As with all Meetings, the unprecedented challenges of 2020 had a significant impact on Buckingham, its members, and our spiritual life. We recorded 68 adult members and 24 minor members, for a total of 92. For the first time in recent memory we gained no new members, but also did not have any deaths.
When the COVID shutdown began in March we immediately suspended in-person Meeting for Worship, and quickly followed other Meetings in meeting virtually on Zoom. Our technical setup is effective and fairly simple, and enables us to have a hybrid meeting with Friends both online and, weather permitting, in-person outside. (We have not yet resumed any use of the Meetinghouse.) This format was surprisingly fulfilling, both spiritually and in being able to connect with members. The need to change our practices also created new opportunities in the midst of hardship. Friends from across the country and around the world were able to join our worship on a regular basis, and we were also able to include local members who otherwise would have been unable to travel to regular in-person worship. In some ways committee work was strengthened by being able to meet more flexibly and being more inclusive using our Zoom account. We also began a mid-week meeting “not just for worship,” usually on Wednesday nights, which was an informal way for members to share, feel connected and discuss queries and other topics. More of us than ever were also able to participate in Bucks Quarterly Meeting and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting programs and events by meeting virtually rather than in person. We hope that we can retain many of the good aspects of what we have learned once life returns to “normal.”
In-person activities and social activism were of course severely curtailed, but we still managed some successes. In observance of Juneteenth and our Meeting’s support of equality and justice, members of the Meeting held a physically distant roadside vigil in front of the Meetinghouse. Friends held signs pertaining to the Black Lives Matter movement and waved to passing cars. We had a very robust virtual worship with families at Buckingham Friends School, as well as alumni who joined from across the country. The pandemic required the suspension or modification of many other traditions. The Peace Fair was cancelled, and while this year was the 300th anniversary of the incorporation of our Meeting, our planned celebration did not happen. In the Christmas holiday season we had a virtual candlelight worship, and to make sure we still had donations for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, we had a socially distanced event on the porch of the Meetinghouse where Friends brought items to donate in exchange for a cup of hot cocoa or cider and a gift from the Meeting.
On the downside, we recognize that meeting virtually allowed some to participate more fully, there were many others that we did not see on Zoom who normally would have attended Meeting for Worship in person. We have had only a few “visitors” to our virtual meetings, and therefore fewer opportunities to interact with new people. The strong recent growth in our First Day School program was halted by the pandemic. It was impossible to meet with children in person, and difficult to do so virtually. We had several after-Meeting picnics in the graveyard for families, which were very enjoyable, but they were just not the same as regular First Day School.
We took advantage of the downtime to work on some significant maintenance projects, and one member donated his labor as well as the materials to re-roof our carriage shed. Falling trees and limbs due to severe storms were an expensive liability. Financially, the Meeting continued to receive strong donations from our members and attenders, and our investment revenue was not impacted as much as we feared. However, our renter in the cottage on the Plumstead property that we own was unable to pay rent for most of the year, leaving our budget in a significant deficit.
Overall, the sense of our Meeting was that it was surprisingly fulfilling and spiritual given our state of affairs.
