volume 47, number 6 February 2001

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?" Matt. 16:24-26.

"Our Religious Society endures as a community of friends who take thought for outward society by first taking care of one another. Friends are advised to maintain love and unity, to avoid tale-bearing and detraction, and to settle differences promptly and in a manner free from resentment and all forms of inward violence. Live affectionately as friends, entering with sympathy into the joys and sorrows of one another's daily lives. Visit one another. Be alert to give help and ready to receive it. Bear the burdens of one another's failings; share the buoyancy of one anotherís strengths." from Faith and Practice, p. 83.

Query 6, from Faith and Practice, items for individual consideration:

"Do I examine myself for aspects of prejudice that may be buried, including beliefs that seem to justify biases based on race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, class, and feelings of inferiority or superiority?

"What am I doing to help overcome the contemporary effects of past and present oppression?

"Am I teaching my children, and do I show through my way of living, that love of God includes affirming the equality of people, treating others with dignity and respect, and seeking to recognize and address that of God within every person?"

HFS Open House.

Quarterly Meeting. See article below.

Jayne Stokes

Childrenís classes will meet on the first, second and fourth Sunday this month from 11:15 AM to 12:15 PM. Adult FDS is open to high school students as well as adults.

February 4: What is the Peace Testimony? The second part of a discussion about the Peace Testimony and living peacefully in a violent world.

February 11: Spiritual Companions - A Program Describing Spiritual Companions Groups: How they work, what their purpose is. Gene Hillman, coordinator of Adult Religious Education for PYM, will speak. (This program was originally scheduled for January.)

Faith & Practice will meet in the library.

February 18: Audrey Tucker will speak on Letting the African Spirit Nurture the Quaker Soul. See article below. Children will meet in the sewing room for games: we are asking each child to bring a game that needs at least two people to play.

February 25: What is it to Which We are Called as a Yearly Meeting? Overseers will facilitate an examination of this question, which will be the subject of the Annual Session of Yearly Meeting on March 24.

Faith & Practice will meet in the library.

The preschool FDS class is looking for a portable tape/CD player. If you would like to donate one, please contact Susan Tucker. Thanks.

Flora McKinney, for the Religious Education Committee

On February 18, for Adult First Day Class, Audrey Tucker comes to us from Germantown. Her topic is Letting the African Spirit Nurture the Quaker Soul. In accord

with the practice of continuing revelation, participants will be exposed to and enriched by African folktales from the African oral tradition. Participants are invited to bring and share stories from their own ethnic tradition in illustration of the cultural diversity of Quakerism.

Tory Cramer

Quarterly Meeting will be held on Sunday, February 25, at Moorestown Monthly Meeting.

10:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship

11:00 a.m. Quarterly Meeting for Business

12:30 p.m. Lunch provided by Moorestown Monthly Meeting

1:30 p.m. Afternoon Program of storytelling by Judy Shaw and Kandy Lippincott

If you have any questions, feel free to call me.

Bruce Adams will be singing love songs, accompanied by Mary Ann Griffis, in a post-Valentine Day celebration on Saturday, February 17th at 7:30 at Haddonfield Meeting. The performance will include music that has been performed by Gloria Estefan, Jeffrey Osborne, Lionel Richie, Barbra Streisand, and other popular artists. It is sponsored by the Friendship Committee of Haddonfield Meeting. Free-will contributions will be donated to Haddonfield Meeting after expenses. For directions or questions call Priscilla Adams.

At the January Business Meeting, I suggested that Haddonfield Friends School be incorporated separately from the Meeting. I believe that separate incorporation can solve several problems that the Meeting is facing. I also believe that the School can maintain its Quaker mission and identity while operating as a separate legal entity.

Currently the School is an activity of Haddonfield Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Inc. In essence, School Committee functions as its board of trustees. The members of School Committee are nominated to that position by Nominating Committee and approved by Business Meeting. Those members are all members or attenders of Haddonfield Friends Meeting. The School Committee also has appointed other individuals, currently two in number, who serve as coopted members of School Committee. They serve as full committee members except when the committee meets in Executive Session. At that time, they are excused.

Why separate incorporation? There are two classic reasons why an activity is incorporated. First, to insulate others from liabilities arising from that activity. Second, to be able to attract and utilize board members with special interests and talents in governing that activity.

We have labored for almost two years over the question of whether to add a 7th and 8th grade to Haddonfield Friends School. School Committee members, staff, parents and many individual Meeting members are overwhelmingly in favor of the idea. Several Meeting members feel a strong calling to carry out this mission. A great deal of research into the educational issues has been conducted. However, among other members of the Meeting there are concerns.

