Category Archives: Patapsco

Patapsco

Spiritual State of the Meeting Report, 2005

Now in its tenth year of existence, in its fourth year as a monthly meeting, the spirit of Patapsco Friends Meeting is gaining in breadth. Growth in our number of members and regular attenders has enabled us to stretch into new areas, yet maintain and deepen the spiritual activities we have had since our inception. The spirit of Patapsco Friends Meeting is reflected in our events and actions.

One theme we followed through the year was “follow your leadings.” Early in the year, a group of 7-10 people continued a 2004 exploration of spiritual leadings through readings, discussion and mutual support. Several individuals clarified steps on a personal or professional level they would like to take in their lives.

One leading to emerge from the group was a member’s decision to start a Friend’s meeting for inmates in MCI-Hagerstown. Visits began in January and have continued on a weekly basis through the year. Eight people rotated for Saturday morning visitations. The meetings included conversation, worship, and discussion of a written passage. The visits continue into 2006.

Several Patapsco Friends followed a leading and found significance in volunteering in the “Eyes Wide Open” exhibit in September. Several others of us attended as well.

Patapsco Friends supported Ken Stockbridge in his leading to visit and build connections and community among the wider circler of Friends, partly through Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s inter-visitation program to FUM meetings. At Ken’s request, we gathered a Clearness Committee and approved a traveling minute for his visits. Ken’s leading continues into the new year.

Another theme was concern for the environment. The Advancement and Outreach committee sponsored a meeting-wide weekend retreat at Catoctin Camp last May. Twenty Friends of all ages deepened their fellowship in hands-on workshops to encourage environmentally sustainable living, and by informal walks, meetings for worship, singing and conversing on the wooded grounds.

The theme of environmentally-responsible living continued with a community yard sale of Friends’ donated goods. Other activities of the A & O committee included the production of an email newsletter, “Visitor Highlights,” for visitors who are new to Quakers; outreach to local colleges in the form of advertisements in student newspapers; and outreach to the community via a booth in a Columbia neighborhood fair.

Three Friends have been representing PFM at organizational meetings of the interfaith community organizing group, Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). They valued getting to know people of other faiths and overcoming a sense of isolation from other religious communities. Howard County’s IAF fosters common ground by building relationships and empowering participants to explore local issues and find a common voice. In the fall of 2005, Patapsco Friends joined the Howard County IAF for the next two years.

Religious education manifested our growing spirit, as we watched our children–many toddlers ten years ago–become young women and men. The First Day School meets weekly with approximately 10 children in attendance. Our general plan is to teach Quaker history and life in the fall and Bibical themes, using FGC’s curriculum “Jesus: Who is He?” in the spring. On December 18, the entire school presented a Christmas play, “Three Wise Dudes,” to the delight of the Meeting.

Friends in middle and high school continued holding a Junior Monthly Meeting and continued to act as assistant First Day School instructors. Fellowship activities included a trip to a local rock climbing facility.

Adult education was particularly active this year. Informal education after simple lunch included two workshops on the Quaker organizations FWCC and FCNL and a workshop on Pendle Hill. Additional education on Quakerism took place at six worship sharing evenings on Roger Griswold’s pamphlet, “Creeds and Quakerism” and a monthly worship sharing on the queries and advices.

Adult education reached into other areas of the spirit-led life. The Peace and Social Justice committee held an evening discussion of the pamphlet, “The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict.” Howard Zuses of Sandy Spring Meeting spoke on socially responsible investing. A series of four workshops on death and dying began with a worship sharing on end-of- life issues, prompted by Terri Schiavo’s death in 2004 and the deaths of parents of several members. Workshop topics included legal issues, preparation for one’s own death, and grieving. A group of 6-8 women explored knitting as a spiritual practice during a six-week program. Several of the women knitted a prayer shawl as a result.

In an attempt to meet the needs of Friends who are unable to attend meeting on First Day, a Mid-Week Meeting for Worship was started. After a six months’ trial, it was laid down and mid-week meeting at Sandy Spring was suggested as an alternative.

While growing and maturing, Patapsco Friends also maintained treasured traditions with publication of its occasional journal, Quaker Heron; member participation in Howard County peace vigils; a parallel-text Bible study meeting twice a month; potlucks at the end of each month; and Friendly Bunches. Our Meeting for Worship continues to be at the heart of our maturation, driving it and being driven by it. We will see the deepening of the commitments begun in 2005 as Patapsco Friends continue to nurture the spirit of our Meeting.

