York Monthly Meeting

• Interchange, Winter 2010
• Interchange, Fall 2009
• Interchange, Spring 2009
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2008
• Interchange, Fall 2008
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2007
• Interchange, Spring 2008
• Interchange, Fall 2007
• Interchange, Summer 2007
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2006
• 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, December 2004
• Interchange, September 2004
• Spiritual State of Our Meeting - 2003

On October 4th , we had an intergenerational, day-long retreat, the theme of which was “Refreshing Our Friendship.” It was held at a nearby lake and was well-attended, so there were opportunities for fellowship, singing, boating, and swimming (...for those few Friends brave enough to endure the chilly water!). For lunch we enjoyed Stone Soup, which was prepared by all.

Inspired by the BYM Pastoral Care Workshop that four of us attended in April 2009, we embarked on creating our first draft of a Pastoral Care manual, which will encompass topics such as children in the Meeting, marriage, newcomers/ membership, end of life issues, dealing with difficult situations and conflict, and spiritual care of the Meeting. We are indebted to Bethesda Friends for providing us with a copy of their wonderful Pastoral Care manual, which we have found to be a very helpful resource.

We continue our weekly Wednesday evening worship sharing sessions. For most of 2009 we read Pendle Hill Pamphlets and used these as the ‘seed’ for worship sharing. This Fall, we took a break from pamphlets and read Walter Wink’s book The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium. While opinions about the book were mixed, it provided excellent material for reflection and worshipful discussion of topics such as the differences between nonviolence and nonresistance, the ‘gift of the enemy,’ transcending the apparent dichotomy of pacifism vs. ‘just war,’ and the ‘Third Way’ of dealing with conflict that Wink so firmly believes Jesus was trying to teach.

Our monthly worship sharing around the book The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist continues. These worship sharing sessions have helped us, both individually and collectively, expand our thinking about generosity and about being thoughtful and intentional stewards of our various resources— both financial (money) and human (time, energy, spiritual gifts). We had two recent threshing sessions on Stewardship of Resources and plan to have at least one more. These have helped us begin to realize that an approach of giving only the ‘leftovers’ of our time, energy, and money to causes/efforts we say we care about seems inconsistent with what we believe God/Spirit is calling us to do as individuals and as a Meeting. This understanding is being reflected in the 2010 budget. Additionally, in the next threshing session, we will be discerning whether to reduce the Meeting’s reserve funds in order to donate more of it to organizations striving to meet pressing needs of the local, national, global community.

The one-day Friends General Conference Quaker Quest training on June 6 reminded us that the Quaker Way has much to offer modern seekers. All who participated were inspired; the energy and enthusiasm generated that day were palpable. We have started using some of the concepts and exercises for Inreach and are in the process of discerning how Spirit wants us to use what we learned for Outreach.

As a result of several requests to speak to local groups about Quakers and Quakerism, we developed a 45-minute Power Point presentation and will be tailoring it to presentations of various lengths. Several of us have volunteered to do these presentations.

With regard to acquiring additional space for First Day School and other Meeting and community activities, Way forward is not yet clear. In the meantime, we are continuing fundraising efforts. In June we held a concert featuring local vocalists and musicians. We also hosted a film/simple supper open to the public in which we showed the film Flow (a documentary about the world water crisis). We also began reading and doing monthly worship sharing around the book The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist. We selected this book to facilitate worshipful discussion of our beliefs about and relationships to money, both as individuals and a Meeting community. Becoming comfortable talking about money within our Meeting is important to the process of discerning way forward with regard to acquiring additional space.

We had the joy of having 10 York Friends attend all or part of Annual Session this year (York’s average attendance is 20-25 on a given First Day)! It was wonderful to have all 10 of us stand up together during the roll call on Friday.

Quaker Quest Comes To York Friends Meeting

Join us for a taste of QUAKER QUEST, an exciting new program of Quaker outreach and advancement, created in England and spreading throughout the United States. The full-day preparatory workshop will be facilitated by FGC staff.

