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Eastern Hills Friends Newsletter
Worship with us at 1671 Nagel Rd.
Write us at PO Box 54565, Cincinnati, OH
45254-0565
www.easternhillsfriends.org
December 23, 2011
Calendar of Events:
Dec. 25 Meeting
for Worship.
Dec. 28 Jimmy
Heath House: Providing lunch, set-up at 11:30, serve at noon
Jan. 1 Peace
Pole, Beech Acres Park, 5-5:30 pm
Jan. 1 Shape
Note Singing at Harriet Beecher Stowe House, 10 am - 3 pm
Jan. 8 Second
Hour on Integrity
Jan. 22 Meeting
for Business
Additional Information:
•
Ministry and Counsel welcomes suggestions for material to be posted on the web
site. Anything that you believe is appropriate should be submitted to them.
• We
encourage members and attenders to purchase Corningware Corelle bowls to add to
the collection of dishes that we use at Jimmy Heath House and for other events.
We need about 50 bowls to complete our set, and we suggest checking the thrift
store.
• We
are accepting contributions of coffee again—caffeinated only, unflavored
preferred.
• Friends
need to sign up for cleaning the meetinghouse.
• To
express appreciation to Doug and Kim Stears for providing our meeting lawncare,
please recommend their lawncare service to anyone seeking such work.
• FUM’s
2012 Chain of Prayer begins Jan. 1 and continues through Pentecost Sunday, May
27, 2012. More information & a registration form can be found at http://www.fum.org/naministries/ChainofPrayer_index.htm
• Information on the 2012
FGC Gathering is available at http://www.fgcquaker.org/gathering.
Spiritual Practice - from Eastern
Hills Ministry and Counsel:
The following query from
Aotearoa/New Zealand Yearly Meeting challenges both the Christ-centered and
non-Christ-centered.
The
Religious Society of Friends is rooted in Christianity, and has
always
found inspiration in the life and teachings of Jesus. How do
you
interpret your faith in the light of this heritage? Are you following
Jesus’
example of love in action? Are you learning from his life of
sacrifice
the reality and cost of obedience to God? How does his
closeness
to God challenge and inspire you in the way you live?
Editor: Rick Boyce, 231-9866, richardboyce@fuse.net, welcomes additions
or suggestions for the newsletter.
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Eastern Hills Friends Newsletter
Worship with us at 1671 Nagel Rd.
Write us at PO Box 54565, Cincinnati, OH 45254-0565
www.easternhillsfriends.org
November 27, 2011
Calendar of Events:
Nov. 30 Jimmy
Heath House: Providing lunch, set-up at 11:30, serve at noon
Dec. 4 Monthly
Meeting for Business, preceded by potluck
Dec. 4 Michael
Henson and Paulette Hansel—poetry reading, Cincinnati Friends, 2 pm
Dec. 4 Annual
Peace and Merriment Concert, Riley School of Irish Music, Columbia Baptist
Church,
3718 Eastern Avenue, Cincinnati
Dec. 11 Second
Hour on Integrity
Dec. 11 Musica
Sacra concert
Dec. 16 Christmas
Gathering: potluck, singing, variety show (?) with the Palmers at 3137 State
Route
132, Amelia, OH 45102
Dec. 25 Meeting
for Worship.
Dec. 28 Jimmy
Heath House: Providing lunch, set-up at 11:30, serve at noon
Additional Information:
• Ministry and Counsel
welcomes suggestions for material to be posted on the web site. Anything that
you believe is appropriate should be submitted to them.
• We encourage members and
attenders to purchase Corningware Corelle bowls to add to the collection of
dishes that we use at Jimmy Heath House and for other events. We need about 50
bowls to complete our set, and we suggest checking the thrift store.
• We are accepting
contributions of coffee again—caffeinated only, unflavored preferred.
• A former member of our
meeting, Cecil Rockwell, died November 10th after a long illness. A
memorial service was held at the home of his son Paul in Hillsborough, NC, on
November 13th. Memorial donations may be made to AFSC.
• The Ministry and Counsel Committee of OVYM is
using email for this edition of the Faith and Practice discussion. A revision
was forwarded to meeting attenders by the clerk. Wilson Palmer is asking
attenders to please respond by December 15, 2011, or to ask him for more time
if desired.
• Friends need to sign up
for cleaning the meetinghouse.
• To express appreciation to
Doug and Kim Stears for providing our meeting lawncare, please recommend their
lawncare service to anyone seeking such work.
• Henrietta Ballinger
reported that funds generated from postage stamp donations were sent to RSWR,
FWCC, AFSC, and, through Box Tops for Education, Whittier Friends School.
Spiritual Practice - from Eastern Hills
Ministry and Counsel:
Here is salvation for all:
“Nothing that is worth doing can
be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. ...Nothing we
do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by
love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or
foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore, we must be saved by the final form
of love, which is forgiveness.”
(Reinhold
Niebuhr)
Have you been saved by hope? By
love? By forgiveness?
