Friend to Friend June 24, 2020

June 25, 2020

As Way Opens

It is almost hard to fathom that 25 years ago, today, June 24th, Susan Schroeder and I entered Emanuel Lutheran Church in New Haven, Indiana and recited our marriage vows before family, friends, and God. Emanuel Lutheran happened to be my home church and where I began my faith journey. As well, Sue had just served her first year as an elementary educator at Central Lutheran School, which was affiliated with Emanuel and directly across the parking lot from the church. Central was also the grade school I had attended from Kindergarten through 8th grade.

Two years earlier, Sue and I had met as camp counselors at Camp Lutherhaven in Albion, Indiana. Even though we both attended Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois and were in the same academic program, we didn’t meet until camp. It was there we quickly fell in love and realized that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Soon, I would be down on one knee after a picnic lunch in Franke Park, outside the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, asking for Sue’s hand in marriage. Who would have known then what the next 25 years would bring!

Two days after our wedding our adventures began as we packed up a moving truck and moved to Orlando, Florida for my internship as a Director of Christian Education. Unbeknownst to us at that time, we would get used to moving as we served God. After a wonderful first year of married life in Florida, we moved to Illinois, then to Texas, back to Illinois, to Michigan, back to Indiana, to Oregon, and finally back to Indiana where we currently reside. Our first son, Alex would be born in Illinois while Sam and Lewis would be born in two different cities in Michigan. Along with the moves, we also found ourselves moving around theologically from Lutheran, to Anglican, to Mennonite, to finally Quaker.

Through all the moves, changes, additions to family, challenges and even church struggles, there has been one constant – our deep love and friendship for each other. I know I am a better husband, father, pastor, and friend because of having Sue in my life. From day one, she has made my life complete and I cannot think of a better partner for this crazy journey we call life.

Also, as a pastor, I know how rare it is today to find a life partner that lasts. It takes work, it takes commitment, but most of all it takes being best friends. And that is exactly what I look for in every couple who I have the honor of officiating their weddings. My prayer is that if you are married, or you are considering marriage that God would bless you today and draw you even closer as partners and friends in this great adventure called life!

Happy Anniversary, Sue! Here’s to the next 25 years of adventure as best friends! I love you, always.

Grace and peace,

Bob

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) is a fellowship opportunity for young adults excited by the intersection of justice and Quaker spiritual deepening. This year, 36 Fellows are participating in this experiment, working at nonprofits in one of our five program cities, living in community together, and considering how their spirituality is integrally connected with community and justice. Fellows work with those experiencing homelessness, engage with climate change issues, support individuals in navigating the immigration system, teach in classrooms, work at neighborhood health centers, and so much more. Meanwhile, Fellows meet monthly with a Spiritual Nurturer and worship with Quaker communities. The current focus on the racial justice movement, global health pandemic, and economic crisis brings into even sharper relief QVS’s call to provide Spirit-grounded service opportunities for young adults.

This summer, QVS will celebrate the end of the eighth program year and the nearly complete four-year fundraising campaign to raise an additional $2.2 million to deepen the program offerings and seed an endowment. We have just $80,000 left to raise!

We welcome contributions from you as you consider how you are led to steward your financial resources. There is so much need in our local communities, in this country, and in the world right now. QVS is an opportunity to make change in all of these levels. Young adult Fellows work at local nonprofits before continuing into whole lives dedicated to spiritually grounded social change. If you are able to make a financial offering, please visit the QVS website for ways to give. This is truly the best way you can help QVS Fellows and the vulnerable communities they serve right now.

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Please note, Shawn P will be on vacation July though August. You won’t see him in our Sunday service videos, but don’t worry, he is just enjoying the summertime!

Western Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions! The WYM annual sessions are happening virtually this year. The draft schedule is available here. Please note that many details are yet to be worked out and the schedule is subject to change. All sessions will be held through various technological platforms. The Sunday worship service may be a combination of live and Zoom. If you have any questions, you can contact Western Yearly Meeting westernym@sbcglobal.net.

Are You Being Called to Serve? Next Monday, June 29th, is the Nominating Committee for Western Yearly Meeting. The following committees have openings: Christian Education, Christian Ministries and Evangelism, Christian Outreach, Meeting Development and Nurture, American Friends Service Committee, Finance, Property Trustee. If you’re interested, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Cat Needs New Home! Ursula R is looking for a new home for her cat, Jake. He is six years old, charismatic, very loving and cuddly. Sometimes bites. Likes to go outside. If you or someone you know is interested in adopting this cat, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org or 317-255-2485.

The Overman Family Scholarship, in memory of Jess and Mark Overman, is available again this year. High school seniors through graduate students are welcome to apply. Undergraduate students will be given first consideration. The scholarship fund is designated to support the members and attenders of Indianapolis First Friends Meeting. Scholarship funds may be applied to any school related expense, i.e. books, supplies, tuition, housing, computer, etc. The deadline for application will be June 30, 2020. For an application please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Join us from virtually anywhere in the world as the Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading book club discusses Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law by Preet Bharara. By the one-time federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, an important overview of the way our justice system works, and why the rule of law is essential to our society. Using case histories, personal experiences and his own inviting writing and teaching style, Preet Bharara shows the thought process we need to best achieve truth and justice in our daily lives and within our society. Preet Bharara has spent much of his life examining our legal system, pushing to make it better, and prosecuting those looking to subvert it. Bharara believes in our system and knows it must be protected, but to do so, we must also acknowledge and allow for flaws in the system and in human nature. The book is divided into four sections: Inquiry, Accusation, Judgment and Punishment. He shows why each step of this process is crucial to the legal system, but he also shows how we all need to think about each stage of the process to achieve truth and justice in our daily lives. (goodreads) Rik L will be leading the discussion in via Zoom starting at 7 pm on Tuesday June 30, 2020. To join the Zoom call, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org for the meeting information.

Caregivers Needed for Paid Study ~ TACTIC’s program is looking for caregivers of adults with dementia for a study testing programs that may be helpful in managing the challenges associated with caregiving. For more information, visit their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TACTICs-Program-for-Dementia-Caregivers-112738523778479

Join the Peace Church Conversation ~ After a deep discussion with other area Peace Churches this month, we have decided to grow the conversation online as we work together for "Positive Peace.” Please join our First Friends group today—within the larger Peace Church Alliance network—by clicking here: https://www.peacechurches.org/share/3LbkpLtX76sA4iPe?utm_source=manual The introductory page is available at www.peacechurches.org but please use the longer link above to sign up because it will connect you directly to our First Friends group. Thanks again for your support, participation, and action at this critical and sensitive time!

Five Garden Watering Questions Answered

Is your watering technique sabotaging your garden? Every gardener wants their hard work to result in a beautiful bounty. Here are some common watering concerns to address:

1. When should I water?

Do not water in the heat of the day when moisture evaporates quickly and sun can burn leaves (sunscald). Early morning is a terrific time to water since it gives the plant increased turgidity to help resist wilt. Late afternoon and early evening are also good but watering too late in the day can result in wet plants that can attract fungi and disease.

2. What part of the plant shall I water?

Water your plants at the base, not over the top. Roots are an efficient water absorption system. Leaves cannot absorb as much and leftover water invites sunscald in the day and fungi at night. The Community Garden has a cistern that collects water from the garage roof. Our agricultural agent warns that this water can contain pathogens so we need to water underneath the plant. Take care not to splash soil on plants, especially tomatoes. Fungal pathogens live in the dirt and can spread disease once they land on a plant (splashback).

3. How much water do my plants need?

A thorough soak in beds every few days should ensure deep roots get a drenching. Proper watering technique depends on soil components, weather and plant types. Raised beds drain well so be sure to water enough, though too much water can drain off nutrients. Use your finger to feel the depth the water has reached. Then you will know if you are overwatering or under watering. Often it may seem the plant is getting enough when it may just have a half-inch saturation point and water may not be reaching subsoil and deeper roots. A gardener can coat the surface and after watering other plants, return to rehydrate so water permeates the earth. Yellowing foliage, root rot and ironically, even wilt, can be symptoms of overwatering. Rain gauges are inexpensive and can help a gardener know how much water a plot is getting. Container plants need special consideration. If the container has no drainage the plant can get root rot. If the container has seepage holes a plant may need extra watering and nutrients because of fast drainage.

4. Does a plant’s life cycle factor into watering?

The life cycle of the plant makes a difference. Seedlings lack a strong root system and seeds need to be kept moist. Morning watering—and even a second later watering--can determine whether or not they survive. They should be watered directly since their roots are not fully developed. Take care to avoid drowning or bombing seeds and seedlings with “splashback boulders.” Heavy producers, like melons, need extra water. Water more often when plants, like tomatoes, are fruiting or flowering. Otherwise flowers and young fruit will wither and reduce the harvest.

5. Can mulch help?

Examples of organic mulch are straw, shredded newspaper, pine needles and bark chips. A top coat of mulch can help lock water and warmth in and may help feed plants. Of course, different mulches have different purposes so do your research. For example, pine needles slightly acidify the soil. Be sure the straw is weed-free if you don’t want to introduce invasive plants. If your area is experiencing drought or if you want to water less, mulch is one answer. Also, it helps prevent weeds. Hurrah! (Some article information from Epic Gardening YouTube)

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Service? Watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://youtu.be/H37AamHRYaY. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday! Keep an eye out in your email for details soon on the coming Sunday’s online service!

Queries for the Week

(From online service)

What descriptors of God do I have the hardest time relating to? And why?
What has “thrown me off course” and not allowed me to see the good gifts of God in my life?
How might seeing the Light of God “cascading down” through my life and the lives of those around me help me to value each person in this world?

(From self-led guide)

Where am I feeling anxiety or a sense that my life is spinning out of control? What may I need to focus on and who may I need to engage to help me with these feelings?
How am I allowing myself to “not go gentle into that good night” and “rage against the dying of the light”?
In the midst of all the chaos and pain in our world, currently, how am I experiencing and noticing the gifts coming from the Father of Lights?

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Friend to Friend June 17, 2020

June 18, 2020

It was such a joy to spend a couple hours two weeks ago with some of the women at First Friends sharing poetry and creating collages of pictures and words that represent things I can control and things I can’t control. Michelle T led us in this activity that is so relevant in our current situation as there is much that we cannot control. Yet I found that I had more pictures and words on the page of things I can control, and I’ve put both pieces in my office to remind me of this. My joy, my happiness, my need to release perfection, my words, my attitude, my kindness, my respect etc are all things that I can choose to do no matter what the circumstances.

Part of our time together was a sharing of poetry. There is so much talent within our women at First Friends. I want to share a couple of poems that touched my heart from our friends.

-Beth

Permission

by Becki Heusel

My friend gives me permission.

She helps me lift the sofa cushions of my mind,

where coins of ideas have fallen,

and gives me permission to scoop them up.

My friend gives me permission.

She listens to me stumbling through obstacles,

unsure of my footing,

and points a light to show that I am on the right path.

My friend gives me permission.

She gently guides my halting steps,

until, as I become used to the lay of the land,

I am able to give myself permission.

My friend gives me permission.

She nurtures with love and confidence.

I have enjoyed my life so far,

But how much richer it is, and will be, with permission.

Anima itinere (Soul’s Journey)

by Becki Heusel

My soul is a cushion upon which

I rest my mortal being.

Blue and gold brocaded –

it gathers the light from other souls

congregated in its presence.

Then, as phosphorescent flotsam and jetsam

Along the shore, it carries the glow with it

Through dark valleys –

Extending the beam ahead to where

The trail leads once again up to the mountaintop.

Greeting the light of God

As it is projected through the sun,

My soul absorbs light and warmth,

Hope and delight,

And moves me endlessly through

This mortal existence

And takes its rightful place at last

In Paradise.

I Think I Know You

by Leslie Kartholl

You are unknowable

Yet I think I know you –

Familiar

Yet frightening as a sudden storm,

You drench me in great mystery –

My hands are small and unsteady

Weak and scarred –

They tremble with fear

As you hold them in yours

While you juggle the universe.

I reach for you

Hesitant, unsure –

Persuaded by your passion

That burns like a million stars

And courses through me

Like a hot comet

You are unknowable

Yet I think I know you

As familiar to me

As the rhythm of my breath

I inhale your heady fragrance

And think of lilacs.

Grace

by Leslie Kartholl

I extend my hands freely

For you to rap my knuckles

To take the ruler of justice

To my weak flesh.

I try to buy with bruises

A measure of peace

And the feeling that I have suffered

And so you are pleased.

But you take my hands and turn them

Palm up

Forming them into cups

To receive light and grace –

An unexpected rainbow

And the smell of autumn leaves

I baptize your blessings with bitter tears –

Do not give me what I do not deserve

But you never stop.

You pile on the sound of a child

Laughing at nothing,

And eyes that gaze at me with love,

An early crocus and ladybugs

On the window

And the blessings spill out of my hands

And drown me

In unmerited favor.

Heat Wave 1951

by Linda Caldwell Lee

Somewhere on a curvy country road Mom snapped,

“Donald, pull over.” Dad skidded

into field grass. Mom dumped the baby

on the seat and bolted out of the car barefoot.

