Goose Creek Friends

Newsletter March 2019

Goose Creek Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Lincoln, Virginia

Queries for Third Month: Outreach

• How does my life witness to my
Quaker faith?
• How do I reach out to new attenders and
encourage their exploration of Quakerism
as a spiritual path?
• How does our Meeting convey Quaker
faith and practice to the wider community?
• Do you find ways to encourage members,
attenders, and all seekers to continue
attending Meeting?

Our nursery school with therapy dog, Teddy, in February

Monthly Meeting for Worship with a
Concern for Business: Third Month
Friends approved Baltimore Yearly Meeting
Young Friends’ use of the Meeting House
for their weekend conference April 5-7. The
Young Friends also requested the presence of
Goose Creek friendly adult presence.
Friends approved Shiloh Field’s request for
use of the Meeting House and grounds for a
yard sale to benefit “Hope for Home.” This
will take place on May 10, with May 17 as the
back-up date in case of inclement weather.
Friends approved June 7, 7-9 pm, as the date
and time for Liz Huntington’s poetry reading.
Donations will go to the Loudoun County
Literacy Council.
Friends approved the use of the Meeting
House by the Lincoln Community League
for community activities on July 4,
September 8, December 18, and December
19, 2019. The League gives us a generous
donation in thanks for their use of our
Meeting House each year.
Jackie Stilwell from Right Sharing of World
Resources will teach First Day School
and give a video presentation at the rise
of Meeting on May 12. Right Sharing of
World Resources is an independent Quaker
organization that empowers women in
Kenya, India, and Sierra Leone through
microloans and training to help them
establish their own small businesses.
Meredith Bean McMath’s play All for the
Union, previously approved for a production
at Goose Creek, has been accepted by the
Capital Fringe Festival. For this reason she
is cutting back her schedule and no longer
plans the production here. However, she
has proposed offering a presentation about
the play and the Quaker history it draws
Continued on next page g
Goose Creek Friends Newsletter | March 2019 | Page 2

Continued from page 1

upon, to take place at the Meeting House on Presentation on Maasai Women by

August 17 or 18. This would be advertised
to the public. Friends approved her request.
Friends approved use of the Meeting House
on March 5 for a meeting of the Loudoun
Preservation Society.
Friends approved the annual reports of the
Hospitality Committee and the Membership
Clerk with thanks. The number of Meeting
members remained the same from January
1-December 31, 2018, but we gained three
new members and lost three members to
death. Maria Nicklin helped Membership
Clerk Nancy Uram convert our records to
digital form, and Nancy plans to share this
protocol with other Meetings who would
like to use it.
On behalf of the Ministry and Oversight
Committee, Peggy King read a draft of our
2018 Spiritual State of the Meeting Report.
The draft was discussed and amendments
made. The amended report will be sent to
Baltimore Yearly Meeting and included with
the newsletter.
Mimi Westervelt
After meeting on March 17, Miriam
Westervelt will offer a presentation
of the doctoral work she recently
completed on “Gender dimensions of
land change among indigenous Maasai in
southern Kenya.” Prolonged drought is
having severe gender impacts in her study
area. A local woman will walk 10 miles or
more to find water and carry as much as 45
pounds of water home on her back. Mimi will
offer local craft items for purchase to support
efforts to dig wells. An article Mimi recently
published on the topic is available at https://
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10745-
018-0034-7 /
This was rescheduled from the original
snowy date in January.

Upcoming in First Day School

March 3: Quaker Testimonies in the stories of Dr. Seuss
March 10: Exploring stewardship through the works
of Wendell Berry
March 17: Brainstorming and planning a fundraiser
for the Meeting - possible bake or craft sale.
March 24: Field trip to Friend Chrissie’s quilting studio
in town. All are welcome. Parents are invited and
encouraged to accompany their children. We will
be contacting parents for the needed permission.
March 31: Bible Study with Friend Allen.

Are you passionate about a particular subject? If you would love to share your knowlege and experience with the students please
contact us! We are also seeking additional friendly adult presences (FAPs) and facilitators for a teen First Day School group.
We need you! contact Maria or Cameron, the RE co-clerks: marianicklin@gmail.com and cameron247@hotmail.com.

