As Way Opens
“How are you”? Is that not the greeting we give to each other all the time? We say hello and then automatically say “how are you?” And usually we answer- “fine how are you?” It has become a common pleasantry between strangers and friends. Yet I don’t think most people really want to know the answer to that question because it would take time. We were talking about this in a small group yesterday and shared that this is actually a very hard question. I can feel good about some things happening in my personal life but how can I feel good about what is happening in our world? While my heart is full, my heart is also broken. Every person’s life has joy and suffering. When we see someone, we really don’t know what is going on in their lives and how the Spirit is with them.
I remember when my husband was declining from his dementia, I would often be asked how is Jerry doing? It was always a depressing question because Jerry was not going to get better and life would just keep getting worse. Most people don’t want to hear an answer that ”things are not good”. I always knew the question was asked out of care and concern but having experienced this with Jerry I now try to say that I’ve praying for you, I have been holding you in my heart and could I come over and see Jerry?
That journey and others also taught me that in my pain and suffering I could experience God in a new and profound way. I’ve been reading Barbara Brown Taylor’s book An Altar in the World with a focus on seeing the sacred in our everyday life. There is a chapter on the practice of seeing God in feeling our pain. I love the poem she quotes from the Sufi mystic Rumi:
“The grief you cry out from draws you toward union.
Your pure sadness that wants help is the secret cup.
Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
That whining is the connection.
There are love dogs no one knows the names of.
Give your life to be one of them.”
I want to be one of those love dogs. I want to be one of God’s love dogs. I want to engage in the practice of asking the question, how is your heart today? How is God’s Spirit with you today? Where do you find life today? And I want to take the time to really hear the answer.
How will each of us answer that question today?
Beth
Quaker-Affiliated Organizations
You’re invited to USFW’s Spring Gathering! The United Society of Friends Women Midwest Region invites you to their Spring Gathering on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. It will be held at Fairfield Friends Meeting, 10441 East County Rd 700 South, Camby, IN 46113. Registration starts at 9am and then the gathering kicks off with Meeting led by Jamie Lyon of Russiaville Friends, and then a time of business. A $10 lunch will be served (reservations required). For more information, please view their flyer here.
Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities
Men’s Threshing Together- DATE CHANGE ~ If you are interested in gathering with other men who mull over current issues or topics, where all points of view are heard, no decisions are made, and all in a non-threatening atmosphere over a meal, then Threshing Together is for you! Please note the date has changed for this month to avoid the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. We will now meet on Thursday, March 24 at 7:00pm. See locations for 2022 here.
A Friend in Need of Rides ~ Mac G is an attender and friend of Ed Morris & Linda Lee. He’s taking part in our Affirmation Class and would love to join in more First Friends activities. Unfortunately, due to health conditions, he has had to give up driving. He leaves over by Eagle Creek. If you would like to help Mac and be on a rotating list of people he could call up occasionally for a ride to the Meeting, please contact the office at office@indyfriends.org.
Mid North Food Pantry ~ First Friends begins its annual Mid North Food Pantry fundraiser on Sunday. Mid North relies not only on the volunteers of First Friends and others, but also on financial assistance to purchase food and other supplies needed to operate the pantry. Since Mid North is able to purchase food at a much lower cost than we can, it is best to contribute monies rather than food items. Checks should be made out to First Friends (with a note “food pantry” in the memo section) and sent to First Friends no later than Apr-10. Thank you.
Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading would like you to join us from virtually anywhere in the world as we discuss The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson (536 pages)
When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The Double Helix on her bed. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn’t become scientists, she decided she would.
Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his co-discovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions.
The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code.
We will gather in the Parlor and via Zoom starting at 7 pm EST on Tuesday, March 29, 2022 led by Nancy S.
An Easter Garden at First Friends Meeting! ~ In celebration of Easter, we invite you to become a part of it through the gift of a garden of flowers for our Meetingroom on Easter Sunday. If you would like to order flowers, there will be order forms available in the bulletin each Sunday morning for the next 3 weeks. Simply fill out the form and drop it in the offering plate or send it to the Meetinghouse along with your payment. Or send your order to office@indyfriends.org.
