The Reston Light

3rd Month 11, 2007 A Newsletter of Herndon Friends Meeting - Quakers - Reston & Herndon Virginia No.154

Calendar of Events

03/17/2007	Peace Vigil on Capitol Hill 12:00 to 1:00 pm "Seek Peace and Pursue It"
03/18/2007	Meeting for Worship 2 PM at Hunter's Wood Fellowship House
3/24/2007	Spring Interim Yearly Meeting Day-Gunpowder Meeting
4/1/2007	NO POTLUCK-rescheduled for Easter
4/8/2007	Easter Egg Hunt after First Day School, before Potluck
4/8/2007	Potluck after Meeting for Worship
4/14 - 4/15	Catoctin Quaker Work Camp Contact davidhunter@bym-rsf.org if you plan to attend
4/15/2007	9:00 AM "Can we all be Friends" a video on the variety of Quaker practice in North Carolina Yearly Meeting
4/15/2007	Meeting for Business at Rise of Meeting for Worship: NOTE: THIS IS A WEEK LATER THAN USUAL
4/21/2007	Work Camp Opportunity Friends Wilderness Center
4/28 - 4/29	Opequon Quaker Work Camp Contact davidhunter@bym-rsf.org if you plan to attend

3rd Query: The Meeting Community

Are love and harmony within the Meeting Community fostered by a spirit of open sharing? Do you endeavor to widen your circle of friendships within the Meeting, seeking to know persons of all ages and at all stages of the spiritual journey? Does the Meeting provide for the spiritual refreshment of all members and attenders? Do Friends provide spiritual and practical care for the elderly, the lonely, and others with special needs? Ione Taylor gathered 15 Friends to Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business with a reading from Psalms 100: 1-5. Erin Doland was welcomed to her first Meeting For Business. Ione Taylor gathered 11 Friends for Meeting for Business with a reading from Parker Palmer. "The core of the Quaker tradition is a way of inward seeking which leads to outward acts of integrity and service. Friends are most in the Spirit when they stand at the crossing point of the inward and the outward life. And that is the intersection at which we find community. Community is a place where the connections felt in the heart make themselves known in bonds between people, and where the tuggings and pullings of those bonds keep opening our hearts." The Junior Senior meeting is continuing its work to support the Cape Verde School and the mosquito net project. Students expressed a desire for more First Day School lessons; the students note that because they attend meeting for worship once a month and have business meeting once a month they are having fewer opportunities for lessons. Asa Janney reported on search for alternative meeting space. He met with a local realtor. There was a discussion of using a business park or industrial park as a site for the meeting. In the current market, purchasing such space at twice our current square footage would cost in the neighborhood of $1,000,000. Friends discussed the possibility of such a move and expenditure. Don Chamlee continues to pursue the possibility of building an expansion at the rear of the meetinghouse Clerk Ione Taylor will contact NVFS re:their plans for developing new space and seeing if there is potential to partner with them.

The meeting accepted 3 new adults and 3 children as members of the meeting. Herndon Friends Meeting accepted the transfer of Cornelia Sparks from Wilton Connecticut to Herndon Friends Meeting.

The meeting united with the recommendation of the Ministry and Oversight Committee to accept the application for membership by Linda Clare-Stanton, and for membership for her children Sean, Aubrey and Taylor.

The meeting united with the recommendation of the Ministry and Oversight Committee to accept the application for membership of Gary Garriott

"Langley Hill Friend Tom Fox was kidnapped 11/26/05 while serving on a Christian Peacemaker Team in Baghdad, Iraq. On 3/10/6 it was announced that his body had been discovered in Baghdad, bound and shot to death. The clerk sought the sense of the meeting that we send a letter of comfort and support to Langley Hill meeting on the death of Tom Fox. The Meeting united with this recommendation."

The Herndon Official Workers Center opened on December 14th, 2005. The center provides a location for day workers and potential employers to meet. Because of community concerns that the center provides services to illegal immigrants, there is likelihood that the conditional use permit that allows the center to operate will not be renewed when it expires in September of this year. Discussions have centered on the obligation of the center to determine worker's employment eligibility, a requirement which was not part of the original conditional use permit. The center is currently operated by Project Hope and Harmony, a community coalition that grew out of work by Reston Interfaith on day laborer concerns in Herndon. Reston Interfaith published a report on the services provided at the Center in its first year of operation. There does not seem to have been an increase in the number of workers seeking employment. When the workers were congregating at the 7-11, there was an average of 95 workers on any given day. At the HOW center the average has been 97. About 15% of the workers who sign in on any given day get employment. More than 10,000 hiring transactions have taken place at the center since it opened. Herndon Friends Meeting has been supportive of the Worker's Center. John Dyck and Beth Hardesty, attenders of Herndon Friends, are members of the Community Advisory Board, and volunteers from HFM have served as assistant site coordinators at the center. Herndon Friends united with a minute supporting the day labor center before it was established. At business meeting on 3/11/07 the meeting directed Paul Murphy to draft a minute of continuing support for the worker's center for consideration at the next business meeting.

