Roanoke Monthly Meeting convened thirty two years ago when the Unitarian Universalists scheduled a program on Quaker worship and various ungathered Friends discovered one another when they came to hear the program. Friends reviewed this bit of history as we celebrated the twenty-four year contribution to our Meeting that Bob and Susie Fetter made. We celebrated their considerable efforts to nourish the Meeting, causes for peace and justice, and individuals and families in Roanoke and around the state. They moved, according to their plan, to Broadmead in Maryland in May.

Our Meeting moved to a committee structure two years ago and in May Friends held a workshop titled, “Committees and Quaker Process: Vital to our Meeting.” Twenty people attended, about the same number that attend Meeting for Business regularly. All felt it very worthwhile.

A year and a half ago, one Friend initiated a regional gathering of Friends. The Blue Ridge Gathering took place twice in Roanoke and more recently in Maury River. Generally a small number of people from four or five Meetings attend.

Our Meeting continues to give tutoring and various forms of support to a large Eritrean family who came to Roanoke going on two years ago. This past January, they experienced a fire from a neighboring apartment and lost all the considerable Christmas gifts they had just received. Ongoing is our effort to aid the Pastors for Peace who convey medical and school supplies to folks in Cuba. The caravan regularly stops for the night in Roanoke, and this year a fundraising concern with John McCutcheon was held June 17. Within our own membership, we have had numerous opportunities to be useful to one another.

The Roanoke meeting continues to meet on the second floor of the former Jefferson High School, now converted to offices and a concert hall. The Meeting has been spending time in called meetings to discuss our vision of our Meeting and whether to allocate some undesignated monies toward a future space.

As one Friend has said “Our Meeting is like a beautiful basket, woven from the strands of our lives that we are willing to share with one another. The basket is there to tenderly hold one another’s emotions, hopes, anxieties, transitions, concerns. There may still be some loose weave in our basket, as we unfortunately lose some Friends’ cares, but our basket is becoming stronger, fuller and more beautiful as we grow.”

Worship is the act that brings us together for the weaving of this basket. The Meeting has demonstrated that it can be a clear channel for the Spirit. In both the quality of the silence and in vocal ministry, a sense of holiness prevails.

After the close of Meeting for Worship, there is often a rich sharing of thoughts that did not rise to the level of vocal ministry. Some Friends would like to hear some of these messages in Meeting for Worship. Another Friend describes vocal ministry as “adequate, but tentative.” We are learning to hold within the fellowship different understandings of Quaker worship.

The sequence of worship, sharing of thoughts, sharing of names, then announcements is, perhaps without our planning it so, a smooth and logical way of moving from communion with the Spirit to communion with one another. This communion is continued after the rise of Meeting in our religious education and Bible discussions, as friends share spiritual experiences, using the Bible or wider topics as a grounding.

We are grateful for a spiritual community in which we can celebrate one another’s joys and successes. Our Meeting Community is vibrant and has been nurtured by an increase in the number of attenders in Meeting for Worship as well as in Meeting for Business. The Meeting offers a variety of ongoing opportunities for spiritual growth. We have meeting for healing, a reading/ discussion group, mid -month Meeting for Worship at Roanoke College, Friendly 8s, and the silent meal. The Meeting has also held a retreat and hosted two Blue Ridge Gatherings, attended by Friends from Floyd, Blacksburg, and Maury River. In the midst of these often joyful occasions, we have also been called upon to share Friends’ experiences as they struggled with conflict, sickness and even death. And we learned the profound comfort of a spiritual community that embraces one another in the face of grief, loss, or uncertainty. This ministry has been supported both by the committee structure and by the efforts of individuals, making the weave of our basket stronger.

Roanoke Friends have maintained a commitment to reach out to the wider community. We have sponsored the work of Pastors for Peace in their ministry to bring humanitarian aide to Cuba, and we continue to support a large refugee family from Eritrea. Roanoke Friends are a strong presence at a monthly peace vigil. We maintain a liaison with Quaker Earth Care Witness and a presence at clean valley day. Some of us feel we need to do more in this area.

We recognize the places in our basket where the weave is loose and needs mending. One such place is our attention to the youngest members of our community. We are blessed to have two babies in occasional attendance, but in 2006 we had no room for toddlers or First day School so we used the alcove in the hall. We continue to search for alternatives. Some Friends have voiced a concern that the Meeting has not fully accepted the joys and challenges of caring for young children.

