Late Summer Labors

Eighth month in the life of our little meeting found us learning more about each other during an intergenerational activity, excitedly gearing up for Arkansas Peace Week, finally problem-solving the barrier that was stalling the next batch of Little Rock Quaker tee shirts, and continuing our journey of learning Compassionate Communication. Concerns included the state of the Care Committee and health challenges experienced by a number of friends. Joys included news that work is now complete on the formerly severely listing pier under the kitchen and the commencement of work on the house's front gable and fascia.

First Sunday, led by co-clerk Amanda, we continued our study of Thomas Kelly's classic Quaker text, Testament of Devotion, which can be downloaded here. We have made our way through this book one month at a time, and are now on the chapter entitled The Blessed Community. Reading Kelly's thoughts and about his experience on this topic is helping us as a spiritual community to stay close to the Friendly values we hold so dear, commuity being central among them. And speaking of community, we joyfully received news from a former LRFM member and longtime Carillon subscriber, Barbara Leutke, who is now devoting much love and energy to the following project, which we happily amplify here on this platform:

Hello, Friends,
I am Barbara Luetke, and a member of Salmon Bay Meeting (Seattle) end of Washington Chapel CME Church in Parkville, Missouri, north of Kansas City. When I lived in Texas, I often came to your quarterly to do service work.
I am writing to ask for your individual and/or Meeting help in restoring this 117 year-old church and community use building. Built by formerly enslaved people, it is located in the once segregated part of Parkville, the neighborhood having few spaces for meetings, weddings, club meetings, and other such gatherings. The small elderly congregation is seeking financial donations to restore the building, so it can again be used by neighbors of all races, ages, genders, and religions. We have the help of a volunteer general contractor, volunteer electrician, volunteer plumber, and volunteer architect. A group of retired skill, trades people come each Thursday and donate their time. They have successfully gutted the first floor, installed infrastructure for electricity and water, and are now framing in the rooms. Work has not yet begun on the second floor, which is also unusable in its present state. We received a grant for a new roof and that is now finished. It is important to keep our volunteers in materials. Please consider a donation of any size to help us rebuild this landmark.
Interesting Friends can follow the restoration on the Facebook group “Washington chapel restoration.” The history of the church is on Wikipedia when you search for Washington chapel CME church.
Donations can be mailed to Washington Chapel CME Church, 1137 West St. Parkville, MO. 64152.
Paypal - use paypal.me/washchapel or Cashapp - use $washchapel.
Barbara Luetke

Second Sunday, Young Friends led us all in an activity meant to help us get to know one another better. Hey, look at that, another community-building endeavor! We did indeed learn more about each other, and we had fun doing it. Some of the things we learned were: who has learned an additional language to fluency; who has attended another Quaker meeting; who has attended a programmed Friends' meeting; who has ever followed a plant-based way of eating; and who has attended school in this city. After worship hour was our monthly potluck, always thoroughly enjoyed.

Third Sunday we held our meeting for worship with attention to business, and one item weighing on the heart of a Friend is the fact that our Care of the Meeting Committee, born of a need to perhaps check on stalled or under-functioning meetings, has drifted in focus and function in such a way that it is now doing the business that a House and Grounds Committee, for instance, would do were one currently functional while drifting away from monitoring and addressing the spiritual needs of our meeting. Another Friend voiced appreciation for the fact that the care committee, meeting one day ahead of the spirit-led business meeting, gives Friends a chance to vet agenda items before bringing them forward. There is a nascent project that could bring solutions and new energy to our meeting: we are working on convening a nominating committee and plan to question the current committee structure to see if it is the best way to keep all aspects of our meeting functioning well given our small numbers.

On the fourth Sunday we continued our course, led by Friend David, in Compassionate Communication, which is actually NVC when led by a non-certified facilitator. During this first hour, we explored some key differentiations Marshall Rosenberg considers important, such as:

• "Being Giraffe" vs. "doing Giraffe"
• Empathy vs. sympathy and other forms of response (fixing, reassuring, storytelling, etc.)
• Protective vs. punitive use of force
• Power with vs. power over
• Appreciation vs. approval, compliments or praise
• Choice vs. submission or rebellion
• Stimulus vs. cause
• Value judgment vs. moralistic judgment
• Persisting vs. demanding
• Self-discipline vs. obedience
• Vulnerability vs. weakness
• Love as an action vs. love as a need and a feeling
• Empathic sensing vs. intellectual guessing

One of the labors of love in our LRFM community has been the ongoing effort to create our own series of t-shirts, eliminating the need to hire a professional printer. Not only does in-house design and production save money, but homemade creations feel a bit closer to the Quaker way. This month, we celebrated a major breakthrough thanks to the moral support Kelly received from one young Friend to help her overcome an emotional block. Kelly had been hesitant to attempt a print run using Young Friends' latest linocut block, as she was worried about ruining blank t-shirts due to past challenges in transferring fabric paint from the block prints onto the fabric. However, a visit to Art Outfitters—where they generously offer a printing press for customers to use free of charge—changed everything. With this newfound resource, we can now produce as many t-shirts as we want. The sky’s the limit!