"O" is for Onward . . .

"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


Picnic

“O” is for Onward . . . the 2014 theme for Quaker Haven Camp sessions.

Alright, I’m signed up and ready to go . . . but I’ll be going to camp two weeks later than I have in the past few years – they’ve switch ‘Adventure Camp’  (incoming 5th & 6th graders) with one of the 'Senior High Camp' weeks.

The camp brochure begins with: “Are you excited to see all your old friends and make new friends at camp this summer? You excited to play some crazy awesome games? You ready to see and experience God move in a mighty way? This summer we want to direct your life ONWARD towards Christ and His Kingdom. Camp is going to push you ONWARD through the mess of life . . . and the messy games. So get excited for everything as we trek . . . ONWARD!”



Water games . . .

The scripture reference is Philippians 3:12-14: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press ONWARD to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting who is behind straining toward what is ahead, I press ONWARD toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”



"My Girls"

So, I know the theme and I know the scripture for the week/summer, but where in the world is this going to take us? And as it has been the last 4 years that I’ve served as a Counselor, yes I’m a Counselor and not a camper, other than the brochure that comes out I’ve got no clue what’s gonna happen during our session at camp until after I get there and then sometimes you’re still not quite sure what’s up! That being said . . . I do like to think about it and try to envision what kind of journey we will go on together during the week.



Singing in the Chapel

Seeing old friends and meeting new ones, whether they’re campers, CIT’s, Counselors, or Camp Staff is always lots of fun. Playing crazy games – not sure I’d call them awesome or not, but the campers love them and that’s what really matters, right? Seeing and experiencing God moving in camp is a pretty awesome sight.

Now, we get down to it . . . we’re going to ‘direct their lives,’ ‘push them through the mess of life . . . and the messy games’ and ‘trek’ ONWARD! I’m only concerned about one little tiny piece of this . . . and that’s ‘the messy games’ part! I don’t even want to know where that’s going!



Popcorns ready!

After Friends United Meeting Triennial (FUM) next weekend, I will begin to move ONWARD . . . to begin to prepare myself for a week up at Quaker Haven, with a cabin full of what I expect will be another amazing group of giggly young ladies. I can’t wait to meet them all that Sunday afternoon and their families when they come into our cabin for the first time that week . . . and then to see how they blossom and grow in God’s love during our week together. I’m eager to see how this ONWARD theme will play out through the week and where it will take us.

I’m looking forward to:

The amazing conversations that will happen;

The amazing camp food that Steve and his staff will prepare for us, including the cookout and maybe a piece of Sugar Cream Pie?????;

Not having to think about what I’m going to eat and the when & where of it and not having to cook & wash dishes for a week;

Enjoying a chocolate malt cup or two as well;

Watching the swans out on the lake;

Going on a pontoon boat ride around the lake;

Watching the campers play 4-way kickball and all camp dodge ball in the Quack;

Going ‘hiking’ with the campers . . . I did that last year and it was so much fun . . . we saw some parts of camp that none of us had ever seen before and had some amazing conversations along the way;

The popcorn pop down by the lake and Kevin leading us in some crazy songs and telling some tall tales;

Some awesome games of Gaga Ball;

The talent show;

Sunrises and sunsets;

Chapel time – the singing, the stories and the sharing;

Cabin devotions – and spending that outside, somewhere around camp – our time to share, talk about God & the scripture and spend some time in quiet reflection and prayer;

The sounds of the campers laughing, singing, playing games and having fun!



On Sunday morning, July 6th, I will leave home about 7am and travel northeast, about 170 miles, up to Quaker Haven Camp. I'll either stop at a Friend's Meeting along the way or head straight to camp and join Friends at Dewart Lake Community Friends Meeting at camp.

 

Pontoon boat ride . . .

My last two blogs were about "Ministry" and "Nurture" - both come into play when I go up to Quaker Haven Camp as a Councilor - I get to do both, yes I just said that. I minister to those around me and I also get ministered to, which feels really good! I also will nurture those that I come into contact with and I expect some will nurture me a bit here and there . . . that's what ministry and nurturing are all about. I feel really blessed . . . and I haven't even gotten to camp yet!

So, as I close out this blog post, I’d ask each of you reading this to stop and say a prayer for Quaker Haven Camp, for the Camp Staff – Brandon, Kevin, Dottie, Steve, Lynn and Larry & the young adults that help them and for Nurse Kelly. Please pray for the campers, CIT’s, Counselors, session Directors and the two Yearly Meeting Christian Ed Directors – Pat & Aaron – as we all prepare for the roles that we will have at camp and that God will be with us, directing us, keeping us safe, blessing us each and every day . . . as we ‘trek . . . ONWARD!’

