'Prayers for PEACE . . .'

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2 KJV


I've just finished reading a document, attached to an email, sent to me by a Scouting Friend. This document, which was 21 pages long, included 582 'Prayers for PEACE.' These short prayers were written during the 2013 Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree, in July, mostly by Scouts and Venturers but a few by Scouters (adult Scout Leaders).

This was a piece done as an interactive portion of the Religious Emblems Display booth, in the Faith & Beliefs area at the Jamboree. In 2013 the Faith & Beliefs area had a 'PEACE' theme, which those of us in Friends Committee on Scouting thought was great - and went well with the Friends Peace Testimony, we had a 'SCOUTS FOR PEACE' banner at our booth.


The Scouts/Venturers who stopped by, the Religious Emblems Display booth, were asked to write a prayer on a 3x5 inch index card and place it in a basket. The prayers were later posted on display boards in the booth by the staff, as time permitted. Some of the prayers were written in a language other than English and had to be translated into English. At the end of the Jamboree, they photographed all the cards that were posted. This document, that I just read, was typed up by the staff member and sent out to the Jamboree Chaplains, for which Friends had two, which is where I got it.

As I read these prayers, some very short and some a bit longer . . . I smiled, I chuckled and I shed some tears. Several times I stopped and said a prayer for the Scout/Scouter who wrote a prayer that reached out and touched me deeply. Sometimes that prayer was for the person(s) they wrote about, sometimes for the writer.

Amazing what these Scouts, mostly from the US, but some from other countries, from so many different faiths prayed for:

Prayers for good health, for cures for cancer, for friends, for family, for food, for grace, for forgiveness, for life, for those suffering, for those who had recently died - for their families and friends, for wars and conflicts - for them to be over, for the safety of those fighting in the wars and their safe return home, for our soldiers and their families, for parents to not get divorced, for cooler weather at Jamboree, for the new friendships being made, for their Scout Troops, for the fun they were having, for safe travels and for PEACE for world PEACE! I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.


Most of the prayers mentioned God, Heavenly Father, Lord, Allah, my friend, Jesus and Jesus Christ. Some ended with 'Amen.' Some very simply written, while others a bit more complex. All touched my heart. All unselfish requests from our youth.

When I finished reading all these prayers, I just had to stop and send up a prayer myself - to all the Scouts, Venturers and Scouters who wrote the prayers I had just read, to their families and friends that they asked for prayers for and that all that they asked God for in their prayers came/comes true.

What a blessing this project was - not only to those who took the time to write down a prayer, but to the staff who manned the booth and to those that read and typed all these up and for sharing them.

I'm feeling overwhelmingly blessed! God bless these Scouts, Venturers and Scouters!

"C" is for Confucius . . .

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,
Let me now go to the field,
and glean ears of corn after him
In whose sight I shall find grace.
And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV



"C" is for 'Confucius.' Back in early February 2003 I took the 'Train the Trainer' course through my local Boy Scout Council. Through the day long training we were taught how adults learn and how to use various ways to present materials in our trainings so that all would learn from them. And the core of trainers, leading this training, demonstrated this throughout the whole training . . . not that they were pointing this out to us, but I had noticed the different approaches they were using.

Early on in the training one of the trainers asked if anyone knew 'ASL,' American Sign Language. I slowly began to raise my hand and the other 4 or 5 Scouters (Adult Scout Leaders) at my table told me NOT to do it, to keep my hand down. I told them I had to raise my hand, as a Scout is 'honest.' I was the only one of the 15 or so Scouters taking the course that did! I had no idea why the trainer asked this, wondered if it might be because they had a Scout or Scouter somewhere who needed someone to sign something to them. Nothing more was said at this time.

A couple of hours later, those at my table were asked to leave the training room to go work on something. We went to the other side of the Council Office and sat down around a conference table with one of the trainers. He had a Confucius saying written on a large chart and he told us that he was going to teach us to sign it, using ASL. The moans and groans around the table from my fellow Scouters was loud and clear and they all turned and looked at me and blamed me for this. I, on the other hand, was excited! I had taken a class, taught by one of the other employees in my department at American States Insurance Company, through 'Free University' back around 1981 or 1982, and learned some sign language.

