Valley

• Interchange, Spring 2008
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2006
• Interchange, Fall 2006
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2005
• Interchange, Spring 2006
• Interchange, Fall 2005
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2004
• Interchange, Spring 2005
   
• Interchange, December 2004
• Interchange, March 2004
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2003

Valley Friends celebrated the planting of our peace pole, with a community reception that included children’s activities, reading of peace prayers by representatives of those whose language was included on the pole, music, food and fellowship. It was truly uplifting to be part of such a diverse group all sharing the same longing for peace and enjoying each others company. This event was well covered in our local paper.

Our coffee house-style talent show gave us opportunity to see different facets of Meeting personalities and provided a great intergenerational activity for all to enjoy.

On Memorial Day weekend we joined with the local chapter of Veterans for Peace, Trinity Presbyterian Church and the JMU Gandhi Center to bring the Virginia section of the “Eyes Wide Open” exhibit to Harrisonburg. This three day event was well publicized by local media and visited by many. Our thanks to Friends at Charlottesville for their help with the project. This collaborative effort to produce an event that both honored and informed was rewarding to all who participated and gave added strength to the exhibit’s message.

We enjoyed sharing worship and getting to know the two recipients, from Africa, of our scholarships to Eastern Mennonite University’s Summer Peace Building Institute. As they shared their experiences they reinforced our commitment to this program. We encourage other Friends to consider helping us build this scholarship fund which is used to help people who are connected with Friends learn methods of spreading peace in their home country.

We enjoyed hosting the Blue Ridge Gathering of Friends in November and would like to see this group continue as it provides Friends of the valley an opportunity for wider Quaker fellowship.

Helping to protect the environment has become a Meeting concern. Environmentally friendly cleaning products are now available for purchase at the Meeting. We are considering how we can participate with other congregations in the area in providing a warm bed and a simple meal for homeless people during the winter months.

As we reflect on this past year, we acknowledge with gratitude our strong, maturing community. Friends new to the meeting comment that they feel embraced; fitting in is easy. Many express a sense of belonging and acceptance and appreciate varied opportunities for council, connection and interaction. Shared hardships and joys -- the cycles of relocation, illness, birth, death, and marriage-monthly First Day afternoon walks, our Pot Lucks, and many other annual traditions contribute to this shared sense of community. This provides the needed base for many at Valley Friends to reflect on their lives on a weekly basis—to put their faith into practice.

We know we are blessed to have toddlers, young families, young adults, working middleagers, those approaching retirement from paid work and, our cherished elders. We joyously embrace new families in our midst as they add a great deal to our growing multigenerational community. It is a particular joy to see the children and youth work so well together, and form significant friendships. Once again this year the children have produced wonderful "Comfort Quilts" to be loaned to Friends who could profit from that tangible symbol of the Meeting's presence.

We work and we play together well, with forbearance and a sense of humor. We have completed the renovation of our basement and continue to look for new ways to use it. Our committees seek ways to increase both in-reach and outreach. Second hours have been creative and varied. We are glad when they can offer occasion for out-reach as well as adult education, and hope to expand on this. Our desire to have the property available to the wider community continues to be realized with use by two different Yoga classes and a cooperative pre-school. We have set up our first Peace Pole in front of the Meeting House. It reads "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in 13 different languages. We have scheduled a dedication celebration dedication celebration to which we will invite members of the larger community. The selection of languages provided an opportunity to work out strongly felt differences and to listen tenderly to each other. Our email communication network is effective and efficient. Our newsletter has also been disseminated by email and is well received. Our continued care for and renovation of a wooded trail at Kiester Elementary school, part of the "Black's Run" project, has provided a vehicle for community service and out reach. The children have also participated in a money raising bowl-a-thon and the Heifer Project.

Meeting for Worship with a concern for Business has been sparsely attended, mostly by a small core. We continue the practice of having the First day school report on their activities at the beginning of our Meeting for Worship w/Attention to Business. We are seeking ways to make the experience more meaningful for the larger group. We need to make sure that parents of the youngest children are free to participate in worship by offering childcare. We are grateful for those who work to keep the meeting going, growing, and thriving.

Meeting for Worship is well attended, with the children regularly included for a brief time at the beginning of worship and generally remaining throughout once each month. Many Friends speak of worship as a vital respite from their weekly cares, and a time for remembering their central values. One college student voiced the unique quality of worshiping in silence together as essentially different from solitary meditation. Vocal ministry has been meaningful, though hearing the vocal ministry has been a significant difficulty for some. We strive to be mindful of speaking up. While our practice of singing after silent worship is cherished by many Friends, it has created discord for others.

We have received with joy the minute from the Augusta worship group, which is under our care; the spiritual state of their group is excellent and these friends find their needs well met. Several Valley Friends have visited with the Worship Group during this year and experienced deep worship and fine fellowship.

