Medford Monthly Meeting’s yearly review of the spiritual life of our Meeting encompassed responses from each Meeting Committee as well as from individual s in a Called Meeting for Worship. The reports from each Meeting committee have been forwarded to the PYM General Secretary. Some reports were specific to each Query, but generally, most took an overall look.
In general, the Meeting used the review as an opportunity to mark a coming out from the Covid restrictions, to name our shortcomings and to outline our hopes for the future. The Called Meeting was considered to be gathered.
To summarize:
- We have worked to create a beloved community.
- We have sought to be good neighbors.
- We have actively addressed issues of racism.
- We have actively promoted awareness of and taken actions to address the climate crisis.
In each of these areas we noted room for improvement and further action, as best
expressed in our responses to the question concerning our yearnings.
- We are both anxious for our survival as an independent Meeting and eager to try
new ways to share our Quakerism. - We yearn for the language with which to express our faith.
- We yearn for the participation of children and young adults.
- We yearn for more ongoing education about Friends for newcomers and sessions to enrich and stimulate us locally.
- We yearn to work more closely as a whole Meeting, so that what we do is an expression of the whole body.
- We yearn for closer and more meaningful ties to the larger community of Friends, more willingness to serve in them and to utilize their services.
- We yearn to rightly order what we do.
We await expectantly for leadings yet to come as we strive for unity around the yearnings we have. We will be looking to the Yearly Meeting for assistance in connecting us to people who can speak to our condition, provide inspiration, share with us successful strategies for outreach/in-reach and facilitate our use of modern technology.
Davis Henderson George Rubin
Clerk, Medford Monthly Meeting Clerk, Ministry and Care
