Spiritual State of the Meeting 2023
Lancaster (PA) Monthly Meeting
We considered the spiritual state of Lancaster Monthly Meeting in 2023 through a threshing
session on February 4, 2024. About 30 persons participated in discussing the following queries:
1. How have you experienced the Spirit at work in our Meeting community during this past
year?
2. How has participation in LMM helped you grow spiritually, particularly during this last year?
How has your life (actions, decisions, presence in the world) reflected this?
3. What challenges has the community experienced in 2023? How have Quaker beliefs and
principles helped us through the challenges?
4. How has our Meeting witnessed to Quaker testimonies and beliefs outside our own
community through this past year? How has such witnessing impacted our Meeting
community?
As we addressed these questions, we became more aware of the vitality of our Meeting, the
strong commitment we have to each other as individuals and to our community as a whole, and
to the richness of our spiritual life.
1. We have experienced the Spirit at work in our Meeting in a variety of ways. Our worship
together has been deep and frequently gathered. We are grateful for strong attendance and
participation as we open to the Spirit together. Our worship at 8am and 10am each Sunday lies at
the heart of our united life as a spirit-led community. We experience the Spirit’s presence within
smaller groups of the Meeting and their activities. In our committees, we strive to attend to the
needs of individual members and the needs of the whole community. Our members have given
care to those with daily life issues and those with serious health challenges. Several have
provided transportation to worship for those who no longer can drive. Others gave loving
guidance for a wedding and memorial services. We found the Spirit at work within small groups
who worked on specific projects for our community, such as a landscaping group focused on
shaping the property surrounding the meetinghouse to be more environmentally healthy.
2. As we considered how participation in our Quaker meeting has helped our individual spiritual
growth during this past year, we particularly noted the importance and prevalence of small
groups in the Meeting. Many people participate in Faithfulness Groups that support each
participant in their spiritual journey. Some small groups focus on activities (writing groups, book
groups), while others focus on deepening our understanding about specific areas of concern, such
as indigenous peoples. Through these groups, we learn to know and care for each other more
deeply. We also have returned to “Quaker Talk” post pandemic, the 9 a.m. hour on Sunday
morning for learning and sharing about the Quaker path. We recognize that participation in our
community continues to strengthen us to bear witness with clarity in situations beyond the
Meeting. Some of us are involved in Lancaster Friends School; others are involved in the
Swahili Quaker worship group, both of whom use our meetinghouse and grounds. We are
encouraging more persons to open to spiritual growth through experiencing these groups.
3. We care deeply about our Lancaster Quaker Meeting community. We also bring a variety of
different gifts and visions for our Meeting, and sometimes we are challenged to find our way
forward together. We continue to use an OWL to invite those not physically present to worship
with us on Zoom. We recognize their participation as a gift but also question how much
technology to use. We have been evaluating the serviceability, appearance, and hospitality of our
meetinghouse spaces, and have sometimes disagreed on changes. We are also challenged in that
we are an aging Meeting. Although we have devoted First Day School committee and teachers,
attendance has continued small. We continue to face the challenges of growing into a more
diverse and inclusive community. We want to respond wisely to national/international conflicts
and to local issues as well, but sometimes we struggle as to how to do this.
We know there are opportunities for spiritual growth through the challenges we face. We have
had practice in listening deeply and being patiently respectful and loving to each other. As we
practiced discernment we have found our way to clarity on some matters, although in other areas
progress is ongoing.
4. Lancaster Meeting has a strong tradition of witnessing and working in support of Quaker
testimonies outside our own community. In 2023, we continued this tradition. We have been
involved with people in other faith communities through Interfaith POWER. We enthusiastically
participated in the local Pride Festival. Some members have been active in ADVOZ, a local
peace and mediation center. A working group that focused on interactions between persons with
mental illness and law enforcement supported government and social service agencies in
implementation of numerous reforms. They also are advocating for adequate mental health
treatment facilities within the soon-to-be built Lancaster County Prison and for follow-up care
after inmate release. Our concern about peace in the Middle East, strengthened by long-term
involvement in the Alternative to Violence Project by several members, has deepened since war
began in Gaza. Our involvement in the city of Lancaster included investment in the School
District of Lancaster and in supporting low-income housing.
These involvements, and many not named, have spiritually strengthened our Meeting. When we
see an opportunity to be active in addressing injustice and creating a more peaceful world, we
desire to do so. As we discern our way forward, we deepen spiritually as individuals and as a
Quaker community.