How might you help another find
salvation through hope, love, and forgiveness?
Editor: Rick Boyce, 231-9866, richardboyce@fuse.net, welcomes additions
or suggestions for the newsletter.
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Eastern Hills Friends Newsletter
Worship with us at 1671 Nagel Rd.
Write us at PO Box 54565, Cincinnati, OH
45254-0565
www.easternhillsfriends.org
October 9, 2011
Calendar of Events:
Oct. 15 OVYM
Middle Youth overnight at Englewood Friends; OVYM Teen Overnight at Dayton MM
Oct. 16 Miami
Quarterly Meeting, Dayton (see below)
Oct. 21-23 Salt
and Light event, Louisville, KY
Oct. 25 Salt
and Light event, Community Friends (see below)
Oct. 30 Work
Day
Nov. 6 Monthly
Meeting for Business
Additional Information:
• The
schedule for Miami Quarterly
Meeting in Dayton will be: 9:45 am singing, 10 am worship
followed by program, potluck and business meeting. Martha Viehmann will be
leading an intergenerational program on the Peace Testimony.
• Salt
and Light events will be held in Louisville, KY, Oct. 21-23, and at Community
Friends in Cincinnati, Oct. 25 (potluck dinner at 5:30 pm and program at 7:00
pm). Sponsored by FWCC Section of the Americas, they will be led by Valerie Joy
and Abel Sibonio, both from Australia YM. More information can be found at http://www.fwccamericas.org/events/index.shtml.
Watch for a forthcoming poster of the event.
•
Ministry and Counsel welcomes suggestions for material to be posted on the web
site. Anything that you believe is appropriate should be submitted to them.
• We
encourage members and attenders to purchase Corningware Corelle bowls to add to
the collection of dishes that we use at Jimmy Heath House and for other events.
We need about 50 bowls to complete our set, and we suggest checking the thrift
store.
• We
are accepting contributions of coffee again—caffeinated only, unflavored
preferred.
First Day School 2011-2012
First day school has
begun for Seth, with Franchot Ballingers’s
three sessions on Quakerism, followed by Jim Coppock doing sessions on the
Church of the Brethren and possibly a Black Catholic church. Wilson Palmer will
be doing sessions on Islam. We
still need additional adult Friends. Seth’s adult companion in First Day School
will devote a month to exploring a specific Christian sect, or some other faith
tradition, according to the following schedule:
Week
1 Introduction
Week
2 Further
exploration
Week
3 When
possible, a visit to the group’s worship service
Week
4 Follow-up
discussion.
We would like you to choose
one area from among the following possibilities and sign up to work with Seth
for a month:
• Protestant denominations:
Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, Mormonism,
Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah’s Witness, Episcopalian
• Catholicism
• Greek/Eastern Orthodoxy
• Unitarian Universalist
• Buddhism
• Islam
• Judaism
• Bahai
• Hindu
We encourage adult Friends
to step beyond their comfort zones and agree to accompany Seth on one of these
journeys. Friends need not be expert or even (initially) knowledgeable about
the traditions they chose. Ministry and Counsel will gladly help Friends find
resource materials.
If you are able to help,
please contact Footie Lund. Also, teachers should contact Martha Viehmann for
information about Seth’s schedule, as he frequently goes camping with Scouts,
so he will not be in attendance every Sunday.
Spiritual Practice - from Eastern
Hills Ministry and Counsel:
MEETING FOR WORSHIP WITH
ATTENTION TO BUSINESS
It is a sad fact that
Eastern Hills’ monthly meetings for business are often not well attended by
either members or attenders. No doubt, those who do not attend have their
reasons—some good, some perhaps not so good. Of course, no one can attend all
the time, but expecting regular attendance at meeting for business is not
unreasonable.
It may be that some think
that meeting for business is not as “spiritually” important as meeting for
worship. After all, does God really care if the meetinghouse roof gets
repaired, if the front door gets replaced, or what gets in the newsletter?
Well, probably not. But God does care how we deal with each other in conducting
mundane matters of business as well as at other times. Let’s face it: there are
times that such issues engage our emotions as much as less mundane matters. Of
course, there are also times that bigger issues elicit intense emotions and
convictions and that challenge our spiritual experience and faith. Regardless,
meeting for business is our opportunity to practice being a faith community as
well as to practice Jesus’ call to love each other.
We must do a better job of
conveying this understanding to members and attenders alike. We must all also
understand that if we don’t attend meeting for business, we have denied
ourselves the full experience of worshipping together. We meet monthly in
meeting for worship with a concern for business as well as for weekly worship.
Eastern Hills’ meetings for
business occasionally have their moments of tension and conflict. Generally,
however, they proceed informally and amiably enough, often with humor. None of
us would want to sacrifice these qualities. On the other hand, it might be a
good idea to remind ourselves of some Quaker traditions regarding speaking in
meeting for business.