We three sisters roasted silently in the back seat gaping,

while Mom yanked her blouse over her head,

dropped her skirt, sprinted along a tractor rut,

waded through reeds to launch herself into a lake.

She swam arm over arm all the way to the center

where she floated on her back.

Dad was bellowing, “Come back,” Bertha Jane, damn it,

come back here now.

Mom vanished underwater, swam to the far shore

before turning towards us.

Dad clenched his fists at his sides, helpless

among the Queen Anne’s lace.

We stood in a row in the shade,

even baby brother watching.

Mom drifted back, stopping to tread water on the way.

She rose from the lake with waterweed in her hair,

cow lily caught in her bra trailed across her midriff.

When she flipped her head, water sparked around her shoulders.

Peeling off wet underwear, she raised her arms to the breeze,

turned to air-dry before putting on the blouse and skirt.

She opened the car door and got in.

We children all sat in back without fighting for windows.

Dad slammed into the driver’s seat, mashed the gas so hard

the wheels spun. Mom's arm flew out the window,

she turned her hand to feel it lifted like a wing.

She never did pull her arm all the way back

inside that black Chevy.

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

IFCL ~ A very concrete action we can take to address inequities in our laws and political representation is to stop voter suppression here in Indiana. Indiana Friends Committee on Legislation (IFCL) has been working with allies in the All IN for Democracy coalition to educate the public about the many forms of voter suppression, including the most insidious, gerrymandering. This Thursday, June 18th, at 7:00pm, the documentary film "Uncivil War" will premier in a virtual screening event. It examines the many methods--all perfectly legal--used to suppress voter turnout, the dangers they pose to our democracy, and efforts to end them. To sign up for the screening, go to www.allinfordemocracy.org. For more on voter suppression and this event, see the excellent commentary by Julia Vaughn of Common Cause Indiana in TheStatehouseFile.com here. And for a column by John Krull which illuminates just what's at stake for us all right here in Indiana, see here.

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Service? This week we had a special Prayer Service of Lament for Race & Injustice. Watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://youtu.be/4_Dz_ZOw9Ks. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday! Keep an eye out in your email for details soon on the coming Sunday’s virtual service!

All are invited to Meeting for Business and Fellowship Hour ~ After virtual worship this Sunday, we hope you will join us at 11:00am on Zoom for Monthly Meeting for Business and Fellowship Hour! You can join through computer or phone! To join please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org. We will finish Meeting for Business first thing so that everyone may get to their Father’s Day activities. After the meeting, anyone is also welcomed to hang around and chat for coffee hour.

Men’s Threshing Together ~ Hey Men! Join us for a Zoom Happy Hour with Men's Threshing Together on Tuesday, June 23 at 7:00pm. (Note the date change from Thursday to Tuesday.) Bring your favorite beverage and connect with us on Zoom and let's check-in and see how everyone is doing during this pandemic! Pastor Bob will be hosting this event. See you at Happy Hour (our normal time - 7pm just on Zoom!) To join, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org for the meeting information.

Women’s Book Study ~ Deb S and Mary Ellen L are looking to start a women's book study group. The hope is to study a book that has meaning for the group members and at the same time deepen the bonds of friendship among them. We would like to take up Richard Rohr's Universal Christ . If you are interested or you have questions, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org. The first task will be to select the best day/time for all, frequency and location. During pleasant weather, the group might want meet outdoors, then maybe via Zoom. Details will be decided once the group has formed. Deb and Mary Ellen are looking forward to a lively discussion of this book and, hopefully, others.

Nipping Current Garden Troubles in the Bud

This article is about solutions to our Community Garden’s current seasonal woes.

Flea Beetles

If there are pinhole-size holes in eggplants, turnips, radishes, mustard and Cole crops they are made by flea beetles. These beetles are small, black and can fly. Suggested cures include:

using organic insecticides now and through August. Examples include neem oil, rotenone, garlic-based sprays, pyrethrines (derived from chrysanthemums), and Pyola (a canola oil and pyrethrins combo from www.gardensalive.com). Sprays must be reapplied after it rains. Plants should be covered completely, even on undersides of leaves;
planting companion plants such as thyme, garlic, allium and nasturtiums;
putting red plastic mulch under eggplants to repel the beetles;
putting yellow or white sticky cards or plastic wrap covered with petroleum jelly on boards placed near targeted plants. The color mimics eggplant blossoms and when insects land on them the fleas get stuck;
commercial sticky traps such as Tangle Trap; and
placing floating row covers over the plants.

(Information from the U. S. Department of Agriculture and pennlive.com.)

Fungi and Splashback

Lower leaves on tomato plants may have a holey or mottled look. This is often the effect of splashback from watering and soil spatters. Fungi develop on the plants. If the leaves turn yellow, cleanly snip and discard them. Some wilt disease can progress and continue yellowing and wilting leaves higher on the vine. Use an organic fungicide to help prevent and control these diseases. Specific tomato diseases can be difficult to identify since a multitude of tomato diseases exhibit similar symptoms.

Chipmunks, Squirrels and Rabbits

These critters seem to be especially hungry nuisances this year. Some solutions include:

scattering garlic, cayenne pepper, hair, fur, blood meal and bone meal around as deterrents;
using fencing around plants and atop soil to make it uncomfortable underfoot. Holly leaves, eggshells and sweet gum balls are also irritants on little paws;
planting a little extra and expecting some crops to be eaten; and
letting nature take its course through actions of hawks and birds of prey inhabiting the skies over our Community Garden.

Hope these ideas are helpful! Let me know if they make a difference and if I can help with other problems you are noticing in your raised beds. Many of our gardeners are knowledgeable in many areas of gardening. --Nancy

Cat Needs New Home! Ursula Roberts is looking for a new home for her cat, Jake. He is six years old, charismatic, very loving and cuddly. Sometimes bites. Likes to go outside. If you or someone you know is interested in adopting this cat, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org or 317-255-2485.

Meditational Woods Bird-of the-Month for June
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Sweeter Than a Robin, but Icky

What could be sweeter than a robin? I’m talking bird songs here. Take the song of an American Robin, “Cheerio-cheerilee”, sweeten it up, enrich it, and extend it. You will have the song of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak! I suggest you listen to both on “All About Birds” or some other website. The icky part is the grosbeak’s call of “ICK.” It is diagnostic, meaning no other bird does it, and it is the way I find them if they are not singing. It’s like hearing someone say a single word down the hall in the meetinghouse, and recognizing the person by voice immediately, even though it may have been quite a while since your last encounter.

I have drawn a rose-breasted male, and one can see how the species gets its name. The female is brownish with a brown-on-white striped breast. Notice the huge bill (GROS-beak).

This species came through in May, in fairly large numbers, and yes, each year at least one stops by the Meditational Woods anytime during that month. By the time you read this, most rose-breasted grosbeaks have migrated farther north, however, some stick around for the summer in larger woods around here. Probably not ours, but one never knows, especially with the wooded neighborhoods nearby. Hence it is the bird for June, just in case. Listen for that sweet warble or the special “ICK”.

One final note: As of this writing 90 species have been documented in the Meditational Woods or seen on or from the First Friends property. That is significant because just a few years ago, the woods was simply a lawn with some large trees. More about that later!! ~Brad J

Queries for the Week

(From online service)

What historic roots (whether in my country, my church, my family, my community) are important to re-examine, be educated on, and teach to help benefit the development of the Beloved Community?
What journey do I need to take (and who must I ask along on the journey) to form a better expression of the Beloved Community? In moving forward what might I have to leave behind or what might I have to take along? Where might I need to get out of my box?
When looking inward, where am I not whole? What or who am I missing? What would make me a more healthy and vibrant expression of the Beloved Community?
Is community being developed in my life and ministry and am I becoming a faithful presence to the communities in which I participate, currently?
Who am I really serving? How much of my serving is self-serving? In looking outside myself and our meeting, who truly needs to be served?
How am I celebrating and finding joy with others? Am I able to see the reasons for giving thanks, remembering, and appreciating all people and their stories?

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Friend to Friend June 10, 2020

June 11, 2020

As Way Opens

“We Will Be Prisoners No More”

(Watercolor and Pen on Paper)

9” x 12”

By Sam Henry

Before I was even thought of, my dad took a bus ride through Atlanta and arrived at the King Center. There he experienced the pain and plight of black people in America, and it was then he resolved to do the next chapter of his life differently. Since I was a toddler, my parents have been raising us in the conviction of racial inequality, taking us kids to every Civil Rights destination we could check off with the weeks of vacation allowed. From a young age, images of peaceful protesters meeting resistance, lynchings, unity, and injustice were ingrained in my mind. These lessons, these experiences, these sacred places are all burned into the core of my being. Education on these issues from a young age opened my eyes to the vital role education has in generating empathy for people who don’t share the same background, skin, ethnicity, etc. In tandem with this education in Civil Rights, it was no secret that I was equally as keen to learn about the role art-making has in our society and the ways in which it has been used to bring about symbols of revolution. For this reason, I created this artwork as a means of representing the current Black Lives Matter Movement.

My painting posted here, as a whole, is meant to be read in the same way you would a book; the narrative flows from top to bottom. In this case, we start with the exigence of the story, the reason we are standing up for black lives here in 2020. Put in the simplest of terms, that would be the death of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, all of whom are considered to be at the center of modern day lynchings, whether at the hands of police or fellow citizens and white supremacists. It was these three cases and the videos which captured the deaths of Arbery and Floyd which caught a nation off guard and moved us all to break outside the confines of quarantine to bring justice. From here, we move downward to a different, more metaphorical message. While the victories of the Civil Rights movement and the current Black Lives Matter Movement have been substantial, it is important to recognize that we don’t live in a post-racial society and the black community is still taking the brunt of our racist structures. In this painting, this is symbolically represented through a church choir, donned in prison orange, and praising in chains, acknowledging how members of the black community are still viewed as criminals before humans and remain prisoners to a racist society. Throughout this painting, I wanted no specific honor to go to one person in order to avoid undermining the power the voice of the common people unified. Besides the memorial to victims in upper third, the other two thirds serve as a conceptual reimagining of the black community. That being said, the pulpit is not occupied by anyone famous or with celebrity. Rather, it is the pulpit itself, which is famous, as it is an artistic representation of the Ebenezer Baptist pulpit, clad in the banner of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Hopping over the fence of the prison, one which looks suspiciously similar to the fence currently surrounding the White House, we see the faces of the movement, bearing picket signs in protest against America’s corrupt systems. However, there is one who goes beyond, breaking through the barriers restraining the protestors and raising her fist with power, showing the strength of the black community when unified. As many locals may notice, the signs stuck to the fence and held by the people are actually redesigned editions of the signs made for our Fishers Equity Awareness Protest and Demonstration, making these words not just mine, but the words of my entire community.

-Sam Henry

Joys & Concerns

Congratulations! Vicki and Chris W’s son, Will, and daughter-in-law Liz, have welcomed a new member of the family. Dylan Christopher W came into the world on Saturday, May 23rd. Congratulations to the family and to proud parents Will and Liz!

Some Friends from our Meeting joined about 1000 people in a Processional of Lament and Repentance in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. They stopped along the way to lament black lives lost, confess their complicity in systems of racial injustice and white supremacy, and repent with a commitment to tangible action as they seek a more just world together. (Thanks to Mary B for the photos)

Check this out, the B. family participated in a peaceful demonstration in Beech Grove carrying a sign with a quote from our Meeting’s response. Thanks to Marshelle for sharing these photos.

On Monday night, several people from First Friends attended the Black Lives Matter Multi-Faith Community Prayer Vigil and Peace Demonstration in Liberty Plaza at the Fishers Municipal Center, Fishers, IN. Pastor Bob was invited to join with other faith leaders in and around Fishers to share an opening prayer he wrote utilizing the words of Quaker Bayard Rustin. Thanks to Sue Henry for capturing these great photos.

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Service? This week we had a special Prayer Service of Lament for Race & Injustice. Watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://youtu.be/5cTWEUEt1oM. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday! Keep an eye out in your email for details soon on the coming Sunday’s virtual service!

Join us for a called meeting on Reopening ~ All Friends are invited to join us after our service on Sunday to a called meeting on reopening. The Reopening Task Force has been established and we are now looking to gather input from our members and attenders as the group weighs our reopening options. The meeting will begin at 11am, with Fellowship Hour following for any who wish to stick around and chat. To join, contact the office for Zoom meeting information.

Meditational Woods Bird-of the-Month for June
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Sweeter Than a Robin, but Icky

What could be sweeter than a robin? I’m talking bird songs here. Take the song of an American Robin, “Cheerio-cheerilee cheerio-cheerilee”, sweeten it up, enrich it, and extend it. You will have the song of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak! I suggest you listen to both on “All About Birds” or some other website. The icky part is the grosbeak’s call of “ICK.” It is diagnostic, meaning no other bird does it, and it is the way I find them if they are not singing. It’s like hearing someone say a single word down the hall in the meetinghouse, and recognizing the person by voice immediately, even though it may have been quite a while since your last encounter.

I have drawn a rose-breasted male, and one can see how the species gets its name. The female is brownish with a brown-on-white striped breast. Notice the huge bill (GROS-beak).