The trainer went on to tell us that his wife, taught him how to sign this and so now he was going to teach us. He showed us how to sign each word and described how each sign is done. Later he gave us a sheet of paper which described how each sign was made. We did the signs along with him and had time to practice as a group and on our own.

I was the only one who seemed to take this seriously. I didn't know any of the others taking this training - they were from other parts of the Council, and I only knew two of the trainers. I had just driven about 45 miles one-way from my home to the Council Office in a heavy snow, something I don't like to do, slipping and sliding along the way. A normal drive that I can do in an hour or a bit less took me over two and a half hours that morning! I was determined that I was going to complete the course and 'pass,' and not have to come back a second time! Little did I know that all one had to do was to show up and appear to participate.

The rest of my group ended up having a conversation about something they were doing in their District, which I knew nothing about and didn't really care about, so I spun around in my chair and worked on learning this Confucius saying as I looked at the snow, still falling down on the woods out back.

About 15-20 minutes after we had been pulled out, another table of Scouters came out and they went and sat in the Library, just down the hall from where we were. I expected they were going to learn something else that they would share with us later. That we would have a chance to be the 'trainers.'

After 45 minutes or so we were reunited in the training room. The trainers talked a bit and then said that each of our 'table groups' was going to share what we had learned. Just as I had thought, right? Wrong! The first group to share was the group that had stayed in the training room - OK I get it, we were all taught a different form of sign language! Nope. Next was the other group that had meet in the library. OK, looked a bit like what we had learned, but not really. Then it was my groups turn . . . I was ready! Hummmm, seems I was the only one who was ready - the rest of my group had no clue - I stood there and I signed the whole thing, rather easily! I impressed myself.

The 'lesson' here was in the words of the Confucius saying we were signing:

'Tell me and I forget.

Show me and I understand.

But, let me and I remember.'

This very simple Confucius saying was to help us see, understand and remind us how adults learn. Some learn best though 'lecture' or hearing, others through 'demonstration' or watching/seeing and yet others through 'hands-on' or doing it themselves. Most of us, however, learn best through some combination of these three.

As I woke up this morning, or should I say while I was  still half asleep this morning, I was thinking about this commitment that I have made this year, to blog the Quaker Alphabet, and this Confucius saying popped into my head - the connection between the two didn't take long for me to see. And that this Confucius saying needed to be included in my Quaker Alphabet, it did seem to fit. Why?????

Like I said earlier, this Confucius saying was taught to us to help remember how adults learn. My group was given it all - we were told how to do the signs, we were shown how to do them, we had a paper with the signs described on them and we were allowed lots of time to practice them with someone who knew how to do them and could help us - all we had to do was to ask. The second group was told how to do the signs and had the paper and time to figure it out together. The third group just had the paper and they were on their own to figure it out. Each group was also given a different amount of time to complete the learning task.

I've said it several times, this was a training to teach us how to train other Scout leaders, give us the tools we needed, to learn how adults learn but more importantly how to present the material in a variety of formats so that all could learn from it. I think the same can and should be applied to children as well - they don't all learn the same way either.

So, why have I felt so strongly lead to share this story here. Well, the way I see it, it's how we learn and understand our faith as well, isn't it? One way doesn't work for all and sharing our faith in different ways helps others to understand it.

We can read and listen till we 'turn blue in the face' or 'till the cows come home.' But not everyone and not every concept can or is understood just by reading it. We can read our Bibles, the journals of George Fox and other early Quakers and other Quaker writings - but do we all understand it?  Is it all always 'clear as mud?' No, it's all left up to different interpretations - not all Quakers think exactly the same or do things the same - we are a rather diverse faith as can be seen in our theology and in the ways we worship - unprogrammed and programmed.

We also learn by example - seeing others in worship, living their faith and talking about their faith. Some concepts are more easily understood when we see them being done. I am a convinced Friend and I come from a programmed Meeting. I was first exposed to unprogrammed worship when I first met with a group of Scouting Friends in April of 2007 - during the business meeting. Last February I was invited to join a local worship group that sits in expectant waiting. And this last summer I went on a Pilgrimage with and among Friends through Ireland/Northern Ireland - among unprogrammed Friends, for two weeks - an amazing journey! I learned so much not just about my Irish Friends but about Spirit lead vocal ministry along the way. A different group/gathering of Friends doing what I had heard about and experienced (or so I thought) in a very limited way in my programmed Meeting, with Scouting Friends at the end of our business meetings and among a group of other programmed Friends in a worship group.

