Simply Speaking Jamestown Friends Meeting – 509 Guilford Rd – PO Box 2163 – Jamestown NC 27282

January 2018

On these long cold nights, I keep the fire burning in the woodstove. I enjoy sitting in front of the stove, watching the flames flicker behind the glass in the door. Watching the flames is not only restful and meditative, but seeing the “light” of the flames helps to keep me warm. This is more than just an illusion of warmth, but real warmth that radi-ates into my spirit and soul. The warmth gives me the courage and strength to venture outside to gather more wood to keep the fire burning. This is also true within our spiritual commu-nity. Our community, our life together, keeps us warm. Yes, the meeting room is warm each time we gather, but the gathered community, the individuals who sit on the benches beside us, add to the warmth that we feel and experience. This may seem a bit odd, but taking an image from the “Woodhouse” quote above, we are the sticks that kindle and add fuel to the fire – spiritual fire – that is Jamestown Friends Meeting. I’ve been in the meeting room by myself, at times sitting there in the silence, and it is not the same as when others enter the room to gather into the silence. As I sit on the facing bench most Sunday mornings, watching and feeling each person enter the space, I feel, I sense, the temperature ris-ing. Yes, I know that happens whenever we bring our body heat into the closed space, but I’m talking about something more here. I’m talking about the spiritual energy and heat that is released each time a person enters into the worship space, into the com-munity.

Here the Spirit resides with flames leaping from each person’s head as he or she gathers with others. One stick, one piece of wood, on the fire does not burn readily or easily. Add another piece of wood and the flames increase, generating more heat

Light Workers

into the woodstove, the heat generated radiates out warming the whole space. The more of us that gath-er, the more spiritual heat and energy is generated, warming the space and the individuals, creating a more attractive and welcoming environment. And you know what, we are warmed to go out to bring in new individuals – shall I say strangers – to our com-munity, adding fuel and energy to the fire that is Jamestown Friends Meeting. As we look to our ministry for this new year, let us bring our full selves to the fire that is Jame-stown Friends, then to go out into our community(ies) to find others who need collective warmth, oth-ers who need avenues to share their own light, others who need energy from a group, others who want to take their energy out into the community and meet needs they find there, and in so doing add to the fire and leave it burning. In the Light of Christ, Frank Massey pastoral minister 336.454.3813

Luke 21:9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Certain days we lay there wherein the ministers of Christ were not idle, but went forth and gathered sticks

and kindled a fire and left it burning; [from an account of the voyage of the "Woodhouse," in the summer of

1657]

DID YOU KNOW?

By Martha Mattocks

Christmas at Jamestown Friends Meeting was a special time this year. Folks were greeted with new bows on the door wreaths, a lovely nativity display in the educational wing (thanks to Joy and Debby Stone), beautiful poinsettias in the meeting room, and lots of friendly faces. Even though we were 'snowed out' one Sunday, our worship times were meaningful, with some of our older "young Friends" participating in a variety of ways - as Pre-siders (thank you Alexa Altizer and Rebekah Carmi-chael), as musical 'guests' (Rebekah and Abby Far-low), and through art work provided by our youngest 'wee friends', Eliza and Luke Huffstetler. Special music by the choir with our musical accompanists, Susan Samuelson, Brenda Haworth, and Abby Far-low, made for a special evening on December 17. Special thanks to Beth Massey for coordinating the music throughout December - all thoughtfully and beautifully done! Our carry-in meal was deli-cious, as always, and fruit baskets were prepared and later distributed to many of our shut-ins and older members. Thanks to all who participated in our Christmas activities. If you hear some squeals of happiness in the coming weeks, it's probably Alexa Altizer! Alexa, a senior at Trinity High School, has sent out several college applications and she is eagerly waiting to hear back from them. Of course, Wake Forest is her number one choice, but she has also applied to Ap-palachian, UNC, and several other colleges. While she is waiting to hear, she has been busy performing in her school's Christmas play, "It's a Wonderful Life" (she was a rich old lady), and playing on the girl's basketball team. The Farlow Family (Mark, Martha, Abby and Jacob) is spending the week after Christmas in California with Carl and Alison. Lucky Jacob is then flying off to Australia to attend the wedding of a close friend!

Lew and Cindy Hudson are doing well and enjoying life in their mountain hideaway. They looked out their window the other morning and saw a bear lumbering across their yard! They never know what wildlife they will spot! Thank you to all who have been so support-ive to me and my family over the past few weeks. My 96 years old Dad died December 11th after an unexpected hospitalization. I have appreci-ated your thoughts and prayers and many notes. I hope all of you have a wonderful 2018! And now you know!

