by Diane Bowden | Oct 21, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns, Topics
Last year Peace and Social Concerns conducted a blood drive at the Meetinghouse during June. Twenty three donations were collected. However, a close evaluation of the donor list suggested RFM may not be large enough to sustain such in-house collections. Twenty five percent of the 2014 donors were from outside our Meeting. As a result, P&SC is now encouraging Friends who are able to donate to do so during the month of October by going to the Virginia Blood Services donation Center. The Center address is 2825 Emerywood Parkway, which is located about one quarter mile west of the Glenside-Broad Street intersection on the south side of Broad Street.
When donating, Friends should submit the code 3149 which will allow P&SC to track how many donations are given during our October drive and we will learn whether future blood drives could be, once again, conducted at the Meetinghouse. For additional information about donor eligibility and appointments [walk-ins are allowed], Call 359-5100 or 213-4105.
by Diane Bowden | Oct 1, 2015 | Adult Spiritual Education
All are invited to Richmond Friends Meetings’ Fall Retreat with John Calvi at the Clearing, Saturday November 14 from 9am to 3pm. John has been working as a Quaker healer and retreat leader since 1982. The Goodness Workshop is a slow, quiet time where any sharing is by choice, and the depth is chosen individually. We will learn simple, clothes-on massage, and a simple beginning energy work form for deep relaxation to calm body and thinking. A clear sense of our own goodness has important implications for our own healing, helping others, and deeper spiritual seeking in our everyday lives. We’ll have John’s stories to keep us laughing, and a tender tone to rest our busy lives and weary bodies. Our Fall Retreat is sponsored by RFM’s Ministry & Worship Committee with Adult Spiritual Education Committee.
The Dance between Hope and Fear is John’s latest book. You can visit his website at
www.johncalvi.com.
For
Directions to the Clearing, visit
www.richmondfriends.org. The Clearing is about an hour southwest of Richmond at 13491 Genito Road, Amelia Court House, Va. 23002.
Preregistration by
November 10 is appreciated, but not required, by emailing
hughesmc@verizon.net, or leaving a message at
804-262-1917 for Mary Fran.
Lunch is pot luck, so please bring food to share.
Bringing a blanket and pillow is a good idea for comfort.
by Diane Bowden | Sep 26, 2015 | Minutes of Business Meeting
Richmond Friends Meeting
Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
Ninth Month 20, 2015
Meeting began with silence at 11:00 AM. Thirty-seven (37) members and attenders were present. Clarisse Harton was greeter. Frances Stewart from Ministry and Worship sat on the facing bench to hold Meeting in the Light. Verónica Corrales Fuentes and Sebastian Wolff were welcomed as first-time attenders to MWB. Tracey Cain read the Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) proposed Queries and Voices on Peace.
Religious Education: Barb Adams updated the meeting on the state of the Religious Education program. There are currently 29 children on the roster, of which about 14 are expected to attend regularly. The high school aged Young Friends (YF) and middle school aged Junior Young Friends (JYF) have typical enrollment numbers, while the elementary aged (ELF) class is quite small. All members of the JYF class will be attending the Our Whole Lives (OWL) program at the First Unitarian Universalist church for the majority of the First Days during the school year, and will only attend the meeting RE program sporadically. In order to accommodate these enrollment changes the K–8 children will be grouped together and have a rotating set of teachers. Upcoming RE events include the sale of handmade ‘Tz for Pz’ shirts (proceeds to Doctors without Borders), and participation in the International Day of Peace vigil to be held at the meetinghouse on Monday Sept. 21st at 7pm. Barb announced that there will be a program during Young Friends First Day class on October 4th on Conscientious Objection by Curt Terrell of Quaker House. Betsy Brinson, longtime QH Board member elaborated on the work of Quaker House.
Nominating Committee: Brooke Davis announced that the nominating committee is looking for members to serve on committees next year, and urged people to consider volunteering both to serve the meeting and to deepen their ties within the community.
Care and Counsel: Clarisse Harton announced that the committee is highly recommending Allen Lee for membership. As is customary his membership will be held over for approval to the October MWB, allowing Friends an opportunity to get to know Allen. Clarisse also urged people to consider joining a ‘Friendly 8s’ group by signing up on the lists on the bulletin board. These groups connect members with shared interests on a monthly basis and are a great way to get to know other meeting members. She highlighted the new group that will read One Year to Live by Steven Levine and discuss how to live meaningfully. Wade Smith announced that the trip sponsored by the birding group at the end of October still has openings.
