SEASONED GREETINGS

A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF ROANOKE MONTHLY MEETING

Summer Edition 2017

“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.” ~ Genesis 8:22 SUMMER AT ROANOKE FRIENDS MEETING june, july, august, september

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 every third saturday: 12 noon: peace vigil at roanoke city market building upcoming special events: Mid Week worship occurs once a month on Wednesdays. There is no set schedule. The dates are aanounced by email.

OTHER EVENTS, AS THEY ARE SCHEDULED, WILL APPEAR The newsletter is published 4 times ON THE MEETINGHOUSE CALENDAR, AT THE MEETING- a year, on the first day of every HOUSE, ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND ALSO WILL BE season. CIRCULATED VIA EMAILS The autumn newsletter will be published on september 22nd, the first day of autumn.

PLEASE NOTE THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR THE AUTUMN NEWS- LETTER IS SEPTEMBER 15TH.

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

SOME QUERIES FOR SUMMER

Caring for One Another

What impediments do I find to reaching out to those in distress?

What do I need to do to overcome them?

Am I comfortable making my own needs known to my meeting?

How do we share in the diverse joys and transitions in each other’s lives? you’re invited !

On Wednesday June 21st, Friends are invited to join Herb and Cecily for their annual Summer Solstice garden event at 2046 Knollwood Road, Roanoke

Potluck at 6:00. Water and Lemonade provided, whatever else welcome. . Around 7:30, we will move to the garden area and Charlie Finn will lead us in sharing thoughts, poems, songs, etc honoring the Earth, Beauty and abundance of the season.

Parking along the median and in the next-door neighbor’s circle drive.

Hope you can join us.

(submitted by Cecily Wood)

From Religious Education Committee

You may be aware that we have been showing QuakerSpeak videos as part of the Adult Religious Education program- ming. The most recent one we viewed sparked enthusiastic discussion and those in attendance were keen to share it with those who coulwd not be there.

We invite you to connect to the internet, get yourself a cup of tea, and visit the link below to view some diverse and inter- esting perspectives!

Do Quakers Quake? QuakerSpeak asked 15 modern Friends.

http://quakerspeak.com/do-quakers-quake/ ~ Katrina Hurt From Peace and Social justice committee Roanoke Refugee Partnership ~ Herb Beskar

During the past months various new organizations have been formed to push back against the administration’s policies, and, translating energy into action, to provide services to those in need. Patterning itself on the Blacksburg Refugee Partnership, the Roanoke Refugee Partnership is developing its services to assist new refugees coming into our region. Our Meeting has a long history in providing services to refugees. Assisting a family of a single mother and eleven children from Eritrea was our last assist.

There is some interest in our meeting to partner with the Roanoke Refugee Partnership. They have their non-profit status and an informative website describing the six areas of need. Transportation and donations, monetary and household items, are the two areas needing the most volunteer help. At this time we want to reach out to Friends to determine the amount of interest before starting to work with them. An advantage of working with such a part- nership is that we would not have the full responsibility of meeting the needs of a family. If you have an interest in helping, let Peace and Social Justice Committe know. Contact Herb Beskar, clerk, at 989-6875 or email: hbeskar@ gmail.com

“God’s love for others does not stop at the border; neither should ours.” - Dillon Burroughs

Thinking About Race :(June 2017) Spare the Kids by Stacey Patton

From The New York Times, March 12, 2017, “Stop Beating Black Children,” by Stacey Patton, Assistant Professor of multimedia journalism at Morgan State University and author of Spare the Kids: Why Whupping Children Won’t Save Black America.”

“Black children are also more at risk of being assaulted, seriously injured or killed by a parent than by a police officer, a neighborhood watchman or an irritated racist who hates rap music. We have to stop hurting our children to pro- tect them. It is not working. And worse, it erodes our children’s humanity and co-signs the slave maser’s logic that you have to hit a black body to make it comply. …. “The violence that black children experience from trigger-happy cops, in the streets of cities like Baltimore and Chi- cago, in schools and at home is all inter-connected. It is all strange and bitter fruit from the same tree. I am asking that black parents stop assisting in the devaluation of our children.

“Instead, we must make black children the antidote to centuries of racism.”

This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaison at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting. The BYM WGR meets most months on the third 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, [email protected]. A MYSTICAL RELIGION

Culture plays a big but implicit part in religious observance. African colleagues complain that they are being inculcated with Arab culture as well as Islam. African-American Quakers are trying to tease out the cultural underlay (British) from the religious content. So it probably is with most religions.

