"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
'D’
is for Diversity . . . Diversity
can be seen not only within the various Branches of Friends but also between
the individual Meetings and Yearly Meetings. Our theology, worship styles,
vocabulary & terminology, some specific beliefs and the way we do our
business, just to mention a few. Not sure when I was first introduced to any of
these diversities as I think
sometimes it’s hard to see within one’s own Meeting or Yearly Meeting.
In April 13, 2007, when I
became acquainted with members of Friends Committee on Scouting I began to see diversity among Friends and Scouting. The
committee members represented not only different Scouting programs, Girl
Scouts, Boy Scouts and Scouts Canada, but also different branches of Friends. Part
of this experience was a different way of doing Quaker business including more
silence than I had been accustomed to.
Friends Committee on
Scouting’s 2009 Annual Meeting at Waycross Conference Center (in Morgantown,
IN) showed me more diversity. It was
my first experience with Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of
the Americas. Diversity among
international Friends, Spanish speaking Friends, more vocabulary &
terminology and then there’s the worship . . . bilingual worship! I planned a
Girl Scout campout that weekend as one of our camps was just a mile down the
road from Waycross. Three of the four girls, including my two daughters, on the
campout that weekend were members of my Meeting and the four of us went up to
Waycross Sunday morning for Meeting for Worship – an interesting experience for
all of us with the various interpretations going on and singing in English and
Spanish.
In the summer of 2013 I experienced more of the diversity among Friends when I
participated in a Pilgrimage with and among Friends in Ireland & Northern
Ireland. I learned not only from my new Irish Friends but also from new Friends
from England, Sweden and the Netherlands. During Ireland Yearly Meeting the
breaks during business sessions for tea
& biscuits, the Singing in English
& Irish workshop, Friday afternoon field
trips, a bat walk in the old
cemetery behind Cork Meeting House, the Quaker
Lecture and of course the Epilogues
by Candlelight each night. Visiting and sharing with Irish Friends in their
Meeting Houses – learning their history, Un-programmed Meetings for Worship and
sharing more tea & biscuits. Seeing and learning about the work of Irish Friends,
in Northern Ireland, in reconciliation efforts.
The last two years I’ve had opportunities to
travel to the East Coast, attending Annual Meetings for Friends Committee on
Scouting. More opportunities to meet new Friends, learn a bit more Quaker
history and share in Un-programmed Meetings for Worship.
Last year at Sandy Spring Friends Meeting,
(Maryland) attending Meeting for Worship in an old Meeting House where you walk
directly into the Meetingroom from the outside - entering ready to settle into
worship – in the silence you could hear Friends coming & going. Near the
end of worship a Friend standing up and asking if there were any needing to be held in the light . . . several names
were mentioned, just names. Thinking afterwards I like this, very simplistic
and Quakerly, just names. As a visitor to Sandy Spring Friends I didn't need to
know who these individuals were or what their needs were in order to pray for
them, as God knows all of that. This was so unlike those Friends who give a
name, the relationship that individual is to the speaker and a whole long
explanation as to why this Friend, individual or group, needed prayer.
Last month we were at Gwynedd Friends Meeting
(Pennsylvania), another old Meeting House, with some interesting history. Here
one enters the Meetingroom when the door is open and takes a seat, when
the door is closed you must wait until it is opened, about 20 minutes into
worship - when the Young Friends and adults working with them leave for First
Day classes and then you may enter and sit down. At the end of worship the
Friend in charge of worship that morning read several pages of announcements.
This was followed by all the Friends and visitors introducing themselves, going
row-by-row around the room, an interesting practice.
Outside of Friends out in the world diversity is more often talked about in
what we ‘see,’ the physical characteristic: hair, skin color, eye color, the
clothing we wear, if we wear glasses or not OR one’s size. Then again sometimes
it might be based on what someone does: their occupation, their family OR a
hobby.
I have a large file full
of diversity activities and such
within my Girl Scouting materials. I’d like to share one of the lessons I used
with my girls with all of you. Open a package of M&M’s you should notice
right away that they’re all the same size and shape (although I usually find one
or two broken), they’re also different colors – red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, brown and if you buy the holiday packages you’ll find various other
colors. All those different colors in one package, existing together, one color
is not superior, they don’t discriminate against one another. And believe it or
not, they all taste the same! They may look a bit different on the outside, but
that’s only the colored ‘candy shell’ – there’s no flavor there. Yeah, I
tested my Girl Scout Troops – blindfolded them and asked them to guess
what color the M&M’s were . . . they had no clue, BUT it was fun! We can
learn a lot from a bag of M&M’s.
What diversity
have you seen or experienced among Friends? Are you open to the diversity
around you? In your Meeting/Church? In other groups to which you belong? In
your community? Do you think all diversity is good? What is the greatest
diversity you've seen or experienced?
Traveling with and among Friends is a great way
to see, learn and experience the diversity
within our Quaker faith. Thanks to all my Friends, new and old, for sharing
with me.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
‘D’ is also for Disappearing Blocks . . . Before I had actually settled on what I
was going to write about for the letter
‘D,’ I had decided that I was going to feature disappearing nine-patch and disappearing
hourglass quilt blocks. When I started to write about diversity I thought WOW my disappearing
quilt blocks really seemed to fit right in with this post . . . showing
some of the diversity in quilting. Disappearing quilt blocks are fun and
easy to do with a few fun rotary cuts.
 |
| Nine-Patch block |
In order to make a disappearing nine-patch OR disappearing hourglass quilt blocks,
one first needs to make a nine-patch OR hourglass quilt block. Then the fun
begins! The quilter gets to slice up the original block, move and rotate the
pieces around and then reassemble, thus creating a whole new look and making it
difficult if not impossible for anyone to figure out how they did it. The
technique(s) for the various disappearing
blocks has been developed over time by many quilters.
 |
| Disappearing Nine-Patch block |
The phrase disappearing nine-patch suits this block
perfectly, because to make it one takes a traditional nine-patch block
- nine equally sized squares (four of one color/fabric and five of
another) sewn together (3 squares x 3 squares) forming a larger
square and slices it apart. The nine-patch disappears and is replaced by
four smaller equal sized units. Two of those four pieces are then turned
180 degrees and the four pieces are sewn back together, creating the disappearing nine-patch block. This
block has also been referred to as the tossed
nine-patch OR fractured nine-patch
by some quilters.
 |
| Hourglass block |
For the disappearing hourglass block, one
starts by sewing four half-square triangle blocks together and then slice it
into nine equal pieces. The eight outer pieces are all rotated 180 degrees and
the center square is rotated 90 degrees. Then you sew these new pieces
together. Of course there are other ways one can turn the nine cut pieces which
will result in other looks to the finished block.
 |
| Disappearing Hourglass |
Interesting history on
the disappearing hourglass block, it
is the result of someone making a mistake (really, a quilter making a mistake
in a class???NEVER!) She was supposed to have made a pinwheel block instead
of the hourglass. And as with the disappearing
hourglass block, there are several variations to the disappearing pinwheel block – depending on which way you turn the
pieces. Now I’m gonna have to make this block as well.
Diversity in quilting comes about through the use of
size, color, pattern and individual interpretation. In our quilting group at
Mooresville Friends we can all be making the exact same block, but no two will
be exactly the same . . . since we’re using different fabrics and colors.
Happy quilting!
