Spiritual State of Swarthmore Monthly Meeting of Friends
Committee on Worship & Ministry
Members and attenders at Swarthmore Friends Meeting have gathered and contributed written insights regarding the spiritual state of our Meeting. Friends who spoke and wrote valued our Meeting as a wonderful group of people, and our building as a beautiful space. Connecting with each other brings us delight. We feel comfort, meaning, and acceptance in our community. We also feel our meeting is changing, transforming, and confusing. We are challenged, stretched, and being together can also be hard. We are like a family. As a Friend said, a “soft, loving place that brings me closer to Spirit, and to things that are important.”
Our Meeting noted some spiritually significant accomplishments this year. We revived our Jumble Sale, a time honored tradition that is important to us as a Meeting community, is fun for all ages, raises funds for our Meeting, and is an important form of outreach to the broader community. We worked through the process of de-emphasizing hybrid worship, and reestablishing in-person worship as the core practice for our Meeting. Our FDS Committee re-organized and solidified.
We held a joyful and well attended Christmas Potluck and Carol sing, which included young and old, members, and attenders, and new diverse faces. We moved our Potluck feast into the very pretty Whittier Room, which felt quite festive and celebratory. We made some of the most delicious food that I can remember us sharing.
We have continued to financially support and stand behind our members who cook and deliver food to the Life Center of Delaware County to nourish people who are experiencing homelessness or need.
We have thoughtfully scaled back various elements of our Meeting Committee work, in response to feelings of “too much work for too few members.” Some of our committees are moving to a model where the traditional responsibilities of clerk are more shared.
Our Peace and Social Concerns Committee worked to compose a statement on reproductive rights. Some of our activist members have attended Earth Quaker Action Team actions to bring attention to needed reforms in the face of the climate crisis. Our Peace and Social Concerns Committee also composed a Statement about the war in Israel/ Palestine. P&SC also facilitated a dialogue with Palestinian student activists and others from Swarthmore and possibly the Tri-College Consortium.
There are places where we have fallen short of our hopes. Our members have highlighted a wish for us to engage in greater outreach. We wish to make our visitors at fellowship feel more welcome. Friends feel we could better support our vocal ministry. We struggle to make time to optimally resolve conflicts within our community. We are less diverse than we would wish. We struggle to support and care for those in our Meeting community who are in need. We often fail to connect to “missing” members who are nearby but no longer attend. We have not brought back as many students as we would wish following the decline during the pandemic.
The spiritual state of our meeting feels rooted and productive. We bless one another with care and attention. We work to teach and love our children. We work to listen and support our elders. We struggle to support those who are unable to be with us, and those who are in need. We are smaller than in decades past and we are also mindful of our limitations, selecting our most urgent leadings and those that form the basis of our community.
Addendum:
Responses to the YM queries that elicited fruitful responses. Other queries omitted.
• how is Spirit moving in your worship, and how have you nurtured deep, Spirit-led vocal ministry?
o We have had meetings, including in the preparation of this document, where Friends have noted they had a strong sense of the presence of the Spirit. At other meetings Spirit sometimes eludes us. We have held forums to better understand each other’s spiritual journeys, and other topics of spiritual significance. We have read queries and pamphlets together and held forums and discussion.
• how have you sought to be neighbors and in relationship with other communities, and how have you been changed by these connections?
o Through our Christmas Potluck, our nursery school, and our Jumble Sale. Some of our members have also been in contact and attended events at the local AME church. These outreach moments ground us in our greater community. We have a member designated to attend the Delaware County Interfaith Council. She reports that clergy and Friends in the County helpfully support each other.
• how have you been called to address issues of social justice, inclusivity, and difference, both within your meeting and in the wider world?
o Our meeting strives to listen to our members and attenders from marginalized groups. We have many folks with us from the LGBTQ+ community, and have been particularly blessed with children who are “out” because they would not understand another way to be. Our outreach beyond our meeting could always benefit from more time and energy then we have been able to offer.
• Adult Education Resources (e.g., How can we learn and share about our faith outside of worship?)
o We hold forums, Spiritual Journey forums, and art sharing forums. Our meeting retreat in Ridley Creek State Park has also been very rich as a sharing opportunity.
• Families and Children (e.g., What religious education resources are available to use?)
o We maintain a first day school and childcare. A few members are trained in and offer the children Faith & Play Stories. We offer special events like our meeting retreat in the local state park, and our jumble sale and carol sing that are very important to the children. Our location is very fortuitous for children and there is a wonderful outdoor environment for the children outside.
• Youth and Young Adults (e.g., How can we create a welcome space for youth and young adults in the meeting?)
o Teens in our meeting have been a bit sparse. We make efforts to have an annual breakfast for the returning college students. We try to engage and greet students, and have hosted a college committee on sustainability for a Fellowship mini-Forum.
• Witness (e.g., How do we walk our talk as Friends?)
o We have members who have advised us on solar panels, and we compost and recycle. We have members who attend environmental marches.
Approved at Meeting for Business May 5, 2024