Free Seeds; Tomato Care

Free seeds are now available at many branches of the Indianapolis Public Library through curbside pickup. More branches have seed libraries than in the past. Take advantage!

Most Hoosiers love tomatoes, but at one time people thought they were poisonous. Tomatoes are native to South America and were called the “Apple of Love” when introduced in France and Italy. People in the U.S started cultivating them in 1835 although Thomas Jefferson was feeding his guests his home-grown tomatoes as early as 1781.

Tomatoes come in many colors and shapes. Determinate tomatoes grow to a predetermined height determined by their genes. Flowers set at their growing tips. Flowers along the stems set fruit in about two weeks. They are good choices for canning and creating sauces.

Indeterminate tomatoes increase in height throughout the growing season, continuing to produce foliage. Side shoots produce fruit continually throughout the season, creating a long harvest.

Smaller plants can be staked two feet apart; larger plants need three or four feet. Some closeness in a small garden can produce more fruit. Remove early forming flowers so plants can produce healthy foliage to support tomatoes. Too much nitrogen in fertilizer will produce more foliage so a high phosphorus fertilizer is better and can be applied one to two weeks after first fruits are set; two weeks after picking first ripe fruit; and six weeks after picking first ripe fruit.

Train plants in a cage or on stakes at planting time for better air circulation and less disease. Tomatoes do best when held off of the soil. Caged tomatoes have less sunscalding injury because of more leaf cover and suckers* do not need to be removed. To create more support, stakes can be woven through cages and sunken approximately a foot into the ground.

If staking plants, poles should be set one to two feet into the soil and about four inches out from the stalk. Placing poles when planting will prevent the root destruction that could occur when placed at a later date. Soft cord or strips of cloth can secure plants to stakes. Strips should be tied in a figure 8 with one loop around the stem and the other around the stake to prevent rubbing. Check sucker development weekly and pinch out growing tips of suckers just beyond the first two leaves on that branch. Allowing the first two leaves to remain will give better foliage cover and help protect tomatoes from sunscald.

Mulch will help conserve soil moisture and help prevent fluctuations. It will help prevent weeds which, in turn, will help to ward off breeding sites of stalk borers which tunnel in the stem and kill the plant. Apply two to four inches of straw, hay or bark chips or black plastic mulch. Otherwise cultivate shallowly to remove weeds when small.

Red tomatoes are created when weather is not too hot. Tomatoes tend to be pink, yellow, or orange when temperatures are above 86 degrees. If picked earlier to avoid scalding and skin cracking, they can fully ripen off the plant and do not need further light.

I enjoy planting several types of tomatoes because success can vary due to temperature and rainfall variations. These developments can create environmental stresses such as disease and insect invasions. My motto: All gardening is an experiment. :) ~Nancy

*Suckers are side branches that form in the axils of the plant, the points where the leaves join the stem.

Information about tomatoes is courtesy of Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, Department of Horticulture in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Queries for the Week

(From self-led worship)

How can "Quaker Power" speed up "revolutionary changes" in our community/communities? How might it play a role in transforming systems of oppression?
How can we show "what love can do" for racial justice? Is there anything that should be added to Friend Barrington's list?
Is my Quaker meeting more than a "social club" for people with "common interests?" Who or what might be missing from our "Beloved Community?"

Comment

Friend to Friend June 3, 2020

June 4, 2020

As Way Opens

To: The People of Indianapolis

From: The Pastors, Clerk of the Meeting, Clerk of Ministry & Counsel, and Clerk of Witness & Service, Indianapolis First Friends

Re: Join us for a Peace Church Response

Dear Friends,

It is with a heavy heart that we have watched recent events unfold. As our resources and patience were already heavily taxed by an unparalleled pandemic, we watched the senseless execution of George Floyd in streets of Minneapolis. While capital punishment in any form is an affront to Friends, execution without process—without charge, judge, or jury—is an affront to all free peoples. This happened in broad daylight, at the hands of law enforcement officers, while the cameras rolled. This kind of violence, hatred, and unlawful discrimination are on display in our nation today in a way that is ringing old alarm bells not just for Quakers, but for Christians and people of other faiths who have worked for peace for hundreds of years. Today, we issue a fresh call: join us as we accelerate our work for peace once again—particularly in our capital city of Indianapolis.

The homicide we witnessed this past week is not isolated, but rather reinforced by a broad narrative of suspicion and culture of exclusion we have cultivated in our nation. Many of us, even in historic Peace Churches, have occasionally let our guard down or assumed certain events are isolated. However, when a white woman in Central Park threatens to phone a man into police apparently for being black, or an Ahmaud Arbery is gunned down for jogging in Georgia, we are reminded that these crimes against our brothers and sisters are not only connected by a common thread of ignorance, but a propagation of fear and violence against God’s creation. This is untenable, unbiblical, and un-Quaker.

As we did during our fight against slavery, our support for abolition, and during our cooperation in the underground railroad (which was unlawful at the time), we are prepared as a faith community to reignite this dialogue even in the face of strong opposition. We will no longer stand silently by while officers purporting to uphold the law extinguish the light of God in our fellow men or women; nor will we accept without resistance encroachments into our liberties—including the First Amendment—for which so many have worked and even perished. For example, we watched with disbelief as press have been arrested on-the-air, in direct contravention of well-established freedoms. The hour during which the cameras were unable to capture the escalating violence is further salt in the wound to our freedoms of expression.

Quakers reject violence in all circumstances—whether in instigation or response. Our traditional testimonies of Simplicity, Integrity, Peace, Equality, Community, and Stewardship aren’t just words; they are core beliefs by which we as Friends continue to stand today. We are joined not just by our Brethren and Mennonite brothers and sisters in Christ, but also the wider church. Please join us for an urgent conversation this Wednesday at 5p via Zoom to coordinate a Peace Church response among leaders of similarly-minded faith communities here in Indianapolis who have worked for peace in the face of violence. We anticipate that this conversation will be led by the representatives of our Indy-area historic Peace Churches, but all faith leaders are invited to attend this conversation. We also invite faith communities of color to join and inform us at this critical moment. We understand these concerns are not unique to Quakers, so we humbly wish to host—not own—the dialog, and sincerely look forward to your participation.

Friends: we are weary, but we must persevere. God’s voice speaks to Quakers and all of His children as clearly today as it did 400 years ago. We are called to reject violence, respect all people, and reconcile to God and one another as we build a future based on love, not fear. As Jesus taught us: we are to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, and be merciful and forgiving; but he also encouraged us to instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, and comfort the afflicted. We, as the aforementioned leaders of the oldest and largest Quaker Meeting in Indianapolis, intend to follow these examples and renew our vows to these principles—without hesitation or fear—again today. We know we are not alone, so please join as we embark on this journey together. May the Light of God’s love surround all of his people, particularly his people of color, in these dangerous and sensitive times.

Joys & Concerns

We are excited to announce Krishan K’s Eagle Scout Project is complete in our Meditational Woods. He has identified all our trees and provided a wonderful map for you to identify them as well. Beth Henricks joined the group to give a blessing upon their work! Thank you, Krishan (and all who helped) for your service and for beautifying our property!

A BIG thank you to those who continue to serve the food pantry during these times. We served 69. Those helping were Bill and Kathy F, David B, Phil G, Alex D, Megan B, Virginia S, and Rik and Linda L. It was pretty hot in the parking lot where food was distributed! Thank you all for your efforts!

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

Bread for the World ~ At our virtual Shalom Zone meeting earlier this week, we hosted a representative from Bread for the World. Bread is an organization that focuses on food insecurity and lobbies government representatives to fund food needs for both international and US folks in need. The main thing that Bread focuses on is having organizations and individuals write letters/emails which Bread aggregates and then delivers to the representatives in bulk in order to make a big impression. Several of First Friends members participated in a letter writing endeavor last year at one of the Shalom Zone events. Since an “in person” event can’t be held at this time, and since the occurrence of food insecurity seems greater than ever, Bread is asking the churches in the Shalom Zone to ask their members to write letters and send them directly to their Senators/Representatives. The Shalom Zone will then report back to Bread the number of letters sent so Bread can use this information when talking with the Senators/Representatives. The Shalom Zone has a minimum goal of 10 individuals per church but we think that First Friends can more than double that number.

Bread has made it easy to compose and send letters/emails with this handy toolkit: https://www.bread.org/toolkit. Note that Bread recommends that you personalize the correspondence slightly to have a better impact. You may want to mention the increased need we see at the food pantry, a need that is likely to continue and that our Quaker faith compels us to help as we are able with this food insecurity issue. There are many other ways to personalize this message. Thanks for your help!

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Calling all First Friends Women ~ we will have a women’s gathering on Zoom on Sunday, June 7th at 12:00 noon. We will hear poetry from some of our women and welcome other poets (please let our office know that you would like to share a poem). We will create a picture collage. You will need a large blank paper, glue and magazines. Michelle T has magazines and will deliver some to your doorstep - please let the office know if you would like a delivery of magazines. To join, contact the office for the Zoom information.

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Meeting for Worship? Watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7JOQgJbda4. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday! Keep an eye out in your email for details soon on the coming Sunday’s virtual service!

Quaker Life magazine is being offered to us for renewal at a group rate of $30.00 per year. Published by Friends United Meeting, issues come out quarterly, that will “inspire, inform and teach you.” It features articles from Quakers around the world and has featured writers including at least two familiar names, Ruthie Tippin and Bob Henry! The journal is normally priced at $40.00 annually. We keep one copy in our library. Please let the office know if you would like to join our group subscription. Thank you!

Meditational Woods Bird-of the-Month for June
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Sweeter Than a Robin, but Icky

I have drawn a rose-breasted male, and one can see how the species gets its name. The female is brownish with a brown-on-white striped breast. Notice the huge bill (GROS-beak).

Evidence of Elves and Gnomes in Community Garden;
More Tips for Tending Crops

“Fairies” and “gnomes” are weeding, mowing, planting and caring for the Community Garden’s communal spaces. They prefer to remain anonymous but we thank them and recognize their contributions.

Here are the latest tips for garden care:

Water well, but carefully. Since we use a cistern, water your plants from beneath to prevent contamination that can cause illness in humans. Raised beds drain fast and in a small plot every plant matters. Crops are more dependent on the gardener. Do check the soil underneath the surface so you do not overwater. Too much water can cause fungi. Once plants start developing fruit they need more water. Watering from overhead can cause plants to burn from the sun or, if late in the day, not dry completely so that they are more apt to develop disease. Watering well helps ensure strong root, pod and fruit development.

Thin direct-sown seedlings. For those tender-hearted souls who are hesitant, some seedling types can be eaten in salads so they are not wasted. Thinning seedlings results in less competition and produces stronger disease-resistant, pest-resistant plants.

Arrange serial plantings and harvests of crops like radishes, carrots and beets.

Stop slugs and snails. They love eating young plants. Stop them with pellets or sharp natural deterrents like egg shells, holly leaves and sweet gum balls. Place boards around the plot and check underneath early in the morning when sheltering pests can be removed.

Remove diseased plant growth and pests promptly. Remove yellowing foliage from plants such as zucchini, kohlrabi and kale. Dead plant growth makes a great hiding place for pests and fungi.

Tie in young cucumber stems and tomatoes to supports so they will not be weighted down with fruit later and break. Learn how to pinch off tomato plant growth so energy goes into fruit rather than leaves.

Harvest particular types of young plants before they become woody or too large. These include turnips, carrots, beets, okra and radishes. Radishes get too hot when grown too long.

Regularly pick and use salad crops, herbs, okra, beans and peas to encourage regrowth. You may pick the entire salad plant unless you want it to resprout or develop into a head if it is that type plant. In hot weather salad crops can become bitter. Shading them with other crops can be beneficial. Continuously pick the top growth off of salad crops and herbs so they do not bolt, stop producing and go to seed. Zucchini, beans, peas and okra need to be harvested often once the fruit develops.

Weed regularly before weeds become large and difficult to pull. Weeds can attract unwanted pests and reduce crop yields by stealing nutrients.

Queries for the Week

(From self-led worship)

What am I doing with my life? – What are the motives that order my days?
What am I weighed down by during this pandemic and how do I embrace the fact that I already have what I am looking for?
How am I learning that being my true self is discovering myself in God?

(From virtual service)

How am I facing my reality and yet living with the hope of the future?
What hard thing is God calling me to do?
How can I face my fears of uncertainty?

Comment

Friend to Friend May 27, 2020

May 29, 2020

As Way Opens

Graduation Sunday is my favorite Sunday of each year. I believe this is my 8th year of participating in this special service honoring our high school and college graduates. I always feel such hope in our future when we hear from our graduates, their plans, their dreams and the impact that First Friends has had on their lives.

This year, my need for hope is even greater. We all know our situation too well and my heart is heavy for these graduates that they won’t get to experience the normal “pomp and circumstance” of May. They have had to adjust to circumstances that 6 months ago we could not have imagined. What I am in awe of in these young people is how they have adjusted and adapted. I went to visit each one of them at their homes yesterday to deliver a small First Friends gift and take their picture. Each one of them made me so proud and so hopeful for where we go from here. I believe these young people are going to be part of a generation that will decide that we can’t keep doing things the way we have been doing them. I have faith that this generation is going to say enough already. We can’t keep destroying our environment, we can’t keep killing each other and we can’t pit groups against one another or we won’t be able to survive. I believe this generation will help lead us into a place that the founders of our country envisioned. That is how much hope I feel with these young people.

