Fairfield MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF FAIRFIELD FRIENDS MEETING APRIL 2015 – VOLUME 4 friend
It’s Time for a Fish Fry!!
Church Events Apr 4th – Drum Circle Apr 4th – Easter Egg Hunt – 2pm
th Apr 5 – Outreach Committee – RoW Apr 5th – Peace & Justice Com – RoW
Apr 6th – CARA
Apr 8th – Trustees – 7pm Apr 9th – Tai Chi
th Apr 9 – Ministry & Council – 7pm Apr 10th – Men’s Fellowship Fish Fry
Apr 11th – Men’s Fellowship Fish Fry
Apr 12th – Meeting for Business – RoW Apr 13th – Looking Forward – 7pm
rd Apr 23 – Tai Chi Apr 24th – Peace & Justice Movie Nite th Apr 26 – P & J Book Brunch, 11:45a Apr 27th – USFW – 3pm
Presiding Clerk – Lee Edmundson Pastors Contact: (317) 839-1223 – [email protected] Phil Gulley - [email protected] - (317) 446-4923 Jennifer Silver - [email protected] - (317) 442-7250
Camp Dates for 2015 “Truth will not Christian Education Youth Leadership Camp lose ground by (Ages 14‐18) June 5‐7 being tried.”
Committee Junior High Camp ~ Isaac Penington~
Notes from the Christian Education Committee (Grades 6‐8) June 7‐12 1616-1679
The Christian Education Quaker Haven Sunday will Senior High Camp I Committee invites be April 26th. All the (Grades 9‐Grads) everyone, including your camp info will be June 14‐19 THE DATE IS HERE! friends and family, to our presented and you are Beginners Camp Easter Egg Hunt . This will THE FISH FRY asked to wear your QH (Grades K‐2) June 19‐21 th th be held on Sat., April 4th April 10 and 11 gear and perhaps share a 11:00a to 7:00p at 2PM at the White story. Camp scholarships Adventure Camp Meetinghouse . There will Help is still needed! will be available. Please (Grades 5‐6) June 21‐26 be snacks and games. We contact April Stevens, See Ralph or Larry to hope to see you there. If Senior High Camp II let them know you 317‐450‐8436, you have any questions, (Grades 9‐Grads) want to help! [email protected] please contact Dinah June 28 – July 3 with any questions. Bring your friends and Geiger at 317 ‐752‐5306. neighbors! Little Friends Camp
(Grades 2‐4) July 19‐22
FAIRFIELD USFW Attention Golfers!
During the Fish Fry, on April 10th and Dear Fairfield Friends Meeting, 11th, the Fairfield United Society of We would like to invite you to attend the 3rd Friends Women (USFW) will be selling Annual Family Promise of Hendricks County Golf their cookbooks. In addition they will be Invitational, sponsored by Hendricks Regional hosting a Bead for Life Party. Many of Health. Please join us on Saturday May, 16th at the beautiful Deer Creek Golf Club. you may remember when we did this
Register before the event and your individual while we were still in the White registration is $75 which includes lunch and a Meetinghouse. Bead for Life is a non‐ BBQ dinner. As another incentive for registering profit organization that works to early, you will also receive a $20.00 voucher for a eradicate extreme poverty by creating round of golf, with a cart, to be used any time during the remainder of the season. bridges of understanding between impoverished Africans and concerned Again, this is a four‐person scramble so invite your friends or let us create your foursome to world citizens. Ugandan women turn introduce you to a whole new group of golfing colorful recycled paper into beautiful buddies. beads. The beads provide income, food,
All proceeds will benefit Family Promise of medicine, school fees and hope. It is a Hendricks County. small miracle that enriches us all. We invite you all to stop by our table support Sign up at www.familypromisehendrickscounty.org this group. Thanks!
