Goose Creek Friends

Newsletter June 2019

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

Queries for Sixth Month:

• How do I express my faith in action? How are my
actions grounded in my faith?
• Is my sense of justice based in love?
• Do I endeavor to face the pain of the world and
respond to it with forgiveness and compassion?
• Do I make an idol of that which I am led to defend?
• How do I avoid demonizing those who march against
my concern?

Monthly Meeting for Worship with a

Concern for Business: Sixth Month
Friends approved with pleasure the application
for Meeting membership of Elizabeth Anne [Liz]
Huntington. She will receive a welcoming visit.
The annual report of the Goose Creek Friends Meeting
Scholarship Committee was approved with thanks.
This fund was formed eight years ago by combining
smaller Meeting scholarship funds. Since 2011 it has
awarded scholarships to 61 students, 32 of them from
Goose Creek. The Committee offered support to 13
new students this year. This program supports our own
students in addition to providing valuable outreach
within the wider community.
The annual report of the Religious Education Committee
was approved with thanks. Our student population
continues to grow! First Day School students drafted
“ground rules” that are now reviewed every First Day
at the beginning of class. Various Friends have offered
a rich variety of lessons and activities for our students
over the past year.
Friends approved donating one two-week scholarship
for this summer to the Baltimore Yearly Meeting
camping program.
On August 11 at the rise of Meeting, the Unity with
Nature Committee will show National Geographic’s
film on climate change, From Paris to Pittsburgh.
Friends are encouraged to come, to invite others, and
to bring a bag lunch.
Goose Creek Friends Book Sunday 2019
The Library Committee is forming a subcommittee
on technology. They will be looking at Meeting’s
requirements in this area and making recommendations
to Meeting.
Friends approved a donation to the scholarship program
of the local chapter of the NAACP.
Friends approved a letter to be sent from Meeting to
Senator Tim Kaine thanking him for his support of SR13,
which would authorize the repeal of the Authorization
of Military Force. They also approved letters to be sent
to Senator Mark Warner and Congresswoman Jennifer
Wexton, encouraging them to support the Senate and
House bills.
A memorial for James Mills, previously approved, will be
held at Goose Creek on June 29.
Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s
Annual Session 2019
July 29-August 4 at Hood College in Frederick, MD
From Ken Stockbridge, Presiding Clerk:
“Quaker Tools for the Journey is the theme for
this summer’s Annual Session. We will have many
opportunities to learn and share Quaker practices and
resources that can help equip us on our spiritual paths

Continued on next page g

Goose Creek Friends Newsletter | June 2019 | Page 2
Continued from page 1
and in our life together as Friends. We’ll meet at Hood
College July 29-August 4, with an opening retreat starting
on Monday, led by Marcelle Martin, author of Our Life
is Love. … We were all new once. Is this your first time
coming to Annual Session? Sign up to have a buddy – an
experienced Friend who can introduce you to folks, show
you around, and answer questions during the week. Are
you an “old-timer”? Consider being a buddy for someone
attending for the first time.
Annual Session is for everyone. Do join us, whether
for just a part of a day or for the whole week. It’s for all
ages. It’s an opportunity for us all to come together as
one loving community and share in each others’ gifts,
leadings, experiences, and friendship.”
For more information, and to register: http://www.
bym-rsf.org/events/annualsession/
Goose Creek Friends, please consider attending! There
are certificates for first-time attenders that give two free
days at the early registration rate, and this year all first-
Summer at
Goose Creek Meeting
June 9
Quakers and the Bible
A discussion session after the
rise of Meeting for Worship.
Child care will be provided.
Please come!
July 14
Meeting of Clerks and Co-Clerks Contact emails: Maria Nicklin (marianicklin@gmail.com)
after Meeting for Worship
August 11
From Paris to Pittsburgh
Unity with Nature will sponsor a viewing of this
feature-length National Geographic film about
climate change after the rise of Meeting.
Bring a bag lunch!
August 18
Goose Creek Summer Picnic
Meeting provides a main dish Friends Meeting of Washington (Washington, DC)
and beverages, y’all bring the side
dishes and desserts!
Time to be announced
time attenders may come on Saturday for free. Children
from birth until 8th grade must be registered, but attend
for free. There are great programs for children of all ages,
and work grants are available for adults who would like
to work with children at the Session. Financial assistance
is available for Young Adult Friends aged 18-35; this
group participates fully in the Session, but also has its
own programing and does its own business. Registrants
can reserve a room on campus, register as commuters and
contact Frederick Friends Meeting (by June 24) about
reserving tent space there, or register as commuters,
period. Hood College is about 45 minutes from Goose
Creek’s Meeting House.
From the Religious
Education Committee
First Day School has come up with a plan for a fundraiser
to benefit the Meeting House. The kids are very
enthusiastic! In order to bring this to fruition, we need
the help of all of our talented artisan Friends to create
one-of-a-kind items to be sold at the tentative October 5th
event. A few of the children’s ideas were any sort of fiber
art (including items that are knitted, crocheted, quilted,
woven, cross-stitched, embroidered, etc.), woodcraft,
blacksmith ironworks, pottery, glasswork, soaps, and
baked items (including cakes, cookies, muffins).
At the event, we will raffle off the quilt the children
helped to create. It will be on display until then. Please
buy raffle tickets! We will need a few volunteers to help
with the logistics.
We are so excited, and are looking forward to making this
an annual event!
or Barbara Lake (barblake09@yahoo.com)
From the Peace and Social
Concerns Committee:
Peace and Social Concerns meets the second First Days
of the month at 8:30am. (This is a change from their
previous 8:45.) You don’t have to be a committee member
to come –all are welcome!
From Baltimore Yearly Meeting
June 15 – Sixth Month Interim 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
Continued on next page g