“Friends should conduct the
business meeting as a meeting for worship with a concern for business. When
there seems to be disagreement, a free expression of all opinions should be
encouraged. Those who speak in meetings for business are advised not to be
unduly persistent in advocacy or opposition, but, after having fully expressed
their views, to recognize the generally expressed sense of the meeting. A deep
and seeking silence can help to reconcile seemingly opposing points of view.
Meetings should be conducted in the spirit of wisdom, forebearance and love.” from “Advices,” New York Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice, 1968
There is no point in
conforming slavishly to the following advices, but it can’t hurt to observe
their spirit. They can stand us in good stead when things do get tough.
“SUNDRY MODERN PROVERBS: being some Friendly Advices on the
Conduct of Quaker Meetings for Business. The Advices are purely unofficial.
They are supposed to have been written by William Bacon Evans.
1. Suitably prepare thyself
for business session by previous group or individual waiting upon the Lord.
2. When feeling led to
speak to matters of business, rise and receive recognition of the clerk before
speaking.
3. If thou hast a real
concern, speak so thou canst be heard by all in the meeting.
4. Seek not for information
in open business sessions which thou shouldst have discovered by reading
reports and minutes.
5. Let not certain Friends
be known for their much speaking. Brevity is as desirable in meetings for
business as in meetings for worship.
6. If thou art tempted to
speak much and often, exercise restraint lest thy speaking be not “in the
Spirit.”
7. If thou are hesitant
about speaking to matters of business when thou hast a real concern, be true to
prompting of the Spirit.
8. Having spoken once to a
matter of business, it is well for thee to refrain from speaking again till
after others have had full opportunity to voice their concerns.
9. Thou shouldst exercise
care lest thy presumed convictions be only “notions” or even prejudices.
10. Beware lest thou
confuse thy own desire with the leading of the Spirit.
11. Should thy concern not
meet with general approval of the meeting, in common courtesy and in true
humility withdraw thy concern that the meeting may act in some measure of
unity.
12. Temper thy speech with
tenderness and forbearance, that Friends may ‘feel’ the promptings of thy
heart.”
from Miriam Brush, for The Art and Spirit of Clerking workshop,
Powell House, Old Chatham, NY, Nov. 1973
Editor: Rick Boyce, 231-9866, richardboyce@fuse.net, welcomes additions
or suggestions for the newsletter.
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Eastern Hills Friends Newsletter
Worship with us at 1671 Nagel Rd.
Write us at PO Box 54565, Cincinnati, OH
45254-0565
www.easternhillsfriends.org
September 4, 2011
Calendar of Events:
Sep. 11 Second
Hour
Sep. 24 Wilmington
Yearly Meeting Workshop on Evangelism
Oct. 2 Miami
Center Quarterly Meeting, Eastern Hills Friends Meeting
Oct. 16 Miami
Quarterly Meeting, Dayton
Oct. 21-23 Salt
and Light event, Louisville, KY
Oct. 23 Monthly
Meeting for Business
Oct. 25 Salt
and Light event, Community Friends
Oct. 30 Work
Day
Additional Information:
• Salt
and Light events will be held in Louisville, KY, Oct. 21-23, and at Community
Friends in Cincinnati, Oct. 25. Sponsored by FWCC Section of the Americas, they
will be led by Valerie Joy and Abel Sibonio, both from Australia YM. More
information can be found at http://www.fwccamericas.org/events/index.shtml.
•
Ministry and Counsel welcomes suggestions for material to be posted on the web
site. Anything that you believe is appropriate should be submitted to them.
•
Please hold Ruth Palmer and her family in the light as she approaches the end
of her life here on Earth.
• Your
newsletter editor welcomes material (stories, pictures, etc.) for inclusion of
our meeting’s report to the Quaker Quill, the newsletter of Ohio Valley Yearly
Meeting. Please submit them to richardboyce@fuse.net
by Sept. 11th.
First Day School 2011-2012
Our First Day School’s
needs are two-fold:
1. We
need a few people to volunteer to be prepared to do First Day School for any
visiting children.
2. This
year we will introduce Seth (and any other teens who might join him in First
Day School) to other faith traditions. The year’s curriculum will begin (9/11)
with a brief unit on Quakerism in order to complement Seth’s current knowledge.
Following this first month,
Seth’s adult companion in First Day School will devote a month to exploring a
specific Christian sect, or some other faith tradition, according to the
following schedule:
Week
1 Introduction
Week
2 Further
exploration
Week
3 When
possible, a visit to the group’s worship service
Week
4 Follow-up
discussion.
Of course, this schedule
might require adjustment at times, but we hope the adult guiding the
exploration will follow it as faithfully as possible.
We encourage adult Friends
to step beyond their comfort zones and agree to accompany Seth on one of these
journeys. Friends need not be expert or even (initially) knowledgeable about
the traditions they chose. Ministry and Counsel will gladly help Friends find
resource materials.
