On Saturday, May 19, Abington Friends juniors, Margaret Silbaugh and Lily Ehsani, dressed in the clothes of a Quaker bride and groom circa 1850. In the Merion Friends meetinghouse, they repeated their vows to each other before a congregation of visitors in modern dress. The wedding of Leonard Brenton and Hannah Roberts was just one of the activities at the Merion Meeting History Festival. Heavy rain hampered attendance at several exhibits on Quaker life 1820-1860, but the wedding, the period food and the carriage ride were popular despite the weather. Guests also enjoyed indoor activities such as silhouette-cutting, quilt-turning, a Quaker Plainness exhibit and a modern Beliefs-into-Action table.
Archives for May 2018
EMIR Healing Center ministry supported by Green Street Monthly Meeting
Green Street Meeting’s Quaker Social Change Ministry group in support of EMIR Healing Center is having a “Fill a Bookbag” drive to gather school supplies for 85 children participating in the center’s programs this year.
EMIR stands for “Every Murder is Real.” The center, in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, was founded by Green Street member Victoria Greene, after her son Emir was murdered. Victoria has spoken about the work of EMIR Healing Center in keynote addresses at PYM Annual Sessions and the FGC Gathering, as well as in a QuakerSpeak video.
Murder is devastating to families. Children risk falling behind in school or being unprepared due to the traumatic emotional and financial consequences of murder. Parents and caregivers may still be struggling with grief and trauma long after the incident. The ministry support group is pulling together backpacks with school supplies for the children, so their families have one less thing to worry about.
You can help by writing a check to Green Street Friends Meeting, memo EMIR Fill a Bookbag, or shopping an Amazon wish list and having the supplies shipped directly to EMIR Healing Center. The ministry support group will assemble the backpacks in August. Learn more at http://greenstreetfriendsmeeting.org/emir.html.
2018 Buckingham State of the Meeting Report
Buckingham Monthly Meeting
Annual Report to Bucks Quarterly Meeting
May 20, 2018
Held at Camp Onas – Ottsville, PA
The last year has been an exciting and spiritually nurturing one at Buckingham Monthly Meeting. We recorded 62 adult members and 23 minor members (including 2 new members), for a total of 85. There was one death.
Most notably, our Meetings for Worship and First Day School have been enriched by new attenders—multiple young families with children. We try to be welcoming toward new attenders, and our post-meeting gathering—our snacks have now expanded to be nearly a brunch each week—also helps to facilitate meaningful connections. Our attenders, some of whom have become members, have shown exceptional willingness to participate in all aspects of the life of the meeting, as well as finding new ways to get the rest of the membership to be active.
Meetings for Worship have been peaceful and gathered, perhaps more quiet than in the past, with consideration of appropriate messages by Friends in attendance clearly evident. We held meeting for worship outdoors in the graveyard on several Sundays during the summer under a large shady tree. Members have been providing rides for older Friends who are no longer able to drive to meeting themselves. A few power outages also found us worshipping in Buckingham Friends School, which we thank for its hospitality.
Numerous programs outside of worship have also brought our faith community closer together. Our monthly informal “Quaker Conversation” adult programs have continued, and our Social Concerns committee has facilitated other engaging events, including a performance by the META Theater group and a guest speaker from the Peace Center. We frequently seem to have so much going on that it is difficult to schedule committee meetings to get our work done. Unfortunately we were not able to sustain our Games Night this year, but are looking forward to find other ways to gather and socialize.
This year we laid down our formal newsletter (or at least it went on a well-deserved vacation), but communicate more regularly through two different Google email groups, one for general Meeting business or announcements and one for social concerns and activism. We also maintain our web site at www.buckinghamfriendsmeeting.org and Facebook page, which attract inquiries from the wider community. Internally we completed an evaluation of our property manager, and continue to be led in business and spirit by our co-clerks, Pam Caprio and Bethann Morgan.
Last year’s Peace Fair, which we host under the care of Quarterly Meeting, was again very successful, with a record number of exhibitors. The Peace Fair committee is now a standing committee of Bucks Quarterly Meeting, and asks that every meeting try to contribute a member, or at least provide a point of contact within their meeting. Last year there were more volunteers at the Fair from the Quarter than ever on the day of the Fair. The 2018 Peace Fair is on Saturday, September 22.
Our First Day School is a hive of activity every week with new children, whose parents are attending regularly. Committee members have been rotating teaching duties so as to not put too much responsibility on one individual, but we are actively considering hiring a paid teacher to expand our program while letting parents stay in meeting to worship. Our efforts to reach out and stay connected to our college-age Young Adult Friends have resulted in several applying for full adult membership.
