Serving the Poor in Richmond, Indiana

By Diane Reynolds
The poor may be with us always… but we can help.
At ESR’s common meal last Tuesday, students, staff and visitors heard Sharlene George, Laura Arendt and a few others from Open Arms Ministry in Richmond speak of the growing number of working poor and newly poor in the Richmond area—and the efforts Open Arms is making to serve both the freshly minted poor and the entrenched generational underclass.
Sharlene George, the executive director of Open Arms, said that the organization is seeing more people than ever who are seeking aid for the first time. People in this situation are often embarrassed. Some are angry that although they are working very hard, they can no longer earn enough to make ends meet. Open Arms works with these clients to focus on what they can be grateful for as they adjust to the reality of poverty.
Beyond financial aid, the organization offers budgeting help and offers itself as on-going spiritual and community support system that clients can call on for prayer, for referrals as other needs arise and for caring attention to them as human beings. One man, for example, who was just out of prison, came in for help paying for a prescription drug. When he mentioned that he was going on a job interview, Open Arms noticed he might need a hair trim and connected him with a beautician who offers free hair cuts to people in need. Another time, while talking to a woman with young children who came in for help, Open Arms realized that, beyond her immediate problem, this mother had no money for Christmas.  They took the initiative to recommend her to a group wanting to sponsor a family’s Christmas. 
Open Arms, which began in 2009 after several years of planning, is a partnership of a dozen faith groups in the Richmond area that pool resources to assist to people in need.   The ministry, which dispensed $11,000 in funds last year, offers financial help of up to $250 per needy family every six months. It works to meet people’s need by partnering with other agencies: $100 pooled from several different groups each donating $25 can make it possible to pay a bill.
They say the hardest clients to deal with can be the generational poor,  because they are used to living on the social services system, and thus can sometimes appear to be demanding.  The staff pray daily to keep an unbiased attitude and open heart toward this population, who have deep and real needs.
As I listened to the story of Open Arms, I found myself remembering Jesus’ comment that “the poor will be with us always.” This statement occurred to me as I was pondering how we could structure a system that wouldn’t enable people to skate along in poverty but would encourage them towards independence and fuller life. Then I realized, that as it was impossible to engineer the Tower of Babel, so it’s impossible to structure a perfect human system, much as we might long for a shalom world where God’s abundance is distributed such that every person has enough.  So for the people who are left at the bottom, scraping along to survive inadequately, we need to offer help and compassion, not condemnation.  As seminary students, sometimes caught up in the intellectual realms, it’s also good to have a stream of reminders from places like Open Arms of faith in practice and of missional opportunities in our own community and around the world.
Open Arms is also aware of the fine line it walks between counseling people to adjust to straitened circumstances and the issue of addressing structural problems that are causing an upsurge in poverty. While an attitude of gratitude is helpful, acquiescing to a new normal in which poverty is acceptable is counterproductive.  In addition to giving or receiving charity, people need to be talking to Washington.
Ministries like Open Arms that address the whole person, spiritual and emotional as well as financial, fill an important and urgent social role. George noted that when poor people, who could be any of us, receive dignity and respect, they are more likely to give back to the system that helped them. She said that the woman whose family received Christmas gifts “paid it forward” by leaving a bread maker on the Open Arms doorstep, hoping it could be used by someone else in need.
Open Arms can use both monetary donations and volunteers. They can be contacted via their website, and they are always open to phone calls or visitors.

Diane Reynolds is a student in Earlham School of Religion’s Master of Divinity program. She maintains a personal blog, Emerging Quaker.

Festival of Friends meets in Richmond

By Valerie Hurwitz

On Saturday, February 26, 2011, the Festival of Friends took place at First Friends Meeting House in Richmond, IN.  These gatherings began a year ago with the purpose of allowing Friends from different yearly meetings to gathering and worship together.  There are no business sessions and no agenda, other than to enjoy each other’s company.  The gathering on Saturday night drew Friends from Western Yearly Meeting (FUM), Indiana Yearly Meeting (FUM), and Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting (FGC).  Though this is the first time the Festival of Friends is in Richmond, it took place last summer and the winter before at Indianapolis First Friends.

