Tongue-In-Cheek Quaker Alphabet Soup: NPR, NYT, and DNC/RNC Quakers

I suppose I should have expected a number of political messages in Meeting for Worship this First Day, after the historic Democratic National Convention this last week, and with the also-historic Republican National Convention coming up this next week. But as you can see, I was nonetheless unprepared for just how many political messages there were this morning!

For some actual, and quite good, information on branches of Quakerism in the US, see the Quaker Information Center's pages on Quaker Branches and Branches Today.

I have realized, both with today's messages in Meeting for Worship, and over the last few weeks of worship, that there really are more kinds of Friends in the US than I had earlier realized.

Oh, I knew about the "Big Three"; and not very long after I began worshipping with Friends, I felt like I could explain them reasonably well:

• Friends General Conference (FGC)
• Friends United Meeting (FUM)
• Evangelical Friends International (EFI)

And during our Mid-Winter Gathering of Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC) in North Carolina in 2007, I learned there are commonly considered to be five main branches of Friends in the US; and that in NC and some other areas, there are commonly considered to be one or two more. To FGC, FUM, and EFI, we add:

• Conservative Yearly Meetings (CYMs) -- Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative), or IYM(C), North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative), or NCYM(C), and Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) or OYM(C) (not to be confused with Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting, which is FGC-affiliated)
• Independent Monthly Meetings
• Holiness Quaker Churches

There are a few unofficial, unorganized-as-of-yet, kinds of Friends as well:

You may also be familiar with the term "NPR Quaker." This refers to the phenomenon of Friends who rise during Meeting for worship and begin their ministry with the phrase, "I was listening to NPR this morning, and..."

Recently, I've learned of at least two more kinds of Friends, and I expect to encounter another next week.

A few weeks ago, Beloved Wife and I discovered that there are also "New York Times Quakers" -- folks who begin their ministry with the phrase, "I was reading in the New York Times this morning about..."

And today, we learned there are DNC Quakers! These are Friends who begin their vocal ministry with phrases such as, "I was watching a lot of TV this week during the Democratic National Convention, and..."

I think that next week, we will encounter RNC Quakers: "I was listening to so-and-so's speech during the Republican National Convention, and..."

So, to our list of alphabet soup, we add:

• NPR Quakers
• NYT Quakers
• DNC Quakers
• RNC Quakers

...right?

(Yes, I am kidding.)

Del Martin has died

Along with so many others, I mourn the death and celebrate the life of Del Martin. I am so thankful she and her wife, Phyllis Lyon, were able to marry legally before Del's death.

A day with Our Lady of the Earth and Sky

Our Lady of the Earth and Sky (OLOTEAS) is a non-denominational Pagan church here in the Seattle area that a Quaker Pagan friend of mine is a member of. She invited me to sing with the chorus for their open, public ritual in August, centered around the current state of the global food system.

So first, there was a rehearsal at my F/friend's house last Wednesday. I know and feel comfortable with her, and so it didn't occur to me that I'd be working with a whole bunch of strangers! Folks quickly put me at ease, and we worked hard and had fun.

The piece we were singing for ritual is "Barge of Heaven," which is recorded on Reclaiming's Second Chants: More Ritual Music. (If you click on the MP3, be warned that it's likely to get stuck in your head.) It's a song I've known for years, but never had the chance to perform, or sing in ritual. So this was a neat opportunity. The plan was for us to sing while the participants were doing a spiral dance. (That part, by the way, was way cool to watch.)

"Barge of Heaven" is also, if you really pay attention to the lyrics, a highly suggestive song. While we of course noticed this, it wasn't until one of our on-site rehearsals that we were communally attacked by fits of laughter. We managed to sing through them, which impressed me to no end. :)

Although we were very focused while singing during ritual, once ritual was over, we found ourselves again overcome by silliness, this time with a need to share. We formed a chorus line, singing while kicking in unison and other silliness, with an appreciative audience egging us on and becoming as breathless with laughter as we were.

