Goose Creek Friends

Newsletter May 2017

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

Queries for Fifth Month:

Meeting for Business
Are our Meetings for Worship with a Concern for the committee. Maria noted that the Friendly Adult
Business held in the spirit of worship, seeking the Presence program is working very well. Book Sunday
guidance of God? will be held on June 4. Two Friends are assuming Ed
Leggetts practice of underwriting the cost of books
In what ways do we each take our right share of
for our high school students. The Committee will be
responsibility in the service of the meeting?
inviting members to join the committee when their
Do we humbly set aside our own preconceived interests so lead them. Our bicentennial timeline
notions as to proper action, seeking instead Divine project presents one opportunity for the interaction
guidance as to the right course? of adult Friends with First Day School. Maria also
Is the Meeting aware that it speaks not only through reported that a stop-motion animation workshop will
its actions but also through its failure to act? be offered to youth in Meeting as well as from the
surrounding community to encourage greater youth
participation in Religious Education activities and,
Monthly Meeting for Worship hopefully, the SPICES Peace Troupe. This report was
with a Concern for Business, received with great thanks.

Fifth Month: Meeting approved use of the Meeting House for

the stop-motion animation workshop on August 19,
Meeta Pradhan from The Mountain Institute will 10:00 am - 3:00 pm.
offer a presentation on the Institutes work on June 18
The Peace and Social Concerns Committee presented
at the rise of Meeting.
a minute put forward by Herndon Friends regarding
Friends approved Jean Browns request to use the sanctuary for immigrants. The Committee requested
Meeting House on a Thursday afternoon in May for a approval by Goose Creek Friends. After discussion,
meeting of a rural preservation group. The Clerk will and with some requests for edits of punctuation in
be in contact with her to work out a specific date. order to clarify meaning, the minute was approved.
Meeting approved use of the First Day School room Friends agreed to hold over a Peace and Social
by Martha Mason Semmess tai chi instructor for a Concerns recommendation that Meeting join
class on Monday evenings, 6-7:00. This will be on a Sanctuary DC/MD/VA, a network of congregations in
trial basis through Labor Day. There is the possibility the region. Additional information was requested.
that a beginners class might be offered as well.
The Clerk raised a request for Meeting to support
Meeting approved the report of the Jane Pancoast attendance by two members of Goose Creek at
Shepherd Scholarship Committee, presented by Friends General Conference this summer. Meeting
Frannie Taylor, with thanks. approved underwriting attendance by Suellen Beverly
Maria Nicklin presented the annual report of and Sheila Kryston. It was mentioned that the
the Religious Education Committee. Their two SPICES Peace Troupe will be presenting a program
biggest challenges remain the same as last year: at the BYM Annual Session, and may have some
increasing numbers in the First Day School and on expenses that we could support as well.
Goose Creek Friends Newsletter | May 2017 | Page 2