Saturday, June 6, 2009
9 am to 4 pm
York Friends Meeting, York, PA

QUAKER QUEST has brought many seekers and inquirers to Quaker meetings. The preparatory workshop has great value as “in-reach” as a means for examining our own faith community, our personal relationships to it, and what it offers to newcomers.

QUAKER QUEST was first developed by Friends in London, and has since spread to many Meetings in Great Britain. The program has been picked up by FGC, which is actively seeking to extend it to Friends' Meetings throughout the United States.

More information on QUAKER QUEST is available at http://www.fgcquaker.org/quakerquest

Friends from other Monthly Meetings are welcome to attend. If you would like to attend, please contact Leada Dietz at leadadietz@epix.net or 717-515-0631.

York Friends' website is www.yorkfriendsmeeting.org.

We have held Wednesday evening worship sharing (“Seekers Anonymous”) sessions for the past several months. In January we adopted a new format, that of worship sharing around Pendle Hill pamphlets and other Quaker writings. There generally are 6-10 Friends in attendance each week. Originally, this mid-week Friendly “spiritual support group” arose out of a longing many of us felt for Friendly connection and support during the busy week. Recently, though, we have become aware that this deep listening and sharing is fostering a greater spiritual awareness, maturity, and closeness among the Meeting community, even among those who do not participate in the weekly gatherings. This is evidenced in part by the rich and inspiring vocal ministry during Meeting for Worship over the past few months.

We seek to deepen this even more through holding the one day Quaker Quest training sponsored by FGC on Saturday, June 6. We are inviting interested Friends from nearby Meetings to join us for this training.

In January, York Friends joined faith groups across the nation in responding to the call from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) to observe ten days of prayer to end torture. We issued a press release invited all concerned citizens to join us for a Meeting for Worship with a concern for ending torture. A local reporter was among those who attended. Shortly thereafter an article about this Meeting for Worship and the issue of ending torture appeared as the front page headline of the York Daily Record newspaper.

The Meeting House is used regularly by two community groups, a Latino AA group and York Playback Theater. These gatherings, in conjunction with various activities of York Friends, result in the Meeting House being used on most days of the week. We are beginning to experience the joyful ‘problem’ of scheduling conflicts, with more than one group wanting to us the Meeting House at the same time.

Our most recent fundraising events is a film series we are calling “Beyond an Inconvenient Truth.” The films come from Quaker Earthcare Witness’s extensive lending library. The events consist of a simple meal prepared from local ingredients, followed by a film, followed by a discussion. The first film of the series in February, Kilowatt Ours, was a great success. Over 50 people attended, including a number of people from the local community who had never been to the Meeting House before. On April 19, we will be showing Livable Landscapes: By Chance or by Choice, describing five New England communities’ struggles with development and sprawl, and on June 7 we will be showing Flow, a movie about the economics and politics of water.

We had the joy of welcoming Gunpowder Friends for a visit in March. We invited them to describe their journey growth as a community, a journey which included adding space for First Day School. We were enriched by hearing their journey, which began as a very small Meeting with a handful of members, to what is now a mid-sized Meeting with a thriving First Day School with over 20 children.

A Friend’s queries about transformation focused our discussion, “Are we being transformed, enriched, deepened and inspired in our Meeting, when and how, and how is our transformation being witnessed to others?”

Another asked, “How does truth prosper among us” and provided meanings of prosper including flourish, thrive, and grow in a vigorous way.

The process of exploring transformation and truth led in many directions. Speaking truth with love to each other is difficult and requires patience to build the trust to speak and hear. Efforts to listen compassionately to Spirit speaking through individuals may set up a cycle of hurting and healing, a transformative process, akin to the refiner’s fire that clears contaminants from precious metals so that each firing produces a purer product. Open sharing, respect for gifts differing, and daring to voice frustration with a lack of progress without alienating one another can be painful like that refiner’s fire, but may be growing in frequency among us.

