Annapolis Friends Meeting

2009 Spiritual State of the Meeting Report

As Quakers, we find great joy in our basic belief that we all have direct access to the Divine. Silent worship is the heart of our meeting and we find strength in the richness of the silence: strength to be spirit and strength to be in the world. We cherish the Quaker tradition that marries spirit and action, as our spiritual roots grow into diverse activities and leadings.

Meeting offers a place where being an individual is deeply entwined with being truly a member of the community. Meeting calls forth our gifts and nourishes, seasons and confirms our leadings. We feel a sense of joy as Annapolis Friends following leadings toward peace and justice are beginning to have a positive impact on our community.

Of course, there are times when we encounter "rough spots", but it is precisely at these points where we are being called to grow into something deeper. We struggle to resolve conflicts and question whether we do this as well as we could. Currently, we face challenges in discerning Spirit’s guidance when Friends are drawn to very different visions of committee work. In embracing our leadings, we also learn when to lay them down. We are a healthy, growing community, but we must remember the wounded and the overwhelmed among us and ask Spirit for guidance in bringing health back to them. Is committee work overwhelming? In sharing our whole selves, do we sometimes inadvertently hurt others? We must remember to speak from that of God in us to find that of God in others and to allow Spirit to prosper among us. We must not forget the healing blessing of laughter.

We celebrate the growing numbers of young children in our community, and we are grateful for all that life has to offer. We are striving to learn, to be led, and to embrace joy.

Ministry and Worship Committee: The Ministry and Worship Committee is focused on the heart of our Meeting: our spiritual connection to the divine and to each other. From that center, we strive to nurture growth in worship, education and community. We are undertaking a long term project to document the practices and history of our Meeting and, this year, we clarified the meaning and process of membership. We have continued a varied program of adult education, with regular sessions on vocal ministry, eldering, and "Exploring Quakerism". In addition, we are encouraging opportunities for individuals to offer sessions from their leadings, such as sacred singing, which contribute to the richness of our Meeting. The Ministry and Worship Committee has been challenged this year by our calling to nurture the spiritual life and transformation of both individual Friends and the community as a whole. We sponsored a series of Circle dialogs, a modified form of community conferencing, to address an issue of conflict in the Meeting and we are striving to become more aware that seeking that point of synergy where the individual and the community flourish together in spirit is an ongoing challenge moving forward.

Pastoral Care Committee: In the past year, we sponsored several very healthy programs that support our community and the spiritual growth of individuals: a spiritual friendship group based on BYM’s spiritual formation program, Friendly 8’s dinner groups, and "Quaker Dudes". We experimented with, but suspended, a phone list to provide daily contact for isolated folks with health concerns. We oversaw the good order of the memorial service for Lloyd Jones. We sponsored weekly meetings for healing, and have conducted training sessions for the committee on clearness committees for grieving, based on the Stephens Ministry. We have done a good job as a committee facilitating the care of folks in need, and the announce list has enabled us to become one big Pastoral Care committee. Many people are very generous with their time in this Meeting, yet we need to do a better job of reaching out to folks we haven't seen in a while. Our committee function in and of itself seems healthy right now. We do a good job of being present with each other. We stay on task. We begin meetings in silent worship. We hold people in the Light and conduct mini healing circles at each meeting. A good job has been done not only by the committee but by the whole meeting in attending to the pastoral care of the community, and we consider ourselves to be the catalyst that sparks the whole meeting to help with Pastoral Care.

Stewardship and Finance Committee: The Stewardship and Finance Committee meets monthly to prayerfully consider Meeting’s immediate financial needs and long term well being, with Spirit’s guidance.