I was there ostensibly as the choir director.  I usually direct the West Richmond Friends choir, and we rehearsed with the First Friends (Richmond) choir to sing two songs during the worship service.  Worship began with singing hymns, and then a member of the planning committee explained what he hopes is accomplished by these gatherings.  As some of the local Yearly Meetings have experienced tension lately, a group of Indiana Friends decided to plan these gatherings to build connections and understanding between meetings.
After a choir piece, ESR students Emma Condori and Evelyn Jadin got up to speak about the book Spirit Rising. Spirit Rising is a collection of writing and visual art by young Quakers from across the world and across the theological spectrum of Friends.  Evelyn and Emma have been involved as editors in this project, and shared some common themes.  They spoke of the work young Friends have done in gathering together, listening to each other, looking for what they have in common, and trying to better understand their theological differences.  I would encourage you to read this book!

One of the interesting parts about their talk was that much of their audience was *ahem* an older generation of Quakerism.  Did this older generation try to reach across branches of Quakerism and bridge theological and liturgical differences?  What happened?  Are projects like the worldwide YAF gatherings (in England in 2005, Richmond, Indiana in 2008, and Wichita, Kansas in 2010) merely a reflection of youthful idealism, or can they  create a convergent Quakerism for the twenty-first century?  What does that convergent Quakerism look like?  These questions rose up during the open worship that followed.  Several spoke about wanting to share their stories with Young Adult Friends, and the difficulties and hurt that some carry from trying to reach across boundaries in their own time.   Open worship ended, to me, on a meaningful note: “Who are we to tell Young Adult Friends that they won’t be able to form and nurture these connections?  Maybe they will.”
In every organization and every community, there is a natural and healthy balancing act between wanting to keeps things the way they are and wanting to change and try new things.  Change for the sake of change is as damaging as just wanting to keep things the way they’ve always been.  One of the tasks of leadership is to understand what to keep and what to change.  This is not a unitary process, as the same thing may be kept in one setting and changed in another, and different leaders may honestly disagree.

Worship was followed by a meal and then a concert by the Earlham College Gospel Revelations choir.  Katie Terrell, communications editor of Quaker Life magazine, brought copies of Spirit Rising to sell, and Paulette Meier (from Cincinnati and a member of Ohio Valley YM) brought CDs of her music (http://www.lessonsongs.com/).  Connections, in my opinion, are best formed over meals.

Quakerism is not my faith tradition, and for those of you that do not have a Quaker background, some of the above might have looked like a jumbled alphabet soup (FGC?  FUM?).  Suffice it to say that there are different branches of Quakerism that include a range of worship practices and theological views.  Like the person at the family reunion that you look at and question, “Am I really related to this person?”, the different branches of Quakerism sometimes look at one another in confusion, thinking “Do we really share theological DNA?”  What I admire about Quakers is that there is some historical sense of what it means to be Quaker, aided by the small size of the community in comparison to mainline Protestant denominations.  In one sense, it may seem like a tenuous tie that different branches of Quakerism claim the same first generation of ministers, writers, and evangelizers, but in another sense that is an enormous connection.

I am curious to hear the thoughts of others: For anyone else who was at the Festival of Friends, what was striking to you about the gathering?  Do you have any thoughts about Spirit Rising?  Do you think that modern convergent Quakerism is something new and different?  What does a convergent Quakerism look like?  How do we balance youthful idealism and energy with the knowledge that comes with experience?  Could you imagine an event like this in your local area? 

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.

A Quaker Monk?

