“Simplicity: What Does It Really
Mean?” The Quaker Study Program begins a series
examining our Quaker testimonies -- Simplicity, Peace,
Integrity, Community, and Equality -- with a look at
Simplicity, which is not always simple. Caroline Lanker, a
member of Tampa Monthly Meeting and attender at Lake Wales
Worship Group, will facilitate a discussion of the testimony as
described in Howard Brinton's Friends for 300 Years. Next she
will talk to us about her concerns about the way that this
testimony is often interpreted. She has written an article
about her concerns, which was published in The Friends Journal.
She will ask us to share what this testimony means to us. For
those who do not own the resources for discussion, there will
be photocopies of her Journal article, Brinton's section on
Simplicity, and the chapter from Thomas Kelly's Testament of
Devotion entitled, The Simplification of Life, which
Caroline says is vital to a true understanding of the
testimony. See Connie Ray for copies. For directions please see
Jeannie or Phil Buskirk, or a regular attendee of Meeting for
Worship. All are welcome. Call the Buskirk's for directions to
their McIntosh home: 591-0677.
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring ---
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and Lovely and
lush;
Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and Thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and Wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him Sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair Their fling.
Excerpt from “Spring” by Gerard Manley
Hopkins
MEETING NEWS
-
First Day School Children: With our move
into the new meetinghouse, lessons will begin for
children between the ages of seven and thirteen. We will
meet (fittingly!) in the new library among the boxes of
books to begin learning about American Quaker History
through the lives of people from William Penn to Herbert
Hoover. The first meeting will be to get acquainted, find
out a little about what we will be studying, and
brainstorm fun ways to share with the others in the
meeting what we have been learning. We also need to
discuss whether we would rather spend the first fifteen
minutes of Meeting for Worship in the Worship Room with
the adults, or the last fifteen minutes. Think about what
is good and bad about each choice, and come prepared to
talk about it. After lessons and worship, we can join the
younger children in the First Day School Room. Look for
Connie to beckon you when it's time.
Connie Ray
- Books, Books, Books! The library committee met
at Books Inc. Feb 19. Present were Betty Odum, Brad
Thompson, Sheree Sims, and Amy Van der Porten. Amy
told us her experiences in running a small church library,
showing us some of the materials she used. Brad volunteered
to create a database we can use to catalog the books. He
will also make a simple program for book-users to input
their borrowings and returnings. Eleanor
Merritt has ordered the bookshelves , both tall
for the solid wall and short for under the windows (their
costs will be donated, but we have to assemble them). Jean
and David Chalmers have donated a beautiful Oriental rug,
which Brad will lay before we put in the
shelves. As we unload the 23 boxes of books, we
will use the original categories, as organized by Sybil
Brennan.
Betty Odum
Simple Gifts: Remember the family hurt by
Katrina that GFM helped at Christmas? Here's a photo of
the family: Anita (wearing a brown jacket), her 7
children, and Bennie, Anita's stepfather. The oldest
daughter, ahmi, is wearing a green jacket. Asa is the
youngest in front. From left to right, they are Bennie,
Ayayeh, Anita, Ammiel (boy), Amani, Ahmi, Amesa,
Asanti, and Asa in front.
- Introducing Benjamin: John
and Jean Burton are thrilled to announce the birth of
grandson, Benjamin, to their daughter, Julie, and her
husband, Timothy Moisan. Benjamin was born on Jan. 26,
2006, weighing in at 8 pounds, 12 ounces. The grandparents
have been in Anchorage, Alaska, helping out. By the
Gregorian calendar, Benjamin was born 300 years and 9 days
after Benjamin Franklin. Two grandsons in two months ---
what a blessing!
- Writing From a Spiritual Center: Epistle for Yearly
Meeting: “As clerk of SEYM, I am writing to ask
if you could please check within your meetings or
worship groups for anyone who might like to be a part of a
committee of three people to write the epistle for the
April 12-16 Yearly Meeting Gathering. I know there
must be at least three people in the Yearly Meeting who
enjoy writing from a spiritual center and would like
to be a part of creating an epistle that would convey the
sense of our Gathering meetings and other activities.
It's an important outreach to Friends worldwide, as
well as a loving reflection for SEYM. I would like to
have the committee in place prior to the Gathering.”
