Friends Journal

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Q U A K E R T H O U G H T A N D L I F E T O D A Y
Books & Writing
S P E C I A L I S S U E
Reading and Writing
My Way
The Best Written Code
Young Adult Friends Picks
Basho Joins Our Struggle
2 November 2013 Friends Journal
Friends Publishing Corporation
Gabriel Ehri (Executive Director)
Editorial: Martin Kelley (Senior Editor), Gail
Whiffen (Associate Editor), Judith Brown (Poetry
Editor), Karie Firoozmand (Book Review Editor),
Eileen Redden (Assistant Book Review Editor), Mary
Julia Street (Milestones Editor), Patricia Dallmann,
Judith Inskeep (Copyeditors)
Design and Production: Alla Podolsky (Art Director),
Matt Slaybaugh (Web Manager), Patty Quinn
(Layout Assistant)
Advertising, Circulation, and Development:
Jane Heil (Development Manager), Sara Waxman
(Advertising and Marketing Manager)
Administration: Marianne De Lange
(Business Manager), H&S Business Partners
(Accounting Services)
Board of Trustees: Paul M.A. Baker, Jon Berry, Paul
Buckley, James Cavener, Cara Curtis, Stephen
Dotson, Gulielma Fager, A. M. Fink, Jim Herr
(Recording Clerk), Dana Kester-McCabe (Assistant
Clerk), Cameron McWhirter, Christopher Mohr
(Clerk), Ann Trueblood Raper, Breeze Richardson,
Jim Rose, George Rubin, Christine Snyder
(Treasurer), Harry Tunis, Monica Walters-Field,
Shelley Weiner
Friends Journal (ISSN 0016-1322) was established in
1955 as the successor to The Friend (18271955)
and Friends Intelligencer (18441955).
Friends Journal is published monthly with the
exception of a combined June/July issue by Friends
Publishing Corporation, 1216 Arch Street, 2A,
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and Learning.
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Among
Friends
An Invitation to the Table
I
n Out of Darkness into Light (p. 17), Maurine Pyle, a linguist, writes
of Quakers common habit of using metaphor to describe and discuss
religious experience. The metaphor that comes to mind as I contemplate the
wonderful and constantly replenished body of Quaker writing is a particularly
seasonal one.
Let us think of our volume of writing as a cornucopia, a horn of plenty
overowing with colorful vegetables, ripe fruits, hearty grains, and the rest of
the earths bounty. The staff and volunteers of Friends Journal are a kitchen full
of master chefs, steeped in a philosophy not unlike that of, say, Alice Waters of
Berkeleys Chez Panisse, the so-called Mother of Slow Food. We honor the
source and authenticity of what we prepare. We focus on quality and aim to
inspire excitement and fulllment. We treat the guests in our dining room as
we would family, communing in grateful appreciation of the blessings which we
have been fortunate to receive, and which we hope to share with others.
Please, be our guests. Im glad that youve joined us for the chefs
tasting menu.
We begin with a range of amuse-bouches in the Forum, incorporating
ingredients as diverse as text-messaging and the Atonement.
As an entre, we have Pyles fascinating study of how Friends use metaphor,
particularly the classic dark and light. She has interviewed Quakers from a
variety of backgrounds to tease out the nuances of this imagery in our
spiritual lives.
Our plats principaux include Thomas Hamm (The Best Written Code,
p. 10) on the fascinating evolution of Quaker books of Discipline and Faith
and Practice, and their place in different corners of the Society over time.
We have a delightful and evocative salade compose by Barbara Harroun
(Reading and Writing My Way, p. 6), including an introduction that
brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye as I thought about the
powerful place of reading and writing in my own life.
And of course, as bets an issue focused on books and writing, the grand
plateau de fromages: 23 book titles and 1 DVD reviewed, including the new
First-day school curriculum Sparkling Still. Youll also enjoy 15 reading
recommendations from young adult Quakers.
If you have room for dessert, please peruse our display and classied
advertisements and consider whether what they offer speaks to your condition.
In this season of thanks, I want to extend mine to you. Thank you for
being a reader, and especially for sharing Friends Journal with those who
might join us as subscribers. Bon apptit!
Yours in peace,
Gabriel Ehri
Executive Director
ED@friendsjournal.org
Friends Journal November 2013 3
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C O N T E N T S
Cover photo: At QuakerBooks of
Friends General Conference, photo
by Alla Podolsky
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Reading and Writing
My Way
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A lifetime of reading
prepares a spiritual seeker
for Friends worship.
10
The Best Written Code
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The evolution of Quaker
books of Faith and Practice.
14
Young Adult Friends Picks
Young adult Friends
share their reading
recommendations
on spirituality, Quakerism,
religion, and faith.
O N F R I E N D S J O U R N A L . O R G :
From the archives: Select book reviews from this issues
Young Adult Friends Picks.
Books &
Writing
17
Out of Darkness into Light
M||| N| |\ | |
Exploring our spirituality
through metaphor.
20
Basho Joins Our Struggle
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A Japanese contemporary of George Fox
also sought out peace and light.
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2 Among Friends
4 Forum
24 Books
44 Milestones
49 Classified
51 Meetings
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9 The Day After
Thanksgiving
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Forum
Forum letters should be sent with the
writers name and address to
forum@friendsjournal.org. Letters may
be edited for length and clarity. Because
of space constraints, we cannot print
every letter.
Further light on Richard Nixon
and Quakers
I have a few historical anecdotes to
share in response to Larry Ingles recent
article, Richard Nixons First Cover-Up,
(FJ June/July). For a period of almost 30
years, I was an active member of Friends
Meeting of Washington. Sometime
around 1983 or 1984, an elderly, long-
time member of the meeting related an
anecdote about an event that happened
on the morning of Richard Nixons
second inauguration.
At that time, her husband was clerk of
the meeting. Early in the morning, they
received a phone call at their home from
the Secret Service, asking that her husband
immediately come to the meetinghouse to
unlock the door for the president, who
wanted to sit by himself in the main
meeting room. Her husband was told not
to try to speak to the president. President
Nixon sat alone in the meeting room for
possibly 45 minutes. After the clerk returned
home, he and his wife agreed to not tell
anyone. I asked what her husband had
thought of this strange event. She said that
her late husband had been a person of few
words, but had simply believed the
president wanted to reflect silently on his
situation (with the Watergate scandal on
the horizon), and that the message for the
rest of us had to do with there being that
of God in all of us.
As we were finishing this conversation,
another elderly, long-time member of the
meeting joined us and related another
anecdote from the early 1950s. Richard
Nixons mother, Hannah Milhous Nixon,
would occasionally bring the two young
Nixon daughters to First-day school during
Nixons congressional career. On one
occasion, Richards wife, Pat Nixon,
stormed (my storytellers word) into the
meetinghouse on Sunday morning and
took her daughters out of First-day school,
saying something along the lines of she
wasnt having her daughters learning all
this Quaker pacifist stuff. The teller of
this anecdote vividly remembered the loud
noise that Pat Nixons high-heeled shoes
made as she stormed down the wooden
staircase from the main meeting room
floor to Decatur Avenue; she also recalled
that Pat Nixons fur coat was flying out
behind her as she held each of her
childrens hand.
Denny Hartzell
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
As a Friend with a concern for public
perception, I think that tackling the story
and legacy of Richard Nixon is important
work. He is one of few public figures in
modern times who openly claims
Quakerism, and he is the highest office-
holding professed Quaker. I think it is
crucial that we engage with his reasoning
for claiming Quakerism as his faith, and
debunk some of the myth of that claim.
I was not alive during the Nixon
presidency, but my parents were. I have
taken an interest in that time period as one
of great potential and also great heartbreak
(the latter of which I believe Nixon himself
contributed a great deal). I watched Frost/
Nixon recently and came to this article in
my research about what really happened
with Richard Nixon.
I hope to continue the work that youve
done here in using the Nixon story as a
platform on which to begin the conversation
about Quakerism, and set the record
straight. Thanks again for providing that
starting point.
Jon Watts
Philadelphia, Pa.
R U 4 real?
I am deeply disturbed by the simulated
cell-phone text conversation in the
August 2013 issue (R U Clerkn?, John
Fuller). Was it intended to be entertaining?
Or perhaps amusing? It appears to
condone, even approve, such disrespectful
behavior by committee clerks. Or
perhaps your intent was to raise a concern
about frivolous committee clerks? I
sincerely hope that this simulated text
conversation is not representative of what
committee clerks are actually doing
while hard-working committee members
make their reports. Committee clerks
should be fully engaged during committee
meetings, striving to discern the sense
of the meeting, not carrying on inane
and surreptitious conversations via cell
phone. I am unable to find words strong
enough to express how unutterably wrong
this is! I sincerely hope that I will never
have to suffer through a meeting with a
committee clerk so totally lacking in
respect for the process, for those
wholeheartedly participating in the
process, and for the light which this
process is intended to share.
Joel Miles
Koror, Palau
Loved this. I hope this is real.
Hilarious. LOL. Sadly, I understand
this! Too funny . . . Lucretia Mott
texting. Vry fny. What a hoot! Loved
it! Ha ha!!!! This is fabulous. Hey,
momma . . . , check it out. . . . I LOLd
when I read this in FJ and took the issue to
MM to share. Nice to see Quaker humor!
Ha, why oh why are there never
tablecloths at any of the meetings I attend?
Comments on Facebook
I am probably the recording clerk in
question. You know, we could probably
speed things up a lot if we had a policy of
selecting only young people with good
texting skills as recording clerks (and
getting rid of obsolete requirements for
grammar, spelling, and punctuation). We
fogies have trouble typing fast enough,
and I suspect even Friends Journal readers
my age can figure out what the text
dialogue is about.
Jim Giddings
Greenville, N.H.
Divestment
The letter is in response to Friend Rob
Piersons letter about fossil fuel divestment
(FJ Aug.). I am not one of the Friends in
New Hampshire that he refers to, but I can
speak to some of his questions about
divestment and its usefulness and reach.
The big oil companies have already
spent a lot of money locating and
investigating oil reserves that they have not
yet begun to exploit. If they exploit those
reserves completely (or even anywhere
above 20 percent), the climate change
discussion and discussions about how to
survive as a civilization will be quite
different from what they are today. This is
why the movement to divest is focused on
big oil companies, but not on related
industries or users: the message is to keep
it in the ground.
This particular divestment campaign is
intended to send the message that they
need to let those reserves become stranded
assets. They need to kiss their already
spent money goodbye. Divestment, at least
as promoted by the 350.org campaign, is
not intended to be quietist (good
observation, I thought), but rather to
engage deeply in speaking truth to power.
Related questions abound, as Piersons
letter points out. The overall concept of
pressuring oil companies recognizes that
oil companies, who employ engineers and
scientists and are well capitalized, can
transform themselves into energy
companies. That would be a better use of
their research and development budgets.
My own hope is that this would be a
major change in the business of energy
production and offer consumers the
choice of renewable energy, signalling
venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to
enter the huge market of renewable energy
and its infrastructure in a big way. Is
there a need to wait for big oil to move
first? As Pierson also points out, Quakers
have a history of raising up whole new
industries along with generations of
scientists and entrepreneurs.
The need is for big oil to stop polluting
the commons for free. It is not illegal to
emit carbon dioxide, and there is no dollar
cost associated with it. The costs are there,
to be sure, but they are paid by all of
Creation. This is what speaking truth to
power needs to be saying at this point in
time to big oil.
Karie Firoozmand
Timonium, Md.
As co-author of the Dover (N.H.)
Meeting epistle on divestment from
investments in fossil fuel companies, I
wish to respond to Rob Piersons letter
published in the Forum.
Are we as Friends able, in good
conscience and in line with Quaker
principles, to continue to profit from
investments in an industry whose products
are clearly destructive to the ecosystem,
and which has aggressively blocked change
from their products to clean, renewable
energy for decades?
Do Friends understand that the
damages from human-induced climate
change will continue to occur on an
increased basis and with increasing intensity
if greenhouse gas emissions continue
unabated? And do Friends truly understand
that the results of unabated greenhouse gas
emissions are now the single most
dangerous threat to all life on the planet?
Is it possible for Friends to have a
serious conversation about climate change
if were not divested? Isnt there a
difference between being captive to a
system that keeps us using fossil fuels and
willfully profiting from investments in
that industry?
Tom Jackson
Newington, N.H.
Quakers and atonement, continued
If Anthony Manousos doesnt quite get
his facts right, neither does Marshall
Massey (Forum, FJ Aug.). I have read
extensively in the writings of Elias Hicks
and other early Hicksites and find that it is
not true that they refused to embrace the
doctrine of the Atonement. What they
did refuse to embrace was the satisfaction
doctrine of the Atonement.
George Fox and other early Friends did
not write a lot about the Atonement. Fox
and Robert Barclay clearly opposed the
doctrine of imputed righteousness, an
important component of the satisfaction
doctrine. William Penn wrote of the many
gross absurdities and blasphemies that are
the genuine fruit of this so-confidently
believed doctrine of satisfactionfar
stronger language than John Comly or
Hicks used on this point!
I believe deep and searching dialogue is
needed for Friends to work together today.
To paper over our differences and unite
around practices and social justice will
not get us very far. To insist that those who
reject the satisfaction doctrine are doomed
to eternal punishment is a recipe for
disaster. I suspect that most Liberal
Friends could accept at least the moral
influence view of the Atonement, if they
knew about it. So could most Christ-
centered Friends: we might believe that,
while true, that view just doesnt go far
enough and deep enough. There are other
viewsChristus victor and covenant
theoriesthat some Friends might want to
explore together.
T. Vail Palmer Jr.
Albany, Ore.
In his letter commenting on Are
Quakers Christian, Non-Christian, or
Both, Marshall Massey pointed out a core
split in the the theologies of Universalist
and Hicksite Friendsour beliefs regarding
the history of Gods relation to mankind.
Fortunately, it is merely a theological
difference; the flow of divine love, with
which all of us seek to align ourselves,
unites Quakers far more powerfully than
belief systems can divide. If God is
supreme, then there is no reason, in my
mind, to believe that he hasnt, and doesnt,
offer reconciliation by many, many paths.
The Atonement is clearly an important
event that brings salvation to many, but
I am unable to reject other theologies
which describe different ways that God
has touched the human world.
Melody Ashworth
Medford, Ore.
Children and parents in meeting
Reading Kathleen Karhnak-Glasbys
Bringing Children to Worship (FJ Aug.),
I recall one parent of a small meeting in
Ontario at Canadian Yearly Meeting
sessions trying to encourage his daughter to
sit quietly during worship. Her very
reasonable response was, But Daddy, I
can pray standing on my head! Her
ministry caused me to reflect on whether I
could indeed pray and worship in all
circumstances, and from whatever position
I was in at the time.
At another meeting, when Friends
noticed the power struggles between
children and their parents, we asked elder
Friends to serve as adoptive
grandparents, with whom the children
could sit. That defused the power
struggles, and members of meeting who
had no children of their own were very
helpful to parents in that meeting.
I also recall learning to sink deeply into
worship and hearing a younger Friends
grandmother giggle. I looked down and
there was the one- to two-year-old peering
up in wonder at why and how I could sit so
quietly when he was busy crawling under
the benches. It was just fine. He became a
part of my prayers that day and is still a
part of them.
Christine Greenland
Warminster, Pa.
Growing Quakerism
Brent Bills New Meetings Project (FJ
Aug.) is the most hopeful article Ive read
about the growth of Quakerism. Thanks to
all who are creating new meeting
communities and making our cheerful
message more available in the world.
Signe Wilkinson
Philadelphia, Pa.
The world as fragile oasis
I have been feeling terrible all week
since watching a report on child labor.
Yesterday, through my door, came a
wonderful surprise: the August Friends
Journal in color, with Gods golden
thumbprint in a childs finger painting,
held lovingly by an adult teacher.
I opened to read The Overview Effect:
Love for all Gods creation, Daphne
Clements response to this unjust terrible,
world. I felt like one of the first-century
Roman Christians hearing Pauls epistle:
I consider the sufferings of this present
time are not worth comparing, with all the
glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans
8:18). Yes, Daphne, throughout history we
have all had these terrible concerns.
Hopefully, we can perceive the world as a
fragile oasis or, as Julian of Norwich
wrote of her Medieval world, a hazelnut,
held in Gods hand.
Roberta Nobleman
Dumont, N.J.
M
y mothers voice is rich, velvety, and soft
as the skin thinning across her knuckles.
As a child she read every day to me and
my two brothers who bookend me by two years
each. There is a photograph my father took of
me, a bare-chested toddler, hair turned white as
corn silk from the Florida sun, and my mother,
her rich brown hair piled up; our faces are
turned down in tandem to the book on her lap,
and my hand is resting on her shoulder. What I
remember from those books, read during the
day, but in longer duration at night before bed,
is vying for a place beside her. I would press my
cheek to her shoulder and hear her voice coming
up and out of her. I would listen to the
breathing patterns that the commas and periods
and new paragraphs set.
Beginning when I was ve, we did not have a
television. My mom would read long chapter
books to us: all of Roald Dahls titles, Michael
Endes The Neverending Story, Richard Pecks
series featuring the future-seeing Blossom Culp.
We begged for one more chapter and then one
more page to continue hearing our mothers
voice. She would transform itthrowing it high
or lowering it octavesto embody each character.
I love being read to, and now, in my capacity
as a teacher, I perk up when students read aloud.
When visiting writers come to give public
readings, I lean forward and listen hard to their
words. Sometimes I cannot stop small sounds of
pleasure from escaping my mouth. And I read
to my children, gathering them into my arms,
pressing my face to their bath-fresh cheeks.
Back when I was young, my father would
occasionally come in, fold himself to sit on the
bottom bunk, and tell us stories amended from
what he was reading in his educational PhD
program. Once he told us the story of the terrible
Grendel from the epic poem Beowulf. It made
my tiny legs vibrate with fear, and yet I begged,
More, Dad. Please. One of my earliest memories
is being crouched in the warm, safe, dark of a
closet, listening with rapt pleasure to the metallic
speed of his electric typewriter. He also had a reel-
to-reel recorder, and he would have us speak and
tell stories, which he would then replay for us. I
remember asking him, verging on the age of
three, Is that me? as I did not recognize my voice.
At dinner each night, my family told the
Barbara Harroun is an instructor of English at Western Illinois University in
Macomb, Ill., where she lives with her family. Her writing has previously
appeared in Buffalo Carp, Sycamore Review, and issues of Another Chicago
Magazine. She joyfully attends the Macomb Worship Group with her beloved
children, Annaleigh and Jack.
B A R B A R A H A R R O U N
READING and
WRITING
MY WAY
unlocked something so visceral that I could almost
hear the click.
I
do not remember learning to read. I remember
being very young, maybe four, in our basement
apartment in Greeley, Colorado. I was in the
kitchen sitting at our small table. My mom was
frying homemade French fries. My younger
brother was young enough to be in the backpack
carrier she shouldered effortlessly. I was tracing my
name, written in clean, blocky print on a brown
grocery bag that had been cut into squares. Then I
wrote my name on my own, gripping the pencil
ferociously. I wanted desperately to write, desperately
to read. These creative acts seemed magical,
mysterious, and sacred. Three decades later, this
sense has only grown stronger. To tell stories and
use words to find meaning and beauty in ones life,
and to be able to transform the terrible and even
traumatic into art by the arrangement of letters:
what could be more powerful? Or more divine?
When I was eight, the fth grade teacher chose
me to be the voice of God for a play.
I hid behind the altar and spoke my
lines with feeling into a tiny
microphone that was normally
clipped to the priests vestments. It
did not for a moment seem strange
to me that the voice of God sounded
like a child (and even then a female
child). I thought that God would
surely have the voice of my mother
on some days and the voice of my
father on others. It certainly made
me tremble in awe and fear.
In my adult years, while I was
working toward my MFA in ction
writing at Purdue University, I lived
monastically, away from my husband
during the week. All of my energy
was given freely to reading and
writing and teaching. Writing
became a prayerful act in which I
fully immersed myself in a solitude I
had never experienced before. In my
dorm room and small apartments, I
felt as though I was in a womb. I felt
safely housed and actively becoming
as though I was revealing myself
through ction, coming to terms
story of our days. We valued stories in our family,
although I appreciated this truth only once I had
left home. I hadnt realized that not everyone spent
such a great deal of time with family talking,
debating, and full-out arguing. We were
encouraged to watch the evening news together,
and these often dismal stories of the world and our
nation and their impact would be addressed by my
father over dinner. His even tone and logical
approach worked to soothe my disquieted heart. I
was the one who would often well up, my
argument interrupted by my tears, unable to
coherently communicate.
On Sundays, my mom took us to mass for
worship. My father stayed home or went hunting.
The woods were his church, he told us. I loved the
mystery of the Catholic rituals: the collapsing face
of Jesus on the crucix, the droning hymns, the
psalms and refrains. I lived for the gospel and
homily. I would press my cheek to my mothers
arm, then as I grew taller, I rested my head on her
shoulder. Sometimes we would hold hands. When
I was a teenager, this physical connection did not
happen as much, and yet looking back, always
what comes into focus is my mother, her voice in
song or refrain, and there I am, trying to press
against that rich faith, that ferocious love. Our
priest had a deep, resonant voice that lled the
church even without the microphone. Sometimes
he would gesture with his large Abraham-Lincoln-
like hands.
It was the stories I came forthe continuation,
the process, the life of Christ. What would happen
next? I knew the ending, of course. Christ was
crucied, then he rose from the dead. But each
year, it seemed a new story. Each year I was a bit
older, and I understood or questioned a bit more. I
aligned myself with different characters or saw
myself revealed through a passage I thought I
couldnt possibly have heard before. But I had
moments, and in these moments, the words,
quality of light, and warmth of the church all
combined to create an effect. It felt as though my
rib cage opened like a birdcage with a door I did
not know was there. Tears would stream down my
face, and I would feel awash in love, held up by it
and lled up by it. If my mother had not been
there to hold me, I might have oated off, for I
very much wanted to feel this feeling all of the
time. The wordsin song or psalm or gospel
To tell stories and
use words to find
meaning and beauty
in ones life, and to
be able to transform
the terrible and even
traumatic into art by
the arrangement of
letters: what could
be more powerful? Or
more divine?
with my many selves, and nding a measure of
peace. Years before I had my two children, I
labored to know myself through the art of ction.
I
left the Catholic Church for good nearly five
years ago. It was painful. There was much to
read that made my heart a place of rage. But the
final decision came through my process of writing.
It was through writing that I could get to what I
think and believe. As a woman, a mother, and a
writer, I could not stay.
I was adrift. We moved, started new jobs, and
found our footing in the town where I grew up. I
had never planned to return, but my parents are
still here, and they opened their home to us as we
sold ours. There was joyreal joyand my
mother allowed me short stretches of quiet I
wouldnt have had otherwise to walk, to journal,
to sit out back with a cup of tea. It was in these
moments of silence that my relationship with the
Divine began. I developed a sense of being in
conversation with Godlistening attentively,
paying attention, and trusting myself. I alternated
between feelings of liberation and feelings of fright
as I traveled a path with no set structure, agreed-
upon vocabulary, or set way to worship.
I
learned about Quakers through a book club. I
had watched the Quaker character on the HBO
show Six Feet Under with some interest, but I
knew very little about Friends. I do not remember
the book we discussed, but somehow we got on the
subject of God, religion, and spirituality. After
having had two very good beers, I declared that I
believe in the Divine and so do my children and
also that I miss having a faith community. Before
we moved, I had attended both an Episcopal
service led by a female priest and a small Jesuit
church in our neighborhood, but had not recently
sought a faith community. I was still angry.
A couple of months later, I got an email from a
member of the book club who is a Friend. She
recalled my searching words and invited me in a
graceful and loving way to meeting for worship. I
went the very next Sunday. What else to call it but
a wordless homecoming? It felt as if I was
returning to a place I had missed so very much. I
sat in the silence and listened attentively. I was
embarrassed when tears came momentarily, but
they were tears of gratitude. Now I return each
week to the sanctuary of silence to take in the
wisdom and the messages of my Friends that speak
It was in these
moments of silence
that my relationship
with the Divine
began. I developed a
sense of being in
conversation with
Godlistening
attentively, paying
attention, and
trusting myself.
Below: The author as
a toddler in 1977, being
read to by her mother
in the house they
rented in Key West, Fla.
T H E D AY A F T E R T H A N K S G I V I N G
In cities and towns
holiday lights brighten
the sky and shout
good news about bargains
to be found at the mall.
After all, its Black Friday!
The economys on its knees;
sales projections are grim.
Can hope be born again
in fear-filled livesor
will bright lights expose
over-stocked shelves
and empty hearts?
Above taxing dark clouds
The Bethlehem Star
still shines undaunted as ever
and though the night is dark
many are led by the Light
to a faith-filled Christmas.
Ruth Naylor
Bluffton, Ohio
to the condition of my heart. There I encounter the
Divine directly or else dget and work on settling
into that place. This experience is often without
words, but sometimes they do comethe welling
up of wonder. I bring my whole self to worship.
It has been nearly two years now. My life has
been transformed by the honesty of my worship
experience with this faith family. We often eat
together, sharing a potluck meal after meeting.
We can carry our personal messiness and aws
into worship and be no less loved. I do not go to
worship to be xed; I go to be transformed. In
daily life, I try to nd 30 minutes of silence each
morning before I write. In weekly worship, I sit
among my Friends and realize they are more than
thatthey are people I truly love. They have
counseled me, comforted me, and run a marathon-
relay with me. They have allowed me to see in
action, over and over again, that which is God in
myself and in otherswhat a gift.
The dear Friend who rst invited me to worship
also told me about the gorgeous Quaker tradition
of being held in the Light. These words were
powerful and transformative for me at the time.
They were a bridge to forgiveness of self and of
others. Ive come to nd holding someone in the
Light to be a comforting act which feels nearly
tangible as friends and family struggle in sickness
and with the pain of loss. It is a wonderful way to
give thanks for those we love or are working to
love. For most of my life, the heart of my
perception of God was judgment. It was a childs
idea that I carried until my early 30s with an
internal monologue so harsh I often asked myself,
Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
Now I feel this love as an unconditional balm on
most days, and when I struggle, I place myself in
the Light, turn my face toward it, and think, Here
I am.
A
nd now, I have come to the point where I am
crafting my letter requesting membership.
How well words have served me all of my life,
what joy they have brought me, what consolation
and comfort, what direct connection to the Divine
they have provided. And yet, now, when I must put
into words why I am called to membership, I
understand only too well their limitations. How
can they express the swelling joy, the deep currents
of mystery, and the ways my life has been
grounded, supported, and sustained by the tenets
of such simple, lovely faith?
Thomas Hamm is professor of history and director of
Special Collections at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind.
He is a member of New Castle (Ind.) Meeting in the New
Association of Friends. His most recent published work is
Quaker Writings, 16501920.
S
T H O MA S H A MM
The Best Written C
A brief history o Quaker books
of Faith and Pracice
ome of us probably consider from time to
time what we would like our parting words to the
world to be. As Stephen Wilson Jr., a relatively
young Quaker of Green Plain Meeting in Clark
County, Ohio, lay dying in 1837, his thoughts were
about Friends. He told those around him: The
Discipline of the Society I consider the best written
code of laws which could be framed for the
government of the true Christian.
Friend Stephens devotion to the Discipline was
unusual even for committed Friends of his era. But
his vocabulary and sentiments tell us much about
the place that books of Faith and Practice
traditionally occupied in the lives of Friends. These
books of Discipline were, in fact, a written code of
laws. They were intended for the government of
both individuals and the Society of Friends as a
group. Their roles and uses have changed greatly
among Friends since 1837, but these origins are still
apparent in most books today.
The rst generation of Friends took for granted
that being part of a religious group entailed
responsibility and subordination of the individual
to the larger group. That was true for almost every
spiritual movement in England in the seventeenth
century, save the amorphous Ranters. One of the
consistent criticisms that Puritans, Baptists,
Presbyterians, and Friends had of the established
Church of England was that it was not rigorous
enough in its discipline and expectations of
membersthat it tolerated sin instead of
advancing holiness. Moreover, having repudiated
other church structures, Friends soon realized that
they needed consistent procedures that reected
their collective judgments about what Gods
expectations for them were.
Perhaps the earliest, and certainly one of the
best-known, collection of such judgments was the
Advices of the Elders of Balby, the fruits of a
conference of Public Friends in Yorkshire in
1656. The advices included expectations of both
meetingsthat they should keep records of births
and deaths and follow certain procedures for
marriagesand individualsthat husbands and
wives dwell together according to knowledge;
that Friends labour in the thing that is good;
and, my favorite, that none be busybodies in
others matters. With the establishment of the
system of monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings,
Quakerism became effectively institutionalized,
which led to more judgments about proper
behavior and procedure.
By the 1670s, the yearly meeting was generally
accepted by Friends as the highest authority, its
judgments binding on quarterly and monthly
meetings about the managing of the public affairs
of Friends throughout the nation. These
judgments were usually labeled advices, but to
Friends at the time, deference and obedience to
adhere to them were not discretionaryto
disregard the advice of ones Friends was an offense
in itself. As other yearly meetings were established
in Ireland and North America, they tended to take
their cues from the yearly meeting in London,
reinforced by the regular visits of weighty Friends
from the British Isles.
Just how Friends kept track of their judgments,
decisions, and advices is not entirely clear.
Doubtless in many cases they were simply what
everyone knew. But by the middle of the eighteenth
century, Friends were referring to this body of
accumulated wisdom and judgment as The Discipline.
Rufus Jones concluded that it was a thing of slow
and almost unconscious growth. Nobody wrote it
Friends Journal November 2013 11 Friends Journal November 2013 11
Code
A handwritten
book of
Discipline
copied over by
Hannah Roberts
in 1761
outright. No individual or even
committee made it. It was the
creation of the whole group working
together. The Society itself made it.
It was formed out of the accumulations
of meeting decisions.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting made
such a collection in 1704. London
Yearly Meeting, for once, did not take
the lead, waiting until 1738. New
England, Baltimore, and Virginia
yearly meetings followed suit between
1739 and 1759. The collections,
however, were kept in manuscript.
