State of the Society, 1999

New York Yearly Meeting
of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

State of the Society Report

Summary of Monthly Meeting Reports

Introduction
This report summarizes the reflections of fifty-four of the seventy-seven monthly and preparative meetings, and worship groups of the New York Yearly Meeting for 1998. In addition to providing an opportunity for each meeting to reflect on its activities during the past year, it also provides an effective source of feedback to the Yearly Meeting in its efforts to enhance the spiritual life and social witness of its members. The first query, "What brought joy to your meeting and why?" stimulated many thoughtful responses as to the ways meeting for worship provides the core and direction to the life of the meeting. Meetings with children and young people stress that they are a special source of joy and inspiration while those lacking this blessing seek it.
       The second query, "How might you realize God's presence more fully in your meeting?" elicited a broad range of insightful responses. Many meetings spoke of the need to be more sensitive to each person's concerns and felt that this in turn might help to realize "God's presence more fully in our community."
       The third query, "How does your meeting support living out our testimonies?" evoked a review of the activities of a great many meetings and individuals in their efforts to respond responsibly to a wide spectrum of local as well as global injustices, hardship, suffering, and acts against humanity.
       The fourth query, "What are your meeting's hopes and aspirations for the coming year?" resonated in a widely shared desire to grow in numbers and to be more spiritual. Meetings want to be more welcoming and loving communities showing kindness to each other and continuing to support each other in their spiritual growth and in living out Friends' testimonies.

1. What brought joy to your meeting and why?

Most of our meetings experience the sheer and simple joy of gathering together for worship. "Sharing meeting for worship is the heart of our joy" writes Dover-Randolph. "Meeting for worship continues to be the heart of Alfred Friends Meeting." A few meetings mention the diversity and richness in programmed meeting or the programmed part of meeting for worship.
       Some speak of the special joy of "the gathered meeting." Many meetings mention the quality and depth of the silence in worship. Sing Sing Prison Quaker Worship Group writes, "We get joy from the silence." Manhasset says that the silence gives "deep spiritual nurture." Auburn Prison has celebrated a worship meeting for twenty-four years. In their words, "Silence is holy and safe with us." Peconic Bay writes, "We hold dear that as long as two or three are present in worship, God is with us." Others comment on the spoken messages brought to the meeting and how they "often share thoughts and concerns that have meaning for all," "speak to one's condition," and "bring us spiritual strength and joy." Quite a few of our meetings specifically refer to the practice of sharing "afterthoughts" as a source of joy, spiritual growth, an increasing sense of community and belonging, and encouragement and support.
       For many of us, God's presence is experienced most directly in our relationships with each other. We are aware that God works among us in our pastoral care for each other. "In caring for one another. . .we testify to the reality of love." (Summit) Several meetings join with Poughkeepsie to "delight in our diversity and our unity of spirit." Elmira mentions "a core of acceptance and religious tolerance" and meetings feel this makes it possible for attenders to speak freely and to become part of the meeting. We express joy in being in each others' presence and in sharing our spiritual journeys. Central Finger Lakes writes, "We. . .find spiritual meaning in being a community." The fellowship in meetings, the bonds between members, and a growing, deepening sense of community, are continued sources of joy, especially in smaller meetings. The Attica Worship Group writes, "There is satisfaction. . .being a community, based on care for each other." We share and support one another's callings. We feel satisfaction in some cases through successful applications of Quaker process to difficult problems. (Ithaca) Otisville has been strengthened by its ability in the past year to overcome discord in their group over different perceptions of right and wrong.
       Meetings that have children invariably mention the children's enthusiasm and spirit as being a special source of joy and inspiration. "Our children share God's light with their openness and enthusiasm." (Farmington) Some of our meetings have been blessed with children as newcomers to meeting. Some have had children born into the meeting. Staten Island mentions "family worship." Summit expresses delight in the children's participation in vocal ministry, and highlight their "giraffe" curriculum in which children examine the lives of people "who stick their necks out" for their convictions. Orchard Park reports great joy in its novel First Day School project: the children "interview" the adults on their Quaker journeys. Flushing Meeting finds special satisfaction in the growth of its First Day School, because a few years ago there was none! Poughkeepsie is not growing numerically but celebrates its blossoming First Day School and its surge of enthusiasm around the children and young families.
       Covered-dish or potluck lunches or dinners, and refreshments at the rise of meeting for worship, provide opportunities to more fully know one another in our meetings, and a few of our meetings share celebrations of anniversaries in their meetings, as well as the joys of meetings for marriage or renewal of marriage vows. A few meetings, including the Quaker Worship Group at Sullivan Correctional Facility, tell us that day or weekend retreats provide great joy, personal sharing, and spiritual renewal. Somerset Hills, a small meeting, joins others in expressing "joy in the occasional visit of Friends from other meetings." Others mention regional gatherings and retreats. Contacts with the wider community prove joyful; celebrations commemorating historic meetinghouses and events give opportunity to increase visibility and make new friends. Shelter Island says that it receives stimulation from its unique outdoor meeting site during the summer months. The Quaker Worship Group at Sullivan Prison enjoys good visitation by "outsiders," (e.g., NYYM Prison Worship Group Committee members), and Attica states, "It is important for us to know that we are being looked at as equals, and those from the outside are seen as equals by the insiders. We find joy. . .as a group for having and seeing hope from within a negative environment." Wilton Friends Meeting's "most exciting accomplishment" is the start-up of Connecticut Friends School, the first Friends' school in the state, and Westbury Friends School has continued its expansion.
       A few of us find joy in survival for yet another year.