Class of 2020 - live out the words of Mahatma Gandhi - be the change in the world that you want to see. Thank you for giving me hope. Best of luck and know that you all are close to our hearts.

Help us shower our graduates with love! This year, with the normal graduation season in turmoil, we’d like to shower our graduating seniors with cards and love from First Friends. If you’d like to join us, please consider sending cards to our seniors!

Beth

Joys & Concerns

Let’s give a HUGE thanks to our Mid-North Food pantry volunteers and financial donors! Volunteers: Kathy and Bill F; Linda and Rik L; David B; Phil G; Derek, Virginia and Melanie S; and Carol and Jim D. Also THANK YOU to all who donated to the pantry for our fundraiser. First Friends raised $4,050 for the pantry. Can you guess who the folks are in the picture? Thanks to these volunteers and to all who contributed their prayers and financial resources to the pantry.

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

Bread for the World ~ At our virtual Shalom Zone meeting earlier this week, we hosted a representative from Bread for the World. Bread is an organization that focuses on food insecurity and lobbies government representatives to fund food needs for both international and US folks in need. The main thing that Bread focuses on is having organizations and individuals write letters/emails which Bread aggregates and then delivers to the representatives in bulk in order to make a big impression. Several of First Friends members participated in a letter writing endeavor last year at one of the Shalom Zone events. Since an “in person” event can’t be held at this time, and since the occurrence of food insecurity seems greater than ever, Bread is asking the churches in the Shalom Zone to ask their members to write letters and send them directly to their Senators/Representatives. The Shalom Zone will then report back to Bread the number of letters sent so Bread can use this information when talking with the Senators/Representatives. The Shalom Zone has a minimum goal of 10 individuals per church but I think that First Friends can more than double that number.

Bread has made it easy to compose and send letters/emails in the attachment to this email. Both content and addresses for congressional representatives are contained in such email. Note that Bread recommends that you personalize the correspondence slightly to have a better impact. You may want to mention the increased need we see at the food pantry, a need that is likely to continue and that our Quaker faith compels us to help as we are able with this food insecurity issue. I’m sure you have other ways to personalize this message.

Bread would like these letters/emails to be sent by May-31. Thanks for your help.

Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) Appeal for Food Relief -- Update and Thanks!

In April, the RSWR Board met to approve grant funding for twenty new projects in India, Kenya, and Sierra Leone this spring. These grants will resource women-led micro-enterprises with great promise for the future of the women, their families, and their communities, empowering them in a sustainable and self-determined way. But our hopeful planning for the future was tempered by the stark reality of the coronavirus pandemic, and the threat it poses to our women partners. Due to the spreading outbreak and government ordered sheltering-in-place in their countries, these women now cannot work. And without income, they cannot feed themselves or their families. RSWR's field representatives--some of whom worshiped with us here at First Friends last October--identified food relief as the most urgent need at this time. Until the public health crisis passes, food relief is how RSWR can best serve our women partners right now. (See a note of thanks from one of the women groups.)

To meet this crisis, RSWR decided to provide a total of $120,000 in food relief to the women who count on us. The Board approved an immediate disbursement of $50 in food relief to each of the RSWR grant recipients from the last two years--a modest amount for us in the U.S., but incredibly consequential for them. Since last week, an additional 250 women have been funded, bringing to 2,112 the number of women who have received food aid through your generosity. Our goal this final week of our appeal is to help the remaining 530 women and families we have targeted for aid. All these women were succeeding in their fledgling businesses until the coronavirus outbreak. Because of our relationship with these women, RSWR has been ideally situated to be the conduit for this assistance, with an efficient, reliable way to disburse funds using already established channels.

If you have already donated in response to this appeal, we--RSWR staff, Board, and our women partners--thank you for your help enabling women to feed their families until they are able to reopen their businesses. See the note of thanks from a spokesperson for one of the women's groups, addressed to the RSWR program director but meant for all who have helped. Also, a photo of a women's group receiving aid. If you haven't, please prayerfully consider a donation to RSWR in support of this food relief effort. You can donate by check mailed to RSWR at 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond, IN 47374, or for more information on how to donate go online to www.rswr.org. All donations labelled "food relief " will go directly to our women partners (please identify your donation in this way). By donating today, you make a better tomorrow possible for them. Thank you!

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Friendly Reminder from the Trustees - Please remember to contact the trustees for approval before adding any landscaping/trees to the property/grounds at First Friends. After opinions from two different arborists last fall, the trustees met and determined that we needed to be more active in responsibly managing landscaping on the grounds. In addition, any new landscaping additions to the Meditational Woods also requires approval by The Meditational Woods Committee (a subcommittee of Ministry and Counsel). The Trustee decision was announced at monthly meeting in November. The Spring season is a good time to remind everyone of the decision. Thank you for assisting us as we work together to maintain the grounds.

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Meeting for Worship? Watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V5S_Vg6phY. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday! Keep an eye out in your email for details soon on the coming Sunday’s virtual service!

Can You Gather with God Over Zoom? Many thanks to Steve Sweitzer for sharing the following article, which explores Quakers from all over the nation and how they’ve been experiencing worship over Zoom. This is an article that we can all relate to! If you’re interested in reading more, see the NY times article at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/arts/quaker-meeting- zoom.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200526&instance_id=18775&nl=the-morning&regi_id=63439768&segment_id=29152&te=1&user_id=6bddf9b485e421a6b600bf387e342228

The Meditational Woods has an abundance of saplings available for transplanting. If you are interested in Tulip Poplar (state tree, grows straight and tall, likes sun) Redbud (beautiful spring buds, interesting shapes) Paw-Paw trees (understory tree, yield fruit in 10 years) Persimmon (can’t tell if male or female) Perhaps some oaks and maples. Let Mary B or Mindy S know. We’ll show you where and you get to dig ;)

Companion Planting and Inter-planting:
Garden Flowers as Pest Control, Decoration and Edible Delights

Organic gardens benefit from the beauty and natural pest control of flowers. Using flowers to attract beneficial insects that pollinate plants or prey upon harmful insects is a garden management technique called companion planting. Flowers can provide beautiful bouquets and emit pleasant scents. Some annual and perennial flowers also provide places for hibernation. Here are some of my favorite vegetable garden standards.

Marigolds
Surrounding your plot with marigolds helps to draw aphids away from crops. Marigolds repel squash bugs, thrips (minute insects with fringed wings), tomato hornworms and whiteflies. They also attract beneficial insects, such as ladybugs, hoverflies and parasitic mini-wasps that prey on garden pests. Rabbits may go elsewhere if your plot has marigolds. These flowers can be used as a cover crop and then plowed under to repel harmful nematodes.* If nematodes are a problem, leave marigold roots in the soil at season’s end. Marigolds come in red, orange, yellow and gold.

Zinnias
Zinnias, such as the Come and Cut Again variety, attract beneficial bees and butterflies to pollinate your plants. Zinnias attract hummingbirds which love to eat whiteflies. The flowers need the full sun our garden space supplies. When organically grown they are edible; they provide color in salads and summer dishes. The flowers come in a variety of bright colors including red, yellow, white, cream, burgundy, orange, pink, rose, purple and lilac.

Nasturtiums
Gorgeous nasturtiums provide climbing cover to shade sun-sensitive plants such as lettuce and greens. The flowers will last into the fall. They ward off squash bugs and beetles but aphids like them. Their foliage and colorful blossoms and buds are edible and sport a spicy, peppery flavor. Use them raw in salads or as decoration on desserts. They may be lightly cooked to serve in other dishes. When chopped they can be added to vinaigrettes, sauces and dips. Larger leaves can be used as wraps in much the same way as one would stuff grape leaves. Pick these plants early in the day for a milder flavor. They become spicier as the day wears on. They do wilt fast so use them when they are fresh and refrigerate them in water overnight if they are intended for next-day use. Red, orange, cream and yellow shades are available.

Cosmos
Cosmos flowers grow easily and attract helpful insects like green lacewings. Lacewings eat many soft-bodied insects including aphids, scale and thrips. White and orange cosmos varieties attract lacewings but cosmos comes in many other colors as well: pink, purple, red, yellow and white.

Sunflowers
These tall flowers with their strong, thick stems can serve as trellises for climbing plants. If a coarse-leaved vegetable like squash is planted beneath it, some animals may avoid your garden plot since they do not like to tread over rough surfaces. The sunflower’s nectar-laden blossoms attract pollinators. A potential pest, the squirrel, may be lured into your garden because of the same delicious sunflower seeds that the gardener craves. So might the birds! Sunflower colors include chocolate, red, yellow and burgundy.

Sweet Peas
These flowers can be inter-planted among pole beans and edible peas to attract more pollinators. Inter-planting saves space and time. You may cut flowers for a bouquet at the same time you are harvesting peas and beans for dinner. Sweet peas have colorful, sweet-scented blooms—fragile-looking but quite hardy. They will not cross-pollinate with edible peas. They come in red, pink, blue, purple and white. Generally, sweet peas are inedible unless specifically labeled as edible.

Borage
Borage is a wide, spread-out plant and an herb. Bees love it. Borage is a fast grower. Both its leaves and flowers are edible and taste slightly of cucumber. Some flowers are pink and others are blue-- sometimes on the same plant, perhaps blue representing the older blooms.

[Most flower information from thespruce.com]

*Nematodes are translucent multicellular insects with smooth, unsegmented bodies. There are thousands of nematode species on Earth and most are not harmful. You need a microscope to see some types of the long, slender or pear-shaped plant parasites that measure about 1/50 of an inch long. The harmful ones (some are beneficial) can cause root knots or galls, injured root tips, excessive root branching, leaf galls, lesions or dying tissue, and twisted, distorted leaves. Nematodes are of the large phylum Nematoda and are often referred to as roundworms even though the ones we are focusing on are plant parasites and not related to the roundworms that invade the human body. They are not closely related to true worms. Some plants they attack include cherry tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, lettuce, corn and carrots. Nematodes can injure the leaves and stems of chrysanthemums, onions, rye and alfalfa. Plant punctures they can cause may serve as entrance points for fungi and bacteria. They can inject viruses and bacterial diseases into plants. Plants may appear yellowed, wilted or stunted. Nematodes may live above the ground or in the soil. They cannot move fast unless they are in water or damp soil or spread through particles of infested soil on tools, boots, animals and infected plants. (Yes, I have never been real sure about nematodes either which is why I have diverged here for your benefit and mine. These are fascinating creatures and there is much more to learn about them!) Nematode information from Goodhousekeeping.com

--Nancy

Join us for Unprogrammed Worship by Zoom! We are now gathering for unprogrammed worship on Mondays and Wednesdays by Zoom. On Mondays, you can join us at 12:15, and on Wednesdays, log on with us at 6:45pm. We’ll spend 15 minutes to share joys and concerns and then have our hour-long worship. Many thanks to Kathy R, who is hosting this worship. To join the Zoom worship please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org for the Zoom meeting info.

Calling all First Friends Women ~ we will have a women’s gathering on zoom on Sunday, June 7th at 12:00 noon. We will hear poetry from some of our women and welcome other poets (please let our office know that you would like to share a poem).

We will create a picture collage. You will need a large blank paper, glue and magazines. Michelle T has magazines and will deliver some to your doorstep - please let the office know if you would like a delivery of magazines.

Queries for the Week

(From self-led worship)

What dominant feelings am I experiencing today that I need to continue to take inventory of?
How might I engage deep listening to become more in touch with the sounds of my soul?
During this pandemic, what “dark cellars and light rooms” should I explore to penetrate my own interiority?

(From virtual service)

Where have I been tempted to stretch the truth, take advantage of a privilege, break a commitment or gossip? What do I see about myself?
Where is it hardest for you to tell the truth?
Then this week, I challenge you to practice one of these habits: 1) not exaggerating, 2) not gossiping, or 3) not rationalizing. Then ask yourself, What is it like for me to do this?

Comment

Friend to Friend May 20, 2020

May 20, 2020

As Way Opens

This weekend was a rather full weekend of emotion and celebration for many at First Friends. It started Friday with the Celebration for Life for Florah Trench Wright (the mother of Kristin Noble). The pandemic did not deter us from remembering Florah and the amazing life she lived. This was the first funeral I’ve officiated that was socially distanced and live broadcast from the funeral home – it was even broadcast in Jamaica, Florah’s home. Millard, Florah’s husband, gave a beautiful eulogy that left me feeling as if I knew Florah (even though we never had the opportunity to meet). The family was grateful for the part First Friends played in Florah’s Life and it was evident throughout the service.

On Saturday, my family sat down in the comfort of our own home and watched the virtual commencement of our oldest son, Alex, from Huntington University. It was a bittersweet time as we watched photos of Alex and his friends, heard well-wishes from professors, students, and the college president, and tried to find some closure to Alex’s four years at Huntington. Obviously, this was not how we envisioned this experience for him, but we are proud of him for graduating with his Bachelor of Science in Animation. Our prayer now is that he will be able to find a job in the coming months – please pray!