Friends who wanted their own copies
had to make them by hand. The rst
printed version, which was of London
Yearly Meeting advices, was unofcial,
the work of Friend John Fry. Its
formidable title was:
An Alphabetical Extract of all the
Annual Printed Epistles which have
been sent to the several Quarterly
Meetings of the People Called
Quakers, in England and Elsewhere,
from their Yearly Meeting Held in
London, for the Promotion of Peace
and Love in the Society, and
Encouragement of Piety and Virtue,
from the Year 1682 to 1762 inclusive . . . containing
many excellent exhortations to faithfulness in the
several branches of Christian Testimony which God
hath given them to bear; and admonitions,
occasionally given, for the support of good order
and regularity in and among the said people.
Not until 1783 did London Yearly Meeting
print a book of Discipline, which it entitled
Extracts from the Minutes and Advices of the Yearly
Meeting of Friends Held in London. New England
Yearly Meeting followed suit in 1785, with
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting printing its Discipline
in 1797.
Not all Friends were enthusiastic about seeing
the Discipline in print. Emmor Kimber (1775
1850), a minister and schoolmaster in Philadelphia
Yearly Meeting, grumbled that widespread
circulation had created a generation of hair-
splitting literalists quibbling over the proper
construction and interpretation of provisions of the
Discipline. Many have become lawyers, profess to
be wise, [and were] so in the letter [that they knew]
very little of the crucifying power of the cross of
Christ, he charged.
Before 1827, differences among Disciplines were
minimal. As Friends moved west, and new yearly
meetings were formed, they continued to use the
Discipline of their parent yearly meeting. Indiana
Yearly Meeting, for example, was set off from Ohio
in 1821, but went on using the Ohio Yearly
Meeting Discipline approved in 1819 well into the
1830s. Only with the Hicksite Separation of the
1820s did divergences begin to appear, reecting
the differing judgments of Orthodox and Hicksite
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12 November 2013 Friends Journal 12 November 2013 Friends Journal
Assorted twentieth-century
books of Discipline
Friends about authority and
doctrine. While Hicksites
averred their devotion to the
salutary discipline of our
Society, they
tried to guard
against what
they perceived
as tendencies
toward
authoritarianism on
the part of leading
Friends by limiting the
terms of elders and
members of the yearly
meeting executive group,
called the Meeting for
Sufferings.
Orthodox Friends, in contrast, began
to incorporate extended doctrinal
sections, laying out what they saw as
the important points of Christian
belief about the
divinity of Christ
and the authority of
the Scriptures that
they saw Friends as
sharing with other
Protestants. Naturally,
books of Discipline
were updated to reect
cultural change among
Friends after 1860 as old
prohibitions such as bans
on marriage to non-
members and on erecting
tombstones were stricken.
One of the marks of
Conservative Friends was their
conservatism about revising
the Discipline. Ohio
Yearly Meeting
(Conservative), for
example, did not
undertake a major
revision of the 1819
Discipline for over a century.
Until the twentieth century,
the process for revising the
Discipline was relatively simple.
Normally, a quarterly meeting would
begin the process by sending up a proposal.
The yearly meeting would then consider
appointing a committee to weigh the proposal. If it
did, the committee might make a recommendation
before the end of the yearly meeting, or it might
recommend holding over the matter for another
year. Presumably this practice provided an
opportunity for discussion amongst monthly and
quarterly meetings, but no such provision was
formally built into the process.
In the 1810s, some Friends both in North America
and the British Isles suggested the desirability of a
Uniform Discipline for all yearly meetings. The
proposal for a conference on this subject was one of
the forerunners of the Hicksite Separation of the
1820s. Elias Hicks and those who sympathized
with him suspected a plot to create a centralized
authority that would deprive Friends of spiritual
liberty and tend toward creedalism. Those who
would become Orthodox Friends were largely
supportive of creating a Uniform Discipline.
Orthodox Friends raised the question again from
time to time from the 1840s into the 1870s.
In 1887, the Gurneyite yearly meetings, which
accounted for about 80 percent of the worlds
Friends at the time, held a conference in
Richmond, Indiana. Delegates from Dublin and
London yearly meetings were present, as were
sympathetic Friends from Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting (Orthodox). The conference is best
remembered today for producing the Richmond
Declaration of Faith, the denitive statement of
Quaker belief for many Evangelical Friends. But
equally important was a proposal from William
Nicholson, the clerk of Kansas Yearly Meeting. He
argued that the tendency of Quakerism in the
nineteenth century had been in the direction of
disruption, disintegration, and dissolution. The
solution lay in unication, compactness, strength,
solidity, power of resistance, and an effective
wielding of our forces. And that could be best
done, he concluded, by forming a central
organization, a triennial conference with legislative
powers and nal authority over yearly meetings, its
scope dened by a Uniform Discipline. For the
next 15 years, weighty Gurneyite Friends, most
notably Rufus Jones, worked toward that end.
They produced a draft Uniform Discipline, and by
1901 all of the Gurneyite yearly meetings except
Ohio had embraced it. They thus came together to
form the Five Years Meeting of Friends, what is
now called Friends United Meeting.
The Gurneyites, who by 1902 were largely
pastoral, were not alone in seeing greater uniformity
and centralization as a means of building and
concentrating the strengths of Friends. The same
impulse lay behind the Friends Union for
Philanthropic Labor, formed by the Hicksite yearly
meetings in the 1870s and 1880s. As the name
suggests, the original purpose of the union was for
Hicksites to consult and exchange ideas about
humanitarian and reform projects, but by the 1890s
its biennial conferences included sessions on ministry,
education, religious life, First-day schools, and
other topics. In 1900, the group became Friends
General Conference (FGC). Hicksites disavowed
any intention of setting up a central authority
above the yearly meetings. However, in the 1920s,
the FGC yearly meetings followed the Five Years
Meeting model in creating a Uniform Discipline.
The twentieth century saw two signicant
developments for shared books of Discipline
among Friends. One was the understanding of the
Discipline as a kind of constitution or fundamental
law for a yearly meeting, requiring special processes
for change that were different from other acts of a
yearly meeting. Before 1900, Disciplines did not
specify processes for change, apparently because it
was understood that a revision of the Discipline
could be handled like any other matter of yearly
meeting business. But when the Five Years Meeting
established its Uniform Discipline, it referred to it
as the Constitution and Discipline of the
American Yearly Meetings of Friends. Among its
provisions was one that specied that propositions
for the amendment of this Constitution and
Discipline must be referred to the Permanent
Board of the Yearly Meeting, or to a special
committee, for its consideration for one year. If
approved, the proposed amendment then went to
the Five Years Meeting in session, and if approved
there, it was referred to the constituent yearly
meetings to take effect once four-fths had ratied
it. When FGC drew up its own Uniform
Discipline in the 1920s, it included a variant:
proposed revisions originating in the yearly
meeting itself, as opposed to a monthly or quarterly
meeting, had to be held over for a year. Thus,
yearly meetings had the right to act without the
consent of FGC or other yearly meetings.
The other change was a gradual shift away from
the label Discipline to Faith and Practice. If
this switch was a subject of sustained discussion, I
have yet to run across it. The term goes back to
William Penns book Primitive Christianity Revived
in the Faith and Practice of the People Called
Quakers, rst published in 1696. The rst modern
use was by English Friend John Stephenson
Rowntree for his 1901 book, The Society of Friends:
Its Faith and Practice. The rst use of the phrase
that I have found for what previously would have
been a Book of Discipline is by Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting (Orthodox) in 1925. New England Yearly
Meeting followed in 1930. The Five Years Meeting
agreed at its 1940 sessions that the time had come
for revisions to the Uniform Discipline, and they
set up a study commission. When the commission
issued its rst preliminary report in 1942, it used
Faith and Practice for its proposal. The new label
was more successful than the draft itself. The
increasingly diverse member yearly meetings were
unable to agree on the faith portion, and so they
decided to return to each yearly meeting creating
its own. Most of the constituent yearly meetings
moved toward using the title Faith and Practice,
although some, such as Iowa, continued to prefer
Discipline. And this move was true of FGC and
independent yearly meetings as well, although not
of all.
In the last half-century, two trends of these
books have been clear. One is the observable
divergence between the pastoral and
unprogrammed yearly meetings. FGC and
independent yearly meetings have moved away
from including prescriptive statements of faith,
instead favoring topical compilations of extracts
and quotations on a mass of subjects. The thrust
seems to be to highlight a diversity of Quaker
voices and viewpoints. In contrast, the more
evangelical a yearly meeting, the more likely it is to
include prescriptive faith statements and give
greater weight to the nal authority of the yearly
meeting over its members.
The other trend is the long periods of time that
revisions of a Faith and Practice absorb. A cynic
might say that there is an inverse proportion
between the authority of the volumes in the lives of
individual Friends and the amount of time needed
to draft and approve them. Some yearly meetings
now take decades to complete revisions, even as
their prescriptions for life and conduct are
immeasurably less binding than they were for
Friends before 1860. Whether this long-term
process reects Quakerly care and caution or the
growing diversity of Friends or perhaps a suspicion
of anything suggesting authority, I leave to todays
Friends and their future historians to determine.
YOUNG
ADULT FRIENDS
PICKS
A selection of the responses from our
survey asking young adult Friends
(ages 18-35) to share their reading
recommendations on spirituality,
Quakerism, religion, and faith.
The Faith and Practice of the Quakers*
by Rufus Jones (1927)
Submitted by Carl Drexler, 34, a member of
Live Oak Meeting in Houston, Tex., living
in Magnolia, Ark.
Rufus Jones wrote in a way that
transcends the decades passed since this
books first publication in 1927. He
captures the sense of a strong, vibrant
Quaker approach to faith, grounded in its
Christian roots. It is both a source of
guidance and inspiration as well as a
strong tie to our collective past.
An Apology for the True Christian Divinity*
by Robert Barclay (1678)
Submitted by Michael Doo, 26, a member
of Stony Run Meeting in Baltimore, Md.,
living in Baltimore
Ive always been interested in early
Quaker writings. Robert Barclay was one
of few well-educated early Quakers and his
famous Apology drew very clear lines
between the Bible, classical texts, and
Quaker beliefs. In a time where many young
Quakers are challenged by their faith and
the concept of God, Barclays Apology
provides a logical, well-thought-out approach
to the basic tenets of Quakerism. It may be
challenging for some, but the process of
reading it is a journey in and of itself.
Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard (1997)
Submitted by Sylvia Madaras, 19, a member
of Chambersburg (Pa.) Meeting living in
Greencastle, Pa.
I highly recommend Annie Dillards Holy
the Firm. As a modern transcendentalist,
mystic, and poet, Dillard is unequivocally
one of the best spiritual writers of the era.
She combines her strengths of storytelling,
prosaic work, and poetic observation to
create a brief and transcendent look into
the life of a poet living on the Puget Sound.
When Things Fall Apart:
Heart Advice for Difficult Times
by Pema Chdrn (1996)
Submitted by Julia Thompson, 30,
a member of Lafayette (Ind.) Meeting living
in Lafayette
This is my go-to book for words of
wisdom during difficult times. There is so
much insight and wisdom in the pages.
The Lambs War blog by Micah Bales
(Lambswar.com)
Submitted by Elizabeth Martin, 30, a
member of Central Philadelphia (Pa.)
Meeting living in Philadelphia
The Lambs War is a blog that presents
tough questions about the world we live
in and asks us to think about how to act
to create the kingdom of heaven here on
Earth. Micah Bales, who is a founding
member of Friends of Jesus Fellowship
(a Quaker community in Washington,
D.C.), has a thought-provoking way of
writingwhich you can see in the
comments! I find the writing to be
inspiring and often helps me redirect my
thoughts to what is important to me:
living my life in line with Spirit (which
some call Christ).
An Introduction to Quakerism*
by Pink Dandelion (2007)
Submitted by Mackenzie Morgan, 25, an
attender of Friends Meeting of Washington
(D.C.) and Friends of Jesus Fellowship
(D.C.) living in Silver Spring, Md.
Pink Dandelions An Introduction to
Quakerism explores the many branches of
Quakerism. Ive found that whether youre
new to Quakerism or simply grew up in an
area where only one Friends tradition is
represented, the historical information and
explanations that touch on all types of
Quakerism in this book are very valuable.
I know that Quakerism as it is practiced in
my local yearly meeting is not how it is
practiced everywhere, and this book gave
me a good insight into how the different
beliefs found within Quakerism evolve and
justify themselves.
* Denotes a title that Friends Journal has
reviewed in the past.
The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and
MindA New Perspective on Christ and His
Message by Cynthia Bourgeault (2008)
Submitted by Madeline Schaefer, 26, a member
of Radnor (Pa.) Meeting living in Philadelphia
Ive never had much beef with Jesus,
but Ive never been particularly inspired by
his message either. After reading this book,
Im convinced not only that Jesus was one
of the leading wisdom teachers of his time
(along with many other philosophers and
shamans), but also that his message speaks
directly to my own experience as a Quaker
today. Cynthia Bourgeault depicts a Jesus
living and breathing and thinking in a time
of great intellectual and spiritual turmoil,
and developing a philosophy that spoke
deeply to both the hearts and minds of
people around the world. His main message
was one of unityof tying together the heart
and the mind, of looking beyond binaries
to something more divine. Bourgeault is
absolutely brilliant, as well as full of heart;
her words will give you hope for the future
of the message of Christianity at a time
when the tradition seems to be falling
apart. And the hope isnt really for a
more unified church, but for a more
unified world through Jesuss radical
message of oneness.
Faces in the Fire: The Women of Beowulf
by Donnita L. Rogers (2011)
Submitted by Elizabeth Wine, 31, a member
of University Friends Church in Wichita,
Kans., living in Wichita
This novel is written by a woman who
has been involved with Quakerism in the
south-central part of the country. The
setting is a sixth-century Viking settlement,
which is usually not the type of book I
open. However, the characters and the plot
drew me in. Its always great to read fiction
by a Quaker author!
Simple Truths: Clear and Gentle Guidance on
the Big Issues in Life
by Kent Nerburn (2005)
Submitted by Galen Fick, 28, a member of
Ottawa (Ontario) Meeting living in Guelph
When I was 18, my father gave me a
book titled Letters to My Son by Kent
Nerburn. Though the author doesnt
identify as a Quaker, his spirituality and
life philosophy resonate deeply. The advice
contained withinon topics from love to
war to work and material thingsis
helpfully worded for navigating the
complexity of becoming an adult in our
society. Having been raised Quaker, I
found that it especially hit a chord. Now,
ten years later I picked up another book
by Nerburn, Simple Truths, and found a
similar resonance. Where I found Letters
to My Son especially impactful as I came
of age, Simple Truths is written for a more
general audience and provides some clear
words to ponder as we seek forward in
our lives.
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (1992)
Submitted by Howie Baker, 31, a member of
Louisville(Ky.) Meeting living in Louisville
Terry Pratchett writes a thought-
provoking account of Brutha, a reluctant
prophet who is chosen by his god to spread
the true faith. Brutha gets swept along in
the machinations of an evil genius within
his own church and winds up in the
bewildering realm of philosophy in a far-
off land, but through it all, his unshakeable
faith and his personal connection to his
god guide his way. Small Gods is a
wonderful story of how the most humble
of us can serve and show the way for future
generations. A must read for anyone who
feels pulled along the divine path.
The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris (1997)
Submitted by Rick Durance, 24, an attender
of New Haven (Conn.) Meeting living in
New Haven
Kathleen Norriss book The Cloister
Walk is ostensibly about her time at a
Benedictine Monastery in Minnesota
compared to the rest of her life as a writer
in rural North Dakota. Yet it is more than
that. It fleshes out Christian tradition and
community living (transcending Protestant
and Catholic divides). It gives us a glimpse
into the lives of saints, including Jerome
and Emily Dickinson, while also laying
bare Norriss own life and faith (with its
sublime beauty and glaring flaws). It is
an inspiration to those of us on the
Christian path, as well as to those who
are skeptical of religion. I found it gave
words to many of the feelings Ive had
about living in community, looking at
tradition, and trying to follow Christ. I
highly recommend it.
A Description of the Qualifications Necessary
to a Gospel Minister*
by Samuel Bownas (first published in 1750)
Submitted by Ashley Wilcox, 32, a member
of Freedom Friends Church in Salem, Ore.,
living in Atlanta, Ga.
I first read this book with another
young adult Friend who was also feeling a
call to ministry. We read a chapter each
week and then discussed them together.
Bownas provides practical advice to
ministers and elders among Friends,
including how and when to speak.
Although the language is antiquated, it is
the best resource I have found for Friends
who are experiencing a call to ministry.
Plain Living: A Quaker Path to Simplicity*
by Catherine Whitmire (2001)
Submitted by Jennifer Bowman, 32,
a member of Camden (Del.) Meeting living
in Arlington, Va.
I picked up this book in my mid 20s
when I was seeking a stronger
understanding of the testimony of
simplicity in mind, body, and spirit. Plain
Living contains a collection of experiences
from many people exploring simple truths,
challenges, and joys in different times and
places. Not demanding a cover-to-cover
reading, the patient design of Plain Living
is a thoughtful, inviting, and exceptional
resource, totally in sync with the transient
lifestyle of young adult Friends. I highly
recommend it for those who wish to focus
their tired or scattered thoughts and
restless spirit to center.
Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver (2004)
In the Wild Places
by Sarah Katreen Hoggatt (2012)
Submitted by Sara Waxman, 31, a member
of Chestnut Hill (Pa.) Meeting living in
Philadelphia, Pa.
Both of these titles are poetry
compilations, and both explore faith in the
Divine through nature and in unexpected
places. I relate to the arcs of each and of
many of the poems, as I find myself
confronted by the Divine not necessarily
in meeting for worship, but in the
recognition of the everyday mundane and
the exuberance of nature.
OUT
OF
DARKNESS
INTO
LIGHT
MA U R I N E P Y L E
Maurine Pyles traveling ministry was
recorded by Southern Illinois Meeting in
2009. She is pursuing a masters degree in
linguistics at Southern Illinois University in
Carbondale, Ill.
Exploring our
spirituality
through
metaphor
A
few years ago, while attending a
retreat at Friends House in
Barnesville, Ohio, and surrounded
by Quakers from all over the country, I
began to notice something peculiar
about the way that people were
speaking in meeting for worship. It did
not seem to matter which branch of
Friends the speaker came from;
whether Orthodox, Liberal, or
Conservative, each person spoke using
metaphors. Being a student of
sociolinguistics, I began to wonder if
our common language habit could be
metaphor. This conjecture led me into
a yearlong study using linguistic theory
focused on contemporary Quaker use
of metaphor. My research aimed to
compare the ways in which
contemporary Friends and the early
Friends of the seventeenth century
embody their spiritual experiences
using the classic metaphors of dark and
light.
Beginning with the twentieth
century, a diverse religious population
has been steadily arising in Quaker
meetings, including many non-
Christians. Thus, the traditional
meanings of the dark and light
metaphors, which are rooted in biblical
passages, have been changing. Many
newcomers have joined the Religious
Society of Friends after walking away
from other Christian churches. They
were resisting other church discourses
about the Bible. In the past few
decades, Friends have been adopting
new identities and renaming
themselves in a multitude of ways,
using terms such as Neo-Pagan,
nontheist, or post-Christian. Some
Christian Friends have been reacting
with fear and anger to these names,
asking an anxious question: is
Christianity being lost in the twenty-
rst century?
Over the past 13 years, as I
journeyed among Friends as a traveling
minister, I have directly experienced
worship in the Conservative, Liberal,
Orthodox, and Evangelical traditions.
At times I detected some fearfulness by
Christians of the loss of the traditional
metaphorical meaning of the Light,
namely that the Light is Christ. I
began to wonder: is this changing
language drawing us together or
keeping us apart?
To me the beginning of the
Quaker story is George Foxs startling
question, What canst thou say?
With this question, he invited
seventeenth-century Seekers to live
experimentally and not rely solely
upon the experiences of others
through the scriptures. For more than
350 years, amidst many cultural
changes and through a constant
evolution of beliefs and practices, the
Friends have held tightly to this
principle of embodying their
spirituality through metaphor.
The word metaphor is rooted in two
Greek words, meta for over and
pherin for to bear or carry. Thus
metaphors are used as a way of
transferring meaning from one frame
of reference to another. As the original
metaphor changes, it is capable of
creating new understanding and
realities. While engaged in my
linguistics studies, I learned of this
concept of embodiment of spirituality
through sensorimotor experience from
philosopher Mark Johnson. I perceived
that this idea of embodied spirituality
ts neatly into the Quaker method of
worship, which involves human
interaction with the spiritual world
through a constant metaphorical
process. Quakers in waiting worship
are seeking the words to express their
mystical experiences. New metaphors
are still being constructed as some
contemporary Friends seek to express
their spirituality using such naturalistic
terms as sunlight and photosynthesis.
A few years ago, I discovered
evidence of a remarkable example of
these metaphors in contemporary use
at Live Oak Meeting in Houston,
Texas. They have built a new
meetinghouse following a traditional
architectural design of simple wooden
benches arranged in quadrants facing
the center of the room. At the center
point of the ceiling is Skyspace, an
unobstructed window open to the sky,
designed by the Quaker artist James
Turrell. Skyspace, when opened at
dawn and twilight, offers Friends and
neighbors a chance to physically
experience darkness-into-light and
light-into-darkness. When asked where
he got this idea, Turrell says that as a
child his grandmother took him to
silent meeting. When he asked her to
explain what they were doing, she
replied, Turn inward to greet the
Light. And he says to himself, even to
this day, I wonder what it means. I
too nd myself wondering what
contemporary Friends mean when they
speak of the Light.
What do contemporary
Friends mean when they
speak of the Light?
Lately I have been listening
deeply to James Nayler, a
seventeenth-century English Friend
and traveling minister, who is
probably best known for his fall into
the darkness and eventual emergence
into the Light at the end of a painful
imprisonment. Here in this message,
he calls us to consider the interplay
between light and dark:
Art thou in the darkness? Mind it
not, for if thou dost thee will feed
it more. Stand still, act not, and
wait in patience till light arises
out of darkness and leads thee.
Nayler calls us to stand still in
the Light, to wait for a leading out
of darkness. His message speaks to us
as a process of transcendence from our
darkest selves that can lead us into the
Light. In Naylers time, the Light
metaphor could only have meant the
Christ-light, but contemporary Friends
are experimenting, as Fox advises
them, in their spiritual expressions.
For my research project, I
interviewed a Quaker who calls himself
a Neo-Pagan. His childhood training
was in the Episcopal Church. When I
asked him if he would still call himself
a Christian, he replied, In fact, one of
the things Quaker-Pagans have said
quite out loud is that the people who
understand us in the Society of Friends
are the born-again Christians because
Pagans, on the whole, will talk about
immediate experience. He also related
that he has had interactions with Jesus
and the Christ-light, but does not
worship him. At one point in the
interview, I commented, Your
interactions with Christ are quite
personal and they are real. He
responded, Yes, although I would say
Christ doesnt have a persona. For me,
Jesus of Nazareth and Christ, although
they are joined, are separate entities. So
the Christ-light, it is a light. Its not a
personhood or a person or even a god
or a goddess. It might be an archetype.
This interaction taught me a great deal
about the process of conceptualizing
the Light and how it can transfer
meaning through the persons own
individual experience.
The following quotation was taken
from an article sent to me by a Liberal
Friend named David, who is using
natural light as the context and image
for light and dark metaphors.
And what Ive been seeing in recent
dawn watches is that the light of
day does not burst upon us with
suddenness. Its a peculiarity of our
planet having an atmosphere which
diffuses light, that we have this
gradation from darkness to
illumination and then reversing again
in the evening. Were we on the
moon, it wouldnt be at all like that.
Its all or nothing; Bam! Suddenly.
No moderation of transition. My
circumstances somewhat recently
have had me frequently awakening
with some sense of heaviness, of
dread, of anticipated failure,
occasionally of pessimism or sourness.
That is not a good place to be or
where I want to be, but I must admit
that the feeling tone is a negative one,
and it claims in those moments to be
my reality. And here is where the
gradual, gentle, ever-so-subtle
working of the Light comes to me.
Davids use of astronomical
descriptions to contrast his moods
helps him to describe the light coming
into the darkness, slowly illuminating
his mind and lifting him from feelings
of despondency. I nd that his
thoughts mirror Naylers, who is also
speaking of waiting for the Light. Both
speak of the subtle workings of the
Light to raise them up and lead them
away from the darkness of sad feelings.
Another interview was with Cathy, a
young adult Friend, whose family has
been Quaker ever since they arrived in
Pennsylvania with William Penn.
Although she told me that she has not
been taught directly about early
Friends writings, she evidences an
intuitive understanding of the classic
metaphors and how they work.
I dont really get much darkness when
I meditate. I describe it as a strength,
and I guess the strength could be a
light growing out of the darkness,
coming into the light. Its not going
into the darkness, maybe
accompanying in the darkness. God
is helping me in the darkness when I
am meditating.
I wonder if this metaphorical
transition she describes of the light and
dark working together is somehow
transmitted in our Quaker DNA.
Many of us who were trained in other
Christian churches were taught that
dark equals evil, light equals good, and
sin is inescapable. But the early Friends
in their unusual linguistic style
emphasized that the Light is a
searchlight that shows where change is
needed. This view is perhaps more like
seeing yourself, similar to the way that
psychologist Carl Jung described the
shadow to mean the unadopted or
hidden side of ones self. George Fox
did not deny the darkened nature of
humanity; instead he offered people a
way out, saying:
Keep the testimony of Jesus, the
sight of Jesus, your prophet . . . the
sight of him who is your Leader out
of death into life, out of darkness
into light.
Fox points toward a new way, a
meaningful process of examining and
removing condemnation from the
spiritual path.
The next quote is from Mariellen,
who has suffered from long-term
mental illness as an adult. She has a
unique way of using the Light to offer
her hope when she feels captured in the
dark recesses of her mind:
During a very dark time in my life,
I could use a variation of the Light
metaphor to convey to others my
sense that God was with me even
in those very dark times. I wrote a
poem in which I used the phrase,
faint starshine in deepest darkness,
to convey, actually, two things:
first, that I was not alone, and
second, that it was my responsibility
to watch for and respond to the
faint starshine.
In her darkest days, Mariellen relied
upon the metaphor of light to
encourage and support her return to
health. She saw a light that guided her
back home much as the early Friends
saw light in their dark dungeon cells.
Finally, here is a quote from an
interview with Tim, an Orthodox-
Conservative Friend, a Christian. He is
speaking here of the Light as an agent
of change for his spiritual journey:
I like that contemporary quote, Live
up to the light thou hast. The more
one experiences living up to the light,
the more one experiences
endeavoring to try to walk in that
light, to live up to that guidance;
hopefully the more refined ones
sense will become, the better one will
become in discerning the light and its
Continued on page 43
20 November 2013 Friends Journal November 2013 Friends Journal
BASHO JOINS OUR STRUGGLE
J E F F R O B B I N S
Jeff Robbins lives in Japan where he designs,
builds, and sells developmental play equipment
for children, and studies and translates the
works of Bash o on humanity. He has attended
various Friends meetings, but never has joined
one. Contact him at basho4now@gmail.com.
Making the connection between
a seventeenth-century Japanese
poet and the founding principles
of Quaker pacifism
W
i
k
i
m
e
d
i
a

C
o
m
m
o
n
s
Matsuo Basho
by Sugiyama Sanpu
(16471732)
Friends Journal November 2013 21 Friends Journal November 2013
Those even slightly familiar with Bash os work
may know the poem he wrote at the site of a
twelfth-century battle where the great hero of
Japan, Yoshitsune, was betrayed and defeated,
and where he killed his wife, daughter, and
himself before the enemy could take them.
Bash o wrote in his travel journal A Narrow Path in
the Heartlands.
Bash o quotes the verse by Tang-dynasty poet Li
Bo as a lead-in to his masterpiece on the essential
nature of war:
Yes, in this High Fortress,
Yoshitsune and select retainers took refuge
great achievements of the moment
to become clumps of wild grass.
Nations torn apart
hills and rivers remain
Springtime at the castle
the grass shall be green
Summer grasses
great warriors, the traces
of their dreams
Since that epic tragedy came to pass, the hill
has grown green and withered 500 times. All
that remains of the high fortress are some
stones scattered in the grass. These stones are
physical remains of Yoshitsune and his retainers
(and his wife and daughter who also fought
and suffered). Bash o sees not only what is
physically there, but also what is hidden in time,
the traces of their dreams lingering among
the grass.
I was surprised to see that haiku scholar
William Higginson believes that this verse
glories war and assumes that his readers will see
it that way too. I have never considered such an
interpretation. The whole point of the verse, as I
see it, is the vanity of warthe vanity of male
achievements in comparison to the fertility of the
earth (summer grasses), similar to the sentiments
written in Ecclesiastes 1:14:
I have seen all of the works
that are done under the sun and behold,
all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
The first step to peace is to stand still in the Light.
George Fox
T
he founder of the Religious Society of
Friends wrote this in 1653. On the other side
of the world, a nine-year-old boy who was to
become known as Matsuo Bash o was growing
up in a Japanese castle town. In 1689, he went on
his famous journey to the Deep North of
Japans Honshu island. That same year, England
passed the Act of Toleration, ending decades
of persecution of Friends. George Fox died in
1691, and his Japanese contemporary died three
years later.
Bash o is famous for poems expressing
reverence for life in terms of frogs, insects, and
loneliness, though he also wrote verses of deep
reverence for humanity. His impersonal nature
poems and sad lonely verses have been translated,
but not his humane verses, so Bash o has gained
a reputation for being impersonal, detached, and
objective. Bash os poems on women and children,
work and home life, and compassion for people are
a powerful legacy which could nourish any person
on Earthif only anyone knew of them.