2. How might you realize God's presence more fully in your meeting?

Some Friends feel this may be a uniquely personal question, and acknowledge that "each of us feels God's presence differently." We see hope both in individuals' attempts at spiritual growth and in our common search. A few emphasize keeping our circle "open to all seekers." Farmington says, "We try to put away worldly concerns to recognize God's presence in the Meeting." We seek to be increasingly open to God's will. Dover-Randolph shares a desire "to have more of a sense of God's power being acknowledged in our daily lives and in the meeting." Taking more time to center in silence, and achieving the discipline of surrendering to the silence to listen, hear, and respond to what does not come from our own egos, thoughts, and agendas are ways in which our meetings might more fully experience connecting with what is beyond our own circumscribed limits.
       Bulls Head-Oswego mentions supporting one another in spiritual growth. Several of our meetings have study groups that help us in our experience. Quaker Street writes, "All life flows into a great common life if we will only open our eyes to our companions." We have tried a variety of forms: music ministry in an unprogrammed meeting, intergenerational activities, theater, community-building exercises, programming one meeting a month, worship-sharing and midweek worship. One meeting wishes to recognize God in all creation with a plan to honor pets. Several meetings look forward, as the weather becomes warmer, to meeting outdoors and experiencing, as Shrewsbury states it, "that of God in all creation." Some meetings desire more ecological awareness and a resistance to the dominant culture of materialism. One meeting writes, "We acknowledge that our actions may have far-reaching consequences" and yet question "whether we seek out or cultivate leadings and spiritual gifts in one another and educate ourselves about the role of Friends' testimonies in our spiritual and daily lives, whether we have the courage to challenge the prevailing norms" of the larger society.
       At least two meetings note that a few carry the burden of work. Montclair writes, "We know that we might realize God's presence more fully if our community were more joyfully working together." Some of us feel acutely the loss of individuals and strive to carry on and find creative ways to fill vacancies left through death or departure. We seek to pass on both knowledge and understanding of the meeting's workings, their relation to our beliefs, and how experience of God informs what we do. Conscience Bay's smallness as a meeting makes them particularly aware of the need to help young Friends understand our testimonies. Wilton's school has been seeking clarity as it tries to provide a spiritually, physically, socially, and emotionally invigorating education. Clearness committees have been established to aid young Friends in clarifying their approach to full membership. Poughkeepsie is carrying young Friends as associate members until age twenty-three, before asking them to commit to full adult membership.
       A few of our meetings find their places of worship a challenge to sensing God's presence, and want to enhance their limited physical facilities, or long for a meeting place of their own. Saratoga Meeting is seeking ways to adapt their 150-year-old meetinghouse to the modern age. Binghamton has spent the year seeking a new home, and as it looks forward, it hopes that their new meeting place will be a sacred space to enhance their experience of God's presence. Old Chatham copes with the unique problem of maintaining its own identity coincident with maintaining a vital relationship with Powell House.

