Carlisle

• Interchange, Fall 2009
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2007
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2006
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2005
• Interchange, Spring 2006
• Interchange, Fall 2005
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2004
• Interchange, Summer 2005
   
• FUM Policy Concern
• Interchange, September 2004
• Interchange, May 2004
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2003

Carlisle Friends Meeting Nominating Committee worked diligently during the second quarter and found Friends for all positions:

Joan Anderson	Clerk
Reve LeBlanc	Assistant Clerk
Marilyn Keener	Treasurer
Fred Baldwin	Assistant Treasurer
Christine Jefferson	Recording Clerk
Don Kovacs	Recording Clerk
Ed Sonnenberg	Recording Clerk
Martha Slotten	Clerk of Ministry and Council

Carlisle Friends are missing many active and beloved members and attenders. Wilma Hanson, pianist and beloved Friend, died after a week’s battle following a stroke. There was a Memorial Meeting for her on April 19 in our Meeting House. Friends have welcomed back her husband, Gene, who has returned from Nebraska where there were other memorials. Lous and John Brubaker have moved to Alaska to be near to their son and grandchildren. Martha Slotten has been homebound with circulatory problems in her leg. Another active Friend, Kenyon McCoy, is back among us after hospitalization.

The new Clerks have been reading the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Queries from the new draft of Faith and Practice. Friends have responded well to the queries, finding the questions provocative. The Clerks like choosing the Query for the month, responding to the events in the Meeting at the time.

The new Clerks were faced with a problem caused by a woman squatter who brought huge quantities of her belongings into the Meeting House. The Meeting solved this problem by renting her a storage shed and moving her things into it for her. This situation has not dampened the Meeting’s commitment to those in the community who need help. Carlisle Friends join other churches in providing people without homes a place to sleep and bathe for a month each year.

Friends are seeing a need for outreach and are discussing bringing an introductory Quaker Quest program to Carlisle.

The younger Friends in the Meeting are preparing to put on a puppet show using beautiful hand-made puppets. The first performance will be October 4 at a nursing home. The theme of the show is wrongful conviction (a strange fellow is accused of stealing a cow) and the show encourages consideration of one of the root causes of incarceration.

Carlisle Monthly Meeting offers the following report on our activities and, as far as we can discern, our spiritual state as a meeting.

Our members and attenders participate in a wide range of activities with other churches and community groups. The following list includes only those that are either initiated by the meeting as a whole or by individuals with explicit meeting support.

• On one Sunday each month, our young people (supported by adult Friends) join residents at the Todd Home, an area nursing home, for singing and other activities. Our young Friends assembled and decorated gifts for residents of the home at Christmas and near Easter. Our First Day classes with children and young people remain active. Classes have included study of Quaker history, sometimes involving interactions with adult Friends.
• We did not have many adult religious education activities during 2008, but during three Sundays in April and May we joined in an active discussion of The Secret Message of Jesus, a book by Brian McLaren. We followed up with second-hour sessions labeled “The Secret Message of Quakers.”
• We continue to participate with Carlisle CARES, a program for the homeless. Because of a schedule change, we were not a host church (open to overnight guests during a month) during calendar 2008, but we will be a host church during April 2009. Our clerk chaired a CARES committee on by-laws revision. Three Friends recently participated in a federally mandated street census coordinated locally by CARES.
• We continue to maintain both a website and a blog. They are still rarely visited, but we remain convinced that at some point they’ll become a valuable way of communicating with both the outside world and among ourselves.
• Some Friends remain active in work to abolish the death penalty with one Friend as a leader in state and local efforts in this cause.
• Some Friends participate in a tutoring program at a state detention center for juvenile offenders, located in an adjacent county.

We’re grateful for Friends’ willingness to do difficult chores, either unasked or whenever there is a clear sense that the meeting needs something specific that they can contribute. During 2008 numerous Friends helped plan and oversee the completion of a project that we have discussed for years – removal of a bell and steeple that came with the meetinghouse when we bought it 15 years ago. Other Friends who work with our children did a fine job of re-painting basement classrooms. Still others put in long hours repairing windows and replacing windowpanes in our dining area. The windows now let in more sunlight and give us a good view of the backyard where our children play. But they retain the charm of side panels in frosted glass.

Our business meetings are conducted in good order. Friends appear to feel safe in expressing differences of opinion, even on sensitive matters, and can do so without acrimony.

In times of trouble, we quickly support and lovingly try to comfort each other. At those times especially we realize how much we mean to each other and how much we all need divine grace.

Although none of us would be comfortable with any single-sentence summary of our meeting’s “spiritual state,” it can be said that most of us do find regular spiritual refreshment in our meetings for worship. Messages based on insights from all religious traditions are welcomed. Several Christian Friends take special joy in knowing that this welcome extends to messages explicitly grounded in Christian faith and biblical insights. But messages springing from other spiritual sources are equally appreciated.

Several Friends participate regularly in a Spiritual Formations program and have done so for years. During December we began to experiment with closing meeting with a hymn, often one with a traditional Christian theme. At least for the present we continue to do this. Prayers spoken aloud remain a rarity in our meetings for worship, but some Friends would welcome them more often – or at least to be assured that they will be as welcome as any other message delivered from the heart. Before potluck meals, we do now and then join hands in a spoken grace.