By doing and living our faith - doing it out in the open, publicly if you will, we are 'teaching' others around us. Through our sharing and interaction, we learn so much more - more about ourselves, our faith - what it is to be Quaker . . . we learn to understand.

I love to learn, I don't like to read. I love to talk and share - during a conversation with a Friend last spring, about my going on the Pilgrimage to Ireland, said she hoped what I got out of this experience was that I would ". . . learn to shut up and listen!" OUCH! "That you will learn to shut up and stop telling 'Luanne stories,' and listen to what others have to say." But . . . I have and do listen and I do know what's going on. When I shared with my Meeting in September, after I had returned from the Pilgrimage, I shared that I had learned to listen - I learned it was so much easier to listen, to really listen, when everyone else around me was quiet and listening too. Listening to that still small voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit, the voice of God . . . which isn't always so still and small!

It's been ten years since I learned this Confucius saying, the spoken words and the signs . . . I still remember the words and I can still sign it.

What are your words and actions telling others, around you, about your faith? What 'lessons' are others around you trying to share with you - about their faith - Quaker or otherwise? Are you listening? Are you learning? What have you heard today, this week that you need to learn and remember?

"B" is for Bazaar . . .

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV



Welcome Table -
just inside the door

"B" is for 'Bazaar.' Now I hadn't planned on including 'bazaar' in my Quaker Alphabet blog, but last week as I was writing my post on 'appleblutter' that little voice in my head strongly suggested that I do so, and I've learned to listen to that voice . . . as I didn't want it to start screaming at me, and writing about our 'Bazaar' seemed appropriate, since I did mention it in my last post on 'applebutter.'



'Bake Shop'

I attended my first Bazaar at Mooresville Friends in October of 1984 - just a few months after meeting my husband and I have attended or worked during the bazaar up until the last few years when I started having a conflict with a Girl Scout training event held the same day and time. In the past I have enjoyed baking banana bread (hummm, now I could have written about banana bread for 'B') & a coffee cake from my mom's recipes, painted ceramic Quaker dolls - something I miss doing and seeing at the bazaar, as well as a number of stitchery projects - folded star hot pads, gift card holders, Kleenex box covers, small gift bags, fabric necklaces with marbles inside the fabric and pony beads on the outside in between the marbles, just to name a few.



'General Store'

The USFW (United Society of Friends Women) from Mooresville Friends Meeting uses the funds raised during our annual Fall Bazaar to support missions of the USFWI ('I' being International). In the past there have been local needs of the Meeting and community that have come up that the USFW has also supported - such as some of the decorating for the new parsonage that was built in 1991 (for our Pastor) and the new carpet for the Narthex & Sunday School hallway - just this last year, to name a few. While this is a huge fundraiser for our USFW, it is also the only fundraiser we do.



'Miscellaneous'

The whole Meeting gets involved - not just the ladies or members of our USFW, from the Young Friends to those 90+. Members of the Meeting help with all sorts of tasks from making the applebutter, baked goods, crafts, rugs, gift baskets, scrubbies, lunch - cooking/serving/clean-up, cheerfully greeting customers the day of the bazaar, cashiers, advertising, set-up and clean-up. Many hands do make light work!





'Rugs'

In the 'bake shop' you will find a nice variety of items from fresh baked breads, rolls, cakes, cookies and candies of all shapes and sizes. On the 'stitchery' tables you will find a large variety of handmade items for the picking - machine & hand embroidered items, knit & crochet items, jewelry, paintings, baskets and lots of items that have been lovingly stitched by the members of our sewing & quilting groups. These two areas, lunch and the applebutter table are the busiest.

 

'Stitchery'

Lunch, ever since I can remember, has been 'Hot Crunchy Chicken Salad' - the recipe came from a member of the Meeting, a very popular dish. This recipe has been in several of the cookbooks that our Meeting has published. This is served with a variety of 'set salads' (Jello), a roll, dessert and a drink. We get quite the crowd during the time that lunch is served. As you could imagine lot of fellowship happens around the lunch tables. Friends from many of the other Meetings in the area come over to shop and have lunch. That evening, Fairfield Friends Meeting, just up the road and around a few corners, has their Chicken & Noodles dinner with a craft sale. Local Friends have been known to go from one to the other!
 



