Frederick

• Interchange, Spring 2007
• Interchange, Fall 2006
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2005
• Interchange, Summer 2006
• Interchange, Fall 2005
   
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2004
• Interchange, Spring 2005
• Interchange, September 2004
• Interchange, March 2004
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2003

This past year Frederick Friends Meeting has experienced many blessings in our Meetings for Worship and in our fellowship and work together. The presence of all those who joined us has reminded us of the power of Worship and Spirit that is available to us all and that is nurtured through community. Many families with young children and teenagers have been regularly attending Meeting for Worship and First Day School, new members have joined Meeting and a worship group has requested to be an allowed Meeting under our care. Many members have provided leadership in community Peace organizations such as Women in Black and the Peace Resource Center. Many others have worked to build a loving community within the Meeting and amongst Friends in the larger Quaker Community. We have been touched by the experiences of members' work, with "Able and Willing", to build a school in Africa, and with Christian Peace-maker Teams in Iraq and the Middle East. Many others have brought the Peace Testimony to the communities in which they work and serve.

We have come to know, too, that there are also blessings inherent in difficulty and trouble. Over the past few years, our Meeting has experienced great difficulty in dealing with the challenges raised by the attendance of a person who had a history of sexual misconduct. There were many strongly held personal beliefs on this issue and as a result we often found ourselves in painful discord. Some have been hurt in ways that have led them to withdraw from the Meeting Community. At year's end we still had not reached unity on the issue nor had we fully reconciled as a community. These experiences have humbled us and made us mindful of the need to be open to the guidance and healing power of the Spirit.

Troubling as the year has been, we are grateful for the patience and tenderness manifested in our community and the renewed efforts to seek better understandings of Spirit and Community. We have also experienced both the blessings of reconciliation and the lessons and losses of conflict. Friends in the larger Quaker Community have held us in the Light as they have given us guidance and help on practices and disciplines for decision-making and other aspects of our corporate life.

Among positive developments has been the recently introduced practice of having a Friend designated as an observer to hold the processes of Meeting for Business in the Light. In addition, many members have renewed their commitment to the Meeting and came forward to serve on Meeting committees. Toward year's end, our experience of Worship has felt deeper and more centered, and throughout the year, we have experienced increased attendance at Meetings for Business.

We are profoundly grateful for the rich community life that has been available to us in Frederick Meeting. It has brought us friendship and the opportunities to serve others. Fifteen teachers and thirty-one children have participated regularly in First Day School. Children raised money for the Heifer project. Adults raised money for the Crop Walk. Many young people and their parents were campers in the BYM Camping program. Intergenerational events were the Spring Retreat, a summer celebration for the 10th Anniversary of the Meeting House and fall and Christmas celebrations. Adults met in each other's homes for Friendly Eight dinners and Women's Monthly Pot Lucks.

We have moved towards expansion of our Meeting space with the purchase of an easement for parking, and a fall meeting held for envisioning a building. However our level of giving has not increased this year and this is a concern if we are to move forward with expansion.

We have been deeply humbled by our experiences in our Meeting life this year. At times, it has felt as if the spirit of turmoil of world events has carried over into our Worship and Community life. Though many profound expressions of the Spirit were amongst us, we were often troubled and limited in our expression of the Peace testimony towards each other. We ask for all of us to be held in the Light as we seek healing and seek to deepen the Spiritual life of our Meeting so that it can be place of nurture and support for all who attend.

Frederick approved an Allowed Meeting under its care for a group that has worshipped in Shepherdstown, WV for several years. After visitation and consideration through a clearness process, the Meeting joyfully approved this status and welcomes inter-visitation. One member of the group already is a member of Frederick Meeting; two others requested membership.

A workshop led by John Calvi is planned for March with hopes of promoting healing within our worship community. Meeting is developing policies that define its responsibility in the prevention of and response to incidents of sexual misconduct occurring on Meeting grounds or at designated Meeting events. Ministry and Counsel, Religious Education and Trustees are working on developing guidelines for support for and attendance of sex offenders.

Meeting identified a group who will follow the BYM process of responding to the FUM policy that discriminates against employing gays. We continue to plan for future growth of the Meeting with the guidance of an appointed task force. Several young attenders requested membership.

Births: Eliza Kellett on October 27, 2004 to Elizabeth Fetter and Paul Kellett

Our First Day School (FDS) program began September 12th with the discussion of silence and sitting still. We celebrated the return to FDS with a potluck picnic at the energy efficient straw-bale home of Francy and Randy Williams. Sixteen teachers share the responsibility for six FDS age-divided groups. Our roster carries 50 children, with 25 children on average attending each First Day. This year’s FDS theme is Quakers: Who are We and What Do We Do? Our FDS Committee is working on a Child Safety Plan to incorporate our Meeting’s concern for child safety and our insurance carrier’s new requirements to maintain coverage for sexual misconduct.

