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WINTER
1999 Phil Anthony
COORDINATOR Phil Anthony TELEPHONE (856) 769-0066 FAX (856) 769-1416 salemqtr@verizon.net WEBSITE www.pym.org/salem-qm/ Darkening days of a waning year; bitter winds, cold rain and snow, and then the long haul of January and February with their icy, frozen ground. For many people I know, it’s a time to turn inward, to gather with friends and family, to be grateful that we’re in here, where it’s light and warm, and not out there.
Not that we forget those who are out there. Like ours, their need for heat and light grows with the days’ decline. But it’s important as winter comes on to join with our community. And the meetings of Salem Quarter have done that since our September Quarterly Meeting at Greenwich.
Seaville had its first meeting retreat at the end of September, a day of yoga and tai chi and examination of leadings. Then on the last weekend of October, the meeting gathered for fall cleanup, busily washing dishes and cleaning windows. Greenwich has held its annual lasagna dinner, a fund-raiser for a Bridgeton shelter that gathers meeting members in an evening of fellowship. Mickleton held an ingathering with its celebration of the meetinghouse bicentennial, worship and reminiscence followed by a catered lunch at the Little Red School House.
Salem is planning an inter-generational sleepover starting the evening of New Year’s Day and continuing through worship Sunday morning. Woodbury has an eye on the millenial visit of citizens of Bury, England, following the path of the city’s founder, Henry Wood. In preparation, the meeting has taken the time to look in at its own roots and explore the depths and breadth of Quakerism, past and present. Mullica Hill has housed the Ten Thousand Villages craft sale as a benefit for Friends School, and is preparing for its own meeting retreat at the end of January. The craft sale will come to Woodstown in early December, under the sponsorship of the meeting’s Peace and Social Justice Committee.
Not all gatherings of family and friends are entirely happy occasions. A party at Woodstown in late October wished Godspeed to long-time members Marge and Bob Foulks, who have moved to California to be closer to their children. I know I’ll sorely miss hearing their answering machine announcement: “Hi. You’ve reached the Foulks.” Bob and Marge are just two of the folks of Salem Quarter I’ve come to treasure in my time here.
Mickleton said goodby to two of its long-time members, too — Betty Scott and Helen Thompson, whose memorial services were held Saturday and Sunday on a late September weekend, at Mickleton and Woodstown. Godspeed to them as well.
And the Quarter will come together at 3:00 PM on Sunday, 12 December, at Woodbury for Quarterly Meeting. Right Sharing of World Resources will prepare a Stone Soup dinner (ingredients, along with bread and beverage, provided by Woodbury) and present our program. Then Friends School will give us music, and we’ll close by joining together in candlelight worship. I look forward to seeing you there in warmth and light and love.
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Last modified:
Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 09:24 AM
