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Number 102
7th month 2001
8th Query—Outreach
Do you, as the way opens, share Friends’ principles with non-Friends. Do you witness to your Quaker faith by letting your life speak? Do you make non-Friends welcome in your meetings for worship? Do you find ways to encourage their continued attendance?
Calendar of Events
7/22/01 Pedals For Progress Bicycle Collection
Please bring baked goods for a bake sale fund raiser to provide money to ship the collected bikes)
7/24-29 BYM Annual Sessions at Randolph Macon College, Ashland, Virginia
8/4/01 Potluck at Rise of Meeting for Worship
8/7-8/18 Adult Quaker Wilderness Adventure "Over the Hill and Through the Woods"
9/1 Rising 5th through 7th Graders have Meetinghouse Overnight. Contact Gwen Zanin or Kim Glazer
9/2 Potluck at Rise of Meeting For Worship
9/7-9/9 Annual Catoctin Retreat
9/16 Meeting For Worship With Attention To Business
9/29 Religious Education "Back To First Day School Night" For parents only. Dinner provided
One Year Ago--In the Light
"Herndon Friends united with a minute from the Ministry and Oversight Committee:
Herndon Friends approve of the inclusive (non-gender-specific) definition of marriage as it appears on page 20 of Faith and Practice of Baltimore Yearly Meeting. Herndon Friends extend a full welcome to members and attenders without regard to sexual orientation, and will hold cleared marriages and ceremonies of commitment for both opposite gender and same gender couples…"
And also, "The treasurer has sent $2300 to the Medical Care for Children Partnership, and $100 was paid for the Big Kids Project to buy school desks in Kenya."
Five Years Ago--In the Light
"In early June, Cathy Tunis, treasurer received a letter from Edward Nichols, the treasurer of Goose Creek Monthly Meeting, in Lincoln, Virginia. The letter read:
"As an old established Meeting, we thought you might be able to use a ‘friendly’ boost. So we are sending you the enclosed check for $500 as a gift. Make good use of the money!"
Meeting For Business
Dennis Jones led a small but centered meeting for worship with attention to business on 7/8/01. He opened the meeting with a reading from Roger Wilson from 1949:
"Concern is a word which has tended to become debased by excessively common usage among Friends, so that too often it is used to cover merely a strong desire. The true "concern" (emerges as ) a gift from God, a leading of his spirit which may not be denies. Its sanction is not that on investigation it proves to be the intelligent thing to do---though it usually is; it is that the individual… knows as a matter of inward experience that there is something that the Loord would have done, however obscure the way, however uncertain the means to human observation. Often proposals for action are made which have every appearance of good sense, but as the meeting waits before God it becomes clear that the proposition falls short of "concern."
Ministry and Oversight
The Ministry and oversight committee is soliciting suggestions from Friends about the content and format for the fall Adult Education series.
Plans are proceeding for the Fall Catoctin Retreat. Programs and registration forms are included in this newsletter. Invitations to participate will be sent to Frederick, Hopewell and Goose Creek Meetings
House and Grounds
It was reported that our tenant has decided to stop her Kindermusic program, and will no longer be renting the building during the week.
The Woodturners Association, in appreciation of the meeting's gift of wood, has donated a wooden bowl made from the maple tree that was removed from the meetinghouse front yard. The bowel rests on the mantle in the meeting room.
Religious Education
The RE committee will be having a curriculum meeting on July 18 to finalize plans for next year's curriculum and class composition.
Summer First Day School is being led by volunteers who are sharing hobbies and activities with the children. Formal classes will resume after the Catoctin Retreat.
RE has planned some special activities. On Saturday, September 1st there will be a sleepover at the meeting house for rising 5th through 7th graders. They've been asking for it, and now they're going to get it.
On September 29th, RE is sponsoring a "back to First Day School Tex Mex Night at the meetinghouse for parents only. The committee will be providing dinner, drinks, and a chance to meet other teachers and other parents, and review the First Day School Curriculum.
Peace and Social Concerns
The annual Pedals for Progress Bicycle collection will be July 22 from 12:00 noon to 3 PM. There will be a bake sale to raise money to ship the bicycles overseas. In addition, volunteers are needed to help prepare the bikes for transport by removing the pedals and handlebars.
Treasurer's Report
At the halfway point in the year, contributions to Herndon Friends Meeting have totaled $11,274 , 42% of budget. There is a $1700 cash flow deficit, due principally to the use of reserves to pay for the architects feasibility study. The meeting has switched insurance companies; our property liability insurance is now provided by a group policy with Baltimore Yearly Meeting, at a savings of $200 a year.
Death Penalty News
With the stay of execution for Thomas Akers who was to be killed in March, there are no executions scheduled in Virginia. Friends who are concerned about the use of the death penalty can continue to advocate for a moratorium at both the state and Federal level. The Virginians for Alternatives to The Death Penalty maintains a web site at
www.vadp.org that allows visitors to track execution information. The ACLU has a web page athttp://www.aclu.org/action/dpmoratorium107.html
that makes it easy to send email or fax to your congressmen about the issue.Elementary Graduation
Three Herndon Friends Meeting students completed 6th grade. In keeping with long standing Herndon Friends tradition, Katie Zanin, Daniel Murphy, and Matthew Glazer were presented with a study Bible at the June potluck.
Web Site Updates
Please check out the web site at herndonfriends.org. In addition to the newsletters you can download a copy of the registration form for the Catoctin Retreat Thanks to Gwen and Joe Zanin for their work on this project.
Brief Notes
Crystal Chiu and Leslie Von Pischke were married on June 24th, 2001. Leslie is the son of J.D. and Gretel Von Pischke, two of the original founders of Herndon Friends Meeting. He met Crystal while they were attending college at Cornell University and they were married at Sage Chapel on the Cornell Campus in Ithaca, New York. The couple will be living in Colorado where Crystal is attending graduate school in music and Les is putting his Cornell Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering to work.
Leslie and Crystal set aside some time during their wedding service for those present to speak out of the silence. During that time Crystal played a violin solo; the music teachers in the congregation remarked on the pose and concentration her beautiful performance demonstrated--especially at a time when some people might be really nervous. The wedding reception featured guests from six continents, ssome dazzling dance moves by the groom's mother, and the best wedding cake this reporter has tasted. (TJMc )