WHO WE ARE

 Ames Friends Meeting, which coalesced as Iowa State burgeoned in the 1940s, met in various locations before building its present meetinghouse in 2001.  The seed money for this project was the donation of the family home of Edward and Minne Allen, early members of Ames Meeting. 

    Ames Meeting is called a “monthly meeting,” in that it conducts business once a month.  It is part of Iowa (Conservative) Yearly Meeting, which does  business in annual summer sessions.  Iowa (Conservative) Yearly Meeting includes most of the unprogrammed Friends groups in Iowa, and some meetings in Kansas, Nebraska and Wisconsin.  . 

    The heart of Ames Meeting has always been the meeting for worship.  Worshipers gather in silence in faith, attending to and honoring the presence of God in our individual and corporate midst.  Quakers find that a group worshiping together produces a religious experience of support, insight and discipline that goes beyond anyone’s solitary or personal searching.  It is a “we religion.” 

     Typically, those attenders who come for social or political reasons only, rather than for spiritual seeking, either become more spiritually centered or become disappointed and do not remain with us.  We have been known to disappoint. 

     Since the 1970s, in addition to Sunday morning worship, we have had a midweek meeting.  Originally, this was a meeting for worship and very simple supper, timed to disperse by 7:00 in respect for overloaded schedules.  Now midweek meeting and simple potluck is held at someone’s home once a month, a time for worship and camaraderie.  While Friends do not generally observe a liturgical calendar, the annual Christmas party and the Easter morning walk and shared brunch are exceptions.

     Social action comes according to our leadings.  Fairly regularly since the 1970s, we have held an April 15 Tax Day witness at the downtown post office, handing out flyers and asking people to think about their tax money and where it is being used for.  Meeting members have regularly organized, marched, written and testified publicly for convictions. 

     Ames Meeting has always been small.  Local Friends have been greatly enriched by becoming involved in Iowa (Conservative) Yearly Meeting and in the wider Quaker world of spiritual depths and social actions.  Love is the binding thread. 

TEST BAN TREATY

Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which FCNL sees as the crucial next step toward a peaceful world, is now within reach, and we can help make it happen.

     During the decade since 1999, when the Senate rejected ratification of the treaty, the United States has observed the basic tenets of the treaty while foregoing the security benefits of ratification.  Which makes no sense. 

     In 1999 the two biggest objections to ratification were questions of verification and questions about whether the U.S. nuclear stockpile could be maintained without testing.  Technological advances have now rendered these objections moot.  We give up nothing in exchange for a safer world.  

     President Obama has called for the ratification of the CTBT, and the Senate is on his side.  A treaty vote, however, needs 67 votes to pass.  In 1999, the measure got only 49 votes. 

     Iowa’s Senator Charles Grassley may be one of the 18 extra votes to bend the country toward reason.  That places Iowans again in the front row of historical change.  May we not sleepwalk over the cliff.  May we be faithful and responsible.

     To reach Senator Grassley electronically, go to his contact page http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm .  To snail mail him, write to his Iowa office at 721 Federal Building, 210 Walnut Street, Des Moines, IA 50309.  (Government mail to officials in DC gets caught in months of detoxification before it might reach its destination.)   

Question of the month: Why is a Quaker body of mostly political progressives called Conservative? 

Ames Friends Meeting

121 South Maple

Ames, Iowa 50010

515-232-4610

Deborah Fink, Newsletter Editor