On Sunday, after worshipping and meeting for business with all of you, I quickly ate my lunch and headed to our meditational woods. Again, due to the pandemic, we have wanted to bring some closure to the passing of our beloved Friend, Dan Rains. Beth and I prepared a brief committal service for Dan’s ashes and the planting of a memorial oak tree in our Meditational Woods. The socially distanced gathering took place as raindrops fell. We heard from Susan, Dan’s brother, and other family members who shared brief words honoring Dan. David Beatty and Mary Blackburn helped with making sure the tree was properly placed. As we all agreed afterward, this was just the beginning of a bigger celebration for Dan that will take place after this pandemic is over.

What I think we need to remember is that the emotions and awkwardness of this difficult time do not mean we stop celebrating and remembering people’s lives and accomplishments. It might mean we have different types of gatherings, and use new means of technology, but we must never forget those we love. I ask you to hold the families of Florah and Dan in the Light and remember all the graduates and their many accomplishments.

Grace and peace,

Bob

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) -- Update and Appeal for Food Relief

In April, the RSWR Board met to approve grant funding for twenty new projects in India, Kenya, and Sierra Leone this year. These grants will resource women-led micro-enterprises with great promise for the future of the women, their families, and their communities, empowering them in a sustainable and self-determined way. But our hopeful planning for the future was tempered by the stark reality of the coronavirus pandemic today, and the threat it poses to our women partners. Due to the spreading outbreak and government ordered sheltering-in-place in their countries, these women now cannot work. And without income, they cannot feed themselves or their families. RSWR's field representatives--some of whom worshiped with us here at First Friends last October--have named food relief as the most urgent need at this time. Until the public health crisis passes, food relief is how RSWR can best serve our women partners right now.

To meet this crisis, RSWR has decided to provide a total of $120,000 in food relief to the women who count on us. The Board approved an immediate disbursement of $50 in food relief to each of the RSWR grant recipients from the last two years--a modest amount for us in the U.S., but incredibly consequential for them. As of this week, 1,862 women have received food aid through your generosity. Our goal is to help an additional 780 women and families over the next two weeks. These grantees were experiencing success in their fledgling businesses until the coronavirus outbreak. Because of our relationship with these women, RSWR is ideally situated to be the conduit for this assistance, with an efficient, reliable way to disburse funds using already established channels.

If you have already donated in response to this appeal, we--RSWR staff, Board, and our women partners--thank you for your help enabling women to feed their families until they are able to reopen their businesses. (See a note of thanks from one of the women groups in Sierra Leone, and a photo of a woman receiving her bag of rice, right.) If you haven't, please prayerfully consider a donation to RSWR in support of this food relief effort. You can donate by check mailed to RSWR at 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond, IN 47374, or for more information on how to donate go online to www.rswr.org. All donations labelled "food relief " will go directly to our women partners (please identify your donation in this way). By donating today, you make a better tomorrow possible for them. Thank you.

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Meeting for Worship? Watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sExYd0lU4I8. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday! Keep an eye out in your email for details soon on the coming Sunday’s virtual service!

Men’s Threshing Together ~ Hey Men! Join us for a special Zoom Happy Hour with Men's Threshing Together on Thursday, May 21 at 7:00pm. Bring your favorite beverage and connect with us on Zoom and let's check-in and see how everyone is doing during this pandemic! Pastor Bob will be hosting this event. See you at Happy Hour (our normal time - 7pm just on Zoom!) To join, contact the office for a Zoom link!

We want to shower our graduates with love! This year, with the normal graduation season in turmoil, we’d like to shower our graduating seniors with cards and love from First Friends. If you’d like to join us, please consider sending cards to our seniors!

Join us from virtually anywhere in the world as the Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading book club discusses A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (496 pages) on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. “He can't leave his hotel. You won't want to. From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility--a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel. In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel's doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count's endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.” (Goodreads) Laura C will be leading the discussion in via Zoom starting at 7 pm, if you’d like to receive the Oak Leaf email or to join the Zoom meeting, please contact the office.

About Raised Beds; More Planting Tips ~ Community gardeners are doing a wonderful job planting and social distancing. The garage remains closed to gardeners at this time because of COVID-19. If there are concerns please contact Sam or Nancy by email, phone or Marco Polo.

Raised Beds

Pros: Our garden plots are arranged as raised beds. Individuals are responsible for their own garden planning and care. Raised beds can be readily replaced or moved. Advantages include that the soil can be replenished and warms faster and easier allowing for a longer growing season. It is easy to aerate and fertilize. The earth is well-drained and the pH can be tested and controlled. Rocks, weeds and grubs can be readily removed in your planting territory. Rid your garden of grubs before you plant anything or they will be back in force, transformed into bugs, later in the season!!

Cons: Watering may be required more often than at ground-level. Ants may accumulate since they prefer well-drained soil. Regular cultivation will hold them at bay. Snails enjoy the bed edges and will gather under wood. However, they are easy to find and remove.

Planting Vegetables

Thinning and spacing are often overlooked by inexperienced gardeners. Proper attention to these details makes a huge difference in the health and production level of organic gardens. Thin seedlings as directed by your research. Give individual plants enough space. This will encourage stronger individuals and reduce pests and disease.

Hardier plants can go into a plot during early spring: carrots, peas, beets and radishes. Later, tender plants like green and runner beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini can be planted. They grow rapidly as the weather warms, especially tomatoes. Stake or cage them before they are out of control; leaves and stems break easily if a gardener tries to slip a cage over them later. Harvest herbs like basil and cilantro regularly to encourage further growth. Radishes, salad leaves and herbs provide early harvests. They may be sowed successionally-- spaced out in small batches throughout the growing season.

Weeds

Weeds grow rapidly, so keep up with them so they do not overrun your crops and before they are deeply-rooted. It has been said that one year’s weed is seven years’ seed. Let that truth motivate your labor! --Nancy

Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for May:
Black-throated Green Warbler
Communication

During my college years, I was fortunate to have the chance to work during two summers at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. The work was not glorious; I washed dishes, pots, and pans in the kitchen of the hotel. The glorious aspect was the northwoods wilderness symphony of bird songs. As a beginning birder that first year, I was amazed at the sounds of winter wrens and common loons, the latter echoing up and down the harbor. I wanted to describe what I was hearing to my brother, who had gotten me started in birding earlier that year. Each day I heard one bird in the pines, but could not find it. I wrote to Scott that it was saying, “Buzz-buzz duh-duh buzz.” That did not help him much, but he did suggest black-throated green warbler as a possibility. Eventually I DID see the bird, and Scott was correct. From guidebooks we learn that there are two songs: zee-zee zoo-zoo zee (when the male is establishing a territory), and zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-zoo-zee (when communicating with females). The song I had been hearing was the first.

In May, as this species is migrating through Indiana on its way up north, we can hear this warbler sing either song, as it is practicing for nesting season. I saw and heard this bird during the first week of May in the middle of the Meditational Woods, and I saw one there last fall on its way south.

Wouldn’t life be simple if we all communicated with each other using only two songs, one meaning this, and the other meaning that? Simple? -Brad J

Did You Know? We have lupines around the peace pole plaque and we invite you to watch and consider how you can make a miniature national park in your backyard. See this video from a Yosemite Conservancy naturalist. https://youtu.be/gM6GFtlfdDw

Queries for the Week

(From self-led worship)

What this week, do I need to spend more time contemplating and becoming more educated on as it relates to my own racism?
Where, in or around me, do I see inequalities? What causes those inequalities? And what can I do about them?
How might my degrading views of others be returning to me and not allowing me to see our reality?

(From virtual service)

What has me immobilized and fearful during this pandemic storm?
What is my potential and the opportunities that have arisen?
In what ways may I need to be bold, step out, and challenge myself to see with a new perspective this week?

Comment

Friend to Friend May 13, 2020

May 14, 2020

As Way Opens

It has been kind of amazing to me to see how we all are adapting to the significant and rapid changes in our lives. We are figuring out ways to hold worship services, committee meetings, social gatherings, graduations etc. While I know we desperately miss the physical contact of being with friends and families, we are figuring out ways to stay connected. Last Friday Earlham School of Religion held a baccalaureate service for seminary graduates through zoom. I was skeptical that this would work well and was surprised by how meaningful the service was. We had a women’s gathering two weeks ago that Nancy Scott planned with poetry, interpretative dance, and creation of our own poems. I wasn’t sure this could work on Zoom, but it was also a very meaningful and rich time of connection and creativity. Every Sunday morning at 10:15 I am watching our virtual worship service and feel connected to all of you and have been moved by the words and the music. Our Meetings for Business on Zoom have been productive and efficient. Sitting outside on patios and backyards has been sweet and fun.

Human beings have a great ability to adapt. We have been adapting to our environment since the dawn of time. While change is scary and hard, it is our ability to change that keeps us alive. I know that our lives will never go back to the way they were before this crisis. But I believe that we have an opportunity to live more deeply our Quaker testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship of the environment in our changing world. And these testimonies have never been more needed in this time of uncertainty and fear.

With all of these changes, it is comforting and reassuring to know that our God is constant and is there for us in all that we are experiencing. James 1:17-18 says “Every generous act of giving with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.”

Dear God, help us to be your first fruits as we adapt to living out faithfully in this time of change. May we bear this good fruit to our neighbors, our communities, and our families.

Beth

Joys & Concerns

Let’s all give a big THANK YOU to our dedicated food pantry volunteers! Phil G, Bill F, David B, Linda and Rik L, Virginia, Melanie and Derek S, and Carol and Jim D. Thanks to these dedicated First Friends volunteers who are willing to donate their time and assume the risk to help provide food for those in our community who are less fortunate.

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) -- Update and Appeal for Food Relief

To meet this crisis, RSWR has decided to provide a total of $120,000 in food relief to the women who count on us. The Board approved an immediate disbursement of $50 in food relief to each of the RSWR 2019 grant recipients--a modest amount for us in the U.S., but incredibly consequential for them. Then, if we are able to raise sufficient funds by the end of May, we hope to disburse a like amount per person to our 2018 grant recipients. Both these groups of grantees were experiencing success in their fledgling businesses until the coronavirus outbreak. Because of our relationship with these women, RSWR is ideally situated to be the conduit for this assistance, with an efficient, reliable way to disburse funds using already established channels.

If you have already donated in response to this appeal, we--RSWR staff, Board, and our women partners--thank you for your help enabling women to feed their families until they are able to reopen their businesses. If you haven't, please prayerfully consider a donation to RSWR in support of this food relief effort. You can donate by check mailed to RSWR at 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond, IN 47374, or for more information on how to donate go online to www.rswr.org. All donations labelled "food relief " will go directly to our women partners (please identify your donation in this way). By donating today, you make a better tomorrow possible for them. Thank you.

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Meeting for Worship? Watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1lMP6pbtx8. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday! Keep an eye out in your email for details soon on the coming Sunday’s virtual service!

All are invited to Fellowship Hour and Meeting for Business ~ After virtual worship this Sunday, we hope you will join us at 11:00am on Zoom for Fellowship Hour! You can join through computer or phone! At 11:30 we will transition the Zoom call to Monthly Meeting for Business. At this meeting we will discuss reopening the Meetinghouse. See below for more info. If you’d like to join the Zoom meeting, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Reopening Discernment ~ One question on most of our minds today is “when can we regather for activities like Meeting for Worship?" The decision as to how long to delay (beyond the advice of our public health officials, which we have followed to date) belongs to us, and we would like to hear from you. Our discernment process will include the following online meetings:

Advancing Clerk’s Council from May 18th to May 11th (to gather initial feedback from our Committees and Trustees);
Seeking volunteers at our Meeting for Business on May 17th to join a special reopening task force;
Holding a Called Meeting on June 14th to seek all member feedback; and
Providing an update at Meeting for Business on June 21.

The Meetinghouse will remain closed until after the report from the task force is reviewed and approved. This forecloses any gatherings at the Meetinghouse until July at the earliest (and potentially beyond in accordance with the approved task force recommendations). Once the Meetinghouse reopens for Worship and other activities, we intend to live stream only those portions of our Meetings for Worship that would be appropriate for our Quaker manner or worship (in consultation with Ministry & Counsel). This should allow everyone to participate in most of our worship activities online until such time as we are individually comfortable returning to the Meetinghouse (and perhaps beyond to benefit anyone who is unable to attend in-person).

We look forward to regathering together in ways that balance health data, Meeting consensus, and individual circumstances, and we sincerely appreciate your involvement in this process!

Respecting Wildlife and Other Gardening Tips ~ When buying seeds for organic raised beds it is best to avoid treated seeds. Chemicals used in them often ward off fungicide, disease and animals like deer and rodents. However, in tests with mammals some animals’ organs have been damaged. Some chemicals used in treated seeds kill pollinators like bees and butterflies. Sometimes these agents travel through the plant as it grows; some other chemicals stay in the soil. Packets will say if seeds are treated. Usually the seeds themselves will be brightly colored to warn people not to eat them or handle them with bare hands. In short, consider the safety of wildlife as you buy. For your enjoyment, here is a portion of a treasured poem that the poet dedicated “To the right worthy and virtuous ladie; the Ladie Carey.”