I have studied Bash o for 30 years, gradually
discovering several hundred humane poems,
prose passages, and letters which other scholars
neglect. I hope to spread an awareness of Bash os
poems on war and peace to Quakers because I
believe Friends now and in the future will most
deeply appreciate Bash os insights and apply them
in their struggle to end war and realize peace in
this world. Although Bash o never left Japan and
never met a Quaker in his life, I hope Quakers
reading the poems and commentaries in this article
will nd they speak to Friends testimonies, beliefs,
and hopes.
D
o not think that Bash os poetry is literary
and requires background knowledge of
Japanese culture. I encourage you rather to see
these verses as expressions of our common
humanity transcending the distance and time
between Bash o and us.
In the poems that follow, boldface is used for
words of Bash o , and italicized text is used for words
of other poets.
22 November 2013 Friends Journal November 2013 Friends Journal
Scores of interpretations of this haiku appear in
various books and Internet sites, however I have yet
to see any hint in English that Bash o wrote
anything else on warand yet he did. The
following pair of stanzas from a linked verse
written by a team of poets in 1687 also highlights
the vanity of war. The rst stanza is by a poet
named Koeki, the second stanza by Bash o .
In the cold wind
at sunset, long-drawn-out
cries of hawks
foretell the heads to fall
in tomorrows battle
Koekis verse is magnicent by itself, but even
more stunning is the way each elementthe wind,
the sunset, the long-drawn-out criesfeeds
energy into Bash os ode to fate. Each time I read
the verse I am again surprised by the direction
Bash o chose. He took the elements Koeki provided
and blended them into that great question of
existence which can never be conrmed: is the
future ordained or free? Todays soldiers no longer
chop off their opponents heads, but I believe those
who meditate on this stanza-pair will nd in it the
tragedy of war today.
Bash os stanza is pacist because of what it does
not say. If it said foretell which side will win or
foretell who will kill the most enemy, then the
stanza would be competitive and war-mongering.
The way Bash o wrote it, there is no sense of our
side being better than the other, no feeling of
competition, no concern for winning: all who die
are equal in tragedy.
This pair of stanzas conveys the inhumanity
of war without portraying a human individual,
the next stanza pair is more intimate and personal:
After the years
of grieving, nally
past eighteen
Day and night dreams
of Father in that battle
The young person grew up under the weight
of the grief for a father who died in war. Now, in
the prime of youthful vigor past 18, he or she
looks back over those years of dreams set in a
moment on a battleeld never seen in reality.
Although written more than 300 years ago,
every word is fully relevant to children who
have lost a father to the wars in Iraq or
Afghanistan. I hope those who counsel bereaved
children will pick up the verse and use it in
their counseling.
From the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries,
a series of civil wars in Japan continued to
destroy lives, houses, crops, and businesses. By the
early seventeenth century, the shogun Tokugawa
Ieyasu brought peace and relative prosperity, so
that by Bash os time, travel on the roads was safe.
Money and packages could be transported safely,
people were more prosperous, and they published
and read more books. On his journey in 1689,
Bash o visited the T osh o-g u Shrine in Nikk o
(meaning sunlight) dedicated to Ieyasu, who was
considered an avatar of the sun goddess. Here
Bash o wrote:
His Honorable Light now shines
everywhere under Heaven and benets
overow to the Eight Corners of the Land,
so in the lives of the four classes of citizens
there is reassurance and calm.
By 1689, the peace and social order established
by Ieyasu had lasted for eight decades, so people
felt reassured that it would continue. Bash o
continues with this haiku:
How glorious
young leaves, green leaves,
light of the Sun
With no scientic training at all, Bash o captures
the glory of photosynthesis.
Today again
on the stone to worship
the rising Sun
When George Fox tells us to stand still in
the Light, he means the Inner Light in our
hearts, whereas Bash o meditates in the light of the
Sun, yet both tell us to nd in Light the way
to peace. Another Bash o verse ts in with
Foxs statement:
Calligraphy:
Three haiku
from a
seventeenth-
century book by
Matsuo Basho
I encourage you to see these verses as expressions of our common
humanity transcending the distance and time between Basho and us.
Friends Journal November 2013 23 Friends Journal November 2013
New Years Day
sun on every eld
is beloved
The Sun (goddess) at New Years is weak and
cold while the rice elds are barren expanses of
withered rice stubble in the frostyet she shines
with the promise of warmer light to come, and so
Bash o loves her. Here is another Bash o haiku I see
as pacist:
On Lifes journey
plowing a small eld
going and returning
Before the elds receive the rice seedlings, the
farmer lets in water from irrigation ditches. With
horse or ox pulling the plow, he goes up one row
and down the next, breaking up the clumps of
earth and raking the mud smooth. In Summer
Grasses we saw what happens to the great
achievements of men: they become clumps of wild
grass. Would that each man forego ambition
leading to war, and instead plow a small eld so
the women and children go and return in peace.
Bash o wrote his masterpiece on peace in 1690
when he was asked to name a newborn girl. The
name he chose, Kasane, is ordinarily not a personal
name, but rather a verb meaning in space to pile
up in layers and also in time to occur again and
again in succession. He wrote this verse to his
godchild:
Blessings unto Kasane:
Spring passes by
again and again in layers
of blossom kimono
may you see wrinkles
come with old age
The word peace does not appear, however the
double and triple meanings throughout the verse
overlap in Bash os profound wish for peace for all
female children. The layers of blossom kimono
are the two layers of kimono fabric plus an under-
kimono: the succession of kimono one woman
wears from bright to sedate as she ages, and the
succession of each kimono to her daughter, the
next layer of herself. For Westerners, the blossom
kimono can be a girls one special party dress, the
dress she wears once a year, then stores away until
next years celebration.
Speaking to the newborn spirit, Bash o prays:
may our nation remain at peace and the happiness
in your family pile up layer upon layer until
wrinkles in the fabric no longer smooth out and
you see wrinkles of old age cross your face. Do not
despair, my child, for you live again as spring
passes by and your granddaughters laugh and
chatter in their blossom kimono.
In his few simple words Bash o speaks of what
concerns women: the succession of life, the
happiness of childrenthe conditions of peace,
both social and family, in which little girls can
dress up and party with relatives and friends, and
life goes on generation after generation. In ve
short lines, the poem encapsulates the existence of
one woman from newborn to old age. It transcends
the boundaries of literature to become something
greater, an ode to life.
There is one poem that compares in simplicity
and depth to Bash os verse. It was written by a four-
year-old Russian boy in 1928 and later set to song.
The lyrics never caught on in translation, but the
refrain became an internationally known prayer
for peace.
May there always be sunshine
May there always be blue sky
May there always be mama
May there always be me

Both the poems of a 46-year-old poet and a
4-year-old boy make a wish that our current
peace will continue. The little boy speaks only
of the environment, mama, and himself, while
Bash o looks ahead to future layers.
Whether you are sitting silently in weekly
meeting, studying social concerns, or
demonstrating against nuclear weapons, recall
and be inspired by these works from George Foxs
contemporary in Japan. Also I pray you introduce
these verses to children and teenagers at home and
in the schools, so the wisdom of Bash o will come
alive in young minds today.
Books
Gathered: Contemporary
Quaker Poets
Edited by Nick McRae. Sundress
Publications, 2013. 164 pages. $16/
paperback.
Reviewed by Jim Hood
Poetry makes nothing happen, W.
H. Auden wrote famously in his 1939
elegy for poet William Butler Yeats. The
same could be said of meeting for
worship, the kind of gathering from
which this anthology of poems takes its
name, and which, like poetry for Auden,
survives, / A way of happening, a
mouth. The poems in this collection, all
of which glisten with the sheen of careful
making, shadow forth just this sort of
illumination. Always poised, never
overspeaking, they render quite
powerfully human relationships, the
costs of war, painters, worship, the
natural world, poets, and
throughoutthe luminous possibilities
of seeing more fully and particularly.
The purpose of these poems, as editor
Nick McRae explains, lies in creating
that worship-like sense of being
enfolded in and nourished . . . of being
forced out of myself and bonded to
somethinga word, a tradition, a
communitythat [is] more and greater
and more meaningful.
The verses in this anthology do just
that, speaking to all walks and
conditions, probing everything from the
metaphoric valences of making
sauerkraut to meditations on Noahs
wifes interactions with the ark-bound
animals. In their most spectacular
moments, the poems here bespeak the
revelatory possibilities of ordinary
existence, as when Martin Willitts Jr.s
How to be Silent tells us that nightjars
chasing moths make a sound of less
than silence, which is hush / spiraling,
or when Phyllis Hoges The Light on
the Door imagines how a flash of pale
light, failing light seen by chance in
passing from the glass oval on an old
house door invokes an almost
unimaginable sadness. The pieces in this
collection propel readers to the center of
such quiet moments, connecting us with
meaning we would otherwise miss.
Take, as an example, Jessie Browns
What We Dont Know We Know, a
poem that describes many things the
human body knows and does
automatically, like breathing and
sweating and pumping blood and
making scabs, as a means of bringing us
to a final moment of ironic meditation
upon another thing we sometimes forget
we know how to do. From its opening
stanza about the heart and lungs, the
poem wends toward this perfect
conclusion:
When to grow old. Where to line
the skins tired creases. Why a body,
plunging under, wants to surface again.
When to stop loving, after the loved one
has gone.
Deft and delicate, Browns poem
guides us through the body to the
mystery of that love which is of, and not
of, it.
There are moments of meaning for all
kinds of readers in this anthology. In one
poem we follow John Woolmans mental
and physical journeys; two poems
consider John Keatss poetic legacy; a
number of pieces take on stories or
passages from Scripturefrom the
immaculate conception to Noahs wife
to Numbers 9:15-23. There are poems
about war and the brutality of genocide,
accounts of meetings for worship; also
included is a lullaby of the William
Blake Songs of Experience sort, and a
poem that gives the lie to the claim that
nature does not exist apart from human
consciousness. Here, indeed, is Gods
plenty.
Never far from the surface in this
volume lies the centuries-old friction for
Friends between the claims of art and
those of spirit. Esther Greenleaf Murers
poem Quakers and the Arts: A History
directly addresses the conflict between
the work of artists and work for the
Kingdom, recalling stories of Solomon
Eccles, the seventeenth-century English
composer who burned his music upon
becoming a Quaker and Catherine
Phillips, an eighteenth-century writer
whose Quakerism led her to renounce
poetry. But the difficulty lurks unspoken
in other places here, as well, in the
challenge of writing about unpoetical
subjects like meeting for worship or the
tension of writing about social justice
instead of doing the tangible work thereof.
But Murers concluding stanza, contrasting
the artist grasshoppers with the social
justice worker ants, leaves open the
possibility that art heals, too:
We are grasshoppers,
fiddling while ants prize their time,
mending the worlds wounds.
The ambiguity in the syntax here
makes it clear that both insect types do
mending.
Gathered is a lovely collection of poems
by 46 Quaker and Quaker-friendly poets
that I hope Friends will cherish. As a
testament to both specifically Quaker
thought and the ordinary concerns of life,
it encapsulates the great variety of our
experience in languagebeautiful and
spare (the great majority of poems here are
only a page long). At a cultural moment
when poetry seems more marginal than
ever, this volume does something potent,
perhaps in the manner of a Mark Rothko
painting. Standing before one of his pieces,
like reading a poem for the first time or
sitting in meeting for worship, it seems as
if almost nothing is happeningonly
color and a little texture. But if you wait,
looking or reading or centering long
enough, that to which you attend starts to
shimmer, luminous and blessing.
Jim Hood teaches English and environmental
studies at Guilford College in Greensboro,
N.C. He is a member of Friendship Meeting
in Greensboro.
Powerful Beyond Measure: The Legacy
of Quaker Leadership in the 21
st
Century
By George Lakey. QuakerBooks of Friends
General Conference, 2013. 36 pages. $7.50/
pamphlet; $4/eBook.
Reviewed by Anthony Manousos
Probably no Friend is better qualified to
talk about Quaker leadership than George
Lakey, though the kind of leadership he
writes about is not what is most popular
among Friends today (i.e. clerking). A
peace activist who risked his life delivering
medicines to North Vietnam during the
1960s and a teacher, lecturer, and
organizer who has given talks and
facilitated workshops around the world,
Lakey is a change agent, a prophetic
voice, and a visionary leader. Because
he knows and loves the spirit that
inspired the Religious Society of
Friends, he challenges us to live up to
our highest potential and keeps a sense
of humor even when dealing with the
grimmest of subjects, such as torture or
oppression. Powerful Beyond Measure is
adapted from a William Penn lecture
that was given under the auspices of
young adult Friends, who perhaps
understand better than many elders the
need to recapture the prophetic and
edgy spirit of early Friends.
Lakey begins his talk by sharing his
personal story as an Evangelical
Christian drawn to Quakerism. He is
an engaging storyteller who speaks
from the heart as well as from the head.
After describing six positive traits of
Quaker leadership, he addresses the
question of why Friends have failed to
be leaders in the peace movement since
9/11. His answer is simple, but
compelling: most Friends are white,
middle-class, and conflict-averse. This
case has certainly been true in my
yearly meeting where peace concerns
are placed on the bottom of the agenda
and where we devote ourselves mainly
to internal business. Instead of risking
active engagement in the social issues of
our time, we prefer to listen passively to
reports from nonprofit organizations
and leave activism to the professionals.
Lakey explains that modern
Quakers tend to be conflict-averse
because of the deep class divisions
within our society. He provides a
thoughtful analysis of class attitudes,
noting, for example, that those in the
working class value being real and
arent afraid of conflict. Members of
the middle class tend to
avoid conflict and are
preoccupied with
appropriateness and
process since their
function is to ensure the
smooth running of our
plutocratic society. People
who are in the owning
class (the top 2-3 percent)
do not have to work for a
living, and they have a sense
of entitlement, of being
confident that [they] know
something even when [they]
dont. Lakey bases his
analysis of class attitudes on what people
from these classes have actually said in
workshops he has led. His observations
have been confirmed by social scientists.
Though most Americans (unlike the
British) pretend to be unaware of class
distinctions, the social class an individual
grows up in has a huge influence on his or
her attitude and behavior as an adult
participating in society.
Lakeys analysis of class attitudes rings
true for me. I was raised by working-class,
immigrant parents in Princeton, N.J., a
well-to-do university town. Being an
honors student with a rebellious streak, I
absorbed class attitudes from the middle
and upper classes, but my heart identifies
with the working class. That may be one
reason why I dont shy away from conflict,
as many in the middle class do. I dont feel
a relationship is real until its been tested
by conflict. Because of my working-class
heart, I often find myself at odds with the
middle-class outlook of most Friends.
Lakey comes from a background similar to
mine, which helps explain why I feel an
affinity with his perspective.
Lakey points out that most of the time
significant social change originates with
the working class, not the middle class.
George Fox, along with many early
Quakers, was a working-class leader, as
was Jesus. They were catalysts in social
movements that drew in members of the
middle and upper classes, like William
Penn. When movements include and
empower members of all social classes
(as happened during the Civil Rights era),
significant social change is more likely
to occur.
Thus, Lakey challenges middle- and
upper-middle-class Friends to reach out
and form alliances with members of the
working class and the marginalized.
He believes that by doing so, we will
become more authentic and more effective
in our desire to transform
our society into a place
where there is justice and
dignity for allwhat early
Friends called the
Kingdom of God.
The title of this
pamphlet is derived from a
quote by Marianne
Williamson, who wrote:
Our deepest fear is not
that we are inadequate. It is
that we are powerful
beyond measure. Lakey
assures us that when we
arent afraid to let our light
shine and to risk conflict with those in
power, we can make a difference beyond
what we can imagine. That is also what
Jesus, one of the worlds greatest and
humblest leaders, meant when he said,
Greater things than I have done, you
shall do.
Anthony Manousos, a member of Santa
Monica (Calif.) Meeting, is a peace activist,
teacher, author, and editor.
Sparkling Still: A Quaker Curriculum
for First Day School or Home Use for
Children Ages 38
By the Sparkling Still Working Group of
Friends General Conference. Quaker Press
of FGC, 2013. 88 pages. $12.50/
paperback; $7/digital PDF.
Reviewed by Sandy and Tom Farley
Many of the Friends meetings and
worship groups we have visited across the
country struggle with small or irregular
attendance at First-day school. Sparkling
Still rises to this challenge in a way that
inspires volunteers with little teaching
experience to spend quality time with
the younger children of the meeting.
Perhaps this sincerity is due to the
authorship committee including Friends
from several smaller meetings.
We found the organization of the
book logical and empowering. It starts
with a section titled Using Stories and
Wondering Questions to Create Your
Own Lessons. Wondering questions
invite responses without right or wrong
answersan exercise which can
empower children to lead the discussion.
The master lesson plan recognizes how
each member of a teaching team brings
his or her own resources and experience
to the program. The template is excellent
and flexible enough to be used with
short tales for older children and adults.
The only thing we might add is a
movement activity or game for the
benefit of the antsy ones and those who
have just sat in a car for 30 minutes
coming to meeting. These children will
be asked to sit still during the reading
and discussion, as well as during part of
meeting for worship. Children need
to move.
Unlike the highly structured Godly
Play program from which much of the
Sparkling Skill material is drawn, this
FGC program does not have a teacher-
training requirement. There is a more
relaxed sense of choice and greater
encouragement to adapt.
There is, however, an excellent
section of advices for teachers. One short
article is particularly germane: How to
Hold the Storybook So All the Children
Can See. We also appreciate the advice
regarding gender-neutral language. By
referring to the child in a story, each
young listener finds it easier to put
herself or himself into the picture. The
quick note that its okay to use fifty-cent
words affirms our experience of how
children acquire language.
The list of art supplies is a well-
organized guide for those who want to
stock a cabinet or drawer with useful
stuff. Dont go out and buy it all! Just
reading the list may inspire you to
choose select items that will be
appreciated.
All this useful information is
followed by seven sample lessons that are
ready to use and touch on a variety of
themes. We purchased Does God Hear
My Prayer?, the recommended book for
the first lesson. We found it very
inclusive, appropriate, and more useful
for a meeting with diverse theological
views than we had dared to expect.
Organizing the lists of recommended
storybooks by topic is very helpful. We
could think of many more titles, but
theres enough here for years of weekly
programs. Their list of suggested authors
is good, as well. Ask your meeting
library committee to consider adding
some of the titles to the childrens
section. If your meeting doesnt have a
childrens section, Sparkling Still is a
good resource to start with, but quite a
few of the titles are out-of-print now,
and very few are newer than 2008.
Note: the publication dates given are
often reprint dates, rather than original
copyright dates, and most of the ISBNs
are 10-digit rather than the 13-digit
form in use since 2007. We hope the
promised online booklists will update
this publication information.
We recommend Sparkling Still for
every meeting or worship group that has
or hopes to have a strong religious
education program for young
childrenmaybe even one copy per
teacher. Couple this purchase with a few
favorite storybooks, a small box of art
supplies, and directions for simple
games, and youve got a
sufficient First-day school kit.
When the children arrive, they
will be welcomed by someone
who is prepared and truly
looking forward to having a
good time sharing stories
with them.
Sandy and Tom Farley are
members of Palo Alto (Calif.)
Meeting, storytellers, booksellers
for the EarthLight bookstore
of Pacic Yearly Meeting,
and co-authors of Earthcare
for Children, a First-day
school curriculum.
The Last Runaway
By Tracy Chevalier. Dutton, 2013. 297
pages. $26.95/hardcover; $16/paperback;
$9.99/eBook.
Reviewed by Karie Firoozmand
Tracy Chevalier has done her
homework, as I affirmed by checking a
couple of the historical facts she weaves,
or should I say quilts, into her latest
novel. I knew I was in the hands of a
skilled and talented crafter of stories
when, on the first page, Chevalier
introduces the central character and
plot, and then moves into a description
of . . . quilts. The Last Runaway is a
delight to be enjoyed by anyone who
loves a good story. Quakerisms central
role in it will make it a special treat for
Friends and friends of Friends, but it is a
good read in any case.
Quilts and their materials, patterns,
and styles are central to the story.
Chevalier uses them as symbolic of what
Honor Bright, the young Quaker
woman and main character, gives away,
leaves behind, grieves, creates, reclaims,
and uses to make a place for herself in
an unfamiliar society. The story takes
Honor from England to America in the
antebellum period and sets her down in
Ohio. I did not realize that Ohio was not
only a cultural crossroad in the mid-1800s,
but also part of the most important route
for runaway slaves to reach Canada. Once
at the shore of Lake Erie, runaways took to
the water (or ice) and thus eluded dogs.
Slave catchers could no longer trace or
follow a runaways path unless a boat was
at hand.
And so Honor finds herself on the rails
of the Underground Railroad, but in the
hands of Chevalier, nothing is predictable.
One might expect
Honor to become a
firebrand, an
outspoken Quaker
Joan of Arc, relying
on integrity to guide
her through the
controversy and light
the righteous path
for others, who in
the end adore her.
But her story isnt
that simple, just as
life in general isnt
that simple, and
Honor is very
honorable but she
also gets confused.
At times of
confusion, grief, or just a need for
quietness, what Honor falls back on is (I
told you) quilting. She uses her skills to
earn her bread for a time and to help her
find a place among the corn-loving
Quakers of Ohio (whom Chevalier never
defines as Hicksite or Orthodox). But the
quiet, repetitive, calming, and familiar
motions of stitching also help Honor to go
deeper. In the work, she returns in
memory to her origins in England and
connects to her identity there. People she
never expected to see again return in
memory to comfort and guide Honor;
people and their roles in the present
assume different shapes as she centers in
the work.
Just as in real life, people in this book
dont fall into good and bad camps,
and the right thing to do is not clear at
every step. Honor has to discern as best
she can, even when she does some rather
odd things along the way. Her family is far
away, and the Quaker community she is
among does not bear down on her with a
unified, or even fragmented, demand.
Honor relies on them anyway, as much as
she can, and on meeting for worship. In
other words, The Last Runaway is quite a
bit like real life. I recommend it to all
readers who love a good story.
Karie Firoozmand is a member of Stony
Run Meeting in Baltimore, Md. She enjoys
a good story.
The Quaker Way: A Rediscovery
By Rex Ambler. Christian Alternative
Books, 2013. 160 pages. $19.95/
paperback; $9.99/eBook.
Reviewed by Robert Dockhorn
The Quaker Way: A Rediscovery joins
the ranks of books aimed especially at
people who are interested in
Quakerism, but are not Quakers
themselves. The author, British Quaker
theologian Rex Ambler, is known as the
originator of Experiment with Light
groups (see his pamphlet Light to Live
By: An Exploration in Quaker
Spirituality, reviewed in Friends Journal,
May 2003).
Amblers approach reflects his long
study of the early years of the Religious
Society of Friends and his conviction
that certain early practices are worth
restoring in modern Quakerismhence
the word rediscovery in the subtitle.
Ambler commences with a foray into
the Quaker understanding of truth and
of Godnot something that can be
viewed intellectually, but a spiritual
idea that answers our own inner
longing. He then addresses the unique
Quaker way of finding God: the
understanding of God withinas
George Fox wrote, the promptings of
love and truth in your hearts. Ambler
notes how the views of Friends,
especially the assignment of primacy in
authority to the Christ within,
effectively and honestly with
each other.
The Quaker Way: A
Rediscovery is a fresh attempt to
comprehend the wholeness of
our religious society. It is not a
light read, but I anticipate that
it will be a welcome
introduction for those not well
acquainted with the ways of
Friends, and equally welcome
for seasoned Friends.
Robert Dockhorn is a member
of Green Street Meeting in
Philadelphia, Pa.
The Dance Between Hope & Fear
By John Calvi. True Quaker Press, 2013.
222 pages. $14.95/paperback.
Reviewed by Eileen Flanagan
In The Dance Between Hope & Fear,
Putney (Vt.) Meeting member John Calvi
shares his journey through 30 years as a
healer with a special gift of recognizing
and releasing the pain that follows
trauma. While this book will particularly
interest those concerned with healing,
Calvis story is more broadly about
faithfulness to a leading. It is about one
man discovering his unique gifts, trusting
his intuition, and keeping his compassion
in the face of overwhelming need,
financial insecurity, and sometimes
burnout. As a result, its a story that many
Friends can learn from.
Early in the spread of AIDS, Calvi
decided to offer massages to anyone with
the disease, whether or not they could pay.
In that climate of fear, his decision meant
that he couldnt get massage work at spas
that would pay well, and so he became
dependent on financial gifts to support his
ministry, relying on his community in a
way we generally associate with Friends of
earlier eras. Through the years, Calvi had
periods when his own energy was
depletedanother problem faced by many
who follow a long-term leadingand
adopted different strategies to replenish
himself, from praying to his guardian
angels to spending a term at the Pendle
Hill conference center to rest from his
demanding work.
Much of Calvis work involves helping
people to release emotional wounds that
are held in their bodies. A gay man rejected
by his dysfunctional and sometimes violent
family, Calvi shares some of his own
wounds and how facing them has helped
seemed strange to non-Quakers when
the Religious Society of Friends
emerged. As a means of explaining
Quakerism, Ambler offers careful
responses to their arguments.
Since Friends eschewed doctrines and
beliefs, what remained for them in
grounding their faith was pure
experience. A central experience in the
practice of Friends was worship rooted in
silence. Ambler notes, rather succinctly,
that the aim of dwelling in silence in this
ongoing Quaker form of worship is first
of all to see things more clearly. With
deeper analysis, he takes a psychological
perspective. As we sit in stillness,
reviewing our experiences and our
feelings, our minds are busy identifying
and putting aside what comes from our
own egocentric desires. This inner
exercise helps us isolate what comes from
outside the self: a broader consciousness;
universal compassion; a feeling of
connectedness to a greater reality; a
perspective that enables self-criticism,
discernment, and growth. The
instrument enabling this enlightenment,
in traditional Quaker language, is the
seed or the Christ within. What
surfaces is the truth, a perspective free
from our personal distortions.
But this understanding of truth is
limited in that we have only our own
experience as a base. Here the collective
aspect of Quakerism comes into play: we
need to join our perceptions and
experiences to those of others. Different
people have different gifts, and only by
uniting can we develop an accurate
understanding of, and empathy with,
our world and our place in it.
Ambler describes in detail the Friends
practice of decision making, which he
sees as a natural extension of silent
worship. The searching that occurs in
meetings for business, like that in
unprogrammed meeting, is open to
creativity and transformation of thought.
In writing about Friends testimonies,
Ambler offers critiques of the ways
Friends have understood and grouped
them. He probes how they work as a
form of outreach. Then he looks at how
Quakers carry their experiences into
the larger world to influence events
around themselves. Here he emphasizes
the light touch: not assertive intervention
in the surrounding world, but instead,
teaching by example and adhering
carefully to principles. As a case in
point, he lifts up the work of the
Quaker United Nations Office in
helping parties in conflict communicate
him to help others. He also
shares the miraculous joy of
finding a soul mate in his
husband, Marshall, and the
heartbreak of losing one
friend after another to
AIDS. Calvis willingness to
keep showing up to
heartbreaking situations was
the thing I ultimately found
most inspiring in his story.
He made me want to be
more faithful to my own
leadings, even when they are
scary or exhausting.
As a writer, I have to say I was
disappointed in the books structure. It is
a compilation of pieces written at
different times and for different
audiences, including Friends General
Conference talks, songs, letters, articles,
and other reflections composed over
many years. I wish Calvi or his editor
had shaped them into one cohesive
narrative, though once I sunk into the
heart of his sharing, I remembered why I
had been moved by hearing him read a
bit of his writing at a FGC Gathering
several years ago.
While reading The Dance Between
Hope & Fear, I found myself jotting
down some of Calvis insights to use in
the Discerning Our Calls class I teach at
Pendle Hill. A few examples: our callings
are not so much about changing the
world as changing ourselves and growing
closer to the Divine; a little fear is a good
thing in a calling, but you have to pay
attention to how much fear you can
handle; no love is ever wasted, even if
the patient dies, or gets deported back to
the country where he was tortured; you
know your ministry is mature when you
can serve with compassion the fool in
your meeting who just fries your butt.
Many of his wisdoms are simple points
that resonate deeply.
At the core of Calvis story is a deep
trust that hell be given what he needs
when he needs it. Like the journals of
early Friends who lived in radical
obedience to divine guidance, this book
can encourage contemporary Friends in
our struggles to do the same.
Eileen Flanagan is a member of Chestnut
Hill Meeting in Philadelphia, Pa., and a
teacher in the Pendle Hill resident program.
She is the author of The Wisdom to
Know the Difference and a forthcoming
memoir about her midlife calling to
environmental activism.
Transitions in Healing: A Journey
By Norma Lee. Balboa Press, 2012. 55
pages. $23.95/paperback; $9.99/eBook.
Abuse Survivors: Self-Guided
Retreat, A Memoir of Healing
By Judy Brutz. Pine River Press, 2012.
243 pages. $14.95/paperback; $2.99/
eBook.
Reviewed by Diane Reynolds
Two new books, Transitions in
Healing: A Journey by Norma Lee and
Abuse Survivors: Self-Guided Retreat by
Judy Brutz, are interactive texts designed
to help people work through pain, self
discovery, and/or turning points in
their lives.
With art therapy at its core,
Transitions in Healing uses 52 color
drawings created by Lee to inspire
reflection and healing. The interactive
workbook asks the reader to cut out 52
strips of paper each printed with the
name of a different archetypal image,
such as transformation, spiral, or
web, and put
them in a
basket. The next
step is to draw
out a strip at
random and
turn to its image in the workbook. The
individual is instructed to respond in
writing to the image and a set of queries.
I did this exercise with a group that
included five people between the ages of
18 to 22. Because it would not work
well to pass around the workbook, I tore
out the pictures and let each person
choose one. We settled into silence and
wrote responses to our archetypes then
shared our reactions.
All of the participants found the
exercise meaningful. The images were
encourages people to create their own
drawings as a form of healing. In Abuse
Survivors, I appreciate the way the exercises
are embraced in a gentle Christianity that
never backs away from evil or offers an
easy forgiveness to abusers. Both books
focus on personal transformation rather
than the political and economic situations
that enable evil to flourish, but arguably
an emphasis on individual healing is a
prerequisite to the change the world so
badly needs.