Please choose one area from
among the following possibilities and sign up to work with Seth for a month:
• Protestant denominations:
Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, Mormonism, Pentecostal,
Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah’s Witness, Episcopalian
• Catholicism
• Greek/Eastern Orthodoxy
• Unitarian Universalist
• Buddhism
• Islam
• Judaism
• Bahai
• Hindu
If you are able to help
with either of these needs, please contact Footie Lund.
Spiritual Practice - from Eastern
Hills Ministry and Counsel:
One of the spiritual
practices that Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat recommend at their website http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/
is “Praying the News.” Here’s what they suggest:
The
daily news summons us to prayer. The people, situations,
and
events of our times call out for our compassion and God’s
healing presence. In this blog we will pray in
a variety of forms
as
we lift up the needs of the world. We hope that by praying
the
news in this way we will also expand both our spirituality and
our
practice.
Each
day this month, choose an event, a situation, or a person featured in a news
story to pray about/for.
Editor: Rick Boyce, 231-9866, richardboyce@fuse.net, welcomes additions
or suggestions for the newsletter.
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Eastern Hills Friends Newsletter
Worship with us at 1671 Nagel Rd.
Write us at PO Box 54565, Cincinnati, OH
45254-0565
www.easternhillsfriends.org
July 2, 2011
Calendar of Events:
Jul. 7 Outdoor
worship at Ft. Ancient, hosted by Miami Meeting
Jul. 27-31 Ohio
Valley Yearly Meeting Annual Session, Earlham College, Richmond, IN
Aug. 28 Monthly
Meeting for Business
Sep. 24 Wilmington
Yearly Meeting Workshop on Evangelism
Oct. 2 Miami
Center Quarterly Meeting, Eastern Hills Friends Meeting
Oct. 16 Miami
Quarterly Meeting, Dayton
Oct. 21-23 Salt
and Light event, Louisville, KY
Additional Information:
• A
number of EHFM Friends will be volunteering at the Jimmy Heath House in Over
the Rhine sometime in August. If you are interested in donating money, food
and/or time, please contact Henrietta Ballinger.
• The
191st Annual Session of the Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting will be held
July 27-31 at Earlham College in Richmond, IN. For more information, including
registration forms, go to http://www.quaker.org/ovym/index_files/AnnualSessions.htm.
• On July 27-31, the FUM
Triennial will meet in Wilmington. There is need for a variety of volunteers
including ushers, flower providers, luggage carriers, greeters at the campus
and at airports. Also, we need to decide if we would we like to host visitors
at our meeting on the Sunday morning. To help, contact Libbie Curry
(937-382-4608) or Lois Hachney (937-382-5053). See http://www.wilmingtonyearlymeeting.org/node/39
for more information about the Triennial. .
• A
Salt and Light event will be held in Louisville, KY, Oct. 21-23. Sponsored by
FWCC Section of the Americas, it will be led by Valerie Joy and Abel Sibonio,
both from Australia YM. More information will be posted in the future at http://www.fwccamericas.org/events/index.shtml.
Spiritual Practice - from Eastern
Hills Ministry and Counsel:
“This
little light of mine....”
If
there is light in the soul,
There
will be beauty in the person.
If
there is beauty in the person,
There
will be harmony in the house.
If
there is harmony in the house,
There
will be order in the nation.
If
there is order in the nation,
There
will be peace in the world.
Chinese
Proverb
Editor: Rick Boyce, 231-9866, richardboyce@fuse.net, welcomes additions
or suggestions for the newsletter.
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Eastern Hills Friends Newsletter Worship with us at 1671 Nagel Rd.
Write us at PO Box 54565, Cincinnati, OH
45254-0565
www.easternhillsfriends.org
June 4, 2011
Calendar of Events:
Jun. 4 Women’s
Potluck at the Ballingers, 6 pm
Jun. 5 Miami
Center Quarterly Meeting
Jul. 27-31 Ohio
Valley Yearly Meeting Annual Session, Earlham College, Richmond, IN
Sep. 2 Workshop
for Evangelism—Wilmington Yearly Meeting
Additional Information:
•
Please use the following email address when contacting the clerk of Eastern
Hills Friends Meeting: clerk.easternhills@gmail.com.
• GAPP is
selling bumper stickers. They are available on the table in the gathering room
or from Martha Viehmann for $1.
• Our
library is now catalogued on LibraryThing! Go to http://www.easternhillsfriends.org/aboutmeeting.htm
and follow Our Library Catalog link.
•
Looking for a volunteer opportunity? You are needed at the Jimmy Heath House.
Bring: a lunch or dinner once, or on an ongoing basis, for 30-35 people (full
kitchen on site); paper plates, cups, and napkins for same # of people; beverages
if other than coffee (coffee and fixings already on site); also, think about
activities to engage the residents, such as bingo, chess, checkers, card games.
Contact David Elkins (Program Coordinator) at 473-4759 or delkins@otrch.org.
• The
191st Annual Session of the Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting will be held
July 27-31 at Earlham College in Richmond, IN. For more information, including
registration forms, go to: http://www.quaker.org/ovym/index_files/AnnualSessions.htm.