Amazing sunset . . .

 

 

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I never thought that finding a few “O” recipes would be so hard – unless those are the ones that I didn’t like so I didn’t pull them out and copy them to use! Anyways I’ve got a couple to share, both are desserts, go figure. First off is Oat-Peanut Butter Cookies – yummy, and the second one id for Old Fashioned Sugar Cream Pie – and I LOVE Sugar Cream Pie, made a version of the Quaker Haven Camp Sugar Cream Pie to share with Irish Friends while staying at Moyallon Center in Northern Ireland last summer, but this recipe actually comes from one of my mom’s cousins, Eleanor Rummel, from Nappanee, Indiana, Amish Country, so it’s ‘GOOD’ as my mom noted on the recipe card!

 

 

Oat-Peanut Butter Cookies

(makes 6 dozen cookies)

1 cup soft shortening (Crisco shortening)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
¾ cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda     
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup oatmeal

Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Ungreased cookie sheets.

Beat shortening and brown sugar together until creamy. Add eggs. Mix well. Add peanut butter, flour, soda and salt. Mix well. Stir in oatmeal. Shape into 1” balls. Press top with fork to make cross.
 

Bake for 8-10 minutes.
 

Old Fashioned Sugar Cream Pie

(serves 6)

½ cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup white sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter
1 cup boiling water
1 cup Milnot Evaporated Milk
1 unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350˚ F.

Mix brown sugar, white sugar and flour together. Mix butter and boiling water together and add to the sugar/flour mixture. Mix and add Milnot.

Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake 10 minutes at 400˚ F.  Reduce temperature to 350˚ F and continue to bake another 35 minutes.

"N" is for Nurture . . .

"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, so maybe not
good nurturing
here, but isn't
she a cutie?

"N" is for Nurture . . . that is to take care of something, or someone and help it/them to develop and/or grow and to help reach its full potential.

 

I see a lot of nurturing going on among Quakers . . . of ideas, Meetings – Monthly & Yearly, current & potential members, those who are sick &/or suffering, Friends of all ages & experiences and families - especially the children. And the nurturing that we do comes in different forms depending on what or whom we are nurturing.

 

That being said, sometimes I think we all could, individually and corporately, do a better job of nurturing. Sometimes we put too much time and energy into the wrong things OR in the wrong places. We don't take time to stop and think before we speak and/or act. And aren’t we all guilty of doing that?



This takes babysitting
to a whole new level!

Sometimes it seems like all I hear is talk about how 'we' should nurture this or that person or situation, but that's all it is . . . talk. No one seems to do anything about it. At times the talk is really LOUD! OK, I hear you, but if I'm supposed to do something here (and I mean do something really productive here), I (personally) need more details . . . and the details aren't given. And why aren’t those details given? Why they just might give away too much personal information, they might tell you ‘who’ and you’re not allowed to know that! Maybe that's why no one seems to do anything . . . because 'we' don't have enough information to know what needs to be done, or how to do it, or just how to help.



Always a helping hand

I want to turn my focus here to nurturing our children, our Young Friends, the future of our families, our Meetings AND the Religious Society of Friends. The scripture that comes to my mind here is Proverbs 22:6, which says: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” KJV. So, we need to train/teach our children what’s right and then when they are young adults and adults they will know right from wrong and will do what’s right.



At Mooresville Friends I see us trying to nurture, care for/help our children develop and grow . . . through our Sunday School, Children's Church and Kid's Club program. We work at teaching them about the Bible, God, Jesus, life lessons learned . . . through Bible stories, songs, games, snacks and crafts. But are we doing enough?
 

John Woolman said: "To watch the spirit of children, to nurture them in Gospel Love, and labour to help them against that which would mar the beauty of their minds, is a debt we owe them; and a faithful performance of our duty not only tends to their lasting benefit and our own peace, but also to render their company agreeable to us."

I love this quote! Can’t you just picture watching ‘the spirit of children’ in your head? And yes, it’s ‘a debt we owe them’ strange I suppose to think that we owe our children anything, but we do, just go back to the verse from Proverbs, we owe it to them to teach them right from wrong.



Nurturing begins early . . .

The responsibility to nurture our children doesn't totally fall on the Meeting, but also on the family and extended family . . . parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles all play a part in nurturing our children. We can do this by setting limits for our children and listening, really listening to them – hearing what they are saying and also hearing what they’re not saying to us.

