Speaking Truth to Power

At a Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business lo these many months ago, clerk Linda Daniel brought our attention to the idea of Speaking Truth to Power. She had been surprised to learn that this saying derives from a Quaker pamphlet!

"What is our truth? To whom do we speak truth?" she asked the business meeting.

For the full pamphlet, please check out our Library!

"Christian Theory of Politics" Class Begins Sept. 22nd

How can we approach politics from a Christian perspective? Beginning September 22nd, Charlie Winslow will address this topic in an adult Sunday School class at Friends Memorial. He will do so by describing a series of paradigms that model real-world ethical dilemmas.

One example of a historical ethical dilemma that will be used to illustrate change is the nuclear arms race that developed during the Cold War, which will illustrate a model called "Bending the Curve".

In the 1950s, "things started getting worse at an increasing rate." In other words, arms were being stockpiled faster than they had been in the past. Only by passing through a period of things getting worse at a decreasing rate --- arms still being stockpiled, but at a rate slower than in the past --- could the "curve be bent" and things started getting better instead of worse, and, as the graph above shows, at least on this issue, the curve seems to have been decisively bent.
 
This model can influence the policy decisions we might support in order to try to move any important issue ---- whether it relates to education or the economy or any other aspect of public life --- into to a state of things getting better, starting from a point at which things are getting worse. It's one thing to have an idealistic belief, it's quite another to have a framework that allows us to realistically try to achieve those beliefs from where we are now, instead of from where we should be, or worse, where we should have been, and this class should certainly be attended by anyone who is interested in developing such a framework.

Adult Sunday school classes are held in the Goddard room at 9:30 every Sunday except the the third Sunday of each month. All are welcome. We usually get a lively group with a lot of good discussion representing diverse perspectives, resulting in a informative, fun, and challenging environment. If you haven't attended adult Sunday School class, either ever or recently, please consider giving it a try this fall!
For a reminder, add this event to your Google Calendar by clicking here:

Welcome all to free dinner August 23!

Friday Night with Friends
Friday, August 23, 2013   
5:00-6:00 PM
Free Supper:
Baked Ham
Macaroni and Cheese
Green Beans
Roll
Dessert
Coffee and Tea

ALL ARE WELCOME!

Committees

Committees are a vital part of how Friends conduct business for the meeting. Below are the committees at Friends Memorial Church. Each page gives an overview of what each committee is doing.

Monthly Meeting Leadership
How we administer all business for the church.

Coordinating Council
Evangelism and Outreach         
How we promote the spiritual and numerical growth of the church.
Communications and Publications
How we develop knowledge of Friends in the church and the community.
Ministry and Oversight
How we handle religious matters for the church.

Stewardship and Finance
How we fund our church's business.

Peace and Christian Social Concerns
How we administrate our missions in the community.

Endowment Fund


Christian Education
How we coordinate education for our members such as Sunday School and Bible School.

Friends Preschool
Friends Memorial Church has a half day preschool serving the community.

Nominating
How we nominate members for our committees.


Audit

Pastor at Friends Church has 'been around' both geographically, denomination

John Carlson

Want to follow David Brindle's education and career path to his present position heading Friends Memorial Church?

You're going to need a program, folks.

"I never did what my parents expected me to do," the native said with a smile, hinting at the free-thinking spirit -- and perhaps, the sense of wanderlust -- that has propelled him through life.

As he spoke, he was seated at his desk in his church office, a room filled with books and art, not least of which was a large poster featuring The Andy Griffith Show's Deputy Barney Fife, his eyes wide with surprise and confusion.

Pointing to it, Brindle laughed. "If you don't have that look on your face at least once a day, and you're a pastor, you're not doing your job. That's why it's on the door."

And speaking of law... Brindle was a kid just out of high school in 1966 when, eschewing enrollment in Earlham College, he went to work for the  FBI in Washington, D.C., under a program that would ostensibly combine clerical employment with a college education. When that worked out less well than planned, this young son of Lutheran parents returned home, converted to Catholicism and
headed off to St. Meinrad, to finish college and study theology.

Having pondered the notion of becoming a friar, he entered the monastery as a novice, decided that wasn't for him and finally made his way to the Earlham School of Religion, meeting his wife, Linda, and studying for a master's degree.

Having embraced the Quaker faith and Catholicism, he considered himself both a Quaker and a Catholic.

"We'd go to Mass on Saturday," he recalled, "and to meeting for worship on Sunday."

As the Brindles' religious and familial journey continued, they had a daughter, Ruth, served a Quaker church in Fountain City, then wound up in Pennsylvania, where Linda was hired into management of a Cokesbury religious bookstore.

He, meanwhile, having pursued further studies at the University of Dayton, was pondering the study of Roman Catholic canon law when he accepted a pastor's call to a United Methodist church in Harrisburg, Pa., staying 10 years before eventually taking over the Wilmington (Ohio's) Friends' pulpit for a four-year stint.

Following this, he globe-trotted as associate secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation based in London, with responsibility for the Americas and Africa, then returned after two years to spend seven years in North Carolina at Goldsboro Friends Meeting.

"So," he said, with laudable understatement, "I've been around." Now that he and Linda are in Muncie?

"This has been like coming home," said Brindle, who is 63 and a Benedictine oblate.

There are geographic and family reasons for this, the pastor explained.

"But the real factor was this church," he said, calling it "a good fit theologically" and "an active meeting" with a congregation that he admired for choosing to stay in the city.

Its food is a favorite ministry, with regular disbursements that feed 1,000 people in need. "And we do it every month," he added, noting the church also hosts neighborhood suppers. "The idea is to treat people like human beings. It's a big thing here, a real service to the community. We do it because it's what Christ would have us do."

Brindle also appreciates his new church's reputation as friendly and welcoming, likes the fact his parishioners' concerns run the gamut from education to social justice, and delights in the depth to which folks delve into Bible study.

"It's not your grandfather's Bible study," he said.

So, with a United Methodist pastor's stint also in his past, does he now consider himself a Quaker, a Catholic and a Methodist?

"Yeah," he said. "A little bit of all that stuff."

But that, he continued, isn't important.

"What's central here?" Brindle asked, before answering his own question. “Following Jesus. Being disciples of Christ."  £

John Carlson profiles good neighbors, community activists and other Difference

Makers weekly in The Star Press. To suggest a subject for a Difference Makers

article, contact John at jcarlson@muncie.gannett.com or 213-5824.

Simple Gifts Bazaar

In November, the Quaker Women's Circle hosts the annual "Simple Gifts Bazaar".

The Simple Gifts Bazaar is one of the cherished traditions at Friends Memorial.  Weeks of preparation precede the event.  Homemade gifts and foods are available for purchase.  Proceeds are directed to multiple service projects throughout the year.

Check out FMC in the BSU Centennial Celebration Collection!

2008 Centennial Celebration Scrapbook