As a gathered community Unami Friends considered our response to the question – What is the Spiritual State of our Meeting? In the past our meeting has mostly relied on the discernment of our Worship and Ministry Committee to compose our response to this important query. We have felt well served as we listened to these reports in our monthly meeting with a concern for business. If necessary, we agreed on modifications and proceeded to forward our approved report to PYM.
We chose a different path to our response this year. Prior to the Worship and Ministry Committee composing a draft response to the query, we scheduled a time for the meeting as a whole to discern our response during one of our frequent Sunday morning discussions. We gathered on the morning of February 19th to consider the queries presented in Faith and Practice. We were also aware and considered the queries put forward by the PYM Worship and Care Committee.
With faithful respect we submit our report below.
Unami Friends Meeting feels called to be an inclusive, accepting, simple, relaxed spiritual community. The Quaker commitment to communal waiting serves as our center and our challenge.
We know that this aspiration for our community depends on our individual decisions to show up and be present. We recognize and encourage each of us to exercise our freedom and permission to come and go as we discern. While acknowledging this individual choice we also know as a community that meeting for worship is enhanced when Friends are present. In this third year after the onset of the Covid pandemic we have grown more familiar with how technology provides a bridge between physical presence and virtual presence. We are appreciative when more Friends are able to join us by Zoom for meeting for worship, for Sunday morning discussions or for committee meetings. We also recognize the limitations of technology in maintaining the deep intimacy of our spiritual connections with one another and acknowledge that we must work to ensure a sustainable balance between intimacy and accessibility.
Unami Friends continue our practice of holding Sunday morning discussions once or twice a month on topics that serve our members’ expressed interests and deepen our connections with one another. There is great enthusiasm for these discussions and our Worship and Ministry Committee works hard to include a broad spectrum of topics. Often, we are drawn together to discuss societal issues that beckon our action. In 2022 we learned about ideas surrounding reparations for victims of long-term oppression, discerned and replied to FCNL’s request for recommendations for legislative priorities and heard of the struggles and challenges of trans youth.
We are also drawn to use our discussions to look inwards to our own longings and challenges. We asked ourselves to discern our own relationship to civic responsibility, to revisit our personal relationship to the Quaker peace testimony and to reflect on our ability to present a sincere apology to those to whom we have caused pain. We engaged in a writing workshop over the summer months as we explored the theme “Against Forgetting” through creative writing. We learned so much about each other.
In addition, we used a Sunday morning discussion to consider a pause in Unami’s long time practice of inviting a short period of “Twilight” thoughts at the rise of meeting for worship. With concern that this practice may be deterring Friends from sharing vocal ministry during worship we agreed to create a 4 month pause in this practice before resuming our discernment in the coming year.
On the Sunday before Thanksgiving we hosted a celebration of Unami’s 50th anniversary. We recognize that we are a young meeting and embraced the fact that one of the true pleasures of our circumstance is that we can actually be together with some of the founders of our meeting. We held a hybrid event which included Unami alumni from across the country and the world. It was a wonderful opportunity to recognize our uniqueness and to acknowledge the significance that Unami meeting has occupied in the spiritual lives of so many (of all ages) in such a short period of time. We were reminded of the importance of sharing food, going on retreats, laughing together and continuously finding ways to grow together. We have been challenged by the absence of many of these traditions during the pandemic and look forward to returning to these valued traditions. This gathering provided us with an opportunity to revel in the Unami spirit and to affirm our path forward into a future that is teeming with possibility.
After two years of holding our Seasonal Celebration on Zoom we joyfully gathered at the meetinghouse on the last Sunday evening prior to Christmas to share our spiritual gifts as we lit candles and worshiped together in greeting the light of the new year. As a spiritual community we are strong.
In preparing to write this report, I assembled all of the minutes and newsletters of the past year, a”practice against forgetfulness” that I hope will sustain us at Unami Meeting. I was surprised to remember that we hadn’t met in person during the months of January, February, and most of March because of COVID variant outbreaks. Perhaps, it was because it seemed so long ago, or perhaps, it was because our eventual transition to hybrid meetings appeared smooth and effortless, thanks to the efforts of a few. In spite of COVID, The Unami community has remained engaged and vibrant.
Although our membership numbers have remained the same, we have seen some new families at Meeting including some from United Friends School. Later this fall, Meeting for Business decided to lay aside our practice of Twilight for a period of 4 months beginning in January 2023 to see if and how it affected vocal ministry at Meeting for Worship. We have moved to using a Consent Agenda for our previous month’s Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business’ Minutes approval and the practice seems to be effective. As has historically been the case at Unami, members have risen to meet the financial needs of the meeting as they present themselves.
Committees were actively engaged in their work throughout the year, meeting both by Zoom and in person. Over a period of several months’ discussions, we decided to limit terms for all Committee appointments to 2 consecutive 3 year terms. The Worship and Ministry Committee led us in meaningful discussions that enrich our spiritual lives. They asked us to consider the practice of Twilight after Meeting, explore the Peace Testimony, and reflect on authentic apologies. Their planning and preparation for our first in-person Seasonal Celebration since December of 2019 was a huge success! In the summer, we participated in three “Against Forgetting” Writing Workshops.
The Peace and Social Concerns committee continued to look for ways for us to address, both individually and collectively, reparations for African Americans and Native Americans, developed a list of black owned businesses in the area, and organized a discussion on Trans Youth. The Carbon Forest Committee became a standing “Ad Hoc” Committee and with Unami and community members is working to secure land and funding for this carbon sequestration project. The relationship of the Carbon Forest Committee to Unami was spelled out in an approved Memorandum of Agreement. The Young Friends Committee continued to connect with our children while we were meeting remotely and opened First Day School in person near the end of March. They continue to look for ways to engage children each week, offering regular programming on the last 2 Sundays of the month. They have encouraged all of us to get our clearances so that we can all be more fully engaged with our Young Friends.
The Care and Membership Committee continues its work of oversight and nurturing of our Unami community. The reactivated Outreach Committee is helping to make Unami more visible to our greater community and is pleased to announce the debut of Unami’s new website in the days to come. The Property Committee keeps our building in good repair and looks for ways to improve our comfort, energy efficiency, and visibility to our community.
Unami continues its “care relationship” with United Friends School and has provided two members to the UFS Board of Trustees. We look for ways to engage the UFS community in Unami’s activities and have invited school families to several of our discussions and celebrations.
In November, thanks to the efforts of the Worship and Ministry and Care and Membership Committees, Unami celebrated its 50th anniversary with a reunion of old and new Friends. It was a wonderful gathering in person and on Zoom of local and faraway Friends. We were reminded of the history of Unami Meeting, which arose out of an interest in the late 60’s and early 70’s among U.S. Quakers to participate in a vital, transformative lifestyle that melded spirit-filled worship with social action. The original members sought to create a community where all would be welcome and in this our 51st year, we continue to be a strong spiritual community where issues of social justice are seriously considered with action, and all are welcome.
Respectfully, Nancy Donnelly, clerk January 2023