Their mystical experiences are ritually reenacted as a practice of remembrance or possibly sympathetic magic. Often the meaning behind the ritual fades from collective memory and the rituals and doctrine begin to function for their own sake, thus leading to the view that religion often represents the ossification of mystic experience. (Noah Taylor’s PhD disserta- tion, p.106)

If Quaker silence permitted the mystical experience, and the experience was so ineffable that it demanded silence, then the silence became Friends’ peculiar identifying mark. And does the silence continue to convey a desire for mystical experi- ence? Do Friends in Day Avenue on a Sunday still themselves in order to attend to God? Or has the mystical experience become forgotten, not trusted, and do we then end up with the silence as ritual?

Mystical experience seems to defy ownership or gate-keeping by initiates, by priests or bishops. The silence obviates the role of priest as intermediary. Yet it is also a closed system, hidden from view. The meeting may react to what is said or even how it is said; indeed, gentle eldering is considered a function of selected members of meeting. But we have no inten- tion to intrude on individuals’ silence, on what they experience or expect in that silence. If it is for some just a quiet pause in busy lives, a space of refreshment, then that is a good result. If for some it is more mystical, the hope of actual contact with God or the spirit, then that seems good also. Does it matter if there are different objectives?

I have participated in Quaker meetings with a wide variety of customs and behaviors. Some were programmed, with prepared sermons and selected hymns. Others were a struggle not to pay attention to soldiers shouting at people caught between battle lines. I used to tease Irish and British Friends that their services centered around an altar: a table in the middle, always with a large vase or bowl of flowers and a few devotional books. We held a meeting each Tuesday at Quaker House Belfast, and someone would always bring flowers and pull out a table to put them on. When I tried removing the table, or placing on it a sculpture or a rock or a bowl of goldfish, the flowers always reappeared. This really was a ritual, not subject to discussion.

We, too, have rituals, some of which we are trying to create or re-create in our new space: shaking hands, holding hands, joys and concerns, snacks, ministry about the pillar… It would be uncomfortable to think of our silence as ‘ossification’, a living ritual become rigid and losing its content. Surely we are choosing this, not just doing what is done. And, if so, it remains a vital part of our religious experience, not just an empty ritual. But would it help if, from time to time, we shared with each other what happens in the silence? In my experience, the silence is not the absence of sound, but the waiting on God. Or, as my Russian Orthodox colleague expressed it: The outer silence comes from the inner silence, not the other way round. In my view, it is not so important whether there is no noise during a Quaker meeting. What is important is to listen attentively to the interior voice. ~Sue Williams

Just remember, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do everything and the wrong way is to keep trying to make everybody else do it the right way. ~ M*A*S*H, Colonel Potter New book by charlie finn Charlie Finn has a new book out entitled New Under the Sun: Fecund 2016. This from its Preface: “The theme of the volume then could be considered the fecundity of the universe, writ small across a single year in the life of a single writer...To another reading this, consider that there are unimagined things right now incubating within you, eager to step forth into the light of day in your own weeks and months ahead. Your own way may not be writing words on a page, or emblazoning memories and illuminations within great circles on matting board, but you too have been sired by a cosmos that teems with creation. What is your way of adding to the miracle of its unfolding? And perhaps equally import- ant, have you a way of tracking these creations, ready to spring from you, lest they be forgotten? Perhaps another’s way of attempting to do so might spark in your fertile mind a new notion.”Let Charlie know if you’d like a copy ($10). by Joy Sylvester Johnson

(The First of Three Segments Concerning the Ministry of Climate)

I believe my country, the United States of America, should answer this ad.

Recently in our May Meeting for Business at the Quaker Meeting House we began with the words of Parker Palmer: In a true community we will not choose our companions, for our choices are so often limited by self-serving motives. Instead, our companions will be given to us by grace. Often they will be persons who will upset our settled view of self and world. In fact, we might define true community as the place where the person you least want to live with always lives! - Parker Palmer It is so much more comfortable to gather with people of like mind and heart about the things we hold dear; however, the truth of Parker Palmers words have never rung truer than they do today when families, communities and even churches seem to be riddled with “com- bative conflict” which has as its mainstay the methodology of demonizing the opposition and holding all that they say as suspicious. Our nation and our local communities are almost split down the middle in terms of philosophy and policy. Everyone is talking and it is rare to find anyone listening.

I see this as fertile ground for Quakers. If nothing else, we Quakers are rather practiced at listening. And listening (with vulnerability and compassion) is what is needed right now.

There are several reasons why I have taken on the Ministry of Climate as my first form of activism following my retirement from being the CEO of the Rescue Mission. First, I cannot think of any other issue that is at such a “tipping point”. The climate issue, in my mind, has always been an issue that was “getting worse” and should be addressed “for the sake of our grandchildren”, but recent data has convinced the scientific community that it is not a future concern, but a clear and present danger to humanity. Global warming is real (there is no one left denying that reality), it is being caused in large part by human activities (most agree with this analysis) and we need a solution that works and will not create other unintended negative outcomes for humanity (we all agree on that one.)