Susan Taylor, clerk of Southeastern Yearly Meeting (NOTE:
Anyone who would like to play such a role or who would like
more information, contact Annie McPherson)
- Gift Wrap that Keeps on Wrapping: Would you like to use
an “evergreen” recyclable gift bag instead of
wrapping paper? Bags in various fabrics for various
occasions are now available. The largest sizes are
about 12” square. Other sizes and fabrics can
be arranged. Contributions requested for the
bags vary somewhat depending on size and price of fabric.
All contributions go toward our building fund. Contact
Laura W. to buy, or for more information.
- Southeastern Yearly Meeting: Mark April 12-15, 2006,
for the 44th Southeastern Yearly Meeting Gathering, which
will be held at the Florida United Methodist Life
Enrichment center in Leesburg, Fla. See http://www.seym.org/ for more
details and registration forms. Susan Taylor, SEYM clerk,
noted that the theme of the two Walton Lecture workshops
and Lecture to be given by Ernie and Vince Buscemi at SEYM
Gathering is “Here I am Lord.” Wrote Susan:
“Please come, be here, and experience that
Southeastern Yearly Meeting is everyone in the monthly
meetings, preparative meeting, worship groups and
non-affiliated meetings opening to God‘s call
together and individually.” SEYM Gathering material
promises that at the meeting there will be opportunities
for stillness, prayer, play and learning, questioning,
sharing, meals, playing music, singing, swimming,
all-of-us-as-one family dancing, walking, sleeping,
reading, welcoming our differences, nonviolently resolving
conflicts, coming to unity, remembering Friends who are no
longer with us, and much more.
Here I Am, Lord
The lamp of God had not yet gone
out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord
where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
Samuel, 3: 3-4
In Memory: Helen Lippincott Bliss
Helen Bliss,
longtime member of Gainesville Friends Meeting, died on Jan.
21, 2006, at Medford Leas, N.J. Born a Friend in 1915, Helen
attended Westtown School in Pennsylvania; she graduated from
Pierce Business College in Philadelphia.
In 1940, Helen married George Bliss, a history teacher at
Westtown School. She was wife and mother, president of the
Plaisto, N.H. PTA and started a hot lunch program in the
public schools. She and George had five children, later seven
grandchildren, and now eleven great-grandchildren!
In 1957, Helen, her husband, and three other families
founded the Meeting School in West Rindge, N.H. She and
George were co-administrators for 10 years. Helen was
business manager, ran the office, handled the practical
operation of the school, and taught classes as well.
For five years Helen worked as a legislative advocate for
Friends Committee on National Legislation, a citizens‘
lobby on Capitol Hill. She traveled more than 30,000 miles
across this country and focused on the preservation of the
environment after seeing “how that beauty and quality
of life can be destroyed.” She advocated protective
legislation. She was also the director of Davis House, a
center for international affairs in Washington, D.C. The
Blisses traveled widely in this country as Quaker
representatives for various groups, including two years in
Hawaii, spent at a Quaker retreat run by the Honolulu
Meeting.
A Gainesville Memory: When George and Helen Bliss were both
living among us here in Gainesville, George taught First Day
School one morning. My children were delighted and chattered
about it all the way home. George had handed out Cadbury
chocolate candy and proceeded to tell them about George Cadbury
and the founding of the great Quaker chocolate empire of the
Nineteenth Century. My children got the impression that George
Bliss was related to Cadbury, and after that always called him
"the chocolate man."
Connie Ray
Active in New Hampshire politics, Helen ran for Congress
as a peace candidate in 1962, and for the State Senate from
the 11th District in 1972. She ran again in 1978, this time
for the 2nd District‘s congressional seat. Besides the
environment, her platform was especially concerned with the
poor elderly and their need for housing, health care, and
food. She continued to participate in local, state, and
national campaigns for many years to come. Helen is survived
by daughter Margaret and sons Ernest L., G. Scribner, and
Gerald M.
-- Article by Hap Taylor
“Plunge into God. By means of created things,
without exception, the
divine assails us, penetrates us, and molds us. We imagined it as
distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact we live steeped in its
burning layers. Throughout my whole life, during every
minute of it,
the world has been gradually lighting up and blazing before my eyes
until it has come to surround me, entirely lit up from
within.”
Teilhard de Chardin
Catherine Puckett, editor
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