Goose Creek Friends

Newsletter January 2020

Goose Creek Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Lincoln, Virginia

Queries for First Month: Diversity

• Does your vision of a just society include people living their lives without fear of
discrimination based on who they are, what they believe, and whom they love?
• Are we willing to be in communion with each other, open to our differences yet secure
in the one Spirit that calls us all to be Friends?
• Do my decisions reflect the voices of people of color, people of different sexual
identities, people of different ages and economic conditions? Do I take the risks that
right action demands?
• Do I seek out and listen to perspectives that promote equal access, inclusion, and
welcome for people of all cultures and backgrounds?
• How do we work toward creating a community of different people, rather than being a
community that just lets different people in?
• Do we take the time to see what we want to become as people and as a global
community, and do we humbly acknowledge that we have some work
to do?

Monthly Meeting for Worship with

a Concern for Business: First Month
The next committee clerks meeting will be held on February 16 at the rise of Meeting.
Everyone is invited to attend.
The annual report of the Publications Committee was read and approved with thanks.
The website is now easy to access, and the online donation feature has become an
increasingly popular means of making financial contributions to Meeting.
Friends approved a history lecture by Rich Gillespie to be held at the Meeting House on
January 26 beginning at 4 pm.
Sheila Kryston and Debbi Sudduth will present a program at the Friends Wilderness
Center on January 11, 10-2:00, on “Exploring Light and Darkness Through Poetry.”

Continued on next page g

Goose Creek Friends Newsletter | January 2020 | Page 2
Friends discussed how to increase the
number of volunteers to help as Friendly
Adult Presences in First Day School.
Presently, the necessary FAPs are
provided by the various committees, but
the need is extensive. The Clerk agreed
to make a FAP schedule for the year
including the required number of slots
for each month to allow more Friends
to sign up to help. It was also suggested
that committee clerks ask non-committee
members to help.
Friends approved Patricia Barber’s
drafting of a letter of support from Goose
Creek Meeting to the Innocence Project
on behalf of Joe Evans.
January 12: Reflections upon the
spiritual state of the Meeting in
2019
We will gather after the rise of Meeting on
January 12 to talk about our perceptions
of the spiritual state of the Meeting during
the last year. This discussion will give
rise to the written report that is requested
by Baltimore Yearly Meeting. Please join
Friends for this discussion.
You might want to prepare by thinking
about these queries:
• Are we as a Meeting being faithful to
our leadings regarding the people we
are called to be? Are we growing in
our capacity to be a channel of light in a
world of darkness?
• What are specific examples of such
light? How can we bring more light
into our world?
• Where do we fall short?
• How do we nurture our Meeting
community and honor each
other’s gifts?
January 19 at the rise of
Meeting: Meditating with
the Bible
Childcare will be provided.
From Baltimore Yearly Meeting
Attention All Women of
Baltimore Yearly Meeting:
Your presence is welcome at our annual
women's retreat, February 7-9, 2020.
For more information and to register, go
to: womensretreat.bym-rsf.net/.
Quaker scholarships:
Every year BYM sends us information
about a number of Quaker scholarships.
Most are for undergraduates, some also
cover graduate school or Friends high
schools. These include grants from
the Educational Grants Committee of
Baltimore Yearly Meeting, the Jonathan
Taylor Scholarship Fund, the Miles White
Beneficial Society, and the Sue Thomas
Turner Quaker Education Fund. For
details and applications, visit the BYM
website: https://www.bym-rsf.org/.
Continued on next page g