Peace and Social Concerns Committee: During 2009, the Peace and Social Concerns Committee was active, and the number of committee members increased. In the early months of the year, committee meetings attracted few Friends, typically 2 – 4 people. Nevertheless, the committee carried out its responsibility, for the Meeting, to investigate and recommend "Quaker Causes" for donations. In addition, the committee: (1) hosted a simple meal, donations from which went to the Right Sharing of World Resources; (2) approved donations from the Meeting’s Emergent Social concerns Fund to an organization providing solar-cooking stoves in Darfur, an organization providing textbooks to students in Central America, and to Friends House in Sandy Spring, Maryland; and (3) took on oversight responsibilities for the Meeting’s Peace and Justice Center. During the nominating process in the latter part of the year, many Friends discerned a leading to join P&SCC, and the membership increased threefold. Peace and Justice Center: For many years, Annapolis Friends dreamed of creating a "peace and justice center" within the Meeting. In 2008, way opened to realize this dream and, during 2009, the center created an "AVP (Alternatives to Violence Project) in Annapolis Initiative. Through this initiative, in 2009, Annapolis Friends: (1) formed violence-prevention partnerships with six local faith communities, public agencies and private non-profit organizations; (2) provided AVP Basic training to 25 members of the greater Annapolis community; and (3) set the stage for a rapid expansion of AVP offerings in Annapolis in 2010. Annapolis Friends also continued their longstanding work with Annapolis Area Ministries and support of the Lighthouse Shelter for the homeless.

Children’s Religious Education Committee: Our committee works to provide a program that educates our children about Quakerism, Christianity and other religions, deepens the connections between our children and the rest of the Annapolis Friends Meeting community, and provides service opportunities for our children and the whole community. Many within our community volunteer regularly to teach First Day School or provide nursery care, benefiting both the children and the volunteers. In 2008/2009, our FDS program focused on the Bible. This year, our program has focused on historical Quakerism. We have continued our partnership with an inner-city elementary school in Philadelphia, now working with the entire 4th grade, sending needed school supplies, enrichment materials, and hats, scarves, mittens/gloves, and expanding our pen pal program. Our annual spring classroom visit was fun and educational as we enjoyed brain gym activities together, shared a potluck lunch and spent time with our pen pals. Two additional events facilitated by CREC were the annual child welcoming in the fall, where we welcomed four new children into the community, and the Young Friends’ Christmas program, written by the YFs and including participants ranging in age from nursery to grandparent.

Meetinghouse and Land Committee: The Meetinghouse and Land Committee and its two subcommittees (Building Use coordinator and Hospitality) maintain the functionality and appearance of Annapolis Friends Meeting’s physical property through the efforts of its individual members and by contracting for professional services. The concerns of the Meeting are integrated into the deliberations of the committee, always with spiritual mindfulness toward fiscal matters and conservation of nature.

Outreach Committee: The Outreach Committee had a very good year in 2009. We added a few new "inreach" activities to our work, and we continued with ongoing projects and responsibilities of the committee. Thanks to each member’s willingness to manage at least one activity, we continued a steady commitment to AFM outreach into the community with our cleverly designed Quaker tee shirts, as well as kept our member/attender "picture board", AFM directory and two e-mail lists up to date, and kept our Newcomer Information supplies available. We continued to help as "greeters" at the Meetingroom door on First Days. Our new focus was including some new opportunities for increasing connectedness with new attenders. We continued with Newcomers’ Month by supplying sandwich-makings for potlucks each First Day in March, in addition to our usual potluck following Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. Many of our new attenders, and others, came to a worship sharing which was especially focused on that time of "newness" to Meeting. Another new commitment was in regular monthly note-writing to welcome newcomers and encourage them to attend upcoming activities. Quaker Quest: AFM held two full rounds of Quaker Quest meetings in the last year. These were an educational experience aimed primarily , of course, at newcomers. Within our Meeting, however, Quaker Quest drew members and attenders closer together as we discussed three central topics: Peace, Simplicity, and God/the Divine. Because of the emphasis we placed on through training, we heard many expressions of confidence from within our Meeting that if seekers asked tough questions about Quakerism, we could at least make a start at answering them honestly and truthfully, with a sense that we were informed by the long tradition of Quaker thought.

Library Committee: The Library committee continues to try to meet the book needs of our Meeting community. In 2010, we feel there may be a renewed energy in attempting to do this.