John (Jed) Shilling
W e at Goose Creek Meeting are lamenting the
loss of our beloved Jed Shilling, who died
recently of ALS. Until he moved to CA in November,
he worshiped with us regularly. Since then we have
missed him deeply. While with us, he served as clerk
of our Finance Committee, a representative to the
Friends Wilderness Center Board, and a member of
our Unity with Nature Committee. In addition to
his activity on committees, Jed shared his personal
sorrows and joys with us, particularly the great
joy he took from visits with his family. He was an
integral part of our Meeting.
At his memorial here, friends and former co-
workers at the World Bank fondly described Jed’s
mentoring of those who worked with him and his
style of leading quietly from behind as he worked to
bring about significant change. Colleagues became
close friends for decades. This capacity to extend
kindness was a common thread in descriptions of
Jed’s relationships – kindness in his relationships
at work, kindness with his friends, kindness with
people around the world.
Jed brought to our Meeting his extensive
experience in and knowledge of many countries,
especially developing countries. A member of the
and the afternoon’s Interim Business Meeting. Friends
Meeting of Washington will host the Sixth 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/sixth19.html)
June 21-26 – Quaker Spring
Wollman Hill (Deerfield, MA)
For the last eleven years in June, Friends from over 20
yearly meetings have gathered to explore what Spirit-
led Quakerism is about at its core – and to experience it
together. Friends of various ages and background have
come together and spent time listening to ways the winds
of the Spirit are blowing through their lives. These were
truly “gatherings with a difference” – with most of the
week left unplanned and open to the leading of the spirit.
Go to quakerspring.org for more information.
Goose Creek Friends Newsletter | June 2019 | Page 3
board of The Mountain Institute, he arranged for
representatives of that group to speak to us about
their work in creating sustainable employment for
remote mountain people. Jed frequently reminded
us that mountains need to be protected, as they are
critical for the world’s water supply. His concern for
mountain areas led to his active involvement with
The Friends of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
According to Jed’s daughters, Kaile and Kaitlin,
their parents were ahead of their time in co-
parenting, as Jed and his late wife Jane Pratt shared
the responsibilities and joys of raising the girls
without sacrificing their career aspirations.
Diagnosed with ALS less than a year ago, Jed
continued to devote time and energy to causes
he deemed important locally and globally. Even
in his last months in Loudoun, when weekly we
witnessed his increasing difficulty speaking, eating,
and walking, he chose not to dwell on his declining
health but to participate in our activities. As we
reflect on his life with us and beyond our doors to
remote corners of the world, we are full of awe and
gratitude that he chose us to be his faith community
and his friends.
– Caroline Pelton
Meeting News
Congratulations and best wishes to Cindy and Nathan
Webb and their 2 year-old son Jack on the birth of
Elliot Byron Webb on May 22. Congratulations also to
grandparents Nancy and Doug Brown.
Kudos and best wishes to this year’s high school and
college graduates! Eve Walker graduated from Loudoun
Valley High School, and Mimi Cottingham graduated
from American University’s School of International
Service. Riley Coburn graduated from Loudoun Valley
High School and will be attending Denison University,
where he plans to study Data Analytics and Physics. We
know there are others – please send news about our young
Friends’ landmark events and plans!
Page 4 | June 2019 | Goose Creek Friends Newsletter

Sundays Facing Bench

Meeting for worship at 9:45 a.m. June
First Day School at 10:00 a.m. Peggy King
Fellowship at 10:45 a.m. JULy
Sheila Kryston
Wednesdays
Discussion Group at 7:00 p.m. First Day
School
Calendar 06/02/19
JUNE Building Bridges (teen)
Stewardship (elementary)
6.9 Sunday 8:30am Peace & Social Concerns Committee meeting
11am Quakers and the Bible 06/09/19
Peace Testimony
6.30 Sunday 11am Ministry & Oversight Committee meeting & Activities
JULY 06/16/19
7.7 Sunday 11am Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business Integrity Testimony
7.14 Sunday 11am Meeting of Committee Clerks and Co-Clerks & Activities
7.28 Sunday 11am Ministry & Oversight Committee meeting 06/23/19
Community Testimony
AUGUST & Activities
8.4 Sunday 11am Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business
06/30/19
8.11 Sunday 11am National Geographic film showing Equality Testimony
8.18 Sunday TBA Goose Creek summer picnic & Activities

New Member NEWSLETTER

Elizabeth Anne Huntington, 1019 Glenwood Lane, The Goose Creek Friends Newsletter
Gerrardstown, WV 25420 is published monthly by the
Goose Creek Friends Meeting,
18204 Lincoln Road, P.O. Box 105,
Lincoln, VA 20160.
CLERK
Rich Weidner, 540.554.2747
richard_weidner@hotmail.com
ASSISTANT CLERK
“It seems to me that the moving force behind the Allen Cochran, 540.338.6485
Cochransstone@aol.com
Quaker social witness has got to be some vision,
TREASURER
however faint and tantalizing, of what the world Brian Burgher
would be like if we were really obedient to God.” goose.creek.treasurer@gmail.com
– Deborah Haines NEWSLETTER EDITOR
Catherine Cox, 301-471-5330
blycox@comcast.net

Quaker Jargon of the Month WEBSITE & FACEBOOK

www.goosecreekfriends.org
https://www.facebook.com/
“R.E.” = Religious Education Committee. At Goose Creek, this refers to Goose-Creek-Friends-Meeting-
the committee that oversees First Day School, support of Baltimore Yearly 150892438287560/?rc=p
Meeting’s camping program, and other youth-related activities. DONATIONS
Please direct donations for
Goose Creek Friends Meeting to
Brian Burgher, P.O. Box 105
Lincoln, Virginia 20160