Transformation is a motivation for coming back, persevering, spiritual maturity. First Day School’s inspired moments form part of that transformative process. Some expressed gratitude for the way meeting supports and helps the individual on their path even when painful.

Transformation is an ongoing process that is never completed. It is sometimes hard to recognize subtle and gradual transformation, particularly when feeling hurt and discontent with an uncompleted process. It is useful to keep in mind that patience and perseverance through discontent are a way to the spiritual growth and increased understanding that can lead to Spirit directed processes and actions. It is important to find ways to intentionally nurture occasions where pure and deep interactions provide the encouragement necessary for continuing the transformative process. Two examples of such intentional efforts are pondering the queries each month and listening to others’ thoughts and ongoing weekly worship sharing sessions on Pendle Hill Pamphlets.

The Meeting also has a life that is being refined leading to greater richness. We all need to be pastoral/nurturing with each other, growing in open, honest caring even when differing. We especially need to nurture the initial excitement of newcomers to keep them from fading away from not knowing how to connect into the community.

Some feel efforts to develop close, deep bonds of community bear fruit too slowly, others feel community encouragement through the support and company of others when undertaking a leading, or encouraging others in their leadings even when not directly involved themselves. One questioned what other values have a higher value than the growth and prospering of the community? Is economic mobility a higher priority than the community we all say we want? What do we have left to give to the meeting community after tending to all our other obligations? What is our comfort with individual sacrifice for the benefit of the community?

As we struggle with the awareness of concerns and differences that arise as we try to move forward on physical growth, we are reminded of our history of Spirit-led change of focus from a problem of homeless people abusing our grounds to an opportunity to transform our grounds into a refuge of peace and beauty. This change of focus has led to far more witness of transformation than any of us could have imagined from the depth of painful struggle over that problem. So as we continue seeking the truth and transformation hidden in the present struggle over how to grow our community, let that history remind us of the importance of being open to Spirit’s leading instead of our own wants and fears.

When we examine our concerns related to growth such as economic insecurity, not achieving the proper balance between our wants and the world’s needs, and divisiveness within the meeting as a result of the decision making process, we can become trapped in a verbal argument for or against those concerns, or we can allow Spirit to move us to the level of vision and faith. What is the vision that York Friends Meeting community has to offer to its own young people and the people in the other communities it intersects? Do we dare to step out into the unknown on faith that our efforts are supported by Spirit? So long as we can wait on Spirit’s movement, no matter how uncomfortable or lengthy, we demonstrate a more mature spiritual “attention span.”

Crafted by many members of York Monthly Meeting over the past month

York Monthly Meeting is trying to discern whether we have the energy and resources to build a First Day School and community activities building on the grounds. We discovered that we could all get involved in some way in a financially successful “golden elephant sale.” From the comments of many of the people who came to check out our “stuff” and stayed to listen to an explanation of our history and our worship, we came to realize that visibility is witness and outreach.

This experience has led to two worship sharing sessions on what we have to offer the larger community and how best to do that. To paraphrase what one of us said, “The aim of outreach is not to make everyone a Quaker. The aim is to get the Quaker message to more ears, e.g., peaceful and nonviolent solutions to conflict, simplicity, integrity, right sharing of world resources, care of the earth, recognizing the dignity and worth of every person, etc. The world needs to hear constructive, loving voices speaking and eliciting conversations about different ways of being in the world.

We invite F/friends from BYM to help our process while enjoying this offering from Friends Ed and Fran Norton: a CD, “A Musical Feast” of flute, harpsichord/keyboard, and cello. Part of the proceeds for the CD will be donated to the First Day School Building Fund. The cost is $15 plus $2.30 packaging and shipping. To order please send check to Ed Norton, 240 Runaway Rd, Abbottstown, PA 17301, or contact Edandfran2@verizon.net.