On August 14, 2004, we celebrated ten years of residence in our current Meeting House at 723 North Market Street. Approximately 40 Friends gathered for a potluck bar-b-que that afternoon, taking time to acknowledge the Minute which approved the purchase of the building, to plant a tree in the back yard in honor of the event, and to enjoy each other’s company. Friends joyfully noted that many of the people who signed the original Minute were also in attendance at the anniversary celebration, and appreciated the space that it provides for our on-going Ministry and development as a spiritual community. Meeting will continue its monthly women’s pot luck dinners in the Fall.

A day long retreat at the end of August addressed our vision for how our physical space should evolve as we have grown.

Ministry and Counsel continues to work on the Meeting’s policy regarding the attendance of a person with a history of sexual misconduct. The nominating committee has recommended a restructuring of committee responsibilities, including separating those for Ministry and Counsel into two committees.

The Meeting conducted its semi-annual yard sale in June, which was both financially successful and well supported by the community.

Issues of concern before the Meeting include the state of worship, the manner in which business is conducted and its impact on our community and relationships, and the continuing question of how we shall address the attendance of persons with a history of sexual misconduct. We have noted that the opportunities we have had to reach out and care for each other in recent months have helped provide a sense of healing for the community.

Marriages/Ceremonies of Commitment: Elizabeth Fetter and Paul Kellett, July 10, 2004.

Frederick Meeting has had an intense fall and early winter. The events of the Fall, and our ongoing growth has made us aware of how we must change in a number of ways. We instituted a training series for committee Clerks, in an effort to better define good process, and support our committees, and the wonderful new leadership that has arisen. We are formalizing our First Day School Child Safety program, and are proceeding with the next step in our exploration of how to develop a larger worship space. We have acquired important additional parking adjacent to our property, and have decided to conduct an intensive one-day facilitated session with an architect to envision the design for a new Meeting Room on the property. Our decision to go forward or not will depend on both the response of the community and financial considerations.

We have sought to build community through more frequent pot-lucks, which have been well attended, as well as traditional events such as our Fall Festival and children's Christmas celebrations. In early Fall we hosted a series of films and discussions based on the PBS series "A Force More Powerful", which were open to the public and well attended.

Much of the Meeting's energy in the past four months has been focused on our Prison Ministry. Over a year ago, we approved a Minute concerning the return of sex offenders to the community, outlining procedures and communications. We found when we began the process of communication in anticipation of an incarcerated Friend's upcoming release, that this represents a significant and painful issue for many among us. We have struggled with the question of whether we really are open to all, and under what circumstances. We have labored intensively for several months to find a way to hold the concerns and feelings of all. Finding unity has been very difficult. We have convened a support committee for the incarcerated Friend, to assist with the many challenges he will face. We have convened an oversight committee to address safety in the Meeting, to develop detailed procedures and accountability, and most of all to listen. We have convened a series of Listening Groups and Meetings to establish a safe place to express concerns. We have discovered that we are no different than the rest of society in having a significant number within our community who are survivors. We have also discovered that the larger issues we are dealing with have to do with some members and attenders not feeling they are heard, not trusting that the meeting will follow through with safety procedures, and with long-standing interpersonal conflict among some that make openness to the spirit difficult. These are all matters we know we must address; we pray we will do so with love and openness to truth. We have experienced moments of great pain, and moments of astounding grace in our work. We have made a great deal of progress and much work remains. We pray for light as we continue.

Adoptions/Births: Nora Clarke, mid-November; Grace Ann Zimmerman

Spiritual State of the Meeting Report - 2003

In 2003 Frederick Meeting experienced a year of intense involvement in matters of the world and of the spirit. We felt a growing awareness of both change around us and our need to change. Attendance at Meeting remained good. We welcomed new members and attenders. We celebrated for the first time the birth of a child, Grace Zimmerman, whose mother had been raised in the Meeting, and welcomed a child who joined her family and our community by adoption, Nora Clarke. We joyfully supported the marriage of Candace Younkins and Glenn Upton under the care of the meeting, and gave our blessings to Jonathan Willis and Tuna Chatterjee at their ceremony.

