SPRING 2010Phil Anthony
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salemqtr@verizon.netSalem Quarter sang Christmas carols in December at Salem MM. Then, the next week, the snows came and cancelled almost every meeting’s own program. For the first time since I came to the quarter I missed Greenwich MM’s Christmas brunch, after the clerk called that morning to tell me the roads were bad down there—thanks, Gracie!
The holidays came … and went … and in early January my eight-day retreat. Not much to say about that, except that maybe I’ll be a little more centered and better able to be what the quarter needs. And the Wednesday morning we came out of the silence, we learned that Haiti had been hit with a 7.0-magnitude tremor.
QUARTERLY MEETING
Woodstown Monthly Meeting
Sunday, 14 March 20109:00 am Gather 9:30 am Program: Elizabeth Gates, FWCC 10:30 am Worship 11:30 am Music: Friends School Fine & Performing Arts Program 12 m Lunch: soup and bread provided by Woodstown MM 1:00 pm Business meeting Child care, beverages and dessert provided From silence I was thrust into the drama of Julian Brelsford, PYM’s membership database manager, and his sister Christa, who were caught in the quake. They were volunteers in a Haitian adult literacy program, as they are every chance they have. Julian was all right. Just a few scrapes and some broken toes. Christa’s leg, however, was crushed.
We breathed easier to learn that Christa had been airlifted to Miami, where her foot was amputated … and were chastened to hear her on every television interview, insisting on reminding the world of the people back in Haiti who didn’t get out on a helicopter, who had no access to American hospitals, who were left with no medical care or shelter or food. Two hundred thousand dead … a million homeless…
The American Friends Service Committee swung into action, along with practically every other international relief group in the world. So did Seaville MM’s Helena Bew, who immediately began organizing a concert in Cape May to benefit the AFSC’s effort.
Salem Quarter moves more slowly. However, we were already talking in January about a program at an upcoming quarterly meeting, possibly September, spotlighting the battered, impoverished Republic of Haiti … not just the emergency aid following the quake, but the long-term effort to rebuild the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
In fact, it’s an international year for quarterly meeting programs. The June meeting will feature Frank Lenik, former clerk of Woodstown MM. He’s spearheaded an effort to provide metal detectors originally designed for surveyors to United Nations agencies working to remove land mines left by years of wars around the world. He’ll be just back from Vietnam, seeing the devices in action. More in the Summer newsletter.
Directions to
Woodstown MeetinghouseComing from the south, enter Woodstown on 40/45 from Salem, Rt. 40 from Millville, or Yorketown Rd., S. Main St. At the traffic light in the center of town, go north on Rt. 45. The meeting house is directly ahead as you approach the first turn after the light.
From the north, enter Woodstown on Rt. 45 from Mullica Hill. After you cross the bridge into town, the meeting house is about a half mile on your right, just before Rt. 45 turns left.Quakers around the world are our focus for March. Even across the United States, Friends are remarkably diverse. We range from Universalists who emphasize the personal spiritual journey through all religious traditions to unabashedly evangelical fundamentalist Christians. Our worship may be waiting on the Spirit in silence, or there may be an order of service with sermons by a pastor and hymns. While most U.S. Friends’ meetings are racially and culturally European, there are more Quakers in Africa than anywhere else in the world.
All of those Quaker meetings claim descent from George Fox and the other Friends in 17th-century England. Despite their radical differences, all of them have a good claim. All preserve basic elements of early Quakerism. None has preserved the forms of our foundation unchanged.
Probably they couldn’t. The world has changed too much in three and a half centuries. Kenya isn’t England, nor is the United States. A measure of the vitality of the Quaker message is that it has adapted to be relevant while preserving the essential insights of our forebears. We have a lot to learn from each other.
The Friends World Committee for Consultation is the main body that brings all these different kinds of Friends together. Its visitation and programs and conferences, annual meetings of the regional sections, and its Triennial Gathering are primary forums where we can meet and connect with one another.
So we welcome Elizabeth Gates, a member of Lancaster MM and assistant clerk of the FWCC, to speak with us at quarterly meeting at Woodstown MM. We’ll gather on Sunday, 3/14, to share Liz’s experience and excitement at being in touch with these other strands of Quakerism, and to find out how we can be more in touch with them ourselves. Please come join us!
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