While we have made heartening progress in cultivating the mindfulness, prayerfulness and restraint necessary to conduct business in the manner of Friends, we sometimes find gaps in our understanding. This is our second year with a structure of committees instead of deciding things as a Meeting as a whole, and we are still learning Quaker process, both in committees and as a Meeting dealing with committees. Some of our challenges were addressed by sharing readings on gospel order; we are planning to address them further in 2007.

In times of conflict, we have not always behaved as model disciples. We acknowledge that while God’s love is perfect, the rest of us fall short. Conflict, however, always offers both negative and positive possibilities. We have attempted to seize the possibilities of growth in love and understanding that always emerge in such difficulties. This is a continuing process. As a Meeting, we are encouraged by a more frequent use of periods of silence to seek guidance during times of conflict.

As we have grappled with the challenges of our year, we have been called to a deeper understanding of what it means to minister to one another. And as we respond to this call, the Spirit leads us, ever available to transform our lives, weaving them into greater depths of love and connectedness.

Spiritual State of the Meeting – Lynchburg Indulged – March 2007

Lynchburg worship group remains small but committed and is grateful to Lynchburg College for hosting us. Even though we are very small, we are also very diverse, ranging in age from the mid-20’s to the mid-80’s. In fact, our youngest attender has her first child due on the same date as the birthday of our oldest attender. We support each other through life’s passages and support each member’s calling to ministry. Presently our efforts are focused on the Jamaica ministry of Nancy Wellons, providing prayers and material and financial support to her for her trips to Jamaican schools and Quaker churches.

Attendance at Meeting for Worship has grown this year and we are grateful for the spiritual energy that growth has brought to our faith community. We are ever-evolving to learn truly how to minister to one another, whether by supporting Friends through illness or by dealing tenderly with one another at Meetings for Business. At times we struggle with our decision-making, but our labors together have blessed us with many opportunities for broadening and deepening relationships within our Meeting.

In July, Roanoke Friends again sponsored the Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba, providing hospitality for the caravanistas as well as material aid to the people of Cuba.

Many Roanoke Friends continue to maintain a Quaker presence at the monthly silent vigils protesting the Iraq war sponsored by Plowshare Peace and Justice Center.

Some Roanoke Friends recently provided hospitality for UFUFUO (an international interfaith organization that works on relief projects) team members traveling to Mississippi to provide assistance to hurricane Katrina survivors.

The much-missed monthly silent meal has been resumed, providing opportunity for spiritual fellowship. This fall we look forward to the institution of “Friendly Eights,” an opportunity for socializing and getting to know ourselves a bit better.

Attendance at Roanoke meeting has increased this past year, prompting a move from the Presbyterian Community Center to the Jefferson Center, a Roanoke City Arts complex.

This fall, an invitation was sent to all who have attended meeting in the past several years. Our attendance was almost doubled for meeting for worship, and many visitors remained for potluck and worship sharing.

Our newly formed Peace and Social Justice Committee sponsored the Pastors for Peace Caravan last summer. They provided hospitality, and held a public meeting. The committee collected 20 boxes of medical supplies and crutches and wheel chairs for the Caravan to take to Cuba. They plan to repeat this project this summer. Four from our meeting spent a week on the Gulf Coast helping with the clean up in Kiln, Mississippi.

Two friends participated in a construction project in Honduras. In time for Christmas, an extended family of 14 Eritrian refugees arrived in Roanoke and were sponsored by the meeting under the care of Peace and Social Justice. Meeting members have helped this family to adjust to life in Roanoke in many ways, including providing rides to public English classes. Most of the family enjoyed a potluck meal with us at the rise of meeting April 1.

Together with Oak Grove Church of the Brethren, Roanoke Friends planned a meeting of concern for Tom Fox and the other Christian Peace Makers. After Tom’s death, we held a joint memorial worship. Roanoke has invited the other four area meetings in Southwest Virginia to worship and a potluck in early May.

This year has been one of growth and change for Roanoke Friends, the most visible and obvious manifestation of this being our move (the second in as many years) from the Presbyterian Center to the Jefferson Center. Friends labored together in the decision to move and labor still over what kind of physical home will best serve our future needs.

Meanwhile we continue to find a spiritual home in the richness of Meeting for Worship and in the bonds of fellowship that manifest God¹s Light among us. These bonds are strengthened by a monthly Meeting for Healing, as well as a Bible Study group, and a group that meets monthly to reflect on other spiritual literature. In times of personal crisis we become more fully aware of these bonds and feel grateful for the caring community that is the Roanoke Society of Friends. We have had occasions to feel such gratitude this past year.