If we are going to find a solution to global warming it is going to take all of us, not 48% of us. That is the first reason I am passionate about the Citizens Climate Lobby which exists to create a grassroots public will to change the dial on what is happening when it comes to climate. I cannot think of any other issue where both sides of the political aisle, as well as all geographical areas of the country, have so much to gain. My hope is that this issue may be the beginning of creative listening for people and politicians, who must be weary of gridlock and stalled agendas. I want all my friends (I have friends in every group) to discover what I have found to be true: it takes all of us to help this country live into its potential and promise.

The American public made it very clear in the last election that they did not want business as usual. Instead of combative conflict we could try working together not just because it is the “nice way” to act (which it is), but in this case it is also pragmatic and profitable for everyone. In the Palmer tradition I would hope we could use climate as the issue that schools all of us on how to engage those we think of as “ene- mies/opposition” as “beloved” and eventually as colleagues, working together to make the world safer and healthier, while at the same time making good business sense.

I wish all of you were as interested and committed to this as I am, but just as I have to choose my issues, I know you do as well. That is why I am grateful for the support I can lend to others and their “missions” knowing they will do the same for me. For instance, as noted in our meeting for business, not all of us are called to minister to ESL students or the Backpack Program or Tutoring, or the resistance to the Pipeline, but some of us are. When I leave snacks for the back packs, it takes almost none of my time, but it is a way I can support those for whom this ministry is primary. When I donate school supplies or write my representatives regard- ing their support of the pipeline, or visit someone in prison or sign a petition, it takes almost none of my time, but it is a way I can support the ministry of others in the community. In this tradition, my hope continues to be that each person who attends the Quaker meeting will take the time to join the Citizens Climate Lobby. Right now, we need as many “members” on the roster so that when those of us who go to Washington to lobby as I did the second week in June, we can say we express the desires of hundreds of people from our region. I call this level of involvement, “armchair activism.” It is perfect for those of you who support this work, but do not have any more time or money to contribute toward one more cause.

To be continued.... FROM OUR CLERK, TONY MARTIN: by Joy Sylvester Johnson Receiving Vocal Ministry In the previous newsletter, Ministry and Counsel published some thoughts on giving vocal ministry in Meeting for Wor- (The First of Three Segments Concerning the Ministry of Climate) ship. Every bit as important as what kinds of messages come out of the Silence, is the manner in which these messages are received. The following excerpt from a 1979 Philadelphia tract offers eloquent and challenging testimony as to what deep listening and deep trust in a gathered Meeting for worship looks and feels like. Because the Meeting knows the Source of true messages and knows that the speakers will “test them- selves in the Light” before speaking, the hearers will listen with the deepest sort of sensitivity, even to a message with which they would normally disagree. No one dare think, “Oh, that’s Tom riding his hobby-horse again.” Not every message is for you. Perhaps it will never be for you, but perhaps also it is something you will someday grow into. Rejoice if it rings true, but if it does not speak to your condition do not dis- cuss it or dissect it. The Meeting, which is united upon this principle of the ministry can accept the messages of the child, the fool, the disturbed person, and the stranger worshipfully, as a natural thing, without any trace of condescension, for God can speak through these people too, even if they do not fully understand the basis of the ministry. Such a Meeting can absorb quantities of disturbance, because each worshipper lays what he hears reverently before the Lord with the unspoken prayer, “Show me how this is for me.”

From On Vocal Ministry, by Ruth M. Pitman, first published in 1979 by The Tract Association of Friends, Philadelphia, PA. ______“Smile, breathe and go slowly.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh ______reasons the retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong admires Quakers: ~ submitted by Charlie Finn

“I have always held the Quaker movement in high regard. Early in my career, I gained much from the writings of an Episcopal priest who had become a Quaker [John Yungblut]. About two years ago [he wrote this in 2007], I led a National Conference for Quakers [FGC Gathering] that was held on the campus of Virginia Tech University. Every contact I have had with them has been enriching.

“The witness of the Quakers is deep in American history. Ben Franklin both honored and was later deeply bothered by their presence in Pennsylvania in the 18th century. They are peacemakers, deeply ethical people. I find that the Quaker movement has served as the conscience of our nation. It has always been small in numbers but powerful in making its mes- sage heard. Quakers always seem to appeal to those turned off by traditional, organized religion.” ______Epistle for Summer Newsletter A Quaker epistle is a letter from a Yearly Meeting sent to other Yearly Meetings. It is a way for Friends to share their experience with others.

Every newsletter, Sue Williams is selecting epistles to share with us “in order to bring us a flavor of the letters (or Epistles) from yearly meetings around the world,” ~ Sue Williams Here is sue’s submission for this edition: BELGIUM / LUXEMBOURG YEARLY MEETING, 2016. “Our program included a wide range of themes, taking in the spiritual, the personal, as well as how we can make a differ- ence in facing the challenges around us, such as the refugee crisis. A number of us were attending the protest against the arms trade at Eurosatory in Paris and our gathering was an opportunity to reflect on our peace testimony.