• On July 27-31, the FUM
Triennial will meet in Wilmington. There is need for a variety of volunteers
including ushers, flower providers, luggage carriers, greeters at the campus
and at airports. Also, we need to decide if we would we like to host visitors
at our meeting on the Sunday morning. To help, contact Libbie Curry
(937-382-4608) or Lois Hachney (937-382-5053).
Eastern Hills Ministry and
Counsel —Notes from a workshop presented by J. Brent Bill in April entitled:
Worship Groups and Other Alternatives to
‘Traditional’ Church: A
Conversation about the Revitalization of the Quaker Message in America – provided by Franchot Ballinger
Median Quaker congregation
size is about 75 people with a $55,000 budget. Churches/congregations are not
necessarily community or neighborhood organizations. Most Quaker
meetings/churches are diminishing in number. FGC numbers grew slightly.
A survey asking what makes
a healthy congregation found that 57% of new people in congregations are
transfers. First-timers make up the smallest group. Who’s going to church?
• 29%
couples w/no kids
• 14%
live alone
• 41%
couples w/kids
• 6%
an adult w/kids
• 10%
adults no kids
• 16%
never married
• 55%
in first marriage
• 11%
remarried
• 8%
divorced
• 8%
widowed
No one is attracting the
“unchurched.”
Successful congregations:
1. Help
worshippers grow in faith (small congregations more successful at this than
large)
2. Worship
services that meet worshippers’ needs
3. Worshippers
involved in congregational activities
4. Provide
sense of belonging and fellowship
5. Care
for young people
6. Reach
out to and serve those outside their doors
7. Feel
comfortable sharing faith with others
8. Welcome
newcomers and make them part of the faith community
9. Worshippers
share in leadership and are encouraged to use their spiritual gifts
10. Look
to the future and are positive about their future
Only three congregational
strengths actually turned out to be predictors of numerical growth. These are
1) caring for children and youth; 2) welcoming new people: and 3) getting
people to participate in the congregation (from U.S. Congregations.org).
Create working groups
around ministries, not committees
There is very little
relationship between growth and theological orientation. What is essential is
to create a community where people meet God and involve children in worship. More
important than theology are religious character and clarity of mission & purpose;
spiritual vitality. Successful congregations engage in recruitment activities,
including: establishing and maintaining a website, the programmatic activity
most related to growth; sponsoring programs to attract newcomers; and phone,
card, email follow-ups to visit. Any conflict in the last 35 years and a congregation
won’t grow. People are leaving churches for others with a sense of tradition,
rootedness, even ritual.
From “A Modest Proposal”
1. Unprogrammed-Programmed
or Programmed-Unprogrammed?
What
we have is a winsome invitation to meet God.
Listening
for God sets us apart from other Christians.
Prepare
people to meet the Divine.
Be
more participatory in worship; each is responsible. (Encourage kids to participate.)
Silence
as the basis for worship
2. Where do we sit?
Does
the seating welcome the presence of Christ?
How
does the building match the Ministry?
3.
End the pastorate.
4. Thinking
outside the church box
Use
social media and Web to tell our story
Website:
Have photos of people doing things
Make
invitation prominent
Site
should encourage visitors to interact (e.g., button to link to info about the
meeting)
Use
Facebook and other social media as primary source of communication.
Website
should provide links to member blogs.
Get
other sites to provide links to website
Get
on Quaker.org/meetings
Center
for Congregations--workshops on using social media
Make
homepage for visitors.
Homepage
photo(s) should change weekly.
Don’t
make the hook for exploring the site Meeting for Worship but rather something practical,
e.g., page on child raising Quaker way.
Teach
“how to hear vocal ministry.”
Worship groups and other
alternatives:
Ohio
Yearly Meeting and FGC have web pages on how to start worship groups.
House
church
New
Monasticism
Don’t
form such groups to attract people but rather to meet needs.
What do we have to offer
others and how do we encourage people in their ministries? What does it mean to
be a community of faith? To what are we faithful?
Positive change tools:
Interviewing
(to discover what circumstances/conditions/practices/ contribute to vital
meetings)
What
attracted you to/keeps you among Friends?
What
has been your best moment among Friends?
What
3 wishes do you have for Friends?
World
Café
Asset
mapping (transform thinking from deficit to abundance)
1. physical
assets
2. people/individual
assets
3. associations
4. institutions
5. economic
assets
Web resources:
The
Association of Religion Data Archives (http://www.thearda.com/)
http://religioninsights.org/
Issues for Eastern Hills to
address:
Do
we believe Quakers have something unique and valuable to offer?
Do
we care?
Do
we want to share that?
What
do you want from Meeting for Worship?
Do
we have to have 1st Day School? How can we keep children in Meeting
for Worship?
What
do we have to offer and how do we encourage others in their ministries?
Sign: Encounter God here
Sunday 10PM
This is not a
church.
Editor: Rick Boyce, 231-9866, richardboyce@fuse.net, welcomes additions
or suggestions for the newsletter.
