● Grateful to stay together through the pandemic in various ways and configurations – virtual meeting, outdoor worship, indoor hybrid worship. Several of our members have worked hard and enlisted outside help to refine the technical resources to make this happen. Our time together is covered by the Spirit.
● Enriched by the blessings of new members (11 new adult and child members in 2021!) and visitors to our meeting, and for the opportunity to share in the joy of three marriages under our meeting’s care.
● Mournful of beloved members who have died during the past few years, and for those in our community lost to senseless gun violence.
● Enjoying and getting settled into our newly renovated meetinghouse, despite pandemic limitations. The new meetinghouse is handicapped accessible and more environmentally sustainable.
● Humbled and invigorated by our commitment to make reparations for the evils and trauma of slavery and Jim Crow, especially through the work of the Reparations Committee of GSMM. The focus in our first year of work has been to commit funds to help black homeowners stay in their homes when they have been impacted by ‘tangled titles.’ A number of meeting members have been trained to do the initial interviews to connect affected Germantown residents to pro bono legal work.
● Tested by the grind of surviving in a pandemic, facing myriad inconveniences, challenges, and injustices.
● Prayerful for a better and more just future.
● Engaged in Restorative Practice circles to explore who we are as a meeting. Additionally, we have plans to hold a Restorative Practice circle around our relationship with our school. Several of our members are members of its board and we, as a meeting, hold the school in our care. We welcome experience with Restorative Practice Circles, led by a trained facilitator from Restorative City, to add to our capacity as a meeting to deeply explore issues that concern us and to sort out diverse perspectives as we seek a spiritually informed unity.
● Working to be better neighbors to the residents of Germantown where our Meetinghouse is located, especially neighbors who have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and poverty.
● Informed by our virtual Bible study that meets by Zoom on a weeknight, as well as our occasional book discussion groups.
● Supportive of the service of meeting members on the Board of Greene Street Friends School and on the staff and governing boards of Quaker organizations, as well as those whose individual ministries are taken under the care of the meeting, including Global ARCH and LifeCalls Ministries.
● Expanding the charge of our educational assistance committee beyond merely providing our members’ children with scholarships to Friends schools and college: the mission now includes providing resources to local public schools.
● Involved in a coalition, ARCS (Associated Resources for Community Schools), with several community organizations: Men Who Care of Germantown, Every Murder is Real and Associated Alumni of Martin Luther King High School, which has provided ongoing mentoring and programs for neighborhood youth plus a summer camp. Our members are in weekly dialogue and have helped with planning, support and resources. This coalition serves four public schools in the Northwest section of the city in the area of our meeting community.
● Delighted to have partnered with Germantown Friends School and the White-Richardson Fund of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting to provide 166 backpacks full of school supplies for the children of EMIR Healing Center, which serves families of homicide victims.
● Gladdened by the depth, sweetness, and importance of the children’s religious education program, which promotes our children’s growth and connectedness and helps parents and caregivers participate in worship.
● Experimenting beyond our traditional ways of worship.
● Concerned with our ability to connect with newcomers to our community and wanting to get better at this.
