February 2000 Quaker Thought FRIENDS and Life OURNAL . Today Hicks's Peaceable Kingdom Ifjubilee Means Global Sharing, Then Usury Is Capital Punishment The Ministry ofDance An Among Friends independent magazine serving the Exploring Simplicity Religious Society of always have had a struggle with simplicity, in part because I was born with an Friends artistic nature, and for me this brings with it great attraction to things of material I beauty. Years ago, when I first met my husband, Adam, he had just published a Editorial book on voluntary simplicity and was engaged in work that took him across the Susan Corson-Finnerty (Editor-Manager), country leading workshops on simple living. I was struggling then, as I do now, with Kenneth Sutton (Senior Editor), what the shape and character of simplicity would look and feel like in my own life. Robert Dockhorn (Assistant Editor), Judith Brown (Poetry Editor), Voluntary simplicity is an option for those of us in the economically privileged partS Ellen Michaud (Book Review Editor}, of the globe; simple living is neither optional nor voluntary for the vast majority of Christine Rusch (Milestones Editor), humanity. It was Adam who pointed out to me that one begins where one is, and Julie Gochenour, Robert Marks, Cameron McWhirter (News Editors} what he discovered in his work with workshop attenders is that simplicity means Production something quite different to an upper-middle-class suburbanite than, for instance, to Barbara Benton (Art Director), Alia Podolsky a Catholic nun living under the auspices of her religious order (many of whom, to my (Assistant Art Director) surprise, invited him to lead workshops for their communities). In North America Circulation and Advertising there are few who are not in a position to simplifY their lives. Nagendran Gulendran (Marketing and Advertising Manager}, Nicole Hackel (Circulation Assistant) I'm also something of a pack rat, always sure that there's another good use for that Administration scrap of fabric that's just too attractive to throw away, or those jars we're sure to need Marianne De Lange (Office Manager), for storing something (you get the idea). What seems to be perennially in short supply Pamela Nelson (Development Assistant), Ruth Peterson, Robert Sutton (Volunteers), is the time to piece a quilt from the fabric or to fill the jars with homemade pickles to Tom McPeak (Accounting Services) give away. Over the years I've had fair-to-middling success with personal simplicity. Board of Trustees We buy our clothes in thrift stores, participate in various co-ops, own only one Lucinda Antrim, Aaron Buckley, Paul Buckley, (usually old) car, have predominantly second-hand furniture, and ofren give home­ TylaAnn Burger (Treasurer), Susan Carnahan (Recording Clerk), Sue Carnell (Assistant Clerk), made gifts. But I still succumb to the acquisition of material things more often than I Unda Coffin, Mary Ann Downey, Marsha Green, should, being most vulnerable when I know that the purchase supports a struggling Dan Hewitt, Barbara Mays, Larry Miller, artist or a cooperative group working hard to improve their lives in the Third World. Caroline Balderston Parry, Ruth Peterson, Ted Robinson, David Runkel (Clerk), Simplicity for me has been a moving target as I've gone through the years of being Larry D. Spears, Katherine Wood, Elizabeth Yeats single, married, raising a family, and now getting closer to resuming life without FRIENDS jOURNAL (lSSN 0016-1322) was children at home. I find myself still engaged with and challenged by simplicity; it's an established in 195 5 as the successor to The Friend (1827-1955) and Friends lnteUigencer area where I've got a lot of room for growth. I welcome opportunities for expanding (1844-1955). my understanding of it, including how I can better simplifY my life choices so that my • FRIENDS jOURNAL is published monthly by Friends days are less like my jam-packed dresser drawers! For that reason, I'm pleased that in Publishing Corporation, 1216 Arch Street, 2A, this issue we have a number of articles that speak to the subject. Philadelphia, PA 19107-2835. Telephone (215) 563-8629. E-mail [email protected]. Periodicals Perhaps the most challenging is "If Jubilee Means Global Sharing, Then Usury Is postage paid at Philadelphia, Pa., and additional Capital Punishment" (p. 11), in which Chuck H osking asks us to consider the impact mailing offices. on low-income people around the world of our generally accepted practice of earning • Subscriptions: one year $29, two years $54. Add $6 per year for postage to countries outside the interest. H e contends that "a socially responsible investment is one that works to U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Individual copies enhance the global common good and refrains from exacerbating wealth disparity by $3 each. refusing to be complicit in the charging of interest." Instead, he recommends making • Advertising information and assistance is available on request. Appearance of any advertisement does no-interest loans to organizations, such as Right Sharing ofWorld Resources, that are not imply endorsement by FRIENDS jouRNAL. working to improve the lives of people in Third-World countries. Hope Luder echoes • Postmaster: send address changes to FRIENDS this message in "Monteverde: A Quaker Community for T oday" (p. 9). She gives a jOURNAL, 1216 Arch Street, 2A, Philadelphia, PA brief history of the Costa Rican Quaker community established more than 40 years 19107-2835. • Copyright © 2000 by Friends Publishing ago by Friends no longer willing to pay war taxes in the U nited States. While life in Corporation. Permission should be received before Monteverde has been both physically and financially challenging, the fabric of reprinting excerpts longer than 200 words. community knit together to tackle common problems and to celebrate successes and Available on microfilm from Bell and Howell Information and Learning. joys together still sustains them today. Roy Joe Stuckey (p. 2 1) describes his trip to PRJNTED ON RECYCLED PAPER India to visit the projects supported by RSWR. Under a strong spiritual leading, he Min. 20% post-consumer reports in some detail on the people he met and the impact of the assistance offered by RSWR. His conclusion? "Let us each try to live more simply each day, and send Moving? Let us update your what we save to RSWR." subscription and address. I commend these articles to you, and I invite you to write to me about your own FRJENDSJ ouRNAL, 1216 Arch St., 2A beliefs and practices in keeping our T estirnony of Simplicity. Philadelphia, PA 19107-2835 (215) 563-8629, Fax (215) 568-1377 E-mail [email protected] 2 February 2000 F RIENDS JouRNAL Febuary 2000 FRIENDS Volume 46, No. 2 OURNAL Features Departments 6 Hicks's Peaceable Kingdom 2 Among Friends John Brzostoski 4 Forum Some ofEdward Hicks s19th-century symbolism requires explanation for modern viewers, but his central hope for peace remains clear. 21 RSWR Notes 9 Monteverde: A Quaker Community for 24 FGC Notes Today Hope Luder 26 News U.S. Quakers in Costa Rica have built a peacefol community that 31 Bulletin Board endures today. 32 Books 11 If Jubilee Means Global Sharing, Then Usury Is Capital Punishment 35 Milestones Chuck Hosking 39 Classified The jubilee 2000 campaign to cancel Third-World debt challenges Quakers to enact the Levitical vision ofjubilee . 42 Meetings 14 The Ministry of Dance: Friendly FolkDancers Visit New Zealand Poetry Mark Judkins Helpsmeet New Zealand is the most recent venue for these contemporary traveling ministers. 8 A Killer Storm Anita Vitacolonna 12 Responsibility Leslie A. Nieves 13 Justice Elizabeth O'Sullivan Visit to Christie's Auction House, NYC, November 1997 Marian Davis 20 Grand Union Jack L. Mayer Cover: "Peaceable Kingdom ofthe Branch" by Edward Hicks Reproduction courtesy ofthe Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg, Virginia F RIENDS JoURNAL February 2000 3 Forum I ~ stabilized. She was very slow waking up, Finding the ~ much more than the doctors expected. Eucharist in daily life Gradually, she began to show signs of response, and then awareness. She was in the Thank you for opening a hospital19 days, followed by a nursing discussion on the Christian practice._.~~~~~~§~~;~ home rehab unit for 17 days. She came of the Eucharist (FJ Sept. 1999). A home late in September on George's 84th previously Catholic member of our binhday and has been making gradual meeting once remarked that Friends don't we are one body serving together some progress. practice communion but have potlucks common cause. We are told that Elizabeth's aneries are instead. That took me back to my Lee Maria Kleiss not seriously narrowed, so neither experiences in India and Pakistan in the Fayeneville, N.C. angioplasry nor an operation would help. 1950s. I always say a fish doesn't know it's She must learn to live with congestive heart in water until it is taken out. Similarly, we failure, avoiding travel stress and cold don't understand our own culture until we News of Elizabeth and weather. She has eight medications to take are immersed in another. twice daily that cause some nausea. She has Service Civil International {or George Watson an excellent four-wheel walker with a seat, International Voluntary Service for Peace) The foUowing exerpts are from an annual which we bought before this period of was invited to India by Nehru to help the letter that was sent to our office. The Watsons illness, and a hospital bed, which makes Hindu refugees from Pakistan build homes. have givm permission for us to publish it.­ sleeping easier. Eventually an Indian chapter of SCI was Eds. George is now able to stop being full-time established. Our year has been dominated by caregiver and has returned to some outside I learned that a Hindu wife cooks and Elizabeth's illness.