Diane Reynolds is a member of Stillwater
Meeting in Barnesville, Ohio, and a former
member of Patapsco Meeting in Ellicott
City, Md.
The Immanence Bible in Verse
By John Michael Wine. CreateSpace
Independent Publishing Platform, 2012. 36
pages. $5.65/paperback; $2.99/eBook.
Reviewed by Kody Gabriel Hersh
It was six or seven years ago that regular
reading of the Hebrew and Christian
scriptures became a part of my spiritual
life. Shortly after I started the practice, I
began to collect secondhand Bibles. Im a
thrift store shopper, and almost every
thrift store Ive ever been in has had a Bible
or two among the books. I get excited
when I find a translation I havent seen
before; owning a number of translations
reminds me that each one is, on some level,
an interpretation, and each one helps me
approach the text in a different way. When
a passage feels particularly meaningful,
puzzling, or challenging to me, I like to
read it in several translations to expand my
sense of what it might mean. I also love
finding Bibles that have notes, gift
inscriptions, or family names written
insideones that look like someone has
actually used them. Biblical
texts sometimes feel far-
removed from my life, and
these annotations can ground
them in the immediate and
the personal.
Reading The Immanence
Bible in Versea newer
translation of the well-known
Sermon on the Mount from
Matthews gospel and a
parallel passage known as the
Sermon on the Plain from
Lukeevokes the experience
of reading a secondhand Bible
with handwritten notes. The
literal, less anthropomorphic
lovely, most with rich colors, and
reminded people of paintings by the
artists Mark Rothko and Paul Klee. For
those, like myself, who could not connect
with the queries, having visual color,
form, and pattern to respond to offered a
welcome freedom. Others found the
queries helpful and responded to either
all or a few of them. This open-ended
aspect added power to the exercise and
allowed everyone an avenue to inner
exploration. Although the workbook was
designed for individual practice, the
group sharing was especially helpful.
Abuse Survivors arose from abuse
memories that surfaced at night while
Brutz was pursuing a PhD. Brutz, who
has done work related to physical and
sexual abuse in the Quaker community,
found herself coping with her pain
through spontaneous rewritings of the
Lords Prayer that came to her during
this period. Brutz weaves her own story
and other peoples accounts of emotional,
physical, and sexual trauma in between a
series of exercises that include guided
meditation and spiritual practices, such
as walking a labyrinth and journaling in
response to queries.
Although Quakers often reject set
prayers, as liberation theologian
Leonardo Boff emphasizes, the Lords
Prayer does not depend on dogmas,
creeds, or the afterlife, but rests in the
hope of creating on this Earth a mirror
image of the kingdom of God. Thus, the
Lords Prayer is arguably particularly
appropriate for a Quaker audience,
especially in Brutzs gentle and gender-
free reworkings included in the book.
I found the back and forth between
stories and exercises in Abuse Survivors
helpful, and I appreciated Brutzs
willingness to not shy away from the
existence of systemic evil in the world
or even the uncomfortable issues of abuse
within ones own spiritual community.
While not all of us have experienced
traumatic levels of cruelty, many have
experienced some form of verbal abuse or
an acute awareness of injustice in the
world, so this book has the potential to
be useful to a broad audience.
Transitions in Healing is likely to
appeal to people with a New Age
orientation, while Abuse Survivors arises
out of a Christian worldview, but both
books are gentle and inclusive enough to
be helpful to people of different faith
perspectives. I appreciate the centrality of
art therapy in Transitions in Healing and
can envision a second book that
translation, as Quaker translator John
Michael Wine describes it, aims to bring
the reader to the text from a new
perspective and broaden the possibilities
for what any given passage, phrase, or
word might mean. Word choices and
phrasings that are, in many cases,
dramatically different from previous
translations open up new possibilities for
imaginative, associative, and analytical
engagement with the text. For example,
Wine translates a Greek word for the
Divine as Immanence, emphasizing
his understanding of God as immediate
and tangible, but unconfined by
concepts based in human identities, like
the terms Father and Lord.
Wines translation is highly personal;
he clearly has a relationship with the text
based on years of study and shaped by
his individual theology. In addition, his
translation has an agenda: to
counterbalance what he perceives as a
distortion of truth in contemporary
evangelical theology, in which an
immediate and personal sense of Spirit
has been largely lost . . . overshadowed
by an unhealthy emphasis on God-as-
literally-anthropomorphic.
Wines translations are sometimes
radical departures from previous
translations, and as such they sharpen
the readers focus. In chapter six of
Matthews gospel, for example, Wine
renders the Greek word mammon
often translated as money or wealth
or simply transliteratedas capitalism,
a word that captures some of the broader
connotations of the original and
illustrates its contemporary spiritual and
social implications much more pointedly.
His attention to the literal meaning of
the Greek leads to other surprising
insights and interpretations, like his
reading of the phrase, Blessed are the
poor in spirit, which is
rendered in the King
James and other more
traditional translations.
Wines translation reads,
Blessed, even as they
gasp, are the poor, a
profoundly different
interpretation based on
the multiple meanings
of the Greek word
pneuma, which literally
means breath or
wind, in addition to
the figurative spirit.
Even with extensive
translation notes
offering rationales for many of Wines
decisions, I found my credulity
strained at several points. Wines
rendering of the Greek patros
traditionally, Fatheras the very
center of who you are in the IBIV
is one example of a stretch that seems
more motivated by religious ideology
than by the evidence of the source
text. His translation is faithful to the
rushed immediacy of the present
tense in the Greek, which is beautiful
in some places, but in others results in
awkward phrases, such as be entering
by this focused gate and be loving
your enemies.
The Immanence Bible in Verse cant
replace some of the more traditional
translations for me in either authority
or beauty. However, as an experiment
in learning about alternative
interpretations of these important
passages, I believe the book is useful.
Friends who are challenged or turned
off by more Orthodox Christian
language may find that Wines work
smooths a path, while those for whom
the traditional translations are more
comfortable will find much to stretch
themselves. New words invite new
understandings and fresh critical
engagement. Wines translation then,
with its sometimes awkward, often
bold reinterpretations, is an invitation
to deeper engagement that we can
benefit from accepting.
Kody Gabriel Hersh, a member of
Miami (Fla.) Meeting, currently lives in
Philadelphia, Pa. He is co-clerk of the
Young Adult Quakers of Southeastern
Yearly Meeting and of the Friends for
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,
and Queer Concerns. He cares deeply
about vocal ministry, eldering, sexuality,
biblical literacy, theological diversity,
and dessert.
Living in the Kingdom of God
By John Andrew Gallery. Self-published,
2012. 62 pages. $10/paperback; $9.99/
eBook.
Reviewed by Lisa Rand
Like author John Andrew Gallery, I
have spent many years reflecting on
the example and teachings of Jesus. As
a person who hungers for peace and
justice, I try to determine what the
messages of the life of Jesus might
mean for my own life. This book
speaks to my experience while also
offering fresh perspectives.
In order to uncover the principles that
he perceives as the groundwork of Jesuss
teachings, the author takes us through a
reflective study of the parables of the
good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35) and the
prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). He uses
these stories, as well as sayings of Jesus
that appear elsewhere in the gospels, to
create a picture of what it means to live
in the kingdom of God. Furthermore,
through a study of the statements
attributed to Jesus, the author gives a
sense of Jesuss understanding of God
and of Gods central qualities.
The book concludes with a brief
section on spiritual practice, which is
centered on the exciting question: Was I
prepared to change my life to become a
person living in the kingdom of God and
take on the characteristics of such a
person that Jesus seemed to be
suggesting? After all, why do we care
about the message of Jesus? If we think
his message says something important
about how one should live, shouldnt we
try to put those ideas into practice?
Overall, I appreciated the opportunity
to travel with Gallery on his exploration.
If I wrote a book about
my own exploration of
Jesus, it would be a
different book for
certain, yet there is
enough in common to
make for an interesting
dialogue. Sharing our
journeys is an important
part of creating spiritual
community. This book
is an interesting read
regardless of your
personal view of Jesus,
and it would make an
excellent tool for a
monthly meeting wanting to explore
varied views on the teachings of Jesus.
Lisa Rand is a member of Unami
Meeting in Pennsburg, Pa. She writes the
blog Light to Read By at Lighttoreadby.
wordpress.com.
The Gospel of Thomas: Wisdom of
the Twin (Second Edition)
By Lynn C. Bauman. White Cloud Press,
2012. 246 pages. $16.95/paperback.
Reviewed by William Shetter
Most of us have heard of the Gospel of
Thomas, thanks in no small part to
Elaine Pagelss Beyond Belief: The Secret
Gospel of Thomas. Written in the Coptic
language translated from a Greek
original, the Gospel is part of the library
of manuscripts discovered several decades
ago in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Not many
of us, however, feel at home in it. Unlike
the familiar narrative form of the four
canonical gospels, Thomas consists of a
collection of 114 separate, though
thematically connected, sayings. The less
familiar form and often cryptic wording
make interpretation a considerable
challenge.
Baumans clearly presented
and enlightening book sets out
to show us how much we have
been missing. This second
edition has added an important
feature: an interpretive Entry
Point paragraph for each
saying or logion that suggests
some interpretations and
orients the reader to the
context and intricacies of
Thomass world. Each logion is
presented in what he terms a
dynamic translation,
meaning it is a rendering of the
sense into natural English and
an academic translation as faithful to
the original as possible.
In Baumans translation, this gospels
Jesus goes by the sources original Hebrew
name, Yeshua, to keep the reader
constantly aware that Thomas is speaking
to us with the voice not of the familiar
Jesus of Western Christianity, but of an
earlier tradition. Jesus is presented as a
Master of Wisdoma sage and teacher of
the wisdom at the heart of earlier
Wisdom Books such as Proverbs, Job, and
the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon and
Ecclesiastes. The Gospel of Thomas is, in
Baumans view, a less well-known source
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of Jesuss original teachings, a theology
of wisdom long suppressed by the
established church in the quest for
dogmatic conformity to the theology of
salvation through Christ that has
overlaid it. This view is something he
consistently emphasizes in his Entry
Points: Yeshua here challenges his
followers from a timeless, universal
place of seeing . . . [and] he calls each of
us to the light within all things that
blazed forth at the beginning . . . before
the soul we are, created outside of time,
first donned the bodys shirt and fell
into the density of space/time.
Baumans translation of logion 84 can
serve as our wedge into Thomass world:
When you see your own projection
into time and space [i.e., your
familiar physical self ] it makes you
happy. But when the time comes that
you are able to look upon the icon of
your own being [i.e., your true self
hidden within] which came into
existence at the beginning, and
neither dies nor has yet been fully
revealed, will you be able to stand it?
Reaching the light of ones inner self
is so important that [even] the cosmos
is not worthy of the one who discovers
the Self (L111), meaning that each of
us constitutes and contributes to the
universal light, and it is here that our
true immortality lies: Blessed are those
chosen and unified. The Realm of the
Kingdom is theirs. For out of her you
have come, and back to her you are
returning (L49). Bauman comments
here, This way of seeing lies at the heart
of Yeshuas message of wisdom, and in
the Entry Point to logion 77 he writes,
There is no place that consciousness
light does not extend.
The first edition of this book was
published in 2003, which we might
fairly label a Wisdom Year in that it
saw the appearance of not only Pagelss
and Baumans books but also Cynthia
Bourgeaults absorbing The Wisdom Way
of Knowing: Reclaiming an Ancient
Tradition to Awaken the Heart. All three
titles seek to recover and help revive the
long-unknown Wisdom tradition and
make this path more widely available to
contemporary seekers.
Friends of many persuasions will find
much in Thomass representation of
Yeshua that is persuasive and even
familiar. I join Bauman in dreaming of
the day when the Wisdom Gospel of
Thomas has gained full acceptance into
the biblical canon as a book showing a
sage whose wisdom . . . was capable of
grasping something far more universal
than we have been led to believe.
William Shetter is a member of
Bloomington (Ind.) Meeting. He has
recently written a conversation with the
personied Lady Wisdom of the Biblical
Wisdom books, as she responds to his
question for todays world: What
is wisdom?
The Essence of George Foxs
Journal
Edited with an introduction by Hunter
Lewis. Axios Press, 2012. 260 pages. $12/
Reviewed by Marty Grundy
It is interesting to see a non-Quakers
take on us. Usually much is correct with
only a few omissions and errors and an
inherent lack of understanding of the
nuances. The Quaker reader is often left
with an uneasy feeling that somehow the
author has just barely missed the mark.
This greatly condensed version of George
Foxs Journal is no exception.
First, I will share the pluses. Hunter
Lewis has taken Foxs Journal and cut
out huge amounts of verbiage, cutting it
down to fewer than 235 pages of fairly
large print. With plentiful ellipses, it
reads very well. For Friends who find the
nearly 800 pages of John Nickallss
version too daunting, this
book will provide an easy
read. Lewis includes plenty
of gripping courtroom
confrontations, prison
deprivations and sufferings,
and examples of Foxs
indomitable personality.
There is enough of Foxs
theology presented to get a
rough idea of what early
Friends were about.
But that is also the rub.
Friends would probably
expect to find any
condensation of Foxs
Journal to include: then, Oh then, I
heard a voice which said, There is one,
even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy
condition, and when I heard it my heart
did leap for joy. We would expect the
full statement of Foxs refusal to the offer
of a get-out-of-jail-free card for a
commission in Cromwells New Model
Army and the 1660 declaration of the
peace testimony. We would expect a
mention of Elizabeth Hooton. All of
these bits are missing from this version.
Other niggling complaints include
Lewiss misunderstanding of Friends
use of the word professor to mean
someone who professes religion but
does not possess its Life. Lewis thinks
they are educated Christian teachers,
many of whom were priests. Foxs
openings are defined as insights
true, but this interpretation misses Foxs
understanding that they were given by
the Spirit, not due to his own
intelligence. The reader is never really
told why Fox refused to remove his hat.
Because Lewis is only dealing with this
one book, he makes Fox the founder
and leader rather than a catalyst,
identifying Francis Howgill and John
Audland as followers of Fox rather
thanas I believe they would have
saidof Christ. The introduction
mentions Fox establishing his
Church. A footnote that Fox always
felt himself equal to any emergency
which confronted him misses the
point of Foxs radical dependence on
the Spirit. It lacks a description of the
importance of Friends as a faith
community, that Christ is come to teach
his people.
Lewiss 15-page introduction uses 10
of those pages to reprint prison scenes
that are included in his text. He
summarizes Quaker faith as a belief
that Jesus speaks to each of us directly,
through personal
revelation, which takes
the form of an inner
voice. Later, Fox is
quoted: Now the Lord
God opened to me by His
invisible power that every
man was enlightened by
the divine Light of
Christ, and I saw it shine
through all. Lewis
explains in a footnote:
This is a central tenet of
Foxs teaching. Each of us
has an inner voice, given
us by God, which, if
listened to, will direct us throughout
our lives. Most of the readership of
Friends Journal will probably have no
argument with that. But the point is to
draw out the essential message of Fox,
yet Lewis oddly shrinks Foxs radical
understanding of Christ to a footnote.
The book is part of The Essence of . . .
Series of Axios Institute and its Axios
Press. Axios Press publishes books that
provide readers with a great variety of
approaches to the study of human
choices and values. Should a meeting
add this book to its library? On the
grounds that it is better to read this
condensation of Foxs Journal than
nothing at all, I would say yes. It is a
good introduction and an easy read. But
Friends should remember there is so
much more to Fox and to our faith.
Marty Grundy is a member of Cleveland
(Ohio) Meeting. She reads Nickallss fuller
version of Foxs Journal.
Full Planet, Empty Plates: The
New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity
By Lester R. Brown. W. W. Norton &
Company, 2012. 144 pages. $16.95/
Reviewed by Brian Drayton
While climate change is the
overriding challenge of this century,
other environmental crises have been
unfolding for decades. Water shortages,
soil loss, the energy crisis, pests evolved
resistance to pesticidesall are now
interacting, with the pace and intensity
heightened by the rising heat and its
consequences.
As he has been doing for decades,
Lester Brown of the Earth Policy
Institute explains lucidly how all these
crises affect one of the simplest and most
important of human concerns: food
security. While population growth can
be a coded reason for various kinds of
oppression and prejudice, it is also the
case that, worldwide, there are minute by
minute ever more humans who need
food and water and exert their many
kinds of influence on the environment.
As a society develops economically, the
per capita impact of its citizens on shared
resources also grows. In a world in which
no natural resource is infinite, these facts
constitute conditions which demand
wisdom to truly understand. The
consequences will require wisdom,
ingenuity, courage, and tenderness of
spirit to address.
The book is intended to provide a
broad picture of the current state of
affairs with regard to food security
now and in the near futureand also an
introduction to several of the key
components of the crisis. Chapter titles
include: The Ecology of Population
Growth, Moving up the Food Chain,
Food or Fuel?, Peak Water, and
Grain Yields Start to Plateau. In a
remarkably short space, Brown sketches
the science, sociology, economics, and
politics which affect the struggle for
control of agricultural land, the choices
about what crops are grown for what
purposes, and who gets control over
essential factors like water, which would
seem to be a basic birthright of any
human being.
Yet the perversions of our economic
and political systems are also made clear.
It makes sense within the so-called free
market that water should be discussed
as a commodity like any other or that a
combination of human short-sightedness
and rapacious policy would allow the
topsoil of the Earth to be blown away on
the winds or carried in runoff out to sea.
With most agricultural land in the
North fully deployed, it makes sense that
land in poorer countries would be leased
by wealthier nationsfarmland in
Ethiopia, say, being used to grow food
for Chinese consumersand removed
from local use or benefit for decades.
Friends should read this book to
clarify their understanding of the world
in which we live and to understand how
many concerns not typically thought of
as earthcare are intertwined with the
food web in which we are sustained and
caughtthe geopolitics of the Arab
Spring, for example, or the power
relations between North and South.
Readers who are shy about numbers and
charts will not be overwhelmed; readers
who want more depth will be referred to
the Earth Policy Institutes website,
where much data and analysis are
available (though not always organized
in the most accessible manner).
This book really has two goals. The
first is to present the data about our
present condition. The second is to
convince readers that action to combat
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current and future suffering is possible.
Powerful information, such as the
contents of Full Planet, Empty Plates,
can help equip those who feel moved
to act.
Brian Drayton is a member of Weare
(N.H.) Meeting.
The Sharks Paintbrush:
Biomimicry and How Nature Is
Inspiring Innovation
By Jay Harman. White Cloud Press,
2013. 296 pages. $26.95/paperback
or eBook.
Reviewed by Rob Pierson
What does aircraft paint owe to
shark skin? Wind energy to whale
flippers? Medicine to maggots? And
what does any of this have to do with
Friends?
Well, at first glance, very little. The
author of The Sharks Paintbrush, Jay
Harman, is not a Friend. Hes an
Australian entrepreneur and the
founder of PAX Scientific, a product
design firm that offers highly efficient
fans, mixers, pumps, and propellers.
Hes also an advocate of the principles
on which many of those products are
built: biomimicry, the imitation of
natures designs.
Thus, in Harmans book, we learn
how nature is influential in design
innovation. We read about propellers
inspired by natural whirlpools and
how the roughness of shark skin
inspired paint that increases aircraft
fuel efficiency and how imitating the
bumps on whales flippers improves
wind turbine stability. Connections
are also made to benefit the advance
of medicine. Harmans main point is
that nature solves problems efficiently
without the use of high-power
industrial processes or resulting
toxic residue.
Im on a mission, writes Harman,
to halve the worlds energy use and
greenhouse gas emissions through
biomimicry and the elimination of
waste. Im also on a mission to inspire
others to climb on board a new wave of
possibility and optimism.
Occasionally Harmans optimism
waxes fanatical. In particular, the first
section promises a gold rush toward
both a healthier world and lucrative
profits, all without sacrifice.
However, by the middle of the book, one
becomes entranced by his vision of the
beauty and ingenuity of creation and the
practical opportunities for applying its
wisdom. Harman leaps from the
antibiotic properties of cockroach brains
to the intelligence of fungus growth and
the self-cleaning nanostructures of a
lotus leaf. Given the growing Quaker
concern for earthcare and the historical
prominence of Friends as observational
scientists, Harmans encyclopedia
of natural wonders should resonate
with Friends.
But theres a deeper connection.
Kenneth Boulding, a Quaker economist
and peace advocate, once wrote (quoted in
Dialogue With Friends by Jack Powelson)
that the key question remains how to do
good. Good will is not enough. Good
skill is what is needed. How do we
mobilize good skills in the Society of
Friends, in a world that is a complex, total
system? I think Harman
offers a viable vision.
In the books final
section, Harman switches
focus from the natural
world to the corporate
jungle. Tired of watching
wildlife refuges cleared
and built over by housing
developments, Harman
left the Australian
Department of Fisheries
and Wildlife to study
economics, psychology,
and religion, ultimately
traveling the world to
study with religious
leaders and mystics before propelling
himself into an entrepreneurial career.
Too many Friends have forgotten or
dont know about our own historical
pilgrimage from mysticism to
entrepreneurship. Emerging from the
spiritual wildfire and fierce persecutions
of seventeenth-century England, Friends
embarked on an enormous range of
worldly enterprises: mining and woolens,
ironworks and cutlery, railways and
bridges, clockworks and watch making,
botany and medicine. And Friends were
able to fund and grow their enterprise
through their widespread network
of banking and finance. How could
this be?
Was it just, as some say, that Friends
were barred from other occupations and
simply had to settle for a living in the
trades? Were they dispossessed from rural
land work to more urban occupations?
Did their message attract and build a
literate entrepreneurial class? Was their
work ethic the envy of Protestants and
their system of apprenticeship and
oversight without equal? Was it their
honesty, equity, and simplicity that
singled them out for advantage? Or did
they simply follow, as in all other
matters, where they were led?
Historians argue the details, and some
Friends cant help but see the whole turn
to enterprise as a fluke or a failing.
Quakers, more than most, have remained
self-critical. Yet, ultimately, George Foxs
promotion of both the practical
occupations and the study of creation
sent ripples through our history. For
whatever reasons, the faith and
experience of Friends propelled them to
take a disproportionate role in science
and industry; few historians would deny
that Friends drove both technological
and social innovations that shaped the
industrial revolution.
What Harmans book
envisions echoes that earlier
revolution. Speaking from
his own experience, he
promotes both the study of
creation and its practical
application, calling for a
new wave of small
enterprises that are
informed by nature
and ethics. For
Harman, success
depends upon the
humility and
honesty to see
nature, including
human nature, as it really is.
Successful transformation
requires integrity, honoring
human dignity, resisting human
greed, and refusing compromise
no matter what others are doing
or urging us to do.
Transformation also requires
supportive communitya
collaborative network providing
guidance, advice, experience,
and, yes, money. If we reflect on our
history, isnt this exactly how the
networks of Quaker industry and
banking emerged three centuries ago?
Why, Friends, should we not do it again?
I heartily recommend Harmans book
to anyone amazed by the wonders of
nature and interested in modern
technology. But for Friends of a scientific
or entrepreneurial bent, especially young
adult Friends, I urge you to take up both
our Quaker history and Harmans book
. . . and help start a revolution.
Rob Pierson is a member of Albuquerque
(N.M.) Meeting, a recent graduate of
Earlham School of Religion, and a systems
engineer at a small technology company.
Dear White America: Letter to a
New Minority
By Tim Wise. City Lights Publishers,
2012. 190 pages. $14.95/paperback;
$15.95/eBook.
Reviewed by Donna McDaniel
Many of us understand that if not
our generation, then it will be our
childrens that can expect to be the new
minority as the time rapidly approaches
when white people will no longer be the
majority in America. Author Tim Wise
has even more to offer than this
prediction. A preeminent anti-racist
writer and speaker, Wise reminds us
how uncomfortable it can be to know
people with whom it seems impossible
to have a conversation about race. Dear
White America, the most recent of
Wises books, may make these
conversations easier and more frequent.
[Note: I am using white and
black or white folks and black
folks, as Wise
does. Im among
the white folks, as
is Wise.]
The first,
perhaps most
valuable,
takeaway from
Dear White
America is
recognizing the
distinction
between guilt and
responsibility in
matters of race.
Guilt is what we
feel for things we
have done.
Responsibility is what we take on
willingly because of who we are, not
because our concerns are the fault of
anyone currently alive. The first
responsibility for white people is to
extinguish any feeling of obligation to
make up for the past. Wise is not
interested in guilt about the past: We
are not to blame for historyeither its
horrors or its legacy, but all of us
togetherblack and whiteare
responsible for how we bear that legacy
and what we make of it [today].
When white folks pass the blame,
denying any responsibility for people
experiencing problems because of their
skin color, we only reinforce the idea
that theythe othersare just not
working hard enough. There is no need,
then, for us to feel compassion, and in
its place comes indifference.
In Wises observations, when we feel
guilty we tend to transfer blame to
people of African descent. Youve heard
the reasons before: they dont work hard
enough; they would rather have babies
than jobs; they choose welfare over work.
And since they are at fault, its easy to
talk about their own particular
pathology as the cause for poverty.
How hard it is, then, to have a
meaningful conversation. Wise suggests
a more fruitful path: Perhaps wed do
well to listen to the voices of those who
have been and continue to be targeted;
unlike us, they dont have the option of
ignoring it. Too many activists define
the problem and prescribe how to fix it.
Thats racist since it means we believe
that we know their reality better
than they.
Wise offers a new way of looking at
what keeps us from moving forward
and, in instance after instance,
demolishes claims heard so often that
people begin to believe them. His book
includes an abundance of examples that
refute what one reviewer calls the
insidious mythology that keeps racism
alive. Notice how white people tend to
give their own poor the benefit of the
doubt, after all deep down they are
good people, while when it comes to
black poverty, we speak of pathology.
Wise also reports on current surveys
which reveal often surprising beliefs
about racism held by the majority of
white people, including the ill-founded
opinion that to focus on racism is to
encourage a victim mentality that saps
initiative. Also: its unfair to criticize our
own countrys racism and discrimination
because, after all, inequality is found in
every nation, likely even worse than in
the United States. This mentality is a
way to avoid looking at ourselves,
Wise suggests.
Wises work includes an abundance
of statistics that defy these kinds of
beliefs so often named as facts. One
familiarand falsecomplaint:
African American students are given
preference in scholarships that aid
people of color at the expense of people
with European backgrounds. What is
true: less than 4 percent of the
scholarship money awarded in the
country gives race some (but not the
only) consideration. Only 0.25 percent
of awards are available exclusively for
people of color. The other 99.75 percent
are awarded with no consideration
of race.
On the contrary, Wise points to
government programs that have
actually excluded African Americans.
A prime example is the passage of the
Social Security Act of 1935. To assure
support from southern Congressmen,
agricultural and domestic workers
(the bulk of African American
employment at the time) were excluded
from the program.
Wise also observes how white people
often object to big government but
nevertheless have benefited from it at
many points in American history. Take
for example the Homestead Act of
1862, which confiscated more than
200 million acres of land from
indigenous people or Mexicans and
made it available for free to white
settlers. Skip ahead to 1956, the start of
the Interstate Highway System, which
benefits and expands the suburbs, often
at the expense of inner city
neighborhoods. Wise notes hes not
heard of benefactors of those programs
offering to pay back what they received
in that socialist scheme!
Finally, Wise illustrates two of my
pet peeves, namely the limited
understanding of our history and the
distortion of agreed-upon facts by
people who like history as long as it fits
their views. He tells of watching a
Fourth of July parade, complete with
marching scouts, minutemen, and of
course, the flags. Pleasant enough
perhaps, but Wise recognizes the
hypocrisy of celebrating the events of
1776 and then when it comes to slavery,
saying time to get over it, that was
long ago.
While this review has concentrated
mostly on Wises ideas, his books are
packed with statistics to support his
statements. To conclude, heres one, a
startling reminder of how things still
are: even with identical credentials, a
white man with a criminal record is
more likely to be called back for a job
interview than a black man with no
criminal record.
Do you ever wonder how to respond
to those who insist there is no such thing
as white privilege? This book would be
very helpful.
Donna McDaniel, a member of
Framingham (Mass.) Meeting, is co-author
of Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship:
Quakers, African Americans, and the
Myth of Racial Justice. She is a freelance
writer and editor with a special concern to
promote racial justice and community.
She Walked for All of Us: One
Womans 1971 Protest Against an
Illegal War
By Louise Bruyn. RSBPress/Distinction
Press, 2013. 270 pages. $16.95/paperback.
Reviewed by Dave Austin
The walk is like a prayer.
That was the response of a friend of
Louise Bruyn in 1971, after she
announced to family and friends that she
was leaving the safety and comfort of her
home in Newton, Mass., to walk
aloneto Washington, D.C., to draw
attention to Americas
illegal, immoral war in
Vietnam. This account of
that walk takes us back to a
time when our nation was
weary of a seemingly
interminable war. Bruyns
words put us in the mind
and heart of an average
American who was so
frustrated and saddened by
the endless carnage and
waste portrayed in the
media every day that she
felt led to do something
about it in a personal and
powerful way. It was a
leading she could not deny.
Bruyn was led to begin
her act of individual protest after reading
an opinion piece in the Boston Globe. It
was one year after the U.S. invasion of
Cambodia and shortly after the invasion
of Laos, two years after Moratorium Day,
and almost a year after the killings of
American college students during
anti-war protests at Kent State University
by National Guard members and at
Jackson State College by police. Stories
about mass killings committed by
American soldiers at a Vietnamese
hamlet called My Lai blanketed the
media. The nation seemed locked in a
malaise of hopelessness and helplessness.
Yet Bruyn felt moved to act, as an
individual, to try to snap the American
peoples collective attention back to what
was being done in their names in
Southeast Asia.