It's good to be with folks who can laugh about religion and spirituality. And sex.

There were about 70 people in circle, which I understand is slightly smaller than many OLOTEAS events. Ritual was good, and satisfying. (Something which can be a real challenge with large-group, open/public ritual.)

I found myself really glad to be heading to Meeting for Worship the following morning: I needed quiet worship. In ritual, I often find that I want more extended grounding and centering time after raising energy than is customary in a lot of groups, or than other people in circle with me want or need. Another way in which my Quakerliness makes itself known. :)

So, I had a lovely visit with OLOTEAS folks, and plan to visit again. Folks were warm and welcoming, which helped some with that dreaded introvert feeling of being one new person among a ton of strangers who must all know each other (and really well, too). It was also a real gift to spend so much of my day outside in a lovely place.

Limiting inheritance by religion?

How would you feel if your parents or grandparents limited which of their children or grandchildren could inherit their money, based on the religion and culture of the person whom their children or grandchildren married? For example, marry someone within your grandparents' religion, and you can inherit; marry someone outside your grandparents' religion, and you don't.

How would you feel if you could limit which of your children or grandchildren would inherit your money, based on the religion or culture of the person they marry? For example, your children or grandchildren marry folks who are the same religion that you are, and they can inherit; they marry someone who isn't, and they don't inherit. (Leaving aside the question of whether any of us will have enough money to support ourselves in our older age, much less leave it to anyone else.)

Is this a legitimate way to support your values with your money, even after you're gone? Is this a way to try to practice discrimination after you've died? Is it a way to try to protect or support your shrinking religion?

Does it feel different if the religion is:

• Christian?
• A particular denomination? Baptist? United Church of Christ?
• Muslim?
• Jewish?
• Quaker?
• Pagan?

It's an interesting question, and one that's current in legal circles in Illinois.

I welcome folks' thoughts.

Death of a friend; birth of a friend

I learned this morning of the death of Marianne Taylor, an old and dear friend from Scottish and English dance circles. I write this with tears... I will miss Marianne terribly.

I also learned this morning of the birth of another friend, Leo. Hooray! I celebrate Leo with his parents and brothers. :)

New experience: Rainier cherries. Wow!

Yesterday, Beloved Wife and I went to the University District Farmer's Market, where I was introduced to Rainier cherries.

Now, we had excellent cherries in Michigan, so I was prepared to go back to "ordinary" cherries. But I liked the Rainier cherry sample I tasted, and so bought a pound of them.

I sat down this afternoon to eat a handful, and, wow.

Definitely not "ordinary" cherries. :)

The Full Moon and Western Pines

Our new apartment is very close to a lovely park -- the Washington Park Arboretum. Beloved Wife discovered it during a run the other morning. That night, when I was tired and out of sorts and overwhelmed by unpacking, she insisted I walk over there with her, knowing it would help me breathe, and ground, and center. It was lovely.

The following night was the Full Moon. We walked over together just before turning in for the night, and sat at the top of a little hill, on a bench, surrounded by all sorts of western pines in the pine grove, and watched the full moon through the branches. It was lovely.

What a happy blessing for the first week in our new home.

Hello from Seattle!

I haven't been posting much over the last few weeks because Beloved Wife and I have been in the middle of a long-distance move.

When we moved from Philadelphia to Ann Arbor three years ago, for Beloved Wife to return to her PhD program, that was long-distance enough for me, I thought. She finished her PhD this spring and now has a series of post-docs, one out here in Seattle, the next on the East Coast.

And so I've just made a really long-distance move, from Ann Arbor to Seattle, the kind that requires an airplane rather than a moving truck. (Although, since we're only going to be here a year, we did use a moving truck to put most of our belongings in storage. We Freecycled most of our large furniture first, which was great.)

The cats flew with us, and did really well. =^..^=

We arrived Friday. Saturday evening, we had dinner with a dear F/friend who lives out here and is part of Salmon Bay Friends Meeting; Sunday, we worshipped with F/friends at Salmon Bay. Worship was small but lovely, and sun-drenched.