 
Even during Meeting for Worship, during the silence, we find ways to nurture our children, nurturing them in their faith. Showing them how we are all equal, and I hadn’t thought about it until someone pointed it out to me recently – we call each other by our first names, we don’t use Mr. or Mrs., although most of the children in my Meeting do address our Pastor as ‘Pastor Sue’ (then again my Meetings got more than our fair share of Sue’s and Susan’s). I can sense my parents and grandparents rolling over in their graves!

As a Meeting, we nurture not only our children, but also their parents – the family as a whole unit, the other caregivers and the teachers that we/they come into contact with. In doing so, we also nurture our Meetings as a whole – shaping who we are. It’s a huge responsibility.

 

Some of my other kids!

During the school year, when I’m working – my paid job, I help to nurture not only the 3^rd & 4^th grade students that we have in our Weekday Religious Education classes, but the other students in their classrooms, in their schools and then there are the teachers & staff members as well and our WRE students families.

 
When I go up to Quaker Haven Camp and serve as a Counselor for a week during the summer, I nurture the girls in my cabin, the other campers, the CIT’s, the other Counselors, the Camp Staff and even the families that I come into contact with.

 
As a Scout Leader/Council Trainer/Unit Commissioner/Cub Scout Roundtable Commissioner I help to nurture the Scouts their parents & siblings and other Scout Leaders that I come into contact with and members of the community . . . as I participate in Scouting programs, drive around, stop to eat and go shopping with one of my Scouting uniforms on.

Graduation . . .
all grown-up

Now here’s a thought - can’t we/don’t we nurture others by our example? Going about our daily lives? We can, and should, nurture everyone we come into contact with – through caring about them, showing them compassion and supporting them?
 

Just as Worship was coming to a close this last Sunday this thought came into my head, so I wrote it down, not standing up as the closing benediction was being said -"We need to nurture and care for each other – inclusive . . .  ALL, not just a chosen few, not just those who fit into one of our little group.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Alright, a couple of recipes for you here. First Nashville House Fried Biscuits - Oh so yummy - eat them by the handfuls! Nashville House is located in beautiful Brown County, Indiana - about an hour drive south and slightly east of where I live. Brown County is the place to be in the fall, when the leaves turn and begin to fall . . . Camp Gallahue, one of my Girl Scout Councils' resident camps is located just a bit north of Nashville, in Brown County . . . Fall Camporees are amazing! Back in either 1972 or 1973, when my dad was the Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in the State of Indiana (gotta use the whole official title hear . . . proud daughter moment) my mom host the 'Ladies Luncheon' (for the wives of the Grand Lodge Officers and wives of other dignitaries) at Nashville House. And somehow, my mother talked them into giving her the recipe for their Fried Biscuits! At the time, we lived up in South Bend, Indiana - about 4 1/2 hours straight north of Nashville. The second recipe is for No-Bake Persimmon Pudding - I don't know about other places, but persimmons are a big deal around Mooresville, Indiana. I don't recall my mom making this, but it was in her files, and she made note on the recipe card that she had gotten this one from the South Bend Tribune, so expect that she must have made it at some time - but I don't recall hearing about persimmons until I started attending Mooresville Friends Meeting back in July 1984.

Nashville House Fried Biscuits

(makes about 7 dozen biscuits) 

 
1 quart milk

½ cup shortening (white shortening, like Crisco)

¼ cup sugar

6 teaspoons salt

7-9 cups all-purpose flour

2 2/3 packages dry yeast (or 1/6 cup yeast)

Preheat fat to slightly hotter than 350˚F. If fat should be too hot, the biscuits will be soggy in the center.

Add yeast to warm water. Add other ingredients and let dough rise. Work into biscuits and drop into hot fat.

Biscuits can be frozen individually and stored in plastic bags. When you work them up, don’t let the biscuits rise too high.

Recipe from Nashville House, Nashville, Indiana.

No-Bake Persimmon Pudding

(makes 8-10 servings)

1 cup persimmon pulp

½-1 cup sugar

22 graham cracker squares, divided
1 cup pecans, finely chopped

16 large marshmallows, quartered (about 1 c miniature)               

Stir together persimmon pulp and sugar; set aside. Finely crush 16 graham crackers. Combine with persimmon mixture, marshmallows and nuts. Form into a 3-inch diameter roll. Crush remaining graham crackers; roll persimmon roll into crumbs to coat. Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or several hours until firm. Cut into slices and serve.

Serve plain or with whipped cream.

 

 

"M" is for Ministries . . .

