Introduction:
The past year was profoundly marked by the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and by the war on terror in response. As a religious society we continue to be troubled both by the ongoing warfare and by its widespread support. These events have caused us to examine our personal beliefs and corporate testimonies, and awakened us to the importance of our faith community. Our shared grief brings us closer to one another and to the foundations of our religious beliefs. In response to such extraordinary events, the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel did not provide suggested queries to be used by the member meetings and worship groups of New York Yearly Meeting to prepare their 2001 State of the Meeting reports. As a result, the responding meetings presented and approached their reports in a variety of ways. A significant number of constituent meetings did not submit reports this year, but together the State of the Meeting reports provide an overview of the Religious Society of Friends, as it now exists in New York Yearly Meeting. What follows is both a reflection of the monthly meeting reports and an expression of the "sense of the meeting" from our perspective as the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel. Quotations from individual monthly meeting reports are included without attribution.

The State of the Society 2001
The New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is composed of 66 monthly meetings, 9 quarterly and regional meetings, 3 preparative meetings, and 14 worship groups, some of which gather within prisons.¹ We are grateful to report that this year 3 new worship groups have begun with guidance from the yearly meeting or monthly meetings. At the same time, some meetings grieve over the loss of dedicated, weighty Friends no longer with us, while one meeting queries, "At what level does a meeting cease to be a viable unit?" The closing words of one monthly meeting's report will serve as a beginning: "With awareness of our challenges, we go forward knowing that God is not finished with us yet and that meanwhile the Meeting continues to remain a place of refuge, love, and healing."

The meetings of New York Yearly Meeting gathered in worship after the destruction and suffering of September 11. In most reports there was a common note of sadness and continued struggle with the pain caused by such massive violence and death. And the violence and death did not end on that awful day but continue to this very moment, touching and wounding all of us. Both our faith and our testimonies are being tested.

"When we look back over the year, it is hard to see past the terrible landmark of September 11. Not just the time after that day, but also the time before it seems changed by the shock of impact. Some things grew in importance while others diminished."

"The unspeakable horror that has befallen our country leaves us in shock. We do not easily find the words to describe our feelings."

"The events of September 11, 2001 are etched in our memories, and we struggle with how to be 'the still small voice' that remembers there are so many underlying causes to the attacks on our nation."

"The tragedies of killing and conflict over the past months have deepened our thoughts. . . . We feel that we are part of a growing stream of people who trust in God, who are not afraid, who practice fairness, and who challenge war more and more broadly."

"We have been challenged, especially in our spiritual setting, to comprehend that which many of us still find incomprehensible."

"Some felt tested in both our beliefs and our faith and found us unprepared, having taken for granted much of what is central to Quakerism. The process of creating a minute to quickly address these events brought about tension and confusion for some members and attenders."

"We continue to work in many small ways to oppose institutionalized violence, and this struggle is shaping our souls."

"It seems that our venerable Peace Testimony requires close attention."

"We ask ourselves, what does it mean to live in the life and power that takes away the occasion for all war? Can we do this--as a nation, a people of faith, a child of God, a follower of Christ--without confronting our own complicity in the cycle of violence and injustice?"

Especially in troubled times, most meetings find worship their rock and refuge. We are, most importantly it seems, a Society composed of groups of worshipers, which, though differing in numbers and approach, strengths and weaknesses, gifts and difficulties, are united in the search for and experience of the Divine.

"Out of this worship comes our ability to minister; to offer pastoral care; to seek, to question, and discover in a safe place; to gather strength for another week; and to set examples for one another. Worship continues to be our wellspring, our nourishment, our sustenance."

"Our meeting exists primarily to find, corporately, the Spirit to lead us to truth, unity, and love, mainly through our way of worship."

"Meeting for worship has been a deep source of strength for our members and attenders, and even visitors have remarked about the inspiration they have received from a single meeting."

Many additional midweek meetings for worship have begun since September 11. Some meetings have reached out to Islamic congregations in their communities. Many have held special called meetings to help cope with the pain and to find ways to speak our truth to the wider community and the world. One meeting asked members and friends to worship together wherever they happened to be at 9:30 each night. Many meetings approved letters, minutes, and statements for publication, though not just a few struggled with the process and even the underlying peace testimony so central to our historic faith. Some of us feel uncertain of our beliefs amid the raging of a popular and "righteous" war.

While the impact of world events touched every meeting, the reports also speak of other issues and other realities. They speak of joys, losses, sufferings, concerns, and blessings. While some meetings continue to struggle, others are vital and growing. First Day schools are both large and small, a promise for some and a concern for most. One meeting asked, "How do we cultivate the gifts of our children so that they strengthen our corporate life?"