Mysticism in Our Ordinary Life – Registration Open! ~ Mark your calendar for Saturday May 7th for the Linda Lee Spirituality Retreat where we will examine and experience a mystical life in a practical way. The retreat will be a time of gathering together for teaching and small groups, as well as choices of individual experiences inside and outside the retreat center for reflection and contemplation. The retreat will be led by Carole Spencer, former Professor at Earlham School of Religion; Kathi Gatlin, Adjunct Professor of Spiritual Formation at Portland Seminary; and Lynn Clouser Holt, Adjunct Professor of Spiritual Formation at Portland Seminary. The retreat will run from 10:00 – 4:00 at the Benedictine Center. Linda Lee’s books will be available. Retreat cost is $30. If you’d like to register, please visit https://forms.gle/S2iBVunJVq3bpTHw6. Feel free to share our flyer for the event for anyone who may be interested.
Help Ukrainians in Need ~ Aaron T’s friend and classmate, Vladyslav Bobuskyi is from Ukraine. He is currently attending Indiana University and is trying to help his family back home in Ukraine. Aaron has set up a Gofundme to raise funds to help Vladyslav’s family get out of Ukraine and find a safe place abroad to settle down until the conflict is over.
Vladyslav’s family lives in Uzhhorod - a tiny city on the southwest side of Ukraine surrounded by a breathtaking mountain chain called the Carpathian Mountains. Right now, the city is actively preparing for any possible attack that it may have to encounter in the next few weeks. Russians have managed to capture some of the territories on the way to the capital, but the Ukrainian army right now is fighting to defend the citizens and their freedom.
The raised money will support and help Vladyslav’s mother and sister to get to a safe place abroad and settle down there until the conflict in my country is resolved. She already got directions from friends abroad as to where she can drive to, but the main concern is the financial support to establish herself somewhere for a while.
Time is of great urgency; please consider giving on Gofundme if you’re able.
Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for March
Red-winged Blackbird: The Scout
My friend Steve had been in the process of moving to the area for several months. One day he told me he had been scouting around for a church. After visiting several, he had found one that was a good fit for his family. It was quite unlike our Quaker experience, with a top-down creed and rather narrow belief system, but it was good for Steve. He reported back to his family, and, having arrived, they now have become members.
Steve’s scouting reminded me of Red-winged Blackbirds and our meetinghouse property. During the last week of February and the first week of March I heard red-wings not only as single birds overhead, but also as one stopped to check out the fringe areas of the Meditational Woods and the vegetation along the powerline. These are scouts ahead of the main flocks, looking for suitable habitat for nesting territories. Unlike Steve, these males do not go back to the main flocks of blackbirds farther south to announce their findings. They simply find those areas, set up a territory, and when the newly-arrived blackbirds hear the pioneer scouts singing, they join them with nearby nesting sites.
Alas, however, the Meditational Woods and the field to the north are not prime real estate for red-wings. They hunger for shrubby stubble, and especially wet areas with cattail growth. So while we at Indy First Friends hear both the scouts checking us out in late February and all of March, and large flocks overhead all during the rest of spring, by June the only red-winged blackbirds we will hear are a few that may have found a place in the weedy powerline right-of-way south of Kessler.
The lesson here is that the Quaker path is wide, but may not be for everyone. At Indianapolis First Friends we certainly welcome at all times scouts looking for a home. Perhaps they will find that we are the “wetland cattails” of meaningful experiences, and decide to stay.
- Brad J
Quaker Haven Camp ~ It’s time to think about your kids attending Quaker Haven Camp in Syracuse, IN. If you are not familiar with Quaker Haven, check out their website (www.quakerhaven.com). Our kids have been going there for many years and have enjoyed it. First Friends will pay for half of the cost of camp – ask the meeting office for a code you can use at checkout for 50% off. If you need additional assistance, please contact the office. Here are the dates:
· June 5th - 10th Senior high camp (9th - 12)
· June 12th - 17th Junior high camp (7th - 8th grade)
· June 17th - 19th Beginner’s camp (kindergarten - 2nd grade with an adult)
· June 19th - 24th Adventure camp (5th - 6th grade)
· June 26th - July 1st Senior high camp (9th - 12th grade)
· July 10th - 13th Little Friends camp (2nd - 4th grade)
· July 17th - 21st Pioneer camp (3rd - 5th grade)
Queries for the Week
· Are you living out our text for today, “The Fruit of the Spirit” which is the embodiment, behavior and action of living out this faith - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?
· Are you a believer who puts your distinct beliefs first, or are you a person of faith who puts love first?
· Are you a believer whose beliefs put you in competition or conflict with people of differing beliefs, or are you a person of faith whose faith moves you toward the other with love?