Some people are troubled by possible financial consequences to the Meeting. The School proposes to raise the funds for the costs of construction first, but some people still worry. A few believe that the School will not be financially viable with two extra grades, leaving the Meeting to subsidize School operations. Reason #1 to incorporate the School: protect the Meeting from the financial liabilities arising from the costs of expansion and/or operation.

Some people are simply not that interested in the School. They do not like the fact that so much Meeting time and attention are going to the School. They have other callings, whether they are broader social concerns, a desire to devote scarce Meeting resources to more directly spiritual issues, or something else. Reason #2 to incorporate the School: allow the School to be governed by people who have a great desire and talent to do so.

And there are individuals who feel the pain of past Meeting hurts, whether that be disagreements over the tuition policy, process issues or something else. They say, "We must heal first." And there is a need for healing - in fact, this Meeting must directly address its difficulties in resolving disagreements. But to hold up progress for the School while these difficulties are settled is unfair to the children and families in the School.

And how would separate incorporation be effected? The Meeting could authorize that a certificate of incorporation be filed to establish the new entity. It can still be called Haddonfield Friends School (or it could have a different name). The existing School Committee or a different group can be named the initial Board of Trustees. That Board would approve Bylaws to govern the School and appoint officers. An application for recognition of exemption would be filed with the IRS.

What about the school properties? The School could continue to rent the land and buildings it currently "rents" from the Meeting. Or the Meeting could transfer the property to the School, either as a gift or as a sale. Or the School could move elsewhere.

How would the School maintain its essential Quakerness? The Bylaws can provide that a majority (or more) of the members of the School Board of Trustees be Quakers. They can provide that Haddonfield Friends Meeting approves the Quaker nominees to the Board or actually appoints a specified percentage of them. One or more Meeting officials, e.g., the Clerk, could be made ex officio members of the School Board of Trustees.

Other people may have other thoughts on these issues. I raise various possibilities, some of which I do not support, to show that there are alternatives which can be considered. Nonprofit corporate structures are really quite flexible.

Separate incorporation is an option I opposed vigorously until the last few months. I especially didnít want it to be an angry event or an admission of defeat by anyone. I now see it as a solution to problems experienced by many people on both sides of the 7th and 8th grade expansion issue. I hope we can consider it with open hearts.

In the summer of 1949 I went to Gaza Palestine as a member of AFSC team feeding Arab refugees who had fled their homes as a result of the fighting that occurred with the founding of the State of Israel. I can not say that I have kept abreast of development in all of these years, but the area and its problems have never been far from my mind.

I have been feeling a particular sense of agony with this latest round of conflict. It seems to me that any hope for peace demands that the occupation of Palestinian territories must end and it is time America must say so! I have no ready plan for bringing this about. I invite you to join with me and others in learning, sharing information, and looking for ways to share and extend our concern.

At its Annual Meeting in November AFSC announced new efforts to respond. General Secretary Mary Ellen McNish was a member of a delegation of some 25 religious leaders to the Middle East in early December.

Here are some web-sites that are sources of information.

Information as to various problems & programs in the Middle East

Uses for Middle East emergency funds: Physical therapy to injured; Support of organizations serving Israeli and Palestinian youth; Support of dialogue and cooperation between Israel and Palestinians working for peace; Mobilization of U.S. based AFSC peace teams.

You can get on AFSC e-mail list for information and action

emepdc@aol.com:

Churches for Middle East Peace

Get their 8 page report on the Ecumenical Delegation to Jerusalem, with pictures. And lots and lots of other information.

www.Rapprochement.org:

Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People. The Center operates under the auspices of the Mennonite Central Committee. Itís stated goals are to overcome stereotypes and prejudice and build bridges between Palestinian and people all over the world; to provide for human interaction in which Palestinians will be exposed to different cultures, norms and mentalities; to help enhance the chances for a just and peaceful solution to the Palestinian cause [sic]; and to provide first hand information about Palestinians and the occupied territories and the Palestinian Israeli conflict.

If you would like to talk with me about the problem and ways we might work together to extend information and awareness, my telephone and e-mail numbers are below.

Howard W. McKinney

e-mail hwmckinney@earthlink.net

Priscilla Adams

Dear Friends,

I have just received an e-mail from the Ploughshares Community asking for help for Greg Boertje. Greg is a nonviolent activist who has been sent to the Federal prison at Fort Dix for the remainder of a 6 month sentence. He was imprisoned for "holding a banner at the open air show at Andrew's Air Force Base last May" in a public space. The banner read: "Swords into Plowshares"!

