Rick Bushnell of ReClam the Bay gave a presentation on his environmental group’s activities to a small group at Cropwell Meeting in Marlton, N.J., this past Sunday. RTC grows and maintain millions of baby clams and oysters in the Barnegat Bay Watershed, which helps increase biodiversity and shoreline stabilization and restoration.
Bushnell started off by explaining how everything is connected:
The water in the estuary, like the water around the globe, is connected. We’re an environmental group. I’m a sailor, sail many parts of the world. I wanted to know about the water I was next to after moving to Long Beach Island.
Cropwell Meeting is on the edge of the Pinelands Natural Reserve. Bushnell explained how the Pinelands act as a “great big filter that brings water into the estuary, where the salt and fresh water meet. It’s shallower so warmer. Ninety percent of the things that live in the ocean live in an estuary in their juvenile state.” The Pinelands are protected by the state and federal government.
Pollution in the water going into an estuary causes a number of environmental problems. Excess nitrogen from car exhaust and nonporous surfaces create algae blooms which make the water cloudy. Sunlight doesn’t get to the eel grass (which Bushnell called “natures nursery”), a critical habitat for juvenile creatures to hide. Bushnell reported that we’ve lost a shocking 85 percent of eel grass in New Jersey estuaries.
Reclam the Bay is using clams and oysters to stabilize the shoreline and clean the waters. Oysters are inner tidal; they like to be dry sometimes. Clams stabilized the sea floor. Ribbed mussels filter a lot of water. By stabilizing shoreline we increase biodiversity. Just 15 feet of marsh cuts back 50 percent of waves. A lot of the work is done by volunteers.
As per Cropwell custom, Rick Bushnell was presented with one of Earl Even’s custom-made cutting boards after the presentation. A potluck lunch followed.
A very special guest gave ministry to Cropwell Meeting in Marlton, N.J. this Sunday. It was Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, looking good despite having recently celebrated his 300th birthday.
The part was really played by Charles Bruder, of the John Woolman Memorial, who dressed in period garb to share ministry taken from the Journal of John Woolman. Originally published two years after his death in 1774, it has remained in print for the past 250 years. The Journal is included in The Harvard Classics along with William Penn’s Fruits of Solitude and Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. Woolman lived in nearby Mt. Holly, N.J., and frequently traveled in the ministry with Joshua Evans, a member of Cropwell Meeting’s Evans’s family.
Charles Bruder as John Woolman, holding a copy of William Penn’s “No Cross, No Crown.”
Clockwise from left: Bruder talks with a visitor after the talk; about sixteen people were there for the presentation, including eight first-time visitors to Cropwell; Friends assembling for the talk.
Before beginning the presentation, Bruder explained that John Woolman was a spiritual person and interest in the spiritual well-being of his Quaker meeting. He asked everyone to imagine that it was the year 1770 and were sitting together in a Quaker meeting for worship. “John Woolman has just gotten up to speak” he told us as he went into the eighteenth-century minister’s persona.
“I believe God wants me to walk [on his religious travels] so I can understand the condition of the poor and oppressed and enslaved and be an example of humility and lowliness. Walking in obedience to God is agreeable to my state of mind because I know it is God’s will. I am uplifted by the sight of birds in the bushes and the sheep and the cows in the field because I know they are also being obedient to the will of God.
“When people are practicing and participating in the corrupted spirit of this world they are trading for God’s Light. Seeing this has cause me in many occasions to suffer from an inward spiritual poverty. You know the part in the Bible about loving God with all your heart and all your soul? Well, God really meant it. And you know when you’re supposed to live your neighbor as yourself? God really meant that too.”
In persona, Bruder told the audience that one of Woolman’s favorite books was William Penn’s No Cross No Crown and shared some insight from it. His Woolman character left us with a prayer “that your children and your children’s children will inherit a world free of war and crime and racism.” Releasing himself from the Woolman character, Bruder asked us now, in 2024, “to look around this world” and tell him “how that prayer worked out.”
Afterwards Friends gathered for a particularly bountiful Cropwell potluck lunch.
On Saturday Cropwell hosted the gathering of Haddonfield Quarterly Meeting. “The Quarter” is a group of 9 Quaker Meetings in Burlington, Camden, and Atlantic Counties that meets four times a year. Around two dozen Friends scrapped off the effects of a small snow storm the night before to travel to Marlton, with some coming in remotely via Zoom on a screen we installed for the event.
We began with half an hour of worship, then a period of open worship sharing on Rex Ambler’s pamphlet Living in Dark Times. The Quarter had delivered a small supply of copies to each meeting. It was also available as a YouTube of the original speech (see below).