"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

“M” is for Ministry . . . and yes, you've read that correctly, my second "M" post for my Quaker Alphabet is on ministry. I realize that some of you may be a bit curious or even shocked with this choice while at least one of my Friends may be quite pleased and eager to see where I go with this one.

 

As I began this post, I looked for definitions of ministry but the definitions I was finding had to do with Ministers and who/what Ministers do, that is to say that I found definitions of a Pastor and who/what a Pastor does - administration, not at all what I was looking for. However, I did, finally, run across a few definitions that seemed to get a bit closer to where I was going with this post:

• "Some who carry a concern that leads them to visit other meetings or groups in the wider world." (Glossary of Quaker Terms, New York Yearly Meeting)

• "When a person is inspired by the spirit to speak in Meeting for Worship, that is described as Ministry."  (Swarthmore Friends Meeting)

• "Ministry is meeting people where they are at and taking them to where God wants them to be."  ('Attempting to behold the miracle long enough without falling asleep,' August 23, 2010, blog post, J.R. Briggs)

The first two obviously came from Quaker sources and speak of ministry in Quaker terms, but the third one really hit me when I read it . . . especially the last part of it "taking them to where God wants them to be." A phrase that is oh so similar to one that I found last year, and quoted in my second blog "The Meaning of GRACE . . ."

• "Grace is the empowering Presence of God enabling you to be who He created you to be, and to do what He has called you to do." (James Ryle)

So, by now maybe the pieces of this puzzle are coming together a bit more clearly for all of you. Eleven months ago "I Shall Find Grace . . ." sent me off "to do what He has called me to do," and now "M is for Ministries . . . " is "taking them to where God wants them to be," OR maybe this last one should read has "taken me to where God wants me to be."

 

Ministry is a word that you could say 'grew on me' this last year, or maybe a better description might be to say that 'I grew into it' this last year. Now, there are those of you who will totally understand what I mean here, for one reason or another, and others of you will be totally clueless . . . and that's OK, don't give up on me just yet, keep on reading.

 

I have a number of F/friends who have told me over the last several years that I’m doing a great job OR wonderful job with this or that ministry, and I cringe! I’m not a minister . . . that’s my Uncle John – he’s the minister in the family. You know, he went to seminary, not me. I've had no formal education in ministry work. Yes,  as a child I went to Sunday School, Saturday Church School, Church Camp, and Vacation Bible School. As an adult I've taught Sunday School, worked with Vacation Bible School, Kid's Club, served as a counselor at Church Camp, I'm an elected Director & assistant teacher with the Weekday Religious Education program, I'm also a member of Friends Committee on Scouting & I promote the Religious Education programs to all Scouts . . . and yeah, I know the bulletins at my Meeting say that we’re all ministers, but . . . I'm not a minister!

 

So image now, at least for a moment, the reaction I had on February 4^th, 2013 when a certain Friend sends me a grant application to ‘travel in the ministry!’ But I’m not going to be traveling in the ministry! And she said, I would be. Alright, I applied for that grant and I receive an award that covered my travel expenses, to participate in the Pilgrimage to Ireland/Northern Ireland, 'to travel in the ministry.'

 

While on the Pilgrimage I really didn’t think about ministry, or at least I didn’t think about doing any ministry. I started this blog about a month before I left, and if you’ve read the first paragraph in the left hand column you see that I said ". . . what I will share in the Blog will be spiritual in nature and will tell of the ministries I find myself in along this journey." What I published was different things I saw, felt and experienced that I saw as ministries, BUT, it was ministries that I saw my Irish Friends doing and not ministries that I was doing.

 

After I returned home, I published more posts to my blog, sharing about my experiences and I found myself needing to also write reports to the two groups that awarded me grants. The grant to ‘travel in the ministry’ asked me specifically to ‘describe the ministry undertaken.’ WHOOPS! I didn’t’ do any ministry, so now what? I can’t just make something up. I’ve gotta be honest . . . and so I was. And here’s how I began answering this question:

 

“I didn't set out with any ministries planned to do while I was on the pilgrimage. I was going for the experience, to meet and learn about Irish Friends and what they are doing in Northern Ireland with regards to the 'Troubles.' Looking back I can now see several ministries that I was involved in while on pilgrimage, ministries that just seemed to happen along the way, or as some might say “God moments.” Some of these are/were a bit more visible or recognizable as ministries than others and one ministry was a group effort - one that the six of us on the pilgrimage, at that time, were involved in.”