3. How does your meeting support Friends living out our testimonies?

Many Friends contribute to relief funds, participate in vigils, and write letters of support and messages about our testimonies to the greater society in which we live. We raise money for the homeless and hungry; send cards to shut-ins, and letters to young Friends away at school; help in literacy programs, prison ministry, and meetings for healing. Members feel greatly encouraged by their meetings. Several of our meetings find opportunities to participate in local community peacemaking activities or share with other local resources in feeding the hungry. Meetings mention financial support of other local and larger Quaker organizations as well.
       Hamilton participates in YouthQuake, as one way to support young Friends. Some of our meetings provide learning and practice of testimonies in First Day school with intergenerational sharing of fundraisers for AVP, AFSC, and Habitat for Humanity, supporting Abolition 2000 to abolish nuclear weapons, and holding vigils to call attention to desperate conditions in Iraq. Others join in Peace Teams programs. The group at Sing Sing has begun work on issues relating to the fairness of the administration of parole, prisoner assaults, and the continued denial of permission by the administration for the inmates to have a Quarterly Meeting. They are reviewing, as a major concern, "our need to promote those members. . .who have shown outstanding progress as reformed offenders who have been denied parole." Sing Sing Prison Worship Group is attempting to restart a college program.
       Many members of our meetings live out our testimonies in their work in one of the 'helping professions,' or "engage in projects that spring from our testimonies." One member exclaims, "I could never do what I do all week without meeting for worship." Many meetings mention group support of individuals in the meeting to follow their unique leadings in living out the testimonies of Friends, and quite a few meetings write with great appreciation of the love and support in their meetings, especially in times of stress or transition in their personal lives. A couple of meetings mention a prayer chain or speak of practical acts of love and care demonstrating "that of God" in other members of their meeting. Others feel they support Friends by being "inclusive to all, by honoring each other's gifts." Manasquan writes, "Although we are conscious that the depth of our faith is not reflected in an abundance of social witness, we do recognize that the challenge to live out testimonies in the realm of social activism strengthens our commitment."
       As Perry City writes, "We support Friends of all ages in living out the testimonies in concrete and subtle ways," and mentions particular activities as opportunities to experience aspects of simplicity and community. Wilton Meeting rejoices in their recent resolution of same-gender covenant relationships, "We are committed to equal treatment of all persons seeking marriage under the care of the Meeting."

4. What are your meeting's hopes and aspirations for the coming year?

We express a desire to grow in numbers, and to be more spiritual. Meetings that are smaller express a hope of growth, and the meetings who miss the presence of children among them write of the hope of having a First Day School. Through retreats, adult education, and conferences, meetings also aspire to be better at helping new members and attenders learn about our meetings and about Friends. Various methods are sought to become better known in the community through newspaper articles, radio announcements, and involving community children in the worship and work of the meeting. "We hope to. . .draw Friends of all ages in search of a faith community which can work together to make a difference." Auburn Prison Preparative Meeting writes, "We share the hope with others of bringing happiness, prosperity, and peace to the world regardless of race, creed, or color." Hamilton seeks to "make our opinions known to the government on Quaker concerns and to make our spiritual power felt in answering the needs we see around us."
Our meetings hope to improve communication between Friends. "We hope to heal whatever divisions" there may be between us and "become more spiritual and close-knit, to be fair and inclusive, and not to sweep problems under the carpet." (Westbury) Catskill writes, "We strive to be more attentive to the special needs of Friends in distress. We hope to make our way of managing ourselves serve the greater spiritual purpose of the meeting." We hope to beautify our places of meeting and our own spiritual lives. We seek to enhance our community work and also to have more social occasions, to have more complete participation in committee work, and in regular cleaning of buildings and grounds. Ithaca Meeting continues to labor with finding how best to satisfy the need to provide a central meeting place. We want to be a more welcoming and loving community, showing kindness to each other, and continuing to support each other in our spiritual growth and in living out Friends' testimonies. We hope to "enhance our experience of God's presence among us and to extend a helping hand and spiritual hospitality, ministering to each other and all those with whom we come in contact." We hope for "even more spiritual depth in our meetings for worship" and we ask "to what is God calling us?" We hope to continue "to learn how to be tender nurturers of the Light of the Meeting, and to recognize the leadings that the Light reveals," and we "seek the fullness of joy that comes with being able to see God in all things." Summit writes, "Let us each cultivate that light so that it may illumine our lives, that it may touch the lives of those in our families, our meeting, and our communities, and that it may become a light unto the whole world." Quaker Street shares the following from a hymn by Kenneth I. Patton: "Let us worship with the openings of all the windows of our beings and full outstretching of our spirits. . . . Life comes with singing and laughter, with tears and confiding, with a rising wave too great to be held in the mind, heart and body, to those who have fallen in love with life. Let us worship and let us learn to love. . . ."

Prepared by the Coordinating Committee for Ministry & Counsel