Treasurer’s Report

(As of November)

Compiled by Ronnie Hicks, Treasurer

Contributions (actual) $94,073

Contributions (budget) $93,884

Total Expenses (actual) $92,323

Total Expenses (budget) $91,941

January Message Schedule

January 7 Frank Massey

January 14 Frank Massey

January 21 Frank Massey

January 28 Frank Massey

According to Susan...Bulla, that is

Sam received a parrot for Christmas. The

parrot was fully grown with a bad attitude and even

worse vocabulary. Every other word was an ugly

word. Sam tried hard to change the bird's attitude

and was constantly saying polite words, playing soft

music, doing anything he could think of to try and

set a good example. Nothing worked.

Sam yelled at the bird and the bird got

worse. Finally in a moment of desperation, Sam

put the bird in the freezer. For a few moments he

heard the bird squawking and fussing--then all was

quiet. Sam got frightened that he might have hurt

the bird and quickly opened the freezer door. The parrot calmly stepped out onto Sam's

outstretched hand and said: “I'm sorry that I might

have offended you with my language and actions

and I ask your forgiveness. I will try to correct my

behavior." Sam was astonished at the bird's change

in attitude and was about to ask what had made the

dramatic change when the parrot continued: "Might

I ask what the chicken did?"

Music Notes By Beth Massey

17 December 2017 was a day filled with both cele-bration and grief among Jamestown Friends. On Sunday morning, we were delighted to welcome Rebekah Carmi-chael back to our choir and our facing bench. In addition to co-presiding, she brought to us a beautiful solo as part of the morning’s choir special, “I Wonder As I Wander.”

Later that day brought a few changes to the tradi-tional Family Christmas Celebration: Following the usual evening fellowship meal, we added card-making and gift basket packing for F/friends who don’t get out as much at night these days. Then the choir led the evening worship with “A Candlelight Carol Service” which included scrip-ture from The Message, congregation singing, chimes from the organ (played by Abigail Farlow), and individual can-dles for all. We were grateful for this opportunity to wor-ship together on a winter evening in the beauty and focus of candlelight and song.

Yet in the midst of the celebrations and anticipa-tion of Advent, some of our choir and meeting family dealt with grief. Martha Mattocks’ father, Conrad Carter, and Bill Adams’ brother, Sam, both had passed away in the preceding 10 days. Many JFM friends were also shocked and saddened by the death of Samantha Adams - a young woman with whom many of us had laughed and played and worshipped over the past 30 years. And yet in the middle of this grief, in the midst of all the changes precipi-tated by the passing of a loved one, we celebrate the circle of life with the coming of a newborn life -- a life that the parents, friends, and strangers from near and far knew was special. They just didn’t know how it would be special.

More than two thousand years later, in 2017, it’s hard for us to imagine how it would have been for Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men to not know what we know today. They didn’t know how the baby Jesus’ life and teachings would affect people and history, how his teachings would be used and abused for such variety of purpose - both good and bad. They didn’t know that they were living near to an event and in a time that would lead to great joy and great sorrow. They did know that the power of that infant’s presence caused them to go home another way, different from the way they came, changed. Jesus came into a time in many ways similar to ours - a time of turmoil and inequality, grief and celebra-tion, greed and generosity. May we feel the power felt by the shepherds and the wise men 2000 years ago. May we move into the new year 2018 with fresh eyes, ears, and energy. From the words of the hymn, “O Young and Fear-less Prophet” - Create in us the splendor that dawns when hearts are kind, that knows not race nor station as bounda-ries of the mind; that learns to value beauty, in heart, or mind, or soul, and longs to see God’s children as sacred, perfect, whole. (Words by S. Ralph Harlow)

May your new year be blessed with beauty and singing, and guided by the young and fearless prophet!

A Note of Thanks

Dear Jamestown Friends,

I want to thank all of you for your steadfast support and

encouragement of my little tunes on the piano. I also very

much appreciate your generous money gift on Christmas

Eve. Thank you, choir, for the goodie package and your

ongoing supply of inspiration and fun. Here’s to a very

Happy and musically inspiring New Year!

Your grateful pianist/recorder player, Susan Samuelson

If you missed the Christmas Program on December 17,

you missed a lovely experience. Enjoy these pictures

from the evening!

Name That Quaker

By Linda Willard

I grew up on a farm in Ypsilanti, Michi-

gan. In 1916, I was granted two patents for an auto-mobile safety device that we now take for grant-ed. Who was I and what was the device?

(Answer on a different page.)

Monthly Meeting Summary Twelfth Month, Third Day, 2017 Submitted by Kate Foreman Suko

Finance/Stewardship Committee:

• Louise Richardson’s bequest of $56.973.02 to Jame-stown Friends has been deposited,

• Friends approved the budget for 2018. • The Music Committee requested $6000 of Louise Rich-

ardson’s bequest be designated for the new piano. Friends approved.