We often worry that there are not many of us to do everything we would like to do, and most of us have busy lives apart from the meeting. During 2008 (as in earlier years) we spent a good amount of time and energy talking about outreach. Although we’ve participated in various ad hoc efforts (e.g., a booth at a local multicultural street fair), we have not yet found a clear focus. We may be reaching unity, not just intellectually but evidenced by our decisions and behavior, that public information strategies are all very well, but that a critical challenge is to show warmth to people when they do visit us. Several Friends have expressed interest in the Quaker Quest program and expect to attend training at York during 2009.

We also hope to present a welcoming appearance both to visitors and to casual passers-by. After various off-and-on planning exercises throughout 2008, at our February, 2009 business meeting we agreed to budget $5,000 to make the front side and entryway to our building safer, more attractive and more inviting generally. When we have visitors, there’s been a noticeable increase in the number of regular Friends who introduce themselves and express pleasure at the guest’s presence.

More than we would wish, the life of the meeting reflects the conflicts and frustrations of our busy lives. When we take time to reflect, we accept that Carlisle Friends Meeting is and will surely remain a work in progress. We have to trust that neither the work nor the progress is entirely in our hands.

1. Wherein do this unity consist?
   Ans. In the life, in the nature, in the Spirit wherein they are all begotten, and of which they are all formed, and where their meeting is. It consists not in any outward or inward thing of an inferior nature; but only keeps within the limits and bounds of the same nature. The doing the same thing, the thinking the same thing, the speaking the same thing, this doth not unite here in this state, in this nature; but only the doing, or thinking, or speaking of it in the same life. Yea, though the doings, or thoughts, or words be divers; yet if they proceed from same principle and nature, there is a unity felt therein, where the life alone is judge.

   Perhaps the main theme for Carlisle Meeting right now is unity. I wanted to start by including the quote from Isaac Penington because it changed the way I look at unity. I think we beat ourselves up about the fact that we don’t articulate our beliefs and values in the same way, or feel led to participate in the same activities. It may be that what Carlisle needs right now is to feel better about our selves as Quakers.

   I see the theme of unity as central for us right now because of 4 events. First, one of our members has taken a sabbatical from meeting in part because he didn’t feel that he got an adequate response to his question, “What do Friends have in common?” I think Friends everywhere have asked themselves that question at one time or another. I think it’s a result of the freedom we give one another. I think it’s an important question because I think sometimes Friends feel embarrassed about their Quakerism because we don’t feel we have an adequate answer.

   Another reason unity is important to us right now is because we are thinking about outreach. I think it started when some Friends wanted to spruce up the building now that we are no longer paying on a mortgage. The justification for those improvements was couched in terms of outreach: if we made the meetinghouse property more attractive, we would attract and keep more visitors. This naturally led to considerations of what it was that we have to offer people. I think that some of us have our answers to that question; others are a little nervous about what those answers might be; and most don’t want to offend anyone else by making a statement on behalf of the meeting that others find antithetical. This becomes a little more pointed with the Amani Festival coming up at the end of April. One of our newer Friends is putting together a table for us. She has asked for input on the message of Friends, but at this point, like so many things with Friends, by default it is left to the person with the enthusiasm to muddle through on their own as best they can.

   A third reason unity is a central theme for us right now is because of the book study we are doing on The Secret Message of Jesus. Obviously, this is not the book some people would have picked for the meeting to read. For all that, it’s clear from the turnout that Carlisle Friends do pull together to support the meeting’s endeavors, and apparently want to talk with one another about religious beliefs and fundamental values.

   A fourth reason unity is important to us is the issue of Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s relationship to Friends United Meeting. The discussions we had on these issues seemed to have the most gravity and the largest participation of anything we discussed this past year in business meeting. Friends seem to be genuinely conflicted on the issue; on the one hand not wanting to support an organization that is prejudiced against gays and lesbians; on the other hand not feeling comfortable withdrawing because others don’t agree with us. Again it was clear that Friends wanted to know what others thought and felt about the issue even where there was disagreement. (Having subsequently gone to Yearly Meeting, I think that monthly meeting may not have been the right venue for discussing the issue. I don’t think we have had enough face to face contact with the people involved to make a meaningful contribution.)

   A part of the State of the Meeting report involves discerning what’s needed to deepen the life of the meeting. Steve Davidson once wrote some advice for determining if someone was ready for membership. He said that if the candidate did not have a love for the monthly meeting or if the candidate did not have a love for Quakerism, then it was probably too soon for membership. As a meeting I think we do pretty well on love for the monthly meeting. As for love of Quakerism, I think that’s there too, but we may need to do some intellectual work to provide an apology so that we don’t get stuck when people ask us what we have in common. The clerk has created a blog which might be useful to that purpose. And it might be useful to have a focused discussion on the topic either in business meeting, a second hour, or in a specially called meeting.

2. For the next part of this report, I’d like to include some notes from our clerk, because they provide a thoughtful assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the meeting.
    
