Another year of COVID drove our way of gathering as a community this past year. We started off the year with only Zoom Meetings for Worship and our grounds closed. A group of concerned members felt it was safe enough to meet in person and held a self-labeled “protest” Meeting for Worship outdoors on March 21, 2021, and outdoor Meeting for Worship began and continued until the end of October. After discussions among the committee members in place to deal with COVID safety, we readied ourselves for meeting indoors. We began having both outdoor and hybrid in-person/Zoom Meetings for Worship on Easter. These hybrid Meetings were possible because our Worship & Ministry Committee and Abington Friends School invested their time and money in equipment placed in the Meetinghouse so we could be together, and our Property Committee created markers for social distancing. It took some technical adjustments, but now most Zoomers can hear most messages from the Meetinghouse.
Our Meetings for Worship to Attend to Business were also held in hybrid fashion. A few committees held hybrid meetings and we hold hybrid Meeting for Singing before Meeting for Worship. Also, we have had a few Adult Classes and a Workshop held in-person. With any in-person meetings we have number limits, masking, and social distancing. Because of the size of the crowd and social distancing, we held our Christmas Eve Caroling and Meeting for Worship at Abington Friends School gym. Thanks, AFS! Even though winter is here now, we continue to keep doors and windows cracked for air flow as a precaution put into place by our ad hoc COVID Protocol Committee.
Some exciting news to share in these COVID times is on membership. We had 13 new members this year.
After 5 years in the planning, our ad hoc Accessibility, Safety & Inclusion Committee is currently in the process of collecting contractor bids and then starting construction to create an accessible entrance, an accessible bathroom, and some accessibility in the kitchen. They are continuing to work on accessible parking. Unfortunately, while unity was reached, this was not an easy process and there was tension created along the way and we are planning a Meeting for Healing in the near future.
Our standing committees are continuing their loving work to care for our community. Our Adult Education Committee has provided us with thought-provoking and healing classes with their theme “How can we intentionally open to healing and resilience, led by the Light?” Our Care of Members Committee continues its outreach to members of our community, offering Spiritual, social, psychological, practical, and financial assistance to our community members and committees. Our Children’s Religious Education Committee struggled with interest in holding classes and they are currently suspended, but there is a plan for monthly get-togethers and weekly childcare is still available when Meeting for Worship was in person. We are also considering hiring a Children’s Religious Education Coordinator. Our Finance Committee is in good working order with members all doing their part to keep us running. Along with the Finance Committee, our Trustees of Abington Meeting, Inc. and our John Barnes Trustees, Inc. continue their good work as well. Our Funeral Committee was busy this year. Several Memorial Meetings that had been postponed last year because we were not in person were held this year under their loving care. Our Hospitality Committee has made a comeback this year. Besides providing flowers once again for our Meeting for Worship, they also provide a coffee break with beverages and simple snacks between Meeting for Worship and Meeting for Worship to Attend to Business, but this now happens outdoors on our porch to provide both physical and social sustenance. Our Library Committee continues to keep books, pamphlets, and journals at our avail to check out. Our Nominating Committee has had many changes to address and is busy keeping our committees filled with good fits.
Our Peace & Social Justice Committee has been meeting weekly on the corner of Jenkintown & Meetinghouse Roads for a Black Lives Matter protest since June 5, 2020, except for a few bad weather days but has now suspended weekly protests until the weather warms up again in the Spring. They distributed the Right Sharing Funds to John B. Kelly School, Face to Face and Germantown Avenue Crisis Ministry. They collected food, as well as coats and mittens/hats/scarves to be distributed. A member of the committee took our Minute of Reconciliation approved in May to the Lenni Lenape in Oklahoma and presented it to the chief. Two subcommittees were formed this year – Sustainability and Reparations. While both are in their infancy, we are looking forward to their guidance on these important issues. Our Property Committee takes first place in amount of change this year. In addition to the special work needed due to COVID changes mentioned previously, our caretaker retired this year, and the committee has had to work diligently to keep our property in good order. The entire committee has put in much time, effort, and sweat and it shows. Our School Committee continues to keep us connected to Abington Friends School, and under the care of our Meeting, our school continues to be a wonderful example of Friends Education. Our Worship & Ministry Committee continues to care for our Meeting for Worship (MfW) and our Meeting for Worship to Attend to Business (MfWtAtB). In addition to their efforts mentioned previously, they convene and act as tech hosts for our MfW and act as tech hosts and support for the clerk at our MfWtAtB. They continue to provide programming and guidance to our community to ensure that our worship and business are Spirit-led. Our Youth Committee was placed on inactive status and will re-form when the interest in doing so is there.
We also had some special programming. Two such programs of note were celebrations. Under the guidance of a Friend, we gathered on Zoom for an inspiring MLK Day celebration. Another Friend, with sponsorship by our Peace & Social Justice Committee, coordinated our first ever Celebration of Pride, in person and on Zoom, on the first Sunday of Pride Month, in loving memory of our young Friend Andrew Dow.
An exciting enlivening part of our summer was hosting Ujima Peace Center’s Freedom Summer 2021. The youth and their counselors came Thursdays and Fridays, spreading themselves out over our grounds sometimes seen on quilts brought to the meetinghouse for their use. We hope to host them again next year and we have already had talks about our meeting members getting involved with sharing their talents with the youth. In the bigger picture, we wish to develop a sister relationship with Ujima Friends Meeting and Ujima Peace Center in the full sense of Ujima, collective work and responsibility working together to build our union.
Lastly, but certainly not least, we are blessed with three special Friends that keep our Meeting running – Loretta Fox, our Administrator, Cathy Callan, our Secretary, and our latest addition, Robert Sloan, our Property Coordinator.