Some meetings celebrate the power of corporate worship; others have expressed a concern about the lack of or quality of vocal ministry in their meetings for worship.

"Are we being faithful caretakers of the treasure of silence, or are we guarding this treasure too carefully?"

"Often we feel unsure whether our leadings are worthy of breaking the silence, yet we welcome the ministry of those moved by the Spirit to speak."

"We have found that personal differences of faith, when acknowledged and accepted in an atmosphere of love and trust, have increased the depth and richness of messages in our worship. We are awakened with a new sense of the Spirit, but some people continue to feel challenged by vocal ministry and with speaking out of the silence of Meeting."

"There seems to have been a fairly good balance established between meetings for worship with those moved by the Spirit and meetings of productive silence. The richness of each is treasured, as well as those occasional murmurings of our babies and young children."

"Through worship we discover who we are corporately."

Our prison meetings and worship groups remain a vital part of the Yearly Meeting family. There is a palpable sense of gratitude, optimism, and spirit among those of us confined behind bars.

"As prisoners we treasure our relationship with outside Friends."

"During the difficult times following the September 11 tragedies, our group sought to understand and love the unlovable, to reach out to racists and terrorists who hurt and kill others. We believe that God, through his people and in many other ways, offers these troubled individuals healing love and divine forgiveness."

"The spiritual well-being of the group is alive and well and we find the silence on Sunday morning an oasis for renewing the spirit of life."

The preparation of their reports was an occasion for deep questioning in some meetings--of their beliefs, their practices, their strengths and weaknesses.

"There is little demand to follow a particular set of beliefs or achieve a certain level of involvement, which is desirable for many of us but allows of less drive and focus. How can we keep this tolerance yet remain a strong Meeting?"

"Though there is evidence of the work of the spirit in our midst, this past year leaves us with a sense of lost momentum."

"Our little meeting, so blessed by loving Friends and capable willing hands since 1896, has reached a new low."

"There is much we are doing in small groups or as individuals. There continues to be a sense of something missing from the whole, a lack of corporate spiritual voice. How can we better articulate the challenges we have been given? How can we meet them for ourselves, for our meeting, for the world?"

Some meetings have found strength and guidance in scripture, in Bible study, and in following the advice of Jesus. Many meetings seem to be looking inward and confronting "what it means to be a Friend."

"Friends acknowledge that we live in a society in which too much of what we value is ignored, while too much of what we find to be superficial is celebrated. We know that it is up to us to be Quakers, to live our faith as well as profess our faith."

"We are trying to understand the essence of religious faith in a world that is often more divided by faith than united by it. We recognize anew how important it is that we hold our light steady--be it large or small--and keep it bright enough for others to find."

"In our meeting, Friends are deeply and consistently committed to living our Friends' testimonies. We seem to be much more hesitant to speak of the Source of our inspiration, of what it is that gives us hope, that moves or amazes us, that makes us able 'to walk cheerfully over the earth, answering that of God in every one.'"

"How do we take hold of the root, the spiritual basis of our historical peace testimony, so that we might proclaim it and live it anew, in these times?"

Underlying all the reports is our deep need for each other, especially in these times. We are learning to develop and better nurture our sense of community. Friends still experience "the grace derived from patience and discipline in staying with the process" as we consider matters of corporate witness and "a sense of awe before the power of God working among us." We strive to remember "that love is an action word. We embrace each other because we see each other as love in action." And we recognize our need for healing, fellowship, openness, and the Unseen Presence in our midst.

Yet many reports reflect a deep concern for the future. Perhaps our hesitancy to "proselytize" has become a tendency to "hide our Light under a bushel." One small meeting spoke for many others in saying, "Our meeting seems to be going through a time of shrinking attendance, a change from a time a few years ago when we seemed to be full of vitality and growing membership. Although this appears to be a low time, it can also be seen as a time when spiritual growth is evident, with people sometimes more able to express deep spiritual understandings."

We may have become more comfortable reacting to specific events as "a peculiar people" rather than risk sharing the experience and message of Friends with our communities and the world. The Religious Society of Friends provides no more than a way. It is not the source of strength but rather a path to the Source that sustains us. One meeting said, "Testimonies and traditions have provided a framework for carrying on as we move forward with the Light of God as our never failing guide." That framework, those testimonies and traditions, are as vital in the world today as they have ever been. One report reminds us of the inspiration found in the words of Robert Barclay, "For when I came into the silent assemblies of God's people, I felt a secret power among them which touched my heart."