More when I have more of a brain, and manage to get my own computer set up and connected to the internet.

Lammas

Today is August 1st -- Lammas, or Lughnasa/Lughnasadh in many traditions.

For me, Lammas has for many years been the First Harvest, the first of three harvest holidays or harvest "spokes" on the Wheel of the Year, and the Day of the Reaper.

In the Mid-Atlantic, where I've lived most of my life, it's easy to see Lammas this way -- both as the harvest of the first fruits, and also as the day of the reaper. August is hot and the weather is chancy. Many of the first things that come to ripeness are abundant: corn, peppers, tomatoes, basil, blackberries, blueberries, cucumbers, string beans. (I'm thinking of farm stands by the side of the road in South Jersey.) Now I'm in the Mid-West, and at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, we've also been seeing gooseberries, which are legal here now, cherries, even peaches, and -- amazingly -- some early apples.

But there is so much that is not quite ready yet, a harvest that could easily be lost by too much or too little rain, pests, tornadoes, flood, drought...

I'm remembering Lammases in Roses, Too! Coven, when we would tear bites off Sun-round cornbread, so it would get smaller in the same way the Sun does, while we asked ourselves and each other about this harvest and our hopes for the next harvests. I'm remembering a potluck -- before we learned to make sure we "seeded" potlucks with protein and chocolate -- where all folks brought were fresh fruits and vegetables. (They were luscious, but...)

I'm remembering a Lammas potluck in 1993, thrown by the women who lived in a house called Iniquity (not to be confused with the house called Sin), where what was to become Roses, Too! first came into being.

I ask you:

• What's happening around you in nature?
• What have you harvested so far this year?
• What do you hope to harvest yet this year?

May you have a blessed Lammas. (And if you're from a tradition that does this, enjoy tearing apart your bread man!)

Lammas Solar Eclipse

According to NASA,

On August 1, a total solar eclipse will be visible in parts of Canada, northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia, and China. The eclipse will sweep across Earth in a narrow path that begins in Canada’s northern province of Nunavut and ends in northern China’s Silk Road region at sunset.

Details are available from NASA; click here.

There's also a partial lunar eclipse coming up on August 16th.

Enjoy!

Happy Lammas!

Afghans for Afghans

As a Red Crosser who is passionate about humanitarian work, a Friend who is passionate about non-violent activism, and a Witch who is passionate about magic, I really like the work afghans for Afghans is doing.

(One of afghans for Afghans' partner agencies is the American Friends Service Committee; afghans for Afghans also references the Red Cross knitting tradition on their website.) ("Our Boys Need Sox -- Knit Your Bit!")

afghans for Afghans' next major project is the Youth Campaign in Time for Winter. They are looking to fill 80 cartons with wool garments and blankets to be air-shipped to Kabul in time for winter.

For details on the Youth Campaign in Time for Winter, please click here.

For general guidelines for what to knit or crochet, please click here.

To help spread the word, you can:

• Post one of these banners on your website or blog.
• Point a friend to this page: http://www.afghansforafghans.org/.
• Put a note in your Meeting's weekly announcements or monthly newsletter.
• Host an afghans for Afghans handwork party through your Coven or Meeting, or at your house with friends and family.
• Print out this flyer and post it -- at your local yarn shop, in your Meeting, at your local library or community center, local independent bookstore, etc.
• Something completely different.

Enjoy!

Position open at Pendle Hill

I received this email from a F/friend at Pendle Hill. Please alert folks you know who might be interested. Thanks!

Dear Friends:

Much good is happening at Pendle Hill but at least a bit more is needed.

This summer, we have been richly blessed by the gratitude and enthusiasm of many. We are excited by our up-coming program schedule. In the midst of this, our long-time Director of Short-term Education Programs, John Meyer, is leaving. We are sad to see him go, but find in that experience a tremendous opportunity. I will be hiring and supervising the new person. They need to be very knowledgeable of Quakers but I am also wanting someone with teaching skills quite possibly in the area of peace and social justice issues.

