Spiritual State of the Meeting Report
Religious Society of Friends
Exeter Monthly Meeting
2023-24
Exeter Friends Meeting of Caln Quarter and rural Berks County, remains faithful to the Spirit of life that embraces all creation. We meet weekly in worship and support our members with care and affection.
We are a small meeting that brings together about 20 or more worshipers each first day. We meet on one side of our 265-year old divided meetinghouse which, during the cooler months, allows us to gather around our wood stove for added warmth and fellowship. We feel that our spiritual community is strong even though our organization of seasoned members and leaders is thinning.
We find the intellectual and spiritual energy within the Meeting exhilarating and that enthusiasm has encouraged growth in several new areas. Many women members have established a book club that brings them together socially to discuss a broad range of themes and through which friendships are strengthened. A recent discussion and study of Richard Rohr’s book, “Breathing Underwater”, about the spiritual implications of the 12-step program, has attracted new attenders. Additionally, our Worship and Ministry committee has added new members who bring fresh ideas to our pre-worship discussions, which provide a rich source of community and spiritual growth to members and attenders alike.
Our meeting continues to grow in membership and in regular attendance.
The Meeting supports two new Friends in offering music and sound immersion ministries that gather Friends and new visitors. One Friend religiously hosts a vibrant circle of Sacred Harp Singers twice each month.
With two prominent members planning to leave our community this coming fall, we anticipate the thinning of our seasoned leadership. While membership has grown over the past three years with many new members assuming responsibilities on committees, the Meeting sees many of its longer tenured members receding from positions of responsibility. Some participate less because of ability and others because of family and work obligations. This loss, at the core of our Meeting, makes us more susceptible to spiritual drift, as it similarly opens us to revitalizing change. It also places more strain on our leadership. The Meeting will ask a nominating committee to consider reorganization and new leadership as we proceed through the coming year.
We have entertained two threshing/ listening sessions this past year: the first, on use of our burial grounds and the second, on the installation of solar panels. We came to clarity on the use of our burial grounds for Friends and friends of the Meeting who wish a green burial, as Exeter opened its grounds to new burials in 2015. A committee of three agreed to meet and work on the details of making the burial ground functional and accessible, especially for those surviving family members who have not prepared for the unfamiliar practice of simple burial. We look forward to an annual review of the procedures and applications that make this practice more accessible to the families of those who would like a natural deposition of one’s body after death.
A listening session was called to hear the concerns of those within meeting who supported, questioned or opposed the installation of solar panels on the meetinghouse grounds. After a year and a half’s inquiry into the costs and feasibility of the installation, most members expressed support for the proposal, but several members questioned the need for them as we already purchase the equivalent of 100% green energy and have reduced consumption significantly through more intentional, conserving practices. One individual opposed the installation, questioning the theory of climate change. With opinions clearly expressed, the clerk found the Meeting too distant from unity to proceed with the project at this time.
We continue to prepare and serve meals monthly at one of our local homeless shelters and we get much pleasure and comradery from this activity, though we may need to reassess the sustainability of this particular outreach as we enter the second half of the year.
Fellowship through Friendly-8’s has fallen off this past year as other focused fellowship activities have increased, though it is important for the Meeting to continue this practice to embrace those attenders/members who may have drifted to the periphery, or who are new to meeting.
We continue to provide hybrid access to discussions and worship. Two to three attend each week via Zoom.
Our website continues to experience significant traffic this past year as we have averaged 219 new visitors, monthly, who then spend an average of nearly 6 minutes exploring our website. Returning visitors average 40 minutes per session. Members and frequent attenders have access to a portal guiding them to a bank of shared resources and files.
As half of our attending children are now teenagers, the Meeting is looking for new ways to draw them into the adult life of the community by including them in morning discussions and work projects. Our youngest Friends have learning materials purchased by the Meeting to assist them in understanding the ideals of Quakerism. Parents of both families are experienced Friends.
Relationships with other communities
This past year six of us sojourned to Lancaster for Quarterly Meeting and to share in worship, discussion and business. Three of our members attended our Quarterly Retreat last year. In general, Friends of Exeter feel comfortable within the bounds of our own meeting.
We continue, annually, to donate funds to local, national and international organizations that members recommend and that we feel represent our concerns. We also purchase the food to prepare and feed 50-60 individuals at Opportunity House Shelter monthly.
Social and Environmental Justice
While individuals have concerns regarding issues of justice and peace, locally and abroad, our meeting has not coalesced around any of them. Discussions have been helpful, but have not led to unity or corporate action.
A group from within our meeting meets weekly on a busy bridge leading into Reading. Their signs with messages of peace, unity, and better conflict resolution present their witness to those passing by.
A climate ambassador has not risen from within our meeting this past year
As mentioned previously, we have not come to unity on the fundamentals of climate change.
Opportunities within the larger Quaker community
This past year Exeter Meeting has shared our capable former clerk, Paul Kerr with PhYM as an elder. Though he has asked to be released from those duties this year we anticipate that he will continue in an advisory capacity with the American Friends Service Committee. Paul has proven that with discipline and focus, a Friend can commit to his community and maintain a balanced vision and home. This we know is possible with the help of his equally capable wife Bonnie, who with Paul, if plans unfold, will leave their Pennsylvania home this Fall.
It is not unusual for Quarterly Meetings to represent a loose amalgam of monthly meetings, especially a Quarter as widely dispersed as Caln. Admittedly, Exeter Meeting has only recently re-engaged with the Quarter’s Care Committee. Exeter’s representative has raised several opportunities available that might strengthen bonds between meetings and encourage a sense of greater community.
Reinvigorate the Quarter’s Worship and Ministry Committee, which would then commit to inter-visitation within Caln.
Use new electronic applications to facilitate improved communication between meetings and interested individuals within meetings.
Listserv groups
Mutually accessible cloud drives
Shared calendars
Communications Group to support the development and training in these applications and for our website
Share subject matter experts – Quakerism 101, Finance, Property, etc.
As many of our Quarter’s meetings are relatively small and vulnerable, it behooves the Society of Friends to look at local solutions to issues and concerns within neighboring meetings.
Respectfully submitted,
Stan Dalton, clerk
