Spiritual State of the Meeting Report
London Grove Friends
4/7/2024
On a beautiful and still September morning, our beloved London Grove Oak gave a sigh and fell to the ground. In true Quaker fashion the tree went down gently, with no injuries and minimal property damage. This sad event has given us opportunities for deepening our spiritual connections within our meeting, as well as in the broader community. There has been an outpouring of sympathy from people near and far, as people visited and told stories of times spent under the oak with friends and family. We visited with former London Grove members who have moved away, and came back to recconnect. Others with an interest in local history came to share our loss. Members of our local Native American community came to honor the tree and to share their stories. We have received many requests for wood for use in memorial and educational pieces, and had offers from craftspeople and artists to make such things as benches for the meeting house and instruments for our kindergarten. The loss of our beloved oak has brought us together in many ways as new committees have formed to memorialize and preserve the legacy of this champion tree. We are collecting stories from Quaker friends across the country to share with the local community. We have given pieces of oak to craftspeople for personal and spiritual use. We have plans to give some cross sections of the trunk to several educational institutions who will use them to illustrate the natural and historical significance of our area. After coming to mourn the loss of the oak, several individuals and families have been led to join us in worship on First Day mornings.
The London Grove Oak has stood as a reminder of our beginnings and a witness to many of our significant family and community events, while providing a place of solace to many seeking comfort and spiritual guidance. We are thankful for the time we have had, and grateful that the decision to lay this venerable tree down was not in our hands. While we mourn our loss, we cherish the opportunities for connecting to the broader community and deepening intermeeting relations. We joyfully anticipate the London Grove Oak’s next life in educational opportunities and hand crafted items that will be made from the wood and used for many generations.
The Queries were considered by the Worship and Ministry, Care and Membership, Inreach and Outreach Committees, as well as through an evening gathering of interested Friends on Zoom.
1)How is Spirit moving in your worship, and how have you nurtured deep, Spirit-led vocal ministry?
In the spirit of Continuing Revelation, we listen for the Spirit to direct us. We try to clear our minds of any outside issues and listen to the voice inside, the voice of the Light. The voice does not always come from within; often it comes from others.
Our Worship and Ministry Committee cannot direct the Spirit, but seeks to provide a place, a space where Spirit can speak. The committee provides a framework for our gatherings, especially our weekly meetings for worship, by serving as coordinators. This involves cueing Friends to settle into worship, inviting Friends to name those who need to be held in the Light, and facilitating post-worship afterthoughts, welcome of visitors, and announcements.
The query reminds us that we must avoid being judgmental about what “deep, Spirit-led vocal ministry” is. Individuals may be moved by a message or feel it speaks to their condition, but does that mean it is deep and Spirit-led? Who is to judge? At London Grove there is often a shared sense of a “covered” or “gathered” meeting for worship. While the experience is hard to describe, “We know it when it happens.” Friends felt it was important to note that Spirit moves, and the deep sense of a gathered meeting occurs, in response to both silence and vocal ministry.
Friends at London Grove do a variety of things to encourage or nurture vocal ministry and centered worship in general. Friends express appreciation to other Friends who give messages that speak to their condition. Informational cards placed on benches remind regular attenders as well as visitors what happens during worship. Messages spoken early during meeting for worship can draw the meeting together and invite additional vocal ministry. London Grove Friends have a sense that vocal ministry during Meeting for Worship is qualitatively different from a discussion group, even though messages sometimes relate to and build on each other. We have a lively adult First Day School program as well as a book group and other study groups that often connect to or prompt vocal ministry. Individual Friends prepare for worship through meditation, reading, journaling, writing poetry, and “living in the Light all week”. It is recognized that, while we are advised not to come to worship planning either to speak or not to speak, a message may come to us early in the week, which we may then be led to share during worship on First Day.
In general, there is a strong sense that both our silent, waiting worship and our vocal ministry are rich and Spirit-led, binding us together and leading us to go deeper.
2)How have you fostered an environment in which members and attenders of all ages and abilities know they are loved, cared for, trusted, and respected?
London Grove Friends carry this query in their hearts and actions not only on First Day mornings but throughout the year. While a focused attention is expected of our Care and Membership Committee, we see creating and maintaining a loving and caring environment as our individual responsibility and commitment, not something to be delegated. Ongoing actions include: greeters at the door welcoming members, attenders and visitors each First Day; providing a “Welcome Room” with information about Quakers; placing a simple explanation of our practices on the benches for visitors; and sending cards or making calls to those we haven’t seen or know are ill. Providing a Zoom option for participation in meeting for worship as well as business meeting and programs, stretches our environment to include those at a distance, homebound, or who simply cannot make it to meeting in person. We nurture fellowship through “Second Sunday Coffees” before meeting for worship provided each month by a different committee, “Soup Sundays”following worship twice during the winter months, and outdoor refreshments following worship throughout the summer months.