While Friends express the blessings of our worship experience, and the community support to live and express their individual spiritual paths, there is an answering need felt by some to deepen our spiritual experience both corporately and individually, and to explore how meeting can support and challenge us to live more fully in the Spirit. We are aware of the loss of some of our elders, who were grounded in spirit, and knowledgeable in Friends’ faith and practice. This has opened the opportunity and challenge for other Friends to step into that space. We hope to move forward, building on the strong base of our shared community. May we be faithful to the stirrings of Spirit among us.

Valley Friends have enjoyed a busy summer and we look forward with anticipation to the year ahead.

A picnic was held for the James Madison University De-mining Center’s Mine Action Senior Managers Course participants. Friends enjoyed meeting these folks from many different countries. Summer activities also included a pool party and a corn roast.

We planted our first peace pole in front of the meetinghouse. Three poles were cut and milled courtesy of one of our attenders. The one used for the meetinghouse was painted by the children of the meeting. The six most prevalent languages used in our community have been added to the pole with the text “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” Additional languages will be added to represent world religions. We hope to place the remaining poles in the community.

Our children have been painting pictures depicting life in the meeting for our newly finished downstairs rooms.

The meeting newsletter is being electronically done this year. This will save both paper and postage.

We will start the fall with a pool party and an intergenerational camp in/camp out.

Valley Friends Meeting is well. We feel a deepening sense of community. We have gained new attenders, but have lost some seasoned Friends. We are continuing with a modest corporate and individual social action witness. Reflecting on last year's Spiritual State of the Meeting report we find that our process this year seems a continuation - flowing in the same direction in areas of strengths and needs.

Members and attenders for the most part prize the warmth and "sense of family" in our Meeting community as a significant strength. Meeting for Worship is valued as a place of quiet, reflection, and inspiration. Many speak of Meeting as a spiritual haven, where individual seeking and experience is supported. Some continue to be concerned that we lack a shared understanding of specifically Quaker Faith and Practice and hence a fuller corporate spiritual experience. A few Friends report that they are inhibited to express their Christo-centric perspective. Building a safe place for each to express her or his experience and Truth is a central call for Worship and Care and for Meeting as a whole. Religious education for our youth has been rich and multi-faceted this year. The work of planning and teaching has fallen to parents and a few others. An influx of young people in the same age group is giving more momentum to the first day school. One young person requested that the Meeting help him better understand our faith tradition as he works to develop his position as a conscientious objector. We completed a child safety policy after much discussion as we determined to find a balance between legalese and broader Quaker values. Central to our policy was being proactive, and affirming healthy relationships. This led us to help our children explore issues about boundaries and personal space and is intended to be an ongoing process including adults as well.

We have continued the practice of having youth report at each meeting for worship with attention for business. We keep in touch with our college age-youth and the elderly by mailing care packages. Books are given to first day school children at Christmas, Bibles to 3'd graders, "Faith and Practice" at age 14 and books upon graduations.

Adult religious education has been enriched by attenders who bring experience in other faith traditions as well as some who are seeking to find a spiritual home for the first time. Friends say, "Being around others who are so careful with word and deed helps me to be so also." "It makes me a better person. Also my children." "Our small size encourages a family feel." "I face shortages in my life, and it (the depth of Worship) encourages me to listen for answers." We offered second hours with varied attendance. Those who participated felt enriched by the experience. There is the sense that folks feel more comfortable in sharing with each other. However while people continue to express a need for more sharing and learning, for many there is a time conflict with the other demands of life.

We are deeply grateful for one member who devoted many, many days in guiding the work to renovate our unfinished basement. This new space will challenge us to examine our needs and develop creative responses. Our seasonal work days are now an on-going tradition, allowing for personal connections and contributions. We are blessed by many friends, who carry out tasks, frequently unseen and unsung, that keep our meeting functioning. A decrease in monetary contributions is a concern, and Friends were troubled by the consequent reductions in our budget including contributions to service organizations. Many thanks to the Property and Finance committee for their diligence. Events in the world, particularly the war in Iraq, have called forth a variety of responses from Valley Friends, some individual and some corporate. A significant number participated in national protests and our peace pole project is underway. For the third year in a row we provided a scholarship for a Friend (or someone affiliated w/Friends) to attend the EMU Summer Peace Building Institute. We invite other Friend's organizations to share in this effort. A meeting family hosted a dinner for the International Students of the UNDP Senior Mine Action Managers course. Several Friends are involved in this issue. The First Day School further expressed Friends' testimony in the world by fund raising for Big Brother, Big Sister Program and the Heifer Project. We established an ongoing cleanup of Blacks Run, (a stream running through Harrisonburg) where it adjoins Keister Elementary School. JMU student volunteers provided additional assistance.