After a pizza lunch, the Quarter came back for its meeting for business. A treasury report from Steve Willis of Medford Meeting led to an approved budget for the next year. An environmental report from Ruth Darlington outlined a number of initiatives taking place in the yearly meeting and quarter. We also had an update on the Faith and Play initiative, a project to expand children religious-education programs in meetings (Cropwell is participating in this and hopes to offer some First-day school classes in the near future).
Almost 60 people came to Cropwell Meeting this past Sunday to welcome Christmas at our second annual sing. About a third of them were featured singers from the Greater Philadelphia Choral Society (GPCS).
The meeting was happy to be joined by a carload of visitors from Barnegat (N.J.) Meeting, another small South Jersey meeting with a passion for outreach. Cropwell was also .delighted to learn that some of the GPCS singers were residents of Medford Leas, the nearby Quaker retirement community where some of our members live.
Greenery and wreathes were hung around the meetinghouse:
The singers began with breathtaking solos:
Perhaps the most tender moment was the entire group singing “SilentNight” together. The sounds reverberated through the meetinghouse, as if the walls themselves were humming along:
After the concert, everyone enjoyed sampling from two large tablefuls of sweets, from mulled cider, to brownies, to an assortment of cookies. One Cropwell attender made beautiful pine cone Christmas ornaments to give away to visitors (they were all different too, some with bells, others with berries!).
It is important to have regular events advertised and open to the public. As usual, Cropwell Meeting publicized the concert on local Quaker calendars, Eventbrite, and Google listings. We also gave flyers to all of the households in the Marlton Village homeowners association adjacent to the meetinghouse.
This last year at Cropwell has brought about some very large changes. Our beloved longtime clerk, Earl Evens, has decided to retire from his clerkship duties. Earl’s tenure has seen a rebirth of a meeting that had dropped down to two regular members. Six new members have joined in the last 18 months and former regulars have been returning. Earl’s gentle and steady guidance about the form and role and content of Friends’ worship has helped create something special on Sunday mornings. A life-long Quaker who attended Cropwell Meeting as a child, Earl will continue to be an integral part of our spiritual community.
I’m one of the new members, transferred from another meeting, and I’m humbled that you all are letting me serve as incoming clerk. Earl’s shoes are big ones to fill!
In a world full of turmoil and lives full of surprises and challenges, Quaker worship and the calm, unadorned space of our historic meetinghouse provide us with solace and comfort. As we look ahead to 2024, we renew our commitment to our beloved Cropwell community.
I’d like you to consider supporting Cropwell Meeting this year. As Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
I love the image of the cheerful giver! An annual donation of $500 from members and attendees (less than $10 a week) would help us better share the good news we’ve found at Cropwell with even more neighbors. We’ve got a lot of ideas on our wish list, from providing children’s education, to fixing up our kitchen, to making the fellowship side of our meetinghouse more useful for programs and social events. Arrangements can be made for members who may wish to donate monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I’d love to hear your dreams for our meeting!
Two dozen Friends came together at Cropwell Friends Meeting today to honor Earl Evens and his retirement as Cropwell clerk. Friends don’t typically celebrate a rotation of clerks but Earl’s tenure has seen a rebirth of a meeting that had dropped down to two regular members. He has been particularly excited for the six new members who joined last year and for former regulars who have been returning. Earl’s gentle and steady guidance about the form and role and content of Friends’ worship has helped create something special on Sunday mornings.
We were especially pleased to have Friends from Haddonfield and Mt Laurel Meetings coming by for this special occasion. We introduced incoming clerk Martin Kelley and wished him well.
Cropwell loves its community and rich conversations took place over a lunch, a blend of catered food and potuck offerings.
More picture by our dear friend Linda Lotz:
Memory lane: some pictures of Earl over the last few years:
On Sunday, longtime Quaker and traveling Friends minister Chris Stern came to speak to Cropwell Meeting in Marlton, N.J. about the center of Quaker faith. The talk was titled “What Are We Waiting For?” He was accompanied by Joe Stratton, a second generation Quaker farmer. They are both members of Middletown Meeting in Delaware County, Pa.
Chris began by expanding on some of the ministry that had been given during worship: “We can’t do it all by ourselves. That’s the starting point. We need help both in our individual and in our meeting community. We feel it’s all up to us to straighten out our lives or our partner’s lives, our meeting’s life, the town’s life. Somewhere along the way we realize we need help—divine help or others’ help. It’s often the little things.”