'Gift Baskets'

I mentioned fellowship around the lunch tables, but the fellowship and conversations happen throughout the entire bazaar and at various areas around the Friendship House. With Friends who are working with visitors and amongst themselves and sometimes amongst the visitors - who happen to run in to old F/friends.

 

'Applebutter & Scrubbies'

I've got a lap quilt/wallhanging that I have all ready to quilt that was a group project - I did a crazy quilt block with our quilting group and after I collected the blocks from the others I sewed them together and added a couple of borders to it - now I just need to do the crazy quilt embroidery stitches between all the pieces and add the binding . . . I hope to be able to get that done before this year's bazaar, I was way too busy this last year to get to the quilting part. I'll be using a lot of the fun stitches on my sewing machine to do this, so it really shouldn't take too long - except I plan to keep changing stitches and thread colors a lot along the way! 




'Fellowship'

Mooresville Friends Meeting's Fall Bazaar goes back quite a ways, and is currently the first Saturday in November in the Friendship House.



And now, for those who might be a bit disappointed that I didn't include the applebutter recipe with that post, I'll include one of my favorite childhood recipes for you here - one that I've made a few times in the past for the bazaar, but more often for our Easter Breakfast. So here's my mom's recipe for 'Quick Coffee Cake.' I know it starts with a 'Q' but I've got other ideas for 'Q,' when I get there.

 Quick Coffee Cake

 

1 1/2 cups flour                              1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder             1/3 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg           2 Tablespoons oil

1 egg, large                                    2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Grease 8x8x2” pan.

 

Measure and sift together dry ingredients. Beat egg till light and add milk and oil. Mix together quickly and spread in pan, it will be a bit lumpy and that's OK.

Mix topping:

3 Tablespoons white sugar               1 Tablespoon flour

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon        2 teaspoons oil

Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon; add oil and mix. Crumble over mixture in pan.

Bake 25 minutes, toothpick will come out clean.

Can easily be doubled, and baked in a 9x13x2” pan for 25 minutes.

 



 

 

 

"A" is for Applebutter . . .

"And the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV





Cooking the apples

"A" is for 'Applebutter.'  And as a member of Mooresville Friends Meeting I just have to include 'applebutter' in my Quaker Alphabet!

September is applebutter time at Mooresville Friends! The smell of apples and applebutter fills the air from the basement up into the Meetingroom, Sunday School rooms, library and offices. This sweet aroma lasts for weeks. During the month members and a few attenders, both ladies and men, spend time down in the basement of the Meetinghouse making applebutter and sharing in fellowship.





USFW ladies cutting apples

For the last several years our work days have been Saturdays and Mondays for two weekends. At times in the past this group of dedicated workers have worked three or four - three day weekends to get enough applebutter made. The first group begins arriving about 7am on Saturday morning. Jars need to be washed, the apples rinsed, cut and cooked down - we'll have up to three large pots cooking at one time. Everyone has a job to do - some come early just to cut the apples, others come later to help with the canning and processing, some only on Saturday as they work during the week.

Mixing





Saucing

Once the apples have cooked down it's time to sauce them. Thanks to Kenny, one of our members, this part of the process was made easier when he added an electric motor to it (Kenny also added a motor to his ice cream maker - now that was fun to watch!). The sauce for each batch is measured out and put into a five gallon bucket where the spices are then added and mixed . . . thanks goes out to Phil who came up with a way to do this mixing with an electric paint mixer. Once the spices have been mixed in the sauce, the mixture is poured into one of the cookers where it cooks for several hours until it thickens. A normal Saturday has us using four cookers with four or five cookers going on Monday.

 

Unloading the canner

When the applesauce has reached the right consistency, and that isn't always an easy consensus to reach, it's time to start the canning process. A bit of tasting happens around this time - each cooker full needs to be tasted, by more than one Friend of course, for quality control! Time to get the applebutter ladled into the jars, clean the tops of the jars, put on the lids & rings and process in a hot water bath. Once the jars have been processed they are lined up on the counter to cool down. The 'pings' that follow are music to our ears! 