Submitted to Patapsco Friends Meeting by Jean Pfefferkorn, Clerk of Ministry and Care
Approved by the Patapsco Monthly Meeting of Friends, March 5, 2006 Ramona Buck, Clerk

Patapsco

Spiritual State of the Meeting Report, 2004

“Friends, How has the Spirit moved among you since we last met?”

A Spiritual State of the Meeting Report for 2004

Patapsco Friends, both individually and collectively, listened for the Spirit in our worship, in our business, in our activities and in our lives. While we have not always been successful we can point to a Spirit-led growth in many aspects of our meeting.

Early in the year three Friends joined together to share leadership in teaching Quakerism 101. That series was well attended, and Friends appreciated more fully the spiritual depth of worship sharing. In part as a result of these sessions two Attenders found both time and the financial support of the meeting to continue their search by attending a short weekend retreat at Pendle Hill on Quakerism.

An offering for sale of the original Quaker Meeting House in Ellicott City led to a serious testing of how the Meeting would handle a potentially divisive issue. Our decision was to focus on the spiritual questions that this opportunity raises for us individually and as a meeting. In that worship sharing we explicitly considered several questions: How do I listen to others when their position differs sharply from my own? Do I allow that all are seeking God’s will as faithfully as I? At the same time, how do I listen for the common ground that unites us and for the “third way” that harmonizes viewpoints we perceive to be in disharmony. Do we trust in each other to both share our thoughts with love and to hear each other with love? Do we trust in each other to embrace the diversity of perspectives among us? Do we seek unity among that diversity?

While we did not find unity as a Meeting to offer for the property, the process of worship sharing on the topic was very meaningful and reaffirmed our commitment to act only as we are lead by the Spirit.

The Spring and Summer saw a continuing series of ‘Meetings for Leadings’: a worship sharing group concerned with the general nature of Leadings, as well as the particular spiritual leadings of individuals. The sense of these meetings that there are common elements to all of our struggles with spiritual discernment led to moments of deep sharing.

In May we had an opportunity to support those in the meeting with a concern for Friends in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Adrien Niyongabo, African coordinator of the Friends Peace Teams Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Project, and Gini Floyd, who celebrated her 84th birthday in Kenya while facilitating AVP workshops, spoke to us at a fundraising dinner about the vital work being done by Friends in this troubled region.

Patapsco Friends also hosted the Chesapeake Quarterly Meeting in June. Here again our concern to present a spiritually meaningful program led us to invite Tony Prete, a student and teacher of the Bible, to present two seminars on the Psalms. We learned there not only about the pattern or style of the Psalms, but also how intimate was the relationship between the writers and their God.

In Business Meeting we reaffirmed our intent not only to subsidize Friends to attend camps, conferences, retreats and meetings, but also to actively ask Friends to represent the Meeting. The spiritual growth of the Meeting depends on active seeking and participation of our members not only in the meeting activities, but also in the wider Quaker community. Our affirmation led us to send Friends to camp, to the Center for Talented Youth summer program, to Pendle Hill retreats, to Baltimore Yearly Meeting, and to FCNL’s annual meeting. Friends at Patapsco have volunteered for a number of BYM committees and have become active in the wider community.

In the Autumn, following on the Meeting for Leadings, a Patapsco Friend led us in a series of six intense sessions on ‘Sacred Spaces’. Focusing on prayer and other means of connecting with the divine, these again were patterned on Quaker worship sharing. These special opportunities for worship sharing were held against a background of more on-going activities: Bible Study was held consistently throughout the year, and ‘Friendly Bunches’ were also active.

We are grateful that our spiritual community includes people of many ages, both young and old. The children are important participants in our Meeting. Through their silent but lively eyes during the first fifteen minutes of Meeting, their exuberance at simple meals, their sweet singing of Quaker songs wafting into the Meeting after they leave, their eagerness to put up and take down the welcome signs, their down to earth discussions during First Day School, they exhibit hope, energy and a burst of reality for the rest of us. In addition to coming to Meeting, a number of them have become dedicated Quaker campers.

