Clear Creek Monthly Meeting

As the new year begins and students return to campus, we will run a series of introductions to the area Friends Meetings in and around Richmond. Our first entry is from ESR Professor of Peace and Justice Studies Lonnie Valentine about Clear Creek Monthly Meeting:

 (Image from Clear Creek Friends website)

ESR students are invited to visit Clear Creek Monthly Meeting. This Quaker Meeting is one of three in Richmond and worship in each one has its own distinctives.

This makes Richmond a fascinating blend of the various streams of Quakerism. At Clear Creek, worship arises from the silent gathering of those present and in this way we harken back to the original Quaker form of worship in the Religious Society of Friends, though the three Meetings do avoid arguing about which Meeting best upholds Quaker tradition!

We worship at Stout Meetinghouse on the Earlham campus at 10 am which makes it convenient for students who have stayed up late on Saturday...working on those papers.

Over the years, Clear Creek meeting has had many ESR students become actively engaged in the life of the Meeting. ESR students have served on committees, offered workshops for the meeting or been sponsored by the meeting to do so, and done their Supervised Ministry under the care of the Meeting. Since Clear Creek draws Earlham College students to Meeting, it is also a good place to connect to life at the College. Of course, ESR students not familiar with this form of Quaker worship are welcome just to come and visit. important note: during the school year, there are also good snacks after worship.

Among those most active in the Meeting are Earlham College teaching faculty who are ESR graduates. Michael Birkel teaches in the Religion department of the College, focusing on Quaker Studies. Mary Garman is also in the Religion department at the College and is also an ESR grad. Both Michael and Mary have taught courses at ESR and have worked with ESR students in a variety of ways over the years. David Garman was the chaplain at Reid Hospital for years, working with many ESR students in Supervised Ministry placements at Reid.

Please come visit us!
Lonnie Valentine