As we considered the queries provided to help us discern the spiritual state of York Meeting during 2007, we became aware of growth in many directions:

Inwardly, the discussion of A Hidden Wholeness has drawn in new people and people seem to be speaking from the heart and demonstrating a growing trust of each other that seems to carry over into interactions in other aspects of our community. Both Meeting for Worship and Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business are well attended and there has been an increase in participation in life both inside and outside the Meeting. The expression of warm and gentle welcoming is embraced by a wide range of members and attenders. A spirit of “Quaker hospitality” is an integral part of our meeting. However, finding adequate time and tempo to accommodate the experiences of informal socializing, worship sharing, Meeting for Worship. Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, and potluck fellowship present a challenge

Outwardly, the Peace and Social Concerns Committee brings our attention to legislative issues and writes letters on behalf of the Meeting addressing issues of concern; the Garden Committee engages in native plant outreach as well as caring for the grounds and enriching a local elementary school’s science classes; the stimulus of families with children has led members and attenders to commit to First Day school education through a cooperative arrangement with St John’s Episcopal Church for space and to consider building a place for their education on our grounds; participation in YCCC interfaith dialogs and joining the YCCC has built more bridges to other faith groups; and sharing our space with a Latino AA group, Literacy Council tutors, and other appropriate community groups increases our connection with the larger community. We also share our hospitality and gifts with the community when we open our Meetinghouse for community events such as First Night, Oysterfest, Native Plant Garden tours. As we enjoy greater exposure and activity in the community, we need to caution ourselves to wait on the leadings of spirit rather than rushing forward toward personal goals through ego directed actions and words.

In considering what is most needed to deepen the spiritual life of the meeting, there is a heavy concern about how to care for individuals going through difficult times. We feel helpless when a member is suffering and rejects or is even hostile to help and sympathy, and also find it hard to ask for help ourselves as we are taught from an early age to be "independent" and self-sufficient. We seek to become cognitively and experientially acquainted with the spiritual power of clearness committees as one means to help each other.

We were challenged by the heartfelt concerns of one who urged us to measure the spiritual state by the following questions: Does love thrive among us? How do we apply “Let us then see what love will do” to the spiritual state of the meeting?

Many find our Meeting to be a safe, caring place that nurtures the spirit needing care, although some feel tension between finding a spiritual family among people whose communication is open and heartfelt and decreased responsiveness from some whose other obligations and relationships limit their contact time. Our many projects and out reach efforts use our capabilities and possessions not as ends in themselves but as God’s gifts entrusted to us to use with humility, courtesy and affection. A Friend comments that the nurturing, spiritual support of this Meeting helps to carry one through the week - to walk cheerfully on the earth and see that of God in everyone. Others find inspiration to live better in the world. As the spiritual well-being of the meeting is attended to, the sense of prophetic witness planted years ago grows and calls for speaking truth to power with love while not accommodating those who do violence to others, whether that is our own Monthly Meeting, the larger Quaker community, our local York County community or national or international associations and governments.

Our Meeting has been blessed with several gifts from members and attenders.

Pat Long has answered the call from the Peace and Social Concerns Committee of BYM in writing letters, often in the name of the Meeting, to our Congressional representatives, Senators, and to the local newspaper concerning nonviolence and peace in the Middle East. Pat is our representative to FCNL, freely gives out "War is Not the Answer" signs, and stands with the Vigil for Peace on the square in York every Friday at 4:30 pm as people are driving home from work.

We have the gift of children attending Meeting, which has created a need for a First Day School. A gift of lumber from Steve Stankowicz has made it possible for us to dream of a First Day School building. A First Day School Building Committee has been formed and we look forward to undertaking such a big project.

Ed and Fran Norton offered their gift of flute and harpsichord music at the Meeting House on New Years Eve as part of York’s First Night celebration. A CD of their music is available for $15, $5 of which is being donated to the First Day School Building Fund.

York Friends Meeting was part of the "Bring Back the Natives Garden" tour in July.

Our Garden Committee is looking forward to continuing teaching 4th graders at McKinley Elementary School about native plants through out the school year.