Singing Among Quakers, Pt 2
RISE UP SINGING. In the mid‐1980's we decided to try and Peace & Justice transform Winds of the People into a fully legit songbook. (I should stress that we had tried to get permissions for Winds of the People but had gotten doors slammed in our face virtually without serious ‐ Please join Peace and Social Justice consideration of our request by most of the big music publishers. Many individual artists had given us their permission and we had Committee on April 24 at 7pm for Movie Night. We will be showing A Path been scrupulous in not keeping any earnings from Winds.) _ WOTP_ had sold over 30,000 copies totally by word of mouth and Appears: Sex Trafficking in the USA. out of the living rooms of Friends and their friends. WOTP was reborn as Rise Up Singing: bigger, better, fully legal and thus ‐ Peace and Social Justice Committee will saleable in your neighborhood bookstore. The group singing at FGC host a Book Brunch (book club). It’s gatherings went on... held at Fairfield on April 26, 11:45 am. Many Meetings began holding monthly sings using WOTP or Rise This month’s book is Half The Sky: Up Singing. Annie and I often traveled around to visit meetings and Turning Oppression Into Opportunity lead singalong concerts, often co‐sponsored with other churches, For Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. schools or projects that reflected Quaker testimonies. These concerts and ongoing singalong groups have provided important Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Please notify Linze Edwards at vehicles for outreach for many Meetings. The songbook itself, with its heavy emphasis on Friends testimonies, has been a significant [email protected] for the book. The vehicle for permeating our beliefs through its half a million copies book will be due upon group discussion sold. We believe with Pete Seeger that empowered peoples' on April 26. Please bring favorite singing is an invaluable tool for undermining the grip which a snacks to share. warfare state and consumer culture hold over people's souls. PETE SEEGER. Speaking of Pete Seeger, a major highlight in Friends ‐ Please Join Peace and Social Justice singing at gatherings occurred at the gathering held in Committee on April 18 at 2:30 pm for a Harrisonburg VA in 1997 when Pete Seeger came to the Gathering. tour at the Islamic Society of North Friends had tried off and on to get Pete to attend a gathering for many years. Many FGC Friends have been moved and inspired by America, 6555 South 750 East, Plainfield, IN 46168 his musical and political leadership and recognized the major contribution he has made to the movements for peace, social
justice and unity with nature. One notable such effort centered on
trying to get Pete and Toshi to attend a gathering to honored by Friends for their great contributions to world peace. Pete (who
hates such events focusing on his own accomplishments) would have nothing of it! Finally, at one point I asked him if there was anything that would get him to attend a gathering. He said, "Well, I don't have much energy for singing lots of places anymore. I kind of feel like singing with Friends is singing to the already converted. I like to focus my time as much as I can on singing with new groups who aren't so familiar with me, like union members, people of “The challenge of social justice is to color and young people." My face lit up. I said: "Pete: do you have any idea how many children and teenagers attend these evoke a sense of community that we gatherings?!" Pete was hooked. need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer Pete brought two African‐American friends with him to share in his musical contribution to the gathering. These three led musical place.” workshops for every junior gathering group. On Wednesday night
a gymnasium was filled with our gathering plus a goodly number of others from Harrisonburg. One could feel how moved Friends -Marian Wright Edelman were to be with this great man and to hear him address them in song and in words. The entire wall of bleachers along one side of the gym was filled with huge numbers of young people, fully with Pete heart and soul. Pete was very glad to have come. (Although Pete and Toshi were not Quakers, they sent their children to First Day School for a number of years in Poughkeepsie. Finally one of their children questioned the justice of being forced to go to a religious activity that their parents did not share and this
practiced ended. Their grandson Kitama also attended Oakwood School.) Fairfield Friends Meeting 10441 E County Road 700 S
Camby, IN 46113
Return Service Requested
Announcements Denny at [email protected] and he will assess the FAIRFIELD COMMUNICATIONS RESOURCES feasibility of each and create an official "To Do" list. We encourage anyone not currently receiving regular
Fairfield email notifications to contact Stacey Denny at [email protected] to be added onto our email list. This MARK YOUR CALENDARS is our quickest and most efficient form of communication FOR A MOTHER‐DAUGHTER TEA to everyone. When you sign up, you will receive The Fairfield United Society of Friends Women important notifications of weather closings, birth, death will be hosting a Mother‐Daughter Tea on and illness notices, upcoming event information, the Saturday, May 2, 2015 at 2:00 PM at the Fairfield Newsletter, and other important Fairfield news meetinghouse. We have not had an event like this and information. If you are unable to receive email, Fairfield has a phone calling tree that is activated for several years and we are hoping many of our typically in urgent news situations such as a death or female members/attenders and their mothers weather cancellation. If you had not previously asked to and daughters will be able to attend. USFW is be on this phone calling list and are unable to receive furnishing all the food so please RSVP by April emails, please contact Stacey Denny at 317.313.1171 and 26th to Lynne Durocher. Her contact information she will make sure that you get added to the list to is: [email protected]; 317‐379‐4132. receive phone calls of this nature.