Many of us continued to be involved in local, regional and national peace marches and other activities. We encouraged press coverage of local peace events, which has been helpful in uniting activists from many parts of our Frederick community. Friends participated with the Peace Resource Center in ongoing weekly vigils against militarism outside of Ft Detrick and public forums on alternatives to war presented at Hood College. Friends also participated with Frederick Women in Black at monthly vigils and in hosting the Ibdaa Palestinian youth dance troupe from Dheisheh refugee camp for a teen cultural exchange day in July. Members and attenders joined others in the community in standing witness at meetings called by the local FBI with representatives of the Frederick Muslim community and in presenting an alternative point of view for a resolution proposed by Frederick City aldermen in support of the war. In August we hosted a community forum on the conflict in the middle-east, and in early Fall a series of films and discussions based on the PBS series A Force More Powerful, all of which were open to the public and well attended.

First Day School continues to grow and thrive, and includes a number of first time teachers. We honored our graduating seniors in June, and welcomed 60 first day schoolers this Fall. Our Young Friends continue to work at the soup kitchen, and many of them started first day school in the Fall with a ropes course. We have offered the Growing in the Light curriculum this year. Attendance is consistent in some of the classes, which has allowed for a sense of community to develop, and longer-term projects to emerge. The older groups are challenged by demanding personal schedules, and we find we must be realistic in our expectations for community and covering class material. We have begun to develop a more comprehensive and formal child safety program, which will be an ongoing process. A fruitful program for adult RE continues.

Our work towards deciding on a next step and vision for an expansion of our physical space has continued. We have now acquired additional parking adjacent to our property, and can begin the process of visioning how our space should serve our ministry and our community.

We had good participation at our annual spring retreat weekend at Catoctin Camp, and were pleased to see a number of young families experiencing the camp for the first time. Our nominating committee has encouraged greater participation on committees through several activities that will better familiarize attenders with the work of the committees and helping people identify their strengths and gifts and needs. A number of individuals are assuming clerkships for the first time, and we are grateful for their fresh perspective and energy. A series of training sessions for committee clerks has been a helpful support. We are grateful to Darah Kehnemuyi for assuming the clerkship of Warrenton Quarterly Meeting and helping to sustain this important connection among Friends.

We have sought to build community through more frequent potlucks, as well as our traditional events such as Fall Festival and children's Christmas celebrations. A number of us have experienced serious illness, or have struggled to support family members who are ill. While we try to be mindful of the circumstances of Friends, we are not always sufficiently aware, nor have we always provided enough support. We seek ways to be more consistent in our response to need.

Much of the Meeting's energy at the end of the year was focused on our Prison Ministry. While the Prison Ministry has for many years been the concern of a few, it has not been generally embraced by the Meeting. Nevertheless, over a year ago, we approved a Minute concerning the return of sex offenders to the community, outlining procedures and communications. We found when we began the process of communication in anticipation of an incarcerated Friend's upcoming release, that this represents a significant and painful issue for many among us. We have struggled with the question of whether we really are open to all, and under what circumstances. We labored intensively for several months to find a way to hold the concerns and feelings of all. Finding unity has been very difficult. We have convened a support committee for the incarcerated Friend, to assist with the many challenges he will face. We have convened an oversight committee to address safety in the Meeting, to develop detailed procedures and accountability, and most of all to listen. We have convened a series of Listening Groups and Meetings to establish a safe place to express concerns. We have discovered that we are no different than the rest of society in having a significant number within our community who are survivors. We have also discovered that the larger issues we are dealing with have to do with some members and attenders not feeling they are heard, not trusting that the meeting will follow through with safety procedures, and with long-standing interpersonal conflicts among some that make openness to the spirit difficult. These are all matters we know we must address; we pray we will do so with love and openness to truth. We have experienced moments of great pain, and moments of astounding grace in our work. We have made a great deal of progress and much work remains. We pray for light as we continue.

Throughout this year we have come to know again, the meaning and power of worship and of right process, and how difficult a place it is to hold. Living as a community from within that sacred place is miracle enough, even for a moment in time. We have also known it to be the source of other miracles for us individually and corporately this year. We remind ourselves that it is worship and the life of the spirit that informs who we are and all we do.

As we reflect upon this, our spiritual state of the meeting, we ask ourselves to hold these queries up to the Light:

• How can we help improve the quality of silence in worship? How can we help people to better understand the nature of appropriate vocal messages, and how to use silence between messages?
• How can we better understand and convey the subtleties of good process? How can we make our business meetings less ego-filled and less frustrating?
• How can we balance the need to remain patient with issues that will take a long time to resolve, with burn-out?
• When interpersonal flare-ups take over our process, how can we deal with this, love people through it and re-center? How can we better understand and appreciate the differences in temperament that can lead to these flare-ups?
• How can we use our peace testimony to help us deal with fear?
• How can we address our twin roots in Christianity and Universalism in how we teach our children?
• In what ways can we more effectively address the myriad needs of the community with so many people arriving, and some leaving?
• How can we better nurture new families and attenders? What structures will help us do this more consistently?