From the e-mail and a follow-up phone call I learned that shortly after Greg arrived at Ft. Dix, New Jersey got a snowstorm. "In the middle of the night, prison guards were kicking Greg's bed, demanding that he and some of the other new inmates go out to shovel. They were given no gloves, boots, or warm clothes. Greg and 2 others refused a direct order, were sent back to segregation where they were to stay until the snow melted, according to the captain. 8 days later Greg is released from segregation but told he would not be allowed visits, phone calls, or commissary (which may include the purchase of stamps) for 90 days."

They request letters protesting the punishment of Greg and the other 2 inmates. Please include the date of the incident (December 29th) and Greg's prison number (08052-016). Letters go to:

Warden Bailey

FCI Fort Dix

PO Box 38

Fort Dix NJ 08640

phone 609-723-1100

And send copies to the following:

Kathleen M. Hawk Sawyer

Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons

320 First St. NW

Washington DC 20534

phone 202-307-3198

Senator Barbara Mikulski

253 The World Trade Center

Baltimore MD 21201

phone 410-962-4510

If you have any questions or have ideas of other ways to help, please call me. Priscilla Adams

Take strong deep steps so those who follow will know the way to go. God calls the young because they are strong - the old because they know the way. Do hold the meeting in the LIGHT each day, if possible at noon. It takes a Meeting to raise a Friend.

Annual reports were also given by Graveyard Committee, Library Committee, and Worship and Ministry. Thanks were expressed for each groupís work.

The Ad Hoc School Committee on Policy and Operations presented its final report (copy included). In answering the question, "where do we go next", there was an open caring give and take about our feelings of negativity and our ability to listen and process opposing views. We need to come together as a unified community to resolve any controversial issue. We need to reach closure as a community on any issue in a joyful way.

Gary Smithís membership was approved. Julia Bairdís transfer from Lansdowne Meeting was accepted. Justin Schmidtís membership was transferred to Medford Meeting. Aaron Stockís membership was transferred to Philadelphia Meeting, Arch Street.

Overseers of the Baird-Mauger wedding reported the wedding went well, and was a joyful occasion.

"What does God want us to do?" This is a question that we often hear. Worship and Ministry suggests, "to listen". When we listen through the silence, we hold ourselves in the Light, to become aware of our higher purpose. Listening in the silence also helps us to understand the Light around us.

When the Meeting is gathered in silence and touched by the Light, we become aware of the group energy. The ego is set aside and opinions are no longer an issue. Each has a feeling for the truth. The truth comes in a sense of unity when we begin to listen and hear each other. In really listening, love avails itself.

The above is the sense of the Committee on Worship and Ministry. It describes, not only our objectives for Meeting for Worship, but also is the core of our concerns and dialogue.

We are pleased with the attendance at Meeting for Worship, and we appreciate the children who attend. We also generally approve of the vocal ministry. But, we are concerned with restlessness during worship, late-comers, in and outters and loud turning of pages.

We wonder if there is a lack of respect for the Divine Silence which is the backbone of our Meeting for Worship. How can we be more aware of the reverence for silence during Worship?

The Religious Education Committee has asked us to consider having First Day School at the same time as Meeting for Worship. Children and teachers would attend for the first 15 minutes. At present Worship and Ministry is struggling with this.

Care of the Meeting literature and a spiritual piece in the Newsletter is provided by Worship and Ministry.

We are responsible for the closing of Meeting and for asking a family to close the shortenend Meeting on the third Sunday, Family Meeting. Worship and Ministry also cares for Thanksgiving morning and Christmas Eve services. For the millenium we held New Year's Eve worship services.

With joy and expectancy we wait patiently to be led.

Lyle Tatum

We are told that our Father

Maketh his sun to rise

on the evil and the good

and sendeth rain

on the just and the unjust.

There are times we wonder about that

in places like Iowa, Kansas and Texas

when fields parch with dryness

or flood deep in river water or mud.

Does God use sun and rain

to correct our lack of faithfulness?

Not according to Saint Matthew.

But we are challenged, deep within ourselves,

to understand that we are called

to love one another

without looking for sainthood,

or even expecting others

to be better than ourselves.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

I HAVE been here before,

But when or how I cannot tell:

I know the grass beyond the door,

The sweet keen smell,

The sighing sound, the lights around the shore.

How long ago I may not know:

But just when at that swallow's soar

Your neck turned so,

Some veil did fall,--I knew it all of yore.

And shall not thus time's eddying flight

Still with our lives our love restore

In death's despite,

And day and night yield one delight once more?