Planning and implementing a program for First Day School cannot be done ‘out of the Spirit’, and our teachers are in many ways our Spiritual leaders. Most importantly for growing our maturing Meeting, our Middle School young people are helping to teach the younger children in First Day School.

Sensing a sincere interest among our Attenders on the question of membership, Ministry and Care organized a series of worship sharing meetings based on readings from the Pendle Hill pamphlet “Members One of Another” by Thomas Gates.

Some Friends felt that our brief consideration of the Queries and Advices for a few moments before the business of Meeting for Business was inadequate. We started our experiment of devoting one hour a month to the consideration of a set of Queries in a worship sharing environment. In these session we are beginning to get beyond the perfunctory questions of Quaker practice, and discover the deeper spiritual ground on which those Queries are based.

In May the Meeting received an invitation from an inmate at the Maryland Correctional Institute at Hagarstown to hold a meeting at the prison. At first this seemed impossible to the Ministry and Care Committee. Later, however, a member was “reached” by this request and the opportunity it offered us to remember those closed in by high walls of concrete and our own forgetfulness. Negotiations with the administration began in September and meetings are scheduled to begin in January, 2005. A number of Patapsco Friends have spontaneously volunteered to join this effort.

As Thomas Gates declares: “Membership in a Quaker meeting is a spirit-led journey of coming to know ourselves as individual-in-community, a journey on which we experience meeting as a place of acceptance, a place of shared values, a place of transformation, and a place of obedience.” Patapsco Friends Meeting has made a serious commitment to that journey, and has travelled far in 2004.

Patapsco

Spiritual State of the Meeting Report, 2003

Friends planted Patapsco Friends Meeting seven years ago in the spirit of George Fox’s early and persistent advice to meet together everywhere. We were led to provide for ourselves and for others whom we did not yet know an opportunity to experience the preemptive love of God, which speaks to us out of the silence. In meeting together we are practicing something old, walking a path well-worn, yet the mystery is that each meeting is new, surprising. We are in unity that the work of our meeting is to create a safe space where any who meet with us can stand in the Light, to see and share what God wills for each one of us in our measure.

Early in 2003, in First Day discussions and worship-sharing, we explored the Inward Light through the writing of George Fox and Rex Ambler’s Light To Live By. These meetings raised the question: How does a faith that began in the 17th century with “Christ Jesus has come to teach the people himself,” formed by a profound but surely heretical reading of the Christian scriptures, speak of Christ Jesus in the 21st century? Is there a place in our meeting for the Christ-centered Friend among Quaker Buddhists, Quaker Jews, Quaker agnostics. And what does “Christ Jesus” mean to the refugees in our meeting from Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and other “Christian” churches? To begin to address this question our First Day explorations continued with worship-sharing centered by Thich Nhat Hanh’s Living Buddha, Living Christ. Since that time a group has been meeting on First Day evenings to study the Gospels using Records of the Life of Jesus. In the Fall, our explorations continued with a series of Pendle Hill pamphlets chosen to explore topics relating to Quaker spirituality and our personal spiritual journeys.

For some of us to sink permanently into these tender and spirit-led conversations would be our heart’s desire. Our fellowship asks more of us. Through grounding us deeply in the Spirit it prepares us to meet the demands of our life together and of the wider world.

We are called to be tender to those in our meeting who are struggling with the diminishments of aging, who are being tested by the needs of children, aging parents and friends, who themselves suffer with physical or mental illness or care for afflicted loved ones. As we support Friends in these difficult times we ask, “How can we better prepare ourselves to meet these challenges in our own lives and to support others who face these challenges?”

We have an on-going concern for our children. First Day School was held year round and the children enjoyed a number of extracurricular activities. On Easter Sunday, they helped assemble personal hygiene kits for citizens in Iraq and they collected gifts for a needy family at Christmas time. A holiday sleepover was held for the middle school aged kids at the Mt. Hebron house in December. The Meeting has included in the annual budget funds for assistance with camp fees with the goal of encouraging every child in the Meeting (4th grade and older) to attend camp. We are thankful for our Religious Education Committee and First Day teachers. As our children grow we are concerned with how to best nurture their spiritual development.

We have witnessed to the wider world our concern for peace and social justice. A silent vigil to remember the victims of September 11, 2001 as well as those of the subsequent wars continued each Saturday for most of the year. It was difficult to sustain the vigil in the months that followed the onset of the Iraq war and it was formally laid down in October after two years. Our Meeting was among the founders of the Howard County Coalition For Peace and Justice and through this group, the Howard County Council was petitioned to pass a resolution against the war in Iraq. The resolution was not passed but we felt God’s spirit at work in our community by so many silent and vocal testimonies to peace. In response to the despair that many feel during this frustrating and tragic period, a meeting for worship was called on March 21st at the onset of the bombing of Iraq and a Spring Retreat was held with the theme “Finding Inner Peace in Times of Turmoil.” The day included quiet reflection and worship sharing along with chanting and Dances of Universal Peace. The following day after Meeting for Worship, a walk was held at the Bon Secours Spiritual Center Labyrinth.

Patapsco Friends continue to prepare a meal once a month for twelve men living in a shelter for the homeless. Many Friends in our Meeting work with other organizations that need support. These organizations were introduced through a series of short talks during our monthly potlucks. One presentation described the Mediation and Conflict Resolution Center at Howard County Community College that mediates neighborhood, victim/offender, landlord/tenant, and similar community conflicts. A representative from Cease Fire Maryland was heard. We also learned about the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) that is trying to organize a new political/social advocacy group in Howard County comprised of a broad spectrum of religious and neighborhood groups. The final presentation was made by BRIDGE, another social advocacy organization similar to IAF.

From our small beginning we now have 30 to 35 regular attenders and 12 to 16 children in our First Day program. A Patapsco Friends Email Group was established through Yahoo to keep us connected and current. We are aware that not everyone has the Internet and that there is the need to communicate in other ways as well. Personal testimonies and spiritual understanding are shared through periodic publication of The Quaker Heron, the Journal of Patapsco Friends Meeting. Committee meetings, simple meals, monthly potlucks, Friendly Bunches, and picnics help build the interpersonal relationships so important in nurturing and strengthening our community. Patapsco Friends Meeting’s members and attenders are rich in gifts of the Spirit. We know no better way to be welcoming than to share our gifts with those who are seeking and those who have found a home in our meeting.

Patapsco

Spiritual State of the Meeting Report, 2002

During the past six years, we have been growing closer and deeper as a spiritual community, both inwardly amongst ourselves and outwardly as we connect with other local groups and groups in the wider Quaker community. This year, after weighing the responsibilities and implications of becoming a monthly meeting, we became recognized and embraced as a monthly meeting under the care of Baltimore Yearly Meeting. The Ad Hoc Monthly Meeting committee guided us through the process. They facilitated a question and answer session about the practical matters of becoming a monthly meeting, and led a separate threshing session for spiritual discernment to inform our decision. In August, the Baltimore Yearly Meeting approved our request to be recognized as a monthly meeting. The clerk, Sherri Morgan, led our first business meeting as the new Patapsco Monthly Meeting in August. We welcomed 26 friends as members of our newly formed monthly meeting; 20 of these were transfers from other meetings. We are deeply grateful to Sandy Spring Friends Meeting for encouraging us to start our meeting and for nurturing and supporting us as we have grown.

In September, we celebrated our new meeting status with a potluck lunch and welcome cookies. A reporter and photographer from the Baltimore Sun covered the event. We designed a certificate, displaying our Minute on Becoming a Monthly Meeting, and invited everyone present at the time of our transition to sign the certificate. Meetings for worship have averaged 30-35 people each Sunday. Some meetings are held in silence but many have two or three messages. Messages sometimes build on other messages and people feel they have had a spiritual dialogue in a community. Six attenders requested membership in our meeting and were welcomed as new members in August. The new adult members are Johanna D., Ken Stockbridge, John Farrell and the new associate members are Philip Garrison, Elvin D. and Elena D..

We attract a steady stream of visitors, both from other Quaker meetings and newcomers from our local community. Whenever there are visitors, we invite them to stay for Simple Meal and usually a member of the A&O Committee will identify themselves in case the visitors would like to ask more questions about our faith. Several of our local newcomers have become regular attenders.

Almost every Saturday this year, in good weather and bad, and during periods when some questioned whether it was still a worthwhile activity, the meeting has sponsored a peace vigil to remember the victims of September 11, to encourage non-violent responses and to question the government’s build up for a war against Iraq.