We have taken steps to strengthen the bonds between Roanoke Friends and Friends at Lynchburg Indulged Meeting by planning together a joint retreat. Lynchburg Friends continue to be a close-knit group, small in number but strong in their commitment to each other and to working for peace and justice.

We are grateful for the opportunity to be instruments of God¹s peace in the wider world. Both corporately and individually, members and attenders seek to live out Quaker testimonies in a variety of ways: in our sponsorship of a Eritrean refugee family, in our presence at silent vigils for peace, in our efforts on behalf of Katrina victims, in our joining with Oak Grove Church of the Brethren in support for captive Christian Peacemakers, and in our financial support for organizations that ease suffering and promote peace, justice, and care for the earth. Together we seek the Spirit¹s guidance in discerning how we are called to spend our limited energies and resources.

This process of discernment has taken a more structured form as we continue to transition from a small Meeting of the whole, to a larger Meeting where decisions and actions are delegated to committees. This transition has not always been smooth, and there has been perhaps, the loss of a certain spontaneity. But there is a sense among Friends that the committees are both necessary and working.

At Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business is where our professed unity in the Spirit gets put to the test. This year has seen a growth in our understanding of and adherence to Quaker process as we learn to hold more lightly to our own truths, and listen more tenderly to the truths of others so that the Truth of the Spirit may make itself known to us.

Our Meeting community spans four generations and represents a diversity of backgrounds, viewpoints, gifts and ages. We treasure the wisdom and experience of our venerable friends, the energy and idealism of our young adults, the wide-eyed wonder of our children. (We feel especially blessed by the new arrival of two infants.) We treasure the commitments, passions and perspectives of all our members and attenders. There is strength in diversity. There is also a need for some common understanding of what it is that brings us and keeps us together. We cultivate this understanding by learning about our history and traditions, by being faithful in our attendance at Meeting for Worship and in service to the Meeting, by sharing our lives with one another, and by caring for the spiritual well being of our children. We look forward to continued growth in all of these areas as we follow the leading of the Spirit.

Membership has been growing over the past several years. Three years ago, having a baker's dozen (a religious figure, actually: Jesus plus the twelve disciples) was a well-attended Meeting for Worship. Today, it is not unusual to have over twenty worshipers. Our growth has had many pleasing dimensions. The average age of those attending Meeting has gone down, as younger people find us. Some of our new people bring rich experiences with other Meetings; others are relatively new to Quakerism, bringing questions and fresh insights. The presence of children, too long absent from the Meeting, has been a special blessing, despite the fact that they cannot attend regularly. Surprisingly, this growth, nearly a doubling of participants, has not altered some basics about the Meeting. We continue to find ways to be concerned about one another. An increase in sharing of ideas, literature, and service opportunities has been part of our membership growth. Spiritual support and growth has been nurtured by a monthly Meeting for Healing, and a reading group.

One of the costs of expansion is that some activities have outgrown their facilities. The silent meal, long a cherished contact and opportunity for spiritual sharing, has had to be put in hibernation while we explore other options for an appropriate setting and arrangements.

The dynamics of growth were complicated by a change in physical location. One of our Friends stated this well. "Moving from Hollins to Presbyterian Community Center (PCC) caused a time of restlessness and anxiety that occasionally bubbled to the surface in terms of impatience with each other, but that in itself was remarkable in that it wasn't loss of temper." She added: "But I feel it is a reflection of our meeting that we actually seem energized by the feel of the involvement of the PCC in the community." The space issue is not yet settled. We continue to look for more ideal arrangements. This issue will likely be with us for some time offering potential for both conflict and growth.

The shift from Committee of the Whole to six individual committees (Advancement and Outreach, Ministry and Counsel, Finance, Nominating, Preparations, and Peace and Social Concerns) has been another occasion for possible conflict. Yet, when disagreements surface, the Spirit seems to move through some Friend who says a reconciling word, and constructs a bridge across a dangerous divide. One Friend gave this positive assessment: "Our meeting is always respectful of others' opinions--I have never witnessed a time when someone was rude, patronizing or judgmental."

Our interaction with Lynchburg Friends (or, often, lack thereof) continues to be a concern to some Roanoke Friends. Nonetheless, Lynchburg Friends continue to function in ways that seem satisfactory, and that allows them to have an important witness in their community. (See accompanying report from Lynchburg Indulged Friends.) The addition of a Lynchburg Friend to our Ministry and Counsel Committee will help facilitate cooperation and communication. Roanoke Friends are ready to offer assistance if needed. The relationship, while not intimate, seems to be working.