Audience members
He told stories of growing up as a teenager in Rockland Meeting in New York State.”I didn’t like silence. I didn’t feel I was a good person. I was searching for the kingdom of God out there somewhere. Even changing my beliefs wasn’t changing what was happening inside. I really felt lost trying to navigate the world.”
Eventually he started to read the Journalof George Fox with a Friend from meeting and felt a kindred spirit in the Quaker founder’s tales of youthful religious seeking. Chris told us he realized he had been “looking for something on the outside that could change the inside. but realized that maybe if it’s coming from the inside it will work better.” He started reading more historic Quaker journals to understand what early Friends saw as the center of their faith.
Chris said part of the answer came from Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” He said this is what early Friends were waiting for: “All of the practices and rituals didn’t have any meaning any more. They started waiting because Jesus had said he’d show up. Early friends were averse to doctrines but had a recognition that there was something inside urging them to connect with God and urging them connect with each other—urging them to love. They realized that this was Jesus.”
A lively discussion followed. There’s a Cropwell tradition that guest speakers are presented a cutting board made by meeting clerk Earl Evens. Cropwell has a special love of community and had a conversation-filled potluck meal together following the talk.
Chris was featured last year in a Quakerspeak series:
It’s all very fine having websites and social media accounts, but it’s even better to have signs for curious neighbors passing by and for visitors trying to find the meetinghouse building. It took many emails, phone calls, design mockups, and vendors quotes but we’ve recently installed new signs by both entrances to our driveway.
A big shout-out to Stephen Jones of Back Door Designs in Mount Laurel, N.J., for helping us to look so good!
Over three dozen local history enthusiasts came to Cropwell Meeting this Sunday to hear a presentation by Paul W. Schopp on antebellum free Black communities in the Marlton area. Schopp is a historian who has been researching historic Black South Jersey towns for over three decades. He has identified 140 “fugitive slave enclaves” in the southern counties of the state. Milford, New Jersey (later renamed Kresson) was one such town, whose residents enjoyed longstanding connections to Cropwell Meeting.
Schopp set up the history: in 1776, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting decided that no members could hold slaves. With slavery ended in the Religious Society of Friends, Quakers in Southern New Jersey began lobbying the colonial—and later state—government to allow for easier manumissions and total abolition. [A law for gradual abolition passed the state legislature in 1804.]
The woods of free South Jersey began attracting Africans in bondage, especially from Maryland. As the number of free Blacks grew, enclaves attracting fugitive slaves began to develop. Schopp stressed that these enclave towns were not “stops” on the Underground Railroad (temporary resting places before travel elsewhere) but “terminals”—towns where escaping enslaved people settled. Timbuctoo outside Mt Holly served as a template for these communities. These settlements were often on the margins of White communities or in rural districts, usually on sandy land with only marginal productive use. The men often worked in local brickyards; the women as house servants.
Schopp finished by regaling the audience with heart-stopping stories of slave catchers who kidnapped whole families and the White abolitionists who went back into slave territory in disguise to negotiate for their return to South Jersey.
The audience was fascinating mix. The meeting had publicized the the talk among local historical societies and African American history networks. The talk attracted members from area Quaker families; a member of Milford’s Truitt family (whose grandmother worshiped at Cropwell in the early twentieth century); a docent from the African American Museum in Philadelphia; sisters who had grown up in Milford/Kresson decades ago; as well as a number of local history buffs.
Many of the attendees came early to attend Cropwell’s worship service. The meeting’s clerk made sure to go around the room welcoming everyone in turn and inviting them to share where they were from and why they had come. A number of attendees said it was their first Quaker meeting for worship.
At worship, the clerk asked a member to read from a 1966 memoir, Answered Prayers, by Paul S. Lippincott Jr., a recorded minister and lifelong Friend at Cropwell. Here is part of that reading:
With this background of the Society of Friends, which is more or less mystical religion, it would probably account for one of the early experiences I had when I was in my late twenties or early thirties. I had been reading some religious books before retiring for the night, and after a short period of prayer it became very clear to me that I should go out and gear up the horse. Not having any car in those days, or any electricity, I lighted the old kerosene lantern and went out to the stable and harnessed the horse. It was very clear to me as I went out the lane that I turn settlement about 2 miles west of Marlton, known as Milford. Since there was a Milford in North Jersey the name was later changed to Kresson. In this settlement was a little country store which was still lighted on this particular evening. Without any preparation at all it seemed to me that I should stop at the store and purchase some staple items of food for someone. Until that time I had no idea where I was going to take this food, but after purchasing some canned food and staple items that could be kept for a few weeks without refrigeration, I remembered an old colored lady named Margaret Worthington, who lived in a cabin by herself. I had never met her but I felt that I was to drive in that direction. In about ten minutes I pulled up at the little one room cabin where there was a light through the window, and as I went to the door, I heard her voice praying for help and food. I was there under unusual circum stances to answer the fervent prayers of a believing soul. I left the food and that was the beginning of an unusual friendship.
