New England Friends WomenNew England Friends WomenUnited Society of Friends Women
Fall 2003
Message from your Presiding Clerk
Dear Sisters,
It was quite wonderful to see many of you at NEYM sessions. I appreciated the many people who came to hear our speakers, Fran Taber and Mary Hopkins. I feel so very blessed to be part of this community. Despite the busyness of September with school and many 'good' causes, I try to keep at my heart a sacred place of quiet and pure love. I try to walk with attention through the halls at work, breathe deep when a client cries in my office, take time to gently look directly into people's eyes when they talk. Basically if I can stay mindful of grace, Christ can direct me as easy as molding clay. Sounds simple, n'est-ce pas?
I'm studying and writing about one of our Mothers of Quakerism, Elizabeth Hooten (1600-1672). She was a experienced minister who was twice George Fox's age when they met. Now imagine a respected 48 year old woman who is inspired by a young man of 24 and his first preachings. Imagine they start worshipping and praying and traveling together. Doesn't that sound like a complementary team? Many scholars describe Hooten as Fox's 'first convert.' I wonder who learned more from whom? We do know that Hooten was a role model for many women in the nascent Quaker movement. She listened closely to the callings of the Spirit, showing boundless stamina and perseverance in the face of persecution. She was indomitable, meeting censures, imprisonment and insults. She was imprisoned 3 times in England and stripped and beaten in Boston.
They will run and not be weary, they will walk and never faint. . .
I feel Hooten has much to teach me today. She spoke truth directly to civil leaders where others were afraid to clear their throats. She was a gentle friend and teacher to the righteous while condemning those who participated in moral decadence and social injustice. Here is an example of how she advocated for the common people by fighting against the upper class in Mass. Bay Colony in 1661.
The professors of Boston and Cambridge, call themselves Independents who formerly fled the bishops... behaved worse than the bishops... which causeth their name to stink all over the world because of cruelty. ...these clergy and the gentry hath all the land betwixt them.
May her indomitable spirit fill us. May we be guided by the Light that shines forth from our foremothers.
Minga Claggett-Borne
Presiding clerk
Checks should be made out to USFW of NEYM and earmarked for
either Play Center or Ramallah School.
Send to USFW Treasurer,
PO Box 1401, Shirley MA 01464.
Other contributions to USFW of NEYM are always welcomed Several years ago we made a commitment that at least one woman in each meeting of NEYM would receive the newsletter. It costs approximately $2 per recipient per year to print and mail the newsletter.
Dear members of USFW of NEYM,
Grateful indeed we are to everyone of you for your generous gift of money for the children at the Friends Play Center that is known as an "Oasis of Peace" for the refugee children.
Thanks to FUM that keeps us informed of the gifts they get. Gifts with FUM are in safe hands. We may cash from them as the need arises for the children and to keep the project going on. Your love and care will Always be remembered.
We handle the children with love, kindness and forgiveness, because a child learns what he lives. We hope that the 50 five-year -old children will grow up to be the corner stones for Peace in the future. Sorry for being late in writing but dire tense situation weighs heavily on our hands. Your big hearts will excuse.
God has a big eraser
And my sister was very , very sick during the holiday. We went to Amman Jordan because she had to see her surgeon and cardiologist. The said they cannot operate again. We are now in Ramallah, we need your prayers.
With prayers for peace
Violet Zarou,
September 12, 2002
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People who let their warm feelings show; are people that others are lucky to know.
You dear friends/Friends are God's messengers to the children. And we pray God to make us worthy of the children we serve. The children come daily to the play center except on curfew days and upheavals.
We pray for Peace,
Thank you Friends
Violet
Nov. 2, 2002
In February Chris Jorgenson, Kate Clark, Deana Chase, and Blair Tatman visited Israel and Palestine with other Friends United Meeting leaders. During their time in Ramallah they visited the Ramallah Friends Meeting Play Center in the Amari Refugee Camp where "we were greeted by 42 lively preschoolers in a tiny building on land donated by the United Nations."
Their report to NEYM continues: "In the preschool class [at the Friends School] we watched a video showing the children in the aftermath of the long siege and curfew of Ramallah last spring. Many of us left in tears, after seeing the children in this video crying or numbly standing alone. The emotional and educational cost of Israeli Defense Force incursions is heavy."
When I think about the fact that the video they saw was of children from relatively well to do families, I can barely imagine what the effect of the siege and curfew had on the refugee children. What a blessing that Violet Zarou and others continue to offer the play center to the refugee children.
Ann Armstrong
After Marian Baker called the gathering together by leading us in singing "Every time I feel the Spirit" and "Sing when the Spirit says Sing", we began the USFW of NEYM meeting at Stonehill College with prayers for Darcy Drayton, who was unable to return from Kenya because of back problems, and all the Friends in Kenya mourning the death of Edith Ratcliff.
Fran Taber of Ohio YM Conservative shared from her life experiences about "paying attention to the leadings of the Spirit." When you feel that you are going nowhere; nowhere is where God is. It is important to figure out what God is saying and letting God transform us for daily life. Fran's check on the process is while list making she either feels right about something or uneasy. She suggests that we practice to identify what is from the authentic inward guide as apart from personal enthusiasm. We need to open our selves to an awareness of the nearness of God first thing in the morning and then in the evening return to the sense of the presence of God.
Mary Hopkins told the story of how her leading to translate Barclay's Apology into Spanish grew from the realization that her Spanish speaking Friend had never read Barclay because it was not available in Spanish. Mary uses Barclay to help her center and stay open to listening to God. Over the course of months and then years her leading grew until it was unmistakable that she was meant to work on translating the text from the original Latin and English versions into Spanish.
After Sara Hubner closed the gathering with a vocal prayer, several moved to another room for a brief business meeting.
Present: Acton- Ann Armstrong; Cambridge- Minga Claggett-Borne, Mary Hopkins; Dover- Carolyn Miller, Sara Hubner Nell Neal; Durham- Clarabel Marstellar, PattiAnn Douglas, Smithfield- Jean Kinney; Waterboro- Nancy Massanari; Windham- Christine Wozick; Weare- Marian Baker; and visiting from Baltimore YM- Lella Russell Smith
Those present introduced themselves sharing their current passions.
1. NOMINATING REPORT Sara Hubner presented the Nominating committee report which was approved. [See box on first page of this newsletter] We discussed briefly how the nominating committee is appointed. Sara is going off the committee. Barbara Sturrock will continue. Nell Neal volunteered to serve for one year, which was approved. Minga proposed that the clerk, assistant clerk and recording clerk find members for the nominating committee. No action was taken on this.
2. TREASURER'S REPORT Clarabel Marstaller gave a treasurers report which was accepted. She explained about the various USFWI projects that part of our dues supports. We were encouraged to pay our dues. She also reported that the Kakamega Project now has its own bank account and that we only collected $242 for the Iglesia Evangelica
3. BUDGET FOR ANNUAL MEETING We approved splitting the $200 which had been budgeted for speakers at NEYM and sending half to Fran Taber for her travel expenses and half to the Iglesia Evangelica.
4. FALL APPEAL We approved having our fall appeal be for the Ramallah Play Center.
5. FALL GATHERING We decided to hold our fall gathering at Dover, NH meetinghouse on Sunday October 5, starting at 10:30 am with worship followed by lunch and a program at 12 noon. We will ask Suki Rice and Darcy Drayton to report on their respective recent travels and ministry in Kenya.
6. We adjourned after several announcements of the up coming events during Yearly Sessions that would be of special interest to most of us.
Marian Baker, Recording Clerk
Refugee Immigration Ministry (RIM) is a nonprofit, interfaith organization that serves eastern Massachusetts by offering resources to congregations and clusters of congregations which are interested in welcoming the stranger in our midst and engaging in a mutually enriching interfaith cooperative effort.
RIM was established in 1986 to minister to detainees held in the INS facility in Boston's North End. When that facility closed in 1998, detainees were placed in county prison facilities. RIM offers 30 hours of spiritual care giver training for volunteers who visit detainees. Spiritual care giver training includes: active listening skills, cross-cultural skills, grief counseling. Training also covers anti-racism, post traumatic stress, prison culture, legal issues, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (formerly INS), and other topics.
In 1998 RIM created interfaith clusters in local communities, to sponsor asylum seekers or other at-risk immigrants, and to connect them with social services in their communities. Today there are clusters in Amesbury, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Lowell, Malden, and Topsfield, (Friends Meeting at Cambridge was a founding member of the Cambridge Cluster; however, there is currently no one from the Meeting involved. RIM is eager to reestablish that connection).
Once a person has passed a Credible Fear Interview, BICE will release a person if there is community support. RIM is working to build such support. Clients come from a variety of countries, including Albania, Algeria, Cameroon, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Uganda.
RIM volunteers help asylum seekers with finding housing, learning English, obtaining jobs, getting a telephone, and getting children registered in school. There are opportunities for families to host a RIM client for a short period of time in their homes. One may also donate furniture, transport a client to an appointment, or serve as an interpreter.
RIM's mission is "to offer support services and build community with uprooted people through programs and spiritual care"
My connection with RIM thus far is my attendance at two events in Malden, both sponsored by RIM's African Women's Group. Most recently, in August 2003 I attended "Celebrating Treasures of Africa!: An Evening of Fashion, Music, and Food in the African Tradition." We enjoyed a meal prepared by a Congolese caterer, a fashion show featuring African men's and women's clothing, and music and dance. We also heard about the community-building activities of the African Men's Group and the Youth Group. I have just submitted a volunteer application to RIM, offering to teach or tutor ESL ,or to host a RIM client briefly in my home.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2)
Friends, who are the strangers in our midst? How can we build community to serve the uprooted people in our communities?
For more information about RIM, go to their web site: http://www.r-i-m.net They can be reached at: 26 Washington Street, Malden, MA 02148, phone: 781-322-1011, e-mail: rimboston@mindspring.com.
Christina Smith, Adult Missionary Education
Nervousness permeated my being. I was traveling to the courthouse to testify, a typical experience in my work. I knew what to anticipate, how to prepare, I'd eaten a light lunch to keep my head clear. Why are you nervous? Suddenly I engaged in a dialogue with myself, looking for a logical solution. In an effort to ground myself I reviewed a mental checklist of points to be brought up in my testimony. I knew the standard guidelines: briefly answer the questions asked, do not offer additional information, answers should be objective and clear.
Testifying in court is part of my work, -- a significant part of my work. I work with families whose parenting capacity is in question. I observe, assess and teach. I'm known to take my work very seriously and often what I learn is brought into the courtroom. Every time I testify, I drive up the many levels of the parking garage, park my car, get my briefcase out, and start the climb down the stairs to the courthouse. Today I breathe deep. A suggestion is made to my heart that it might want to calm down a little. My mind moves forward to the metal detector screening that will soon face me at the courthouse door. Calmness surrounds me as I prepare for another strategic event. Just as I begin my descent down the stairs, my eyes fix right above the above the stairwell where a large sign reads, "Remember Your Level." Suddenly everything stops. My thought patterns shift from managing anxiety to focusing on the elevation of my spirit and lifting my mind to a higher state of consciousness. I begin to fill with the presence of a great Light, and my anxiety transforms into a keen awareness of a moment in time specifically designed for God's purpose, not mine. I sense the rules ant tactics of humankind falling from my mental slate and a voice reminds me I am bringing Christ with me into the courtroom. It is reminding me as I speak to the truth in the next hour, I am also speaking to the Truth of Christ. When that moment will come, I do not know, but it will come. It will not be a moment created by me but created by Thou. I let go of my forms and list, I know everything I need to know. I walk as on walking in the forest at dusk, towards the Light, directly in front of my path, leading me home. As I move through the physical motions necessary I arrive in the courthouse hall. I spy a drinking fountain and go to take a drink. No water comes out. Again I am reminded a greater Fountain of eternal waters resides within my soul, and provides all I need in this moment.
Margaret Fell, courageous of the courageous, wrote of George Fox's leading from God:
I declared the everlasting truth of the Lord, and the word of life...showing that the Lord was come to teach his people himself, and to bring them off from all the world's ways and teachers to Christ the true teacher and the true way to God.
The judicial system in our country is a temple to the cerebral. The courtroom is a place where the small 't' in truth resides. It is a temple of logic, law, reason, argument and training to leap and bound in the gymnastics of thought. It is not always a temple of honesty although it's representative purpose is honest. Because finding people to speak truthfully and making them speak truthfully is so difficult, "swearing" they will tell the truth, or taking an "oath" to tell the truth is a long-standing ritual. As a Quaker it is my habit to "affirm" to the truth, for as a Quaker, I always speak the truth and do not swear that I would do otherwise if not in this courtroom. When this is spoken by me, there is always a shift in consciousness in the courtroom. There is a sense that something "different" has occurred, not unlike the discomforting "readiness" one feels in preparation for a "gathered meeting". It is a feeling that somewhere between the small "t'" in truth and the large "T" in Truth that something significant is occurring, beyond the control of the mental efforts of humankind. A kind of Truth is flowing among all the souls gathered in this room that makes all the careful guidelines and rules of testimony mute. There is suddenly an opportunity for compassion, empathy, grief, joy and yes even "love". Is it spoken? No. Is it felt? Yes. Is it understood? Not by all. Is it comfortable? Never. Can it change the destiny of any of us? "Where three or more are gathered in my name there am I also."
Christine Lundquist Wozich, Christian Service
Quakers are fond of telling stories of the founders, our seventeenth-century forebears who led a movement toward a more authentic, more deeply spiritual kind of religion than that which prevailed before George Fox. Christianity is full of such stories of renewal. One of the most striking comes out of thirteenth-century Italy, the story of St. Francis of Assisi, christened Francesco di Pietro. A new biography by Adrian House tells this story with flair. House makes Francis come alive for modern readers, comparing the saint to other figures in religious history and guiding us through some of the stranger manifestations of medieval religious enthusiasm.
There are two ways of looking at Francis. It is tempting to focus solely on the ardent young man, who gave up wealth to devote himself to God and to the poor. This Francis inspired a huge following. In an age of corruption in the church, he pointed the way back to a pure interpretation of the Gospels. His movement grew by leaps and bounds, as thousands of men chose the rigors of the Franciscan way of life. They owned nothing, but kept themselves alive by begging, as they traveled from town to town preaching and tending the needs of the poor. The movement sparked the founding of an order of nuns, the poor Clares. It spread to a huge movement among the laity -- the Third Order of Franciscans, which, as the years went by, reputedly included such luminaries as Dante and Galileo. St. Francis lit a fire in late medieval Europe, with enormous results which we still see today.
Quakers can resonate fully with this picture of Francis, the charismatic preacher, the man who loved all of creation, the man of compassion who overcame his phobias, so that, on one occasion, he ate out of a common bowl with a man afflicted with leprosy. We love the story of Francis preaching to the birds, or talking to the wolf of Gubbio. This wolf was persuaded to stop terrorizing the townspeople by Francis's gesture of peace and reconciliation. This legend aside, it is interesting to note that, during the Fifth Crusade, Francis and one of his brother monks visited Sultan al-Kamil, at some risk to themselves. Their mission was twofold, to convert the Sultan to Christianity, and thus to bring peace to the Middle East. The Sultan naturally held fast to Islam, but the visit seems to have been a factor in his decision to offer peace terms to the Christian military leaders (terms which, tragically, they rejected.)
So Francis, the man of peace, the lover of nature, the "little poor man of God", is justly loved by Quakers, as by countless other Christians.
The second Francis is harder for modern people to understand. We have rejected the idea that extreme asceticism is necessary for a truly spiritual life. Francis neglected his body, abused it, in fact, and possibly shortened his life accordingly. At times, he suffered acutely, focusing with terrible intensity on the sufferings of Christ on the cross. The mysterious stigmata (wounds in the hands and the side) appeared after one of these ordeals. This picture of Francis is hard to reconcile with the man whose joy in the creation led to the composition of the lovely Canticle of the Sun. (We know it by the words of our hymn, "All Creatures of our God and King.") Adrian House does a good job helping us to understand the historical and psychological factors which contributed to Francis's austere way of life. He makes Francis into a real person, a whole person, whom we, as moderns, can resonate with. The world certainly needs the message of peace and tenderness which Francis conveyed. And we could certainly use a little more appreciation of austerity. Adrian House's biography should persuade readers, both religious and non-religious, that Francesco di Pietro was truly a man to be taken seriously in any age.
Kathy Mulhern, Literature
Officers of United Society of Friends Women of NEYM
Presiding Clerk: Minga Claggett-Borne
Assistant. Clerk: Dorothy Hinshaw
Recording. Clerk: Marian Baker
Treasurer.: Clarabel Marstaller
Auditor: Bernice Douglas
Christian Service: Christine Wozich
Children & Youth: Pamela Lessard
Peace & Social: Jeanne Kinney
Literature: Kathy Mulhern, Kitsie Hildebrandt
Stewardship: Glennis Hutchins
Adult Missionary Ed.: Christina Smith
Newsletter: Ann Armstrong
Nominating: Barbara Sturrock, Nell Neal