Ministry and Worship: Tracey Cain announced the following upcoming events: (1) She extended an invitation to the Fall Retreat that is being held on November 14 from 9 am to 3 pm at The Clearing. John Calvi, a licensed massage therapist who has worked extensively with survivors of traumatic events, will lead The Goodness Workshop. This slow quiet time will include sharing by choice, simple clothes-on massage, an energy work form for deep relaxation, and John’s stories to keep us laughing. (2) John Calvi will lead two other events at the meetinghouse during the retreat weekend. On Friday evening he will give a presentation about QUIT, (the Quaker Initiative to End Torture,) and on Sunday at 9:30 am he will present ‘Journal Reading of a Quaker Healer After 30+ years’. (3) On November 1st, after meeting, VCCW (Virginia Correctional Center for Women) volunteers will gather for a light lunch and discussion, and invite people to learn more about their prison ministry (R.S.V.P. Rita Willett). The Quaker group at the women’s prison has been meeting for almost one year and plans to use the “spiritual state” process to develop a report to be shared with our meeting.
Website Committee: Don Miller updated members on changes to the meeting website, richmondfriendsmeeting.org, which has been available for more than a year. The committee has recently completed a significant revision to make it more convenient to use and make navigation more intuitive. Archives of meeting documents and the current directory are available in a password protected area. The committee would like to add more photographs once there is a clear privacy policy for publishing pictures. Don encouraged people to explore and use the website. Don also read a letter from Tom Illmensee, the primary architect of the website, who has moved to Hungary with his family. In his letter he talked about his family taking food and supplies to Syrian refugees who were at the Budapest train station and visiting the protest zone.
Peace and Social Concerns: (1) Mark Skolnick reported that PSC is selling Palestinian olive oil. Orders may be placed through Verna Boos. (2) Marcia Dickinson reminded members of the annual food drive we sponsor in October to collect food for the Fan Free Clinic. Leave donations of nonperishable foods, dog food, and paper bags in the collection box at the meetinghouse. (3) Ada Hammer announced that she is coordinating a dinner our meeting is sponsoring on 12/12/15 for families returning from a visiting day at distant prisons through Assisting Families of Inmates. Donations of time and food will be needed. (4) At its annual session in August, BYM approved a Climate Change Minute which had been created by Quaker Earthcare Witness, Quaker United Nations Office and Friends Committee on National Legislation. BYM asked individual meetings to consider the minute. The Climate Change minute was read and approved. This minute is separate from the one drafted and approved by RFM.
Adult Spiritual Education: Monica Shaw announced the following events, for which details are found on our website and in the newsletter: (1) Sunday, October 4th at 9:30 and 11 am in the Community Room: Workshops on Conscientious Objection and the Peace Testimony. There will be a session on Being an Advocate at rise of meeting, (2) Sunday, October 18th at 1 pm in the Community Room: Healing the Divide in Israel and Palestine. Dr. Alice Rothchild, Boston physician, human rights advocate and Jewish advocate for peace in Israel and Palestine, will present on her recent and ongoing travels to Gaza, (3) Saturday, October 24th from 10-12 noon in the Community Room: Moral Injury Workshop a presentation featuring Lynn and Steve Newsom, co-directors of Quaker House Military Counseling Center, Fayetteville, NC, home of Fort Bragg. Wade Smith, Quaker House Board Member spoke about the work that Quaker House is doing in this area to support veterans. (4) Sunday, October 25th, 9:30 to 10:45 am in the Community Room: The Spiritual Implications of Our Food Choices with Dr. Margaret Fisher of Herndon Friends Mtg.
Seventh Month 2015 MWB Minutes: Approved.
Clerk’s Business: The next potluck lunch will be September 27th, 2015, at rise of Meeting. Please bring food to share. The clerk announced the scheduled execution of Alfredo R. Prieto on Thursday, October 1st at 9:00 pm. RFM will hold a vigil beginning at 8:30. Friends are asked to consult the VADP (Virginians Against the Death Penalty) website for further information as the date approaches.
Other Business: Margaret Edds of Care and Counsel reported that Mary Bo Gassman has fallen ill and would appreciate cards and letters. Elizabeth Smith announced a silent retreat at The Clearing on Wednesday September 23rd from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. The day is co-sponsored with the group Chrysalis, and those interested were reminded to bring a bag lunch.
All business being concluded we settled into silence until the rise of meeting was signaled from the facing bench.
Denna Joy, Acting Clerk
Tina Mello, Acting Recording Clerk
by Diane Bowden | Sep 26, 2015 | History - Quaker, History - RFM
Few people alive today know that the Powhatan hamlet of Fine Creek was a center of Quaker life in what was once part of Goochland County; then a part of Cumberland County with its formation in 1749; and finally a part of Powhatan County with that county’s formation in 1777. The Fine Creek area was first developed in 1735 by John Pleasants Sr., a member of a prominent and early Virginia Quaker family. He built a gristmill at Lees Landing Road (Rt. 641) and Huguenot Trail (Rt. 711) along the lower falls of Fine Creek. Within a decade a small rural hamlet emerged next to the gristmill with several stores, a cooper’s shop, a blacksmith shop, a small cheese factory, a postal station, and a ferry that provided access across the James River to the northern part of Goochland County. Eventually a one room schoolhouse was also built for the area’s children.