In February young friends watched the video "Can We All Be Friends", and recommended that the entire meeting watch it. FGC's website describe the video, saying: This documentary takes you to Greensboro, North Carolina, home of one of the largest Quaker populations in North America. This modest-sized city has every major branch of Quakerism - from an all-silent meeting to an Evangelical Friends Church. But despite close proximity, divides between meetings are seldom bridged. In this rare cross-congregation dialogue, Friends examine issues they hold dear, giving compelling voice to the current state of a rich religious tradition." The video will be shown at 9:00 am at the Meetinghouse on April 15, 2007. Clerk Ione Taylor promises to provide refreshments.

"This is a loud call for us to join other Christian Peace Churches who stand against the war in Iraq. This is happening on Friday, March 16, and begins with a Worship service in the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and is followed by a candle light procession to Lafayette Park near the White House. The time span is 7:00 to about midnight. You can read the complete schedule at www.christianpeacewitness.org and you can register so you'll have a place to be in the Cathedral as well as an opportunity to donate toward the cost of the event.
--from the BYM Website

Catoctin Quaker Camp	April 14 - 15, 2007
Opequon Quaker Camp	April 28 - 29, 2007
Catoctin Quaker Camp	May, 5 - 6, 2007
Shiloh Quaker Camp	May 19 - 20, 2007
Opequon Quaker Camp	June 2 - 3, 2007

"Spring is upon us and it is time to start thinking about getting our camp properties ready for another season of use. ..Work weekends offer an opportunity to enjoy some fun with Friends, some time for renewal, and some gratifying and meaningful work! We all have the opportunity to come to camp for a weekend or a day and offer our time and enthusiasm to the places that we love. Come and give the gift of your time and enjoy the gifts our camps have to give. You DO NOT need to have any building or carpentry skills in order to pitch in! We need all kinds of people to make contributions. You do need to have some energy and a willingness to get dirty, try new things, be flexible and enjoy the company of others who want to pitch in too. We need sweepers, painters, cooks, ditchers, concrete mixers, trail clearers as well as carpenters and handy people. All of us have contributions to make, so come on out and enjoy some physical activity and the company of Friends! Simply send an e-mail to davidhunter@bym-rsf.org if you plan to attend. Work weekends are held on both Saturday and Sunday; you may come just for the day or you may spend the night on Saturday night. Bring bedding (we do not always have enough suitable mattresses), flashlights, and anything else you may want. Cabins are generally available or you may bring a tent
--also from the BYM Website

Baltimore Yearly Meeting's Search Committee has now completed the work of finding a nominee for a new Presiding Clerk. Janet Eaby, Clerk of the Search Committee, will present Howard Fullerton's name to Interim Meeting on Saturday, March 24. Although Howard's years of service are well-known to many in the Yearly Meeting, his name is being made public now in the interest of having a transparent process when a decision needs to be made in a timely fashion.

Liz Hoy, and Fred Cresson acted as FAPs for a skating event for the Junior Senior Class. Matt Cresson, Anna McCormally, Lindley Taylor, Brad Dressler, and Teddy Schantz, and visiting Presbyterian Alex Parrot gathered at the Cole McCormally home for ravioli and then went to Reston Town Center for an evening on the ice. The weather was good. The hot chocolate was good. No ankles were sprained. Membership in the Religious Society of Friends is a spiritual commitment. To become a member, an applicant should have come experientially into general agreement with the Society’s principles of belief and testimonies.

Ione Taylor Led a Friendly Eights discussion on Quaker Parenting on 3/11. Ione asked Friends to consider the query, "What would family life in a family led by Quaker values look like?" and "How could the meeting support Quaker parenting." The discussion was so fruitful that plans are in progress for an ongoing Friendly Eights group on parenting. Interested participants are asked to sign up on the clipboard in the meeting room and Priscilla Chamlee of M&O will follow up on this. Ed Markham will lead a Friendly Eights discsussion centered on the book, "The Art of Possibility" by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander. Rosamund Stone Zander is a family therapist and a landscape painter. Benjamin Zander is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and a professor at the New England Conservatory of Music. The two have collaborated on this book on empowerment and change. Time and date to be announced.

Brief Notes

Friend Cathy TunisTunis reports from London on the birth of her grandson John Bennet "Jack" Shinkman February 25th. He was 6 lb 14 oz and healthy. Jack is the son of Amy and Matt Shinkman, married under the care of Herndon Friends Meeting.

Katherine Cole Mhas been taking pictures for the last several months and has assembled a photo board of almost everyone at Herndon Friends Meeting. A poster with 112 Friends is now on display, with names underneath each picture, in alphabetical order by last name. If your picture isn't up, or you don't like your picture, or you've grown since you've have your picture taken, tell Katherine or Terence McCormally, or email a picture that you do like to tmccormally@ffpcs.com or kjcolemd@gmail.com.

Workcamp opportunities: April 21: Spring Work Day. Celebrate Earth Day with Friends Wilderness Center by helping to care for the land entrusted to us. We'll have many work projects, including repairing any winter damage, clearing trails, tidying Niles Cabin, and preparing the Tree House and Yurt for the season. Groups and people of all ages and abilities are welcome! Call Sheila Bach at 304/728-4820 or email snbach@earthlink.net for more information. A free lunch will be provided if you register by April 19.