Our gathering testified to the energy and to the curiosity of our exploration of what it means to each of us to be a Quaker in a rapidly changing world. The richness of the stories that we shared, the ministry that we heard, and the fellowship that we enjoyed, gave us renewed hope and confidence that our voices – and our silences – may be heard in these troubled times.” ANNUAL SESSION 2017 PROTECT July 31 to August 6 OUR Hood College - Frederick, Maryland COMMUNITIES Growing Towards Justice - Acting on Faith FROM Annual Session 2017 begins July 31 for the FRACKING Pre-Session Retreat PIPELINES Regular Programming, including Junior Yearly Meeting, begins Tuesda,y August 1 after lunch Children from birth to 8th Grade Attend Free! we can do it INFO: www.bym-rsf.org

A REFLECTION STRATEGIC THINKING, PLANNING, FOR SUMMER & ACTION WORKSHOP Everybody can be great... SATURDAY JULY 29TH 11am to 5 pm ROANOKE QUAKER MEETINGHOUSE because anybody can serve. 505 DAY AVE., ROANOKE, VA You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. Topics to include: You don’t have to make your community building media outreach subject and verb agree to understanding psychological tactics of the industry serve. Facilitators include Ben Bristoll, Jenny Chapman, You only need a heart full of Michael james-Deramo, Mara Robbins and more grace. fundraiser lunch available for $5.00 suggested Donation A soul generated by love. to register contact Michael James-deramo 540-250-7632 email [email protected] ~ Martin Luther King Jr. sponsored by Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League

FGC ANNUAL GATHERING: Ripples start where spirit moves

Taste the vibrancy and the variety that is available by immersing yourself in this community of Friends for a week. We eagerly look forward to welcoming you—in person—at Niagara University, New York, July 2-8, 2017. INFO: www.fgcquaker.org BETSY ROSS By Gary Sandman

Betsy Ross (1752-1836) is, of course, famous for making the first American flag. Born in Philadelphia, she came from a family with 17 siblings and was married three times. A seamstress, she was one of the many artisans active in colonial times. Ross was also a fervent Patriot during the American Revolution. Her first two husbands died during the war, one reportedly from the explosion of a munitions depot, the other of disease in a prisoner-of-war camp in Britain. Her third husband survived the war while serving as a privateer. She was known as a bustling, humorous, intelligent woman.

Ross learned needlework from her mother and sisters and at Rebecca Jones’s school. Though there was no formal apprenticeship for girls, as a teenager, she was taken on at John Webster’s shop. With her husbands, she opened her own shops. Her work came to be much sought after in Philadelphia. Upholstery, as the items she created were called in those times, encompassed many things: curtains, blankets, clothes, pillows, blinds, mattress covers, etc., etc.

It is said that George Washington, George Ross, and Robert Morris, on behalf of the Continental Congress, visited Ross in her Arch Street shop, in June 1776. They brought along a rough sketch of a flag with 13 stripes, alternating red and white, and 13 white stars against a blue background. After she explained that the six-pointed stars they wanted would be difficult to reproduce, she took out scissors and cut a five-pointed star quickly. She also proposed that the stars be in lines, a circle or a star, instead of scattered about, and that the flag be rectangular, not square. They agreed to her version. When her sample flag was hoisted on a ship at a Philadelphia wharf, it was applauded by passersby and then taken to the Continental Congress, who approved it. Unfortunately, however, no proof exists that this story is true. War Department records were burnt in 1800, and no other documentation survives. Ross told the story to her many relatives, who then passed the tale down in her family. William Canby, her grandson, recounted the story to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1870. He then recruited Ross’s relatives to give affidavits that they had heard the story, too. Promoted after the Civil War to encourage nationalism, the legend spread.

Ross came from an old New Jersey and Pennsylvania Quaker family. She attended Friends Public School as well as Friend Rebecca Jones’s school and was a member of Arch Street Meeting. She was also known to have worked with Quaker cabinetmakers Thomas Affleck, Benjamin Randolph and James Claypoole. In 1773, after she married John Ross, an Anglican, she was disowned. In 1781 she began attending the Free Quaker Meeting in Philadelphia. The Free Quakers followed Quaker faith and practice but rejected disownment and supported war in defense of the government. Their Meetings also existed in Massachusetts, Ohio and Maryland. By the 1830’s the Free Quakers had mostly died, joined others churches or rejoined mainstream Friends. A small group does survive in Indiana. Ross was one of the last two members of the Philadelphia Meeting. SPRING CLEANUP DAY AT THE MEETINGHOUSE AND CLEAN VALLEY DAY

ALL PHOTOS BY HARVEY MURDOCH “Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served.But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi