Spiritual state of the meeting report May 2026
Schuylkill Friends Meeting is a small supportive community of Friends. This allows for intimacy and informality as well as challenges in getting the work of the meeting accomplished. We struggle to get new folks involved in committees and to take leadership.
We have been more intentional this year about how we relate to visitors. Newcomers report that they feel warmly welcomed. We continue to seek effective ways to introduce those new to our meeting to our faith and practice, such as monthly forums and Quaker Speak Videos.
We have also worked to find more ways of inviting our local community into our meetinghouse. Given the significant fear and concern that permeates our community, it has felt important to find ways of reaching our and creating connection. A meditation group has recently started using our space. AA and NA groups have been meeting weekly in our meetinghouse for many years. At Christmastime we enjoyed having Crescendo perform for us. They are a local group that offers free violin lessons for children, eliminating barriers that prevent access to music education. Several of our members have volunteered with them on a regular basis.
Our worship is open to all forms of sharing and expressions of the Light. Some folks resonate with Christ and bible readings, or with God, others not so much. There is trust that shared messages have meaning for all of us. We cherish the deep silence we share and also create space at the end of meeting for messages that did not quite rise during worship. Maintaining our zoom presence started during the pandemic has been important. We typically have 1-2 people on zoom each week and hope for greater numbers.
We have a wonderful First Day school teacher who comes twice monthly for our families with young children. Several of our members spend worship time with the children on First Days when she is not with us. It has been difficult to get families with young children to come consistently due to the many challenges of their lives and schedules. This lack of consistency in attendance makes it hard to develop a coherent group for the youth, and we continue to seek ways to draw them together.
There is a need for support of our aging attenders and members. We have a plan to build a wheelchair ramp to allow easier access for everyone. Construction will start in the next two months. The group of Friends that worked together on this plan came together using their talents and persistence.
A group reading “Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship” has been meeting regularly since February. This group has meaningful discussions about each chapter and hopes to bring new knowledge and understanding of racial injustice to our meeting community.
We are pleased that the Salem Oak planted near the front of the meetinghouse during the pandemic continues to grow and flourish. Our new neighbor is a super Wawa and after considerable conversation they provided some green-space enhancement that buffers our property from theirs.
Many Friends are active in the surrounding community. Some are bringing environmental concerns to our awareness, others are active in the Peace movement. Many of us have been to rapid response trainings to help our immigrant community when they are in danger. We give financial support to Alianzas de Latinos as well as Phoenixville Area Community Services. Our actions are by-products of the spiritual nourishment received in our beloved community.
A spoken intention for us is to be guided by Light and Love, not fear.
We invited anyone who wanted to join the worship and ministry committee to create this report at a gathered worship-sharing type meeting and it was a satisfying way to accomplish this spiritual state of the meeting report.
