Dear Friends,

Another month has passed by, and they seem to come and go so swiftly this year.  Before long, summer will have passed by.  I am glad we have a chance to all get together on August 10 at Moore Park for the church picnic.  There will be games, a short devotional and a potluck, which always means more food than we can eat — so please come even if you aren’t an attendee or a member of Klamath Falls Friends Church.  This is just a chance to get to see folks and for us to be in community with one another.  The picnic is at the Pavillion on the lake side of Moore Park.  Church begins at 10:00, but there will be an open-air bible study that starts at 9:00.  We are in the third chapter of the book of James.  Bring a chair and a dish, and wear casual clothes.

One way to know it is summer other than picnics is the county fair that comes once a year.  Jay and Joe make a habit of going, even in the rain, and I get to hear about the funnel cakes and rides that fight gravity and challenge centrifugal force. It takes a lot of flexibility to get on a rollercoaster, being okay with sudden changes and anticipating falls.  But flexibility is required of all of us in life, which as it was mentioned in the Ron Howard movie, Parenthood (1989) is a carnival ride with all of its twists and turns and sudden and unexpected drops. (https://youtu.be/3yzF2MdnVHU)

We have to remain flexible, be able to bend without breaking, to allow sudden change to happen without creating a rift in our spirits, Joyce Sequichie Hifler reminds us in the meditation book, A Cherokee Feast of Days.  She says, “If we were to stop and analyze the past and what lies ahead, we would know that if anything is required of us, it is to be flexible.”  Which she says depends on our ability to love others as we do ourselves, and to begin with loving ourselves in all the chaos and all the unexpected twists and turns of life.  She calls it bonding “with the law of our own spiritual being.”

I hope your life is smooth, or takes its ups and downs in stride, but don’t forget that God is in all of it, and that learning to enjoy it depends on being able to love yourself and from that, love others.

Sunday August 3 from 12-6PM at the Klamath Falls Art Gallery there will be a new summer-themed exhibit, live music, food trucks, desserts, and artists demonstrating their skills.

August 11 is a cleaning day at the church beginning at 9:00 and going until finished or 10:30, whichever comes first.  There is a sign-up sheet on the entry table at the church house.

Important information on Gaza:https://www.fcnl.org/updates/2025-07/quakers-discern-genocide-occurring-gaza-and-urge-courageous-action?akid=99751.687392.IPGals&rd=1&t=22&utm_campaign=thisweek&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ak&utm_term=99751.687392.IPGals

Attached are the reports given at last week’s business meeting and the notes for that meeting.  There is also a bulletin for this Sunday and a flier about the Restoration Days at Klamath Tribes in Chiloquin.

Peace,

Leigh