 

A bit later in my report I made the following statement, a sort of confession, if you will:

 

”I have become more accepting when someone talks to me and uses the word ‘ministry’ for what I do. Seeing and hearing what our Irish Friends have and are doing and my blogging about their ‘ministries’ has made me see more of what I have done/am doing as ‘ministries.’ I never thought I’d hear myself say that or write it down. I see this as one of the bigger lessons I learned from this pilgrimage experience.”

 

Yes, being able to look back at what I've done and look at what I’m doing as ministries was a huge lesson learned last summer. But even so, I still cringe a bit when someone points out what I’m doing as a ministry.

 

Last February and March the two questions I was asked most often were: 'Why are you wanting to go on this Pilgrimage?' and 'Why do you want to go to Ireland?' I had no clue and Ireland wasn't any place that I had ever talked about wanting to go to before, but I was having very strong feelings that I had to go, there was something or someone that I needed to see, something I needed to do . . . something God wanted me to see or do or someone He wanted me to talk to, something I couldn't really explain . . . although a few Friends understood.

 

A couple of Friends have made comments about my writings, my blog posts, and have said that they are wonderful 'devotionals' . . . and I thought maybe that's what it was all about. Did God want me to write, to write devotions? And now this evening as I sit and finish up this post on ministry, I wonder . . . is this what it was all for? Did it really have anything to do with Ireland, the Irish Friends, and/or my blogging . . . OR was it all to open my eyes so that I could/would see what I do as ministry? Was all my blogging about what I saw as ministries, among my Irish Friends, was that all just to help me see what I do as ministry? Was this one of those 'swift kicks' from God to open my eyes to see what others have been seeing in me?

 

Funny as now I have a song, that we've sung up at Quaker Haven Camp the last several years, going through my head:

 

Open the eyes of my heart Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see you

I want to see you

Open the eyes of my heart Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see you

I want to see you

 

To see you high and lifted up

Shining in the light of Your glory

Pour out Your power and love

As we sing holy, holy, holy,

Holy, holy, holy,

Holy, holy, holy,

Holy, holy, holy,

I want to see You.*

 

And it could be that this song is going through my head as I used it in the power point about Quaker Haven Camp that I put together for Meeting last Sunday.

 

What ministry or ministries are you doing? Where has God called you to go? What has God called you to do? What concerns do you have, and what are you doing about them? Have you give any vocal ministry lately? Or maybe a written ministry? Take a look around you . . . there are opportunities for ministry all around you, every day, everywhere you go . . .

 

 

*Paul Baloche

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Recipe time . . . One of my all-time favorites is Marta’s German Cake, a name that we gave it way back when I was in High School (early 1970’s). Marta was an older German lady who was a live-in helper for Auntie Pearl, after Uncle Walt died. Uncle Walt and Auntie Pearl Schmeirer (sp) lived on a small farm south of us in South Bend, Indiana, and they were very good friends with Grandma and Grandpa Jena, my dad’s parents. Mom’s Blueberry Pudding, again I have no clue who ‘Mom’ is/was.

Marta’s German Cake

¾ pound margarine
3 cup + 3 Tablespoons sugar
6 large eggs
3½ cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
9 Tablespoons milk

 

Preheat oven to 325˚F. Grease 12 cup Bundt pan.

 

Beat margarine and sugar well. Add eggs 2 at a time, beating well. Add flour, baking powder, and milk – always start and end with flour. More flour may be added- no more milk! Dough will be stiff! To a little less than ½ batter add – 4 ½ heaping teaspoons cocoa, 3 heaping teaspoons Nestles original milk cocoa (sweetened chocolate), 2 heaping teaspoons instant Sanka (decaf coffee).

 

Pour into Bundt pan – white layer around bottom, 3 spoons brown, more white, more brown, finishing with white. Do not stir to marble!

 

Bake 1-1 1/6 hour. Test with long Q-Tip (with the cotton removed!). Must come out clean. May put a piece of foil on top - loose, if getting too brown. Cool ½ hour before turning out.

 

Mom’s Blueberry Pudding

 ½ + ¾ cup sugar       

3 Tablespoons butter
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1 pint fresh blueberries
1 cup water, boiling

 

Preheat oven to 350˚F.  9” square baking dish. Turn down to 325˚F if using glass.

 

Cream butter and ½ cup sugar. Add milk, baking powder, salt and flour, beating well. Place the fruit in the bottom of baking dish. Pour dough over the fruit. Mix ¾ cup sugar and corn starch and sprinkle over the dough. Pour boiling water over all.

 

Bake for 35-40 minutes.

 

Serve warm with ice cream or cold with whipping cream.

 

For frozen berries cut down the boiling water to ¾ cup.

 

For peaches: use 3 cups fruit – sprinkle with little sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.