Would you help me find those energetic, visionary individuals who can rise to the challenges of program development, team work, teaching/workshop leading and living in community? We need to quickly identify candidates for this role. Full details on the position are on the Pendle Hill Website: http://www.pendlehill.org/about/employment.php#stp

Please forward this message to anyone in your network that might be the person or who might know the person who could serve Friends and Pendle Hill in this way at this time. Or send your suggestion or your resume to me. wsullivan@pendlehill.org

Thank you for your interest, your support, and your creative thinking.

Much Love,
Walter

Any help in circulating this info would be greatly appreciated.

Amply repaid

I have a somewhat embarrassing habit: I enjoy I Can Has Cheezburger.

I have a friend who often complains about her cat's offerings of dead small animals. I have tried to explain to her that Fluffy loves her and does not want her to go hungry. She remains unimpressed.

I can see both their points of view.

I recently forwarded her this picture from ICHC.

A few days later, I was sitting at the computer when one of our cats came streaking in from the back porch (it's on the second floor -- no access to anyplace else) with a triumphant hunting cry, dashed into the bedroom with me in hot pursuit, and dropped a chickadee on the bed.

I chased the cats out. The chickadee was still alive, looking stunned. We left it to rest quietly while we called the local songbird rescue. (Yes, we have a local songbird rescue. Is that too cool or what? It's mostly staffed by volunteers and student interns.) They said all cat-caught birds should be checked out, and that they'd be able to take it.

Now all we had to do was get it into a box for transport.

When I went to do this, the chickadee took exception and fluttered down to hide under the laundry pile. Then under the bed.

Beloved Wife came to help me. At this point, the chickadee started flying around the bedroom. Eeek. None of us (except the bird) seemed sure if we should laugh, curse, or squawk. The bird came to rest in an upward-facing lamp; we got it into the box without ever touching it; and off we went to the Bird Center.

The chickadee was in good shape, only two puncture wounds, and was expected to make a full recovery.

I decided I needed to email my friend and tell her I was amply repaid for having sent her that lolcat picture.

A few days after, we received another call from the Bird Center: the chickadee was ready to be released; could we come get it and release it in its own neighborhood?

Beloved Wife fetched it, bringing home a shoebox which contained one hopping mad chickadee. We took the shoebox into the back yard, opened it up, and off the chickadee went!

It landed in a nearby juniper, where it called loudly in chickadee, several times: "Big, slow, really irritating predators nearby!!"

I am amply repaid a second time.

GoodReads?

Any of my readers on GoodReads? If so, let me know; I'd love to "see" you there.

Overheard at Registration

These days, Beloved Wife and I usually arrive at Friends General Conference Gathering a day early so we can help at Registration the day Gathering begins.

My favorite spot to help out is at the Housing table. This is where people who have problems with their Gathering housing come to get them solved. This presents assorted challenges for us housing volunteers, but we still manage to have a fair amount of fun.

Late in the day Saturday, I'm sitting at the Housing table with the incomparable Barbara A. and another volunteer. The Workshops table is next to ours. Business has finally slowed down, so we're all breathing a little.

A Friend, well-known to all of us, approaches the Workshops table and inquires brightly, "Can you tell me where my workshop is?"

A volunteer at the Workshops table replies as cheerfully as if she hadn't given this answer forty gazillion times to Friends who really should know this by now: "If you look in your packet, it's listed in the Final Program."

"Oh! You actually want me to read that stuff you give me!" the seeking Friend twinkles, clearly laughing at herself.

At which point Barbara intones gravely and severely, "Friends are encouraged to read the Final Program and all other relevant materials in their Gathering packet."

The rest of the Housing and Workshops volunteers try not to crack up.

The Friend who's trying to find her workshop waves her hand and says, "I'm marching in a different Light."