And so, with not much experience as
either a protester or a hiker, she set out to
walk more than 400 miles, solo, in the
winter. Along the way, she dealt with
poor shoes, inadequate clothing, dodgy
weather, and sketchy and sometimes
haphazard arrangements for housing at
night. She encountered a variety of
reactions from those she met along the
way, from indifference and cynicism to
skepticism and bemusement to open
hostility. But what seemed to strike Bruyn
the most, as it did me, was the great
amount of impassioned support she
received, especially when she got the
chance to engage people on an individual
level and in the small gatherings
organized along her route. Those
meaningful encounters became a large
part of the mission of her walk, a
personal hearts and minds campaign.
She never did manage to have a personal
meeting with President Nixon, but these
other meetings may
have been even more
important in relaying
her message of peace.
Each chapter of this
book chronicles a day
of her journey and
opens with a quote
from a news update on
the war from the New
York Times to provide
us with a context of the
current events.
Vietnam is the war
many of us grew up
with, and those news
snippets quickly took
me back to that time.
I was also reminded of
the daily reports we get from our own
endless war, as I am struck by similar
feelings of helplessness regarding when
this latest conflict will ever end. The
books afterword is Bruyns reflection on
that time and on the rightness of her
cause (similar to another recent book,
Kill Everything That Moves: The Real
American War in Vietnam by Nick
Turse, which the author references and
testifies to).
Bruyns narrative takes the form of a
reconstructed diary, and readers might
find some of her writing to be a bit stiff
and occasionally repetitive. However, I
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YESHU:
A Novel for the Open-Hearted
by Charles David Kleymeyer
Retells the New Testament
story from a Quaker
perspective. Intergenerational,
historical, imaginative, and
adaptable for both youth and
adult religious education.
The only Judeo-Quaker Jesus
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Purchase at www.YeshuNovel.com.
Order by phone at (800) 471-6863 or online
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gift for all
the Quakers
in your life.
found her voice to be authentic and
passionate. Throughout the book,
especially early on (and when the
weather turns nasty), she seems torn as
to whether or not setting out on this
journey was worth the effort, but the
power of her leading always wins out and
drives her forward. It is a leading that
continued for years after her walk
through her participation in an anti-tax
protest against military spending and in
her work with the American Friends
Service Committee.
I suspect that many of us today feel
the same sorts of frustration that led
Bruyn to leave her young family and set
out on her prayer. Her message from
that turbulent time is an inspiration to
those of us who feel led to somehow, in
whatever small way, make a difference.
Dave Austin is a member of Haddoneld
(N.J.) Meeting. He lives in Marlton, N.J.,
where he teaches middle school history and
social studies.
In Brief
Cornfield Cathedral
By John Fitzgerald. Fairway Press, 2013.
128 pages. $15/paperback.
Cornfield Cathedral is a slender
volume of short meditations, each
accompanied by study questions, drawn
from sermons by the longtime pastor of
Leesburg (Ohio) Friends Church of
Wilmington Yearly Meeting. This book
is a very personal spiritual memoir
framed around narratives from the
authors life and of his congregation and
surrounding community.
Openings, Leadings, and
Dreams: Listening to the Inner
Voice of Love
By John Pitts Corry. AAD Distributing,
2012. 299 pages. $15/paperback.
This memoir covers many decades
and a lot of ground. It is both intimate
and bold, delving into the authors
thoughts about the life of the Spirit and
of the body. Readers should know in
advance that sexuality and graphic
materials are discussed (though it is not
overly dedicated to these topics). A
daring memoir in some respects.
Marii Hasegawa: Gentle Woman of
a Dangerous Kind
Produced and directed by Janet Scagnelli.
Small Steps Films, 2012. 30 minutes
runtime. $18/DVD.
A delightful documentary from
members of Richmond (Va.) Meeting
about the life of Marii Hasegawa, a
Japanese American woman who
considered herself one without a religion,
yet shared the concerns of many religious
folks. She and her family lived through
the forced removal and incarceration of
Japanese Americans. Hasegawa went on
to find her lifes work in organizing and
collaborating in the struggle for a more
peaceful life for all. From 1971 to 1975,
she served as the national president of the
Womens International League for Peace
and Freedom. Live interviews with
Hasegawa, before her death in July of
2012, make up much of the film.
Stories of Courage, Hope &
Compassion
By Richard L. Deats. CreateSpace
Independent Publishing Platform, 2011.
Richard Deats may be a familiar name
due to his earlier books and his decades-
long career with the Fellowship of
Reconciliation. This volume is a
collection of stories intended to
encourage the readers exploration of faith
operating in life. The stories focus on
resilience and response to challenge, loss,
and violence with faith and a vision of
grace and forgiveness.
All American: 45 American Men on
Being Muslim
Edited by Wajahat M. Ali and Zahra T.
Suratwala. White Cloud Press, 2012. 256
pages. $16.95/paperback or eBook.
This is the second volume in a series
called I Speak for Myself from White
Cloud Press. It gives readers a valuable
chance to hear stories of a varied group of
Muslim men told in their own voices.
The men come from various locations,
some U.S.-born and some not, and
various strands of the Muslim tradition.
The other books in the series include
American Women on Being Muslim (by 40
writers under 40) and Demanding
Dignity: Young Voices from the Front Lines
of the Arab Revolutions.
Quaker Spirituality from Inside/Out
Edited by John Surr, Judith Larsen, and
Pardee Lowe Jr. CreateSpace Independent
Publishing Platform, 2012. 284 pages.
$14.95/paperback.
Friends in Baltimore Yearly Meeting
published their spiritual insights over an
extended period of time (not regularly,
but for some years). The result is this
compilation, a labor of true love and a
testament to the power of spiritual
friendships that encourage Spirit to
flower in individual lives. This book is a
gift from the lives and hearts of the
contributing writers.
Ingrids Tales: A Norwegian-American
Quaker Farming Story
By Rebecca J. Henderson. Self-published,
2012. 413 pages. $20/paperback.
The stories and photos in this book
tell the story of how Norwegian Quakers
emigrated to Iowa and give personal
details about the authors family, as well
as Paullina Meeting in Iowa Yearly
Meeting (Conservative). Generous time
is spent on descriptions of farm and
meeting life in 1959 from the point of
view of Ingrid Heimberg, the fictional
narrator who spends the summer among
Paullina Friends.
Yeshu: A Novel for the Open-Hearted
By Charles David Kleymeyer. CreateSpace
Independent Publishing Platform, 2013.
A look at the authors lovely website
devoted to this novel reveals its origin.
As a father, Charles Kleymeyer searched
for a book that would keep his teenagers
turning the pages to see how a truly
gripping story would turn out. When he
couldnt find quite what he was looking
for, Kleymeyer wrote it himself. The
resulting novel about the life of Jesus is
fiction narrated by a young person in
Jesuss village. It covers the ground of
Jesuss whole life, starting in the early
and little-known years before he began
his mission of preaching. Several
chapters have been previously published
as pieces in Friends Journal.
Darkness into Light
continued from page 19
promptings. And likewise the opposite
is true, if you ignore that light, there
is the danger of backsliding all the
more into the ocean of darkness. The
name of the game is wanting to
become the person Christ intends you
to be. This metaphor, this mechanism,
really resonates with me to achieve
that. Its an ongoing journey. We are
marching to Zion. We are not there,
so we need light every day.
Tim refers to the classic Fox quote
about the ocean of light and the ocean
of darkness, which are always together.
Darkness cannot be without light, and
light cannot be without the darkness.
These metaphors are still in use; the
meanings are expressed in different
ways, but the mental process of
embodying spirit through language has
never changed. We are still living
experimentally.
As asserted by early Friend Isaac
Penington Jr. (16161679), the names
are but the signication of the thing
spoken of, for it is the life, the power
(the being transformed by that) that
saves, not the knowledge of the name.
It is not the name itself (the metaphor),
but the power it represents that has
greatest signicance to Friends. It is
from this commonly held
understanding that the use of
metaphors has taken root as a form of
religious expression among Friends.
The practice of sitting in communal
silence in meeting for worship
encourages the transfer of spiritual
meaning when messages are spoken in
metaphor as a form of shared wisdom.
What have I learned? First of all, the
challenge of George Fox and early
Friends to seek direct experiences in
worship is still actively pursued among
contemporary Quakers. But my most
important lesson has been to approach
any Quakers spiritual story with a
question. I wonder what each person
means, and I listen more deeply to his
or her answer. I have a newfound
respect for the evolution of an
individuals spirituality no matter
which label he or she may be choosing
to wear at the moment. As Fox said,
What canst thou say?
Milestones
AngellHelen Angell, 98, on July 12, 2013,
in Kennett Square, Pa. Helen was born in
Meriden, Conn., to Josephine and Alfred
Hirschfeld. She graduated from Simmons
College in Boston, Mass., with a degree in
home economics and worked as a dietician at
a hotel and restaurant run by the Young
Mans Christian Association (YMCA) in New
Haven, Conn., where she met Yale University
student Gardiner Angell, who was working
there as a busboy. In 1939, she married
Gardiner, and they enjoyed nearly 72 years of
marriage, living most of those years in
Scarsdale, N.Y. Helen was a homemaker, a
nursery school teacher and director for the
Scarsdale Friends Nursery School, a participant
in local politics, an officer of the United
Nations Association, and a worker with the
League of Women Voters. She joined the
Religious Society of Friends and was active in
Scarsdale (N.Y.) Meeting and New York Yearly
Meeting. In August 1994, Helen and Gardiner
moved to Kendal at Longwood in Kennett
Square. At Kendal she had many good years,
rejoined with Gardiners brothers, Richard and
Stephen Angell, and her sister-in-law, Imogene
Angell. All who knew her saw Helen as a
warm, energetic, level-headed, and caring
person. She embodied the best in human
interaction. Even in her last years, when she
no longer could express what she felt in words,
her eyes and face communicated warmth
and a spark that was truly hers. Gardiner,
Richard, Stephen, and her brother, Carl
Hirschfeld, predeceased her. She is survived
by two sons, David Angell and William
Angell; three grandchildren; three great-
grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Imogene
Angell; many nieces and nephews; and a large
extended family. Donations in her honor may
be sent to American Friends Service
Committee, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia,
PA 19102, or online at www.afsc.org.
Bell WetterothCatharine Bell Wetteroth, 33,
of Rockville, Md., on June 25, 2013, in
Baltimore, Md., of non-smokers lung cancer.
Catharine was born on October 3, 1979, in
Astoria, Oreg. At five years old she moved
with her family to Celo, N.C., for her parents
work at Arthur Morgan School. She attended
Arthur Morgan for grades seven through nine,
gaining a deep appreciation for non-graded
education and consensus-based decision
making. She moved with her family to Sandy
Spring Friends School in Maryland, where her
parents served as dorm parents. At Sandy
Spring she performed in dance concerts and
wrote for the literary magazine, graduating
in 1997. Although Catharine was not a
member of any meeting, she attended
Baltimore Yearly Meeting Young Friends
conferences and the Friends General
Conference (FGC) Gathering High School
Program, experiences that yielded strong
life-long f/Friendships. She was part of a
group that made young adult Friends a more
visible and integrated part of yearly meeting
life. She enhanced Adult Young Friends (AYF)
him Teacher of the Year three times, and
he was the first holder of the Gayle and
William Keefer Chair in the Humanities.
He retired in 1993 and became an emeritus
professor and an honorary member of the
Beloit College Alumni Association. Scott
was humble about his many achievements,
which included writing several Pendle Hill
pamphlets and articles in Friends Journal.
Scott and Nancy held Beloit Meeting in their
home, and they were tireless advocates for
peace and social justice. A peace garden on
the Beloit College campus is dedicated to
them. Nancy died on November 5, 1992.
Scott was also preceded in death by his
son-in-law, Richard Holmes. He is survived
by three children, Kathryn Holmes, Elizabeth
Crom, and Steven Crom (Nike Beckman);
and two grandchildren. Instead of flowers,
the family suggests sending donations to the
Nancy and Scott Crom Scholarship for Peace
and Social Justice at Pendle Hill (care of
Jennifer Karsten, 338 Plush Mill Road,
Wallingford, PA 19086). Friends may send
condolences to the family online at www.
daleymurphywisch.com/obituaries/Scott-Crom/.
HindmarshRobert Gray Hindmarsh, 86,
on October 12, 2012, suddenly, at his home in
Putney, Vt. Bob was born on June 18, 1926, in
Cranston, R.I., to Lura Gray and Alexander
Tulloch Hindmarsh. He was a veteran of
World War II, participating in the Battle of
Okinawa with the Seventeenth Infantry
Regiment, and he was awarded the Purple
Heart. After his service, he went to Cornell
University, graduating in 1950 with a
bachelors in agriculture. During college he
worked at the dairy farm of Henry C. and
Thyra Jane Foster in Warwick, R.I., where he
met his wife, Thera Mary Foster, and was
introduced to Quakerism. Bob and Thera
married on July 7, 1951, in Saylesville
Meetinghouse in Lincoln, R.I., under the
care of Providence (R.I.) Meeting. He worked
in Western Massachusetts as a crop specialist
for Eastern States Farmers Exchange from
1950 to 1957. In 1957, Bob and Thera were
among the founders of the Meeting School
(TMS), a Quaker secondary boarding school
in Rindge, N.H. In addition to teaching math
and biology, he ran the school farm that was an
integral part of the student experience. He
received a masters degree in science from
Brown University in 1962 while on sabbatical
from TMS. In 1965, the family moved to
Concord, Mass., and Bob transitioned to
teaching math and biology to seventh and
eighth graders at Cambridge Friends School
in Cambridge, Mass. From 1968 to 1978, he
was a fundraiser for American Friends Service
Committee (AFSC), serving the New England
region. Then he transferred to the national
AFSC office in Philadelphia to be finance
secretary. In 1989, Bob and Thera happily
retired to Putney, Vt., where he attended
Putney Meeting, was a member of the Putney
Historical Society, a volunteer for Meals on
Wheels, and a board member of the Vermont
presence in FGC, ensuring AYF participation
on Long Range Conference Planning (LRCP)
and securing a work grant for the AYF
co-coordinators. She herself served on LRCP
from 2001 to 2007 and on FGC Central
Committees Nominating Committee from
2004 to 2007. From 2006 to 2007, she served
as an FGC representative to the Friends
Journal board. She graduated from Hampshire
College in Amherst, Mass., writing her senior
thesis on Worship and Suffering in Ancient
Sumerian Religion. Returning to Maryland,
in 2007 she began work in the Writing and
Reading Center of Montgomery College,
Rockville. Catharine wrote a lot of fiction,
and for several years she co-wrote scripts for
entries in the annual 48 Hour Film Project.
She was always pleased that she had never had
a drivers license or bought a car. She did have
a license to operate a motor boat, which she
very much enjoyed doing at the family
summer cabin in Ontario, and she learned to
sail with DC Sail. She was a bold solo traveler,
in recent years visiting New Zealand, Puerto
Rico, and Florida. She took part in several
online communities and was part of the local
Quaker LGBT community. She had recently
been accepted to a graduate program at the
Oriental Institute of Oxford University and
was planning to start her studies there in
October 2013. Catharine is survived by her
parents, Alexandra Bell and Ron Wetteroth;
her sister, Agnes Bell Wetteroth; and many
aunts, uncles, and cousins.
CromScott E. Crom, 85, on August 1,
2013, in Beloit, Wis. Scott was born on
December 9, 1927, in Grand Junction, Colo.,
to Helen Palmquist and Walter R. Crom.
His father, a World War I veteran, died when
Scott was a young child, and so he was raised
by his mother. He graduated from Red Oak
High School in Red Oak, Iowa, and graduated
as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a major
in mathematics from Grinnell College, where
he met Nancy Eymann. He and Nancy
married on September 8, 1949, in Hartford,
Conn. He received a doctorate degree from
Yale University and also taught there from
1952 to 1954. Scott and his family moved to
Beloit in 1954 when he joined the Philosophy
and Religion Department of Beloit College.
During his long tenure there, he inspired
generations of students to become critical,
careful thinkers who knew how to say what
you mean and mean what you say. His
standards were famously high, and he was
devoted to helping his students. To spare them
from having to read his notoriously bad
handwriting, he typed the notes he made on
their term papers, often a full page of
thoughtful comments. In class, he would dual
process: writing one thing on the chalkboard
while saying another. Long before most
people had heard of the Internet or the World
Wide Web, Scott was active in chat rooms,
email lists, and user groups. He was an early
user of computers in the classroom, writing
the programs himself. The students elected
Land Trust. He was a lister (a term peculiar
to Vermont, a lister is an elected official
responsible for valuing real property in the
town) for Putney from 1989 to 1996. In later
years, he particularly enjoyed exploring the
back roads of Vermont and New Hampshire
with a friend and was one of a group of older
men who met on Friday mornings at the
Putney General Store for coffee and
conversation. He had a life-long passion for
growing fruits and vegetables and sharing
the bounty with those around himwherever
he lived, he always had a vegetable garden.
He loved his family and his community and
tried to make the world a better and more
peaceful place, an effort that his experiences
on Okinawa made all the more important to
him. His sister, Lura Blodgett, predeceased
him. He is survived by his wife of 61 years,
Thera Foster Hindmarsh; four children,
Elizabeth Hindmarsh, Alison Briggs
(Stephen), Walter Hindmarsh, and Thomas
Hindmarsh (Julie); two grandchildren; and
two brothers, George Hindmarsh and
Alexander Hindmarsh.
MendenhallMary Caroline Mendenhall,
97, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, formerly of
Whittier, Iowa, on June 22, 2013. Mary was
born on August 19, 1915, in Paullina, Iowa, to
Ruth and Elwood Mendenhall. She was part of
two important migrations of Conservative
Friends in the twentieth century. When she
was a child, her family moved with other
Friends from Iowa and Ohio to Fairhope,
Ala., where they farmed as part of a single tax
cooperative community that hoped to address
the challenges to conscience that came through
the payment of taxes. As a Quaker she was an
integral part of the community and meeting
at Fairhope, which was initially a preparative
meeting of Stillwater Meeting in Barnesville,
Ohio. Mary attended Auburn University. In
the 1940s, several of the Quaker families in
Fairhope, including Marys, became
uncomfortable with the draft and with paying
taxes that contributed to militarism, and so
in 1950, they emigrated to Costa Rica, which
had abolished its military. The families
settled in the mountains of Costa Rica,
forming the Quaker community of
Monteverde. Mary was the founding teacher
of the Monteverde Friends School, and she
cared for her parents and contributed to the
life of the community. In 1959, she adopted
18-month-old Olivia Ann and became a
loving and devoted mother. In 1975, she
moved to Wooster, Ohio, where she worked
at a day care center. When she retired in the
early 1980s, she moved to Whittier, Iowa,
and helped care for her grandchildren. During
her last years, she lived with Olivia and her
husband, Tony, in Cedar Rapids, returning
to Whittier for meetings of the sewing club
and the garden club. Mary was an active
member of Whittier Meeting till the very
end of her life. Neither age nor infirmity
could keep her from attending meeting for
worship, and Friends said that if Whittier
gave out an attendance award, she would
have won it easily. She maintained her strong
interest in peace and social justice to her very
last days, bringing magazines, newspaper
clippings, and articles to the meeting every
week and insisting that Friends not ignore
todays increased acceptance of militarism. She
especially enjoyed reading and sharing each
issue of the Olney Current. A modest person,
Mary never volunteered the remarkable story
of her life, but if asked, she would share it. In
the last year of her life, she was part of a
plenary panel discussion I am a Friend and
I. . . at the 2012 Iowa Yearly Meeting
(Conservative) Annual Sessions, and she was
interviewed on Iowa Public Radio for a
feature on Friends as part of a series on
religions in Iowa. Mary enjoyed being with
others, and others were naturally drawn to
her welcoming presence. She exuded
contentment and joy resulting from a long
faithful life, and people simply wanted to be
with her and deeply loved her. She will be
remembered as a loving and caring mother,
grandmother, aunt, and friend. She is buried
at the Whittier Friends Cemetery. Mary was
preceded in death by her two sisters, Mabel
Watson (Al) and Elva Rockwell (Cecil); a
brother, Hubert Mendenhall; and a grandson,
Carson Hoge. She is survived by her daughter,
Olivia Swope (Anthony); one grandchild;
one great-grandchild; two step-grandchildren;
six step-great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law,
Mildred Mendenhall; and eleven nieces
and nephews. Memorials can be made to
American Friends Service Committee, 1501
Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, or
online at www.afsc.org.
McNabbGeraldine S. McNabb, 93, on July
19, 2013, peacefully, at Kendal at Oberlin,
Ohio, where she had lived for 14 years. Gerry
was born on August 13, 1919, on the south side
of Chicago, Ill. She attended Lindblom High
School and Northwestern University,
graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and taught
English in Niles, Mich., for three years. In the
summer of 1941, she met Fred L. McNabb,
known as Sandy, who was a research chemist
with B.F. Goodrich Chemical Company, and
they married in 1942, settling in Cuyahoga
Falls, Ohio. Gerry was an advocate on public
issues throughout her life. In Cuyahoga Falls,
she helped organize a local chapter of the
League of Women Voters. In Brecksville,
Ohio, where the family moved in 1951, she
served as president of the Parent-Teacher
Association, secretary of the Charter Review
Commission, and president of the Democratic
Club. (While in grade school, her children
wondered why so few of their classmates
supported Adlai Stevenson II for president
he was such an obvious choice in their
household.) After moving to Michigan in
1962, she increased her focus on international
issues, and in 1971, she co-founded the Peace
and National Priorities Center of Oakland
County, which, drawing support from local
religious organizations, supported peace in
Vietnam, a nuclear freeze, and cutting
military spending. She served as its executive
director for ten years. After earning a paralegal
degree from Oakland University in 1980, she
worked in the law office of Wally McLay from
1980 to 1988. Gerrys activism continued into
her 90s as she participated in weekly peace
vigils on the downtown square in Oberlin. She
was a member of Birmingham (Mich.)
Meeting for 10 years and Oberlin (Ohio)
Meeting for 14, serving on local and regional
boards for American Friends Service
Committee (AFSC) and representing Lake
Erie Yearly Meeting on the Corporation of
AFSC and the General Committee of Friends
Committee on National Legislation (FCNL).
Gerry enjoyed international travel, including
trips with Sandy to South America and to
Thailand to visit her son in the Peace Corps.
With friends she traveled to Russia, Canada,
Germany, and the Galapagos Islands. She
loved playing piano (Kendal residents will
remember her Sing Along with Gerry song
fests), playing tennis, bird watching, the
Kennedys, Glenn Miller, and her family. Her
legacies continue through her children,
grandchildren, and friends. Once asked how
she would like to be remembered, she
responded that she wanted people to remember
her as a person grateful for the joys of her life
who encouraged a sense of responsibility
toward the rest of the world. Gerry was
preceded in death by her husband, Sandy
McNabb, in 1979. She is survived by her two
children, Marilyn McNabb and Scott McNabb
(Terry); and three grandchildren. In lieu of
flowers, donations may be made to AFSC
(www.afsc.org), FCNL (www.fcnl.org), and the
Peace and National Priorities Center of
Oakland County, Mich., PO Box 240344.
SextonJohn Montgomery Sexton, 86, on June
10, 2013, in Cockeysville, Md. John was born
on September 29, 1926, in Baltimore, Md., to
Ruth Clark Montgomery and Horatio Clay
Sexton. His father was a captain in the navy,
and he grew up in Annapolis, Md.;
Portsmouth, N.H.; Washington, D.C.;
Charleston, S.C.; San Diego, Calif.; and
Hawaii, spending many summers in New
Albany, Ind., with his grandparents. He
developed a lifelong passion for sailing in
Hawaii beginning in his early teens when he
discovered an outrigger canoe under the
porch of the house where his family had
moved. He got the canoe into the water and
sailed all day about a mile out with his mother
waving frantically on the shore. Although
that night the canoe disappeared, his passion
for sailing never waned. As a boy he belonged
to St. Johns Episcopal Church in Washington,
D.C. He first came into contact with Quakers
at Sidwell Friends School, which he attended
for his senior year. He graduated in 1944 and
enlisted in the navy, contracted rheumatic
fever, and stayed in Corona Naval Hospital for
a year, witnessing the return of wounded
World War II soldiers from the South Pacific.
Upon discharge, he returned to Washington
and enrolled in George Washington University.
He became active in youth work in the
Episcopal Church, but his experience in the
naval hospital led him to work for peace, and
when his discussions with his rector were not
helpful, he turned to the Quakers. He joined
Friends Meeting of Washington (D.C.) and
represented Baltimore Yearly Meeting at the
1952 World Conference of Friends in Oxford,
England, where he had three life-changing
encounters: with the writings of Pierre
Crsole, Swiss pacifist and founder of the
International Voluntary Service for Peace
(IVSP); with his future wife, Lois Forbes, a
representative from Indiana Yearly Meeting;
and with several Earlham College professors.
He earned an associates degree from George
Washington University and spent his final
college year at Earlham, where his and Loiss
paths crossed again. He graduated in 1953
with a bachelors in mathematics and a
concentration in world citizenship. He
reported on the 1952 World Conference of
Friends at every monthly meeting in Baltimore
Yearly Meeting. Advocating intervisitation to
help Friends of different practices work
together, he traveled through the Midwest to
encourage young Friends to come to the first
Young Friends of North America conference
(for which he was chairman) to be held at
Guilford College in 1954. He was also part
of a committee to unite the two Baltimore
Yearly Meetings (Orthodox and Hicksite). In
the summer of 1953, he became director of
McKim Community Center, serving the
Jonestown neighborhood in the southeastern
district of Baltimore. Lois had come to work at
Friends School of Baltimore; she and John
married in June 1954 at the Stony Run
Meetinghouse under the joint care of
Homewood and Stony Run Meetings. During
his service as interim director of McKim Boys
Haven, he and Lois cared for 13 boys in
addition to running the programs at McKim
Center, where he was Mr. John to several
hundred boys and girls. After their marriage,
John and Lois moved their memberships to
Homewood Meeting. John served as clerk of
Homewood Meeting, as clerk of Baltimore
Yearly Meeting, and as treasurer of the Miles
White Beneficial Society. He taught math for
most of his career. In the early 1960s, he and
his family spent a year in Konya, Turkey, where
he was a Fulbright Teacher. The family moved
back to live in Moorestown, N.J., and be
sojourning members of Westfield Meeting in
Cinnaminson, N.J. Upon the return, John
worked with American Friends Service
Committee in the organizations School
Affiliation Program and Work Camp Program.
The family then settled in Baltimore, where
he taught in Baltimore city and county
schools, at Park School, and at Friends School
of Baltimore. In 1968, they moved their
memberships to Gunpowder Meeting in
Sparks, Md., where John remained a member
until his death. At Gunpowder Meeting, he
helped maintain the meetinghouse and served
many years as trustee. He accompanied young

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friends to work camps, including Habitat for
Humanity, working to rebuild black churches
that had been burned in Alabama and South
Carolina. He was the first administrator of
Right Sharing of World Resources, driving
many miles across the Midwest and on the
East Coast to visit Quaker meetings and urge
Friends to pledge 1 percent of taxable income
for Third World populations. Fifty years later,
75 groups of Kenyan women are starting small
businesses with microcredit loans thanks to
this project. He was president of the Baltimore
Astronomical Society and attended many
star-viewing parties and astronomical
conferences in Baltimore and across the
country. His son, Andrew, shared his love of
sailing and sailed with him. In 1998, John
and Lois moved to Broadmead Retirement
Community in Cockeysville, bringing them
closer to the Gunpowder Meetinghouse and
enabling them to continue their involvement
in the meeting as long as health permitted.
John was preceded in death by his brother,
Horatio Clay Sexton Jr. He is survived by his
wife, Lois Sexton; three children, Andrew F.
Sexton (Anna), Joan Sexton, and Nancy S.
Greenia (Matthew); two grandchildren; his
sister, Mary Susan Brooks; and eleven nieces
and nephews. Donations in Johns memory
can be made to Right Sharing of World
Resources, 101 Quaker Hill Dr., Richmond,
IN 47374, or online at www.rswr.org.
WebsterEdward Webster, 80, peacefully, in
the very early morning of July 18, 2013, after a
gallant and protracted struggle with prostate
cancer, at home in Marlboro, Vt., with a
shower of heat lightning illuminating the
predawn sky moments later. Ted was born on
May 12, 1933, in Abington, Pa., to a Baptist
mother, Grace Edel Gourley, and a Quaker
father, Harold Shoemaker Webster, and grew
up in Jenkintown, Pa. Always a bright-eyed
seeker of adventure and challenge, he scaled
Mount Rainier in 1951 under the guidance of
famed mountaineer Louis Whittaker. In 1955,
he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in
political science from Gettysburg College,
where he was a standout on the swim team.
After college, he served in Germany as a clerk
typist in the army from 1956 to 1958, earning
a swimming medal in the Armed Forces
Olympics and climbing the Matterhorn.
After the army, he moved to Lincoln, Mass.,
briefly writing childrens science books and
then working with Osram Sylvania Inc. as a
computer programmer. He started his own
market research and publishing firm in 1977,
Datek Information Services. He met Susan
Foote Griggs on an Appalachian Mountain
Club hike in the White Mountains of New
Hampshire, and they married in 1961. Susan
guided Ted back to his Quaker roots, and
they became peace activists, protesting the
Vietnam War. In 1967, they stopped paying
war taxes for a period, started the Roxbury
War Tax Scholarship Fund as a place for war
tax resisters to redirect a portion of their taxes
to, and counter-recruited at high schools.
They even tried making peace between Ray
Robinson, a militant civil rights activist, and
George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the
American Nazi Party, agreeing to hold a
meeting in their home between the two
groups. Susan died unexpectedly in 1978. Ted
married Margaret Connell in 1985. After
selling his consulting business, he started the
nonprofit Jubilee Center in 1988, and he wrote
a book about the founding of the center called
Transformational Joy. Jubilee promoted
experiential worship, held workshops and
retreats, and published Joy newsletter. Other
books that Ted wrote are Savoring One River;
The Sufi Order of the West; Print Unchained:
A Saga of Invention and Enterprise; and The
Community Land Trust (with Robert Swann).
