WINTER 2010Phil Anthony
(856) 769-0066 (voice)
(856) 769-1416 (fax)
salemqtr@verizon.netIt’s only the beginning of November as I write, and already the summer seems far behind us. Woodstown MM has celebrated the 225th anniversary of its meetinghouse. Salem Quarter oversaw a prayer vigil at the Cumberland County Court House in Bridgeton, in support of Mickletonian Richard Joseph. Friends School will hold its Ten Thousand Villages sale in November, followed by Woodstown MM’s sale the first week of December. Quite quickly Thanksgiving will be upon us, followed in short order by what a Conservative Friend I know delights in referring to as “the day that the world calls Christmas.”
DECEMBER QUARTERLY MEETING
Salem Monthly Meeting
Sunday, 12 Dec 20109:00 am Arrival & Coffee 9:30 am Carol Singing 10:30 am Worship 1:00-3:00 pm Business Meeting Child care, beverages and desert provided DIRECTIONS
39 34.286 N, 75 27.924 WFrom the southernmost parts of NJ, take Route 47 north to Route 49.
Turn west on Rt. 49 which takes you in to Salem.
The traffic light at East Broadway and Walnut Sts. is directly in front of the meetinghouse.
Turn right into the Salem Mtg. driveway.From northern South Jersey, take Routes 40 or 45 to Woodstown.
Take Route 45 from Woodstown to Salem.
Route 45 dead ends into Broadway.
Turn left onto East Broadway, then left at the first traffic light (one block) into Salem Mtg. driveway.For PYM Friends in the Liberal tradition, we take advantage of the season to join with each other in celebration and worship. Most of our meetings will offer a Christmas breakfast, a Christmas pageant, or possibly Christmas eve worship. Once again we’ll be offering a Christmas program at Salem Quarterly Meeting on 12/12, too: carolling led by Mullica Hill’s Beth Johnson and Woodstown’s David Lamont.
On the heels of Christmas will be the New Year, a good time to assess what we’ve done in the past year and where we’re headed in 2011. It will come with a certain sadness for me. At the end of October, the Salem MM Oversight Committee decided to lay down the Millville Worship Group—a project under the care of Salem MM, but undertaken with support from around the quarter. The reason? Six of the core people who took part in its formation had moved away from the area, to places as far away as Arizona and Utah. These included practically all the seasoned Friends who were involved in the group. And no one from our other meetings has been called to commit to the Millville group on a continuing basis to help it rebuild its numbers and integrate new members who might be found.
Not that we’re just going to walk away and forget the folks who joined us in such tender worship in Millville! The other meetings of the quarter certainly welcome them, if they choose to travel the 45 minutes or so that it takes. They will always be welcome at quarterly meetings. They have my phone number and e-mail address, and I hope they’ll keep in touch with me. If they don’t, I’ll just have to call and e-mail them… And perhaps one day, as populations shift around again, we will once more be ready to offer a place of worship in the geographically largest urban area in New Jersey.
Finally, as I write, there’s more surgery coming for me personally. This time the aim is to fix what got broken during last May’s operation. With any luck, and God’s help, I’ll soon be running around and making trouble for all of you once more.
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Friday, November 19, 2010 at 03:45 AM