   What I think we do best…

   1. We support each other in time of trouble.

      During the past few years, many of us have experienced difficulties – physical and otherwise. In every situation of which I’m aware, Friends have tried to provide support and help.

   2. We work hard on behalf of the meeting – always when asked and often without being asked.

      Whenever the meeting clearly defines a need, someone almost always volunteers to work on it. Familiar, well-defined tasks like providing food for hospitality events or working with children are performed cheerfully. When we commit to a significant group effort – like participation in the Carlisle Cares effort for the homeless – people pitch in to make it work. Individuals also contribute many small, specific ways – flowers in season, for example, or meetinghouse repairs by those handy with tools.

   3. Most of the time, we accept and respect each other’s good intentions, and so avoid negative criticism and make an effort to repair inadvertent slights and hurts.

      None of us is malicious. We step on each other’s toes now and then, or we get in each other’s way. But we try to give each other the benefit of the doubt. Even when we are impatient with someone, we’re likely remind ourselves of how much that person contributes and how likely it is that we’ve given someone else reason to be impatient with us. We try to repair damaged relationships.

   * * *

   These are substantial strengths, and any group should be grateful to feel able to list them. My guess is that many of us would come up with a similar list to this point. But different people are bothered by different things, so from this point on I need to repeat that these lists are my own. Heavily influenced by my current role as clerk, my concerns tend to focus on process-related issues. Others would probably not only mention different things but mention different kinds of things: for example, that we have not tried to find unity on a public testimony pertaining to the war in Iraq.

   
   What I think we do least well…

   1. We avoid acknowledging how our small size exacts a price in individual stress, and (except when we are talking to each other face-to-face) we are sloppy about communicating information, either to each other or newcomers.

      A project like replacing kitchen windows can take a year or more, not because anyone is opposed but because so many people have suggestions but are unsure to whom they should talk and how soon they need to speak up. On activities that have nothing to do with special projects, we do not invite questions but rather expect people who may have questions to make the effort to ask them. For example, our bulletin notice on the “spiritual formation” evenings just says that this group meets “twice monthly” – not which Sundays, nor which time, nor anything else that explains why some of our most active and dedicated members participate. At least one new attender has offered to draw up what I gather may be a fairly long list of questions that she wishes someone had offered to explain. (I’ll take her up on that.)

   2. We fail to take advantage of what committees can do better than either individuals or a large group, while tolerating most of the well known weaknesses of committees.

      This may be a special case of the preceding concern. With a very few exceptions our standing committee structure is almost unused. We’re not very clear about what we want committees to do or what accepting the clerkship of a committee may entail. In business meetings we discuss as a sort of “committee of the whole” issues and questions that a smaller committee could sort through more thoroughly. Occasionally the reverse is true: impatient with the difficulty of getting a committee together or perhaps unsure of how to make committee work effectively, I or someone else will by-pass a committee and rely on ourselves or a few trusted partners.

   3. We bend over backward to stay open to concerns, but we give people little help in raising their concerns in such a way that they can be fairly heard, explored and then either accepted or explicitly recognized as those of that person’s, not the meeting’s.

      We accept that Quaker process requires that listeners remain open to what is being said (including the spirit behind the words), but we put little responsibility on those who raise a concern to be clear about what they hope may be done about it, nor do we help those who may need help in bringing a concern or idea to business meeting. I’ll offer two personal examples – one apparently positive, the other not. Several Friends have told me that they found my draft minutes on BYM/FUM issues helpful in clarifying the sense of the meeting. I’m glad, but I’m also aware that I’ve not offered to help several Friends articulate their concerns about proposals to allocate a fair amount of effort and money (by our modest standards) to meetinghouse renovations – as distinct to other possible projects. (Maybe this point isn’t a general meeting failing – just my recognition that this is an area where I might be able to be more useful.)

   4. We put little effort into clarifying what we can offer new members, either spiritually or socially, and as a result have no a strategy for growth – or even replacement.

      This worries me because we’ve experienced a number of losses in recent years – deaths, moves to other areas, illness, aging, and so on. Of course, we’ve also had gains. In any case, we consider techniques for “outreach” (newspaper ads, a web page, invitations to personal friends, etc.), but we spend very little time reaching unity on a core message about what we have to offer. We are slow in engaging new attenders in the life of the meeting. Maybe what I see as our greatest strengths – mutual help, willingness to work together, mutual respect and caring – can only be experienced, not promised. And we are wary of spending energy on defining a “religious” message. But it’s pretty much a waste of energy to seek unity on how to send a message without clearness about what that message should be.

3. For the rest of the report, I’d like to include some of the special things that we do in Carlisle that may be of interest to other people in the Yearly Meeting. Included here is the work that Friends are doing on the death penalty, the meeting’s monthly visit to the Todd Nursing Home, the women’s proprioceptive writing group, and the curriculum one of our First Day School instructors has put together for the teens and pre-adolescents.

   • Death Penalty

     One member of Carlisle Friends Meeting has received the meeting’s endorsement for her leading to pursue the abolition of the death penalty. Other Carlisle Friends are involved in this work as well. Three Friends are members of the board of the LIADP (Legislative Initiative for the Abolition of the Death Penalty), one being chairperson and one secretary. Friends have also attended lectures, vigils and an art display and serve as webmaster and email manager for the same organization.