In January, the Peace and Social Justice Committee led a threshing session on the query “Should the Meeting Contribute Financially to other Peace and Social Justice Groups, either Locally, Nationally, or Internationally, and if so, How?” In March the Committee led a threshing session on the Peace Testimony. The Committee has continued to prepare and deliver a meal for men at a local homeless shelter one Sunday a month. They have also sponsored letter-writing campaigns at the rise of meeting to encourage us to write to our political leaders about issues identified by FCNL. Members of our meeting also participated in a peace action, sponsored by Women in Black, on September 11, 2002, in Baltimore to create a peace path that stretched 12 miles, from the Inner Harbor to the Beltway along Charles Street.

The Peace and Social Justice Committee, along with the Advancement and Outreach Committee, presented a screening of the film, “The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It,” along with a discussion of the topic of conscientious objection at Howard County Central Library. Three World War II conscientious objectors were on hand to discuss the film and answer questions. The film is a one-hour documentary on the little-known story of the 40,000 Americans who went against the tide and refused to fight in World War II.

Our Religious Education program for children continues to grow. This year there were 3 classes (4th grade and up, 2nd and 3rd grade, 1st grade and kindergarten) plus the nursery. A Youth Worship Sharing group was formed in April and has been meeting regularly throughout the year in the Reynolds home. It is for youth in the fourth grade and higher grades. They have done Bible Study and worship sharing.

Since September, Joe Morrissey has been leading a Junior Meeting one Sunday a month for fourth graders and up. This Christmas they collected money and donations for a local family.

Three adults and several children (third graders and above) went on a one-night camping trip this May to Patapsco State Park. Two of our children attended and enjoyed Quaker camps this past summer in Virginia. Bob Rhudy hosted the annual end-of-the-school-year RE picnic. We struggled to provide child care during meeting for business, but at year’s end a child care coordinator for meeting for business was found.

Our meeting expressed concerns about the local public school system’s plans to commemorate September 1 l and about alternatives for students who do not wish to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Sherri Morgan and Jean Leslie discussed our concerns with the Howard County Public Schools’ Superintendent in April. In the fall Diane Reynolds and her daughter. Sophie, met again with school staff and members of community groups representing African-Americans and Muslims to voice alternative ways to commemorate September 11.

The Ministry and Oversight and the Advancement and Outreach Committees jointly sponsored a 6-session series Quakerism I01 classes held in February and March. Topics included Quaker history, core values, the testimony of integrity and journaling. The Advancement & Outreach Committee offered a 7-session series of classes on prayer this summer. Sessions focused on different styles of prayer and gave participants an opportunity to practice that prayer style and share their experiences in a worship-sharing format. Guest leaders from meetings in the Washington-Baltimore area led many of the sessions.

The A&O Committee initiated a sit-down simple meal one Sunday a month, beginning in May. Everyone brings a dish and we can more leisurely talk and dine together. We have been experimenting with ways to use our space to best host the meal.

The Ministry and Oversight Committee sponsored our fall retreat on September 28 at Mt. Hebron House: The theme was “Witnessing for Peace.” A representative from each of the three traditional peace churches (Quakers, Brethren and Mennonites) spoke. Susan Rose and Ramona Buck led intergenerational Alternatives to Violence Program (AVP) exercises in the afternoon. Two teen-age students from Sandy Spring Friends School led activities with the children. Some of us ended the day by attending the peace vigil in downtown Columbia.

Four people from our meeting are participating in the BYM’s Spiritual Formation program this year. As part of the program, they attend an opening retreat in September, and a closing retreat in May. In between, they meet twice a month to share their spiritual journeys and disciplines.

The M&O Committee provided guidance to several clearness committees, including one for a member who is facilitating a new web site for Quakers Integrating Spirituality and Sexuality.

We said goodbye to Elizabeth Saria and Nancy Kakoyannis. Elizabeth left for a new job and home in upstate New York. Nancy moved on to graduate school. We hosted a farewell for them with giant cookies and milk. We received a letter of introduction for Dr. David Leeser from Byberry Friends Meeting in Philadelphia. David, his wife Jodi and their two children are attending our meeting while temporarily living in our area.