Our outreach into the community is expanding: We have been represented in an interfaith discussion group with the York Council of Churches. We will be part of the Oysterfest October 21st with Lamar Matthew speaking on local Quaker History followed by an open house for the community. Then on October 24th, the Meeting will sponsor a talk for the York community by Donald Kraybill on the Amish and their ability to forgive.

The York Meeting continues to improve the appearance and structure of our old Meeting House and to be more involved in the York community. We welcomed a new member, Jeff Lears, who immediately offered to make cushions for our wooden pews. His wife, Laurie, has been helping to teach the children.

In the fall of 2006 we landscaped the grounds of the Meeting House with Native plants and shrubs. On April 14, we had a native plant sale in conjunction with Earth Day/Pear Blossom Festival with the city of York.

As part of the efforts to expand our native plant garden, we received a grant for $1,000 from the York Foundation Yorkscapes program. An agreement in accepting the grant was to involve young people. Four of our members have been working with a fourth grade class at McKinley Elementary School. This has been an enriching experience for all involved. The students have been curious about nature through art and science, and will come to the Meeting House grounds in May for a hands-on experience in our garden.

At the 9:30 First Day discussions we looked at the DVD “Searching for Peace in the Middle East.” Peace and Social Concern Committee followed up with an evening program for the community, May 24 at 7:30, moderated by our good Friend Lamar Matthew who traveled to Ramallah with BYM.

Our Meeting did more in 2006 than ever before in terms of outreach and financial support: i.e.: donations to AFSC and FCNL, camp scholarships for young people to attend Quaker camp, meals for needy people at the Majestic restaurant, donations to Access York, Our Daily Bread, and Helping Hands for the Homeless. We also undertook the following outreach activities: Oysterfest, native plant project, Steam Plant situation, and First Night. Two concerns from this outward activity are how are we led to balance sharing our resources, both financial and energetic, with our responsibility to the needs of the Meeting, both physical and spiritual.

A painting project and the loss of a strong leader brought to light communication issues in the Meeting. People seem to have varying levels of acceptance of differences and may feel isolated by personal responsibilities to the extent that they don’t seek help from other members of the community or doubt that help would be forthcoming. A parallel issue is the observation that speaking truth is sometimes done without sufficient love and concern for the other. Can we take the time and effort to make sure that what was said and what was heard are the same message? Do we ask for God's guidance as we seek for how best to serve the communities inside and outside the Meeting rather than relying on our own mental decision making process?

The attendance of families with babies and young children has brought joy and energy to our meeting. We face not only the challenge of providing an education program for these children and supporting those in the meeting who are actually doing the teaching and working with the children, but also supporting and encouraging each of us on our spiritual journeys. That includes members and attenders who come infrequently as well as welcoming new people. Phone calls have been appreciated in the past. Personal contact is effective. Could we call people at least twice a year to invite them to some event and let them know we're thinking of them? Quakerism 101 "refresher" class was very helpful and it would be good to continue doing this every so often to remind us of our Quaker roots and traditions and to build on these.

A visitor mentioned one attraction for her is that Quakers are a piece of living history. She visits different churches in order to explore various ways to hear God better and feels that God speaks well here. This is a powerful reminder to us to live in that Power and Spirit of those early testimonies and experiences and seek and trust Its guidance today whenever confronted with how to respond to the needs and problems we see around us.

As other Friends Meetings in an urban setting, we have had an ongoing struggle with how to deal with the homeless in our community. We began sharing our simple meals after Meeting for Worship with a few men. Then in the 4th month of 2005, we started a ministry with a local restaurant where we gave tickets worth $5 of food to men and women who came and asked us for help, or to those who might stop by and help in the garden. As word spread, by the seventh month of 2006 we had 39 people standing outside our Meeting during worship waiting for tickets and the costs became too large for the meeting to sustain. Our Meeting is planning called meetings, or threshing meetings, to discuss how to address the situation.

Our Native Plant project received a grant from Yorkscapes and we are working with a local expert to landscape the grounds of the Meeting House with native plants.