   • Monthly Nursing Home Visits

     The Todd Nursing Home visits have been held monthly for over twenty years. The young people in the meeting provide artwork for a bulletin, choose songs from a book we have prepared, and perform a song or instrumental solo for the residents of the home. We then have a social period with refreshments provided by the Quakers. The residents love our visits with many of the same faces appearing month after month for years.

   • Proprioceptive Writing Group

     Once a month several Friends gather for a proprioceptive write. “We each light a candle as a focus point and we listen to a tape or cd of baroque music. We try not to think about what we are going to write, but let our thoughts come to the surface. Through the whole process we keep asking ourselves the question and responding to it – what does this particular word mean to me? That usually helps to center and deepen the write. When we feel we have come to the end of our write, we ask ourselves 4 questions:

     
     (1.) How do I feel now?
     (2.) What did I leave out?
     (3.) What is the title of my write?
     (4.) Is there grist here for the next write?

     We then blow out our candles, turn off the music, and read our writes to each other if we like to. We listen, and make more suggestions for particular words, what they mean, and be there to support one another.”

   • Youth Programs

     The young Friends requested a study of Quakers in history. Included to this point are: George Fox, Isaac Penington, John Woolman, and Lucretia Mott, with more to come. We focus on how Quaker families have influenced the development of their children, and that as young adults, they became independent thinkers. A common theme is emerging – we could call it “Tough Truth, Gentle Love” – how historical Quakers challenged the status quo on religion, slavery and women’s rights. So far, three adults from our Meeting have volunteered to share their personal study of Fox, Penington, and Mott. One member told us the story of her great-grandmother, a traveling minister, and showed us her written journal from 150 years ago – a treasure soon to be donated to Earlham College.

     (Note from the teacher: keeping youth engaged and interested, is a concern. Most young people have increasingly busy lives, and creating lessons as we proceed is challenging. We wish we could find more engaging youth curriculum, such as the ones written by PYM about John Woolman and William Penn. We especially need short skits on more historical Quakers that demonstrates key turning points or messages from a Quaker’s life – more material, able to be incorporated with less preparation, for more participatory learning.)

How this report was prepared

The clerk of Ministry and Counsel asked a number of other people in the meeting to write about particular aspects of the meeting’s life. Friends present at our regular Third Month meeting for business reviewed the resulting draft, made editorial suggestions, and approved the resulting report for forwarding to Quarterly and Yearly meetings.

Meeting for Worship

Enough people find value in our Sunday worship that from one dozen to three dozen attend. Most are members; some are occasional or regular attenders; and one or so, a visitor. The practice of silence in the service seems not only well respected but, by and large, appreciated. The silence has several values for us: it bolsters our group cohesiveness. It aids our oft-times too-weak efforts to talk with or to hear God. And it enhances our comprehension of those messages that are offered by the other communicants. On the occasion of a totally silent Meeting for Worship, most are blessed to have felt a sensation of uplift and shared seeking.

Carlisle Friends have been blessed by a variety of messages during Meeting for Worship. Many have participated in delivering ministry, including some who rarely speak or have never before spoken. Sometimes the message arises from Bible study that has immediately preceded Meeting for Worship. One Friend has spoken several times about the advisability of coming to Meeting with a properly prepared state of mind. Many messages arise from Friends’ daily experiences or observations. A few messages have asked for the Meeting’s prayers, advice, or support. Occasionally the initial message has given rise to ensuing messages on linked thoughts. Unfortunately, a few of the messages are spoken too softly for some of us to grasp what is being said.

After the meeting is time for socializing and announcements. Except for brief interludes following sad news and requests for intercessory prayer, there is a profusion of warm cordiality lasting up to a half-hour. This attests to the value each of us gains from our Meeting for Worship.

Meeting for business

Meetings for business are conducted in a spirit of mutual respect and desire to reach good decisions. We tend to reach unity fairly easily on most questions. We are helped in this by relying on committees to sift through issues before a decision is made and by giving committees some discretion in deciding exactly how to carry out the sense of the meeting. For weighty decisions we sometimes schedule second-hour planning sessions, which can focus on a single issue and tend to be better attended than business meetings. We are also aware, however, of a temptation to reach unity merely by failing to push ourselves beyond our usual comfort level on difficult issues.

Peace and Social Concerns

During 2006 the Meeting approved a minute in support of the Carlisle Clean Air Board, a local interfaith organization that is working to address the serious issue of air quality in the Cumberland Valley. The meeting has minuted its opposition to the death penalty in the past and members continue to be active in the movement to abolish the death penalty in the state of Pennsylvania, particularly through the Legislative Initiative to Abolish the Death Penalty (LIADP). A couple of members and others associated with the Meeting continue to provide tutoring at a nearby boy’s detention center.