By John Fitch

I'm a Quaker pastor from Richmond, Indiana and I'm working on a doctorate in Neo-Monastic studies. The new monastic moment is not really all that new. Bonhoeffer coined the term Neo-Monasticism in 1945 and lot of people have been experimenting with the idea of divesting and moving in with the poor to pray with them and serve them as an equal. The idea really comes from the Gospel following Jesus' example of living amongst the poor and outcast and being totally dependent on God for he and his disciples needs.

For me it happened spontaneously. I became a starving student again in 2000 when I chose a mid-life career change from Social Work to ministry and started at the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana. By necessity I moved into the poorest neighborhood in Richmond and I decided to do my ministry internship at the Episcopal church one block away from my house. During my internship I got to know my neighbors who didn't feel right about going to the Episcopal Church because they didn't dress like the Episcopalians who drove in from the suburbs - and some of them didn't smell so good, which was a problem. The neighborhood people did feel comfortable at my little condo and it became a hub for social gatherings, prayer services and meals together. My table was made for six people and when the thirteenth person came I knew we would need a bigger place. I found the right place around the corner form my condo. It was a huge 100 year old house built for entertaining with two gigantic dining rooms and five bedrooms upstairs. I knew right away I was supposed to buy it and start my ministry there.

The only problem was I only had $312.00 in my checking account. The realtor convinced me I could get 100% financing so I put in an offer. It turned out I would need a $10,000.00 down payment and I said to myself, "there's no way." Then the miracles started to happen. Two days later another relator knocked on my door and said she sold a condo in my building and has two other buyers who missed out and wanted to know I would sell mine for $7,500.00 more than I paid for it. I went back to the bank to see if they would take that for the down payment and I got a resounding, “No, you need $10,000.00, or no loan”. As I left the parking lot I paused for moment with both hands on the steering wheel. I said, “God I think you want me to do this, but your going to have to help me out by finding me another $2,500.00”. Thirty seconds later I got hit by a car. Nobody was seriously hurt and because it was not my fault I got a settlement from the insurance company for $2,500.00. I bought the house and with the help of friends from ESR we named it Renaissance House. We hung our shingle out on the porch and the ministry took off like a shot.

I've had a lot of careers. My first one was trade school when I was teenager. I learned home improvement and repairs and made good living with my hands while I took classes in junior college at night. After competing my general education course work, I transferred to San Diego State and majored in Social Work so I could work as a drug counselor for troubled youth and mentally ill people. My spiritual journey took me to Nicaragua to do peace work during the Contra war and after that I relocated with my wife and kids to Missouri where became a dog trainer. My last job was teaching in Puerto Rico with Catholic nuns who inspired me to be a minister.

I'm now using all the skills I've learned along the way. I use my handyman skills to renovate the houses and I hire out some to help support us which also give the younger guys some work as I often need a helper. I help Spanish speaking people with translations especially when they go to court. I lead the prayer services and help cook and clean. I'm the neighborhood chaplain. I do weddings and funerals, and I visit people when they are in jail. I provide a safe haven for people being beaten or abused everyone knows if they are in trouble they can run to my house and nobody will follow them in.

The rooms in my house are filled with mentally ill men - couples and women live in the apartments next door. We are sponsored by the Quaker and Episcopal churches and attend services at both. We get some funding for utilities from the Quakers but are primarily self-supporting through the rent payments of those who have and income, as well as some money I raise doing handy work. We do dog training and everyone is given a dog to care for while they are at the house, just like in the New Skete monastic community. We also have morning prayer services and breakfast for everyone as well as a mid week Common Meal and worship.

I am currently spending a year living at the New Skete community, to learn about dog training, but especially about how to be a monk. I want to take the monastic way of being back into the world and be a Quaker monk. People say to me all the time. “I didn't know Quakers have monks”. To which I say, “They do now”.

John Fitch is the founder of the Renaissance House community and is an alumnus of ESR. He is currently studying in the Doctor of Ministry program at Southern Methodist University, Perkins School of Theology and is participating in a one year internship with the monks of New Skete training dogs and learning about traditional monasticism. In his spare time he enjoys photography.