He also helped publish works by other writers:
Eight Rabbits, Susan Webster Poems, and Songs
from the Hills of Vermont. After Ted and
Margaret divorced in 1992, he met Edie Mas,
a healthcare specialist and sculptor, and they
remained partners until his death. Ted and
Edie built a solar-powered home on a rocky
ridge in Marlboro, Vt., where they happily
shoveled snow, fed the wood stove, and found
joy together among the deep woods and
wildflowers of the Vermont mountains. Ted
returned to the computer printer industry in
1996 as a consultant for I.T. Strategies, a
partnership that continued for ten years. An
adherent of Sufism, he was most recently a
member of Putney (Vt.) Meeting and had been
a member of Monadnock Meeting in Jaffrey-
Peterborough, N.H., and Friends Meeting at
Cambridge (Mass.). He surfed, windsurfed,
competed in triathlons, cross-country skied
into his late 70s, and swam competitively all
his life, holding New England Masters
Swimming records in age-group freestyle
swimming. He stayed in excellent physical
condition until he succumbed to the cancer.
A loving father, grandfather, partner, and
friend, Ted is survived by three children, Mark
Webster, John Webster, and Chris Webster;
two step-children, Michael ODonnell and
Meghan ODonnell; three grandchildren; his
partner, Edie Mas; Edies two children, Alex
Mas and Carl Mas; and her four grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations
to Putney Friends Meeting, PO Box 381,
Putney, VT 05346, or Citizens Awareness
Network, PO Box 83, Shelburne Falls, MA
01370, online at www.nukebusters.org.
Classifieds appear on our website at
www.friendsjournal.org/classified.
CLASSIFIED AD DEADLINES:
January issue: November 12
February issue: December 10
Submit your text to: <sara@friendsjournal.org>
or Advertising Manager, Friends Journal,
1216 Arch Street, 2A, Philadelphia, PA 19107-2835.
For information call (215) 563-8629.
Classified rate is 94 per word. Minimum charge is
$29.70. Logo is additional $20. Add 10% if boxed.
10% discount for three consecutive insertions, 25%
for six. Appearance of any advertisement does not
imply endorsement by Friends Journal.
Accommodations
Coming to London? Friendly B&B. A block from British
Museum, 10-minute walk to Friends House. Centrally lo-
cated. Convenient for most tourist attractions. Direct
subway from Heathrow. Easy access to most other transport
links. Quiet, safe, secure. Ideal for persons traveling alone.
Full English Breakfast included. Complimentary wireless con-
nection. +44 (20) 7636-4718. <office@pennclub.co.uk>,
<www.pennclub.co.uk>.
Santa FeCharming, affordable adobe guest apartment
with kitchenette at our historic Canyon Road Meetinghouse.
Convenient to galleries and downtown.
Pictures at <santa-fe.quaker.org>.
Reservations: <friendsguestapartment@gmail.com> or
(505) 983-7241.
Seeking Spiritual Community? Beacon Hill Friends House,
Boston, accepting applications: 14 years, Quaker-based multi-
generational community. All welcome. Guest rooms < 2 weeks
also available. Information: <directors@bhfh.org>, (617) 227-
9118, <www.bhfh.org>.
SEATTLE QUAKER HOUSE/University Friends Meeting.
Self-service overnight accommodations. Free parking/Wi-Fi.
Microwave/refrigerator/teapot. Near University Washington/
Trader Joes/downtown buses.
Minimum donation: $40/one$50/two. (206) 632-9839. <quak-
erhouse.sea@gmail.com>.
Penington Friends House: New York City. Quaker-based
community for long- and short- term sojourners. A unique
place where you can find hospitality, shared meals, and
simple living. Many ages and many cultures. Shared facili-
ties. Wireless. Three blocks from Union Square Subway.
<www.penington.org>.
E-mail <peningtonfriends@gmail.com>. Call (212) 673-1730.
Ashland, Oreg.Friendly place in southern Oregon for out-
standing theater, rafting, fishing, birding, quiet time.
Anne Hathaways B&B and Garden Suites.
<www.ashlandbandb.com>; (541) 488-1050.
Pittsburgh Friends Meeting has Sojourner Rooms for short
stays. Free parking, wi-fi, shared bath, kitchen access. Conve-
nient to universities and public transportation. $20/night.
<pfmoffice@yahoo.com>, (412) 683-2669. Pictures on website
<www.quaker.org/pghpamm>.
Groups and individual lodging.
Seminars, workcamps, peace and
social justice. Internships.
<www.williampennhouse.org>.
Classified
Has there been a birth, death,
or marriage in your life recently?
Share your news with the
Milestones column. Email
departments@friendsjournal.org.
Submissions may be edited for
length and in keeping with the
style of Friends Journal.
Access to theological programs
just got easier!
ESR Access: Blend of 2-week resi-
dential courses and online semester-
long courses.
Contact: <esr@earlham.edu> or call (800) 432-1377.
Positions Vacant
Alabama Quaker couple seeks live-in Friend and farm-help
(m-or-f) for 1-yr Quaker presence. Room/board. Send CV to
Sara and Daryl <DragonflyFarm@otelco.net>.
Sojourner: Year-long experience at Quaker-related
womens monastery in Honduras. Participate fully in
our prayer practices and rustic lifestyle. Learn more at
<www.oakgroveunitedmethodist.com/amigasdelsenor> or
contact Sister Alegra <bethblodgettnow@yahoo.com>.
Real Estate
Elderberry: A creative Community for Life
Living simply, raising food, and sup-
porting each other as we age; a
concensus-based ecovillage of 18 af-
fordable homes in rural RTP/NC.
Visit <www.elderberrycohousing.com>. (919) 489-1802.
.Cape May, NJ Beach House for sale. See ad under Rentals
& Retreats for more information.
Rentals & Retreats
Arizona Sunshine! Friends Southwest Center, a Quaker-
founded residential community in S.E. Arizona, welcomes
friends to share our high desert peace and beauty.
Furnished rentals: 2-3 bedroom homes and a sweet renovated
farmhouse. $375$400 + utilities. Enjoy birding, hiking,
and unprogrammed worship. Contact (520) 642-1648,
<friendsswc@gmail.com>.
Pocono Manor. Beautiful, rustic mountain house. Suitable
for gatherings, retreats, and reunions. Seven bedrooms. Three
full baths. Beds for 15. Fully equipped. Deck with mountain
view. Hiking trails from back door. Close to parks and attrac-
tions. Weekends or by the week, April through October. Con-
tact Melanie Douty-Snipes: (215) 295-1138 ext. 101.
Cape May, NJ Beach Houseweekly rentals; weekend
rentals in off-season. Sleeps 12+. Air-conditioned bed-
rooms. Great for family reunions! Block from beach. Close
to mall. Ocean views from wraparound porch. Call: (718)
398-3561. House is also for sale, call if interested.
Retirement Living
Affordable retirement in Costa Rica. Cooperative living in
a large shared house for healthy active folks who value grow-
ing old together in community. San Jose suburb. Perfect
weather. <rbmovetocr@gmail.com>. (414) 483-3203.
Friends Homes, Inc., founded by North Carolina
Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, has been
providing retirement options since 1968. Both
Friends Homes at Guilford and Friends Homes West
are fee-for-service, continuing care retirement communi-
ties offering independent living, assisted living, and skilled
nursing care. Located in Greensboro, North Carolina,
both communities are close to Guilford College and sev-
eral Friends meetings. Enjoy the beauty of four seasons,
as well as outstanding cultural, intellectual, and spiritual
opportunities in an area where Quaker roots run deep.
For information please call: (336) 292-9952, or write:
Friends Homes West, 6100 W. Friendly Avenue, Greensboro,
NC 27410. Friends Homes, Inc. owns and operates com-
munities dedicated to the letter and spirit of Equal Hous-
ing Opportunity. <www.friendshomes.org>.

Visit us and learn all about our:
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0.er z+ +cre. el +r|eretam .ett|a.
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|ae+| |ec+t|ea. ler ca|tare & recre+t|ea
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For details on our community and our many programs open
to the publiccall us at (800) 331-4302 or visit our website
<www.medfordleas.org>.
Home of the Barton Arboretum & Nature Preserve Member,
American Public Gardens Association, Greater Philadelphia
Gardens Member, and Garden State Gardens
Kendal communities and services reflect sound management,
adherence to Quaker values, and respect for each individual.
Continuing care retirement communities:
CollingtonMetro Washington, D.C.
Kendal at Longwood; CrosslandsKennett Square, Pa.
Kendal at HanoverHanover, N.H.
Kendal at OberlinOberlin, Ohio
Kendal at IthacaIthaca, N.Y.
Kendal at LexingtonLexington, Va.
Kendal on HudsonSleepy Hollow, N.Y.
Kendal at GranvilleGranville, Ohio
The Admiral at the LakeChicagos Lakefront
Independent living with residential services:
Coniston and CartmelKennett Square, Pa.
The Lathrop CommunitiesNorthampton and Easthamp-
ton, Mass.
Nursing care, residential and personal care:
Barclay FriendsWest Chester, Pa.
Chandler HallNewtown, Pa.
Advocacy/education programs:
Untie the ElderlyPa. Restraint Reduction Initiative
Kendal Outreach, LLC
COLLAGE 360, Assessment Tool for Well Elderly
For information, contact:
Doris Lambert, The Kendal Corporation, 1107 E. Baltimore
Pike, Kennett Square, PA 19348. (610) 335-1200. E-mail
<info@kcorp.kendal.org>.
Schools
Lansdowne Friends School (Pre-K through 6th grade) pro-
vides a challenging, exciting educational program in a nurtur-
ing Quaker setting. Our program builds on the natural curios-
ity our children have for their immediate surroundings, and
supports exploration of their ever-changing world. 110 N.
Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, PA 19050. (610) 623-2548.
<www.lansdownefriendsschool.org>.
Arthur Morgan School, a Montessori/ Quaker Boarding Farm
School for adolescents, is now accepting student applications.
AMS features small academic classes (staff student ratio 1:2),
wilderness experiences, consensus decision making, commu-
nity living, and service learning opportunities. Students
are encouraged to question and evaluate, think creatively and
work cooperatively. Located next door to Camp Celo. Call
Bridget: (828) 675-4262; <info@arthurmorganschool.org>;
<www.arthurmorganschool.org>.
Books & Publications
The Tract Association of Friends
(founded: 1816)
Offers Friends Calendar, pamphlets, and books on Quaker
faith and practice. 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA
19102-1403. <www.tractassociation.org>; phone (215) 579
2752; email <taf1816@verizon.net>.
JAMES NAYLER:
Revolutionary to Prophet
by David Neelon
If someone were to ask me for a biography of Nayler, this is
the one I would recommend. Brian Drayton.
Publishers Special Discount: $20 shipping included.
Order direct by mail, phone, or e-mail.
Mail order (include check) to: Leadings Press, 193 Long Bow
Ln. W. Becket, MA 01223. Be sure to include your shipping
address. Telephone orders: (401) 954-4901. E-mail orders:
<dneelon@earthlink.net>. We will include bill with shipment.
PERSONALIZED, SIGNED COPIES AVAILABLE, IF SPECIFIED.
www.vin tagequakerbooks.com.
Rare and out-of-print Quaker journals, history, religion.
Vintage Books, 50 Washington Street, Bath, ME 04530.
Email: <books@vintagequakerbooks.com>.
Western Friend (formerly Friends Bulletin), a magazine by and
about Western Friends, supporting the spiritual lives of Friends
everywhere. Subscription: $35, 8 issues. 5-month intro sub-
scription just $10.
Email for free sample copy <editor@westernfriend.org>. West-
ern Friend, 833 SE Main St. Mailbox #138, Portland, OR 97214.
Visit <www.westernfriend.org> for news, books, and more.
Pendle Hill Pamphlets, insightful essays on
Quaker life, thought, and spirituality, about 9,000
words each. Subscribe: five pamphlets/year/
$30 (U.S.). Also available: every pamphlet pub-
lished by Pendle Hill. (800) 742-3150 ext. 2, <bookstore@
pendlehill.org>, <www.pendlehill.org>.
Opportunities

Upcoming Silent Retreats in the manner of Friends:
Jan. 1720, 2014 at Powell House, Old Chatham, NY (Reg-
ister at <powellhouse.org>). April 47, 2014 at the DeKoven
Center, Racine, WI. More information at <schoolofthe-
spirit.org/retreats>.
Scholarships available. Are you called to the facilitation of
silent retreats? The School of the Spirit Ministry considers
applications to its Mentoring Program on November 1
and May 1 annually. Accepted mentees accompany seasoned
leaders at future retreats as way opens.
Visit <schoolofthespirit.org/mentoring>.
Costa Rica Study Tours: Visit the Quaker community in
Monteverde. For information and a brochure contact Sarah
Stuckey: +011 (506) 2645-7090; write: Apdo. 46 - 5655, Mon-
teverde, Costa Rica; e-mail: <crstudytours@gmail.com>;
<www.crstudytours.com>; or call in the USA (937) 728-9887.
Do you care about the future
of the Religious Society of Friends?
Support growing meetings and a spiritually vital Quakerism
for all ages with a deferred gift to Friends General Confer-
ence (bequest, charitable gift annuity, trust).
For information, please contact Larry Jalowiec at
FGC, 1216 Arch Street, 2-B, Philadelphia, PA 19107;
(215) 561-1700; <larryj@fgcquaker.org>.
<www.fgcquaker.org/development>.
A partial listing of Friends
meetings in the United States
and abroad.
= Handicapped Accessible
Meeting Notice Rates: $22 per line per year.
$29 minimum. Payable a year in advance. No discount. New
entries and changes: $16 each.
Submit your text to <marianned@friendsjournal.org>
Not|ce: $ome meet|ngs have been removed due to d|fcu|ty |n
acquiring updated information. If your meeting has been
removed and wishes to continue to be listed, please contact
us (see Masthead, on p. 2). Please accept our apologies for
any inconvenience.
BOTSWANA
BOTSWANA-Monthly Meeting (267) 394-7147
<gudrun@info.bw>.
CANADA
OTTAWA-Worship and First-day school 10:30 a.m. 91A
Fourth Ave. (613) 232-9923.
TORONTO, ONTARIO-<www.torontoquakermeeting.org>.
Accommodation: <tmmfriendshouse@hotmail.com>.
NICARAGUA
MANAGUA-Unprogrammed worship,Quaker House,
contact for bi-monthly schedule, <www.pronica.org>,
011.505.2266.0984.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL
RAMALLAH-Unprogrammed worship, Sunday at 10:30
a.m. Meetinghouse on main street in Ramallah. Contact:
Jean Zaru, phone: 02-2952741.
UNITED STATES
Alabama
BIRMINGHAM-Unprogrammed meeting. 10 a.m. Sundays.
4413 5th Ave. S., Birmingham, AL 35222. (205) 592-0570.
<http://birmingham.quaker.org>.
FAIRHOPE-Discussion 9 a.m. Unprogrammed Meeting 10
a.m. Sundays, Meetinghouse. 9261 Fairhope Ave. Write:
P.O. Box 319, Fairhope, AL 36533. (251) 945-1130.
HUNTSVILLE-Unprogrammed meeting 10 a.m. Sundays.
(256) 604-0497. P.O. Box 3530, Huntsville, AL 35810.
Alaska
ANCHORAGE-Unprogrammed worship Sundays 10:30
a.m. Call for FDS schedule. Anchorage Waldorf School,
3250 Baxter Road. Call (907) 277-6700.
FAIRBANKS-Unprogrammed, First Day, 10 a.m. Hidden Hill
Friends Center, 2682 Gold Hill Rd. Phone: (907) 479-3796.
Arizona
FLAGSTAFF-Unprogrammed meeting and First-day
school, 10 a.m. 402 S. Beaver, 86001. (928) 607-5725.
<www.fagstaffquakers.org>.
McNEAL-Cochise Friends worship group at Friends SW
Center, Hwy 191, m.p. 16.5. Worship Sun., 11 a.m., except
May-August. Sharing, 3rd Sun. 10 a.m. (520) 642-1648.
TEMPE-Worship and First-day school 10 a.m. 318 E. 15th
St., 85281. (480) 968-3966. <www.tempequakers.org>.
TUCSON-Pima Friends Meeting (unprogrammed). First-day
school and worship, 8:15 and 10 a.m. 931 N. 5th Ave., 85705-
7723. Information: (520) 884-1776. <http://pima.quaker.org>.
California
ARCATA-11 a.m. 1920 Zehndner. (707) 826-0453.
BERKELEY-Unprogrammed meeting. Worship, 9 a.m.
and 11 a.m. temporarily meeting at Church Divinity School
of the Pacfc, corner of Euclid & LeConte. (510) 843-9725.
BERKELEY-Strawberry Creek, P.O. Box 5065, Berkeley,
CA 94705. (510) 524-9186. Unprogrammed worship
and First-day school, 10 a.m. at Berkeley Technology
Academey, Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Derby Street.
<http://strawberrycreek.quaker.org>.
OAKLAND WORSHIP GROUP-5 p.m. Sundays, at
the home of Pamela Calvert and Helen Haug, 3708
Midvale Ave. For more information call (510) 336-9695.
<www.oaklandquakers.org>.
CHICO-9:30-10:15 a.m. singing; 10:30 a.m. unprogrammed
worship, children`s classes. 1601 Hemlock at 16th Street.
(530) 345-3753. <www chicofriendsmeetingquakers.com>.
DAVIS-Meeting for worship First Days, 9:45 a.m. 345 L St.
Visitors call (530) 758-8492.
GRASS VALLEY-Meeting for worship, 9:45 a.m.,
discussion/sharing, 11 a.m. Sierra Friends Center campus,
13075 Woolman Ln. Phone: (530) 878-1237.
IRVINE-Orange County Friends Meeting, 2091 Business
Center Dr. Ste 100. Religious education 9:30. Meeting for
worship 10:30 <www.orangecountryquakers.org>.
LA JOLLA-Meeting 10 a.m. 7380 Eads Ave. Visitors call
(858) 456-1020.
MARIN COUNTY-10 a.m. Veritas Interfaith Center
at Dominican University, 75 Magnolia, San Rafael, CA
94901. (415) 430-8416.
MARLOMA LONG BEACH-10 a.m. 2935 Spaulding St. at
Orizaba. (562) 594-0566.
OJAI-Unprogrammed worship. First Day,10 a.m., 506
Crestview Dr., Ojai, CA 93023. For information call (805)
640-0444.
PALO ALTO-Meeting for worship and First-day classes for
children, 10:30 a.m. 957 Colorado. (650) 856-0744.
PASADENA-Orange Grove Monthly Meeting, 520 E.
Orange Grove Blvd. First-day school 10 a.m., meeting for
worship 11 a.m. Phone: (626) 792-6223.
REDLANDS-RIVERSIDE-SAN BERNARDINO-Inland
Valley Friends Meeting. 10:15 a.m. 4061 Mission Inn Ave.,
Riverside, CA 92501. (951) 682-5364 or (909) 882-4250.
SACRAMENTO-Meeting 10 a.m. 890 57th Street. Phone:
(916) 457-3998.
SAN DIEGO-Unprogrammed worship, First Days, 10:30
a.m. Friends Center, 3850 Westgate Place.
SAN FRANCISCO-Meeting for worship and First-day
school, 11 a.m., Sundays. 65 9th Street. (415) 431-7440.
SAN JOSE-Sunday worship at 10 a.m. Fellowship at
11:30 a.m. 1041 Morse St., San Jose, CA 95126. (408)
264-0524.
SANTA BARBARA-2012 Chapala St., Sundays 10 a.m.,
children`s program. (805) 687-0165.
SANTA ROSA-Redwood Forest Meeting. Worship 10
a.m. 1647 Guerneville Rd. Phone: (707) 578-3327.
SEBASTOPOL-Apple Seed Mtg. Unprogrammed
worship 10 a.m., 477 Petaluma Ave. (707) 573-6075.
STOCKTON-Delta Meeting. Unprogrammed, 10 a.m. 2nd
First Day, 645 W. Harding Way (Complementary Medical
Center). For info call (209) 478-8423.
VISALIA-Worship 10:30 a.m. 17208 Ave. 296, Visalia.
(559) 734-8275.
Colorado
BOULDER-Meeting for worship 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m.
First-day school and childcare available 10 a.m. 1825
Upland Avenue. Phone Mary Hey at (303) 442-3638.
COLORADO SPRINGS-Colorado Springs Friends
Meeting, 950 E. Cimarron Street, Colorado Spring,
CO 80903. Unprogrammed meeting for worship and
First-day school at 10 a.m. Phone: (719) 685-5547,
<coloradospringsquakers.org>.
DENVER-Mountain View Friends Meeting, 2280 South
Columbine St. Worship and adult discussion, 9 a.m.
Worship and First-day school, 10:30 a.m. Westside
worship, 10 a.m. Phone: (303) 777-3799.
DURANGO-Unprogrammed worship, First-day school,
and adult discussion. 803 County Rd. 233. (970) 317-
4294. Please call for times.
FORT COLLINS-Meeting for worship and First-day
school, 10 a.m. 2222 W. Vine. (970) 491-9717.
<www.fortcollinsquakers.org>.
Connecticut
HARTFORD-Meeting and First-day school, 10 a.m.
Discussion 11 a.m. 144 South Quaker Lane, West
Hartford. Phone: (860) 232-3631.
MIDDLETOWN-Worship and First-day school, 10 a.m. 51
Lawn Ave. Phone: (860) 347-8079.
NEW HAVEN-Meeting and First-day school, Sundays,
10:30 a.m. 225 East Grand Ave., New Haven, CT 06513.
(203) 468-2398. <www.newhavenfriends.org>.
STORRS-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. Corner North
Eagleville and Hunting Lodge Rds. (860) 487-1847.
WILTON-Unprogrammed worship and First-day
school 10 a.m. Child care all year. Meeting for healing,
discussions, fellowship. 317 New Canaan Rd. (Rte. 106),
Wilton, CT 06897. (203) 762-5669.
Delaware
CAMDEN-Worship 10 a.m., First-day sch. 9 a.m., 2 mi.
So. of Dover,122 E. Cam-Wyo Ave., Camden. (302) 734-
1279; (302) 698-3324.
HOCKESSIN-Worship 10:45 a.m. First-day school 10
a.m. Sept.May. Childcare provided year-round. NW
from Hockessin-Yorklyn Rd. at frst crossroad, 1501 Old
Wilmington Rd. (302) 239-2223. <localquakers.org>.
LEWES-Friends Worship Group, 10 a.m. Sunday and 7
p.m. Wednesday. Call for directions, (302) 645-5288 or
(302) 644-4454 or consult <www.delmarvaquakers.org>.
NEWARK-10:15-10:30 a.m. adult singing; 10:3011:30
a.m. worship. Newark Center for Creative Learning, 401
Phillips Ave. (302) 547-9228. Summer (JuneAug.) we
meet at historical London Britain Meeting House, worship
10:30 a.m. Call for directions.
WILMINGTON-Worship and First-day school, Sundays 10
a.m. 401 N. West St., 19801. Phone: (302) 652-4491.
Florida
CLEARWATER-Meeting 10 a.m., 917 Louden Ave.,
Dunedin, FL. (727) 372-6382. <clearwaterfriends.org>.
First-day school available.
Meetings
United Friends School is a preschool8th grade school in
Quakertown, PA. With a progressive academic program, we
honor students of all cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs. Visit
<www.unitedfriendsschool.org>.
Services Ofered
Hurry up and finish speaking, so I can tell you why youre
wrong! Arthur Fink works with nonprofit boards and other
groups to facilitate listening, clarity, focus, clear governance,
helpful retreats, and more. <InsightAndClarity.com>. (207)
615-5722.
Custom Marriage Certificates and other traditional or
decorated documents. Various calligraphic styles and water-
color designs available. Over twenty years experience. Pam
Bennett, P.O. Box 136, Uwchlan, PA 19480.
<prbcallig@verizon.net>, <www.prbcallig.com>.
Custom designed and decorated WEDDING
CERTIFICATES, illuminated letters, po-
etry, family trees, citations etc. by cal-
ligrapher Mary Teichman. All archival ma-
terials used. <www.mtcalligraphy.com>.
E-mail: <mary@mtcalligraphy.com>.
(413) 529-9212. Mary Teichman Calligraphy, PO Box 446,
Easthampton, MA 01027.
Oakland Friends Burial Grounda Quaker burial ground
near West Chester, PA has available space. Serene, wooded,
park-like setting with a resident caretaker.
Contact West Chester Meeting Secretary at (610) 696-0491 or
<wcfmeeting@gmail.com>.
All Things Calligraphic
Carol Gray, Calligrapher (Quaker). Specializing in wedding
certificates. Reasonable rates, timely turnarounds.
<www.carolgraycalligraphy.com>.

Purchase Quarterly Meeting (NYYM) maintains a peace tax
escrow fund. Those interested in tax witness may wish to
contact us through NYYM, 15 Rutherford Place, New York,
NY 10003.
Conducting Business? Friend with over 30 years experience
in organizations and businesses, for- and non-profit. Bringing
servant leadership to fruition. Services include incorporation,
setup, reorganization, accounting/finance, marketing/advertis-
ing, crisis management, coaching, ongoing support. On-site or
distance. Deneen Consulting, <www.deneenconsulting.com>,
(407) 563-1370.
OAK PARK-Worship 10 a.m., Oak Park Art League, 720
Chicago Ave. (708) 445-8201. <www.oakparkfriends.org>.
UPPER FOX VALLEY-Discussion 9 a.m., worship 10
a.m., post worship fellowship, 3013 Country Club Rd.,
Woodstock. Info: (815) 385-8512.
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN-Meeting for worship 10:30
a.m., Sunday. 1904 East Main Street, Urbana, IL 61802.
Phone: (217) 328-5853. <www.quaker.org/urbana/>.
Indiana
BLOOMINGTON-Meeting for worship 10:30 a.m. Moores
Pike at Smith Road. (812) 336-5576.
CAMBY-Fairfeld Friends Meeting, 10441 E. County
Rd. 700 South, 46113. (317) 856-3121.
<www.fairfeldfriends.org>.
INDIANAPOLIS-North Meadow Circle of Friends, 1710
N. Talbott. Unprogrammed worship 10 a.m. Children
welcome. (317) 926-7657.
INDIANAPOLIS-Valley Mills Meeting, 6739 W. Thompson
Rd. (317) 856-4368. <www.vmfriends.org>.
LAFAYETTE-Unprogrammed worship Sundays at 10
a.m., 176 E. Stadium Ave., West Lafayette. (765) 404-
5150. <laffriendsmtg@gmail.com>.
RICHMOND-Clear Creek, Stout Memorial Meetinghouse,
on the campus of Earlham College, unprogrammed, 10:00
a.m. (765) 935-5448.
RICHMOND-West Richmond Friends Meeting.
Semi-programmed worship 9:30 a.m. Sunday School
11:00 a.m. 609 West Main Street. (765) 962-4485.
<www.westrichmondfriends.org>.
SOUTH BEND-Unprogrammed worship with
concurrent First-day school, 10:30 a.m. 802 Lincoln
Way W., South Bend, IN 46616. (574) 232-8258.
<southbendfriends@gmail.com>, <southbend.quaker.org>.
VALPARAISO-Duneland Friends Meeting. Unprogrammed
worship 10 a.m. Youth Service Bureau, 253 W.
Lincolnway. (219) 945-9260.
WEST LAFAYETTE-Unprogrammed worship at 10 a.m. at
176 E. Stadium Ave., West Lafayette.
Iowa
AMES-Worship 10:30 a.m. Sunday. 121 S. Maple. (515)
232-2763. <www.quakernet.org>.
DECORAH-First-day school 9:30, worship 10:30. 603 E.
Water St. (563) 382-3699. Summer schedule varies.
DES MOINES-Unprogrammed worship 10 a.m., discussion
11:30 a.m. Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative), childcare
provided. Meetinghouse, 4211 Grand Ave. (515) 274-4717.
IOWA CITY-Unprogrammed meeting for worship 10 a.m. 311
N. Linn St. Call (319) 351-2234. <www.iowacityfriends.org>.
PAULLINA-Small rural unprogrammed meeting. Worship
10:30 a.m. Sunday school 9:30 a.m. Fourth Sunday
dinner. Business, second Sunday. Contact Doyle Wilson,
clerk, (712) 757-3875. Guest house available.
WEST BRANCH-Unprogrammed worship at 10 a.m.,
2nd Sunday worship includes business; other weeks,
discussion follows. 317 N. 6th St. Call: (319) 643-5639.
Kansas
LAWRENCE-Oread Friends Meeting, 1146 Oregon.
Unprogrammed meeting for worship at 10 a.m. Child care
available.
TOPEKA-Unprogrammed worship 9:45 a.m. followed by
discussion. 603 S.W. 8th, Topeka. First-day school and
childcare provided. Phone: (785) 233-5210 or 220-7676.
WICHITA-Heartland Meeting, 14505 Sandwedge Circle,
67235. (316) 729-4483. First Days: Discussion 9:30
a.m. Unprogrammed worship 11 a.m. On 2nd First Day
of month carry-in brunch 9:30 a.m., business 12 noon.
<http://heartland.quaker.org>.
Kentucky
BEREA-Meeting Sunday, 10 a.m. 300 Harrison Road, Berea,
KY. (859) 334-0406. <www.bereafriendsmeeting.org>.
LOUISVILLE-Meeting for worship 10:30 a.m. 3050 Bon Air
Ave., 40205. Telephone: (502) 452-6812.
Louisiana
BATON ROUGE-Unprogrammed worship 11:30 a.m.
Sunday. 2303 Government St. Clerk: Sheila Kelly (225) 284-
1203. <www.batonrougefriends.net>.
Maine
BAR HARBOR AREA-Acadia Friends. Unprogrammed
worship and First-day school, 9 a.m., Neighborhood House,
Northeast Harbor. (207) 288-8240 or (207) 288-9695.
BELFAST AREA-Friends. Join us for unprogrammed
worship, Sunday 11 a.m., 107 Church Street, Belfast, ME.
For directions (207) 338-3080 or 338-3428.