Membership numbers are stable-2 new, one transfer, one death. Thanks to the efforts of several members, we were blessed with Eldon Leech's presence at meeting for a few months before he died peacefully in his sleep in November. Some of us experienced for the first time the spiritual depth of a Quaker memorial service, which we were able to share with Eldon's family, for which they expressed gratitude. These two experiences seem to be especially poignant last gifts from a man who single handedly kept the meeting alive through barren times for us to find nurture in today.

Midweek evening worship was discontinued as attendance waned. A seven session Quakerism 101 based on the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting syllabus began in October with attendance from other meetings in the Quarter and from the community. Many participants have found it to be enriching.

Following are some ongoing issues around which we labor, hopefully with love and mindfulness that resolution of the issue is not the only goal. Deepening our ability to use Quaker process to open our hearts and minds in understanding as we build trust and dare to be honest to our own truth and receptive to the truths of others is the larger goal.

1. Questions continue about how best to minister to the homeless men who come for food/meal tickets. Concerns include appropriate limit setting on time of giving and number given, the loss of the opportunity to sit with them as they seem to prefer meal tickets to joining us for our simple feast, and potential for abuse of the system.
    
2. Finance committee labored over how best to use our funds to do good in the world while retaining enough for expected and unexpected repairs to the building, resulting in some new monthly and single donations.
    
3. The grounds continues to seek greater harmony with its location and at the same time reach out into the community to encourage others to go native in their landscaping as a way to bring greater harmony with nature to the garden lovers of the city
    
4. Allowing the 9:30 adult worship sharing time to meet the needs of the meeting community-some feel it should not be a forum for assigned subjects, but rather a place to bring the experiences or challenges of the week for consideration. Some desire more religious education but most agree it provides spiritual inspiration. Some have identified its function for them as providing a connection to the larger Quaker community, providing an opportunity to be heard by others and to listen to others, leading to the opportunity to learn to know each other at a deeper level.

Some have expressed feeling nurtured from just being with others in the meeting who are making a difference in the world and there was mention of the members and attenders who work hard to make our world a better place through their involvement in the community.

One attender summarized her experience thus: “I have felt, in the past year, a deepening sense of unity in our worship. I've been feeling that just by coming, and for each individual who attends, our intent as a group is somehow strengthened. I have felt that each individual, no matter how strong their needs may be, is contributing to the combined spiritual state of the meeting. It feels like a snowball effect, it's like the more that individuals grow spiritually, the more loving energy is gathered together when we worship and then more love and energy is given back to each of us, allowing us to keep growing spiritually.”

Two ongoing frustrations are the lack of children and young people and a size too small for effective use of committees.

Our hearts and prayers are with Friends of Langley Hill as they cope with their great loss and time of change. Most of us did not have the privilege of meeting Tom Fox, but one Friend in our Meeting spoke of sharing a meal with Tom Fox at the Yearly Meeting. She spoke of his spirit and courage that shined from within.

Our Meeting also lost a special spirit among us this winter. Eldon Leech died peacefully in his sleep in November at the age of 89. Eldon was Clerk of our Meeting for thirty-nine years. Often Eldon was the only Friend sitting in silence at the Meetinghouse every First Day. He saw the Meeting grow to our present membership of twenty-seven seekers and York Meeting will be eternally grateful for his stewardship.

It was with great joy that we welcomed David Fitz as a member of the Meeting. Dave has been a contributing attender for many years.

Quakerism 101 was successful with attendance from new people and several members from other Quarterly Meetings.

We face the spring and summer with continued concern for the homeless men who come to the Meetinghouse, though the situation has improved over the years. We look forward to working in our garden with native plants and look to ways to use the garden to become more involved in the wider community.

Friends at York went through several changes this past spring. We said goodbye to our Clerk Dave Elkinton, as he and his wife, Jan Hurst, moved to Maryland. We welcomed Leada Dietz as our new Clerk. Other new officers are Dorothy Shumway, Recording Clerk, and Louise Heckert as Assistant Treasurer. We also welcomed new members Wim Neij and Dorothy Shumway.