We have encouraged use of our meeting house by outside groups. Valley friends hosted the 2005 FGC gathering planning committee. BYM young friends camped out in the meeting house. A Meeting attender offered Yoga classes in our space. The playschool group continues to meet.

Our meeting has been particularly touched by life transitions. Three longstanding members died this year: Doris Baker, Helen Davis, and Bob Duffield. We feel their loss greatly. A number of friends have been impacted by illness and deaths of immediate family members. We celebrated two weddings one of which was the first to be held in our meetinghouse. Supporting each other in our sorrows and joys has furthered our sense of community. Worship and Care has been lead to focus on spirituality and end of life issues, offering several 2°d hours with this theme continuing into next year.

We continue to share an ongoing sense of community and nurture one another in formal and informal ways. Numerous intergenerational social activities initiated by individuals have evolved including swimming parties, corn roasts and monthly hiking/camping activities. We like that many of these have arisen from individual initiative. Our increased sense of community is evidenced by more people seeming comfortable in asking for support and assistance from the Meeting. Together we created pictorial collages of ourselves which are on display and help us celebrate each other and be known to newcomers.

We have adopted the practice of "Quaker in the Corner," a member of Worship and Care available at the rise of meeting to talk about Quaker questions and concerns. We have found this resource well used. While many individuals are finding increased community, there are still some among us finding unease with some Quaker process or this Meeting's style, or a conflict of values.

As we move into a new year, Valley Friends plan to continue to strengthen our commitment to the Spirit, and to each other. We are called to make room at our shared table for all Friends, old and young, seasoned and fresh. We are working to create an understanding of our spiritual journey as Friends, building on our increased mutual trust and shared sense of history. We want to offer support to each other as we walk in our daily lives, that we may live fully, and that we may more truly embody Friend's Testimonies and be a channel for the Spirit in our world.

With a goal of deepening our sense of community and with the help of our youth and their Religious Education leaders, we each made a personal journal page containing photos, our name and anything we would like to share about ourselves. These pages grace our meeting room. Additional second hours have given us opportunity to examine "our busy, hectic, over committed lives" and to discuss our values. A meeting for remembrance allowed us to share memories of those F(friends) and family who have died. An 89th birthday party for one of our elders gave us the chance to celebrate his many gifts to our meeting and to realize Valley Friends Meeting does have a history. Our annual frugal meal and candle lighting Christmas program was well attended. Messages shared at both of these events give us pause to appreciate all that we have, and to share with Right Sharing of World Resources and the local food bank. "Guess who is coming to Dinner" and a monthly "Back Door Coffee Hour" give us time to visit and become better acquainted. The remodeling of our basement has offered many opportunities to share skills and fellowship. This project is almost finished and will give us needed additional space. The peace murals painted by the Shiloh campers are being framed for the walls.

Current world conditions make us feel the need to state our peace testimony in a visible way. One of our attenders donated 4 locust posts from trees on his property. These have been milled, oiled by the youth and one has been planted in the ground in front of the meeting. The next step is to have peace inscriptions added in the six languages most prevalent in our community. We are hoping to eventually place the other poles in the wider community.

Valley Friends continue to support the Summer Peace Building Institute at Eastern Mennonite University by funding a partial scholarship for a student with ties to the Religious Society of Friends. We would encourage the wider Friends community to assist us in growing this scholarship by sending earmarked contributions to Valley Friends, P O Box 781, Dayton, VA 22821.

Submitted by Beverly B. Moore

Our Meeting community has supported each other through great joys and sorrows over the past several months.  We celebrated, under the care of the meeting, the marriages of Carina Detrich and Cole Watkins in May and Katherine Kessler and David Garnick in June.  The unexpected death of Robert H. Duffield, our former Clerk, on August 7 was the third loss of a beloved member this year.  Bob Duffield, Helen Davis and Doris Baker brought deep Quaker experience to our community and we feel their loss deeply.

We learned more about each other through an intergenerational talent share and recognized those graduating from high school and post high school programs with the presentation of books.  Chuck Fager joined us for an informative program on the life of Lucretia Mott and Julie Harlow shared about the work of Friends House, Moscow.  Young Friends from BYM Planning Committee held an overnight planning session preceding yearly meeting at the meetinghouse and a junior high group from Shiloh Quaker Camp spent two nights at the meetinghouse during which time they painted two large murals with a peace theme for our nearly completed downstairs; they also weeded our playground area.

Valley Friends continue to support the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at Eastern Mennonite University by funding a partial scholarship for a student with ties to the Religious Society of Friends.  We would encourage the wider Friends community to assist us in growing this scholarship by sending earmarked contributions to Valley Friends, P O Box 781, Dayton, VA  22821-2005.