 

We seemed to have had quite
a crew of the men this morning!

On a typical Saturday we will process somewhere between 6 - 6 1/2 bushels of apples, into sauce, and process about half of that into applebutter which nets about 100 pints. In addition, there are 4-5 buckets of spiced sauce that are put in the refrigerators for Monday. On Monday two workers will show up about 7am - getting the buckets out of the refrigerators and pouring the sauce into the cookers to begin cooking down. Other workers show up a bit later to help stir, can and process the applebutter. On Monday there's less work to do, so less workers are needed and we typically will can fewer jars, so we might only get around 80 pints. All total the last couple of years we've been shooting for around 400 total pints. Sometimes we will also fill about a dozen half-pint jars, some are given away and others might be found in some of the gift baskets at the Bazaar.

Usually the next day someone will come in and check to make sure the jars have all sealed, wipe them off, add labels and box them up.

I sat down with a couple of Friends over lunch this last Wednesday and had a bit of a phone conversation with yet another Friend this afternoon,  and asked some questions to help me fill in some of the blanks in this post - these were interesting conversations which maybe raised a few more questions than they answered. Hard to answer questions for things that happened 'before your time.' So many of the Friends that may have been involved in this project, and know more of the beginning history of it, are no longer with us to ask, and there would be a lot of digging to do to try and get all the answers. So, here's a bit of what I did find out:



We try and have
a bit of fun

Applebutter has been a project of the Mooresville USFW (United Society of Friends Women) since the late 1930's or early 1940's. So there is a lot of tradition behind this project.

 

Originally it was cooked in a big black iron pot over a fire out in the parking lot and stirred with a big wooden paddle. Very limited quantities were made at that time and everyone came to help.

 

The applebutter is made in September and sold at our annual USFW Fall Bazaar the first weekend in November.

The proceeds from the applebutter, and Bazaar, have been used by the Mooresville USFW to support missions/projects of USFWI (the 'I' being the International Society) and some local missions/projects of Mooresville Friends Meeting USFW over the years.
 

I really wanted to know "how" the  USFW got started making applebutter, specifically. That question really involved some best guesses. The thought is that at that time members of the Meeting owned a local apple orchard, so apples were easily available. Another thought that came up in our conversation was that making applebutter is a rather labor intensive process and does require some special equipment that not every household, then or even now, would have. So applebutter seemed like a good project.
 

It's a multi-day, multi-week effort to produce hundreds of pints of this yummy topping . . . good on a slice of fresh bread, toast or biscuits (muffins perhaps for my European Friends?). Once you've tasted this yummy treat you'll be back for more.

I personally started helping make applebutter seven or eight years ago now - and I've done just about every job except cutting the apples . . . I just don't get up that early! I can tell you that once you've helped it hard not to go back year after year and help again.

It's truly a labor of love!

Some of the workers

'This Is The Day . . .'

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV

 

"This is the day, this is the day

that the Lord has made,

that the Lord has made;

We will rejoice, we will rejoice

and be glad in it, and be glad in it.

This is the day that the Lord has made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

This is the day, this is the day

that the Lord has made." *

As I stood and sang this song this afternoon with one of our third grade Weekday Religious Education classes, the fourth and final class of the day, I had to pause a moment. Yes, this is the day that the Lord has made, and we/I should rejoice in it, BUT . . .

 

That's tough to do that today . . . you see it's 29℉ outside, the wind is blowing and it's snowing . . . again, AND . . .

 

When I arrived at the little white Baptist Church on the corner across the street from the school, where we hold our classes, at 9:00am this morning it was cold inside, 52℉ to be exact, and I turned the heat up to 75℉. I realized after several minutes that I wasn't hearing anything, you know the blower wasn't coming on, it was too quiet! So I walked back over to the thermostat and hit "SCHEDULE" and then cranked up the temperature again - it click on this time, yeah! We, the Weekday Religious Ed teacher and I, then walked over to the school and pick-up our first class.