Muiopotmos, or The Fate of the Butterflie

What more Felicite can fall to Creature,
Than to enjoy Delight with Libertie,
And to be Lord of all the Workes of Nature.
To raine in th’ Aire from Earth to the highest Skie,
To feed on Flowres , and Weeds of glorious Feature,
To take what ever thing doth please the Eie?

-Edmund Spenser (1590)

Some gardeners lost plants to our May freezes. It is not too late to try again but be ready to cover plants if needed. Cloth or glass jars are better than plastic since it can weigh down or burn plants if not removed early the next day.

Thank you F family for working on the communal portions of the garden!

Please note the new diagram for rotating crops. Unfortunately some previously printed versions are incorrect. I apologize for the confusion. --Nancy

Calling All Graduates! ~ As we do each year, we will be honoring our graduates on Sunday, May 31st. If you or someone in your family is graduating from high school or college, please notify the office so we may acknowledge them! office@indyfriends.org or 317-255-2485. Please have your graduate write a short bio of what they plan on doing after graduation, as well as fond memories at First Friends, and what First Friends has meant to them. Thank you for helping us honor your students!

First Friends Bible study ~ All are welcome to join this new bible study group here at First Friends! The first book we will study is a publication in the Barclay series called Illuminate: John (The Spiritual Gospel) (2011). The group will meet virtually each Thursday night at 7:30, beginning Thursday, May 14. The originators are Amy P, Linda L, Megan W, and Tim W. Members will take turns facilitating, as they feel comfortable. The facilitator will not be a teacher; rather they will manage the discussion based on the questions in the Bible Study book. The Illuminate series was highly recommended by Bob Henry. If you're interested in listening in and/or participating, please email the office at office@indyfriends.org to find out the virtual platform and how to participate. It is not necessary to attend all the sessions. You'll need to order your own copy of the book.

More about the book (from Barclay): Perhaps the most distinguishing feature about John’s Gospel is the long dialogues he records between Jesus and unbelieving Jews. John’s purpose is clearly evangelistic: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (20:31) Some commentators see sacramental overtones almost everywhere in the Gospel of John; however, it’s interesting to note that John is the only one of the four gospels where there’s no mention of the bread and wine at the Last Supper. As Friends there’s much in this gospel that supports emphasizing the primacy of spiritual reality as opposed simply to relying on a creed or a religious ritual. In fact, a primary purpose of the lessons in this quarter should be to teach a Quaker understanding of the gospel of Christ.

Material Aid / Food Pantry Fundraisers ~ This is the time of year that First Friends has held its fundraiser for the Mid North Food Pantry. You may have seen this in last week’s Friend to Friend newsletter. The food pantry is busier than ever and needs the financial support that First Friends has provided in the past. There’s also another area of help that we need to address...the First Friends’ Material Aid Fund. This is a fund that is used to provide emergency assistance to members and longtime attenders of First Friends. Due to the limited amount in this fund, the assistance provided is not on-going but rather for one-time emergency needs...rental assistance, a utility bill, a new tire, etc. This fund has historically maintained a balance of $3,000 – $4,000 but, due to several recent needs, is now down to a few hundred dollars.

Many folks at First Friends are not aware of the existence of the Material Aid Fund. This is understandable since distributions from this fund are not publicized. Given the current coronavirus situation, the need for both the pantry and the Material Aid Fund are expected to substantially increase. Your help is needed. Hopefully, over the next month or so, we will receive “stimulus monies” from the federal government. Some folks will need such monies (and possibly more) for food, rent and other basic living needs. Other folks may have less of a need or no need for such monies. Please consider donating some or all of such monies that you may not need to these outreach endeavors. With your help, the pantry will be able to provide food for the needy and the Material Aid Fund will be available for our neediest members. Checks can be written to First Friends with a notation of how you would like your contribution split between the 2 funds...50% FP/50% MA or however you are led. You can also give by text! Simply text the keyword and amount you’d like to donate to 317-768-0303. Use keyword “material” for the Material Aid fund or “pantry” for the Mid-North Food Pantry. Thanks for your consideration.

Support First Friends! Friends, during this time we are still in need of your support to keep the Meetinghouse going, to continue online Meetings for Worship, and to keep our ministries afload. As we all learn to navigate this new world of social distancing together, we are happy to share new and easier ways you can continue to support the Meeting while stuck at home! First Friends now accepts online giving. Please visit www.indyfriends.org/support for more information or to give. There are a number of ways to support, including:

giving online using a credit card or bank account (much like online shopping)
giving through text
setting up automatic contributions through your bank
submitting a pledge

These methods truly support First Friends while allowing you to stay within the safety of home. They are also incredibly secure; our online and text giving options offer bank-level security encryption, so you can give with confidence. If you have questions or would like to be walked through how to do it, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org or call 317-255-2485. Thank you for supporting First Friends, especially during these times!

Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for May:
Black-throated Green Warbler
Communication

Wouldn’t life be simple if we all communicated with each other using only two songs, one meaning this, and the other meaning that? Simple? -Brad J

Comment

Friend to Friend May 6, 2020

May 8, 2020

As Way Opens

Since the pandemic first demanded we shelter-in-place, I committed to focusing some of my limited free-time on my creative outlets. Since our son, Sam is connected with the Indianapolis Arts Center as a member of the Youth Arts Council, I was hoping this spring or early summer to take an art class and get more involved. The pandemic quickly brought that idea to a close. So instead, I thought I would challenge myself in a variety of ways. I made a plan and then it grew.

Quarantine Thoughts: “estar a salvo” (acrylic on mini-canvas 6” x 6”) This is dedicated to all our LatinX essential workers in the cities and fields. And since I am a Quaker, I had to make the spiritual animal a fox in honor of George Fox.

First, I decided instead of consuming the normal amount of religious and spiritual books, I would limit those and focus also on a list of artist biographies that I have wanted to read. Already during this pandemic, I have read biographies or autobiographies of Georgia O’Keeffe, Marc Chagall, and Marina Abramovich, and I have two more on the way. Second, I decided that I would chronicle the pandemic through an ongoing social media display titled, Quarantine Thoughts: Artful Expressions of a Pandemic. Currently, I have created and displayed eight different pieces utilizing a variety of media. They are often quick thoughts or feelings that I want to capture in whatever media is available at the moment. Thirdly, I decided to look into my own city’s arts council and began interacting with them through their Monday 2 Monday creative challenge. Each week they give a prompt of two opposite words (i.e. past or present, energy or relax, etc.) and artists from throughout our community create or share past work that they believe represent one of the two topics. Then throughout the week, the art council posts groupings of our work in a kind of weekly art show on Facebook. This led me to my latest creative venture, starting an artist Facebook page that displays my love for art and my creative expressions. Feel free to drop by my new page at RSH Expressions the next time you are on Facebook.

*Quarantine Thoughts: “Empty” (ink drawing)*

It seems like a lot, when I write it all out, but each of these things has been a joyful discipline that has helped me stay sane during these trying times. As I have begun explaining my art and sharing it more widely, I have come to realize how much it truly is influenced by my Quaker faith and spiritual journey. The first painting I shared with my city’s arts council was Resurrection Light: Beyond All Limits of Space and Time and I was able to share the story behind it from my Easter Sermon. This created a wonderful exchange about who Quakers are and what all we believe. As well, I found reading artist biographies have been much more spiritual than I imagined. I even just began reading the classic book by Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art that explores these connections. Finally, through my own artistic creations, I have found new ways to express the struggles, questions, ideas, and even theologies that I have had a hard time articulating.

It has been a breath of fresh air during this pandemic and isolation to have a little more time to engage my love for art and see how it too is an extension of my ministry. I pray you are finding ways to engage your creative outlets during this time, because I believe we ALL are creative in our own special ways! That is part of the Imago Dei (image of God) within us. I hope you will take some time today to create and see where all it goes!

Grace and peace,

Bob

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) -- Update and Appeal for Food Relief

Recently, the RSWR Board met to approve grant funding for twenty new projects in India, Kenya, and Sierra Leone this year. These grants will resource women-led micro-enterprises with great promise for the future of the women, their families, and their communities, empowering them in a sustainable and self-determined way. But our hopeful planning for the future was tempered by the stark reality of the coronavirus pandemic, and the threat it poses to our women partners today. Due to the spreading outbreak and government ordered sheltering-in-place in their countries, these women now cannot work. And without income, they cannot feed themselves or their families. RSWR's field representatives--some of whom worshiped with us here at First Friends last October--have named food relief as the most urgent need at this time. Until the public health crisis passes, food relief is how RSWR can best serve our women partners right now.

To meet this crisis, RSWR has decided to provide a total of $120,000 in food relief to the women who count on us. The Board approved an immediate disbursement of $50 in food relief to each of the RSWR 2019 grant recipients--a modest amount for us in the U.S., but incredibly consequential for them. Then, if we are able to raise sufficient funds over the next month and a half, we hope to disburse a like amount per person to our 2018 grant recipients. Both these groups of grantees were experiencing success in their fledgling businesses until the coronavirus outbreak. Because of our relationship with these women, RSWR is ideally situated to be the conduit for this assistance, with an efficient, reliable way to disburse funds using already established channels.

Please prayerfully consider a donation to RSWR in support of this food relief effort. You can donate by check mailed to RSWR at 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond, IN 47374, or for more information on how to donate go online to www.rswr.org. All donations labelled "food relief " will go directly to our women partners (please identify your donation in this way). By donating today, you make a better tomorrow possible for them. Thank you.

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Quakr Network Notice ~ Due to low member engagement, we will suspend our trial of the Quakr Network on May 10. Please download any materials that you would like to keep prior to this Sunday. Thanks!

Advocates for Immigrants in Detention! Advocates for Immigrants in Detention Northwest (AIDNW) serves as a support system for immigrants detained in the NW ICE Processing Center located in an industrial area of Tacoma. This is an organization that Tom and Noell K now volunteer with! Due to COVID-19, AIDNW has increased expenses trying to help immigrants with transportation, meals and hotel costs as they travel to reach their families. They are promoting an online fundraising campaign, GiveBIG Washington, to raise funds for this great, effective, and desperately needed organization. This is a two-day campaign which ends today!!

If you’d like to learn more about AIDNW and/or donate to the cause go to https://www.givebigwa.org/and type AIDNW in the “Find Organizations” box. On the AIDNW profile, click on “learn more” and you will find Tom & Noell’s personal Fundraising Page by clicking on their picture. They are trying to raise $1000 by giving $500 to match donations from their friends and family. Before going to their page be sure to watch the video Eric’s Story and check out the other video and pictures. These images powerfully explain why Tom & Noell are dedicated to AIDNW. You can also visit the AIDNW website at aidnw.org and donate through that platform if you wish. Thank you for your support during this time!

Calling all members and attenders! Please don’t forget to complete the Clerks’ Survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/ffmeeting. Today is the last day to respond!!! Now’s your chance to tell Clerks’ Council what’s working for you (and areas of improvement) as we seek your feedback on everything from Meeting for Worship to our Christian Education programs. The survey only takes a few minutes. We appreciate your responses!

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Meeting for Worship? Watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://youtu.be/QbZDhkrBWS0. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday! Keep an eye out in your email for details soon on the coming Sunday’s virtual service!

Reopening Discernment

One question on most of our minds today is “when can we regather for activities like Meeting for Worship?" The decision as to how long to delay (beyond the advice of our public health officials, which we have followed to date) belongs to us, and we would like to hear from you. Our discernment process will include the following online meetings:

Advancing Clerk’s Council from May 18th to May 11th (to gather initial feedback from our Committees and Trustees);
Seeking volunteers at our Meeting for Business on May 17th to join a special reopening task force;
Holding a Called Meeting on June 14th to seek all member feedback; and
Providing an update at Meeting for Business on June 21.

We look forward to regathering together in ways that balance health data, Meeting consensus, and individual circumstances, and we sincerely appreciate your involvement in this process!

First Friends Bible study ~ All are welcome to join this new bible study group here at First Friends! The first book we will study is a publication in the Barclay series called Illuminate: John (The Spiritual Gospel) (2011). The group will meet virtually each Thursday night at 7:30, beginning Thursday, May 14. The originators are Amy P, Linda L, Megan W, and Tim W. Members will take turns facilitating, as they feel comfortable. The facilitator will not be a teacher; rather they will manage the discussion based on the questions in the Bible Study book. The Illuminate series was highly recommended by Bob Henry. If you're interested in listening in and/or participating, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org. It is not necessary to attend all the sessions. You'll need to order your own copy of the book.

More about the book (from Barclay): Perhaps the most distinguishing feature about John’s Gospel is the long dialogues he records between Jesus and unbelieving Jews. John’s purpose is clearly evangelistic: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (20:31)Some commentators see sacramental overtones almost everywhere in the Gospel of John; however, it’s interesting to note that John is the only one of the four gospels where there’s no mention of the bread and wine at the Last Supper. As Friends there’s much in this gospel that supports emphasizing the primacy of spiritual reality as opposed simply to relying on a creed or a religious ritual. In fact, a primary purpose of the lessons in this quarter should be to teach a Quaker understanding of the gospel of Christ.

Easy Seed Organization and Crop Rotation Planning for Vegetable Gardens

This Sunday is Mother’s Day, usually a good marker for when to plant seeds and young plants. Usually frost-free nights will ensue after or around that date.

