To be a true Friend of Jesus in this election cycle is to be mindful of the temptation that we all have to retreat into our comfortable and defensive rhetorical silos. To be a Friend this election cycle is to spend time with those who see things differently and to really listen for the concerns, hopes, fears and wounds beneath the words.
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This past weekend the Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting of Maine held their annual “Fall Gathering” at Friends Camp in China, Maine. The day was centered around Luke 8: 5-8, considering how Friends in Maine are tending to good soil in order to welcome the seeds of the Holy Sower—especially in relationships with Native Wabanaki peoples and building bridges of healing in Maine.
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Friends United Meeting General Secretary Kelly Kellum spent this past week in Belize City, Belize, visiting the ongoing ministries of FUM-Belize. The purpose of his trip was to accomplish two important events. One was to host a dinner in honor of Frank Tench, who retired as principal of Belize Friends School this summer. The other was to be present as the new principal, Antoliana Budna, began her tenure with the school. At the dinner, Kelly Kellum presented a gift to Mr. Tench acknowledging the invaluable contribution Mr. Tench has made to the ministry of Belize Friends School. A recreational woodworker, Kelly hand turns pen bodies on a lathe. The pen he presented to Mr. Tench was made from a North Carolina tree that came down in a storm. As a meteorologist and a collector of pens, Mr. Tench was touched by the significant personal connection of the gift. The next evening the Belize Friends School board met for the first time this school year. With Kelly present in Belize, it served as an opportunity to provide a formal welcome to the newly reconvened school board and give support for the introduction of the new principal.
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Obeying Jesus’ command to go and make disciples is a wonderful adventure in faith. I experienced this while working in the mission hospital in Kaimosi, Kenya many years ago. It began with God nudging me to go out into the villages and do small group studies. He revealed the way when Meshack came to pray with me at the hospital...
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The story reminds us that we can be the drivers of the bus, or passengers in the bus: drivers because we have leadership positions to help steer the congregations or meetings; passengers because we could be part of those being directed by the leadership...
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Emily Provance writes about how Quaker communities might begin to think about caring for parents and families, based on the second year of the Quaker parent mutual support groups co-sponsored by Friends United Meeting, New York Yearly Meeting, and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Chief among her findings: Quaker parents feel profoundly isolated. "Some parents are literally alone...Other parents feel isolated despite not being literally alone. Parents in the group talked about the isolation of being the only Quaker in their geographic area or the only Quaker family in their meeting. They talked about the difficulty of developing deep friendships in modern society. They talked about their hunger for connections with parents in similar circumstances: other disabled parents, other single parents, other foster parents, other parents with shared custody arrangements. Facilitators heard it repeated again and again: 'I feel so alone.'"
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Throughout our history, the people known as Friends (or Quakers) keep rediscovering an essential and enduring truth: There is one who speaks to our most basic needs and most significant hopes—Christ Jesus the Lord. Both individually and communally, we are learning to know and follow the Voice that guides us in the way we should go. Together, we seek to understand and obey that truth which sets us free. As a people, we share in the experience of that powerful life which makes all things new. Maybe you are searching for an authentic and transforming faith and community to call home—if so, come in and join us as we seek to know and follow Christ.
Friends United Meeting commits itself to energize and equip Friends through the power of the Holy Spirit to gather people into fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved, and obeyed as Teacher and Lord.