ESR Acquires Retreat Center

Sometimes good things come completely out of the blue.

This summer, ESR was offered the chance to take possession of the Lauramoore Home, a former retirement home located near campus.  ESR jumped at the chance to add a 150-year-old 10-bedroom Victorian home to our resources.  Who wouldn’t?  You can read more about the house’s history on the main ESR website.

To start with, it’s hard to even approach to house without picturing Jane Austen or later Victorian novels.  There is a circular drive out front and a big entrance with the original hitching post next to the front door.  To the side of the main house is the original carriage house.  Perhaps the grill on the back porch and the clotheslines ruin the Victorian atmosphere, but you can’t see these from the front!

My first thought when I walked through the door was “wow, look at that crazy Victorian wallpaper.”  Then I realized that the furniture, decorations, and books match.  The first floor, except for the modern kitchen, might have looked exactly the same 120 years ago.  There is glassware, Victorian-era furniture with carved wood backs and arm rests, an old piano, and an ancient bible.  It’s truly lovely, and I adored the huge kitchen and dining room.  I had to be careful, however, not to touch anything, as I am well known in my own house for breaking plates and bowls accidentally (and my plates are merely pottery, not glass).

The upstairs is a maze of interconnected bedrooms and bathrooms.  (Seven bedrooms, four bathrooms, each open onto the main area around the stairs, but also having doors from one room, to a bathroom, to another room … )  I wonder how the walls were built in 1860, as they have clearly been rebuilt.  Were there suites, including a master’s suite?  A nursery?  Servant’s rooms?  How many people lived in the house?  There is a “grand” staircase with a wooden banister, and a back staircase that I would guess was the “servant’s” staircase at one time.  There is a wood-burning fireplace in every room upstairs, and I wonder how much soot and ash was produced as a side effect of keeping this building warm before it had a furnace!

I am imagining Victorian-era novels, imagining large families with many children, widowed aunts joining the household, visitors coming through for long periods, guests, perhaps soldiers recovering from war, etc.  The yard, over an acre and shaded by mature trees, brings visions of women in big dresses with bustles, strolling around with parasols while children play.  Perhaps I am on the wrong track in my imaginings, given that Quaker families would not typically have had sons returning from war and likely would not have worn the complicated and ornate Victorian fashions, but the vision is very tempting.

The house is quite clean and well lit, so it certainly doesn’t feel like the set for Casper or The Haunting . . . but if it were double its size and full of cobwebs, we could rent it out for horror films!  We had our ESR employee Christmas dinner there in December, which gave us an opportunity to wander around.  We spent the evening cracking jokes about murder mysteries and haunted house movies: “I’m going to walk around upstairs . . . if I don’t come back in 10 minutes, send up a search party!”  “I think that’s the plot of a horror movie I saw recently: one of us goes upstairs and disappears, and then another goes to look for that person and also disappears, then another  . . .”

A little bit of work updating the bathrooms, and the house is reborn as the Lauramoore Guesthouse and Retreat Center!  We plan to house visitors and speakers here, students coming for intensives, host small retreats and meals, and other events.  I am glad that Lauramoore has found a new life; a house this large has very few private uses in 2011, and many older homes like this fall into disrepair.  Lauramoore needed very little work done (I say this somewhat comically, knowing how much effort our Business Manager, Tracy Crowe, put into getting estimates from contractors for a few remodeling projects, as well as snow removal and yard care . . . it’s still a lot of work!) and is looking quite good for its age.  We do not see this as a moneymaker, but rather have set prices for room rental at a level that will hopefully pay Lauramoore’s expenses.  (Plus, any Victorian aficionados out there?  Have I got some crazy wallpaper for you to look at!)  The ESR community can benefit from this house, and Lauramoore can benefit from the care ESR can give it.

If you would like to use Lauramoore for a retreat or meeting, please contact ESR’s Assistant to the Dean, Matthew Mosey (moseyma@earlham.edu) for more information.

Blessings, Valerie Hurwitz