CASCO-Quaker Ridge. Unprogrammed worship 10:30
a.m. summer only. 1814 meetinghouse open to visitors, S
of Rt. 11 near Hall`s Funeral Home. (207) 650-6263.
DURHAM-Friends Meeting, on corner of 532 Quaker
Meetinghouse Rd. and Rt 125. (207) 353-6354. Semi-
programmed meeting for worship, 10:30 a.m.
FARMINGTON AREA-Unprogrammed meeting for
worship, 1011 a.m. 227 Main St., Farmington. Telephone:
(207) 778-3168 or (207) 778-2268.
MIDCOAST-Damariscotta. Unprogrammed meeting.
From the south on Rt.1 turn left onto Belvedere Rd.,
from north turn right. (207) 563-3464 or 563-6084.
<www.midcoastfriendsmeeting.org>.
PORTLAND-Unprogrammed worship, First-day school,
10:30 a.m. 1837 Forest Ave. (Rte. 302). Call for summer
hours (207) 797-4720.
VASSALBORO-Worship in song 9:45, unprogrammed
meeting for worship 10 a.m., Friends Meetinghouse, 48 S.
Stanley Hill Rd., E. Vassalboro. <vassalborofriends.org>.
WHITING-Cobscook Meeting, unprogrammed. Worship
and childcare 10 a.m. (207) 733-2068.
Maryland
ADELPHI-Worship and First-day school 10 a.m. Nursery
available. 2303 Metzerott Rd., Adelphi. (301) 445-1114 or
<http://adelphifriends.org>.
ANNAPOLIS-351 Dubois Rd. Worship 11 a.m. Phone:
(410) 573-0364. <www.quaker.org/annapolis>.
BALTIMORE-Stony Run: worship 9:30 and 11 a.m.,
First-day school at 11 a.m. and simple lunch at rise of
meeting, except, worship at 8:30 and 10 a.m. July &
August, 5116 N. Charles Street. (443) 703-2590.
BALTIMORE-Homewood: worship and First-day school
10:30 a.m. year-round. 3107 N. Charles St. (410) 235-4438.
Fax: (410) 235-6058. <homewoodfriends@verizon.net>.
BALTIMORE/SPARKS-Gunpowder Meeting. Worship
and First-day school 10 a.m. Call for directions. Phone:
(410) 472-4583.
BETHESDA-Worship, First-day school, and childcare
at 11 a.m. on Sundays; mtg. for business at 9:15 a.m. 1st
Sunday; worship at 9:30 a.m. other Sundays. Washington,
D.C., metro accessible. On Sidwell Friends Lower School
campus, Edgemoor Lane and Beverly Rd. (301) 986-8681.
<www.bethesdafriends.org>.
CHESTERTOWN-Chester River Meeting, 124 Philosophers
Terrace. Worship 11 a.m. Phone (410) 778-2797.
EASTON-Third Haven Meeting, 405 S. Washington St. 10
a.m. Sun., 5:30 p.m. Wed. Candace Shattuck, clerk, (410)
226-5787 or (410) 822-0293. <www.thirdhaven.org>.
ELLICOTT CITY-Patapsco Friends Meeting, Mt. Hebron
House, 2331 Calvin Circle. 10:30 a.m. First-day school &
simple meal. (410) 465-6554. <www.patapscofriends.com>.
PFM sponsors South Mountain Friends Fellowship, MD
Correctional Institute, Hagerstown.
NORTH CENTRAL MD-Pipe Creek Meeting. Worship 10
a.m., 455 Quaker Hill Rd. Union Bridge, MD. Phone (410)
374-1933.
RISING SUN-Brick Meetinghouse Rd., 1st and 3rd
Sundays at 10:30 a.m. <www.nottinghambrick.org>.
SALISBURY-Unprogrammed worship 11 a.m., 519 Dykes
Road. (410) 749-9649.
SANDY SPRING-Meetinghouse Road off Md. Rt. 108.
Worship Sundays, 9:00 and 11 a.m. and Thursdays, 7:30
p.m. Classes Sundays, 11 a.m. First Sunday of month
worship 9:00 a.m. only, followed by meeting for business.
Phone (301) 774-9792.
Massachusetts
ACTON-Worship and First-day school 10 a.m. Minute
Man Arc, 130 Baker Ave. Ext., Concord. (978) 263-8660.
AMHERST-GREENFIELD-Mount Toby Meeting. Worship
and First-day school 10 a.m. Childcare provided. 194 Long
Plain Rd. (Rte 63), Leverett. (413) 548-9188 or clerk (413)
658-7125.
ANDOVER-LAWRENCE-Worship: Sundays at 2 p.m. Forest
Street Union Church, 15 Forest Street, Methuen, Mass.
(978) 470-3580. <www.lawrence-andover-quakers.org>.
BECKET-Worship group (seasonal) 5 p.m. First days, 7th
to mid 10th month, 193 Long Bow Lane West near merger
of Rts. 20 & 8, few stairs or scents. (413) 623-5714 or
<becketwg@neym.org> for directions.
BOSTON-Worship 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Beacon Hill
Friends Meeting, 6 Chestnut St., Boston 02108. Phone:
(617) 227-9118. <www.bhfm.org>.
CAMBRIDGE-Sundays 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.; Forum at
9:30 a.m., Mid-week worship Wed. at 8:30 a.m., 5
Longfellow Park (near Harvard Sq., off Brattle St.). (617)
876-6883.
CAMBRIDGE-Fresh Pond Monthly Meeting. Worship and
First-day school 10 a.m. Cambridge Friends School, 5
Cadbury Road. <www.neym.org/fpm/>.
DARTMOUTH/WESTPORT-Allen`s Neck Friends Meeting,
739 Horseneck Rd., Dartmouth. Semi-programmed
worship and First-day school Sunday 9 a.m. (508) 636-
8910. <www.allensneck.org>
FRAMINGHAM-Worship 10 a.m. First-day school. Year
round. 841 Edmands Rd. (2 mi. west of Nobscot traffc
lights). (508) 877-1261. <www.neym.org/fffm>.
GREAT BARRINGTON-South Berkshire Meeting.
Unprogrammed: 10:30 a.m. First Day. 280 State Rd. (Rt. 23).
Phone: (413) 528-1230. <www.southberkshirefriends.org>.
MATTAPOISETT-Unprogrammed 9:30 a.m., Marion Road
(Rte. 6). (508) 758-3579. <www.mattapoisettquakers.org>.
NEW BEDFORD-Unprogrammed meeting for worship 10
a.m. 83 Spring St. Phone (508) 990-0710. All welcome.
DAYTONA-Ormond Beach-Halifax Friends Meeting
for Worship, 2nd and 4th First Days at 10:30 a.m.
in member`s homes. Call (386) 445-4788 or Email:
<quakermac@cf.rr.com>.
FT. LAUDERDALE-Meeting 11 a.m. at 2nd Presbyterian
Church, 1400 N. Federal Highway.
FT. MYERS-Meeting at Calusa Nature Center, First
Days at 10:30 a.m. Telephone: (239) 989-2503.
LAKE WALES-Worship group, (863) 676-2199 or (863)
635-9366.
LAKE WORTH-Palm Beach Meeting, 823 North A St.
10:30 a.m. Phone: (561) 585-8060.
MELBOURNE-For location and time, visit
<www.seymmeetings.org/SpaceCoast/SC.html>.
MIAMI-Friends Meeting and First-day school, 10:30 a.m.
1185 Sunset Dr. (305) 661-7374. Clerk: Carl Hersh,
<http://miamifriends.org>.
ORANGE CITY-Worship Group, John Knox Village.10
a.m. Info: (386) 774-4529.
ORLANDO-Meeting and First-day school, 10:00 a.m.
316 Marks St., Orlando, 32803. (407) 476-4369. <www.
orlandoquakers.org>.
ST. PETERSBURG-Meeting for worship and First-day school,
10:30 a.m. 130 19th Ave. S.E. Phone: (727) 896-0310.
SARASOTA- Worship 10 a.m., discussion 11 a.m. 3139
57th St., Sarasota, FL. NW corner 57th St. and Lockwood
Ridge Rd. (941) 358-5759.
TALLAHASSEE-2001 S. Magnolia Dr., 32301; hymn
singing 10 a.m., worship 10:30 a.m.; midweek worship and
Bible study. (850) 878-3620 or 421-6111.
TAMPA-Meeting and First-day school, 10 a.m. 1502
W. Sligh Ave. Phone contacts: (813) 253-3244.
<www.tampafriends.org>.
WINTER PARK-Meeting 10 a.m., Crosby Wellness
Center, 2005 Mizell Ave., Winter Park, FL 32792. Phone:
(407) 843-2257.
Georgia
ATHENS-Unprogrammed, <athensga.quaker.org>.
ATLANTA-Worship and First-day school 10 a.m. 701 W.
Howard Ave., Decatur, GA 30030. (404) 377-2474.
SAVANNAH-First Day, 11 a.m. Trinity Methodist Church,
Telfair Square, 3rd foor. Use side door and look for signs.
(912) 308-8286. <savannahquakers@gmail.com>.
Hawaii
BIG ISLAND-10 a.m. Sunday. Unprogrammed worship
and lunch at alternating locations island-wide. Call (808)
322-3116, 325-7323.
HONOLULU-Sundays, 9:45 a.m. hymn singing; 10
a.m.worship and First-day school. 2426 Oahu Ave., 96822.
<www.hawaiiquaker.org>. Phone: (808) 988-2714.
MAUI-Friends Worship Group. Call for meeting times and
locations; Jay Penniman (808) 573-4987 or <jfp@igc.org>.
Idaho
MOSCOW-Pullman-Moscow Meeting, Campus Christian
Ctr., 822 Elm St., Moscow. Unprogrammed worship 11:30
a.m. Sunday. (208) 882-5120.
SANDPOINT-Friends Meeting, unprogrammed worship
at 1025 Alder St., 10 a.m. Sundays. For information call
Elizabeth Willey, (208) 263-4788.
SIOUX FALLS-Worship Group for meeting times call (605)
376-8863.
Illinois
BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL-Sunday morning unprogrammed
worship at 11 a.m. in homes. Newcomers welcomed. Please
call Meeting Co-clerks Bob Broad & Julie Hile at (309) 454-
5463 for more information.
CHICAGO-57th Street Mtg., 5615 Woodlawn in
Hyde Park., 10:30 a.m. Childcare. (773) 288-3066.
<www.57thstreetmeeting.org>.
CHICAGO-Chicago Monthly Meeting, 10749 S. Artesian
Ave. Worship 10 a.m. Phone: (312) 445-8949.
<www.chicagofriendsmeeting/>.
CHICAGO-Northside Friends Meeting. First-day
worship and childcare at 10 a.m., JASC, 4427 N. Clark
St. mid-week Wed. 7 p.m. in homes. (773) 980-6734.
<http://northsidefriends.org>.
DOWNERS GROVE-West Suburban Chicago. Worship
and First-day school 10:30 a.m. 5710 Lomond Ave. (Exit
I-355 at Maple Ave, East 3 blocks, turn right on Lomond).
Phone: (630) 968-3861 or (630) 852-5812.
EVANSTON-1010 Greenleaf St. (847) 864-8511
meetinghouse phone. Unprogrammed meeting for worship
10 a.m. First-day school (except JulyAug.) and childcare
available. <http://evanston.quaker.org>.
LAKE FOREST-Worship Sunday 10:30 a.m., Thursday,
8:00 a.m. at meetinghouse. 101 W. Old Elm Rd., Mail: Box
95, Lake Forest, IL 60045. Phone: (847) 234-8410.
McNABB-Clear Creek Meeting, 11 a.m. Meetinghouse,
1.5 mi. south, 5 mi. east of McNabb. (815) 882-2214.
<www.clearcreek.ilym.org>.
MONMOUTH-Spoon River FM, worship 10 a.m., Sundays
in homes. (309) 343-6847. <www.spoonriverquakers.org>.
NORTH SHORE-Worship and First-day school 10 a.m. Glen
Urquhart School, Beverly Farms, Mass., (978) 922-2513.
NORTHAMPTON-Worship 11 a.m., adult discussion
9:30; childcare. 43 Center Street. (413) 584-2788. Aspiring
to be scent-free, <http://northampton.quaker.org/>.
SANDWICH-East Sandwich Meetinghouse, 6 Quaker Rd.,
N of junction of Quaker Meetinghouse Rd. and Rte. 6A.
Meeting for worship Sunday 10 a.m. (508) 419-1619.
WELLESLEY-26 Benvenue St., Wellesley, 9 a.m.
fellowship, 9:30 a.m., all-ages Religious Education,
10:30 a.m. unpgrogrammed worship. (781) 237-0268,
<www.wellesleyfriendsmeeting.org>.
WEST FALMOUTH-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. Sunday.
574 W. Fal. Hwy / Rte. 28A. (508) 398-3773.
WESTPORT-Worship Sundays 10 a.m. 938 Main Road.
(508) 636-4963.
WORCESTER-Unprogrammed meeting for worship, child
care and religious education, 11 a.m. 901 Pleasant St.
(508) 754-3887 or <www.worcesterfriendsmeeting.org>.
UPPER VALLEY-Worship Group. Worship 10:30 a.m., 74
Federal Street, Greenfeld, MA. Contact (413) 772-1049 or
(413) 559-9449.
Michigan
BIRMINGHAM-Meeting 10:30 a.m. Brookside School
N.E. corner Lone Pine Rd. & Cranbrook Rd., Bloomfeld
Hills. Summer: Springdale Park, (end of) Strathmore Rd.
Clerk: Ellen Barnes (248) 528-1321.
CADILLAC-Tustin Friends worship group. Unprogrammed
worship, Wednesdays, 7 p.m. For additional information:
<www.tustinfriends.org> or call (231) 829-3440, or (231)
829-3328.
DETROIT-First Day meeting 10:30 a.m. Call (313) 341-
9404, or write 4011 Norfolk, Detroit, MI 48221, for
information.
GRAND RAPIDS-Worship and First-day school 10:30
a.m. (616) 459-5928, <www.grandrapidsfriends.org>.
KALAMAZOO-Childcare and adult education 9:30
a.m. Meeting for worship and First-day school 10:30 a.m.
Friends Meetinghouse, 508 Denner. (269) 349-1754.
LANSING-Red Cedar Friends Meeting, 1400 Turner
St. Lansing, MI 48906. First Day worship (with childcare)
9 and 10:30 a.m. First-day school 10:15. M-F worship
7:308 a.m. message phone (517) 3711047,
<www.redcedarfriends.org>.
MARQUETTE-Lake Superior Friends Meeting.
Unprogrammed Meeting for Worship. Please call (906)
475-7582 or (906) 249-1527 for more information.
MT.PLEASANT-Pine River Friends Meeting. Unprogrammed
worship 10 a.m., discussion 11 a.m., White Pine Montessori
Center, 701 E. Maple St., (989) 772-2421 or (989) 631-
6667 or <www.pineriverfriendsmi.org>.
NEWAYGO CO.-Fremont Friends Worship Group.
Unprogrammed Sundays 5:30 p.m. (231) 924-5349.
Email: <theresa.lindsay52@gmail.com>.
Minnesota
BRAINERD-Unprogrammed meeting and discussion,
Sundays. Call: (218) 963-2976 or (218) 828-1032.
MINNEAPOLIS-Minneapolis Friends Meeting, 4401
York Ave. South, Mpls., MN 55410. Call for times. (612)
926-6159. <www.minneapolisfriends.org>.
NORTHFIELD-Unprogrammed worship and First-day
school, 10:30 a.m. Sundays, at 304 S. Division St. (upstairs).
FFI (507) 663-1048 or <www.cannonvalleyfriends.org>.
ROCHESTER-Worship First Day 9:30 a.m., 1300 10th Ave.
N.E. (507) 287-8553. <www.rochestermnfriends.org>.
ST. PAUL-Prospect Hill Friends Meeting. Meets Sun. 4 p.m.
Call (612) 379-7386 or (651) 645-7657 for current information.
ST. PAUL-Twin Cities Friends Meeting, 1725 Grand
Ave., St. Paul. Unprogrammed worship Sunday at 8:30
a.m. and 11 a.m., Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Call for times
of Adult Education, First-day school, and meeting for
worship with attention to business (651) 699-6995. Visit
<www.tcfm.org> for more information.
Missouri
COLUMBIA-unprogrammed worship 10a.m. 6408 E. Locust
Grove Dr. (573) 474-1827, <www.quakersmissouri.org>.
ROLLA-Meeting 10:30 a.m. First Days, 603 E. 10th St.,
Rolla, MO. Clerk, Chris Jocius (573) 426-4848.
ST. LOUIS-Meeting 10 a.m. First Days. 1001 Park Ave.,
St. Louis, MO 63104. (314) 588-1122.
Montana
BILLINGS-Call: (406) 252-5647 or (406) 656-2163.
BOZEMAN-Worship Group, (406) 556-8014.
DILLON-Worship Group, (406) 683-5545 or 683-6695.
GREAT FALLS-(406) 453-2714 or (406) 788-2299.
HELENA-Worship Group, (406) 457-0515 or (406) 422-
5539.
MISSION VALLEY-Worship Group, (406) 676-8988.
MISSOULA-Unprogrammed. Sundays, 11 a.m. winter; 10
a.m. summer, 1861 South 12th Street W. (406) 549-6276,
<http://missoulafriendsmeeting.blogspot.com/>.
Nebraska
LINCOLN-Unprogrammed worship 10:00 a.m. 3319 S.
46th, (402) 488-4178 or Clerk: (402) 476-4948.
OMAHA-Worship 9:45 a.m., discussion 11 a.m., First-day
school available. (402) 553-2211 or (402) 391-4765 for
information, <www.quakernet.org>.
Nevada
RENO-Unprogrammed worship. For information call:
(775) 329-9400. Website: <www.RenoFriends.org>.
New Hampshire
DOVER-Unprogrammed worship, 10:30 a.m. 141 Central
Ave. Childcare available. Clerk, Jean V. Blickensderfer:
(207) 252-4573, or write: P.O. Box 297, Eliot, ME 03903,
<http://doverfriendsnh.org/>.
GONIC-Worship every First Day at 10 a.m. Corner of
Pickering Rd. and Quaker Lane. Clerk: Sara Hubner.
Phone: (207) 384-0991.
JAFFREY-Monadnock Meeting at Peterborough/
Jafferyline, rte. 202. Unprogrammed meeting for
worship, First-day school and childcare 10:30 a.m.
(603) 532-6203, 3 Davidson Rd., Jaffery, NH 03452.
<www.monadnockquakermeeting.org>.
HANOVER-Worship and First-day school, Sundays, 10
a.m. Friends Meetinghouse, 43 Lebanon St. (next to high
school), Clerk: Elizabeth Morse (603) 643-4138.
QUAKER CITY-Unity Monthly Meeting unprogrammed
worship Sunday 10 a.m. and potluck lunch, Unity Stage
Rd., Unity, NH. Call ahead for childcare and directions or
in Winter, a possible alternate location (603) 543-0910.
WEARE-10:30. 529 Quaker St., Henniker. Contact M.
Baker, (603) 478-5650 or Ludders (603) 529-7933.
New Jer sey
BARNEGAT-Worship 10 a.m., 614 East Bay Ave. Visitors
welcome. (609) 698-2058.
CHATHAM-Chatham-Summit Friends Meeting 158
Southern Blvd., Worship and First-day school 11 a.m. (Jul.,
Aug.,10 a.m.), (973) 635-2161. <www.chathamquakers.org>.
All welcome.
CINNAMINSON-Westfeld Friends Meeting, 2201 Riverton
Rd. Meeting for worship 11 a.m., Adult First-day school 10
a.m., children`s 10:45 a.m. (856) 829-7569.
CROSSWICKS-Worship and First-day school 9:30 a.m.,
15 Front St., Crosswicks (609) 298-4362.
DOVER-RANDOLPH-Worship and First-day school 11
a.m. Randolph Friends Meetinghouse, Quaker Church
Rd. and Quaker Ave. Randolph. (973) 627-0651, <www.
doverrandolphmeeting.org>.
HADDONFIELD-Worship 10 a.m., First-day school
follows, except summer. Babysitting provided during both.
Friends Ave. (856) 428-6242 or 428-5779.
MANASQUAN-Adult class 10 a.m., children`s class and
meeting 11 a.m. Rte. 35 at Manasquan Circle.
MEDFORD-Worship 10 a.m. First-day school 10:30 a.m.
Union St. Meetinghouse. Call (609) 953-8914, or
<medfordmeeting@aol.com>, <medfordfriendsmeeting.org>.
MEDFORD-Medford Leas Worship Group. Community
building 10-10:30 a.m. on Sundays. (609) 654-3000.
MENDHAM-Somerset Hills Worship Group, First Days, 9:30
a.m. at the Community of St. John the Baptist, 82 West Main
St. (908) 766-0614.
MICKLETON-Worship 10 a.m., 413 Kings Hwy (Rte #551)
Call (856) 423-3782, <www.mickletonmeeting.org>.
MOORESTOWN-118 E. Main St. First Day worship 10
a.m. Adult RE 9 a.m. (Sept.May). For info call (856) 235-
1561, or email <mmm1802@verizon.net>.
MOUNT HOLLY-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. High and
Garden Sts. Visitors welcome. Call: (609) 261-7575.
MULLICA HILL-Main St. Sept.May First-day school 9:45
a.m., Meeting for Worship 11 a.m.; JuneAug First-day
school 9:00 a.m., Meeting for Worship 10:00 a.m.
NEW BRUNSWICK-Meeting and First-day school 10:30
a.m. Meeting only July and Aug., 9:30 a.m. 109 Nichol
Ave. at Hale St. (732) 846-8969.
PLAINFIELD-Meeting for worship and First-day school 10:30
a.m. 225 Watchung Ave. at E. Third St. (908) 757-5736.
PRINCETON-Worship 9 and 11 a.m. First-day school 11
a.m. OctMay. 470 Quaker Rd. near Mercer St. (609)
737-7142.
QUAKERTOWN-Worship and First-day school 10:30
a.m. 290 White Bridge Rd., Quakertown, NJ 08868. (908)
735-0353.
RANCOCAS-Worship 11 a.m., First-day school 10 a.m.
Summer scheduleworship only 10 a.m., 6/159/15. 201
Main St., P.O. Box 104, Rancocas (Village), NJ 08073.
(609) 267-1265. Email: <rjanney14@comcast.net>.
SALEM-Meeting for worship 10:30 a.m., First-day school
9:30 a.m. East Broadway.
SEAVILLE-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. South Shore Rd.,
Rte. 9, Seaville. (609) 624-1165. Beach meeting in Cape
MayGrant St. Beach, 9 a.m. Sundays, June/Sept.
SHREWSBURY-Meeting for worship and First-day school
10:30 a.m. Rte. 35 and Sycamore. (732) 741-4138.
TRENTON-Meeting for worship and primary First-day
school 10 a.m. 142 E. Hanover St. (609) 278-4551. (Route
86) next to Episcopal Church. (518) 327-3885.
TUCKERTON-Little Egg Harbor Meeting. Left side of Rte.
9 traveling north. Worship 10:30 a.m.
New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE-Unprogrammed Meeting for Worship,
Sundays 10:30 a.m., 1600 5th St. NW. (505) 843-6450.
SANTA FE-Meeting for worship, Sundays, 9 and 11 a.m.
Friends Meetinghouse, 630 Canyon Rd. (505) 983-7241.
SILVER CITY AREA-Gila Friends Meeting 10-11 a.m.
Sundays at 609 N. Arizona Street, Silver City, NM. (575)
538-3141.
New York
ALBANY-Worship and First-day school 10 a.m. 727
Madison Ave. Phone: (518) 436-8812.
BROOKLYN-Worship First Days 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
(childcare provided 11a.m.). First-day school 11 a.m.
Third Day Worship 6:30 p.m. 110 Schermerhorn St. For
information: < www.brooklynmeeting.org> or call (212)
777-8866 (Mon.-Fri., 9-5). Mailing address: Box 026123,
Brooklyn, NY 11202.
BUFFALO-Worship 10:30 a.m. 1272 Delaware Avenue.
(716) 892-8645 for further information.
CENTRAL FINGER LAKES-Unprogrammed worship,
Geneva area. <www.quakerwny.com>, Call (315) 789-8792
or (607) 243-7077 for time and place, First-day school.
CHAUTAUQUA-Unprogrammed summer worship under
care of Fredonia Meeting, 9:30 AM .at Octagon building.
Call (716) 358-6419 or (716) 679-1452.
CLINTON-Mohawk Valley Monthly Meeting. Unprogrammed
worship 10:30 a.m., 2981 Austin Rd. 13323. (315) 853-1653.
CLINTON CORNERS-BULLS HEAD-Oswego Monthly
Meeting.Unprogrammed Meeting for Worship Sunday
10:30 a.m.1323 Bulls Head Road, mile E. of Taconic
Pkwy. (845) 266-6068, <bullshead.quaker.org>.
EASTON-Unprogrammed worship. Rte. 40, 20 miles N of
Troy, (518) 677-8934 or 677-8884.
ELMIRA-meets Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. call for location
(607) 962-4183, <www.elmiraquakers.org>.
FLUSHING-Unprogrammed meeting for worship, First
Day, 11 a.m. 137-16 Northern Boulevard, Flushing, NY
11354. (718) 358-9636.
FREDONIA-Year around unprogrammed meeting, 11:00
a.m., Barlows Mill, 369 W. Main, Fredonia, NY. Call (716)
358-6419 or (716) 679-1452.
HAMILTON-Judith Straub (315) 824-1375
<http://home.roadrunner.com/~hamiltonquakers/>.
ITHACA-Unprogrammed meeting for worship and First-
day school. Sundays 10:30 a.m. 120 Third Street, (607)
229-9500, <www.ithacamonthlymeeting.org>.
LONG ISLAND QUARTERLY MEETING-Meetings
normally at 11 a.m.
BETHPAGE P.M.-Second and fourth First Days
CONSCIENCE BAY M.M.-St. James. July and August
9:30 a.m.
JERICHO M.M.
MANHASSET M.M.-10 a.m.
MATINECOCK M.M.-10 a.m.
ORIENT-Worship Group, Orient Congregational Church
in Pastor`s Conference Rm., 9 a.m. (631) 477-2235
PECONIC BAY E.M.-Wainscott Chapel, Wainscott, 10
a.m. (631) 267-6606
SHELTER ISLAND E. M.-10:30 a.m. May to October
WESTBURY M.M. Contact us at
<komoska@optonline.net> or (631) 283-3981. Our
website is <www.nyym.org/liqm>.
NEW PALTZ-Worship, First-day school, and childcare
10:30 a.m. 8 N. Manheim. (845) 255-5791.
NEW YORK CITY-Brooklyn Meeting at 110
Schermerhorn Street: unprogrammed worship every
Sunday at 11 a.m. and every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.;
Fifteenth Street Meeting at 15 Rutherford Place (15th
Street), Manhattan: unprogrammed worship every Sunday
at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.; Flushing Meeting at
137-16 Northern Blvd, Queens: unprogrammed worship
every Sunday at 11:00 a.m.; Manhattan Meeting at 15
Rutherford Place (15th Street): programmed worship every
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in Room 1;
Morningside Meeting at Riverside Church, 91 Claremont
Ave., Manhattan (W. 120th Street): unprogrammed
worship every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. in Rm. 12T; Staten
Island Meeting: unprogrammed worship every Sunday
at 10:00 a.m. Phone (212) 777-8866 (Mon.-Fri., 9-5)
about First-day schools, business meetings, and other
information. Downtown Manhattan Allowed Meeting:
outdoors in lower Manhattan, Thursdays 6-7 p.m. May
Sept. For exact location call (212) 787-3903.
ONEONTA/COOPERSTOWN-Butternuts Monthly
Meeting. Phone (607) 547-5450 or (607) 435-9951.
COLUMBUS-Singing, 10:30 a.m., unprogrammed
meeting 10:45 a.m., 1954 Indianola Ave.; (614) 291-2331.
DAYTON-Friends meeting FGC. Unprogrammed worship
and First-day school 10:00 a.m. 1717 Salem Ave. At Mack
Memorial Church of the Brethren. Phone: (937) 253-3366.
DELAWARE-Unprogrammed meeting and First-day
school, 10 a.m., the music room in Andrews House, at the
corner of W. Winter and N. Franklin Streets. Meets from
September to May; for summer and 2nd Sundays, call
(740) 362-8921.
GRANVILLE-Unprogrammed meeting at 10 a.m. (740)
587-9847 <www.granvillefriendsmeeting.org>.
KENT-Meeting for worship and First-day school 10:30
a.m., UCM lounge, 1435 East Main Street. Barb
Warrington. Phone: (330) 342-3503.
MARIETTA-Mid-Ohio Valley Friends, Betsey Mills Club,
300 Fourth St., 1st and 3rd Sundays each month. 10:30
a.m. Phone: (304) 679-3970, <www.movquakers.org>.
NORTHWEST OHIO-Broadmead Monthly Meeting FGC.
Unprogrammed worship groups meet at:
BLUFFTON-Sally Weaver Sommer, (419) 358-0950.
FINDLAY-Claire Davis, (419) 422-7668.
SIDNEY-Marie Cotton, (937) 497-7326.
TOLEDO-Janet Smith, (419) 874-6738.
OBERLIN-Unprogrammed worship Sundays, 10:30 a.m.at
Kendal at Oberlin, 600 Kendal Drive. Call (440) 775-6358
or Email: <droose@oberlin.edu>.
OXFORD-Unprogrammed worship and First-day school,
10 a.m. (513) 523-1061.
WAYNESVILLE-Friends meeting, First-day school 9:30
a.m., unprogrammed worship 10:45 a.m. 4th and High Sts.
(513) 897-5946.
WILMINGTON-Campus Meeting (FUM/FGC), T.
Canby Jones Meetinghouse, Wilmington, College St.
Unprogrammed worship 10:00 a.m., year-round.
WOOSTER-Unprogrammed worship 10:45 a.m. 353 E
Pine St. at SW corner College and Pine Sts. (330) 241-2713,
<www.woosterfriends.org>, <woosterclerk@yahoo.com>.