For the second year, we participated in a program to provide overnight shelter for homeless people. The program, known as Carlisle Cares, now involves nine local churches, each of whom offers floor space in its building. Guests and overnight volunteers (from our own and other local churches) sleep on mats or cots. (For program details see our website.) Churches located nearest to Carlisle’s downtown area provide shelter during the winter months; in both 2005 and 2005 we opened our doors during December. Members of our meeting went beyond the minimum guidelines of the program by providing Sunday breakfasts for our guests. Our building remained open all day on Christmas. (Cold-weather holidays can pose special difficulties for street people because both public and commercial buildings are closed.) Meeting members also laundered towels for guests took advantage of our downstairs shower – about 70-80 towels during the month. A number of guests attended our potlucks and Christmas party during December, and a few continue to join us in meetings for worship. Several of our members came to know individual guests fairly well. The whole experience has been a good one for us, and we expect to continue to participate in this program indefinitely.

Membership Changes

We’ve had a number of painful issues to deal with. Two beloved members – Ralph Slotten and Rob Rathfon - died this year. Ralph was a founding member of the meeting. We’ve had one new member, Amy Hurley, join our meeting this past year.

Ministry and Counsel

Ministry and Counsel has not been very active this past year. As noted, the meeting has experienced the deaths of two members. Other families continue to deal with life-threatening illness or injury. In addition, the meeting struggles to find the right response to situations in which individual members’ personal decisions could impair our sense of community. We are grateful for mutual trust, and we hope for the grace to deal with sensitive problems both candidly and lovingly.

Adult Religious Education

Adult Religious Education has sponsored one Saturday workshop and one Sunday 2nd hour this year. Marcelle Martin from Pendle Hill led the Saturday workshop on prayer. She led us through a number of prayer exercises followed by opportunities for Friends to share how it went. We were joined in the workshop by Friends from neighboring meetings. The workshop seemed to invigorate the meeting for a time. The Sunday 2nd hour was a worship sharing on knowing when to speak in meeting for worship. It seemed to be a live topic for most people and the meeting’s sense of community benefited from the sharing. In addition to the above, the committee has gotten a request for some kind of Quakerism 101 and has wrestled with how to bring that to the meeting, which is still unresolved.

Seven members of our meeting participate in a biweekly Spiritual formation program that provides an opportunity for sharing and getting to know one another better. We have also begun a weekly Bible study before Meeting for Worship based on materials from a group called Bible Workbench.

First Day School

We have 2 first day classes for the children that meet during meeting for worship. The older class is for kids between the ages of 11 and 15. The other class is comprised of kids between the ages of 5 and 10. Each third Sunday both groups visit a local nursing home during meeting for worship. We typically hold 2 First-day classes per month for the older children. During the first half of 2006 we completed a series of lessons on “world religions.” Most of these classes were led by members of our meeting, but some featured guests from other religious faiths. In September we began a series of Bible lessons, beginning with introductions to some of the pivotal events of the Old Testament. We expect this series to continue for at least another full year. Although attendance at these First-Day classes is spotty, making it difficult to maintain a sense of continuity from lesson to lesson, our young people seem to enjoy the sessions when they do attend. The classes include role-playing and impromptu theater, so our young people are learning presentation skills as well as Bible content. The younger children meet more often and have been blessed by the participation of some new adults this past year.

Hospitality

A few years ago the meeting requested more frequent hospitality gatherings. Since then, the Hospitality Committee has provided ways for many Friends to share in responsibility for this. At least once a month at the rise of meeting, volunteers provide a small snack and beverage. Full-lunch potlucks have been times of personal sharing and mutual encouragement. As noted elsewhere, a number of the guests of the Carlisle Cares program have joined us for worship, potlucks or both. We’ve been blessed by their contributions, and our spirits were especially touched with one guest’s playing classical piano music (e.g., Chopin and Mozart).

Finance

The finance committee anticipates that the meetinghouse mortgage will be paid off late in 2007. The Meeting then will be considering items that can benefit from more of our attention, including building maintenance/upkeep, ministries and outreach. It has given us the opportunity to reflect on where our priorities lie.

“It is more blesséd to give than to receive,” and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. As we consider the spiritual state of our Meeting, it seems that a number of our ministries reverberate with blessings given and received.

This is our second year of participation with Carlisle Cares, a program of the local church community offering overnight shelter for homeless people in our area. This year six area churches provided space in their sanctuaries for one month each, and this was our second year of participation. This ministry has grown this year with more Friends involved in more ways than last year. We expanded our hospitality to our guests to include the use of our shower, invitations to our Christmas celebration and potlucks, and the presence of some guests at meetings for worship. We have eased into friendships with these brothers and sisters, and we have become more involved with the wider faith community in Carlisle, where we have become known for extending ourselves to our guests in new ways. One evening one of the guests told a Friend, “I’ve been offering praise for those of you who came tonight.” We initially joined this ministry last year with some trepidation, invoking the usual excuses of liability and insurance concerns. It has proven to be an enriching experience for us, and we hope we can build on this ministry as way opens.

