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WINTER
2001 Phil Anthony
(856) 769-0066 (voice)
(856) 769-1416 (fax)
salemqtr@verizon.netDuring the week after September 11, I was on the phone with a member of Salem Quarter. “They want to disrupt our lives,” she said, “and we can’t let them.”
I don’t know where it came from; certainly I hadn’t thought about it, but I burst out: “They want to disrupt our lives with terror. But what if they disrupted our lives with love?”
My involuntary protest has kept coming back to me in the following months. The attacks, and the U.S. retaliation, have taught us some things about what’s really important—family, friends, faith community—how precious they are, and how easily we could lose them. In the weeks that followed September 11, our frenetic lives slowed down, we listened to family members and friends and neighbors, our meetinghouses (and other places of worship across the country) were more full than we’d seen them in years.
Do we have to lose that? Or can we remember to spend more time with parents, children, neighbors, members of our meetings, instead of returning to our 60-hour, six-day work weeks? Can we take time and money from our personal goals to share them with a co-worker who needs encouragement, a meeting friend who needs support, somebody we’ve never even met who needs our help desperately? Can we forego the trip to the mall and the rush to soccer practice to become part of a loving community?
And for those who are called to it, there are also the vigils. The Sunday prayer vigil at Independence Mall has never attracted larger numbers; and I’ve sent out floods of e-mail with local opportunities to participate.
There’s plenty for our meetings to do as well. The annual Seaville MM picnic was a more somber affair, and a few weeks later the meeting said goodby to long-time member Louis Weiner as he retired to Florida. I was privileged to attend midweek worship at Mickleton, Mullica Hill, and Woodbury MMs. The Peace Center that will be the centerpiece of our March Quarterly Meeting is taking shape, with a work day to install resource materials and a computer in the gallery at Woodstown MM—see the article for ways the Quarter can be involved.
December Quarterly Meeting
Salem Monthly Meeting
Sunday, 9 December 20019:00 am Gather: coffee and doughnuts 9:30 am Program: Thom Jeavons, General Secretary of PYM 10:30 am Music: Friends School Fine & Performing Arts 11:00 am Worship 12:00 m Lunch (soup, beverage, dessert provided by Salem MM) 1:00 pm Business meeting Child care provided Before then, of course, will be our 9 December Quarterly Meeting at Salem MM. The meeting has moved its worship to 11:00 am to provide more time for our speaker, PYM General Secretary Thom Jeavons, and the music of the Friends School Fine & Performing Arts program.
Thom tells me at press time that he really doesn’t know what he’s going to be talking about yet. Like most of us, he’s been living much more in the moment since September 11, developing joint statements with other Quaker organizations, helping put together joint programs, working on PYM’s threshing sessions and the 10 November called session of PYM. I’ll be very surprised if what he has to say doesn’t reflect what he—and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—have been doing this fall.
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Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 09:20 AM