Organizing Seeds for Planting Now, Later in the Season and Next Season

Take clear plastic gallon freezer bags (not good for earth, though so I recycle) so seeds don’t get wet. Label bags: legume, root, leaf, fruit and flower. I usually put herbs in the leaf bag. The idea is to separate heavy and light feeders, crops that take the most nutrients from the soil and plants that replenish them. That way you can rotate crops every season or two in a raised bed or among a group of raised beds. Changing plant locations can decrease insect populations that overwinter or leave eggs behind. It is also a method to discourage disease in the same manner. The same type plants are not there to invade.

Record planting dates directly on seed packets. Planting directions are right on the packs. Sometimes I save empty seed packets of my favorites so I know exactly what to get next time. It is easy to discard old seeds that are no longer as fertile. I have a notebook where I keep plant layouts so I remember next season. I can record pest and disease onsets to aid in future planning. To the right are a couple of ways to rotate crops!

Mother Earth thanks you for your care and gives back to you many times over. Happy Mother’s Day!

giving online using a credit card or bank account (much like online shopping)
giving through text
setting up automatic contributions through your bank
submitting a pledge

Join us from virtually anywhere in the world as the Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading book club discusses A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (496 pages) on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. “He can't leave his hotel. You won't want to. From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility--a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel. In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel's doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count's endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.” (Goodreads) Laura C will be leading the discussion in via Zoom starting at 7 pm, if you’d like to receive the Oak Leaf email, or would like the link to the Zoom meeting, contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.

Queries for the Week

(From self-led worship)

Who has God placed on my mind that I need to reach out to and bring some happiness (or make feel warm and fuzzy) this week?
How have I been “rocking my chest” and longing for God during this difficult time? Have I been quiet and patient as I wait on God’s response?
Am I nurturing my True Self during this pandemic? What can I do to become even more my True Self?

(From virtual service)

Where is impatience getting the best of me during this pandemic?
How am I waiting on God and seeing God in fresh ways during these challenging times?
How am I allowing this disruption and chaos to transform me?

Comment

Friend to Friend April 29, 2020

April 30, 2020

As Way Opens

I just completed a class at Earlham School of Religion on Quakerism and Buddhism. My final paper was on comparing and contrasting the life of Jesus and the Buddha. There are some fascinating similarities as well as substantial differences. I read a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, Coming Home - Comparing Jesus and Buddha as Brothers that examined some of these similarities and differences. Hanh is generous in spirit and an open monk that feels at home with both Jesus and the Buddha. He had an interesting reflection on the last supper and Jesus sharing the bread and wine with his disciples. As an individual that grew up with communion, I always struggled with an understanding of communion and how we were to take the bread and wine to remember that Jesus gave his body and blood for us. Some Christian traditions believe that the wine and bread actually become Jesus’s blood and body once inside our mouths. This ritual has been troubling to me my whole life on several levels. It seems almost cannibalistic, pagan and a sacrament to remember Jesus when we should be remembering Jesus every day in every moment.

Hanh gave a different perspective in the book that resonates with me. He says ,”Even though Jesus gave us the bread, we still eat the idea. The bread that Jesus handed to you, to us, is real bread, and if you can eat real bread you have real life. But we are not able to eat real bread. We only try to eat the word bread or the notion of bread. Even when we are celebrating the Eucharist, we are still eating notions and ideas. “Take, my friends, this is my flesh, this is my blood.” Can there be any more drastic language in order to wake you up? What could Jesus have said that is better than that? You have been eating ideas and notions, and I want you to eat real bread so that you become alive. If you come back to the present moment, fully alive, you will realize this is real bread, this piece of bread is the body of the whole cosmos.”

This idea of eating the real bread to become fully alive really hit me this week. I embrace the idea of Quakers that we don’t need the act of communion to remember. But Jesus might be asking us to eat the real bread and become fully alive, fully awake to God’s presence and God’s loving spirit and to taste the cosmos and God’s creation. God is beyond any idea or notion we have of God and communion is about becoming alive.

I am praying we all feel awake to the real bread that Jesus offers us this week. Especially as we enter this continued time of upheaval, lament and disruption.

Beth

Joys & Concerns

Courtyard Update! Several years ago, our courtyard was refreshed with beautiful Annabelle hydrangeas and several other native species. Terry T tended the area for many years with great care and love. Last year, the plantings beneath Fellowship Hall windows disappeared! In order to get the right plants for that area, we consulted with a landscape architect who works with native plants and their better behaved “nativars”. Under her guidance, we have been busily weeding and planting and mulching in the courtyard. To reduce maintenance, several dwarf species of native plants were installed. Look for itea ‘Little Henry’ sweetspire along with dwarf ninebark ‘Tiny wine’ and dwarf oakleaf hydrangea ‘Sike’s Dwarf’. These small shrubs will provide the 'backbone' with coneflowers, bee balm, short’s aster, mist plant and others complementing each other through the seasons. Of special note is a group of three ninebark that are dedicated to the memory of Helen Davenport by her family.

We removed over 36 gallons of a pretty, but invasive plant called Common Star of Bethlehem. Hopefully, we will be better able to recognize weeds earlier and keep them under control. Gardeners are welcome to join in the fun! Thanks to all who contributed: Mindy and Michael and Felix S, Dan M, David B, Larry M, Terry T, Kathy F and Norma W- Mary B

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) -- Update and Appeal for Food Relief

To meet this crisis, RSWR has decided to provide a total of $120,000 in food relief to the women who count on us. The Board approved an immediate disbursement of $50 in food relief to each of the RSWR 2019 grant recipients--a modest amount for us in the U.S., but incredibly consequential for them. Then, if we are able to raise sufficient funds over the next month and a half, we hope to disburse a like amount per person to our 2018 grant recipients. Both these groups of grantees were experiencing success in their fledgling businesses until the coronavirus outbreak. Because of our relationship with these women, RSWR is ideally situated to be the conduit for this assistance, with an efficient, reliable way to disburse funds using already established channels.

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Meeting for Worship? Watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5i-VypN3hE. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday! Keep an eye out in your email for details soon on the coming Sunday’s virtual service!

Calling all members and attenders! Please don’t forget to complete the Clerks’ Survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/ffmeeting. Now’s your chance to tell Clerks’ Council what’s working for you (and areas of improvement) as we seek your feedback on everything from Meeting for Worship to our Christian Education programs. The survey only takes a few minutes. We appreciate your responses!

Women’s Workshop: Overcoming Darkness through Poetry and Dance

Free your Muse and enjoy one another’s company in this Sunday’s Women’s Workshop: Overcoming Darkness through Poetry and Dance from 12 to 1:30 p.m., May 3rd on Zoom. Several women from First Friends will read their original poetry and use interpretive dance in order to inspire you to create and detox. You must bring your own materials. Together we will learn how to make blackout and highlighter poetry and then decorate it. You DO NOT need to be a poet or artist and your work need not be perfect. We will take time to discuss the feelings evoked through this experience and individuals may share if they wish to do so.

Think ahead about your workspace so you can create, communicate and watch via Zoom. The main materials required are paper; a printed source such as a magazine; markers and decorative materials.

Please contact the office for the Zoom information.

It is probably easiest to eat lunch beforehand or finish up as you watch the dancing and listen to the poetry since our discussion time will occur on the tail end of the gathering and you will need to devote time and workspace to your project. Nancy S. will facilitate the workshop and Beth H. will host Zoom. Poets include Linda L., Becki H., Leslie K. and Nancy. Dancers include Amy P. and Nichole M. Before those gathered create their poetry, Mary Ellen L., Michelle T. and Naomi W. will show examples of ways they have enhanced their poems through the use of stickers, stencils, shapes, drawings, textures and colors.

How are highlighter and blackout poetry made?

Blackout poetry: a person blacks out all unwanted words from pages of books, magazines or newspapers so that the remaining words create a poem.

Highlighter poetry: the person uses a marker to highlight the words that appeal and creates a poem by using only those words selected.

In both techniques one goes from start to finish using the chosen words in the same order in which they were found.

What do I need to bring?

The workshop is a free-spirited exercise open to a broad range of interpretation and opinions. Bring your preferred media and printed materials. Bring a dark marker or instrument for blackout poetry and a yellow or light marker or tool for highlighter poetry. Some examples of what you may want are glue, scissors, stencils, stickers, chalk, pastels, paint, pencils, colored pencils, an eraser, glitter, pens, etc. You may prefer to put your ordered words on a separate piece of paper—or not. You may wish to have construction, plain or lined papers on hand. Some people cut the pages and or words and pictures out of the printed source. It is your choice.

Come join in the fun and creativity. Our creations may be dark, light-hearted or funny. Who knows? You reap what you sow in this gathering. You may find out what you did not know about yourself. We will reflect and overcome some of our pandemic-imposed isolation!

Community Gardeners Plotting, Planting and Digging In

The Community Gardeners are digging in—literally. All plots are claimed though more can be prepared if the demand is there. Everyone is preparing or has prepared their soil for planting; some gardeners have started planting. One plot is rebuilt on one gardener’s own initiative. All this has been accomplished despite our garage being off limits during the pandemic. Truly impressive! I don’t know that we have ever had so many gardeners prepare the soil this early and it is the foundation of an organic garden! On average, the Indianapolis (Growing Zone 6a) frost-free growing season starts April 27 and ends October 7.

Remember my motto that all gardening is an experiment. Each season is different because of many variables. Just jump in and learn as you go. Learn from other community gardeners. Mother Nature is forgiving or none of us would be here. Here are a few tips:

Planting dates are established according to annual weather patterns. Dates vary according to planting zones and areas. Indianapolis is Zone 6a. You may choose to have an early crop of one vegetable, harvest it and plant a late crop of something else in the same spot. This requires a little research and planning. Planting dates are important because of insect invasions and temperature. For instance, some invasions can be avoided according to the life stage of a particular insect at a specific time. Temperature is important when one considers that some plants, for example certain strawberry types, thrive in early spring. Some greens, such as kale, are cold-weather crops that can survive late into the season.

Pay attention to spacing. In raised beds plants are spaced more closely to avoid weed growth and to use space effectively. Even so, crowded plants can attract pests and disease. Weeding is imperative.
Planting depths matter because seeds can wash away or they may not receive enough warmth to generate the energy needed to reach the sunshine.
Some plants are easier to buy as seedlings or small plants rather than growing them from seed. These include tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, eggplant, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.

Put on those garden gloves and hats and enjoy company in the sunshine and fresh air. Remember to keep six feet apart from others and wear masks when others are nearby. A stray sneeze or cough can travel much farther than six feet and most of us are untested and don’t know if we are asymptomatic carriers of COVJID-19. Have fun and be safe!!

Useful gardening resources:

extension@Purdue.edu (Purdue Extension Marion County) has extensive local gardening information
Website garden.org has planting date guides and information for individual crops in individual zip codes.

giving online using a credit card or bank account (much like online shopping)
giving through text
setting up automatic contributions through your bank
submitting a pledge

Queries for the Week

(From self-led worship)

What am I doing to unleash my inner creativity during these trying times?
As I look at the images that surround me on a daily basis, what are they teaching me about the Divine?
Where has my life become a little chaotic or messy lately? Where do I need to add some shape and color to bring out the beauty?

(From virtual service)

What current struggles do I need to share with God?
How can I become more aware of the struggles I am facing, and what is behind those struggles?
Where am I seeing God’s goodness in my life (whether in the past or in the current situation)?

Comment

Friend to Friend April 22, 2020

April 23, 2020

As Way Opens

On Tuesday, I celebrated 100 days! No, I am not talking about isolation, even though it seems about that long, doesn’t it? I am celebrating 100 days of taking better care of my physical body. It all started just after the new year, when I caught the end of an interview with a doctor on Good Morning America. His last comment went something like this…if you want to get to your ideal weight, I challenge you to 100 days of eating 1000 calories or less, drinking the required daily water, exercising, and making good choices.

If I would have started the day of his challenge, the doctor on GMA said I would be much closer to my “ideal weight” by the Easter Holiday. I quickly opened my phone and looked and 100 days, and, sure enough, it was Easter. I am often leery of gimmicks and weight loss fads, so it took me about 10 more days until I committed to making a change – thus Tuesday, April 21st was my 100 days.

As the son of a former Weight Watcher discussion leader, I have engrained in me all the right things to do and put in place to successfully make it to the 100 days (if I choose to actually do them). I quickly set a goal of losing 25 lbs. by my birthday, Feb. 27th. When I hit that mark about three days before my birthday, I gained some needed confidence. My second goal was to lose 50 lbs. by my two boy’s graduations in May. Currently, I have lost 36 lbs. and am getting closer and closer each day to that 50 lbs. goal.

I will have to say, 100 days ago I wasn’t the only thing looking slightly different. Our world was literally on the verge of a global pandemic that some saw coming, and many more were blindsided by. Life has significantly changed since Jan. 11. Back a hundred days ago, toilet paper was not in high demand, masks were not the fashion rage, and most of us were not even sure how to spell quarantine. When I set out to complete my 100 day challenge, I had thought how great it would be when I reached that mark that I could buy myself some new Easter clothing. Never in my wildest dreams, did I think I would be standing in front of a teleprompter and video equipment in an empty Meetinghouse recording an Easter message in old clothes that were beginning to hang loose on me.