Save the Date! The agenda for the afternoon Meeting for Worship
with a Concern for Business is now available. If you
Goose Creek Meeting House have any items that you wish to have included, please
Bicentennial Celebration contact Marcy Seitel, clerk of Interim Meeting, as
Saturday, October 21, 2017, 9:30 3:00 soon as possible (imclerk@bym-rsf.org).
Help celebrate the 200th year of our brick meeting June 23-28: Quaker Spring Experiencing the
house, the legacy of Goose Creek, and Friends' long- Inward Christ Together Oakwood Friends School
time presence in this part of Loudoun County. (Poughkeepsie, NY)
The Bicentennial Committee will meet on May 20 at 9 Are you longing for more quiet opportunities to
am to work on planning the celebrations program and worship and share with other Friends? Would you
its family-friendly activities. All are welcome to come enjoy taking part in a radically unprogrammed
and participate in the planning. We will be inviting retreat with Friends from a variety of theological
past members and families as well as the greater backgrounds for a week or just a few days? The
community to help us celebrate. program will be shaped by Gods leading as the week
unfolds. Each day will include Bible study, worship,
Quaker Events quiet time, evening explorations, and fellowship.
Fees by freewill offering (guideline of roughly $46-
June 2-4, 2017: Family Camp Weekend at Opequon 60/adult/day for dorm room and meals). Deadline to
Quaker Camp (Brucetown, VA) register for the childrens program is June 1. For full
Family Camp Weekends at Baltimore Yearly Meeting information and registration, go to www.quakerspring.
Camp Properties offer us all a chance to enjoy our org, or contact the planning group at quakerspring@
beautiful camp properties during the greening-up time gmail.com/
of year. Individuals and families are invited to enjoy
the camps for a day or for the weekend. A program Baltimore Yearly Meeting
coordinator will plan activities such as playing in the Annual Session
creek, a crafts project, or hiking around one of the
Growing Towards Justice Acting on Faith
most precious places on earth. There will also be
August 1-6, 2017 Pre-session Retreat begins July 31
plenty of work projects to do! We will enjoy meals
Hood College in Frederick, MD
together, have time to explore, and even spend time
Children from birth to 8th Grade attend for free!
around a camp fire in the evening. We invite you to
These Times! What to Do?
join us for a BYM Quaker Camp experience, give
Lets Explore Together at Annual Session
the gift of your time, participate with children in
activities, and find yourself rejuvenated. For more From Ken Stockbridge, Presiding Clerk:
information, see www.bymcamps.org/programs/ When I look at the theme narrative (p. 2) for this
family-camp-weekends/. To register, contact David years Annual Session, Growing Toward Justice
Hunter, Camp Property Manager: Acting on Faith, I quickly feel overwhelmed by the
davidhunter@bym-rsf.org or 301-774-7663 range of issues cited, especially realizing how little
Im doing about them. Yet I take heart in knowing
June 17: Sixth Month Interim Meeting
that I am part of a vibrant spiritual community in
Join Friends from all parts of the Yearly Meeting as we which so many people are involved in great efforts
gather at Gunpowder Friends Meeting (Sparks, MD) on these and other concerns. Our blessed community
on Saturday, June 17, to conduct the business of the provides a space in which we can support each other
Yearly Meeting. If you plan to attend, please register in growing into our gifts and leadings, integrating
in advance so that our hosts can plan for committee our contemplative and activist impulses as mutually
spaces and food for lunch and dinner. To register, and supportive and essential aspects of the life of the
for more details, go to http://www.bym-rsf.org/events/ Spirit. This is true both in our local Meetings and in
interim/sixth17.html/ the wider Quaker community.
 Goose Creek Friends Newsletter | May 2017 | Page 3

Our Annual Session is an especially rich opportunity Yet we know that the cost of attendance is substantial
to connect with Friends from other Meetings to and may be preventing some Friendsparticularly
learn what each other is doing and explore ways to those who have never beenfrom attending.
work together. It offers a truly exciting variety of Thats why we offer each Meeting the opportunity
plenaries, workshops, interest groups. Junior Yearly to send three Friends for two days each at no cost.
Meeting provides rich programs and experiences for We hope that youll identify three people within your
our children. We share fellowship at meals, worship Meeting whom you feel would benefit from attending
sharing, and other times. Through our business the session and who would not be able to attend
sessions, we co-create our blessed community, otherwise. We are seeking participation by those who
making decisions that include everyone (which is a have not yet attended Annual Session, or havent
revolutionary act in the current partisan, polarized attended in over 10 years. We hope people from your
political environment). Meeting will be among them.
Imagine if you left our Annual Session with a greater Attenders at Annual Session over the years have found
sense of clarity of what you are personally led to do, it to be an enriching experience. Friends gain insight
what you can do that makes a difference, and who into the Quaker business process, become a part of a
wants to share in that work with you. Wouldnt that broader family of Friends, and come home refreshed
help energize you? Wouldnt it help energize our and rejuvenated. Many people have taken us up on
shared Quaker communities and our witness, locally this offer, and liked the experience so much that they
and in the Yearly Meeting? returned the next year on their own.
Come. Be a part of it. All are welcome, for a day or
for the whole week.
Is there someone in your Meeting who would like
Meeting News
to enrich their Quaker experience? Wed like to help Jack Douglas Webb was born to Cindy and Nathan
them. The more people who come to Annual Session, Webb on May 9. Congratulations to Cindy and
the more it enriches the gathering. And Annual Nathan, and to Jacks grandparents Nancy and Doug
Session attenders carry their experiences back to their Brown. Cant wait to meet him!
Meetings, benefiting the broader Quaker community.

