SUMMER 2010Phil Anthony
(856) 769-0066 (voice)
(856) 769-1416 (fax)
salemqtr@verizon.netIt’s been a long, hard winter. There were the cancelled meetings and celebrations; there was the difficulty of getting places, the recurring cycle of digging out after each storm, the damage to property. There were the illnesses and the deaths. You’ll understand, I’m sure, that at the top of my mind is Sondra Ball’s unexpected series of hospital stays over the winter, culminating in her death in mid-March.
I don’t know about you, but the cold lingers in my bones. Nevertheless, the sun is out as I write. The NOAA tells me that temperatures will be in the 60s today, rising into the 80s by the weekend. Over the past few weeks I’ve driven past the peach and apple blossoms in the orchards along Route 45, and the trees are coming into full leaf with that delicate yellow-green that says spring.
The time seems to have come to pick up the pieces and see where we’re going next. I’ve been thinking of the chicken coop on the farm of Seaville MM’s Ken Thompson, which collapsed under the weight of the snow (see his blog) in one of the storms. His latest entry tells of rebuilding the coop in a new spot and re-acclimatizing the chickens to their new home, while mourning another loss:
JUNE QUARTERLY MEETING
Mickleton Monthly Meeting
Sunday, 13 June 20109:30 am Gather 10:00 am Worship 11:00 am Program: Tom Etherington, The Bible in English 12 m Lunch: beverages and dessert provided 1:00 pm Business meeting Child care provided I have one remaining hive of honey bees. Losing three, all for very different reasons—mites, pesticides, and starvation—has taught me how fragile a honey bee’s life is. Suddenly, every bloom, whether it be a dandelion flower or a cherry tree in bloom is important— each is a source of pollen and nectar, not a weed or a pretty tree.
You’ll find another of his reflections on the season on p. 8. Sometimes it seems that what we’re called to do is just keep on keeping on. And this is a good thing.
Salem Quarter, of course, is keeping on. We’re holding the Meditation Retreat at Mullica Hill MM, with thanks to its leaders, Michael Gibson of Mullica Hill and Nora Iwanaga of Woodbury MM. Soon—on Sunday, 6/13—we’ll be holding quarterly meeting at Mickleton MM.
Mullica Hill’s Tom Etherington will speak with us about the history and development of the English Bible, a talk he first prepared for the Bible Association of Friends in America. History, theology, and politics join together to make for a fascinating exploration of what Tony Prete calls a “privileged document,” one that almost four centuries of Friends (and millenia of others) have found valuable in their faith lives.
Please join us at Mickleton for worship as a quarter, Tom’s program, fellowship over lunch, and the business that keeps us on keeping on. I’ll look forward to welcoming you all.
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Monday, May 31, 2010 at 09:17 PM