All this has had me thinking about the next 100 days – which the calendar says will be August 1st. 100 days ago, I had assumed a completely different situation for today, yet it did not change the goals I set. I could have let the pandemic send me back to bad eating habits, less exercise, and even a sense of defeat from a personal and ministry standpoint, but I refused to let it knock me off track. Don’t get me wrong, the temptations have been intense at times, but I have worked hard at finding new ways to embrace a healthier lifestyle and stay focused during this difficult time.

So today I want to be the doctor that challenges you. What do you want to see happen different in your life in the next 100 days? Again, we don’t know what it will be like on August 1st but that doesn’t mean that we allow this pandemic to defeat us. This may be the most opportune time to work on ourselves. Take a moment this week to set some goals (mental, physical, spiritual) and use the next 100 days as a marker. Maybe by then we will be back together, and we can share all the good things that have blossomed in our lives from this unprecedented time.

Grace and peace,

Bob

Joys & Concerns

Another shout-out to the FF volunteers who have braved the coronavirus to help out at the Mid North Food Pantry. Volunteers included: David B, Phil G, Kathy and Bill F, Virginia, Melanie, and Derek S, Linda and Rik L, and Carol and Jim D. About 80 families were served. Thanks to Susan R for face masks for our volunteers. Food pantries around the country are being swamped with many new clients needing food. Your help is most appreciated.

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) -- Update and Appeal for Food Relief

To meet this crisis, RSWR has decided to provide a total of $120,000 in food relief to the women who count on us. The Board approved an immediate disbursement of $50 in food relief to each of the RSWR 2019 grant recipients--a modest amount for us in the U.S., but incredibly consequential for them. Then, if we are able to raise sufficient funds over the next month and a half, we hope to disburse a like amount per person to our 2018 grant recipients. Both these groups of grantees were experiencing success in their fledgling businesses until the coronavirus outbreak. Because of our relationship with these women, RSWR is ideally situated to be the conduit for this assistance, with an efficient, reliable way to disburse funds using already established channels.

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Did you miss the premiere of our past Sunday Meeting for Worship? Watch it ANYTIME at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39H6Ni4W5VA. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Sunday! Keep an eye out in your email for details soon on the coming Sunday’s virtual service!

Calling all members and attenders! Please don’t forget to complete the Clerks’ Survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/ffmeeting by this coming Sunday. Now’s your chance to tell Clerks’ Council what’s working for you (and areas of improvement) as we seek your feedback on everything from Meeting for Worship to our Christian Education programs. The survey only takes a few minutes. We appreciate your responses!

Prioritizing the Climate and Clean Energy Jobs as We Rebuild Our Economy ~ All are invited to this virtual town hall meeting with candidates for Indiana’s 5th Congressional District. In this nonpartisan forum, candidates will share their proposed solutions for addressing climate change and creating clean energy jobs in Indiana. All are invited to join for this free online event, hosted by Citizens’ Climate Lobby. It is being held today, Wednesday, April 22 at 7:00pm. For more information and to register, please visit https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtdemrqTIpl-PUjv5O9LxoeQkGMK5RKg.

Family Safety Plans & The COVID-19 Pandemic ~ Here are some family resources for this time. Click here for a guide to help parents and caregivers learn more and create plans for children in the event that parents or caregivers are unable to care for their children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Download a Parental Power of Attorney document here. For a Standby Guardianship document for single parents, click here. For a Standby Guardianship document for two-parent homes, click here.

Free Grief Support Livestream ~ Are you struggling through this pandemic? David Kessler is offering free support livestreams on Facebook daily at 1pm. David Kessler is one of the most well-known experts and lecturers on death and grieving today, reaching hundreds of thousands of people through his books. David has helped thousands of men, women and children face life and death with peace, dignity and courage. His experiences have taken him from Auschwitz concentration camp to Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying Destitute in Calcutta. His services have been used by Elizabeth Taylor, Jamie Lee Curtis and Marianne Williamson when their loved ones faced life-challenging illnesses. If you’re interested in joining the livestream, find more information at https://grief.com/meet-david-kessler/.

Join us from virtually anywhere in the world as the Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading book club discusses Born A Crime, by Trevor Noah on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.(from Goodreads) Ruth Kelly will be leading the discussion via Zoom Meeting starting at 7 pm. If you’d like to receive the Oak Leaf email or would like the Zoom meeting information, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org. We will send an email out about 5 minutes before meeting starts so you have the Zoom link at the top of your email. Be sure to check in with each other, today and every day!

Garden Essentials To-Do List

Happy Earth Day to everyone! May we all work to keep our planet Earth happy and healthy. Community gardeners and home gardeners have time to:

weed now before roots grow stronger and longer
enrich the soil since it is the foundation of an organic garden. Good organic soil will help deter pests and disease in addition to growing healthy plants. Use appropriate mixes of soil and compost. You can purchase organic soil for raised beds.
plan garden layout and spacing for seeds and seedlings. Consider such things as companion planting; later season crops; marigolds and zinnias for beauty and to ward off nematodes; and rotating crops between beds. This may mean thinking about season to season goals.

Doing these things now will pay off later by delivering a better garden and delicious food.

Dishwasher free to a good home! Jeff R has a 10-year old dish-washing machine he is happy to give to anyone in the Meeting or anyone connected to the Meeting that can use it. It works well, but they are remodeling and are replacing it. Jeff does not have a truck so if you are interested, you would need to arrange pickup. If you’re interested, contact the office at office@indyfriends.org

Reduce Your Use! ~ This week try limiting your single-use plastics. Plastic is everywhere. Grocery stores shelves are filled with containers made of it (on a normal day) and when you check out, bags are made of it. Restaurants pass out straws and to-go containers made of it. Plastic water bottles are convenient at events (remember those?) and when you’re thirsty on-the-go. Then maybe worst of all, it litters our streets and sidewalks and eventually makes its way to our waterways. Try buying or making your own reusable grocery bags and store them in your trunk, rather than going for the plastic bags at check-out. Refill your water bottle and take it with you on your daily walk, rather than grabbing a disposable one. Use your own utensils at home and request that restaurants don’t include plastic straws and utensils with your takeout meal. The less plastic we use, the less likely it is to make its way where it shouldn’t.

Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for April
White-throated Sparrow: Same Song, But with Different Words

In the hymnals we use during worship there are hymn texts that can be sung to different melodies. The carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem” is sung to at least three different tunes. The reverse is also true. A single melody may be used with different hymn texts. Such is also the case with this month’s sparrow.

Birders often put words to the notes of a birdsong to help learners remember to which species that song belongs. For the white-throated sparrow we say, “Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody.” (It helps if you listen to the song on the internet.) That Old Sam phrase is not universal, however. If you are a Canadian birder, you will claim the lyrics to be, “Oh sweet Canada, Canada, Canada.” It fits just as well.

The white-throated sparrow visits our woods anytime from mid-March to mid-May on its way northward, and may appear again in the fall on its way southward. I had hoped to see one here this spring, and one day recently I was along Parker Street near the north end of the white fence. I saw a bird dart into a bush across Parker Street, and it suddenly popped up, and there it was: a white-throated sparrow in full sunlight. I could see the black and white stripes on the head, the white throat, and the yellow lores. Although this bird was silent, at that same moment I heard a song from far to the east near the Meditational Woods: “Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody.” There were two individuals visiting at one time. In my mind I heard the Old Sam lyrics, but in the spirit of international understanding, you are welcome to use the Canadian lyrics if you choose to do so. ~Brad J

New Ways to Support First Friends! As we all learn to navigate this new world of social distancing together, we are happy to share new and easier ways you can continue to support the Meeting while stuck at home! First Friends now accepts online giving. Please visit www.indyfriends.org/support for more information or to give. You can now also make donations by text! Simply text GIVE to 317-768-0303 to sign up. Once you enter your payment method via a secure online portal, you can give any time instantaneously by simply sending a text! No more writing checks or driving to the post office—you can give anytime from the safety of your own home! If you have questions or would like to be walked through how to do it, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org or call 317-255-2485. Thank you for supporting First Friends, especially during these times!

How to Vote in the Indiana Primary Election 2020 ~ This year, voting in Indiana's Primary Election may be difficult. The Primary election date has been changed, and, because of health risks, many people won’t want to go vote at the polls. It’s likely that there will be fewer physical polling places than there have been in past elections. It is important that all Hoosiers vote in the June 2 Indiana Primary Election. Indiana Vote by Mail wanted to inform you about how you can easily vote with an Absentee Ballot (but don’t worry, absentee ballots do not cause voter fraud).

Important Things to Know:

Governor Holcomb has made it possible for everybody to vote by Absentee Ballot. But, you must first complete an Absentee Ballot Application. This application must be returned by May 21 by 11:59 pm. This application is good for any county in Indiana, just check for the return mailing address for each county on page 2 of the application.
The Indiana Primary Election has been moved to June 2, 2020. Voter Registration deadline for the June 2 Primary is Monday, May 4. To confirm you are registered to vote or to register to vote, visit https://indianavoters.in.gov/
Once your Absentee Ballot Application is received and processed, you will be sent an Absentee Ballot. Your Absentee Ballot is due June 2 (Election Day) at Noon.
We need your help educating others about voting by Absentee Ballot. Please make this educational campaign go viral by emailing this message to everyone (friends, family, colleagues, associates in your religious, social or other groups) to spread the word. It is unlikely that Indiana will be able to spend money to educate the public.
It is important we all vote in the upcoming Primary Election, so that our voices are heard.

Find instructions for how to complete the primary ballot application: https://bit.ly/2Kdijzv

And also find the Application for the 2020 Absentee Ballot for the Primary Election: https://bit.ly/3b6airQ

Overcoming Darkness through Poetry and Dance

All women are invited to attend a gathering on Overcoming Darkness through Poetry and Dance from 12 to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 3rd through Zoom. We intend to de-stress by shedding the toxicity of these unprecedented pandemic times. As we spend time together virtually, we will shine our light into the darkness. We will learn how to delve into our inner selves by using blackout and highlighter poetry. The whole idea is to free up one’s Muse. No need to be professional or perfect. One doesn’t even need to be a poet. This will be a safe place to exorcise one’s hidden demons, express gratitude or develop whatever each individual feels led to create. It need not be shared unless one wishes to do so.

First we will eat together virtually (BYOBrunch). Nancy S. will discuss the logistics of the workshop.

Then we will hear poems written by women from Meeting, including Linda L., Leslie K. and Nancy S. (The last article mistakenly said Amy P. would have a poem. She will dance after someone else’s poem is read.)

After some of these readings Nichole M. and Amy P. will use interpretive dance and their own personally chosen music to inspire us. We may have some physical movement exercises to help loosen us up.

Nancy will explain the process of creating blackout poetry in which a person blacks out all unwanted words from pages of books, magazines or newspapers so that the remaining words create a poem. In highlighter poetry the person uses a marker to highlight the words that appeal and creates a poem by using only those words selected. In both techniques one goes from start to finish using the chosen words in the same order in which they were found. Mary Ellen L., Michelle T., Naomi W. and Nancy will show examples of ways they have enhanced their poems through the use of stickers, stencils, shapes, drawings, textures and colors.

The workshop is a free-spirited exercise open to a broad range of interpretation and opinions. Bring your preferred media and printed materials. Be sure to have a dark marker or instrument for blackout poetry and a yellow or light marker or tool for highlighter poetry. You may want glue, scissors, stencils, stickers, chalk, pastels, paint, pencils, colored pencils, an eraser, glitter, pens, etc. You may prefer to put your ordered words on a separate piece of paper—or not. You may wish to have construction, plain or lined papers on hand. Some people cut the pages and or words and pictures out of the printed source. It is your choice. Think ahead about your workspace so you can create, communicate and watch via Zoom. The main materials required are paper, printed source, marker and decorative materials.

Queries for the Week

(From self-led worship)

What are the places that enable me to bring into focus the Light at the heart of life?
How is nature speaking to my condition and inspiring me to be a better steward of the Earth?
Who through this worship experience have I felt more connected to? How might I let them know?

(From virtual service)

Looking at the landscapes of my life, what have I been missing?
As I center down and quiet my life, what life-noise do I recognize interrupting my experience of the Divine?

Comment

Friend to Friend

As Way Opens

Bob

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

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Queries for the Week

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

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Queries for the Week

As Way Opens

-Sam Henry

Joys & Concerns

Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities

Free seeds are now available at many branches of the Indianapolis Public Library through curbside pickup. More branches have seed libraries than in the past. Take advantage!

Queries for the Week

As Way Opens

Joys & Concerns

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

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Queries for the Week

As Way Opens

Beth

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

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As Way Opens

Bob

﻿Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

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Queries for the Week

As Way Opens

Beth

Joys & Concerns

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

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As Way Opens

Bob

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Reopening Discernment

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As Way Opens

Beth

Joys & Concerns

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations

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As Way Opens

Bob

Joys & Concerns

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Indianapolis First Friends Meeting

Compassionate • Christian • Quaker

Quaker-Affiliated Organizations