Last summer our new Clerk led a brainstorming session to generate new ideas in areas from the most practical and mundane building improvements to larger issues, especially our growth as a Meeting. To this end we have considered at some length how to be more welcoming to visitors and new attenders. We look forward to finding new ways to let people know that we’re here and what we have to offer. We added two new members in 2005, and just as important, there seems to be more involvement and energy from existing Friends. Our worship has been good, and there is a feeling of openness and depth to the messages. Other adjectives offered to describe our worship were “flowing, giving, and warm.” Our Meeting is enriched by a wide range of theological perspectives and blessedly free of contention or discomfort with each other’s spiritual vocabulary. A Spiritual Formation Group with 6 or 7 faithful members continues to meet every couple weeks, and has quietly contributed to the depth of our spiritual community.

Adult Religious Education has been less active lately, but our Meeting sent two Friends for weekends at Pendle Hill, and we recently had a stimulating presentation on Islam by a scholar of Islamic Studies, who does research on Middle East security issues at the War College. (Dr. Sherifa D Zuhur. “A Hundred Osamas: Islamic Threats and the Future of Counter-insurgency” is available at www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB636.pdf) Although the Iraq War is rarely spoken of in our meetings for worship, it weighs heavily on our hearts, and we were deeply affected by the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Tom Fox, who died for his faith.

We continue to have an innovative First Day School program for our children. In addition to studying world religions, they have contributed to the Meeting by photographing and interviewing adult Friends and each other to create an interesting display in our dining room. This contribution has helped them feel a valued part of the Meeting, and their self-confidence is evident. Young Friends also participate in a monthly Sunday morning program at a nearby nursing home, and sharing across the generational divide has been a good learning experience for us all. Recently one of the elderly residents gave a very eloquent and moving expression of gratitude for this ministry, and again we felt the blessings reverberating. A number of the Meeting’s adults take part in a weekly tutoring program for adjudicated youth nearby, and here too, the distinction between giving and receiving is lost.

There is a deep sense of mutual support among us, which seems pretty extraordinary. Our small size may have something to do with it, but we feel there is more at work here than sociability and good manners. Many Friends have shared in providing loving care for an elderly couple with health problems. Even a hostile neighbor, who once barged into an evening program and called us “f-ing hypocrites” has grown friendly and has offered us a parking space in his backyard. It seems that everyone contributes to the life of the Meeting.

There is a sense of optimism in our Meeting. Faith, hope and love are all evident among us. We look forward to sharing the Light with others.

Friends in Carlisle participated in Carlisle Cares for a second year. Carlisle Friends opened their meetinghouse during the month of December to provide overnight shelter for the homeless. Friends also extended an invitation to their guests to join them at their annual Christmas program and potluck, and to their January potluck.

The children of the Meeting presented a Christmas program at the Todd Home, a retirement/personal care facility in Carlisle that the Meeting has adopted. We have been presenting programs to Todd Home on a monthly basis for approximately 15 years. The many talents of the children and adult Friends were very much appreciated

Friends hosted a Second Hour in January featuring Sandy Grotberg (Chambersburg Meeting) speaking about her work in the Alternatives to Violence Project/African Great Lakes Initiative.

In concert with Friends everywhere, Carlisle Friends held a Meeting for Worship with a concern for Tom Fox and the Christian Peacemakers held in Iraq, as well as a candlelight vigil on the square in Carlisle.

We are blessed with many talented Friends in Meeting who willingly share their talents. The following poem by Friend Cox seems apropos:

Blessing on Friends
We have no hidden and secret ends,
For we are not merchants, but only good friends,
Each a sovereign lady or lord
With hand in glove, far from spear and from sword.
Me do not meet in debt or greed
We are bound by love and not by need.
Each is a sister; each is a brother;
Each is friend; each is free from the other.
Freedom is the basis of Friendship's Nation;
We give ourselves freely without obligation.

From Spells For Personal Power
© by Jeremiah Cox of Carlisle Meeting

Carlisle Monthly Meeting welcomes Fred Baldwin as our new Clerk of the Meeting and wishes to express its thanks to Andy Hoover, outgoing Clerk, for his years of service. Continuing to serve as Treasurer will be Joan Anderson. Recording Clerks are John Brubaker, Don Kovacs, and Ed Sonnenberg.

Under the care of Martha Slotten, the Meetinghouse was blessed this summer with beautiful seat cushions for the benches of the Meetinghouse. Jeremiah Cox of Carlisle Meeting was moved to pen the following poem in honor of the occasion:

The Little Quaker Miracle of Carlisle
I’m early for the meeting (not quite ten)
But soon the time arrives, and in they file
To fan the inner fire of God again,
The unpretentious Quakers of Carlisle.
But no-one blinks; no single Friend affords
A miser’s oath to comment on the sight:
Yes, cushions on the unforgiving boards
Of benches that were naked just last night!
Though worldly, I believe that I can reach
The Throne to doff my hat with many bows;
For nowadays, it’s truth makes plain our speech,
Not little sprinkled thees or precious thous.
A sweeter destiny now shapes our “ends:”
Thank God from the Society of Friends.

Peace, Ed Sonnenberg

Steve Davidson, a long-time member of our meeting until his death in 2003, used to say that intervisitation among Friends was essential for the well-being of our kind of Friends. In looking back on the past year, the "life" of our meeting has been quickened by contact with others from outside the monthly meeting.