We know from the historical Quaker record that White Oak Swamp Monthly Meeting (aka. Henrico Monthly Meeting) allowed a “particular” (or subordinate) Quaker Meeting, Fine Creek Meeting, to be created in the area in 1746. At that time in Quaker history a new meeting would not have been allowed by the “monthly” (parent) meeting if there were not a good number of Quakers willing to support its ongoing existence. Quaker discipline was strict then and not the laisser-faire culture of liberal Quakerism today. Quakers were required to attend worship every “First Day” (Sunday) at the local meetinghouse if they were to remain Quakers. So, we know that a ready-made and active membership would have been available to provide ongoing support for the new meeting.
White Oak Swamp Monthly Meeting had a dozen or so Quaker meetings under its care during the eighteenth century. Fine Creek Meeting was just one of these, along with its “sister” meeting of Richmond Friends Meeting. Had Fine Creek meeting survived the ravages of history, today it would be 49 years older than Richmond Friends Meeting.
Powhatan County archives do indicate that Fine Creek Quakers were active abolitionists. James Pleasants of Fine Creek (brother of John Pleasants Sr. who was instrumental in developing the gristmill at Fine Creek) began emancipating his slaves around 1800 along with Fine Creek Quakers John Pleasants Jr. and Jonathan Pleasants, both sons of John Pleasants Sr. No doubt they were prompted to do so by a unanimous decision by all Virginia Quakers in 1800 to “disown” (the term then used to revoke Quaker membership) any Quaker who refused to emancipate their slaves. All Virginia Quakers had been asked to begin doing so since the mid 1770’s. County and historical records demonstrate a concerted effort by Fine Creek Quakers to systematically work towards this end. It wasn’t until 1804, however, that the county finally began providing newly freed blacks their certificates of freedom.
Fine Creek Meeting existed from 1746 until 1780 – some 34 years. Yet, there is much mystery surrounding the meeting. At that time in Quaker history, once a meeting was in existence for more than a few years, there was pressure as well as support to build a permanent meetinghouse. Also, Fine Creek meeting was nurtured by the Pleasants family – one of the wealthiest families in Virginia. So, the circumstantial evidence would suggest that a meetinghouse existed somewhere in the Fine Creek area of Powhatan.
Where exactly was the Fine Creek meetinghouse located? Was it in the hamlet surrounding the gristmill; or, was it in the surrounding countryside? Why was the Fine Creek Meeting “laid down” after existing for 34 years? One can only hope that as ancient records become more searchable due to digitization, someone will be able to fill in the missing pieces to this local Quaker mystery.
— Howard Brod, Midlothian Friends Meeting
by Diane Bowden | Sep 26, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
The following report was submitted by Tom Ilmensee, a member of Meeting, who now lives with his family in Budapest. It was written in the first week of September.
Tonight my daughter Iris and I walked to Keleti station, the transport terminal in Budapest that is currently home to thousands of refugees from Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan.
Iris carried a huge bag of apples and oranges (we nearly cleared the inventory at the market). I carried another huge bag with juice boxes, granola bars, candies and toys.
We met families. Mothers who smiled at us with their eyes. Fathers who beamed with pride. Children who laughed and said “thank you.” Old people who — despite their weariness — seemed to us the strongest people on earth.
The fruit went fast. And each piece we handed out was met with kind smiles and heartfelt thanks.
The juice was very popular. Such relief in the eyes of each person who approached us. These are 89 HUF orange juice boxes — and they were like little miracles to the families who got them.
The granola bars went fast. We handed them out like batons at a relay race.
The fruity candy went to kids between 5–16. Or to their mothers with a wink from me — meaning that I understood they may come in handy later.
The toys! My friend Lacika predicted we would be swarmed. And we were. I have never seen such delight over a tiny plastic tiger.
Iris and I waded through the tent city under the station on the Metro level. It’s stuffy. And filthy. And buzzing with love. Above ground, under the lights of the international media we stood amongst the protestors. A banner was carried high: “We want peace.” Someone waved a Hungarian flag nearby.
A family of six sat on the ground about five meters from the train terminal. The mother begged her 6-year old to stop hitting her on the head with a pink balloon. The eight-year old tickled the two-year old. Dad wandered from their camp to the protest zone.
A buffed and polished reporter stood poised with his microphone. A boy about 5 walked over with a sign made from a pizza box: “Help us save our children from homelessness.” The camera guy pointed the camera at the reporter, but his eyes were on the kid.
If you’re able, support a family at Keleti — and anywhere else refugee families are camped. Let them know there’s love for them as they travel along the strange and often lonely road.