Beginning work in the neighborhood
Now that I’d found a job, I began to see what I could do in the neighborhood.
The objectives of Friends Volunteer Service Mission (VSM) are:
1. To provide the reconciling, caring presence of the Church in mission
2. To express in tangible ways, one’s personal commitment to Christ
3. To provide a means of furthering personal and social growth
4. To solve problems together while living in community
5. To acquire relational skills with those of different cultures and different opinions
6. To express gratitude to God in service for the endless privileges he has given
Just how does one try to realize these objectives? How does one measure, or even know what he is achieving? This was the question I pondered those first days, week, months in Indianapolis. I was anxious to get started on something but not sure what. “Evangelism” was also on my mind. How was I to share my religious experience? I believed in the traditional Quaker view of letting God be shown in everyday life. I wanted to be uncompromising in regard to my beliefs, and yet not hurt anyone. Concentrating on my life, rather than judging others seemed to be the way to achieve that.
One of the basic issues I was wrestling with was the relationship between the spiritual church and social service. Those of us at VSM were asked to be at Indiana Yearly Meeting that first summer, where we would discuss this relationship. I remember putting a lot of effort into writing the following in preparation for that presentation. Then, when I was in Richmond, praying just before the presentation, it didn’t feel right to deliver that. I ended up simply saying we believed the spirit would lead us, and our purpose was to find out how to follow.
What we are going to get involved in and how we are going to use our limited time, resources and abilities are very important questions for us to consider. I found it a valuable experience, in trying to deal with these questions, when asked to consider the relationship between the spiritual church and social service.
Our commitment to the spiritual church is foremost in importance. Christian service is a necessary result of a commitment to the spiritual church. This relationship between the spiritual church and Christian service is very clearly illustrated in the history of Christianity and of Quakerism. The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is the essence of the new covenant.
Quaker commitment to the spiritual church is the search for and obedience to the inner light—the will of God. It has been said that God is love. Recently I have read that God is silence. God is ineffable, but these two words seem to be helpful in searching for a description. Perhaps a better word would be creativity. Active, loving silence is the essence of creativity. In silence an idea is born, and a creative act formulated. Perhaps ‘God is creativity’ encompasses ‘God is love’ and ‘God is silence.’
Our commitment to the spiritual church necessitates the creative use of our talents; that is, waiting to be shown how we can use our abilities to perform the will of God, and then doing what we are shown despite anxieties or persecution.
This is where commitment to the spiritual church leads to Christian service. The spiritual church shows the way, but we must respond, individually or collectively, in action.
In the past that action has been along the lines of improving man’s outward condition; providing food, clothing, shelter, and better laws and community services. There is a definite need for this. And yet, there is a real yearning for spiritual fulfillment in the world today. In the United States especially we are well off, for the most part, materially, but have lost a sense of worth in ourselves and others.
Our primary responsibility in social service is to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we do that, we would hope that they could share our commitment to the spiritual church; the search for and obedience to the inner light, the development of creative abilities—creative worship, personal relationships, recreation, art—creative living. It is very difficult to be creative. But from creative acts one develops in ways and receives rewards available from no other source. Creativity involves bringing into the world something new to the world.
I began to meet people. Paul introduced me to people at the church. We visited several at their homes the first few weeks I was there. I was slowly getting to know some of the people in the immediate neighborhood.
The first time I met Ronnie Anderson, he came to the house with his Boy Scout uniform on, ready to go to a meeting. He lived across the street with his wife Susie and daughter Tina. His mother and father lived on the other side of his double with the two children they still had at home, Dennis and Nila. Ronnie worked at the local drugstore.
The Methodist Youth Fellowship was another of Ronnie’s activities. I began attending meetings with Ronnie and soon began helping with singing, playing my guitar, the lessons, and recreation. I introduced ‘capture the flag’ which was an immediate success. These kids were Junior High age.
“It is moving to see how kids can respond, and so creatively, to someone who will take an interest in them. I find it interesting work.” Journal 7/26/1971
This was to be significant. I had found something interesting, rewarding, and in line with my ideas of what I wanted to do, and how I wanted to do it. I just couldn’t spend my time in meeting after meeting, especially when I couldn’t see much result from them. (My aversion to meetings continues to this day). I needed to be involve with people. Adults seemed so closed, wrapped up in their jobs, home, set ideas, personal interests and problems. It seemed natural to turn to the kids, or maybe they came to me. At any rate, kids more and more became my focus, not only in the neighborhood, but I would soon begin my lifelong career working in pediatrics at Riley Hospital for Children.