This year our meetinghouse will be 250 years old! Caring for our National Historic Landmark property is always a challenge, particularly financially. We applied for and received one grant from PYM’s Quaker Buildings & Programs Granting Group to repair our roof, but were unsucessful in securing another to help strip our shutters of centuries of built-up paint. Our all-volunteer effort to renew the wooden cap on our graveyard wall continued, and now over half of the wall is completed. The many storms we had last winter wreaked havoc on trees all around our property, some of which fell in the graveyard and damaged the wall. We discovered that it is possible to make insurance claims that will cover some of the removal and repair costs, and that doing so does not raise our premiums.
Our relationship with Buckingham Friends School has continued to be strong. It is very helpful that the clerk of the school board, Michael Godshall, is a member of our meeting, but we (and other meetings) have not yet filled our quotas for membership on it. While the school continues to be challenged by enrollment and budget considerations, they have hired a new permanent head for next year, Paul Lindenmaier, who will help take them in a new direction (and who is a Quaker).
2018 Bristol State of the Meeting Report
Bristol Friends Meeting Annual Report
Presented at Quarterly Meeting – May 20, 2018
Camp Onas, Ottsville PA
Bristol Friends Meeting membership continues to be low. We have had a few meeting with six or eight folks attending, but that is the exception. Many meetings have had just three people. We are happy to see a new Quaker couple has moved into the borough, and look forward to them joining us in worship. We continue to gather once a month, usually on the second Sunday, for worship followed by our business meeting.
It was approved by the Quarter that Bristol Friends become a preparative meeting under the aegis of Fallsington Meeting. This move reflects the reality of our current situation and provides needed financial oversight for endowments and accounts in Bristol Friends’ care. The members of Bristol Friends thank the Quarter and Fallsington Friends for their loving concern and generous help.
Jim Fine continues as our treasurer, currently performing his duties from far away Iraq. Although halfway across the world, his quick responses and active involvement in our affairs makes it feel as if he is still here in Bristol. We wish him safe travels and look forward to his July return.
Bristol Friends collected many bags of warm clothing, including coats and jackets. These were passed along to families who had fled to our area from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
We worked locally promoting peace and non-violence in cooperation with the Peace Center. They presented an anti-bullying program in the Bristol schools.
Paul Shaffer attended the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting gathering of clerks at Hockessin Meeting in Delaware. The clerks spent time working on examples of microaggressions and institutional racism.
Going forward, Bristol Friends Meeting will continue working with the clerk’s committee on small meetings to explore ways to increase our outreach effectiveness. And finally, this October, Bristol Friends will have an extra special event held during Historic Bristol Day…
Historic Bristol Day dig! Researchers from Bucks County Community College and Bristol Cultural and Historical Foundation are conducting ongoing excavations in Bristol borough. It is just possible that our yard is untouched over the past three hundred years. The public would be invited to participate in the archeological dig. Who knows what we could find?
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Shaffer, clerk
2018 Bucks Quarterly Meeting State of the Meeting Report
Annual Report of the Clerk
Bucks Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Presented to Bucks Quarterly Meeting
May 20, 2018
Held at Camp Onas, Ottsville, PA
The Bucks Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends continues to be an active and sound part of its Members and Attenders religious, spiritual, social, political, educational and economic lives.
Our Meetinghouses have the financial support to keep open their doors and to improve facilities. Southampton has been able to reopen first day for worship. Bristol has received new support from Fallingston Meeting as it has become a Preparatory Meeting under its care. The Quarterly budget once again has proven that we are currently sustainable, as Friends have met their obligations and responsibilities.
I believe a fine example of the attention to the religious and spiritual needs of the Quarter was the success of the Spiritual Formation Group which involved 14 members from many Meetings – more than were expected.
Singing and reading groups were organized. A group attended an aptly named Trenton Thunder baseball game. Many attended the showing of the movie “Quaker Oaths” for a great success. Our poets contributed to and did well in a regional contest. Newtown Meeting invoked a scavenger hunt to explore its history.
Politics and government concerns have played an especially important part in many of our lives. Changes and upheavals in policies that are important to Friends have led to disappointment, frustration, calls to action, anger and even depression. We were shocked and heartbroken over more gun violence. Individuals, committees and Meetings are working to find ways to express feelings and opinions as they look to find appropriate paths to seek truth and justice.
Our Quarter has struggled to find the right way to make and to take corporate action regarding a request to endorse a Minute on Korea from Newtown Meeting. We were reminded by Yearly Meeting about the importance of seasoning minutes of action and have experienced the difficulty of communicating among ourselves in a timely and rightly ordered fashion. I believe this process will need more exploration and development. I also believe that this exercise gave me the chance to see how different Meetings looked at the proposed Korea Minute. All agreed with the basic sentiment of encouraging diplomacy and avoiding war. However, there were enough differences to show that we, as Friends, should not allow ourselves to be caught up in “group think”. It is not fair to assume “all Friends” might be in favor of any one particular action such as boycotts or sanctions, for example. However, as a result, we were not as a Quarter in unity with the Newtown Minute as written.
