Dear Friends,

We know by heart the words “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King Jr. did not know when he stood in the pulpit in 1957 delivering these words that he would be standing there again six years later after the bombing that had killed four young persons and injured 22 other people.  He, of course, was at the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.  His eulogy after the bombing was very much of the same tenor as the first sermon referred to here.  It stressed non-violence and the response of non-violence alone in the work toward a better world. He urged people to respond with love to hate, with hope to despair.  In fact, some of his words from the eulogy tell us this.  He said that “God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope and transform the dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace.” Those words cannot be said enough or thought enough, especially as we go through a time where the words like segregation and deportation are becoming common place in our news and in our world.   We as Quakers believe in equality, integrity, peace and community, and these words defy those values.  We have to replace them with words of hope, of goodness, and of unity.  Only by setting the example of love can we live in a more loving world.  We see what setting an example of hate and vengeance can be and do.  It is a high calling for us to stand up and be sources of love, forgiveness, compassion, mercy and grace.  But it is a challenge that we have to take on if there is to be a buoyancy of hope.

We can practice living in community doing everything from working to playing together here at KFFC and in Klamath Falls or wherever our home may be.  Wherever we are, we can be lights of difference and lights of goodness for others who fear the darkness that is upon us now. Being together with each other at KFFC helps us to build a community that is strong and consistently affirming of all people in this world no matter their race, status, sexual orientation, gender or even those who do not hold the values we do.  We have to practice together forgiving each other, holding space for one another, allowing people to make mistakes without judgement on them, still holding them in the arms of unity, the loving arms of God.

There are some opportunities for you to practice this community. Sunday you can come and worship with us at 10:00 and stay for a potluck dinner where you will hear voices of love speaking to one another and hear the laughter of friendship.  On Friday the 28^th you can come at 9:00 to help clean the church in preparation for our Peace Luncheon that will happen April 5 at 11:30.  We don’t just eat with our community, but we share in each other’s growth and spiritual formation, providing the only kind of communion that Quakers practice beside the silence of the worship.  Together we can practice what it means to return good for bad, since we all make mistakes, and we are all in need of forgiveness and mercy.  So if you have written “organized religion” off as full of hypocrites, I tell you, “you are right.”  Because we are only human, and we definitely make mistakes.  So let’s widen the circle of unity and bring a heart for one another into reality as we try (and sometimes fail) to live lives of peace and goodness in this world.

Here are our announcements and opportunities to practice forgiveness, community and joy:

·       March 23 – Potluck

·       March 28 – 9:00 – Church Cleaning

·       March 30 –11:00 — Meeting for Business

·       April 5 – 11:30 – Knitting Us Together speaker Mary Ann Percy — Earthcare Peace Luncheon — There is a signup sheet on the table at the entrance of the church for food and setup/breakdown for the day.

·       April 13 – 9:00 — Bible Study – Third Chapter of Philippians

·       April 20 – 9:00 — Peace and Social Concerns

·       April 20 – 10:00 – Easter

·       April 27 – 11:00 – Meeting for Business

Blessings,

Leigh