The Meeting will offer Quakerism 101 beginning October 9, 2005 from 9 – 10:30 am. The course is open to the public and will be held for seven months on the second Sunday of each month. A workshop will be held on Saturday, March 18th from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, led by Ria Hawkins, who uses the life and times of James Nayler to bring the spiritual energy of early seekers of truth and light to enliven modern Quaker experiences.

Several members of our Meeting will be volunteering at the “Eyes Wide Open Exhibit” at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA, September 23-25.

Thursday evening, September 15th, at 7 pm, longtime Friend Lamar Matthew will talk about his recent visit to Ramallah, the West Bank, and Israel, and the work that needs to be done on the Friends International Center in Ramallah. He will share insights on possibilities for peace in Palestine and tell of the ongoing nonviolence activities in the region. Light Middle Eastern refreshments will be served. We hope many friends will join us for this evening.

The year 2004 was a year of growth, initiative, and change for Friends in York, Pennsylvania. The Meeting House, the oldest continuing house of worship in this historical community, received a new roof, after nearly a decade of planning, inaction, failed attempts and frustration. New Meeting member, Wim Nei j and his crew completed the project in late 2004 to a very appreciative meeting community. Other projects have also received needed attention.

The continuing concern for inappropriate and disrespectful use of the grounds has led to a wonderful ministry of members restoring the flowers, pruning shrubs and beautifying the premises. As a result, the misuse of property has been significantly lessened.

Our membership continues to increase slowly. The transfer of former clerk Lamar Matthew was a great loss to the Meeting. Ed Norton, Clerk, and Louise Heckert, Recording Clerk, served the meeting for yet another year, and already both have been missed in the first few months of 2005. (Unfortunately David Elkinton, incoming Clerk, is relocating, and Leada Deitz will be assuming the Clerk's duties in May 2005.)

The Meeting began a midweek evening meeting in April 2004, which has been maintained by a small but loyal group every week since. The Religious Education Adult Discussion sessions that precede Meeting for Worship each First Day have generated many interesting and meaningful discussions. The common meal following Meeting continues to provide an opportunity for fellowship.

The Meeting continues to reach out to the wider community in a variety of ways. Members representing the Meeting are active in neighborhood associations, peace organizations, and a local interfaith alliance. The Meeting House was opened for a local garden tour in June, participated in a holiday tour of churches, and again served as a venue for a musical performance on First Night. As mostly a group of relatively new Friends, many members and attenders comment that within the meeting they feel an acceptance and respect for their spiritual searching. Through discussion, worship, and community involvement, each person has a growing personal experience better understanding Friends testimonies and beliefs.

York is indebted to Steve Baker, Dave Elkinton, Dave Burnet, and Rick Knaub for our new website: www.yorkfriendsmeeting.org. The site provides the Meeting's history, interactive communication and a "blog" for discussions.

Dave Burnet led three discussions on "Approaches to Peace and Non Violence for Modern Quakers." A discussion outline is on our website.

Several members active with People for Peace and Justice went to Washington D.C. on January 20 and were moved by AFSC's "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit.

The Meeting House was open for First Night. Many enjoyed music provided by Friends Fran and Ed Norton on the flute and harpsichord.

Excerpts From A Speech Given By Young Friend, Linnea Meier, At The Baltimore Counter-inaugural

As a high school student in the United States, I feel that youth have great cause to oppose the second inauguration of George Bush on this day.

Since his first inauguration in 2000, George Bush and his administration have taken it upon themselves to revamp education in America by creating generic niches into which our youth are expected to fit. We are assessed by a standard embodied in superficial, meaningless tests that are an insult to real education and learning. The administration has cut funding for Federal Pell Grants. These grants allow many students from low-income households to attend college. Simultaneously, funding for military recruiting in schools has been greatly increased. The result is the successful targeting of the lower socioeconomic stratum for military recruitment.