The first year developed slowly for me. I thoroughly enjoyed my work at Methodist Hospital as a respiratory therapist, and spent free time with the Methodist youth group and neighborhood kids.
Organizations
That’s not to say there wasn’t a lot going on. A number of organizations were developing that Paul and Second Friends spent a good deal of time and effort working with.
Nick Block, pastor of Second Friends Church, was an innovative change agent. Coming from Kansas and an evangelical Friends background, Nick attended Earlham School of Religion, where he went through a good deal of change. He was full of energy and enthusiasm to put his ideas into action.
West Indianapolis Neighborhood Congress (WINC)
Early in 1971 Nick was instrumental in getting neighborhood people together for the first West Indianapolis Neighborhood Congress (WINC) Town Meeting. Like the town meetings of early New England, the purpose was to get the community together to discuss and take action on matters directly affecting them. The issue which gave impetus to the initiation of this organization was the proposed route of Interstate 70 through West Indianapolis. People were upset to find the chosen route for the Interstate would remove large numbers of houses, and divide neighborhoods, when an alternate route would have gone through a much less densely populated area.
The town meeting chose to do all it could to rectify the situation. A committee did succeed in getting a court order to halt construction until the matter could be dealt with. In the end, the proposed route would be followed, but an additional on/off ramp would be added in the neighborhood, so people could at least access the highway themselves.
Although the freeway was the focus of attention at the town meeting, a political structure was also set up to handle the broad spectrum of problems facing the neighborhood. As the freeway issue was worked out, other problems were addressed by WINC.
Indiana Friends Committee on Legislation (IFCL)
Another project Paul, and I to an extent, were involved in was the Indiana Friends Committee on Legislation (IFCL). The summer of 1971 Second Friends Quaker Men (Nick Block-leader, Les Paulsen, Bill Bernhard) sent an opinionnaire on legislative issues to all Friends Meetings in Indiana, to see what Friends felt about certain legislative issues. I used Earlham College’s computer to tabulate the over 600 responses, which did not indicate a concerted feeling on most issues.
Nonetheless, they went ahead and organized IFCL, modeled after the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), to be a faith lobby in the state legislature. IFCL’s Preamble to Legislative Policy, the rough draft of which Paul and I wrote, defines the purpose of IFCL.
Indiana Friends Committee on Legislation (IFCL)
Preamble to Legislative Policy
Adopted at Organizing Meeting, Indianapolis, Indiana, October 2, 1971
Friends consider their primary responsibility to be the search for and obedience to the will of God, which is revealed to every man. Through individual and corporate worship, Friends have continually realized that all men are brothers, and that every person is endowed with worth and dignity. Historically, Friends have sought to promote relationships among men which would permit individuals to develop fully in all dimensions of life. Since governments make major decisions affecting man in his relationship to society, Friends have sought to translate their religious concerns into social and political involvement. Indiana Friends Committee on Legislation seeks to express the Spirit of Christ and to relate our Christian faith and Quaker testimonies to the shaping of responsible decisions by our state government.
Because complete and accurate data are essential for intelligent decision-making, IFCL works to research and compile such information. Since no one has the complete solution to many of the issues facing us, Friends seek to use the best from the many points of view to arrive at an agreement which might not otherwise be achieved.
Our work includes the interpreting to persons in state government those moral and spiritual values which should undergird government and law. Naturally, there is concern with the passage or defeat of specific legislation; however, our primary purpose is the establishment of those conditions which will allow for the working of the Holy Spirit.
We strive to express ourselves by appropriate means of persuasion through visits to Indiana Legislators, testimonies before legislative committees, letter writing, and other methods congenial to Friends procedure. In this work, the Committee needs the cooperation of individual Friends Meetings, and other groups in making its policies as well-considered, appropriate, and effective as possible. IFCL cooperates with like-minded organizations in the preparation and circulation of information, especially where there is a community of interest around specific legislation.
IFCL does not (nor can any organization or individual) speak for all Friends. We recognize that sincere differences of opinion may exist on specific questions among thoughtful Friends, not withstanding their common heritage.
Steering Committee Members
Lester Paulsen, Chairman, Second Friends Church
Susan Rupp-West Newton, Robert Burns-New Castle, Nancy Mullin-Richmond, Paul Cluxton-Indianapolis, Car Jorden-Straughn, James Dunn-Maple Grove, Fred Lee-Indianapolis, Dan Carter-Russiaville
Quakers, social justice and revolution 