How has your meeting evolved as a spiritual community given the ongoing opportunities and challenges of the pandemic?
West Chester Friends Meeting held two gatherings, attended by young people and older Friends representing all generations in our meeting, to discuss the queries posed by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting for a spiritual state of the meeting report.
As a result of these threshing sessions, several categories emerged regarding meeting life in the last year: online, outdoors, community, and challenges.
Online
West Chester Friends Meeting demonstrated resilience in our ability to stay connected and continue to bear witness during this difficult time by offering safe options for Friends during meeting for worship.
At the pandemic’s start, due to the large size of the meeting room, the few who attended meeting for worship in person could safely distance socially. With the help of our tech-savvy meeting clerk, we were able to immediately facilitate a hybrid option that allowed for maximum safety and flexibility. These practices have continued in the past year.
Many Friends and attenders, far and wide, attended meeting for worship and meeting for business via Zoom. Adopting this online technology expanded our community, bringing back Friends who had moved out of state or had been absent. For others, who sheltered in place, it became a lifeline.
The Youth Religious Education Committee had pivoted the youth programming to an online version in March 2020, and continued this practice through Fall 2021. This has allowed our youngest Friends to still “see” each other, hear and wonder over Godly Play and Faith & Play stories while staying safe. The Young People’s Group members reported that worship and programs over Zoom almost felt like being together in the meetinghouse.
Outdoors
When the weather warmed, we held outdoor meetings on the first Sunday of every month, beginning in May 2021, which continued through October. In June of 2021, we also held outdoor worship at Oakland Friends Burial Grounds. During those outside meetings, the meetinghouse stayed open for those who preferred to remain inside. Our meeting clerk brought a laptop, microphone and camera outside so people gathering virtually could view the outdoors.
During the summer of 2021, we believed things would open up again. Yearning for a respite from the stress associated with the pandemic, the Worship and Spiritual Growth Committee made plans for multigenerational fellowship and learning in person. As time passed and conditions remained less than ideal for such get-togethers, the original format had to change. Through creativity, sensitivity, and flexibility, the committee offered three Friendly Gatherings at the meetinghouse in the form of monthly, outdoor barbecues and intergenerational programs. They also organized an online gathering each month in the fall of 2021.
Recent improvements to the meetinghouse porch provided space for the children and youth programs to safely meet in person outdoors through the fall of 2021. We also used the porch for fellowship after meeting as the weather allowed.
Community
Despite the hardships brought on by the pandemic, we, as a meeting, intentionally sought ways to stay together as a community, to remain connected while distancing. This included increased email communication, surprise packages delivered to young friends, and online workshops facilitated by members.
Surprisingly, we were able to successfully restructure our committees during the pandemic. We also strengthened our bond with West Chester Friends School by offering financial support and the use of the meetinghouse social room to the school as a classroom. Accessibility for all abilities, all ages, has been a theme in meeting life in the last year — the door next to the facing benches is literally open for all, thanks to the Open Doors project. It’s representative of a transitional space into the meetinghouse and our community, and the welcoming environment of our worship.
Challenges
As the world slowly reopens, we’ve had a positive transition. Even as more Friends return to worship in person at the meetinghouse, we continue to offer the online option. Our challenge has been the occasional sound issues which make it difficult sometimes for Friends on Zoom to hear vocal ministry spoken from within the meetinghouse. In our threshing session, we considered how to create or regain a sense of communal worship with the hybrid model. We miss handshakes!
We were saddened that some families with younger children have stopped attending. We grieve their loss but are hopeful that some might return. We continue to reach out and communicate with them weekly, sharing about upcoming programs.
What practices and strategies are employed by our meeting to help members and attenders of all ages prepare for worship – whether in meeting for worship or meeting for business?
Preparing for Worship
Our meeting is mindful of the importance of preparing for worship and have several practices in place. This includes the midweek friendly reflection emails, which don’t just remind us of our values and history but provoke a thoughtfulness that carries over into worship. Once a month, at the start of worship, a Friend from the Young People’s Group (grades 5-8) reads the monthly queries from PYM Faith and Practice. This can become a topic of contemplation during worship. On 5th Sundays, we have poetry reading that is welcome and delightful. Intergenerational storytelling at the beginning of Community Worship (for all ages) grounds us all in spiritual growth and development. The children’s program and YPG work has ensured that another generation is learning about Quakerism and a life framed by Quaker beliefs, and Faith & Play stories like “Four Doors to Meeting for Worship” and “Friends Meeting for Business” teach about our practices. We look forward to deepening our practices and learning when Adult Religious Education for next year is kicked-off at a meeting retreat in October 2022.
Preparing for Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
All members and attenders are welcome to our meeting for worship with attention to business. Each month, The Friends Messenger, the newsletter of West Chester and Birmingham Monthly Meetings, publishes the minutes from the previous meeting for business to keep everyone updated on the issues discussed.
To help prepare, the agenda and most committee reports are emailed to friends and attenders in advance, so they know what topics will be presented. Even the younger children are learning to prepare for Friends discernment through the Faith & Play story that explains meeting for business. Youth participate in their own business meeting, familiarizing them with the process. In our threshing session, we heard a hope that youth might participate more fully in meeting for business with adult participants.
A “faithful few” can be counted on to attend meetings for business. Still, attendance is often sparse compared to meeting for worship. Before COVID-19, our meeting experimented with holding meeting for business at 9 AM, as a way to allow parents of small children to participate. Due to the shutdown, we could not continue, but attendance from Friends who are parents was higher during those three months.
Our numbers may be small, but the work done for the meeting is done with love and compassion for the entire community.
