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Quaker Thought FRIENDS and Life OURNAL Today Among Friends

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Quaker Thought FRIENDS and Life OURNAL Today Among Friends January 1995 Quaker Thought FRIENDS and Life OURNAL Today Among Friends Edltor-M•n•ger Vinton Deming A Winter's Day Asslst•nt Editor Timothy Drake t was the beginning of winter in the city. The last of the oak leaves were down, Art Director Barbara Benton the bare tree making the front of our house look stark and undressed. It was good Development Consult•nt I to be home, away from office phones for the day. I watched from our front Henry Freeman window for a few moments as the wind gusted, driving a mix of leaves and papers M•rketlng •nd Advertising M•n•ger Nagendran Gulendran down the street in a rush. How good to have this time, I mused. No interruptions. Production Asslst•nt The boys were at school and Michele was out making home visits. Plenty of time to Kenneth Sutton work on manuscripts, hot tea to drink, enough logs at hand to feed a hungry wood Secret•ry stove for the day. Edward Sargent Bookkeeper The front doorbell roused me from my chair. Too early for the mail, I thought. It's JamesNeveil not Saturday, so it can't be the door-to-door religious folks with their Bibles. Perhaps Clrcul•tlon Asslst•nt our neighbor, Judy? She's about the only person on the block who's home this time Nyree Gleaves of day. Volunteers Jane Burgess, Emily Conlon, Marguerite Clark, As I reached for the door knob, I paused. I saw a stranger, a woman of perhaps Gwe)l Neveil, Robert Sutton 40. She was dressed poorly. Her coat was dirty and much too thin for such blustery Bo•rd of M•n•gers weather. Her head was covered by a scarf. She stood awkwardly near the door, her Irwin Abrams, Jennie Allen, Frank Bjornsgaard, Sue Carnell, Marguerite Clark, Barbara Coffin, hands in the sleeves of her coat. She reached again for the bell, then spied me Emily Conlon, Phoebe Cottingham (Asst. through the glass of the inside door. She saw me stop and hesitate, suspecting, I Treasurer), Richard Eldridge (Clerk), Deborah Fisch, Marty Grundy, Kitty Harrison, think, that I would tum away. Robert Kunkel, Carol MacCormack, "Mister, mister, excuse me, could you help me please?" She pressed close to the Mary Mangelsdorf, Richard Moses (Treasurer), Jack Mongar, Lee Neff, Caroline Balderston Parry, door so I could hear her voice, and she looked at me expectantly. Julie Ries, Margery Rubin (Asst. Clerk), I opened the door and stepped onto the porch, still holding the knob as we spoke. Mary Ellen Singsen, Carolyn Sprogell, I Robert Stauffer, Robert Sutton, Carolyn Terrell, Her voice was not strong. She avoided my eyes as she spoke: "Mister, wonder if Wilmer Tjossem, Alice Wiser (Secretary). you can help me out. I haven't got any money. I got kids at home and they haven't Honor•ry M•n•gers eaten today. The baby's sick. Could you help?" Eleanor Stabler Clarke, Mildred Binns Young As she spoke I could smell alcohol. Yet she appeared sober. FRJENDS JouRNAL (ISSN 0016-1322) was She repeated, "I don't have any money. Can you please help?" established in 1955 as the successor to The Friend ( 1827-1955) and Friends lntelligencer I didn't hesitate, as I often do on the street when I'm approached for a handout. I ( 1844-1955). It is associated with the Religious excused myself briefly, went inside, and took five dollars from my wallet. "Here," I Society of Friends. said, handing it to her. "These are hard times, I know.. ."or something like that. • FRJENDS JouRNAL is published monthly by Friends Publishing Corporation, 150 I Cherry St, Without looking she thanked me, took the money shyly, put her hands into her Philadelphia, PA 19102-1497. Telephone (2 15) sleeves, and left the porch. 241-7277. Accepted as second-class postage at Philadelphia, Pa., and additional mailing offices. I watched as she went up the block. She dido 't approach any other houses. She • Subscriptions: one year $21, two years $40. Add never looked back. She walked to the comer, turned, and left my sight. $6 per year for postage to countries outside the U.S., I had never seen the woman before. Did she really have children to feed? Would Canada, and Mexico. Individual copies $2 each. she just buy alcohol with the money? Why had I given her five dollars! Maybe she'd • Information on and assistance with advertising is available on request Appearance of any just come back again and ask for more. Was I just encouraging her not to work? advertisement does not imply endorsement by How curious, why did she choose our house anyway? Perhaps it was the children's FRJENDS JOURNAL. • Postmaster: send address changes to toys on the porch, or maybe it was just a hunch on her part; guess I'll never