While members and attenders know that Care and Membership is one of London Grove’s committees, a First Day detailed presentation of its role in clearness, counseling, and community, was thought to be beneficial. Since that effort, more Friends have used the committee’s resources for financial assistance, clearness, therapy contacts, and seeking a Friend to listen.
London Grove’s member and attender children are treasured. They are young and few in number. We love them dearly and seek opportunities to affirm our trust in them and respect for them. Our program, “Play and Learn” is built upon the interests of our children and the nurturing of this First Day morning children’s community. We strive to have our children “want” to attend and be with their friends. In addition to three consistent adults devoting themselves to the children’s program, an employed teenage helper is present to help assure full attention to each of our youngsters. We have noticed that our children are comfortable in our worship environment. They begin their morning in worship with the meeting and leave quietly after 15 minutes. They rejoin the
meeting at the close of their class for welcoming, announcements, sharing their experience for the morning, and sometimes leading us in song.
Our parents of these youngsters are often newcomers who have found us through our Kindergarten. We want them to know that we respect them and care deeply for their children so that they can trust us with their children’s care. Our teachers and helpers keep the parents in the loop with emails during the week to check in, shared pictures from First Day experiences, asking about needs, and being clear that second hour child care is always available if parents wish to stay for the program or for business.
Like so many meetings, London Grove has been experiencing “graying.” Aging Friends need to know that they are “loved, cared for, trusted, and respected.” One of our members recently sent an email saying:
“I want to address the issue of how all members are loved, cared for, trusted and respected. One very obvious answer is our Zoom sessions and the energy that goes into making them happen. Beyond the obvious, there is something else I want to speak to. Losing one’s mental acuity is terrifying. Going absolutely blank, unable to recapture the word which had been on the tip of your tongue a moment before, or being unable to recall a chunk of your life or a meaningful moment makes me feel so embarrassed I just want to stay hidden. Quakers, even on Zoom, somehow let me know that it’s all right.”
“I always cringe at those moments when we are asked to lead the group or take some responsibility. Even if I signed up, which every fiber of my being – the old ME – wants to do, I would worry that I would embarrass myself. The group somehow lets me know that it is alright to be a freeloader. It’s not who I once was, but it is who I am now and I am deeply grateful for the group’s tolerance and acceptance.”
“It is somehow important for Friends to realize that aging is not like having a disease from which you will recover. Each day you gather up the remnants of who you once were and shudder to realize that you may look back on these as the golden days. Whatever lies ahead doesn’t promise to be better. Not everyone understands, but enough do, to make London Grove a comfortable Space. The fact that we provide chairs with arms for people who can’t get up easily from benches sends an important message. …” We are grateful for this message and will strive to live up to its gratitude.
3)How have you sought to be neighbors and in relationship with other communities, and how have you been changed by these connections?
In considering this query, it became evident that our responses are closely tied to the concerns addressed in the final query. Members and attenders at London Grove are deeply concerned about our broader community and strive to embody our Quaker values beyond our Meetinghouse. In this time of political and social divisions, we hope that authenticity is evident in all of our interactions, and we seek ways to connect with the broader community helping when we see a need.
In addition to the connections made through the London Grove Oak, we continue to grow in our relationships that formed while working with the Kennett Area Ministerium in 2021. A partnership with Oxford Allen AME Church continues to grow, most recently including a six-week Zoom Bible study of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s commitment to racial justice. Participants in the study grew to include other denominations, not just Quakers and African Methodist Episcopalians. The group feels led to action and will gather in person to discern our next steps. We regularly share worship with Allen AME congregation, as well as fellowship, and join each other in community service projects. We are discovering a deeper understanding of the struggles our neighbors face due to the racism that persists in our society and our own inherent biases. As we worship with this community, we find that we have a great deal in common; we can feel the spirit in their very different form of worship. Our Light is brighter because of the ministry they offer.
Our outreach to the Kennett Square Community in support for Good Samaritan Services, the Kennett Area Community Service, and the food bank is inspiring. Although we are a small community, when called upon to support the local community in basic needs, the members of London Grove always respond with open hearts. This work has given many of us a new perspective on the struggles of some in our community and inspired us to help where we can.
The broadening of our leadership fund to support local organizations has connected us to several groups working for positive change including AHHAH (Arts Holding Hands and Hearts). Jan Michener, the director, gave a presentation on their restorative justice program that empowers youth impacted by incarceration. We were inspired by the ability of one person with a concern to make significant changes in the lives of others, and continue to look for ways to support such leadings.