Whereupon we all crack up, and much merriment is had by all.

North American Convocation of Pro-LGBTQ Christians, and Trans Pre-Event

I received the following email from Chris Paige. See below for more information. - sm

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS
A Transgender Pre-Event
September 3, 2008
http://www.transfaithonline.org/fstat/

Arrive early in New Orleans, LA, for Many Stories, One Voice (http://manystoriesonevoice.org/) to join us for this historic opportunity for personal networking, community collaboration, and movement building.

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS will gather transgender people of faith, our loved ones and allies for discussions about practical topics relating to life in religious communities, including:

* Strategies for transgender education
* Dynamics of ministry with the transgender community
* Blessings and challenges of becoming more visible
* Opportunities for collaboration across denominational lines
* Our need for authentic relationships of support and accountability between transgender people and our allies

Our emphasis will be on creating conversations and dialogue in and about transgender religious community -- both formally and informally.

SPEAKERS

Confimed Speakers (MSOV and FSTAT combined) include: Erin Swenson, Julie Nemecek, Archbishop Demond Tutu, Bishop Yvette Flunder, and many more!

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS Panel Discussions are still in formation. The transgender pre-event is a community oriented event, focused on developing community connections in the transgender religious community. Please contact us with your nominations for additional speakers!

PARTICIPATION

While we will place a high priority on hearing from transgender-identified people, this event is also appropriate for our significant others and family members; allies who are working with or want to work with the transgender community; and anyone who is simply interested in learning more about transgender people and our concerns.

SPONSORSHIP

If your church, business, or community organization is interested in showing its support for transgender people through sponsorship of FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS, please contact Chris Paige, 215-840-2858, chris@transfaithonline.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION

http://www.transfaithonline.org/fstat/
http://manystoriesonevoice.org/

Chris Paige
chris@transfaithonline.org
215-840-2858

************************
TRANSFAITH ON-LINE (http://www.transfaithonline.org/) is dedicated to supporting transgender folks in our faith journeys, while providing useful resources to help people of faith become better educated trans-allies.

Not-Zen Kitty

After wrestling for several hours with the budget proposal for Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns, I surfed over to I Can Has Cheezburger to rot, I mean rest, my brain, and found this. It amused me:


Hee.

Seasonal Solstice Salad

This is one of those recipes that is so time-of-year specific that it seems perfectly appropriate that it was our dinner on the summer solstice. Stasa and I went to the farmers' market this morning and found that the first new potatoes of the year were in. We also got a bunch of young beets there, and later at the food co-op I found that they still had local asparagus, although the asparagus season is just about over. I think I probably won't be able to cook new potatoes and asparagus together again until next summer solstice.

Solstice Salad

1 pint young beets (minus greens)
1 pint new potatoes
about 1 pound asparagus
four ounces feta, crumbled
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper

Grease a baking pan with olive oil and roast the beets and potatoes at 350 until done, shaking every ten minutes or so. Remove vegetables one at a time, as they finish cooking. Set aside to cool; once cool, cut into bite-sized pieces if not already small enough.

Wash asparagus, trim ends, and cut in 2 inch lengths. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet until hot (the French say, "let the pan surprise the vegetables.") Add asparagus and about 1/2 tsp kosher salt, saute until cooked through but still firm-textured.

Put cooked vegetables in a bowl and add pepper to taste. Once mostly cooled, add crumbled feta.

The sweetness of the beets, the different sweetnesses of the new potatoes and the asparagus, and the salt of the feta somehow complement each other beautifully, even though this isn't a combination I would have thought of without seeing all the vegetables at the market.

We have been eating a lot of asparagus this spring, usually sauteed in olive oil as it is cooked here. I'm sad that the season is over! I have been in Germany twice in my life, both times during early spring. As a result, one of the few German words I know is Spargel. I mentioned this to a German friend, and she said, "Well, it's an important word!" I couldn't agree more.

Summer Solstice!

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere: the day with the most hours of light and the fewest hours of darkness in Earth's 24-hour cycle.

