Calendar of Events:

Apr. 10            2^nd 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            7^th 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            2^nd 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 17^th 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.

• 7^th Annual Quaker Genealogy & History Conference: Ohio Women & the Civil War Home Front. Saturday, April 16, 4^th & 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.”