This past year continued to be a challenge for us with the pandemic, however we have been working to adjust as a Meeting community. Friends who worshiped in person formed a close bond with one another as did those who used Zoom to worship. Those in need of our blessings who could not attend at the Meetinghouse were grateful for the connection made with those who worshipped on Zoom. Zoom has been a positive outcome of the pandemic and quarantining.
Our largest and most important challenge has been how to find unity, as a community. We now are faced with joining as a blended community. We have purchased an Owl system. This allows us to have Friends on Zoom seen and heard in the Meetinghouse and Friends in the Meetinghouse seen and heard by Friends on Zoom. The majority of Friends are in agreement that this is a good idea; however, a few Friends don’t believe technology holds a place in the Meetinghouse. We are having a trial period with the hybrid system in place. We will hold discussion groups following the trial period to see how comfortable Friends are with the hybrid system.
We are having a feasibility study done by Connie Lezenby, architect and member of Gwynedd Friends Meeting. We need our antiquated oil boiler replaced and are considering an energy efficient and ecologically better heating system. Also, as part of the study, we would like to become ADA compliant. This would include accessibility for those with physical handicaps, and also changes to bathrooms.
We have been moved by the Spirit to learn more about lobbying procedures through Friends Committee on National Legislation. Friends attended a workshop presented by FCNL on Zoom. This led us to be a witness to the community on the importance of voting. We gathered on our street corner with signs to help promote going to the polls to vote. In the past we gathered outside with Black Lives Matter signs. We plan to revisit our campaign against gun violence, with the increase in violent deaths. Sadly, our witness to our community has had some negative results: our signs promoting voting, advising about gun violence, and supporting Black Lives Matter have all been stolen. As a service to the community, we continue to allow a women’s AA group to use our Meetinghouse on Sunday afternoons. We have also been approached by couples within our community to be married in our Meetinghouse.
We were also moved by the Spirit to have an Adult First Day School. We explored the spiritual grounding of PYM’s witness on the environment and how to follow up that witness with action. We also explored the role of membership at PYM and in our meeting.
We continue to expand our children’s program. Sara Carrigan has led the children in finding a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the Quaker testimonies. The children do their work during Worship in their special room, then join the adult Friends and share what they learned and created before announcements. Some of the children have also participated in Giant Children’s Meeting on Zoom provided by PYM.