In February of this year, a colonel from the nearby Army War College addressed the Quarterly meeting held at Carlisle and spoke on "The Role of the Military in Peacemaking". He told us that, at best, the military can enforce a brief hiatus in hostility, that lasting peace depends upon groups like Friends working with the combatants. This same colonel came to the Peace College which meets monthly at the meetinghouse, and asked us, meaning peace groups, to pressure the government to cease the abuse of prisoners and respect human rights. He told us that people in the military were concerned that they were being asked to do things that violated their conscience. As a result of his visit, the meeting united on a letter to the editor criticizing the treatment of prisoners by our government. Still, perhaps more important than any concrete actions we have taken, the "life" of our monthly meeting and our Quarterly meeting were quickened by this speaker.

In March of this past year the meeting allowed the meetinghouse to be used as an emergency shelter for the homeless. As part of the arrangement, someone from the meeting needed to open and close the meetinghouse every night. For those who participated, it was certainly an education into the needs of the homeless. But perhaps more important for us was the personal connection we felt with our guests.

We sent one of our members to Pendle Hill this past year. He came back to us glowing, wanting to recreate the experience he had at Pendle Hill in the monthly meeting. But, perhaps more significant than any content he got at Pendle Hill, was the fact that he was touched, both literally and figuratively.

We have also been blessed this past year by the participation of newer members and attenders. One has distinguished himself by his attention to detail in carrying out the work of the meeting; another by his gift of ministry in meeting for worship; another by the enthusiasm he brings to the tutoring that several members of our meeting do on a weekly basis at a nearby boys detention facility. But again, perhaps more importantly, we have been blessed by their faces.

As one speaks about the new and exciting, one realizes that it unfolds against a backdrop of faithfulness. Several households have, for years, kept the meeting by their faithful attendance in meetings for worship and business. They provide the fertile soil for these new seeds to flourish.

There have been a lot of other things going on in our meeting also. Perhaps of most interest to other Friends is a concern that a member, Fred Baldwin, is carrying about School Choice. Fred has written a short essay on the subject entitled "The Shame of Quakers - Neglecting School Choice". While Friends in Carlisle have not united on a minute on this issue, Fred has enlivened the meeting by the depth of his concern.

Other Friends might also find interesting our monthly program at a nearby nursing home. Once a month, children from the meeting and a few adults provide music and snacks for the residents. This has been an ongoing meeting program, started by the late Betty Dietzel several years ago.

Other sub-communities continue to exist in the meeting. A spiritual formation group continues to meet semi-monthly. The group has been meeting continuously for about eight years, although none of the original participants are still involved. It has been described as "an opportunity for Friends to confess their humanity and to discern where the Spirit is moving in their lives." They are currently using Daphne Clement's Pendle Hill pamphlet, Group Spiritual Nurture, to structure their gatherings. We also have the aforementioned tutoring program at a nearby detention center for boys, in which about a half dozen members and attenders are involved. And several of the women in the meeting have been getting together for lunch on a monthly basis.

Except for Ministry and Counsel, which has met bi-monthly, committees have met on an ad hoc basis. We have the following committees: Property, Finance, Adult Religious Education, Children's Religious Education, Peace and Social Concerns, Library and Hospitality. The past year has seen an increase in the number of potlucks and light refreshments that have occurred after meeting for worship.

In business meetings we have discontinued consideration of the queries. This has shortened the length of our business meetings. (It should be noted though that it has been our intent to read the queries at the start of meeting for worship on the First-days that we have business meeting.) In business meeting we have talked about sexual orientation discrimination connected to FUM employment practices and the proposed minute from Yearly Meeting on the Federal Marriage Amendment. The meeting forwarded a minute to Yearly Meeting on FUM employment practices and minuted its support of the proposed Yearly Meeting minute on the Federal Marriage Amendment. We have also talked about getting cushions for our benches. This originated after some of our members visited our sister meeting in Carlisle, England and noted how comfortable their benches were because of the cushions.

The aforementioned Peace College continues to meet monthly at the meetinghouse, although only one member of our meeting occasionally participates.

While we appreciate the activities of individual Friends - Joan Anderson helps lead the anti-death penalty crusade in our state; Fred Baldwin chairs the local school board; Nate Jefferson continues to build his environmentally progressive model house - some Friends long for a deeper sense of unity as a group, while unsure what form that might take. Some members would like to see more second hours. Others are reluctant to add more program without a clear leading. A Quakerism 101 class was suggested as we have several new families in the meeting and a session led by Gene Hillman in the past was a significant event in the life of our meeting. Some wonder if we need all of the committees we have and if there is a better way for a meeting our size to carry out the committee functions. We worry about outreach as we are in a low-visibility location. We have a prototype for a website, although it has not yet become an important part of the meeting. Perhaps our best effort at outreach occurred when we hosted the emergency homeless shelter as many of the volunteers from other churches got their first acquaintance with Friends.