1885 map showing Milford (Now Kresson), NJ. Via boydsmaps.com.Mary Truitt Jackson home in Milford (Kresson), N.J. Left: Members of the Truitt Family purchased land from Cropwell Meeting’s Evans Family as early as 1834. Photo from “Unearthing Evesham’s Forgotten History,” a talk sponsored by Evesham Township on Feb. 23. An interactive slideshow from this event is available here. The scan is attributed to the “MATM Collection,” copyright 2019; we’ve cleaned it up. Schopp says it’s from the collection of Patti Colston.
Two Truitt descendants, Damon Truitt and Patti McGee Colston, were featured in the Roots Less Traveled TV show last year, much of which was filmed at Cropwell Meeting. Damon came to Cropwell for the event.
World War 2 war vet and Quaker George Rubin came to Cropwell Meeting this Sunday to tell how his first-hand experience of the horrors of war turned him into a Quaker pacifist.
George told the audience how excited he was to leave Brooklyn as a teenager for the chance to see the world through combat. Assigned to a B-17G Flying Fortress, he found himself at the age of 19 stationed in England and flying regular bombing raids over Germany. In the winter of 1944-45, the U.S. began targeting civilians in order to break German morale. Some of Rubin’s crewmates had decided they wouldn’t fly these missions; the others stayed up in their quonset huts debating whether they would stand with them, an act of defiance that would certainly bring on a court martial.
George with a model of the plane he flew on.
The next day they were sent on a mission to Munich. Anti-aircraft flak was the biggest danger to aircraft going into 1945 and at 30,000 feet, on a beautiful Sunday winter day, they were hit. Two engines gave out and the plane was riddled with 270 holes. George Rubin’s leg was seriously wounded but he was tasked with lightening the load by jettisoning the bombs so that the crippled plane might make it to neutral Switzerland. Going into the bomb bay in negative 28° degree weather, he made sure to put the Carter pins back into the bombs warheads so they wouldn’t explode when they fell on the towns below.
They crashed in Germany, in a field next to a camp of Nazi Youth Training Corp and were about to be executed when a German officer stopped the proceedings and they became prisoners of war. They were marched to Nuremberg and south of Germany and endured the battle as General Patton’s army liberated the POW camp.
George Rubin came out of these experiences knowing he would never fight again. “Human beings are too precious,” he told the rapt audience at Cropwell. A decision that started in a Quonset hut in England and finally made on the road to Nuremberg.
The Cropwell Meeting audience was captivated by George’s storytelling.
Back home in Brooklyn, George’s wife Margery found Quakerism and they had a community that supported their new pacifist views. George has served Friends in many capacities, including as clerk of New York Yearly Meeting. He is a member of nearby Medford Meeting.
George has continued to work for peace over the almost eight decades since that fateful winter. He told the Cropwell audience that there is a behavioral center for Veterans a few blocks from the meetinghouse. He meets with other vets every week. “I’m the antique of this bunch,” he told the meeting, explaining that most are vets there from Vietnam and Afghanistan and Iraq. “They all have PTSD. This is what the ‘good war’ does to all of us.”
He told the audience of the scene at the Philadelphia VA Hospital, where so many vets are there for drugs because they’re suicidal. “We sent them to fight and then forget about them. We don’t know the devastation we’re doing to each other.“
Marjorie Rubin was there documenting the talk with her ever-present camera.The Cropwell potluck table.
Many years later, George Rubin traveled to the German town where his plain crash landed and met with the mayor and former German soldiers. The crash site is still a field, protected from development and the mayor confirmed that none of the bombs George jettisoned out of the plane that freezing morning exploded.
Toward the end of the event, two sisters in the audience rose to tell the story of their father, who had also flown bombing missions over Germany. They recalled the PTSD that kept him from ever talking about that part of their life with them, and showed family memorabilia of his military life.
George Rubin ended his presentation with a reading of “Prayer for Peace,” written by Norman Corwin and dedicated to his brother LT. Alfred Corwin. It was originally written for a radio broadcast in 1945 called “On A Note Of Triumph.” (A documentary on Corwin can be watched here).
More:
You can read more about George’s pacifist positions in his 2015 article for Friends Journal magazine, “A Letter from a Warrior.“