A few other notes of vitality and interest:
The Quaker School at Horsham reported a very healthy enrolment and much positive feedback from its community; the elevator at Friends Home is completed; children have been an important part of fund raising for refugees and animals and recreational needs for Rwandan children at Quakertown, Lehigh Valley, and Wrightstown Meetings.
- Solebury and Fallingston Meetings organized hugely successful clothing and furniture drives as many help in our continuing support for refugees.
- Buckingham Friends sponsored a sobering and important look at women’s prisons via a presentation by the Meta Theater group.
- We have seen structure support for the Peace Fair increase as a Committee guide entered the Quarter Handbook.
- Well known speakers such as Eugene Sonn and Paul Chappell have been invited to address Friends.
- Quarterly Meetings have gone “off campus” to United Friends School and Camp Onus.
- Quakerphernalia has now become electronic except for a few which are still sent or delivered.
In conclusion, it is very important to note that our coordinator, Holly Olson experience a year with health challenges. We are grateful for the hard work that she continued throughout her treatment. And, we are also grateful for the support that so many gave to help her doing this time.
Respectfully submitted,
Rick Dow
Bucks Quarter Clerk
2018 Fallsington State of the Meeting
Fallsington Friends Meeting Annual Report
To Bucks Quarterly Meeting
May 20, 2018
Held at Camp Onas, Ottsville PA
This past year Fallsington Friends Meeting continued to grow as a close, loving community. Grounded in worship, we support each other in our individual and Meeting-wide ministries and are an active presence in our local community. We have paid renewed attention to our nominating process, strengthened committees and worked to avoid burnout. Nurturing spiritual gifts and sharing leadership roles have been central to this process.
This past year we completed moving all our investments to Friends Fiduciary, reaching a long-held goal of screening and greening our money. As a result of this work, more financial resources are available to support charitable causes and address long delayed maintenance of our buildings and grounds.
Our membership continues to grow. We welcomed three new members, and are blessed by the presence of new attenders. Our inreach and outreach are supported by public events and our adult classes, including an on-going study of PYM’s new Faith and Practice and “Meeting for Healing,” a powerful practice of holding in the Light and laying on of hands. We enjoy singing at the close of worship (we put the “sing” in Fallsington!) and sharing lunch each Sunday.
We have wrestled with ways to reduce disturbance to worship by late coming. We affirm that worship begins at 11 am, and ask Friends arriving after to wait to enter until the children leave at 11:15 for First Day School. This practice of waiting has caused distress to some Friends, but has led to deep discernment about caring for each other and our commitment to our worship life as a community.
In January a concern to provide winter clothes for people moving to our community from the hurricane destruction in Puerto Rico lead to an unforeseen outpouring of local community support. Our Meetinghouse became the collecting point of 80 bags of clothes! Sweaters, hats, socks and more covered the benches as volunteers sorted and prepared for donation. Clothes were also available to people coming to Bucks Food For Friends, a monthly shared meal for those in need held at the Meetinghouse.
Other concerns of our Meeting and individual members have been:
- Climate change
- Mindfulness Meditation
- Earth Quaker Action Team
- Middle East peace
- Bucks Peace Center
- Refugee aid
- Mercer St. Friends Center
- Heifer International in Bangledesh
After careful discernment, and the support of Bucks Quarterly Meeting, we agreed to take Bristol Friends Meeting under our care as a Preparative Meeting. We are supporting Bristol Friends in caring for their finances and Fallsington Friends have attended Bristol Meeting’s worship.
As we look to the coming year, we feel a strong concern to attract more families and grow our First Day School. We hope to make deeper connections with the Hispanic Community, working with them on issues of racial profiling and deportation. We also want to be allies with those in Trenton, NJ who are working on issues of racial injustice, mass incarceration and poverty.
We are both soothed and challenged by our worship and community life. We find comfort in our close Meeting friendships. We seek to deal lovingly with diversity and conflict, and to grow from it. We encourage each other to seek the Spirit and go deeper in faith, as were challenged in our recent intergenerational Easter program to “roll away the stone!”
Jonathan R. Snipes
Clerk
Uniting for economic and social justice with other people of faith: POWER Philadelphia, Metro, Central and Northeast
Over the past several years, three monthly meetings in Philadelphia–Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia (Arch Street), Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, and now Germantown Monthly Meeting–have joined a broad-based interfaith coalition founded in 2011 under the name Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower, and Rebuild, or POWER.
POWER, affiliated at the national level with the PICO Network, aimed then (and still does) to bring congregations together “across lines of race, income level, neighborhood and faith tradition to build broad-based power for policy change.” In addition to fifty-plus congregations affiliated with POWER Philadelphia, POWER now has both staff and member congregations at work in Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery, and Chester Counties (POWER Metro) and York, Lancaster, Dauphin, and Lebanon Counties (POWER Central PA). There is also POWER Northeast, with a focus on the Lehigh Valley.
