SUMMER 2005Phil Anthony
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radition has it that when John the Elder lay dying, he was confined to his bed and could barely speak. This was the man whose three epistles in our Bible give hints of the conflicts and schisms that wracked Christianity in its early years. He had overseen the churches of Asia Minor not by decree, as the bishops of the second century would, but by persuasion. His was the understanding of Jesus that lay behind the book we now call the Gospel of John.
JUNE QUARTERLY MEETING
Mullica Hill Monthly Meeting
Sunday, 12 June 20049:30 am Gather 10:00 am Program: Roshan Dinshah, “The Southern State Ministry” 11:00 am Worship 12:00 m Brown-bag lunch: desserts and beverages provided 1:00 pm Meeting for business Child care provided And as he lay on his deathbed, he could only repeat, over and over: “Little children, love one another.”
The story is legend. Yet it captures the essence of what appears in the fourth gospel and the three epistles that were preserved. “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love,” the Elder wrote; and again, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:8, 20).
I was led to reflect on this story as Friends from three different monthly meetings told me about conflicts among their members. It occurred to me that the success of “Quaker process” is rooted in the love that John the Elder wrote about. Without love for one another underlying the process, nothing remains of it but the form. When that kind of love is missing, it’s easy to manipulate the process so that individuals impose their will on the meeting as a whole, or the majority silences dissent.
Another tradition speaks of Mickleton MM at the time of the 1827 schism in PYM Quakerism. The Friends there are said to have felt that despite their individual preferences, their love for each other was more important than their most firmly held theological and political opinions. In their meeting for worship with concern for business, they decided that the entire meeting would become either Hicksite or Orthodox so that they themselves would not be separated.
Whether or not the tradition is entirely accurate—and the section on Mickleton in Salem Quarter suggests that it may not be—it speaks to the best we can be as Friends. In William Penn’s words, let us try, then, and see what love can do.
Throughout the spring, Salem Quarter has been—as it always is—a busy and exciting place to be. Greenwich MM sponsored worship at the Mary and Abel Nicholson House in Elsinboro. In need of repair, it is the best intact example of early 18th-century Quaker pattern brick architecture in the Delaware Valley.
Mickleton MM held a Passover seder at the Little Red School House at the end of April. Salem MM had its annual Pot Pie Dinner in early May. Woodstown MM, the site of the Quarter’s Bible course with Tony Prete this spring, will host its Strawberry Festival soon after this issue of Salem Quarter News is mailed.
At Seaville MM, Friends are gearing up for a three-session Quakerism 101 program that will welcome those from all our other monthly meetings. Woodbury’s George Crispin will teach the course. See the Quarter Calendar for details. Woodbury MM itself was delighted to welcome Friends from other Salem Quarter meetings at its Friday night presentation and discussion of the film What the Bleep Do We Know?
Mullica Hill MM will be the location of Salem Quarterly Meeting. A worship group at Southern State was established under the joint care of Mullica Hill and Seaville MMs. It has been faithfully nurtured by Roshan Dinshah and Bill Geary over the years, and Roshan is looking forward to reporting on his prison ministry on 12 June. The Quarter will provide child care; coffee on arrival and lunchtime beverage and desserts will be available. I look forward to worshipping with Mullica Hill, to our business session after lunch with our new clerk—and to seeing you there.
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