From the Unity with
Nature Committee:
Interfaith Power and Light, a group our
committee has worked with, invites us to
download and use their Lenten Creation
Care Calendar during Lenten.  It is hoped
that, as we partake in the daily readings and
practices, we will grow closer to God and
to Creation, and have deeper conversations
about what it means to respond to climate
change as a faith community. May this
season serve as a wake-up call to be mindful
of the ways that our daily choices impact
everyone. Download the calendar at: http://
ipldmv.org/lent/   at snbach@earthlink.net
Quaker Notices
March 16-17 – BYM Junior Young Friends
Conference at Frederick Friends Meeting
April 5-7 – BYM Young Friends
Conference at Goose Creek Friends Meeting
March 23 – BYM Third Month Interim
Meeting at Annapolis Friends Meeting
Get to know Yearly Meeting Committees
and Friends from other Meetings! Be
a part of important decision making. Join
Friends for morning committee meetings
and the afternoon’s Interim Business
Meeting. Annapolis Friends Meeting will
host the Third Month Interim Meeting.
Friends will begin gathering at 10:00am.
Committee meetings will begin at 10:30.
Check the Yearly Meeting website for more
information. (www.bym-rsf.org/events/
interim/third19.html).
Goose Creek Friends Newsletter | March 2019 | Page 3
April 13, 10:00-2:00 – At Friends
Wilderness Center:
Art and Spirit, an Expressive Art
Workshop, led by Lynn Perlik
Explore and enjoy the innate connection
between Spirit and creativity through
art media and practices such as guided
meditation and a brief nature walk. This
workshop is appropriate for any level of art
experience. There will be a nominal (< $10)
materials fee for chalk pastels, paper and ink
needed to create your artworks. 
Lunch will be available for $10.  To register
or reserve lunch, please email Sheila Bach,
For more information about the Friends
Wilderness Center and Directions, go
to  www.friendswilderness.org
A suggested donation of $10 helps the
Friends Wilderness Center to meet expenses.
Meeting News
Please hold in the Light Eve Walker, her
parents, Libby and Mark Walker, and all
of her family. Eve is recovering from a car
accident that occurred on February 15. She
suffered extensive injuries to her lower body
and is facing a long recovery period. The
Walkers do expect that Eve will be able to
come home soon. The family appreciates
the concern that has been shown by Meeting
members. Notes and cards can be sent to the
following address: 18799 Trinity Church
Road, Purcellville VA 20132.
Page 4 | March 2019 | Goose Creek Friends Newsletter

Sundays Facing Bench

Meeting for worship at 9:45 a.m. MARCH
First Day School at 10:00 a.m. Rich Weidner
Fellowship at 10:45 a.m. APRIL
Wednesdays Allen Cochran

Discussion Group at 7:00 p.m.

First Day
Calendar School
MARCH 03/03/19
Quaker Testimonies
3.10 Sunday 11 am Discussion: Quakers and the Bible & Dr. Seuss
3.16 Saturday 10-12 SPICES crankie production 03/10/19
Stewardship &
work morning Wendell Berry
3.17 Sunday 11 am Mimi Westervelt on women and 03/17/19
water in southern Kenya Meeting Fundraiser
Brainstorm & Planning
3.31 Sunday 11 am Ministry & Oversight
03/24/19
Committee meeting Visit to Quilting
Studio in Lincoln
APRIL
03/31/19
4.5-7 Friday - Sunday BYM Young Friends at Goose Creek Bible Study
4.7 Sunday 11 am Meeting for Worship with a Concern
for Business NEWSLETTER
The Goose Creek Friends Newsletter
4.21 Sunday 8 am Easter breakfast is published monthly by the
Goose Creek Friends Meeting,
18204 Lincoln Road, P.O. Box 105,
4.28 Sunday 11 am Ministry & Oversight Lincoln, VA 20160.
Committee meeting CLERK
Rich Weidner, 540.554.2747
richard_weidner@hotmail.com
ASSISTANT CLERK
Allen Cochran, 540.338.6485
“Indeed if one has been visited by a direct sense Cochransstone@aol.com
TREASURER
of inward presence, he is driven to tell everyone Brian Burgher
who will listen to him. Strange and unendurable goose.creek.treasurer@gmail.com
NEWSLETTER EDITOR
irony – that Friends who speak so much about the Catherine Cox, 301-471-5330
Inward Light should so timidly hide their own blycox@comcast.net
WEBSITE & FACEBOOK
light under a bushel! The time has come to preach www.goosecreekfriends.org
the faith we have resolved to practice. If we have https://www.facebook.com/
Goose-Creek-Friends-Meeting-
good news for our brothers, and I believe we do, 150892438287560/?rc=p

let us shout it from the housetops! Let us learn to DONATIONS

Please direct donations for
be publishers of truth about our faith as well as Goose Creek Friends Meeting to
Brian Burgher, P.O. Box 105
our social concerns.” –John Yungblut, 1974 Lincoln, Virginia 20160