 

On the way over to the school I slipped and nearly fell on a patch of ice, I didn't see, on the sidewalk in front of the Church - made note to self to grab the jug of salt inside the front door of the Church when we get back with the students and salt it good! After we crossed the street and entered the school property, through the drive, lots more ice! Nothing I can do about that, but be careful and warn the students to walk carefully and NOT slide on it. When we got back to the Church I did grab the salt and laid down quite a bit of it - and when we left about 35 minutes later the patches of thin ice were nearly melted, and what hadn't quite melted yet wasn't slick!

 

By the time we had finished our second morning class and were heading out for our 2 1/2 hour lunch break, not what it's cracked up to be, I looked at the thermostat . . . it had hit 53℉, and this is nearly 2 hours later! YIKES!

 

When I came back from lunch the thermostat was still reading 53℉! Hummmm, kids, keep your coats on, sorry. After our fourth class, nearly 6 hours after I had turned the heat up it had only reached 54℉, and that was after I noticed, during the first afternoon class, that in the bottom left corner of the thermostat it said "LONG TERM HOLD" What does that mean? I've never noticed that wording before. So I clicked on 'SCHEDULE" and then "HOLD" and then cranked the heat back up to 75℉.

 

The Weekday Religious Ed teacher left a note for the members of the Church telling them we were finally back, after an extended Christmas vacation and the trouble we had with the heat. I happen to know that one of the owners of the Church property, it's rented, also owns 'Daniel's' the neighborhood market on the other corner, and said I'd stop over and see if she was in. She was, and just about to leave for the day, so I was able to talk to her. She called her brother (co-owner) and let me talk with him - seems they had a problem late last week with the heat not working and someone came and fixed it. They're coming back out this afternoon . . . so I hope we have heat tomorrow morning when we are there with our four fourth grade classes.

 

So why am I blogging about this?

 

It's all about the words to that one song we sang with the third grade students today . . . "This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." How many times have I sung that song, or any number of other songs for that reason, before and I've never stopped to think about the words I was singing and what they meant? Note to self - stop and think about the words I'm singing/saying and what they mean. Yes, I have much to rejoice and be glad about today . . .

1. School is back in session, after being closed all last week due to extreme cold temperatures, over a foot of snow and dare I say poor job of snow removal by local and state agencies;
2. Thankful that there was a jug of salt at the Church that I could use to melt the ice on the sidewalk;
3. We are blessed to have a Church just across the street from this elementary school in which to have our classes;
4. We are blessed with some wonderful teachers and staff at this elementary school who work with us on days like this;
5. The third graders who came to class today were still thoughtful and considerate . . . many still thanked me when I gave them their folder and sticker for saying their memory verse - their teachers and parents have taught them good manners;
6. Thankful to have this opportunity to work with these and so many other third & fourth grade students and the Weekday Religious Ed program;
7. Thankful to know and be a part of this community and know that the owners of this Church also own the market across the street and if we've got a problem all I need to do is go over and talk with them and they will take care of it;
8. Thankful that I had put on extra layers this morning which kept me warm inside the Church and a nice new winter coat with a hood & scarf and two pairs of gloves for my hands when we were outside.

Today was truly a day that I needed to stop and rejoice and be glad for everything that God provides for me and to know that sometimes when He makes me uncomfortable for a few hours or a day it's His way of getting my attention . . . to stop and think about what I have to be thankful for, instead of complaining about the heat not working and how cold I am! And He certainly got my attention today, not with the cold inside the Church but with the words of a song I've sung so many times before!

 

For some reason, as I finish typing this, I'm being reminded of my Friend Ross, a member of Mooresville Friends Meeting who is no longer with us. I'm hearing Ross in my head singing this song . . . loud and clear. This wasn't his 'signature song,' that would have been "How Great Thou Art," but Ross is singing this song loud and clear in my head right now none the less. Maybe it's because I'm talking about Weekday Religious Ed classes, after all, it was Ross that took me under his wings 14-15 years ago and started taking me to the Weekday Religious Ed Board Meetings as the new Representative from Mooresville Friends Meeting to the Board. Twelve years ago, last fall, I was appointed by the Board to fill a vacated Directors seat on the Board, and was elected at the Annual Meeting that next spring to fill that seat. So, I've been an elected Director on the Board for 12 years now, served as Secretary for four of those years and have been an assistant teacher in the classroom for 12 years - over half of those as a volunteer. I'm blessed and thankful for the memory of this dear Friend and for his bringing me into this program.

