The Spiritual State of Downingtown Friends Meeting 2023
March 24, 2024
The spirituality of Downingtown Friends Meeting is the foundation for ensuring that members possess a strong sense of joy and gratitude within our community. In spite of challenges, the spiritual state of our meeting has been good throughout the past year. Nonetheless, this self-examination allows us to explore opportunities to grow even stronger. There is no doubt that the Covid pandemic had a profound effect; as a result, we have made changes to achieve greater spirituality and
connectedness. Of course, spiritual messages in meeting for worship are best delivered in-person. We are all excited to finally return to our traditional in-person meeting for worship to keep our community communicating and forming strong bonds. As a back-up, we continue to offer zoom for those who need it.
Not so surprising, as our individual and collective families age, so does our meeting. In spite of our current decrease in children, we continue to support an excellent first day school program. The presence of our youngest friends creates an atmosphere of enthusiasm and vitality that we cherish. In our meeting, children have always been integral to our culture. Our focus is attracting families to maintain a balanced and vibrant Quaker community.
We have reintroduced events that not only strengthen our meeting, but add a level of excitement and fun, and can be enjoyed by the entire family. We focus on Quaker values, build togetherness, and provide talking and listening opportunities. In spring, we participate in our Caln Quarterly Meeting at Camp Swatara. The plenary session this year asked: How Friends found belonging in their Meeting. It is a relaxed time to converse both formally and informally with the Quarter’s members. It is also a great time to discover nature for all ages. The program’s focus topics are often nature
oriented, reminding us of how to be good stewards of our planet and to respect all creatures great and small. Often this is the first-time children experience the simple pleasures of camping and fishing. Through these activities, deeper friendships are forged between members, as well as with nature.
It is our philosophy that if you make an event fun, Friends will come. One such traditional summer event is our ice cream social. Friends are asked to get creative and bring uniquely flavored ice cream bases to be churned on site. Here, before our eyes, ice-cream and children immediately come to life. On a summer day, all ages sit together outside with their favorite f lavor, or flavors. Relaxed in this carefree moment, we easily fall into conversations that strengthen our spirituality and
connectedness.
Every October we host our Friends Fall Festival. This is more than just a fundraiser; it serves as effective outreach to our local community. It is also a good internal reminder of what we can do when we work together. Everyone is encouraged to contribute, promoting a meeting-wide interconnectedness. This is also very much a showcase for our Meeting’s way of life. Through home baked goods, antiques, art and plant sales there is something for everyone to enjoy. For children and adults alike, there is face-painting, pumpkin painting, games, contests and an array of talented musicians. One annual event of our festival is a historical reenactment of the first wedding to take place in our meetinghouse in 1806, which attracts the ‘Quaker curious’ in our community.
Our Christmas program has long been a special component of maintaining our spirituality. We were able to hold this candlelit vocal and instrumental concert and reception for the first time indoors since Covid, which brought great joy to our community.
Recently, in our Meeting for Worship, we have begun to have our committees take turns sitting on the facing benches and managing the closing of worship. This allows the sharing of responsibilities and provides another avenue to get to know each other. We have included our Firstday School in this, which gave them a valuable new perspective on the traditional Quaker ways.
Our Meeting addresses racism by participating in POWER Interfaith. 60% of the profits from our fall festival go to organizations in which our Friends participate. These include the Coatesville Branch of the NAACP and Historic Fair Hill, where the funds go toward education programs for children of color. We are in the process of developing a land acknowledgement for the Lenape. Chief Waterbear suggests we contact legislators reminding them of the Lenape’s current presence.
We have addressed three of the Climate Action Sprint topics.
• Activism. Many DFM members are very active in environmental protection, we do not lack in that department.
• Education. DFM has held many environmental-related opening exercises, brown bags, and presentations at Camp Swatara. Joe Laird has been our FCNL representative, bringing us updates on their initiatives.
• Reducing our carbon footprint. Not much has been done with the meeting property to reduce its footprint.
• Many members of DFM walk the talk by living a low-carbon life by using solar, driving electric vehicles, heating with hydrothermal technology, and replacing fossil-fueled HVAC systems with heat pump technology.
• DFM is deeply and spiritually connected to God’s creation and demonstrates that in the way we worship, our community through our displays and activities at our annual fall festival, and through supporting other community activities.
• We do not currently have an appointed climate witness.
The Future and Outreach
In order to further strengthen the state of our spirituality, we offer several solutions. We believe that we should focus on children in our Meeting, since they are the future. To attract new families, we are participating with Jon Watts to create a video to post on our website to share who we are to our community. We are in the process of designing a new playground area, and a dedicated fund raiser has already begun to raise monies for this important project.
To enhance our members’ appreciation of Quaker spirituality and history, we will be holding a course in Quakerism 101. We welcome support from PYM to recommend resources for this. This class will cover a range of topics; and hopefully provide answers to questions about Quakerism, for newcomers and seasoned Friends alike. It will culminate in a day long retreat to focus on tools to facilitate conflict resolution.
As in the past, we will continue to volunteer in the local community in a variety of programs. 36 of our members volunteer with 63 local and national charitable organizations. In addition, we have begun a coffee hour after the rise of Meeting so Friends can get to know one another better. The more
we talk and listen, the better our connectedness. This post-Meeting coffee period will allow us to informally chat with our Friends where there is not the pressure of time.
As of 2024, we have reintroduced our monthly potluck Eating Meeting lunch, cooperative dinners, and may also bring back Friday night barbecues in the summer, providing more opportunities for Friends to get to know one another.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeff Domenick
Sally McQuail
Tim Warner
