AMONG THE TREES

Thanks to Susan C for this post including the picture.

This morning at Meeting for Worship in the Woods, in looking up at the trees, I was reminded of this poem by Mary Oliver, particularly the phrases of our having "come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine" speak to me. These woods and words are sacred. They have helped to save me during pandemic.

When I am Among the Trees

                                                by Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It's simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

---

I am reminded of a song I heard long ago at summer camp: Green Cathedral.  The words are by Gordon Johnstone, the music by Carl Hahn.

GUATEMALA DINNER

The Gainesville Friends Meeting has been supporting the Guatemala Friends Scholarship Program for close to thirty years. Mona usually organizes a dinner at which contributions are collected to support the project. This year there will be a virtual dinner on Sat. Jan. 30, 5pm to 7pm. If you would like to get into the spirit of a shared Guatemalan meal you may like to try one of these recipes. 

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:
2 cups of black beans
½ onion, cut in half
2 garlic cloves, peeled and whole
6 to 7 cups of water
2 teaspoons of salt

Cook slowly for 4 or more hours. This soup is usually served with white rice and corn tortillas.

Another Suggestion from Jean.

Pollo En Jocón (Tomatillo Chicken Stew) Recipe By Cesar Dias: chicken thighs are cooked with tomatillos, the meat shredded, then simmered in a sauce made by sautéing green pepper, onions, garlic, blending the boiled tomatillos and the sauce mixture with cilantro and thickening it with the toasted pumpkin a sesame seeds.

See https://growingupbilingual.com/pollo-en-jocon-tomatillo-chicken-stew-recipe-guatemala/ for the recipe.

Corn tortillas, tomatillos, and jars of Pico de Gallo (fresh salsa available in the produce section) are available at the Public on SW 34th Street near University Avenue.

Jean, who will convene the zoom meeting, will send you the link on request by email. 

Progresa  2020 Fall Update

Here is a bit of information from the website on one of the Graduates of the Guatemala Friends Scholarship Program.

Victor Choy

“I am a civil engineer who graduated from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. I received this degree thanks to the financial and moral support offered me by the Asociación de los Amigos Cuáqueros (PROGRESA). After finishing my internship in the municipality of Patzicía they hired me under contract to work in the department of municipal planning. In this department, I will have the responsibility to develop designs for sewer drains, potable water, bridges for cars and foot traffic, graveyards and other projects. Besides this in August of 2013 I opened my own consulting office in civil engineering, thus initiating another of my goals, which is to form my own company. As for the academic side of things, I have managed to participate in various training programs and obtained a certificate in the design of plants for residual water treatment. I also have the goal of initiating studies for my master’s degree as a Sanitation Engineer in 2014.

Finally I would like to thank all the Friends who have helped to finance the program, PROGRESA. Because of your help, many of us, who don’t have families who can help financially, are able to reach our dreams and goals of self-development and at the same time participate in the development of our communities. Thank you everyone!”

"Victor is now the City Engineer for his town of Patzicía, Chimaltenango; a part time job, and is working on building his own private practice.  He did the design and drawings for the recent upgrades to the Progresa office in Parramos."

Checks can be made to Gainesville Meeting with the memo line to “Guatemala Scholarship” and sent to:

Annie McPherson, treasurer

702 NW38th Street 

Gainesville Fl 32607

 

IN THY HAND

Earlham School of Religion

Richmond, Indiana

Recently at Meeting for Worship Gary recalled the words of a hymn he sang when he was a student at Earlham School of Religion. He remembered these words from the hymn:

Lord they’ll hast searched me and dost know 

Where I rest, where e're I go

Thou knowest all that I have planned

All my ways are in thy hand.

For the Thou didst form my inner parts

Thou didst knit me together in my mothers womb

Where can I go apart from thee?

Whither from thy presence flee?

Heav'n it is thy dwelling fair

E'en in death Lord, thou art there

The hymn quotes words from Psalms 139.

