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Friends United Meeting |
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September/October 2006
Sacred Moments by Sylvia Graves, Interim General Secretary
Special Funding Updates from Global Friends and Partners
With Joyful Hands by Margaret Stoltzfus
Sacred
Moments
By Sylvia Graves, Interim General Secretary
Yellowstone National Park was one of our stops during our summer vacation. We’d been there before, but had hurried through without really appreciating the variety of ecosystems and abundant features of the oldest national park in our country. This time we planned to stay three days.
We could only get dinner reservations at the Old Faithful Inn at 9:30 p.m. any of the three days. That time was way past our usual dinner hour, but we decided to eat there anyway. So, by 11:00 when we started back to the Canyon Village to our cabin, we faced 40 minutes of driving through spectacular scenery filled with snowcapped mountains, glistening streams of water, steaming geysers and uncommon wildlife. Of course, when it’s dark one cannot tell spectacular scenery from a junkyard. The small area illumined by the car lights didn’t give us a clue that the world around us was beautiful and filled with amazing works made by our Creator. Even Yellowstone Park was as ordinary as the interstate drive through Nebraska, only with curves. On that journey, I silently praised God for my eyesight, and for daylight, and for the opportunity to live every moment in His Light and Love.
Quakers like all the scriptures that refer to the Light. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord…for it is light that makes everything visible.” (Ephesians 5)
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” (John 8)
Jesus said, “Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have it, so you may become sons of light.” (John 12)
In Yellowstone, we were okay for 40 minutes of traveling in darkness, because we had taken the same road in the daytime. And we knew that with morning would come day and we would see clearly again. So it is when we come through times of darkness. If we have been living in His presence, we can make it through troubled times. When we walk in His light, our wrong doings become visible to us, we can see new paths that lie before us, we can see the amazing work that God does and we can bring others into the Light to receive His Life and Love.
Let there be Light.
Special Funding Updates from Global Friends and Partners
The 2006 VBS mission project was to raise money to build a school in Turkana, Kenya with a goal of $10,000 by the end of summer. As of September 22, 2006, $8,315 has been received toward that goal.
The Samburu Well Fund has accumulated over $22,000 which is enough money to complete the project. A special thanks goes to the U.S. Quaker Men who raised most of the money. The project originated as a need for a well, but over the course of time, it has been determined a well might not be the best plan for water in Samburu. Once the plans have been drawn and the details worked out, Samburu Friends Mission will begin work on their new water supply, which might be a “water pan,” like a small dam, at the bottom of Losuk hill. Water then will be pumped to the mission.
Herman Otioko, retired missionary to Turkana Missions in Kenya, was in desperate need of colon surgery in July which was to cost over $2,000. In one week’s time, donors responded to our plea for funds and sent in almost $1,700 which was enough for Herman to schedule his surgery. Herman has fully recovered and praises God for your generous support which saved his life!
Funding is also needed for a new roof for Kaimosi Hospital which will cost $20,000. To date, FUM has received $12,125 toward this goal with pledges of at least $5,000 more.
John Muhanji, African Ministries Office, asked for funding for the following two projects when he visited among U.S. meetings in the spring: $5,000 for the construction of the Kimidi School in Uganda and $1,500 for a new roof on a meetinghouse in Turkana. To date, FUM has received $6,935 for Turkana and $800 for Kimidi School. Above: Uganda school children and teachers.
With
Joyful Hands
By Margaret Stoltzfus
“Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away your punishment; he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. On that day they will say to Jerusalem, Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:14-18)
Notice the line, “do not let your hands hang limp.” In Eugene Peterson’s introduction to the book of Zephaniah, he says, “We humans keep looking for a religion that will give us access to God without having to bother with people. We want to go to God for comfort and inspiration when we’re fed up with the men and women and children around us. We want God to give us an edge in the dog-eat-dog competition of daily life.”
He continues to say that the kind of religion which gives us an inside track with God but leaves us free to deal with people in whatever way we like is exactly what the prophet is determined to root out. The spiritual life is not just something personal, a private thing between God and me. “Everything you do or think or feel has to do with God. Every person you meet has to do with God. Our world is one of interconnectedness and connections have consequences, either in things or people—they all come together in God.”
At various places the Gospels mention what Jesus does with his hands: He touched their eyes (Matthew 20:34), Jesus touched them (Mark 1:41), Jesus touched her hand (Matthew 8:15), He touched it (Luke 7:14).
Why do the writers specifically talk about Jesus’ hands? I think it means he took time to really be with people—to establish relationships. They were his agenda for the day.
This life of interconnectedness came into focus in my own spirit as I traveled in April with two members of the USFWI Executive Committee among the Quaker women in Kenya, witnessing the work they do and their joyful spirits. There are no “hands hanging limp” among them. Yes, their hands are lifted in joyful praise in worship but that is not all. Their hands are also feeding and housing orphans, tending chicken- raising projects, building medical clinics in areas where such facilities are not available, they are planting maize, beans and millet to feed their families and the hungry children in their villages, they are helping widows survive by pulling them together in support groups, they are planting vegetable gardens from which produce can be sold at the city markets.
This is indisputable evidence that the spiritual life of the Quaker women of Kenya is not just a private thing between them and God but is a living, breathing relationship with the people around them, which their joyful hands have been helping.
Here’s a sampling of some of the projects: At the Kabete Friends Church in Nairobi, the women have planted a beautiful garden stretching down a hillside, across a narrow valley and up the other side. This 10-acre plot was given to them by the government through the influence of a member of the meeting. They plant sugar cane, yams, sukumawiki, beans, spinach, maize and cowpeas. They also have banana trees. A gardener cares for the plants and the vegetables are sold at the city market. The money supports the school for 46 children from 2½ years to grade two that meets in the church building on the same site.
In Njoro, close to Nakuru, the women of Nairobi Yearly Meeting have built a medical clinic to serve the residents of the area. Patients are seen by two staff nurses every day except Sunday from 8:00 to 6:00. Dr. Pamela Tsimbiri supervises the work while lecturing at the university and carrying on her own practice elsewhere. Equipment and supplies such as drugs for the pharmacy are still needed but the clinic is up and running, providing a much needed service to the community.
The women of Vihiga Yearly Meeting are in the beginning stages of building a guesthouse in which to house visitors rather than paying some other group to use their facilities. Dorothy Selebwa and I planted a special tree marking the spot which has a marvelous view of the Nandi hills.
The Vokoli Yearly Meeting women own some rental units which bring in income to support their extensive work with a large group of widows. Also, they help to sponsor an eye hospital, bringing in food and assisting with patient care.
The Orphanage built by the USFW of Kakamega Yearly Meeting with help from New England Friends and USFW-Kenya is a 3-story building housing 41 children from ages 6 to 18 on the second floor. The first floor is the kitchen and dining area and the third floor contains offices and a large meeting room. Besides the care of the orphans, the facility feeds an additional 160 children each week.
These are just a few of the many projects carried on by the hands of faithful Quaker women in Kenya. Consider your own hands. Are they engaged in joyful work or are they hanging limp? Are relationships your agenda for the day as they were with Jesus? My prayer is that your hands and mine will be touching with blessing those whom we encounter in each day’s walk.
Margaret Stoltzfus is a member of College Avenue Friends, Oskaloosa, Iowa, and President of USFWI.