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Calendar of Events:
Apr. 10 2nd
Hour Discussion: Quaker Quest
April 14 Community
Intergroup Seder, Mayerson JCC, Amberley, 12:00-1:30 pm
Apr. 11 Ministry
& Counsel meeting; contact a member if you are interested in attending
Apr. 14 Patricia
Morrison & Paulette Meier concert, Community Friends, 7:00 pm
Apr. 16 OVYM
Discipline Review Committee at meeting house, 11-4
Apr. 16 7th
Annual Quaker Genealogy & History Conference, Waynesville
Apr. 17 Work
day
Apr. 24 Easter
Potluck at the Boyce-Viehmann’s after rise of meeting
Apr. 29-May 1 Wilmington
Yearly Meeting at Wilmington College, hosted by Cuba Friends
May 15 2nd
Hour Discussion: Transitions, led by Franchot Ballinger
May 15 Miami
Quarterly Meeting, Miami Meeting, White Brick Meetinghouse, Waynesville
May 21 Potluck
& presentation, FGC Development Comm. on Quaker Quest, Community Friends,
6:30
May 22 Monthly
Meeting for Business
Additional Information:
• Religious Education
needs teachers for the younger age group for April and May. Please sign up on
the sheet on the bulletin board in the meetinghouse.
• GAPP is
selling bumper stickers. They are available on the table in the gathering room
or from Martha Viehmann for $1.
• Our
library is now catalogued on LibraryThing! Go to http://www.easternhillsfriends.org/aboutmeeting.htm
and follow Our Library Catalog link.
•
Looking for a volunteer opportunity? You are needed at the Jimmy Heath House.
Bring: a lunch or dinner once, or on an ongoing basis, for 30-35 people (full
kitchen on site); paper plates, cups, and napkins for same # of people; beverages
if other than coffee (coffee and fixings already on site); also, think about
activities to engage the residents, such as bingo, chess, checkers, card games.
Contact David Elkins (Program Coordinator) at 473-4759 or delkins@otrch.org.
• The American Jewish
Committee Cincinnati invites you to experience the ageless ritual of Passover
at the 17th Annual Community Intergroup Seder, Celebrating Freedom
for All People, at the Mayerson Jewish Community Center, 8485 Ridge Rd.,
Amberley. Seating is limited to the first 250 people to reply. Tickets ($12, $6 students) will be held
at the door. Deadline: April 7. Questions?
Cincinnati@ajc.org
• Three workshops
entitled Transitions will be held
Apr. 15-16 at Quaker Hill in Richmond, IN. See http://www.qhcc.org/events.html
or info@qhcc.com for more information.
• 7th Annual Quaker Genealogy & History Conference: Ohio Women & the Civil War Home Front.
Saturday, April 16, 4th & High, Waynesville, OH. 3:30 p.m.--Doing
Civil War Genealogy Research workshop with Karen Campbell. 5:30 p.m.--Dinner
and Guest Lecture with Dr. Kelly Selby of Walsh University. Registration
required by Apr. 8, $15 for workshop, $10 for dinner and lecture, $10 late
registration fee. For registration information: Ruth Brindle Dobyns, Quaker
Heritage Center of Wilmington College, (937) 382-6661 ext. 719 or ruth_dobyns@wilmington.edu.
• Wilmington Yearly
Meeting will be held April 29-May 1. More information may be found at http://www.wilmingtonyearlymeeting.org/node/38
• On July 27-31, the FUM
Triennial will meet in Wilmington. There is need for a variety of volunteers
including ushers, flower providers, luggage carriers, greeters at the campus
and at airports. Also, we need to decide if we would we like to host visitors
at our meeting on the Sunday morning. To help, contact Libbie Curry
(937-382-4608) or Lois Hachney (937-382-5053).
Spiritual Practice - from Eastern
Hills Ministry and Counsel
In the last month’s Ministry and Counsel article, we examined
holding someone in the light as prayer and using the body in prayer. This month
we consider other uses of prayer.
Popularly, prayer is perhaps most often thought of as
supplication. This is not surprising, considering that etymologically the word
“prayer” comes from the Latin for “to beg, implore or entreat” and even earlier
Sanskrit, meaning “to call upon, invoke, implore.”
Of course, prayer can be much more than petition or supplication.
Prayer can be an expression of thanksgiving. It can also be praise of God,
worship in the most immediate sense of the word. The Yiddish word for “pray” is
“daven” and has the same Latin root as the English word “divine.” Looked at
from this perspective, all prayer becomes about or focused on God, the One to
whom we address our prayers, and less about our desires. (Judaism 101 www.jewfaq.org). In this way, perhaps,
prayer might give us direct experience of the Divine.
The Hebrew word for prayer, “tefliah,” is derived from a word and
root meaning “to judge oneself.” “This surprising word origin provides insight
into the purpose of Jewish prayer. The most important part of any Jewish prayer
[of any sort] is the introspection it provides, the moment that we spend
looking inside ourselves, seeing our role in the universe and our relationship
to G-d” (Judaism 101). This understanding of prayer may be consistent with
another role of prayer: prayer as a stimulus to change in oneself. That is,
prayer changes the one praying, not God.