Five major thrusts of POWER’s work are as follows: The Live Free Campaign for Criminal Justice Reform, currently addressing cash bail; the Health Care Campaign; the Economic Dignity Campaign, working on concerns such as the living wage; and the Education Campaign, pushing for a fair funding formula for public education in Pennsylvania. Recently, Quakers have been in collaboration with POWER on a sixth campaign, Climate Justice. POWER and Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) are working together to press PECO Energy both to shift towards solar and to create green jobs in low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia.
Central Philadelphia Meeting has a group of Friends especially involved with the work of POWER. We meet monthly; individuals from other meetings are welcome to attend. We would also be glad to describe our experiences in the organization to other Friends meetings located in regions where POWER is organizing. We feel that Friends have a lot to offer in interfaith work–and that we have much to learn as well.
For more information, feel free to contact me: Sara Palmer, co-coordinator of CPMM’s involvement in POWER.
Closing the Grant Making Circle
By Doug Humes
Quaker Buildings and Programs Granting Group
We grantmakers (at least for “bricks and sticks” – building and renovation projects) participate in the project at the beginning and in the middle, but typically we never see “the end”. At the beginning, we receive an application that describes the project, a new roof, a bathroom, in addition, an energy saving device, a budget and how the applicant proposes to pay for the project outside of the requested grant funds. [Read more…] about Closing the Grant Making Circle
Young Adult Friends Minute of Appreciation and Incoming Clerk
On April 27-29, the Young Adult Friends community gathered at Green St Monthly Meeting for our annual spring retreat. In business, the body approved by consensus the nomination of Carl Stanton as Pastoral Care Committee co-clerk. The body also approved the following minute of appreciation for outgoing clerk/YAF, Janaki Spickard-Keeler. [Read more…] about Young Adult Friends Minute of Appreciation and Incoming Clerk
Quaker Abolitionist Benjamin Lay Remembered
Three years ago, Abington Friends Meeting member and caretaker Dave Wermeling noticed a tall professorial-looking figure wandering in the meeting burial ground. It was the historian Marcus Rediker doing research for a book he was writing on the 18th century Quaker abolitionist Benjamin Lay. Dave confirmed for Marcus that Benjamin and his wife Sarah were buried at Abington but the exact location was unmarked.
The only recognition Benjamin Lay received, after being disowned by the meeting for his active ministry against slave-holding by Quakers, was a small etching of his distinctive figure which hangs in the meeting fellowship room.
In 2016, Marcus was invited to talk about his research into the life of Benjamin Lay which inspired Friends at Abington to consider more closely Lay’s legacy. Member Loretta Fox was so inspired by Dave’s enthusiasm and Marcus’ research she felt led to a propose a memorial minute to the meeting recognizing Lay’s unwavering dedication to racial equality and his unstinting courage to witness to the evils of enslaving people.
“I felt led to draft a minute of unity because it is important for Abington Meeting to acknowledge that Sarah and Benjamin Lay were buried under our care,” said Loretta. “Not only for them, but more importantly for the enslaved people and their descendants for whom they so valiantly spoke. As the community that disowned Lay, we need to go on record as accepting his message and honoring his witness to the truth, however belatedly.”
Burial Marker for Sarah & Benjamin Lay
On Saturday, April 21, 2018, Abington Monthly Meeting unveiled a burial stone for Sarah & Benjamin Lay. The event which featured opening remarks by author Marcus Rediker and local resident and Quaker Avis Wanda McClinton was followed by a gathering in the meetinghouse in the manner of a Friends Memorial Meeting.
Part of the program was a dramatic reading of Benjamin Lay’s writing by meeting member and actor Benjamin Lloyd. “We are all indebted to Marcus’ book,” said Ben. “As I read, I found myself totally absorbed in the story of this little person, just a couple of generations removed from the birth of the Quaker movement, travelling the high seas and later confronting the evils of slavery in America. He seemed possessed of an almost pathologically contrarian nature. I identified with him!”
Ben Lloyd’s reading of passages from Lay’s publication “All Slave-Keepers That Keep the Innocent in Bondage: Apostates” was electrifying. It convincingly conveyed the barely contained rage of Lays convictions as well the compassion he felt for those Friends whom he railed against. Any doubt as to the unsettling power of Lay’s message was dispelled by this dramatic rendition of his words.
The program concluded with a multigenerational and multiethnic/racial panel discussion exploring the query: What practices and beliefs do we hold that future generations will someday look back on and say, “What were they thinking?”
Friends shared their contemporary concerns and activities against the mistreatment and criminalization of immigrants, support for the Black Lives Matter movement, activism to confront mass incarceration and protesting gun violence in our schools and neighborhoods, among others.