Finally, we are affected by the absence of many Friends, some through death, others through illness or changes in life circumstances. Those whose recent deaths have affected us include Steve Davidson, Ed Siegel, Myrtis McMillen, and Edith Brown. And we have missed the regular attendance at worship of other Friends -Ralph Slotten, Wilma Hansen, and Kim Eckman --who for reasons of health or distance have not attended as frequently as in the past.

This report was written by the clerk after the State of the Meeting was considered by Ministry and Counsel and by our March business meeting. It was approved at our April business meeting.

Andy Hoover
Clerk, Carlisle Monthly Meeting

The Monthly Meeting participated in Carlisle Cares this past winter.  Carlisle Cares is a local effort sponsored by local Carlisle faith communities which provide shelter for the homeless during the winter months.  Carlisle Friends offered their meetinghouse during the month of March as an overnight overflow shelter.  Homeless were offered a warm place to sleep overnight in the meetinghouse along with snacks and a listening presence.

During the past year, Carlisle Friends has also been involved in establishing a sister meeting relationship with Carlisle Meeting in Carlisle, England.  It is hoped that this relationship will prove to be fruitful to both meetings and help to strengthen the bonds of mutual friendship and exchange of ideas between our two meetings.  We have been blessed with many exchanges of communication and prayers for one another.

Friends in Carlisle continue to provide tutors to the Loysville Youth Development Center, a local juvenile detention center.  Eight F(f)riends participate in the weekly tutoring, primarily providing assistance to take the GED.

We considered a minute from Stony Run Meeting on the relationship of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and Friends United Meeting. We minuted the following in response to that minute:

1. Carlisle Friends Meeting does not support refusing a position of leadership or service to anyone solely on the basis of sexual relationship outside of traditional marriage.
2. We oppose FUM's policy of refusing employment to anyone who is involved in a sexual relationship outside of traditional, heterosexual marriage or to anyone who does not subscribe to that policy.
3. We enjoin our BYM representatives to FUM to labor with FUM on these issues.
4. We are not clear yet about the issue of recommending that BYM withhold financial support from FUM.

Friends are rejoicing in the new membership of two Friends: Kenyon McCoy and Ralph Slotten

We are sorrowful about the death of four members in the past year: Stephen Davidson on November 15, 2003; Edith Brown on February 17, 2004; Ed Siegel on February 20, 2004; Myrtis McMillen on June 29, 2004

Carlisle reports these deaths:  Stephen Davidson, on 15th of Eleventh Month, 2003.  [A Memorial Meeting was held at Dickinson College 10th of First month, 2004.] Edith Brown on 17th of Second Month, 2004, [A Memorial Meeting held at the Thornwald Home, on 6th of Third month.] Edwin Siegel on the 20th of Second Month, 2004  [Memorial Meeting at Carlisle Meeting on the third of Fourth Month].

SPIRITUAL STATE OF THE MEETING REPORT - 2003

Carlisle Friends continue to have regular First Day Meeting for Worship, First Day School and Monthly Meeting for Business. Wednesday Noon Worship was laid down for the present. Monthly First Wednesday Worship following prayer and fasting continues. A Spiritual Formation group meets biweekly on Sunday evenings, exploring God's movements in our lives.

Second hours included a presentation by Chuck Fager on the Peace Testimony and a consideration of school vouchers led by Fred Baldwin. Several women from the Meeting were refreshed by attending the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Women's Retreat. And, Friends viewed Krzysztof Kieslowski's movie series "The Decalogue" on a few winter Saturday evenings, and found the fellowship and discussions enriching.

Friend Joan Anderson is very active in anti-death penalty issues and her group meets in our building also as well as a Peace College group. Young Friends minister to two local nursing homes in music and fellowship. They presented two music recitals at one of the homes. Tutoring is provided by dedicated Friends at Loysville Youth Development Center for adjudicated youth. This year's program has been revitalized by an increase in the number of tutors.

The Ministry and Council Committee initiated the idea of a monthly suggested reading to nourish and enrich ministry. Ralph Slotten gifted the entire meeting with a copy of his Quaker poems, Children of the Light, and this was one of the suggested readings. Ralph and the two other "Mermaid poets" gave a poetry reading at the meetinghouse that was enjoyed by Friends and the wider community. Also, the "Seeds of Silence" newsletter was published and distributed by Christine and Nathan Jefferson to the gratitude of Friends.

The younger children's First Day program has considered parables and famous Quakers. Older children have studied Old Testament patriarchs and memorized some Old Testament Bible verses.

The number of hospitalities and potlucks has increased in this past year and the presence of new attenders is very welcome.

Sadly, we have experienced the passing of three members in the past year: Stephen Davidson, Edith Brown and Edwin Siegel for whom memorial services were held. We also supported Friend Joan Anderson with a memorial service for her mother-in-law which was held at the meetinghouse. It seems that our memorial services have brought us closer as we reflect on these precious lives and the meaning of life for us all.

We are a small meeting and need to nurture our closeness and support one another along the journey. We do have a web site, www.quakers-carlisle.org, and we are continuing to consider how to attract persons of all ages to our meeting. One suggestion is to have speakers describe their Quaker experiences as young adults working in troubled areas and to include our 12 & up young friends in the discussion. We will also have a special celebration of children and of a new member and associate member.