This month try using your prayer as an invitation to
introspection, “seeing [y]our role in the universe and [y]our relationship to
God.”
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Calendar of Events:
Mar. 13 2nd
Hour Discussion: Discipline Review
Mar. 18 Getry
Agizah, Coordinator of Friends Church Peace Teams, Cincinnati Friends, 7:00 pm
Mar. 27 Monthly
Meeting for Business
Apr. 10 2nd
Hour Discussion: Quaker Quest
Apr. 24 Easter
Potluck at the Boyce-Viehmann’s after rise of meeting
Apr. 29-May 1 Wilmington
Yearly Meeting, hosted by Cuba Friends
May 15 Miami
Quarterly Meeting, Miami Meeting
May 22 Monthly
Meeting for Business
Additional Information:
• Religious Education
needs teachers for the younger age group for March, April and May. Please sign
up on the sheet on the bulletin board in the meetinghouse.
• Mike Henson and
Rhonda Pfalzgraff-Carlson have had poems accepted in the 2011 annual edition of
For a Better World: Poems and Drawings
for Peace and Justice.
• Getry Agizah,
Coordinator of Friends Church Peace Teams in Kakamega, Kenya, in the Great
Lakes Region, will be speaking at Cincinnati Friends Meeting on March 18th
at 7:00 pm.
• Three workshops
entitled Transitions will be held
Apr. 15-16 at Quaker Hill in Richmond, IN. See http://www.qhcc.org/events.html
or info@qhcc.com for more information.
• On July 27-31, the FUM
Triennial will meet in Wilmington. There is need for a variety of volunteers
including ushers, flower providers, luggage carriers, greeters at the campus
and at airports. Also, we need to decide if we would we like to host visitors
at our meeting on the Sunday morning. To help, contact Libbie Curry
(937-382-4608) or Lois Hachney (937-382-5053).
Spiritual Practice - from Eastern Hills Ministry and Counsel
Do you pray, or do you hold someone in the Light? It seems that
some unprogrammed Friends seldom or never use the words “pray” or “prayer.”
Instead, in circumstances in which others would pray for someone needing God’s
presence or healing, these Friends hold the person in the Light. Are prayer and
holding someone in the Light merely synonyms for the same experience ,or is
there a difference between them?
A common explanation of the phrase “holding in the Light” is that
it is the same as imagining someone being held in God’s love. Our culture usually
thinks of prayer as words—spoken or not—addressed to God (in the belief, of
course, that God is listening). Nevertheless, using imagination to express a
desire for God’s guidance and care of a person, holding someone in the Light
certainly qualifies as prayer of supplication or intercession, even if
unspoken.
Of course, supplication and seeking God’s intercession are not the
only purposes of prayer. If we only “hold one in the Light” and don’t draw upon
the other particulars of prayer, are we stunting our spiritual growth or
hindering our relationship with the Divine? What about prayers of devotion and
of thanksgiving and prayers that nurture our spiritual growth? (More on other
uses of prayer next month.)
Also, what about the means by which we pray? There is certainly
nothing wrong with using imagination to pray/hold someone in the Light. St.
Ignatius developed an entire system of spiritual practices engaging the
imagination. But why not engage other aspects of our being? Why not use our
bodies in prayer?
In most cultures or faith systems, prayer is commonly accompanied
by gestures or movement (often ritualized). Native Americans
regard some dancing as a form of prayer. Some Sufis spin. Orthodox Jews sway their bodies back and
forth. Muslims kneel and prostrate. Most Christians
fold their hands; some raise their hands toward heaven. Catholics also pray the
rosary, moving their fingers from one bead to another. Tibetan Buddhists
sometimes spin a prayer wheel.
We unprogrammed Quakers sit...silent and unmoving. (OK. Maybe we
squirm sometimes.)
This month, create for yourself (or perhaps follow an example from
above or elsewhere) a prayer expressed through some sort of body movement. Your
prayer might involve movement of your entire body, a gesture of some sort, your
fingers. It’s your choice. Your prayer may be supplication, a desire for God’s
intercession, devotion, thanksgiving, or any other prayerful intent you can
think of.
Try to practice your body/movement prayer daily.
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Calendar of Events:
Feb. 13 2nd
Hour Discussion: The Peace Testimony
Feb. 20 Miami
Quarterly Meeting at Community Friends
Feb. 27 Monthly
Meeting for Business
Mar. 6 Miami
Center Quarterly Meeting at TBA
Mar. 13 2nd
Hour Discussion: Quaker Quest
Additional Information:
• Religious Education needs
teachers for the younger age group for March, April and May. Please sign up on
the sheet on the bulletin board in the meetinghouse.