Ministry and Counsel: New Year’s Eve worship will be held at Friends’ Homes from 5:45 - 6:30 pm on December 31, 2017.

Christian Education Committee:

To tend our children, the committee is going to develop a pool of three or four people to do child-care as necessary. A notice will be placed in the next newsletter for interested F/friends to sign up.

Nominating Committee: • The committee recommends laying down the Open-

Door Shelter Committee and one person serve as the primary contact for those who need directions or help.

• The committee recommends combining the Hospitality, Life Events, and Flower Committees into one committee tentatively called Hospitality and Fellowship. Members currently on these separate committees will constitute the new committee, Trish Sebens will join the newly formed committee.

General Notes:

• Rita Roberts will be asked to send a thank-you note to Lewis Taylor for his fine job on our lawn this year.

• Mark Farlow was asked to send a thank-you note to the Town Manager of Jamestown for timely pick up of yard waste..

• About 60 Friends gathered to envision what NCFF can be. The next meeting will be 1.20.2018 at Somerton Friends in Suffolk, VA.

Next meeting: January 7, 2018

Piano Fund Update

The January 2017 issue of Simply Speaking out-lined some of the activities the Choir was planning for the new year. The overarching purposes of those activi-ties was multi-fold:

• to provide music for meetings for worship; • to provide a creative outlet and nurturing envi-ronment for music and music-makers in a spiritual context; • to raise funds for our meeting’s service to the community and for the purchase of a new piano.

Now, one year later, I am happy to report that through our talent show fundraiser last February, plus individual gifts from several of you, and a special gift from the estate of Louise Richardson and the approval of the December meeting for business, we have enough money to proceed with our purchase process! We all appreciated and benefitted from the many forms of ser-vice that Louise Richardson gave to Jamestown Meet-ing. Louise’s memorial minute was included in a previ-ous issue of Simply Speaking, so I won’t repeat that beautifully written tribute, except to highlight that Louise gave generously of her time, talent and treasure to music, literary and visual arts - for the benefit of Jamestown Friends Meeting and beyond. Therefore, our music committee asked the monthly meeting for busi-ness to consider using $5,000 - $7,000 of the bequest from Louise’s estate to purchase a new piano in 2018. Business meeting approved that request. We ex-pect this amount, along with more than $1,200 already raised from meeting reserve funds and your individual contributions, to provide the funds needed to purchase a quality instrument appropriate for our needs and meeting room. Therefore, the music committee will move for-ward with that purchase process, beginning in January 2018. We are excited, and thankful for the meeting’s support of our choir and music as important and power-ful expressions of the Spirit of the Living God. ~Beth Massey

January Birthdays

January 5 Lynne Gray

January 9 Janet Wright

January 10 Bob Russ

January 10 Dwight Roberts

January 13 Agnes Frye

January 16 Sarah Charles

January 21 Cindy Jackman

January 27 Nathan Charles

January 30 Al Mercadante

January 31 Beth Massey

Simply Speaking is published monthly for

Jamestown Friends Meeting

509 Guilford Road, PO Box 2163

Jamestown NC 27282

Phone: (336) 454 3813

E-mail: JamestownFriends@aol.com

Editor: Kathy Adams; Managing Editor: Wallace Sills

Columnists: Frank Massey, pastor; Beth Massey;

Martha Mattocks

Answer to “Name That Quaker”

I was Orin Bemis. I invented a foot operated sign for the back of an automobile that said SLOW DOWN. The second patent was for an improvement

on this device. This one was fan shaped with the words SLOW, STOP and a hand that pointed left or right.

Spiritual Formation

Over the years, some individuals have gath-

ered for what has been called “Spiritual For-

mation.” We’ve read some of the Quaker Classics

(portions of Fox’s Journal, Woolman’s Journal,

Hannah Whitall Smith), selections from the Bible,

or spiritual writings from different traditions. Then

we’ve come together for a shared simple meal and

discussion, reflection, and discernment about our

individual and corporate lives. These have been

deep spiritual times for those who have participat-

ed. It is time to get started again. At the end of

2017, the participants agreed that it would be best to

meet just once a month – say the 3rd Tuesday of

each month. Are you interested? Interested but

can’t make the monthly gatherings, but would like

to undertake the readings and study and email your

thoughts and questions about the readings? That’s

great! It would be wonderful to have all around the

table, but we wish to make this spiritual formation

opportunity available to everyone. So if you are

interested in joining a Spiritual Formation group,

please let Frank Massey know of your interest.