municipalities that make up Southwest Virginia for over three decades. As the leader in hunger relief in our region, FASWVA distributes more than 20 million pounds of food annually to nearly 400 partner agency soup kitchens, rescue missions and food pantries. ______

GIFT SUGGESTIONS To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect. ~Oren Arnold ______

THINKING ABOUT RACE: JANUARY 2020 Elijah Cummings’ “A Letter to My Father”

Early In Elijah Cummings’ congressional service, he wrote a letter to his father, Robert Cummings, thanking him for all that he had done for him. In 1996 or 1997, he asked for and received his father’s permission to publish that letter in the Baltimore AFRO American newspaper. It was reprinted in the Nov. 30-Dec. 6, 2019, issue; this is an excerpt.

“You created over and over again positive visions for us. You refused to allow us to be limited to a few square blocks of Baltimore….

“I also thank you for your consistent efforts to protect us from a cruel world. Every time you would come home after work- ing very long hours as a laborer at Davison Chemical, you would sit in the car in front of the house for at least an hour. Whether it was 20 degrees or 95 degrees, you sat there in the car quietly. We all knew not to disturb you.

“When you got out of the car you displayed a calm and gentle smile. Some years later I asked you why was it that you always sat in the car before coming into the house. You responded by telling me that at work you were often treated badly, discriminated against, and called everything but a child of God. You said that your anger would be so great that you felt a need to calm down so that your family would not become victimized by your anger.

“I thank you for teaching us to give of our time and resources to make the world a better place to live. As children we watched as you constantly helped people in our neighborhood.”

This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaison at each local Meeting. The BYM WGR meets most months on the first Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Locations vary to allow access to more Friends. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge, david. [email protected]. QUAKER ARTIST OF THE MONTH BRADLEY WHITFORD

Bradley Whitford (b. 1959) is an American actor, writer and political activist. He is best-known for his role as Josh Lyman in the NBC series, The West Wing. Among his many other plays, television shows and films are A Few Good Men, Transparent, The Handmaid’s Tale, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Scent of a Woman, Philadelphia, The Post, and Get Out. He has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Critics' Choice Television Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He wrote two episodes of The West Wing as well as occasional columns for The Huffington Post.

Whitford was raised a Friend at Madison (NYM) Meeting. He has said repeatedly that his concern for peace and justice comes from the religious education that he received at First Day School as a child. (He notes, “….the Quaker version of Sunday school was basically social action. There was this idea of being a little kid and talking about prison reform and stuff like that”). He has worked on many issues, like climate change, women’s reproductive choice and the death penalty. Currently he serves on the board of Let America Vote, an organization aiming to end voter suppression. As an adult, he became an Episcopalian. Recently I subscribed to Netflix. Watching Bradley Whitford’s portrayal of Josh Lyman, the brilliant, driven Deputy Chief of Staff, on The West Wing has been a real joy. A solid, working actor. ~ Gary Sandman

REFELECTION FOR WINTER Inner Solitude

“People look in vain places for peace. They seek it in the world outside, in places, people, ways, activities. but no peace is found in this way. They are looking in the wrong direction, and the longer they look the less they find what they are looking for. ~

Spirituality is not to be learned by flight from the world, by running away from things, or by turning solitary and going apart from the world. Rather, we learn an inner solitude wherever or with whomsoever we may be. We must learn to penetrate things and find God there.” ~ Meister Eckhart Start your new year with some thoughts and favorite quotes from Roanoke Friends and past newsletters

From Judy Marlow: We Were Made for These Times by Clarissa Pinkola Estes:

“My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times...... Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world,, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. ... One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares , builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. ....

Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. ...

When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.”

GOD BE IN MY HEAD

God be in my head, and in my understanding; God be in mine eyes, and in my looking; God be in my mouth, and in my speaking; God be in my heart, and in my thinking; God be at mine end, and at my departing. From Mac Broussard: MLK, Jr.: “Truth crushed to the Earth will rise again…The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice…God can make a way out of no way.

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. ~William Ellery Channing

Where did we get the idea that life should be easy? When did hard work and persever- ance become negatives? Perhaps when we stopped delighting in our accomplishments.

Today, consider all the hard things you’ve accomplished in your life. ~ Submited by Tom Nasta

Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the I Will Light Candles world. by Howard Thurman All things break. And all things can be mend- ed. I will light Candles this Christmas; Not with time, as they say, but with intention. Candles of joy despite all sadness, So Go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, un- Candles of hope where despair keeps watch, conditionally. Candles of courage for fears ever present, The broken world waits in the darkness for the Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days, light that is in you. Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens, ~ L. R. Knost Candles of love to inspire all my living, Candles that will burn all the year long.

~ Submitted by Herb Beskar