Easter First Day at Goose Creek Friends Meeting, 2017

Photo by Sarah Huntington
Page 4 | May 2017 | Goose Creek Friends Newsletter

Sundays Facing Bench

Meeting for worship at 9:45 a.m. MAY
First Day School at 10:00 a.m. Martha Mason Semmes
Fellowship at 10:45 a.m. JUNE
Debbi Sudduth
Calendar
MAY
First Day
5.20 Saturday 9 am Bicentennial planning meeting
School
5.28 Sunday 11 am Ministry & Oversight Committee meeting 05/07/17
Hannah Janney
JUNE
05/14/17
6.4 Sunday 11 am Book Sunday
Mothers Day Lesson
Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business
6.18 Sunday 11 am Presentation on The Mountain Institute 05/21/17
by Meeta Pradhan Reggie Simms
6.25 Sunday 11 am Ministry & Oversight Committee meeting 05/28/17
Memorial Day Lesson
Change of address: Elia Hoag, 2322 Lenora Lane, Richmond, VA 23230

First Day School, May 2017

05/07/17 Hannah Janney. Friend Perry Epes will give the First Day students a
sense of how Hannah Janney's sitting in silence on a log in the forest
was a basis for the foundation of the Goose Creek Friends Meeting, and
how her meditation relates to our current practice. If the weather is
NEWSLETTER
good, he will lead them down to her monumental plaque on the rock The Goose Creek Friends Newsletter
across from the graveyard and let them sit in silence themselves. Perry is published monthly by the
will read at least one stanza of a poem that he wrote, and give them an Goose Creek Friends Meeting,
18204 Lincoln Road, P.O. Box 105,
exercise to prompt them in writing a verse of their own if they like. Lincoln, VA 20160.
05/14/17 Mothers Day Lesson & Crafts CLERK
05/21/17 Reggie Simms History Talk. Neighbor Reginald Reggie Simms, Debbi Sudduth, 540.338.3363
Historical Research Team of Lincoln Preservation Foundation, will dfsud@comcast.net
share his knowledge of the area with the students as part of the ASSISTANT CLERK
preparation for our upcoming Bicentennial Celebration. Reggie has been Patricia Barber, 301.432.5706
patloubar@gmail.com
a tireless advocate for the preservation of the African American story. His
TREASURER
family was part of the original Grace Church congregation in Lincoln. Annie Carlson
05/28/17 Memorial Day Lesson & Crafts goose.creek.treasurer@gmail.com

Teen Discussion Group NEWSLETTER EDITOR

Catherine Cox, 301.834.6892
If three or more teens (ages 13-17) are present, they are welcome to head over to blycox@comcast.net
Allen's shop next door for a youth-led discussion group. Students and FAPs are WEBSITE & FACEBOOK
encouraged to make sure the conversation stays related to Quakerism. www.goosecreekfriends.org
https://www.facebook.com/
Goose-Creek-Friends-Meeting-
150892438287560/?rc=p
VOICE MAIL
540.751.0323
Consensus a secular method, involving a rational process and DONATIONS
producing general agreement. The authority is the group. Please direct donations for
Sense of the Meeting a religious method involving a spiritual Goose Creek Friends Meeting to
Annie Carlson, P.O. Box 105
process and producing a spirit-led decision. The authority is God as Lincoln, Virginia 20160
discerned by the group in worship. Arthur Larabee, 2002