State of the Meeting Report - 2001

Two people, Marc Robinson and Cathy Gardner, have been welcomed into membership, and Jeanette Larson, a beloved l ong-time member, although she recently resided elsewhere, died this year.

Readers of last year's report may note that our Meeting had instituted a format for conducting business meetings that we saw as more faithful to traditional Quaker practice. It was also seen as a way to maintain a more worshipful approach to conducting business. With time, however, it became clear that this format was difficult for some, and constructive, if sometimes painful, discussion arose from these differences. Over time the format has moderated and now seems to be less of an issue.

More pressing at the present time is the question of how we maintain an active program for the children in the Meeting. Attendance at First Day School has fluctuated, being at least steady and fairly predictable through the end of the year 2000 but declining since. This has been caused at least in part by several families with children leaving the area. Similarly, a year ago the First Day School program had at least one and often more teachers conducting a planned and highly regarded sequence of lessons; that structure, too, has become harder to maintain.

First Day School has been tentatively suspended during the summer. An ad hoc committee has formed to examine the children's education issue in the wider context of defining Quakerism as practiced by our Meeting, and considering how we educate people of all ages in the Quaker tradition. Considering the fluid quality of Meeting attendance, this may be especially pertinent as we struggle to maintain a tradition in which very few members or attenders have been raised or trained.

Friends comment from time to time on the tangibly spiritual quality of Meeting for Worship. Whether or not it can receive part of the credit, certainly a positive influence on the Meeting's spiritual life has been a Spiritual Formation group, part of a larger Iowa Yearly Meeting venture, in which a steady number of local Quakers have taken part. This has been so well received that a continuation group, perhaps with a more open membership, has been discussed.

Social action has been strong over this past year. An enthusiastic Peace and Social Concerns committee has led the way. The committee was small in 2000 but has gained new members and is ably led. Material aid, first in the form of kits for earthquake victims in El Salvador and India and then extending to other causes, has been well supported, as has support of local predominantly African-American churches that were victims of a vicious hate campaign. Independently, several members took part in this year's protest against the School of the Americas. Most recently, the Meeting has been fine-tuning a minute in opposition to the death penalty, to be used whenever our support of that issue is needed. Members of the Meeting regularly attend protest rallies against the death penalty as well.

Penn Valley Meeting will be facing all of these issues in the coming year, as well as others such as our place in the community, and specifically, the changes or lack of changes that we wish to make to our building. As always, we wish for spiritual growth and trust that we will deal wisely with whatever decisions we will need to make.