Summer Solstice, or Litha, is one of the eight solar holidays often observed by Pagans of different traditions. Summer Solstice itself is an occurrence, something that happens in nature. In many traditions, what makes something a holiday is two things: its occurrence in nature, and what that means to us. Here's some neat info about the science involved, about the actual occurrence of the Summer Solstice. A Google search for Summer Solstice or Litha can tell you a fair amount about what different traditions have published on the internet about what it means to them.

As someone striving to live her life more in harmony with nature, as someone to whom nature itself is sacred, developing the habit of being more, and more deliberately, aware of what's happening in the natural world around me has been both neat and helpful. Knowing when the Solstices, Equinoxes, and cross-quarter days are helps to orient me to the year, the seasons, and the dark and light; it's kind of like a seasonal compass I always have with me. When it feels like winter's never going to end, or like it's going to be hot much longer than I can tolerate, or I'm wondering why the flowers aren't here yet or the leaves haven't turned yet, knowing where I am in the Wheel of the Year helps me keep perspective.

Some of the places on the Wheel of the Year are pretty intuitive to me -- especially Beltane, Samhain, and Yule. Those are ones where what's happening in the world around me and in my spiritual life are easily and obviously in tune. Litha has always been less intuitive for me. In some ways, that's good: I don't have an investment in doing certain kinds of spiritual work at Midsummer; I can take, perhaps, a more frank look at what's happening in nature and how that is or isn't echoed in my own spiritual life. In some ways, it's harder, because I don't have an established pattern that usually meets my needs.

So, what is happening in nature around me right now?

This is a confused summer here in southeastern Michigan. Our spring and summer have been slow, and cold, for the most part. And rainy: the mold count is high, and I'm having the unusual occurrence of spring allergies and a spring asthma flare-up. After a colder than usual season, we had unexpected heat -- temps in the 90s F -- and when that passed, drops down to the 40s and 50s at night, and 60s and 70s during the day.

I'm used to Lithas that are hot and sticky, and occasionally merely warm. So in a lot of ways, it doesn't quite feel like Solstice yet to me.

But things are blooming, and early veggies are appearing at the Farmers' Market. This is probably the last week for asparagus. There's still rhubarb. Looking out into our yard, what I see in bloom are the star gazer lilies, the astilbe, and the catalpa tree.

I'm reminded a lot of last year's Solstice. I spent it, of all odd things, doing peace work on a military base several hours north of here. It was chilly -- I was in fleece and long pants the whole four days I was there -- but the days were long. I remember walking between buildings at 10:30 at night, and being amazed at the shade of indigo that was the sky.

Right now, in Ann Arbor, the sun rises at 5:58 am, and sets at 9:15 pm. (It really is different "back home": in Philadelphia, the sun rises at 5:32 am, and the sun sets at 8:33 pm.) (Hmmm. In Seattle, where we're moving in August, it's 5:11 am and 9:11 pm. Wow!)

I am getting ready for FGC Summer Gathering, which I'm looking forward to with joy and with some stress. I'm having an allergy and asthma flare-up, which is making it hard for me to feel at peace with my body and with the weather. (If it weren't so rainy, it wouldn't be so moldy, and my lungs would be working better!) I am wishing for more of what I think of as Summer Solstice weather for this area: sunny and warm, not too hot, with occasional Midwestern-typical thunderstorms in the afternoons.

What's happening in the natural world around you just now?

What's happening in your spiritual life?

What does Summer Solstice mean to you?

Courageously Explicit

I received word this week that my interest group proposal was accepted. Here's the wording that I finally condensed it into (the guideline is "around 50 words." Hmmm).

Courageously Explicit
Three Friends walk into Meeting for Worship: a Christian, a Pagan, a Jew, and a Non-Theist. Each gives ministry from their own experience; they all experience gathered Worship. Come create the rest of the story: coming together, supporting each other, building community, helping each other be faithful, speaking explicitly.