• A workshop entitled Worship Groups and Other Alternatives to
“Traditional Church”: A Conversation about the Revitalization of the Quaker
Message in America and facilitated by Brent Bill will be held Jan. 28-29 at
Quaker Hill in Richmond, IN. See http://www.qhcc.org/events.html
for more information.
• As part of Miami Quarterly
Meeting on Feb. 20th, we will be putting up the middle youth at the
meetinghouse on the evening of the 19th. Contact Henrietta Ballinger
if you would like to help with food.
• On Sunday, March 6, 12:30-1:30
pm, Karen Light, Development Associate for the AFSC Great Lakes Regional Office
in Chicago, and Migwe Kimemia, Director of the Dayton, OH, AFSC Office, will
attend Cincinnati Friends Meeting. They will give us an overview of AFSC and
describe their Dayton Immigrant Justice Program. Attenders from other meetings
are welcome, and a meal will be provided.
• On July 27-31 2011, the
FUM Triennial will meet in Wilmington. There is need for a variety of
volunteers including ushers, flower providers, luggage carriers, greeters at
the campus and at airports. Also, we need to decide if we would we like to host
visitors at our meeting on the Sunday morning. To help, contact Libbie Curry
(937-382-4608) or Lois Hachney (937-382-5053).
• If you have interest and/or
input on transforming our field into a “forest garden,” please contact Martha
Viehmann.
• OVYM wants to know what
you think! Please go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/easterhillsovym/
to take part.
Spiritual Practice - from Eastern Hills Ministry and Counsel
We
Eastern Hills Quakers value our time of expectant waiting during Meeting for
Worship. We “wait” upon the Spirit for insight and leadings regarding God’s
will for us. It is “expectant” because we believe that God will speak to us now
just as surely as the Divine Spirit spoke to Abraham or Paul, if only we will
listen.
As
we listen, we might feel prompted to express vocally what we think we have
heard. We are careful to assure ourselves that we have a genuine leading of the
Spirit rather than an urge to share our own active thoughts. We are careful to
avoid speaking only from personal insight or for personal guidance. George Fox
warned us about “notions,” that is, words based on intellectual speculation
rather than the Inner Christ.
All
of this is an important part of our worship tradition.
But
consider another perspective on worship and meditate on what it adds to
meetings for worship. Recall that the word “worship” means the feeling or
expression of reverence or adoration for a deity; devotion to or praise of God.
Our hearty singing at the opening of meeting for worship certainly feels like
worship in this sense.
How
else might we engage in such worship? Could such worship grow from our
expectant waiting? If you don’t already, what would it feel like if you engaged
in this sort of worship? What would your vocal ministry be like?
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Calendar of Events:
Sept. 11 Cincinnati Friends fall party, 4-8 pm, Debbie Miller’s home
Sept. 10-12 Clinton County Corn Festival with opportunities to help with baking or ice cream (see below)
Sept. 12 Called Meeting for Business, with a concern for a potential property sale (see below)
Sept. 18 Group tour of “America I AM: The African American Imprint” at Museum Center, 10 am, followed by discussion at 11 am. Cost is $5; 15 have reserved, and there is room for 5 more
Sept. 26 Monthly Meeting for Business
Oct. 9-10 Joint Quarterly Meeting at Happy Hollow in Nashville, IN
Oct. 24 Monthly Meeting for Business
Oct. 31 Work day
Additional Information:
• It’s Quaker Baker Time for the Clinton County Corn Festival on Sept 10-12. Funds raised will be used to support WYM missions: Jamaica VBS, Adopt-A-Nurse, Bolivia Link, & Belize. Information on how to help is on the gathering room table. Additionally, the Friends Disaster Service will be selling ice cream as a fund raiser. To donate money, evaporated milk, sugar, or time serving ice cream, contact Nancy McCormick at 937-728-0095 or Nmccormick2@aol.com
• On July 27-31 2011, the FUM Triennial will meet in Wilmington. There is need for a variety of volunteers including ushers, flower providers, luggage carriers, greeters at the campus and at airports. Also, we need to decide if we would we like to host visitors at our meeting on the Sunday morning. To help, contact Libbie Curry (937-382-4608) or Lois Hachney (937-382-5053).
• Our neighbors, the Hayes family, have submitted a proposal for purchase of part of the side yard. We understand that the Hayeses will build the storage barn whether or not we sell. We expect to add plantings of our own to shield our view of the structure. A “string committee” has laid out sections, ranging from 10 to 20 feet, to visualize how much land could be sold and the impact on our property. We have agreed to make a final decision on 9/12 at a special meeting for business, and we urge those with strong leadings to attend that day.
Spiritual Practice
In many faith traditions, there are places considered holy or sacred. Traditionally, Quakers have not singled out particular places as sacred. Rather, we have said that God is present in all places; therefore, all places are equally sacred or holy. Quaker J. Brent Bill has written “...the presence of open, worshipful hearts and God’s spirit make a place holy.”
As you go through the next month, try to look upon all places with a worshipful eye and occasionally ask yourself, “What signs are there that God is here?”
From Eastern Hills Ministry and Counsel
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