If President Bush wants to see a war, he should come to the Baltimore City schools, where the battleground is poverty and the weapon of mass destruction is the standardization of education; where the collateral damage is the multitude of children left behind. We as youth want an America in which the student is not a statistic and the teacher is not a test proctor. We want an America in which young people do not have to choose between the drug trade and military service; one in which the working poor do not have to bear, more than the rest of us, the torment of the deaths of sons and daughters in a pointless war.

We are soon to have a Secretary of State who called the tsunami a wonderful opportunity for America to show its generosity to the rest of the world. Our next potential Attorney General is a man who condones the use of torture. Our President is leaving our children in the dust while telling them, Uncle Sam wants YOU to protect our economic interests at the price of human life.

And as a young person in America, I say we need to rise up and take action. From the bottom up and the inside out, let us reclaim our government for peace, for justice, and for equality. Thank you.

As the winter season approaches, the Meeting continues to make improvements for the Meeting House through the hard work of Wim Neij. Gutters will be added to the new roof and a handicap accessible ramp is being built.

The Clerk sent a letter of transfer for Lamar Matthew to Baltimore, Stony Run. Lamar's loving dedication to York has been appreciated for many years.

Concerns before the Meeting are a need to increase attendance on First Day and Wednesday evenings and a need to restructure committees so that committee meetings do not add a burden to members and attendees.

Spring and summer have been a time of physical improvement for our Meeting House. A hard working “Garden Committee” planted native shrubs and flowers and restored the raspberry bushes. It was featured in the Annual Garden Tour of York. The activity has had a positive effect on others in the community. In the past, we have had great concerns about some people abusing the grounds of the Meeting. It appears that people are respecting the sacredness and beauty that has been created. Future plans are to put up a “Friendly” sign welcoming visitors and requesting respect for the grounds. Also, the committee is investigating, and learning more about the native plants of Pennsylvania.

A new roof will soon adorn our Meeting House, thanks to the skill of Wim Neij and Chris Colvin, who spent many days working on the roof and coordinating others to help. The entire roof of the building, which was built in 1766, had to be replaced. Wim was also responsible for getting approval from Historic York Association to allow us to install a new roof and approved our request for the installation of a steel roof that will outlast shingles by many years.

We have started a Mid Week Meeting for Worship, though lightly attended it has been extremely valuable for those who find it difficult to meet on First Day and need a quiet hour during the week.

The education committee is planning for a fall session of “Quakerism 101”, open to all in our community.

We continue to ask all Friends to hold longtime member Eldon Leach in the light as he remains in a nursing home in York for over two years.

SPIRITUAL STATE OF THE MEETING REPORT - 2003

York Monthly Meeting is a healthy Spiritual Community that is growing. There is a sense of connectedness within the Meeting. We have added five new active Friends to our membership.

Each 1st Day at the 11th hour, Meeting For Worship continues to be attended by 20 to 35 Friends and attenders, and the shared meal afterwards brings us closer together as a loving community.

Meeting for Business on the first lst day at 9:30 AM is well attended.

The 9:30AM discussion group on First Day has been a blessing for Members and Attenders who find it a safe place to speak freely about issues.

The meeting continues to attract attenders who for the most part join us for meeting only one or two times. Occasionally a seeker finds the meeting a place that speaks to their condition and becomes a welcomed participant in our activities.

The problem with the use of the graveyard and grounds by the homeless and vagrants has taken a turn towards improvement. A committee meeting which was attended by three of the homeless people added input to help in our decision making. A program of incremental steps to address the problems has been put into place and has been successful. The meeting has grown spiritually in this process.

A project for beautifying the grounds and gardens with the thought of creating a Peace Sanctuary has brought attention by the larger community with offers of help.

The Meeting building is small and continues to inhibit first day programs that would attract families with children. Working together on improving the interior of the building has drawn us closer together. It also has been frustrating for some who are impatient over the lack of movement to complete urgent building repair projects.

A Spiritual Formation Group has concluded and it is hoped that it will be formed again as the way opens. This year there has been a renewed interest about Quakerism and our Meeting from other churches and groups.