SPRING CLEAN‐UP DAY! The Fairfield Trustees and Housekeeping Committee will NEWSLETTER DEADLINE hold an Inside and Out Spring Clean Up Day on Saturday, Items for the Newsletter need to be submitted by May 2nd beginning at 8:30 am. Please plan to attend and the 20th of each month. Send items to lend a hand to make easier work for all. You may submit [email protected] or call Michael at 317‐409‐ any suggestions of things that need attention to Herb 6791.
SINGING AMONG QUAKERS, continued
A NEW HYMNAL. It took a significant leap of faith for FGC to decide to create a new hymnal. The old hymnals had been out of print for many years with no great torrent of grassroots demand for a new one. Many meetings had stopped singing hymns many years ago, either preferring to sing folk songs using books like Rise Up Singing or stopping shared singing altogether. A core group of Friends, however, were convinced that the right collection of songs would strike a deep chord among un‐programmed Friends. Certainly, Friends had been singing lustily together at FGC gatherings every summer. Would the enthusiasm of singing at gatherings translate into sufficient sales of a new hymnal? Certainly no one could guarantee they would. Nonetheless, a group was formed to begin the project. I personally stood aside at first in spite of warm invitations to take part. I had a hard time imagining that a committee could create an inspired song collection. I had visions (O, I of little faith!) in endless arguments over language, theology and musical style. Little did I imagine what the Holy Spirit could do with this project! A selection team was formed (the infamous "Musewog" or Musical Selection Working Group). This team gathered for many long weekends of work, in spite of being scattered across the United States. And the Spirit certainly did guide our work. (I say "our" because I was unable to resist for long the possibility of taking part in such an important musical venture for Friends ‐ I had too much investment in what songs I hoped we would be singing together in years to come!) All of us, I think, who made up this extraordinary singing community had our own personal convictions about what songs worked and didn't, about how to best tackle controversial issues around theology. And yet the Spirit somehow managed to get beyond these personal biases and agendas and to plant conviction in our common hearts as to what songs were best to include and which (often with great regret!) to let go. The new hymnal (entitled Worship in Song) was finally published in 1996. It has been a rousing success beyond the greatest hopes, I think, of those who brought it to life. Certainly there are those who must find it too Christian, too male in its images of God, or who prefer to stick to folkier songs or not to sing at all. Nonetheless, the great quality and diversity of the songs in this collection has appealed to a wide spectrum of Friends. Hymn singing has, as a result, sprung back into the life of many local meetings. I predict the hymnal will have as long and successful a contribution to our Quaker movement as the 1955 hymnal! SINGING AS WORSHIP? The title of the new Quaker hymnal, however, is ironic, since it highlights the enduring ambivalence of un‐programmed Friends towards shared singing during worship. Most Friends enjoy singing and find it spiritually uplifting. I think it is fair to say, however, that many FGC Friends feel very uncomfortable with the idea of group singing as worship. Friends may acknowledge the possibility that an individual Friend may be led by the Spirit to sing a song during Meeting for Worship ‐ and feel moved and uplifted when this breaks into the life of a meeting. Questions begin to be raised when other Friends join in a song during Meeting. And probably most un‐ programmed Friends would have real problems with calling out hymn numbers ‐ even spontaneously ‐ during Meeting for Worship. Most Meetings see singing, whether out of a book like Rise Up Singing or out of a hymnal as spiritually inspiring and enriching to the bonds that tie the meeting community together but not as worship per se. There are certainly ways the spiritual content of singing can grow deeper. Annie and I have led workshops at the Quaker Center at Ben Lomond, at FGC gatherings and elsewhere that essentially represent worship sharing interwoven with song. A participant "offers up" to the group a song that