[1] O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
[2] Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
[3] Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
[4] For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
[5] Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
[6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
[7] Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
[8] If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
[9] If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
[10] Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
[11] If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
[12] Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
[13] For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
[14] I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
[15] My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
[16] Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
[17] How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
[18] If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
[19] Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
[20] For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
[21] Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
[22] I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
[23] Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
[24] And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Although there are several versions of the Hymn on youtube, none exactly matches the version which Gary sang at Earlham. However the the hymn is included in our Quaker Hymnal, Worship in Song, on Page 210. The note in back of the hymnal states: "A close paraphrase of Psalm 139:1-12, by an anonymous author, set to an old shape-note hymn tune [Tender Thought] which is almost pentatonic except for A flat in the sixth measure. This is one of the tunes from the Kentucky Harmony, published by Ananias Davisson in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 1815."

These are the words from Worship in Song:

1 Lord, thou hast searched me and dost know
Wherever I rest, wherever I go;
Thou knowest all that I have planned,
And all my ways are in thy hand.

2 My words from thee I cannot hide;
I feel thy power on every side;
O wondrous knowledge, awesome might,
Unfathomed depth, unmeasured height!

3 Where can I go apart from thee,
Or whither from thy presence flee?
In heaven? It is thy dwelling fair;
In death's abode? Lo, thou art there.

4 If I the wings of morning take,
And far away my dwelling make,
The hand that leadeth me is thine,
And my support thy power divine.

5 If deepest darkness cover me,
The darkness hideth not from thee;
To thee both night and day are bright,
The darkness shineth as the light.

This verse is included in the Trinity Psalter Hymnal:

6 Within the womb you knitted me
so fearfully and wondrously;
I give my maker thankful praise,
whose wondrous works my soul amaze.

I look forward to soon singing Lord, Thou Hast Searched Me at meeting after Gary teaches it to us.

Listen to a group of Mennonites singing this hymn. 

FLAME OF LIFE

This is where I meditated last First Day. My mind was drawn to many reconstructed villages which I have visited over time. This led to thoughts of the people who constructed and lived in them long ago. The connections between places and times and people in the time/space continuum was palpable. I thought of J B Priestley's dream which he recorded in his book Man & Time:

“I dreamt I was standing at the top of a very high tower, alone, looking down upon myriads of birds all flying in one direction; every kind of bird was there, all the birds of the world. It was a noble sight, this was a vast river of birds. But now in some mysterious fashion the gear was changed and time speeded up, so that I saw generations of birds, watched them break their shells, flutter into life, weaken, falter and die. Wings grew only to crumble; bodies were sleek and then in a flash, bled and shrivelled; and death struck everywhere at every second. What was the use of all this blind struggle towards life, this eager trying of wings, all this gigantic meaningless biological effort? As I stared down, seeming to see every creature’s ignoble little history almost at a glance, I felt sick at heart. It would be better if not one of them, not one of us all, had been born, if the struggle ceased forever. I stood on my tower, still alone, desperately unhappy. But now the gear was changed again and time went faster still, and it was rushing by at such a pace, that the birds could not show any movement but were like an enormous plain sown with feathers. But along this plain, flickering through the bodies themselves, there now passed a sort of white flame, trembling, dancing, then hurrying on, and as soon as I saw it I knew that this flame was life itself, the very quintessence of being; and then it came to me, in a rocket-burst of ecstasy, that nothing mattered, nothing could ever matter, because nothing else was real, but this quivering and hurrying lambency of being. Birds, men or creatures not yet shaped and colored, all were of no account except as far as this flame of life traveled through them. It left nothing to mourn over behind it, what I had thought of as tragedy was mere emptiness of a shadow show; for now all real feeling was caught and purified and danced on ecstatically with the white flame of life. I never felt before such deep happiness as I knew at the end of my dream of the tower and the birds.”

The picture is from Silver Springs State Park. I think that the village was built by the park, the school system, owners of old buildings and generous benefactors (and probably the love and labor of people who value old things.) Notice the size of the pine trees which record in their own way the passage of time.