The heart of our Meeting is, as it should be, Meeting for Worship. We bring to Meeting for Worship our different backgrounds and concerns, our unique joys and struggles, our diverse and sometimes conflicting views - and we wait expectantly in the silence to experience that unity in the Spirit which transcends all of these. Although we treasure both the silence and the vocal ministry that emerges from it, some Friends would like to see more of the latter. Even though growth in numbers has led to an increase in vocal ministry, ours is still a quiet meeting as meetings go. Our custom of sharing thoughts after meeting is often very rich and helps us connect with one another - but it may be that some of these "afterthoughts" if framed by the silence of Meeting for Worship would more powerfully serve the workings of the Spirit among us. With this possibility in mind, we may want to examine ways to develop and encourage vocal ministry.

The growth in our numbers has challenged us - and presented us with the opportunity - to seek that same "unity in the Spirit" we find in Meeting for Worship when we gather to conduct business. As we make the sometimes painful transition from Committee of the Whole to individual committees, we of necessity are learning how to arrive at a sense of the meeting in more structured, formal ways - without stifling the movement of the Spirit. Meetings for business are well attended and lively with opinions. Although good order is generally understood and followed, there is room for growth and learning with regard to Quaker process. There are times when we forget that our Meetings for Business are also Meetings for Worship. Contentious discussions, just like vocal ministry can benefit from being framed by worshipful silence and recalling that each person should have an opportunity to speak to an issue before anyone speaks a second time. Nevertheless, Light frequently illuminates our decision making and Love leads us to try harder to understand one another.

Regarding our witness to Friends testimonies: Quakers have always been diligent workers in the pursuit of peace and justice and Roanoke Friends are no exception. Corporately and individually, Roanoke Friends experience a high level of involvement within our immediate community and the wider world. It may come as a surprise to know what each contributes to these testimonies in our daily lives! But perhaps it is to our credit and true to our witness to these testimonies that we do not "self-congratulate".

We acknowledge the need to have age appropriate lessons plans and materials available when children do come. Clearly, space limitations and storage of materials are major obstacles to an effective children's program. The Religious Education committee is developing a curriculum for children in order to ensure that a prepared lesson will be readily available.

The Religious Education Committee has been very active and has presented some rich discussions that were well attended as well a Bible Study group that meets monthly. Our discussions are typically lively, reflecting the interest that Friends have in the topics presented.

Despite the challenges of our growing pains, a positive spirit permeates our meeting. We anticipate with excitement the discovery of what "Way will open" for us.

Minute and Queries From Roanoke Monthly Meeting Regarding Friends United Meeting

We of Roanoke Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends are concerned about the Friends United Meeting¹s policy of denying positions of leadership to gays, lesbians and bisexuals. We oppose this policy because there are Friends who have strong spiritual gifts, and this policy denies us their blessings. We further have a conviction that way will open to heal rather than exacerbate the conflict over this policy that has arisen between Friends United Meeting and Baltimore Yearly Meeting . Seeking a spirit of reconciliation we pose these queries:

In regard to the Equality Testimony:

1. How does this policy affirm that of God within every individual?
2. How does this policy encourage spiritual wellness and creativity?

In regard to the Peace Testimony:

1. What are the emotional, physical, and spiritual effects of this policy?
2. Does this policy increase the alienation that is experienced by families and friendship groups that include gay and lesbian people?
3. How does this policy affect persons who are struggling to identify their sexual orientation?

In regard to the Simplicity and Truth Testimonies:

1. Does this policy support truthfulness?

In regard to social witness: Believing that each person has a blessing to bring,

1. How does this policy encourage the reciprocal sharing of talent between individuals and the community at large?
2. What divisions between social justice and spiritual justice may be created by this policy?

Requiring people to sign a statement of faith that sexual relationships should be confined to marriage between one man and one woman disturbs us. We are also disturbed that this statement of faith denies a livelihood to those who refuse to sign it. In light of these concerns, we offer this query:

1. How does this policy support the Truth Testimony in regards to the taking of oaths?

1. What joint ministries might be developed by Friends United Meeting and Baltimore Yearly Meeting that could cooperatively address the anguish and promise faced by individuals, their families and friends, as the individuals become aware of their sexual orientation?

Approved by Roanoke Monthly Meeting, July 18, 2004