Considering the Spiritual state of our Meeting each year is perhaps another way of asking how we are flourishing and what needs attention at this time. It is also a way to notice cycles and seasons. When we consider SUCCESSES ENJOYED IN THE PAST YEAR we see we have been involved in the wider world of Quakerism, hosting Brooklyn Monthly Meeting walkers on their way to Washington D.C. with an updated version of the Flushing Remonstrance; hosting one of the Spring Continuing sessions for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting; and hosting a Quarterly Meeting complete with a program on immigrant concerns, a hearty Simple Meal, and a children’s play.
Planks from our Penn Oak had seasoned enough by Fall 2025 to be distributed to the wider community and we enjoyed the presentation of two benches made from it as well as “hearing” it played on a ukulele created from its wood at our September Anniversary remembrance.
We are grateful for another year of full enrollment in our Kindergarten and Little Acorn programs. This year has included a successful transition to a new full-day teacher as well as integrating some other new staff in conjunction with the able leadership of our long-time Head of School Deni-lyn Lane. And we have added new faces to our worship community through the school’s outreach to the community.
After several years of study and planning, Way opened this year to move forward with plans to install solar panels which we see as beneficial for the Meeting both ecologically and fiscally. Plans are also underway to benefit from a groundwater infrastructure project.
We are beginning to see the benefits of sustained efforts post Covid. Our new co-clerking model for the Meeting officially got underway in October 2025. Our London Grove clerking model is designed to lighten the burden and to distribute the responsibilities, while ensuring that the needs of the meeting are met. Introducing a new Co-clerk each year establishes a cycle of mentorship and collaboration. The Co-Clerks share the responsibilities equally aligned with their gifts and time commitment, having the freedom to divide the tasks in a way that best suits them and serves the meeting well. There are regularly 6 to 12 children in attendance on First Day morning. More adults are participating in various Adult First Day school offerings. Pre-Meeting coffees and Soup lunches are well attended, and Friends often gather early for Meeting to visit in the aptly named Welcome Room just off the main entrance to the Meeting house.
All these blessings and opportunities also reveal some EMERGING CONCERNS. We have a very active cohort of about 40 members and attenders serving on committees with more than half of them volunteering in more than one capacity. Still, we lack enough people willing and able to fill needed meeting positions and committees. Our growing group of children ranging in age from 4 to 12 will likely need to be divided into two classes in the coming year in order to continue meeting their needs and interests. This will require more teaching staff. We need more active attenders and members in the 20 to 60 age range to carry some of the weight of the work of the Meeting. We have an active elder cohort whose ability to serve has been extended by being able to utilize Zoom for committee meetings and such but still they are slowly aging out.
In reflecting on ways SPIRIT IS MOVING AMONG OUR COMMUNITY OF FAITH it seems fruition is almost always the result of a long process – to build a welcoming place for children has taken persistence, patience, continuity, and dedication amongst a small group of people with the larger group picking up other responsibilities. To get to a place where we were ready to move forward with our solar panel project took work by a small group over years returning to the larger body at intervals to season and hone an idea – the outcomes, a successful children’s program or the planned installation of solar panels, ultimately look different or are moving forward for reasons somewhat different than originally managed – finding a “third way” often seems to be a hallmark of spirit led decision making. It takes time, listening, and attention to one another to move forward together.
This idea of what it takes for Spirit to move through our community was also expressed this way in a query response documented in Minutes from our Business Meeting of Eighth Month 2025 held on July 27th, 2025. A “friend expressed that truth seemed to be simpler in the past. It is hard to grasp the whole truth as one knows it. We live in troubled times and at times it makes it hard to hear another’s truth. One must be open and trusting. The truth is kindness; the truth is caring; the truth is love. We are tasked with getting to know our own truths and to listen to the truths of others…” How difficult it is sometimes to be open and trusting. We continue to seek.
