Metamorphosis: Newsletter for Bellingham Friends Meeting

Weekly Meetings for Worship are on Sunday @ 10-11 am.  Childcare is provided.  Monthly Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business are on the 2nd Sunday.1601 Ellis Street in Bellingham, WA 98225                                   Phone:  (360) 734-0244
 

Advice and Query  for November, 2012:

The Meeting is enriched when all members and attenders participate actively.  The working of the Holy Spirit in our lives is expressed through prophetic ministry, pastoral caring for each other, and the example provided by lives lived in the Light.

 

How do I use my time and my talents to be of service to my fellow man and to the earth?

Do we each take an active part in the life of our Meeting?

 

Second Hours and Special Events (see Calendar to the right)

SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER –

Green America urges us to support HR 6275, to create the Clean Energy Victory Bonds Act of 2012 which would allow an investment of as little as $25 to support clean energy programs. Please contact Rep.Rick Larsen and ask him to support this bill.

CONCERN OF THE MONTH –

Conservation Northwest needs help to  purchase a conservation easement on the Gotham Ranch in the Columbia Highlands of eastern Washington.   This prime wildlife habitat is a critical piece of the corridor that connects the Cascades to the Rockies for a whole diversity of species. There is an opportunity that expires the end of this month to save this area permanently from mining and development.

ECO-SUGGESTION :

Write a letter or email regarding the proposed coal terminal as part of the scoping process for the Environmental Impact Statement. Choose one topic per letter. See www.coaltrainfacts.org

for a sample guide for comments. Mail to

GPT/Custer Spur EIS c/o CH2M Hill,

1100 112th Ave.NE,Suite 400,

Bellevue, WA 98004

or email to:   <comments@eisgatewaypacificwa.gov>.

News from Interfaith Coalition – Please give your donations for this year’s Christmas gift card for families in need to Sharon Trent.

 

…AND FINALLY – a little something extra…

Your regular editor is away, and Judy Hopkinson, is stepping in.  The discussion of Quaker Testimonies will resume when your regular editor, Betty McMahon returns.

Meanwhile, Judy has blatantly copied this book review by Iris Graville who posted it (hence implied permission) in the wonderful blog “Quaker Ranter”, by Martin Kelley (www.quakerranter.org)

Quaker Book Review Posted by Iris Graville on 10th mo. 15, 2012 at 8:06pm

Book Review – Staying True

As far as I’m concerned, the world could use a few more spiritual memoirs. A lot more people of faith writing about their spiritual journeys.  Fortunately, lifelong Quaker Lynn Waddington did just that during the final two years of her life. And her partner, Margaret Sorrel, labored through her own grief after Lynn’s death to bring this story to print in Staying True­—Musings of an Odd-duck Quaker Lesbian Approaching Death.

The title should be the first clue that this isn’t your average memoir. Bruce Birchard, former General Secretary of Friends General Conference, calls it “a spiritual memoir for the twenty-first century,” and I couldn’t agree more.  Lynn took her spirituality seriously (though with a great deal of humor), explored it deeply, and shared it honestly.

For Lynn, life was about constantly discerning her true leadings, and she generously takes her readers along on that journey.  I’ve turned down the corners of many pages to be able to return to her stories and experiences that speak to me.  Here’s one example:

We are seekers, not finders. For every profound experience I’ve had, I’ve been left with deep questions.

Lynn also wrote eloquently about something that often is beyond words, that experience of the presence of the Divine. She did find the vocabulary, though, when she wrote about one day in early adolescence when she took her questions of her identity with her to a favorite spot along the Delaware River:

I felt the calm seep into me as it usually did. And then I was wrenched open. . . I realized I was trembling and crying. Sweat was running down my sides. I was seen through and through. . . . Every flaw of my being was visible, but the fear that brought was dissolved by the sweetest, most tender love I had ever known. . .This was God—who saw me uniquely and bent down to touch me alone.

In Staying True, we have not only an account of the path of Lynn’s spiritual journey through young adulthood, her professional life, her role as a parent, and her relationships, but she also invited us in to her deep seeking near the end of her life.  Although she continued to ask questions about what she was meant to do, she also shared the peace she felt from her knowledge of being held in God’s love.

Staying True is a source of wisdom, comfort, challenge, and more than a few belly laughs as well as tears.

To find out more about Staying True, visit Plain Speech Press.

BELLINGHAM FRIENDS MEETING Meeting Clerk:  Judy Hopkinson                                           Children’s Committee Clerk:  Sharon Trent Co-Clerk: Susan Richardson                                                   Nominating Clerk:  Virginia Herrick Hospitality Clerk:  Rob Dillard                                                           Finance Clerk:  Joanne Cowan Ministry & Counsel Clerk:  Lorina Hall                                  Treasurer:  Steven Hutchins Social & Environmental  Clerk:  Doris Ferm                            Recording Clerk: Alice Rob

 

Metamorphosis is a monthly newsletter.  If you would like some particular information placed in the Metamorphosis, please send it  via email to the newsletter editor Betty McMahon:      Bettysmokey@hotmail.com.  (If  you do not have email:  (360) 734-0244.