know. FRJENDS JOURNAL, 150 I Cherry St., What she did took guts, though; I wondered ifl'd be able to go to a stranger's door if Philadelphia, PA 19102-1497 I were as desperate as she was. So much to think about. Perhaps this was her gift to • Copyright C 1995 by Friends Publishing Corporation. Reprints of articles available at me. nominal cost. Permission should be received before Inside, I sat for a time by the window and watched the paper and leaves race the reprinting excerpts longer than 200 words. other way down the street. Available on microfilm from University Microfilms International. PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER Moving? Let us update your subscription and address. Write or call: FRIENDS JOURNAL, 1501 Cherry St., Next Month Philadelphia, PA 19102-1497 Thomas R. Kelly: A Fresh Perspective (215) 241-7277; Fax (215) 568-1377 The Experience of Divinity Listening: A Quaker Kind of Prayer 2 January 1995 FRIENDs JoURNAL January 1995 FRIENDS Volume 41, No. 1 JOURNAL Features Departments 6 A View of "the Steeple" from 2 Among Friends Jerusalem 4 . Forum Catherine Peck Fox's admonition continues to have meaning, and it fits 18 Witness sublimely with our peace testimony. 19 Reports 8 Portrait of Our Lydia Reva Griffith 22 News of Friends Over a thousand friends gathered to mourn her tragic death and to celebrate her many gifts. 23 Bulletin Board 10 Dawn Song 23 Calendar Phyllis Hoge 24 Books Each morning in China the dance becomes a new one, the songs serve as a blessing. 28 Milestones 11 Christocentric and Universalist 29 Classified Friends: Moving Beyond the Stereotypes Poetry Greg Pahl The words and differences gently fell away. Love was quietly at work 8 The Catharsis David Ray 13 In the Presence of God Marty Grundy Being taught by the Inner Teacher is the first motion, the starting place for Quakerism. 15 Some Advice From John Woolman on Meeting for Business Michael Birkel ' His words may both inspire and guide us at those times when we are not in unity. 17 Restorative Illness Carole Hope Depp It's a sobering thought: Despite the best ofcare, serious illness and adversity can happen. Photos on cover and this page ©Danna Cornick fRIENDS JOURNAL January I995 3 Forum A colorful mystery Friends had a balance of ministers and protests before they start, and engage in civil Henniker is a small rural town in New elders. When we do remember elders we disobedience after they start. often conceive of them only as admonishers. Hampshire, whose claim to fame is that it is Expression of opposition to the Vietnam "the only Henniker in the world." (It's also Elders in fact were those who in hidden War did not abate after Nixon ended the the home of New England College.) Outside ways mid-wifed the gifts of Friends tender draft. I with others demonstrated against that of town, about three miles down an old dirt in the Spirit. They acted as spiritual guides, war throughout most of its duration. For us road, one finds the Henniker Friends as channels of the Spirit in their listening to and, I believe, most objectors, the end of the Meetinghouse set in a small grass plot others. They grounded the meeting for draft did not change the war's wrongness. surrounded by woods. It is a wood frame, worship through their lives of prayer, often Another factual error of Anderson's is that single story, cape-style structure dating back without saying a word. Elders were able to "sons of the well-to-do, educated" were sent to about 1820. It has the traditional two sense the spiritual condition of individuals to Vietnam. Some went, but a great many doors for men and women, and multi-light and of the group." evaded the draft by getting college student sash windows. Inside, there are plain David Clements rightly notes that the deferment. As a university professor I was Ministry and Oversight Committee's wooden benches. A pole cut down by a quite aware of this situation. Casualties in responsibility is to protect the sanctity of our beaver supports part of the ceiling. A few that war were disproportionately high meetings for worship, in large measure by Friends gather here on alternate First Days among poor non-Caucasians. during the summer and fall. None live making sure Friends know about our Anderson considers the state a leviathan nearby. "Quaker Etiquette." I have collected perhaps in which citizens automatically obey their 18 statements prepared by different government's commands. I am thankful this Arriving on a recent September morning, the attenders were greatly surprised to find meetings to guide first-time visitors. In one has never been fully true and that excessive the building had received a fresh coat of way or another, all mention vocal ministry; nationalism is now waning.
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