 

Oh, and what was today's lesson to the students??? Well, today we talked about one of the heroines from the Old Testament . . . RUTH! Need I say much more? Have you noticed the name of my Blog? Have you noticed the scripture typed at the top of each of my posts? I love the story of Ruth and it seems to me anyway, that it went well with all of the troubles we had to deal with today with our classes.

What is it that maybe made you a bit uncomfortable today? What made you stop and pause what you were doing to thank God for what He has given/provided to you?


* Words and music by Les Garrett - Scripture reference Psalm 118:246

 

"A" is for Academy . . .

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV

 

OK, I'm gonna join in on the "2014 Quaker Alphabet Blogging!" I hope I can do this justice! I'm planning to put my own crazy Quaker spin on this series of blog posts, so here goes . . .

For the letter "A" I have chosen 'Academy.' Now, if you're from Mooresville, Indiana, USA, or close by, enough said - you know exactly what I'm talking about. For the rest of you, I've got some explaining to do . . . trust me 'Academy' has a Quaker meaning, at least around Mooresville!

I guess I should go ahead and give you the full name before I go any further . . . Mooresville Friends Academy Building, most locals will just call it the Academy Building. So will this count for A & B???? Just kidding, I've got another idea for B! So, on with some local Mooresville Quaker history . . .



Mooresville Friends
Academy Building
(front view)

In 1860 a five acre track of land was purchased on which a school would be built, I assume the land was purchased by White Lick Monthly Meeting of Friends. The Academy Building was built by members of the Religious Society of Friends in 1861. It was the first high school built in central Indiana, and became the beginning of what is now the Mooresville Community School system.

 

In the beginning it was a boarding academy, with students renting rooms from area residents - I expect many of those may have been Quaker families. The Academy was used for students of all grades through 1971.

In 1870 the Academy Building and land was sold to the town of Mooresville for $5,000, which I'm sure was quite a large sum of money at the time. And interestingly, this was refunded with interest to the town! Now who does that? At this point the Academy became Indiana's only privately funded school open to public education.

On May 12, 1975 the Academy Building was placed on the State AND National Registers of Historic Places.

In 2000, the Academy Building was restored and rededicated by the Community Foundation of Morgan County with a grant from Eli Lilly (yes, the pharmaceutical company) and donations from the community.



Mooresville Friends Academy Building
(north side)

Today, the 'Academy of Hoosier Heritage' museum can be found on the second floor of the historical Academy Building (three windows on the left) showcasing exhibits on Mooresville and Indiana history. The museum hosts special exhibits from time to time - several years ago they had a special exhibit on Girl Scout history. A fun part of the museum is the full-size historical classroom (two windows on the right) complete with antique desks, books and toys. Every Spring I know that at least the 4th grade students in the Mooresville School Corporation take a field trip over to the Academy Building, Indiana 4th graders study Indiana history, they attend 'class,' visit the museum and participate in several pioneer games and activities outside, weather permitting. Many of the students enjoy 'dressing up' for their visit to the Academy Building!

 

The Community Foundation of Morgan County's offices are located on the first floor across the back of the building (two windows on the right). The majority of the first floor is the Emily Carolyn Mills Room - a good size community room (three windows on the left). The Emily Carolyn Mills Room is endowed for use by local non-profits and charitable organizations. I'll note here that Emily was a member of Mooresville Friends Meeting and an attorney, working in the Morgan County Prosecutors Office. So a Friend that I knew rather well. A group of local quilters, not the quilting group from Mooresville Friends Meeting - to which I belong, meets in this room on a regular basis.

 

There is also a basement to this building, I don't believe I've been down there. The area to the left, on the side view photo) with all the brick is where the front stairways are - one off to the left and one off to the right. If I remember right one was up and the other down - rather narrow stairway with shallow steps going to the second floor. One stairway going down to the basement. There is also a back stairway that goes from the Community Foundations office up to the classroom area.

 

The Academy Building is about a block and a half north of the Mooresville Friends Meetinghouse, which was built in 1870.

 

* In 1997 the Meeting officially changed it's name to Mooresville Friends Church/White Lick Monthly Meeting.