Last-minute reminder:
‘Exploring Light and Darkness
Through Poetry’
Friends Wilderness Center this Saturday,
January 11, 10:00 - 2:00
Debbi Sudduth and Sheila Kryston will
co-facilitate this poetry program at the
Niles Cabin.  The program will encourage
discussion and contemplation of how to
celebrate the joy in our lives while at the
same time being aware of our own pain
and the pain of others in the world.  You
may bring your own poems or those of
others that speak to the theme of this
program.  redistribute the moisture as it dries. To
When RSVP’ing for this program to
Sheila Bach, please let her know if you
would like a home-cooked meal for a
$10 charge. You are welcome to bring
a brown bag lunch of your own if you
wish. We do ask for a $10 donation that
helps keep our programs going and the
Friends Wilderness Center alive and well.
If you have not been here before and need
directions, please visit our website, www.
friendswilderness.org /. Or if you have the
free WAZE GPS, enter 305 Friends Way,
Harpers Ferry, WV, and it will get you
right to our door.
Goose Creek Friends Newsletter | January 2020 | Page 3
A Green Tip from
Unity with Nature
Winter isn’t the ideal time for drying
clothes the most energy-efficient and cost-
saving way – outside on a clothesline.
But even though clothes dryers are one
of the more energy-thirsty appliances we
use at home, you can still save energy
and money with this simple tip. Toss 1
or 2 super absorbent DRY towels into
the dryer along with wet clothes. Dry
towels will absorb a lot of the excess
moisture, cutting down drying time and
energy use.  Remove the towel(s) about
15 minutes into the drying time or it will
get in the habit, keep a towel just for this
purpose in the laundry room.  Then hang
it on a hanger to dry before you need it for
the next batch of laundry.
Come spring, try out a clothesline. If
you are concerned that your community
may have a ban on outdoor clotheslines,
remember that both Virginia and
Maryland are “Right-to-Dry” states.
These state laws trump any HOA
restrictions. Residents of HOA restricted
neighborhoods can put up and use
clotheslines regardless of any covenant
restrictions and can’t be fined by the
association.
In the market for a new dryer? Here’s
an incentive to opting for an Energy
Star model: Virginia’s tax-free weekend
for Energy Star appliances starts the
first Friday in August; President’s Day
weekend in February is Maryland’s.
Page 4 | January 2020 | Goose Creek Friends Newsletter

Sundays Facing Bench

Meeting for worship at 9:45 a.m.
JANUARY
First Day School at 10:00 a.m. Allen Cochran
Fellowship at 10:45 a.m.
First Day
Wednesdays School
Discussion Group at 7:00 p.m.
01/05/20
Calendar Annual Baltimore Yearly
Meeting Camps Presentation
JANUARY (teens & elem.)
1.5 Sun. 11am Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business 01/12/20
1.12 Sun. 11am Discussion: Spiritual State of the Meeting 2019 Peaceful Conflict Resolution
1.19 Sun. 11am Meditation with the Bible (teens & elem.)
1.22 Wed 6 pm Religious Education Committee Meeting
1.26 Sun. 11am Ministry & Oversight Committee meeting 01/19/20
Celebrating Martin
FEBRUARY Luther King, Jr.
2.2 Sun. 11am Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business (teens & elem.)
2.16 Sun. 11am Meeting of committee clerks and co-clerks 01/26/20
SPICES Superheroes
CHANGE OF ADDRESS (elementary group)
Carolyn Martin, 12100 Chancellors Village Lane, Apt 4011 Winter Birdfeeders
Fredericksburg VA 22407 (teen group)
*elem. = elementary age group

Each of us inevitable, NEWSLETTER

Each of us limitless – each of us with his or The Goose Creek Friends Newsletter
is published monthly by the
her right upon the earth, Goose Creek Friends Meeting,
18204 Lincoln Road, P.O. Box 105,
Each of us allow’d the eternal purports of Lincoln, VA 20160.
CLERK
the earth, Rich Weidner, 540.554.2747

Each of us here as divinely as any is here.

rich.blacksmith1@gmail.com
ASSISTANT CLERK
Allen Cochran, 540.338.6485
– Walt Whitman Cochransstone@aol.com
“Salut au Monde,” from Leaves of Grass, 1856 TREASURER
Brian Burgher
goose.creek.treasurer@gmail.com
NEWSLETTER EDITOR

Quaker Jargon of the Month

Catherine Cox, 301-471-5330
blycox@comcast.net
WEBSITE & FACEBOOK
“First Day”: Sunday.  Early Quakers refrained from using the www.goosecreekfriends.org
pagan-based names for the days of the week and months; hence https://www.facebook.com/
Goose-Creek-Friends-Meeting-
“First Day” for Sunday, “First Month” for January, etc.  Most 150892438287560/?rc=p
Friends have stopped using these terms except within the DONATIONS
Please direct donations for
meeting. What other Christian faiths call “Sunday school,” we Goose Creek Friends Meeting to
Brian Burgher, P.O. Box 105
still call “First Day School.” Lincoln, Virginia 20160