they feel led to request and the group leaves a period of silence where the requester and others present can reflect on the chords that that song resonates with within them. As long, however, as we put heavy stock on the idea that vocal ministry needs to spring from direct leading from God during Meeting for Worship, there is likely to be a certain gulf between group singing as a nurturer of the spirit and vocal ministry during worship in the fullest Quaker sense. This same ambivalence is evident among Meetings in Britain, New Zealand, and probably most un‐programmed yearly meetings. This issue was discussed at some length during a recent retreat on the subject of Quakers and music in New Zealand. In spite of this fact, I believe that the flourishing of group singing has had a major impact on the life of FGC and its meetings during the past century. It has knit our hearts together on First Days in our local meetings, at yearly meeting and national gatherings, in our schools, camps and on the picket or organizing meeting. Song has played an important role in a number of the social movements which Friends have been involved in, especially the union, freedom and peace movements. Song will continue to transform Friends hearts and fill us with hope and the energy to take on the forces of evil around us for many generations to come.
© 2002 Peter Blood. First appeared in the December 2002 issue of Friends Journal. The Kabarak Call for Peace and EcoJustice In past times God's Creation restored itself. Now humanity dominates, our growing population consuming more resources than nature can replace. We must change, we must become careful stewards of all life. Earthcare unites traditional Quaker testimonies: peace, equality, simplicity, love, integrity, and justice. Jesus said, "As you have done unto the least… you have done unto me". We are called to work for the peaceable Kingdom of God on the whole earth, in right sharing with all peoples. However few our numbers, we are called to be the salt that flavors and preserves, to be a light in the darkness of greed and destruction.
We have heard of the disappearing snows of Kilimanjaro and glaciers of Bolivia, from which come life-giving waters. We have heard appeals from peoples of the Arctic, Asia and Pacific. We have heard of forests cut down, seasons disrupted, wildlife dying, of land hunger in Africa, of new diseases, droughts, floods, fires, famine and desperate migrations - this climatic chaos is now worsening. There are wars and rumors of war, job loss, inequality and violence. We fear our neighbors. We waste our children's heritage.
All of these are driven by our dominant economic systems - by greed not need, by worship of the market, by Mammon and Caesar.
Is this how Jesus showed us to live?
● We are called to see what love can do: to love our neighbor as ourselves, to aid the widow and orphan, to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, to appeal to consciences and bind the wounds. ● We are called to teach our children right relationship, to live in harmony with each other and all living beings in the earth, waters and sky of our Creator, who asks, "Where were your when I laid the foundations of the world?" (Job 38:4) ● We are called to do justice to all and walk humbly with our God, to cooperate lovingly with all who share our hopes for the future of the earth. ● We are called to be patterns and examples in a 21st century campaign for peace and eco-justice, as difficult and decisive as the 18th and 19th century drive to abolish slavery.
We dedicate ourselves to let the living waters flow through us - where we live, regionally, and in wider world fellowship. We dedicate ourselves to building the peace that passeth all understanding, to the repair of the world, opening our lives to the Light to guide us in each small step.
Bwana asifiwe. A pu Dios Awqui. Gracias Jesús. Jubilé. Salaam aleikum. Migwetch. Tikkun olam. Alleluia
FAMILY PROMISE HOSTING Thank you all so very much for your help with hosting our first set of Family Promise guests. The entire week ran very smoothly because of your help. Thanks, again! Fairfield’s next chance to host FPHC is May 10th‐17th. After Easter, Dinah Geiger will be sending out a supply sheet (don't need as much this time) and a volunteer sheet. She still has $6 from your FP party donations to go towards new supplies. Please give thought and prayer into how you can help.
