Memorials

Memorial Meeting for Martin Lennig, 1999

The minute below is from 8/1/1999.  Martin died on June 27, 1999.  Martin had served on our Nominating Committee in 1998 and was a founding member of our Meeting.

A memorial service for Martin Lennig was held in good order at Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting on July 10. Over 100 persons attended the hour and a half service. Several PPM Friends attended and assisted in the preparations.

Our Spiritual State of the Meeting Report for 1999 included the following text:

Later in the year, one of our founding members, Martin Lennig, died June 27, 1999.. His optimistic outlook, friendly manner, and familiar presence at Meeting for Worship are greatly missed.

Memorials

Memorial Meeting for Harry Brown, 1999

A memorial service for Harry Brown was held in good order at Hebron House on May 30, 1999.  He passed away on May 12.  Approximately 45 to 50 persons attended.

John Buck, clerk of the Meeting, offered the following introductory remarks:

Good afternoon. I am John Buck, clerk of the Patapsco Friends Meeting. I welcome you to this Meeting for Worship in celebration of the life of Harry Brown. Harry participated in the life of our Meeting for the past two and a half years. His family, therefore, asked that this Memorial Service be conducted in the manner of Friends. Because Friends, or Quakers, as we are sometimes called, believe that there is that of God in each person, in this Meeting for Worship you are a minister to all the others attending. We all give and receive ministry from each other.

As in all Meetings for Worship, we will sit together in silence, and anyone who wishes to speak may do so. Although in our regular Sunday worship, no theme is predetermined prior to the Meeting; in a memorial service or worship celebration such as this one, we are focusing on the person and life of Harry Brown. We will first settle into the silence and then, if you feel moved to do so, you may rise to speak, or may speak, sitting down. You may, for example, speak about Harry, as you knew him, especially in appreciation of his life. Or, you might choose to speak more generally about loss or anotss or another topic that seems relevant to this particular gathering. After each person’s contribution, there should be some silence. Silence gives each of us time to assimilate what has been said, and helps us speak from a deeper, more spiritual part of ourselves than we may be able to access in regular conversation. Generally, individuals do not speak more than once in a Meeting for Worship, nor do they agree or disagree with others, as they might in conversation. Instead, they tend to speak out of a prayerful waiting.

As clerk, I will conclude the Meeting by shaking hands with a person sitting near me. Then, by custom, everyone will shake hands with persons sitting near them and the Meeting is over.

At the rise of Meeting, we invite you to have refreshments in the room next door and to enjoy some of the pictures that the family has put together.

Meetings for Listening

Threshing Session on How We Can Address Peace and Social Justice Issues

The minutes from 5/2/1999 contain the item below.  A report on the threshing session will be posted if we ever find it.

10. Friends expressed concern that PPM has not been adequately addressing peace and social justice issues. The Clerk will schedule a threshing session on concerns about how PPM can take on issues of peace and social justice. This meeting would not be for the purpose of deciding the issue, nor for proposing specific projects, but to thresh the issues for meeting for business.

The silent announcements for 8/22/1999 contain the item below.

Notes from the threshing session on our Meeting’s leadings on peace and social order, held yesterday, are on the hall table.

Patapsco

Spiritual State of the Meeting Report, 1998

Approved by Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, March 7, 1999

The past year has presented several crucial issues in the life of our Meeting and has also been a period of expanded social sharing and community-building. We completed the process of becoming a full-fledged Preparative Meeting under the care of Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting. Eager as we were to move forward, the slow pace of Quaker deliberation allowed us to fully appreciate the significance of our request to formally organize as a Quaker community. Following our common leading, we did not wait for formalization to embrace the spiritual tasks necessary to building a spiritual community.

Activities that deepened our knowledge and appreciation of each other included a hayride, a summer picnic, “Friendly Bunches” gatherings and singing Christmas carols. We celebrated a wedding at Mt. Hebron House, celebrated the birth of two babies, formally welcomed two members and held a farewell for one family. Our outward witness was expressed through individual actions and by our preparation of AFSC kits. The monthly book discussion group continued meeting regularly. In June, Phyllis Keenan followed a leading and began holding monthly Meetings for Worship for Healing, with the support and approval of the Meeting. Several new attenders were drawn to our Meeting through this ministry.

Meeting for worship continued to regularly attract fifteen to twenty adult attenders. The Meeting was enriched throughout the year by visits from seekers and other Quakers, particularly from Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting. While we have found that the presence of visitors tended to enhance the quality of silent worship, we are aware that a significant number of visitors have not returned after an initial visit or two. First Day School continued to grow this year with the appointment of new teachers and an RE Committee. From 5 to 16 children attended First Day School weekly in three classes. The children enjoyed a spring egg hunt, presented an original Thanksgiving play, sang in an “Angel Chorus” at Christmas time and helped assemble AFSC kits. Young friendships began to bud.

In Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business we struggled throughout the year with questions regarding the structure of this new Meeting: How many committees do we need? How will the work of the Meeting be accomplished? What is the rightful work of the Meeting? How can members and attenders continue to take personal responsibility for our common endeavors once a committee is appointed to attend to certain matters? Our progress on these issues was halting and slow, resulting in some painful misunderstandings, a deeper searching for unity and an increased sensitivity to one another.

We enter 1999 with quiet joy at any occasion where the phrase “Patapsco Friends Preparative Meeting” is uttered. Ahead of us lies the work of knitting ourselves more closely to the larger Quaker community and expressing a corporate Quaker witness to the world. Supporting our growing ministries and nurturing the Light Within each member and attender remain our constant aims.