YELLOW SPRINGS-Unprogrammed worship, FGC,
11 a.m. Rockford Meetinghouse, President St. (Antioch
campus). Clerk: Cheryl Keen (937) 767-8486.
Oklahoma
KIAMICHI-Worship Group SE OK, (918) 569-4803.
OKLAHOMA CITY-Friends Meeting. Unprogrammed
meeting for worship 7 p.m. Sundays. 333 SE 46th St.
(405) 632-7574.
STILLWATER-Monthly Meeting of Friends. The Lodge,
315 W. 12th Ave., Meeting for Worship, 11 a.m., Sundays.
Child care and First-day school. (405) 624-0778 or (405)
372-5594, Email: <StillwaterQuakers@gmail.com>.
TULSA-Green Country Friends Meeting. Unprogrammed
worship Sundays at 11 a.m. Call for meeting location
(918) 200-9366.
Oregon
ASHLAND-South Mountain Friends Meeting, 543 S.
Mountain Ave. Unprogrammed worship Sunday 11 a.m.
adult programs 9:30 a.m. Childcare available. <www.
ashlandquakers.org>.
ASTORIA-see SEAVIEW, Washington.
CORVALLIS-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. 3311 N.W.
Polk Ave. Phone: 752-3569.
EUGENE-Meeting for worship 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Sunday. 2274 Onyx St. Phone: 343-3840.
FLORENCE/COOS BAY-Unprogrammed worship, Florence
1st, 2nd, 4th Sundays, Coos Bay 3rd Sunday (541) 997-4237.
PORTLAND-Bridge City Friends meeting, (beginning with
singing) 10:00 a.m. Sundays. Architectural Heritage Center,
701 SE Grand Ave., Portland, OR 97214. Message.
Phone: (503) 987-0495. <www.bridgecitymeeting.org>.
PORTLAND-Multnomah Monthly Meeting, 4312 E. Stark.
Worship at 8:15 and 10 a.m. First-day school at 10 a.m.
Phone: (503) 232-2822. See <www.multnomahfriends.org>
for worship groups in northern Oregon and S.W. Washington.
PORTLAND-West Hills Friends, progressive, welcoming
and somewhat programmed. Worship 10 a.m. 7425 SW
52nd Ave. (503) 246-7654 <www.westhillsfriends.org>.
SALEM-Meeting for worship 10 a.m., forum 11 a.m. 490
19th St. NE. Phone (503) 399-1908 for information.
Pennsylvania
ABINGTON-First-day school (summeroutdoor meeting)
9:30 a.m., worship 11:15 a.m. Childcare. Meetinghouse
Rd./Greenwood Ave., Jenkintown. (E of York Rd., N of
Philadelphia.) (215) 884-2865.
BIRMINGHAM-Meeting for worship and First-day school
10 a.m. 1245 Birmingham Rd. S of West Chester, PA for
more information visit <www.birminghamfriends.org>.
CARLISLE-Unprogrammed worship and First-day school
10 a.m. 252 A Street, 17013; (717) 249-8899,
< http://carlislequakers.org/>.
CHAMBERSBURG-Meeting for worship 10:30 a.m., 630
Lindia Drive. Telephone (717) 263-6576.
CHESTER-Meeting for worship 11 a.m., Sunday. 520 E.
25th St., Chester, PA 19013. (610) 874-8406. Map and
other info at <www.pym.org/pym_chesterpa_chq.php>.
CONCORD-Worship and First-day school 11:15 a.m. At
Concordville, on Concord Rd. one block S of Rte. 1.
DOWNINGTOWN-Opening Exercises at 10 am (except
summer months). First-day school and worship at 10:30
a.m., 800 E. Lancaster Ave. (south side old Rte. 30, 1/2
mile E of town). (610) 269-2899.
DOYLESTOWN-Meeting for worship and First-day
school 10 a.m. 95 East Oakland Ave. (215) 348-2320.
DUNNINGS CREEK-10 a.m., 285 Old Quaker Church
Rd., Fishertown. <www.dunningscreekfriends.org>.
EXETER-Monthly Meeting, Worship & FDS 10:30 a.m.191
Meetinghouse Rd., Douglassville, Berks County, Pa.,
19158. Sundays. Clerk: Paul Kerr (610) 775-7484.
FALLSINGTON (BUCKS COUNTY)-Fallsington
Friends Meeting, 9300 New Falls Rd. Worship 11 a.m.
WilliamPenn worshipped in this historic village circa 1683.
(215) 736-1277, <www.fallsingtonmeeting.org>.
GAP-Sadsbury Meeting, unprogrammed worship 10:15
a.m., adult forum 11:00 a.m., 1089 Simmontown Rd., Gap,
PA 17527, <www.sadsburyfriendsmeeting.org>,call (610)
593-7004.
GWYNEDD-Worship 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Adult FDS
10:45 a.m. Fellowship 11:45 a.m. Business meeting 3rd
First Day of the month 10:45 a.m. Sumneytown Pike and
Rte. 202. (215) 699-3055. <www.gwyneddmeeting.org>.
HARRISBURG-Worship 11 a.m., First-day school and
adult education (Sept. to May) 9:45 a.m. 1100 N 6th St.
(717) 232-7282, <www.harrisburgfriends.org>.
HAVERFORD-First-day school 10:30 a.m., meeting for
worship 10:30 a.m., 855 Buck Lane, Haverford. Childcare
10:30 a.m., Fifth-day meeting for worship 12:30 p.m. at
Haverford College Commons Room.
HAVERTOWN-Old Haverford Meeting. East Eagle Rd.
at St. Denis Lane, Havertown; First-day school and adult
forum, 10 a.m., meeting for worship 11 a.m.
HORSHAM-First-day school (except summer) and
worship 10:30 a.m. Rte. 611 and Meetinghouse Road.
KENDAL-Worship 10:30 a.m. Kendal Center, Library.
U.S. Rte. 1, 31/2 mi. S of Chadds Ford, 11/4 mi. N of
Longwood Gardens.
KENNETT SQUARE-on Rte. 82, S of Rte. 1 at Sickles
St. First-day school 9:45 a.m., worship 11 a.m. (610) 444-
1012. Find us at <www.kennettfriends.org>.
LANCASTER-Meeting 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. First-day
school 10 a.m. 110 Tulane Terr. (717) 392-2762.
LEHIGH VALLEY-Bethlehem, worship 10 a.m.; First-day
school 10:20 a.m. Childcare provided. 4116 Bath Pike (PA
Rt. 512) 1/2 mi. north of US Rt. 22, (610) 691-3411.
LEWISBURG-Worship and First-day school 10: 45 a.m.
(570) 523-0878 or e-mail <terese@dancingbearfarm.org>.
LONDON GROVE-Meeting 9:30 a.m., childcare/First-day
school 10:30 a.m. Newark Rd. and rte. 926., 5 miles W of
Kennett Square. (610) 268-8466.
MAKEFIELD-Worship 1010:30 a.m. First-day school
10:3011:30. E of Dolington on Mt. Eyre Rd.
MEDIA-Worship 11 a.m. First Days (10 a.m.
July-Aug.) 125 W. 3rd St. (610) 566-5657,
<www.mediafriendsmeeting.org>.
MERION-Meeting for worship 11 a.m., First-day school
10:50 a.m. OctoberMay Meetinghouse Lane at
Montgomery Ave., <www.merionfriends.org>.
MIDDLETOWN-AT LANGHORNE (Bucks Co.)-First-day
school 11 a.m. (except summer), meeting for worship
11 a.m. (10 a.m. in Seventh and Eighth Months) and 7
p.m. (year-round) on Fourth days. 453 W. Maple Ave.,
Langhorne, PA 19047. (215) 757-5500.
MILLVILLE-Worship 10 a.m., First-day school 11 a.m.
351 E. Main St. <www.millvillefriends.org>.
NEWTOWN-(Bucks Co.)-Worship 11 a.m. First-day
school for adults and children, 9:45 a.m. In summer,
worship 10 a.m., no First-day school. 219 Court St. (215)
968-1655, <www.newtownfriendsmeeting.org>.
OXFORD-260 S. Third St., worship at 10:30 a.m.
<www.oxfordfriends.org>.
PHILADELPHIA-Meetings for worship Sunday 10:30 a.m.
unless specifed otherwise. * indicates clerk`s home phone.
BYBERRY-3001 Byberry-Southampton Rd., 19154.
(215) 637-7813*. Worship 11 a.m. (June-Aug. 10 a.m.)
CENTRAL PHILADELPHIA-15th & Cherry Sts., 19102.
(215) 241-7260. Worship 11 a.m. (July-Aug. 10 a.m.)
CHESTNUT HILL-100 E. Mermaid Lane, 19118.
(215) 247-3553.
FRANKFORD-1500 Orthodox St., 19124. Meeting
starts at 10 a.m. (215) 533-5523.
GERMANTOWN-47 W. Coulter St., 19144.
(215) 951-2235. (August at Green Street.)
GREEN STREET-45 W. School House Lane, 19144.
(215) 844-4924. (July at Germantown.)
MM of Friends of Philadelphia-4th and Arch Sts.,
19106. (215) 625-0627.
ORCHARD PARK-Worship and First-day school 11 a.m.
East Quaker St. at Freeman Rd. (716) 662-5749.
POPLAR RIDGE-Worship 10 a.m., 1868 Poplar Ridge
Rd. (315) 497-2254.
POTSDAM/CANTON-St. Lawrence Valley. Worship
Sundays 4 p.m. followed by potluck, (315) 386-4648 or
(315) 262-2952.
POUGHKEEPSIE-Meeting for worship and Sunday
school 10 a.m. 249 Hooker Ave., 12603. (845) 454-2870.
ROCHESTER-84 Scio St. between East Avenue
and E. Main St. Downtown. Sept.May 9:45 Adult RE.
Unprogrammed worship and child care 11 a.m. (Jun.
Aug. 10 a.m.) Other weekly and monthly worship call for
information (585) 325-7260. LGBT friendly.
ROCKLAND-Meeting for worship and First-day school
11 a.m. 60 Leber Rd., Blauvelt. (845) 735-4214,
<www.rocklandquakers.org>.
SARANAC LAKE-worship 9:30 a.m., 94 Church St.
(Route 86) next to Episcopal Church. (518) 327-3885.
SCARSDALE-Meeting for worship and First-day school
Sundays 11 a.m., 133 Popham Rd. (914) 472-1807.
SCHENECTADY-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. (9 a.m.
MayOct) 427 Franklin Street, (518) 374-2166.
SYRACUSE-Worship 10:30 a.m. 821 Euclid Ave. (315)
476-1196.
WESTBURY MM (L.I.)-Contact us at (631) 271-4672.
Our website is <westburyquakers.org>.
North Carolina
ASHEVILLE-Unprogrammed. Religious education and
meeting for worship 10:00 a.m., 227 Edgewood Rd.,
28804. (828) 423-0714. For more information check our
website <www.ashevillefriends.org>.
BEAUFORT-1st, 3rd Sundays 2:30 p.m., St. Paul`s
Hall, 203 Ann Street. (252) 728-7083.
Email: <susu@starfshnet.com>.
BLACK MOUNTAIN-Swannanoa Valley Friends Meeting.
137 Center Ave. Unprogrammed worship 9:30 a.m. (828)
669-0832.
BREVARD-Unprogrammed meeting for worship, 11 a.m.
(828) 698-2862.
CELO-10:45 a.m., 70 Meetinghouse Lane, Burnsville,
(from Rt. 80 S., left on Seven Mile Ridge RD, right on
Hannah Branch). (828) 675-5535.
CHAPEL HILL-Meeting for worship 8:30 a.m. and 11
a.m. First-day school at 11 a.m., childcare starting 9:30
a.m. 531 Raleigh Rd. Clerk: Tom Munk, (919) 967-4926.
Meetinghouse, (919) 929-5377.
CHARLOTTE-Unprogrammed meeting for worship and
First-day school 10 a.m., forum 11 a.m. 570 W. Rocky
River Rd. (704) 599-4999.
DAVIDSON-10 a.m., check <http://davidson.quaker.org>
for meeting location, (704) 895-8404.
DURHAM-Unprogrammed meeting and First-day school
10 a.m. 404 Alexander Ave. Contact clerk, (919) 419-4419.
FAYETTEVILLE-Unprogrammed worship, 2 p.m.; First
Day discussion, 3 p.m. 223 Hillside Ave. (910) 323-3912,
<www.ncymc.org/fayetteville/>.
GREENSBORO-Friendship Meeting (unprogrammed),
1103 New Garden Rd. Worship and child care at 10:30
a.m. Call: (336) 854-5155. <www.friendshipmeeting.org>.
GREENSBORO-New Garden Friends Meeting. Meeting
for worship: unprogrammed 9 a.m.; semi-programmed 11
a.m. First-day school 9:45 a.m. Judy Hanghee-Bartlett,
clerk; David W. Bills, pastoral minister. 801 New Garden
Road, 27410. (336) 292-5487.
RALEIGH-Unprogrammed. Meeting for worship
Sunday at 10 a.m., with First-day school for children.,
625 Tower Street, Raleigh, N.C. (919) 821-4414,
<http://rtpnet.org/friends>.
SNOW CAP-Spring Friends Meeting. Semi-Programmed,
3323 E. Greensboro-Chapel Hill Rd., Sept-May, First-day
school 10:00 a.m. & Meeting for Worship 11:00 a.m.
(Jun.Aug. 10:00 a.m.), <http://springfriends.quaker.org>.
WILMINGTON-Unprogrammed worship 10 a.m. Discussion
11 a.m., 202 N. 5th Street at Chestnut.<http://sites.google.
com/site/wilmingtonquakersnc/home>.
WINSTON-SALEM-Salem Creek Friends Meeting.
Unprogrammed worship 10:00 a.m. John Cardarelli (336)
978-3061. E-mail <jfcarderelli@gmail.com>.
WOODLAND-Cedar Grove Meeting. First Day discussion
10 a.m., meeting for worship 11 a.m. Call (252) 587-2571,
<www.ncymc.org/richsquare/>.
Ohio
ATHENS-10 a.m., 22 Birge, Chauncey (740) 797-4636.
CINCINNATI-Eastern Hills Friends Meeting, 1671
Nagel Road, Sunday 10 a.m. (513) 474-9670,
<www.easternhillsfriends.org>.
CINCINNATI-Community Meeting, 3960 Winding Way,
45229. Worship and First-day school 10 a.m., Ph: (513)
861-4353, <www.communityfriendsmeeting.org>.
CLEVELAND-Meeting for worship and First-day school 11
a.m. 10916 Magnolia Dr. (216) 791-2220.
UNITY-Unity and Waln Sts., 19124. (215) 295-2888*.
Worship 7 p.m. Fridays.
PHOENIXVILLE-Schuylkill Friends Meeting. 37 N.
Whitehorse Road, Phoenixville, PA 19460. (610) 933-
8984. Worship and First-day school 10 a.m.
PENNSBURG-Unami Monthly Meeting, 100 E. 5th and
Macoby Streets, First-day school and meeting for worship
11 am, Potluck lunch at the rise of meeting, (215) 679-
6770.
PITTSBURGH-Meeting for worship 9 a.m. and 10:30
a.m. First-day school 10:30 a.m.; 4836 Ellsworth Ave.
(412) 683-2669.
PLUMSTEAD-Meeting for worship and First-day school
9:30 a.m. (215) 822-2299.
PLYMOUTH MEETING-Worship, First-day school 11:15
a.m. Germantown Pike and Butler Pike.
QUAKERTOWN-Richland Monthly Meeting, 244 S. Main
St., First-day school and meeting for worship 10:30 a.m.
RADNOR-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. year-round. First-
day school also 10 a.m. except summer. Conestoga and
Sproul Roads (Rte. 320), Villanova. (610) 293-1153.
READING-First-day school 10 a.m., meeting for worship
10:15 a.m. 108 North Sixth St. (610) 372-5345,
<www.readingfriendsmeeting.org>.
SOLEBURY-Worship 10 a.m., First-day school 10 a.m.
Sugan Rd., 2 miles NW of New Hope. (215) 862-1419.
SOUTHAMPTON (Bucks Co.)-Worship 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, and 10 a.m. fourth Sunday; call (215) 354-0581.
710 Gravel Hill Rd at top of hill.
SPRINGFIELD-Meeting 11a.m. 1001 Old Sproul Rd.,
Springfeld, PA 19064. Phone (610) 544-0742.
SWARTHMORE-Meeting and First-day school 10 a.m. 12
Whittier Place, off Route 320.
UPPER DUBLIN-Worship & First-day school 10 a.m. Fort
Washington Ave. & Meetinghouse Rd., near Ambler. (215)
653-0788.
WELLSVILLE-Warrington Monthly Meeting, worship 11
a.m. Rte. 74, Wellsville. Call (717) 432-7402.
WEST CHESTER-Worship and First-day school 10:30
a.m. 425 N. High St. West Chester, PA (610) 696-0491.
WEST GROVE-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. 153 E.
Harmony Road, P.O. Box 7, 19390.
WESTTOWN-Meeting for worship 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
Westtown School campus, Westtown, PA 19395.
WILLISTOWN-Worship and First-day school 10 a.m. 7069
Goshen Rd. (at Warren Ave.), Newtown Square, 19073.
Phone: (610) 356-9799.
WRIGHTSTOWN-Rte. 413 at Penns Park Road (535
Durham Road, 18940). Meeting for worship 10 a.m.
Children`s First-day school 10:15 a.m. (215) 968-3994.
YARDLEY-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. First-day school
and nursery available, <www.yardleyfriendsmeeting.org>.
YORK-Unprogrammed meeting for worship, 11 a.m.
Worship sharing, 9:30 a.m.135 W. Philadelphia St.
(717) 848-6781.<http://www.yorkfriendsmeeting.org>.
Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. each First
Day. 99 Morris Ave., corner of Olney St. (401) 331-4218.
SAYLESVILLE-Worship 10:30 a.m. Sundays. 374 Great
Rd., Lincoln. <http://providencefriends.org/>.
WESTERLY-Unprogrammed worship and First-day
school 10:30 a.m. 57 Elm St. (401) 348-7078,
<www.westerlyfriends.org>.
WOONSOCKET-Smithfeld MM, 108 Smithfeld Rd. Worship
10:30 a.m. (401) 762-5726; <smithfeldmeeting@gmail.com>.
South Carolina
COLUMBIA-Meeting for worship and First-day school
10 a.m., forum 11:30 a.m., 120 Pisgah Church Road
(803) 254-0626. Visitors welcome.
FIVE RIVERS-Friends Meeting Worship Sundays,
10:30 a.m. (unprogrammed), Grace Gifford, inland, (843)
365-6654.
GREENVILLE-Unprogrammed worship Sundays 11 a.m.
For directions call (540) 409-6839.
South Dakota
SIOUX FALLS AREA-Worship Group for meeting times
call (605) 376-8863.
Tennessee
CHATTANOOGA-Unprogrammed worship and First-day
school 10 a.m., Second hour 11:30, 335 Crestway Drive,
(423) 629-5914.
MEMPHIS-Meeting for worship (unprogrammed) and First-
day school 11 a.m. 3387 Walnut Grove Rd at Prescott,
<MFM@memphisfriendsmeeting.org>.
NASHVILLE-Meeting for worship (unprogrammed) and
First-day school 10:30 a.m. Adult sharing 11:45 a.m. on
second and fourth First Days. 530 26th Ave. North; (615)
329-2640. Dick Houghton, clerk.
WEST KNOXVILLE-Unprogrammed worship and First-
day school 10 a.m. 1517 Meeting House Road, (865)
694-0036, <westknoxvillefriends.org>.
Texas
AUSTIN-Unprogrammed meeting for worship Sunday 11 a.m.
All ages welcome. First-day school 10 a.m. Childcare
available 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 3701 E. MLK Blvd. (512) 452-1841.
DALLAS-Unprogrammed meeting for worship Sundays 10
a.m. 5828 Worth St. (214) 821-6543. <www.scym.org/dallas>.
EL PASO-Meeting at 10 a.m. frst and third Sunday
of each month at 2701 Frankfort Ave. (915) 546- 5651.
Please leave a message.
FORT WORTH-Unprogrammed meeting 10:30 a.m. at
Wesley Foundation, 2750 W. Lowden. Fellowship and
other activities afterward. Call (682) 472-6770 for info,
<http://www.scym.org/fortworth/>.
HOUSTON-Live Oak Meeting. Sundays 8:30 and 10:30
a.m. Wednesdays: Discussion 7 p.m., meeting for worship
88:30 p.m. Childcare and First-day school for children
are available. 1318 W. 26th St. (713) 862-6685.
KERRVILLE-Unprogrammed meeting 10:00 a.m.,
Discussion hour 11:00 a.m., Schreiner University, 2100
Memorial Blvd, Campus Ministry Center, Kerrville, TX
78028, (830) 257-4316.
SAN ANTONIO-Unprogrammed worship and First-day
school, Sundays 10 a.m., 7052 N. Vandiver, 78209. Mail:
P.O. Box 6127, San Antonio, TX 78209. (210) 945-8456,
<www.sanantonioquakers.org>.
TEXARKANA-Unprogrammed meeting for worship, Saturdays
10 a.m. 3501 Main Street. For information call (903) 794-5948.
Utah
LOGAN-Unprogrammed meeting First-day school 10 a.m.
The Winter Center, 300 North and 400 East. Telephone:
(435) 753-1299.
MOAB-Unprogrammed meeting 10 a.m. Seekhaven, 81
N. 300 East. (435) 259-8178 or 259-5306.
SALT LAKE CITY-Unprogrammed meeting and
First-day school 10 a.m, at 171 East 4800 South.
<www.saltlakequakers.org>.
Vermont
BURLINGTON-Worship 11 a.m. Sunday, noon
Wednesday at 173 North Prospect St. Call: (802) 660-
9221 about religious ed.
MIDDLEBURY-Worship 10 a.m. at Havurah House, 56
N. Pleasant St., Middlebury. (802) 388-8024.
PLAINFIELD-Each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Call Alan
Taplow, (802) 454-4675.
PUTNEY-Worship, Sunday, 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. Adult
discussion, 9:30 a.m. to 10:15, Singing, 10:15 a.m.
Children`s program, 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Rte. 5,
north of village, Putney. (802) 387-5500 (meetinghouse
machine). <http://putneyfriends.wordpress.com>.
SOUTH STARKSBORO-unprogrammed worship and
First-day school Sundays 9:30 a.m. Singing 9 a.m. Call
Robert Turner (802) 453-4927.
WILDERNESS-Meeting for worship 10 a.m. in Shrewsbury
Library, 98 Town Hill Road, Cuttingsville. Call Joyce
Wilson, (802) 492-3542, or Malcolm Bell, (802) 824-6459.
Virginia
ABINGDON-Worship, Sun. 10:30 a.m. in the Spirit House,
Elderspirit Community (276) 698-3397 or (276) 628-8701.
ALEXANDRIA-Worship every First Day 11 a.m.,
unprogrammed worship and First-day school. Woodlawn
Meetinghouse, 8 miles S of Alexandria, at Rte #1 and
Woodlawn Rd., call (703) 781-9185.
BLACKSBURG-Friends Meeting worship 10 a.m., 404 Mt.
Tabor Rd., <www.blacksburgfriends.org>.
CHARLOTTESVILLE-Monthly Meeting Early worship 8:30
a.m. Adult discussion hour (with child care) 9:45 a.m. Later
worship and religious education for children and youth 11
a.m. Summer worship only 8:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. 1104
Forest St. (434) 971-8859, <http://avenue.org/quakers/>.
FLOYD-Unprogrammed meeting and First-day school 10
a.m. Call for directions. (540) 745-3252, (540) 651-8556.
HARRISONBURG-Valley Friends Meeting. Unprogrammed
worship, 10 a.m. Sundays, 363 High St., Dayton.
<vfm.quaker.org>.
HERNDON-Singing 10:15 a.m., Worship and First-day
school 10:30 a.m., 660 Spring St. (703) 736-0592,
<www.HerndonFriends.org>.
LEXINGTON-Maury River Friends. Unprogrammed
worship Sundays 10 a.m. Child care provided. 10 mi. W of
Lexington off W. Midland Trail at Waterloo Rd. Info: (540)
464-3511.
MCLEAN-Langley Hill Friends Meeting, 6410 Georgetown
Pike, McLean. Meeting for worship 10 a.m., First-day
school and Second hour at 11 a.m. Babysitting available.
(703) 442-8394, <http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/>.
NORFOLK-Worship and First-day school at 10 a.m.
Phone (757) 624-1841 or (757) 627-6317 for information.
RICHMOND-Worship 9:30 and 11 a.m. 4500 Kensington
Ave. (804) 358-6185, <www.richmondfriends.org>.
VIRGINIA BEACH-Unprogrammed meeting for worship,
First Days, 10:30 a.m. 1537 Laskin Rd., Virginia Beach, VA
23451. Childcare and First-day school. (757) 428-9515.
WILLIAMSBURG-Unprogrammed meeting for worship 10
a.m. Sunday. 4214 Longhill Rd. P.O. Box 1034, Wmbg, VA
23187. (757) 887-3108, <www.williamsburgfriends.org>.
WINCHESTER-Hopewell Centre Meeting. 7 miles N from
Winchester. Interstate 81 to Clearbrook Exit. Go west on
Hopewell Rd. 0.7 miles. Turn left into Hopewell Centre
Driveway. Unprogrammed meeting for worship 10 a.m.
First-day school 11 a.m. Clerk: (540) 667-9114. E-mail:
<a.m.bacon@comcast.net>, <http://hopecentre.quaker.org>.
Washington
AGATE PASSAGE-Bainbridge Island. Meeting for worship
10 a.m. Seabold Hall, 14450 Komedal Rd. Mail Address:
P.O. Box 1821, Poulsbo, WA 98370. Info: (877) 235-4712.
BELLEVUE-Eastside Friends. 4160 158th Ave. SE.
Worship 10 a.m., Second Hour 11:30 a.m. (425) 641-3500.
BELLINGHAM-1701 Ellis St. Worship 10 a.m. (360) 734-
0244., <www.bellinghamfriends.org>.
LOPEZ ISLAND-Unprogrammed worship 10 a.m.
Sunday, 6363 Fisherman Bay Rd. (360) 468-2129, Email:
<lopezfriends@gmail.com>.
OLYMPIA-Worship 10 a.m. 3201 Boston Harbor Rd. NE,
98506. Children`s program. (360) 754-4028.
PULLMAN-See Moscow, Idaho.
SEATTLE-Salmon Bay Meeting at Phinney Center, 6532
Phinney N.; worship at 10 a.m. (206) 523-5568, <www.
salmonbayfriends.org>.
SEATTLE-University Friends Meeting, 4001 9th Ave. N.E.
Quiet worship First Days 9:30 and 11 a.m. (206) 547-6449.
Accommodations: (206) 632-9839.
SEAVIEW-Lower Columbia Worship Group,
unprogrammed worship, 3 p.m. Sunday Peninsula
Church Center, 5000 'N` Place, Seaview 98644.
<LowerColumbiaQuakers@gmail.com>.
SOUTH SEATTLE-Worship 11 a.m. Sundays at Central
Area Senior Center, 500 30th Ave. S., 98144. Dee Dee
Evergreen (206) 709-9787. <www.southseattlefriends.org>.
SULTAN-Sky Valley Worship Group. (360) 793-0240.
VASHON ISLAND-Friends Worship Group. Unprogrammed
Meeting 10 a.m. Sundays in members` homes. Call (206)
463-5117 or email: <jameshauser@comcast.net>.
WALLA WALLA-10 a.m. Sundays. (509) 522-0399.
West Virginia
CHARLESTON-Worship Sundays 10 a.m. Wellons (304)
345-8659 or Mininger (304) 756-3033.
BUCKHANNON-Worship group. WV Wesleyan College
campus. Second and Fourth First Days 10 a.m. Judy
Seaman (304) 636-7712 or Grace Harris (304) 472-3097.
MORGANTOWN-Monongalia Friends Meeting. Every
Sunday 11 a.m. Phone: John Lozier, (304) 599-8233.
PARKERSBURG-Mid-Ohio Valley Friends. See Marietta,
Ohio, listing. <www.movquakers.org>.
SHEPHERDSTOWN-Monthly Meeting. Unprogrammed
worship Sundays 10:00 a.m. in the Episcopal Chapel at the
corner of Church and German St. Call (404) 437-1246.
Wisconsin
EAU CLAIRE-Worship and FDS at 10:30 a.m. (9:30 June-
Aug.) 416 Niagara St. Call (715) 833-1138 or 874-6646,
<http://www.ecquakers.org>.
KENOSHA-RACINE-Unprogrammed worship 10
a.m.,Sundays, (262) 586-9245 <quakerfriends.org>.
MADISON-Monthly Meeting, 1704 Roberts Ct., (608) 256-
2249. Unprogrammed worship, Sunday mornings: 8:45
& 11:15; Fellowship/Discussion 9:45; Children`s classes
11:15. Weekdays: check times. <www.madisonfriends.org>.
MADISON-Yahara Friends. Unprogrammed worship,10:30
a.m. Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center, 953 Jenifer St.
<www.yaharafriends.org>. Clerk: (608) 242-9029. Mail:
PO Box 14332, Madison WI 53708-0332.
MENOMONIE-Meeting for worship 10:30 a.m., 1st, 3rd,
and 5th Sundays. 110 W. Main Street, Upstairs. Phone:
(715) 235-4112.
MILWAUKEE-Meeting for worship 10:15 a.m. 3224 N.
Gordon PI. (414) 263-2111, <milwaukeequakers.org>.
OSHKOSH-Meeting for worship 4 p.m. 419 Boyd St. (920)
233-5804.
PEWAUKEE-Worship 1st & 3rd Sundays 10:30 a.m. N14
W29143 Silvernail Rd. Becky Evans, (262) 542-7446.
STEVENS POINT-Unprogrammed meeting for worship
10 a.m., 2108 4th Ave., (715) 344-2593. First-day school
monthly, fellowship follows meeting.

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