A Way is Revealed! I am fairly new to Quakerism, having attended my first meeting for worship about eight years ago. Fairfield was still using the old 1892 building then, and I was pleased t o find myself in such a quaint structure. The gathering was friendly, the bulletin in a familiar order, and the hymns could generally be sung from memory. But there were significant differences from the Protestant church I had grown up in, and the past eight years have led me to understand a few of what they are.
Some are obvious, such as the building being called a Meeting House rather than a church, the pastor being recorded rather than ordained, the absence of sacraments such as baptism and communion, and a meeting room free of stained glass and religious symbols. Other things are less obvious, such as the emphasis on social responsibility and justice, the necessity of integrity and personal responsibility, the need to respect and consider every point of view, and a belief God dwells in each of us.
A new meeting house has been built during the past eight years. The decision to move ahead was not without stress, as the old structure was dearly beloved. However, each person was given opportunity to speak, and amicable resolutions were sought to each situation. It was a deliberate process, resulting in the fewest possible problems.
A Quaker slogan speaks to this: Moving forward as way opens. During construction, an ernest effort was made to find that way forward. I now seek that way forward in my personal life. The dogmas, symbols, exhortations, and fear of damnation once part of my religious experience are gone, replaced by an effort to find the revelation given by God to each of us. In that spirit, I am finding my way forward.
I conclude with a poem written while worshipping in the 1892 Meeting House:
The Nature of Glass (from Reflections, © 2014, James E. McClung)
The glass window panes of the old Fairfield Meeting House contain Samples of a hand-blown glass technique. The glass is irregular; There are distortions, imperfections, a wavering as if the glass Was in some way frozen while still in the process of flowing. Sunlight finding its way through the glass cast images of the flaws On the unadorned, plain front wall of the Meeting House.
An aged maple tree within the church property stands Such that sunlight must first discover a passage Before striking the window glass. In that way the image on the wall Becomes animated, either with the flutter of summer’s leaves Or the shadows of bare branches danced about by a breeze. That which would otherwise be static in this way gains life.
There are times of reflection built into the Quaker tradition- Quiet times when the soul is encouraged to wait for direction. In these times, inspiration is often found by contemplating light patterns Displayed on the front wall: in considering how that which is flawed Can sometimes become an object of unexpected beauty When the light of a morning sun shines through.
Sincerely, Jim McClung April 2015
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 1 2 3 4 7pm – Trustees B Cynthia Day B Luke Howard 2pm – Easter Egg Hunt B Gene Crawley B Randy Horton Drum Circle B Landon Jessup
5 – Easter Sunday 6 7 8 9 10 11 RoW ‐ Outreach Mtg B William Clark, Sr B David Pierce B Greg Hardin 7pm – Tai Chi 11a – 7p – FISH FRY 11a – 7p – FISH FRY RoW ‐ Peace & Justice B Benjamin Gilliland‐ B Henry Hesson 7pm – Ministry & Council B Cayden McClure B Danita Coffenbery Ginger Arnold B Sauer B Bill Sheard B Nathan Baker B Ryan Porter B Barbara Crawley B Jenny Settle B Bruce Borud Kris & Marrinda Schoen B Trace Brunner 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 RoW – Meeting for Biz 7pm – Looking Forward B Ernest Clark B Kay Frye Richard & Pamela Wilson B Bob Horner B Paul E. Howard B Chase Rhoden 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 B Joan Gulley B Alexis Geiger B Ruth Turner 7pm – Tai Chi 7pm – P & J Movie Nite B John Muhanji (m) B Hugh Hanlin B John LaBan B Robyne Heald‐Kinsley B Cristina Vidal B Ziad Khalaf (m)
26 27 28 29 30 RoW – P & J Book Brunch 3pm – USFW B Mark Jerrell B Anna Day‐Marshall B Christine Porter Chris & Anne Gautier