4)How have you been called to address issues of social justice, inclusivity, and difference, both within your meeting and in the wider world?
As we began to consider London Grove’s response to this query, we were drawn to two, very specific word choices: “you” and “called.” “ Called” invites spirit-led actions; “you” sets this as a very personal as well as communal discernment. What are each of us as individuals led to pursue and support? London Grove’s partnership with the Oxford Allen AME Church is the story of one individual’s calling to pursue a connection and begin a shared relationship in the troubled times of George Floyd’s murder. This partnership has been embraced by the whole meeting and has enriched the lives of all involved.
We are led to absorb the concerns of single individuals and hold them in the Light. One individual spoke of her work in recognizing her own, previously unknown, racial bias. Acknowledgement is the first step. Another individual brought her commitment to retrospective justice to the meeting in its discussion of FCNL priorities. As we discerned these priorities, there was a keen awareness of the leadings of individuals as well as a search for common ground.
Our Peace and Social Justice Committee serves to guide our Meeting in issues of social justice and inclusivity. Most recently, it is focused on the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian Gaza conflict. London Grove seeks a Friendly means to address the violence. Significant energy was put into guiding the meeting on understanding and supporting the Lancaster Minute on Christian Nationalism, a misguided movement of exclusion. An annual practice of the committee is the awarding of Helen Corson Peace awards of $500 each to a graduate of six regional high schools. This award recognizes the character and actions of each student and acquaints them with the life and work of Helen Corson, an amazing Quaker peace activist of London Grove Monthly Meeting in days past.
London Grove has been called to use its resources to address social justice, inclusivity and difference in the wider world. We became aware of a request from Detroit Monthly Meeting for financial assistance in their construction of a new meetinghouse after being legally removed from their inner-city site through eminent domain. Multiple members became aware of Detroit Monthly Meeting’s commitment to inner city work and the active social justice work that they were attempting. London Grove made a substantial donation. Concerns regarding the acts of injustice and war upon the Ukrainian peoples led us to promote aide and support to the people through a large donation to the
Mennonite Central Committee which had feet on the ground in Ukraine and
was getting help where it was needed.
Our Play and Learn program provides our young children with lessons on social justice and inclusivity and is well received. The children are very receptive and
parents are appreciative.
In times past, London Grove has hosted forums on issues of concern to our Meeting and the larger community. We talk of continuing that work but have yet to find the energy and means to pursue it. Meanwhile, individuals participate in community activities of social justice and bring their experiences back to Meeting. One example is the recent community exposure to the film “The Philadelphia 11” and panel discussion. The film told the story of the Episcopal Church’s discrimination of women and its unjust refusal to recognize them as priests.
Our Outreach Committee works to stay in touch with community contacts to discover needs that we as a Meeting and as individuals can help meet. These include contributions to a local men’s shelter, our local food bank, toy drives, etc. Our work with Allen AME has also provided a means to help at a women’s shelter and the Lutheran clothes processing ministry, Orphan Grain Train.
Having lost our capacity to raise donation funds through an annual plant sale, London Grove broadened the Leadership Fund to include annual contributions to local organizations. Now named the Support Fund and put into practice this past year, we name it as one of our means of addressing social justice, inclusivity, and difference. Now only does it maintain a link with our Hispanic community but it also introduced us to an active program (AHHAH) seeking and supporting social justice: that of young teens held in juvenile delinquent facilities. We may well be led to become more actively involved in this work.
Response to the queries on Climate Change: provided by our Climate Change Working Group
How has the Spirit guided your work on climate change?
The decision to create a Climate Change Working Group in response to PYM’s initial call for input on this subject was Spirit-led. We’ve had a strong sense that our monthly gatherings and periodic opportunities to educate our members/attenders on the reality of Climate Change, its severity, and the need for individual and collective action has been guided by the Spirit. Despite some disagreement by a few members on the nature of the problem and its mitigation, there has consistently been respect for Quaker process as guided by the Spirit.
How has your meeting addressed the action areas identified in the Climate Change Sprint Report: Activism, Education, Reducing Carbon Footprint, and Finances?
Our Working Group decided to focus on Education, Leading by Example and Advocacy. The group has coordinated book studies, First Day programs, and adoption by London Grove members of two Minutes affirming our individual and collective commitment to take action. London Grove is currently formally assessing the viability of installation of a Solar Panel array capable of providing our current electrical and (potentially) future heating requirements.
Has your meeting appointed a Climate Witness liaison? If not, why not?
London Grove attender David Nuttall has agreed to be our Climate Witness liaison.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Anderdson, Clerk
Karen-Lee Brofee, Assistant Clerk
