Third Haven Friends Meeting Worship and Ministry Committee 2023 Annual Report:
Worship and Ministry provides greeters for Meeting for Worship, evaluates the experience of that worship and coordinates adult religious education. Suggestions for this work are welcome.
Attendance at Meeting for Worship has been increasing at Third Haven Monthly Meeting as concerns about the Covid pandemic have eased. Often, we have more than 30 participants in person with more on holidays as family members return to the area. Two to 10 attend Meeting for Worship on Zoom. Visitors join our worship frequently.
Vocal ministry is variable as Friends wait on the Spirit to be moved to speak. Reading the Query each month, one of the few programmed practices of our community, often inspires ministry.
Our mid-week Meeting for Worship is small but attracts a dedicated group of participants, usually four to seven, with a few attending on Zoom. The silent worship is profound but vocal ministry is rare during the Wednesday meeting. Stephanie French anchors this Meeting in person and on Zoom.
Worship and Ministry is sponsoring a Quakerism 101 Program. This was launched in September by a visit from Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM). She held an information gathering session to learn how we feel about our connection to PYM after a potluck dinner in the Common Room. She gave a presentation about perspective the following day after hospitality. Both events were well-attended. Gratitude to the Claggetts for hosting Christie and Meeting members for hospitality.
The committee is planning to ask a representative from PYM to visit to discuss the ways Third Haven and other meetings in the Southern Quarter can improve the connection to, and be supported by, the yearly meeting.
We had two additional sessions of Quakerism 101 this Fall. In October we held a program on Silent Worship and Spiritual Practices facilitated by Katherine Johnson and Jonathan Slocum using Worship Sharing. In November the topic was hat of God. Materials for That of God included “Essence of Our Quaker Faith,” a summary approved by Third Haven in 2010, and an updated version of “That of God and So On,” written by Tom Corl for Quakerism 101 in 2012. Tom also used queries to guide the discussion. Quakerism 101 will continue this Spring with Quaker Testimonies, Community and Decision Making in the Manner of Friends.
Terry-Thomas Primer is facilitating discussions on Reading the Gospels as Friends. Meetings started last Spring and are held monthly with approximately nine members and attenders participating. After initial discussions on each of the four Gospels the group is focusing on shorter sections as led.
Apparently, we have run through the members and attenders who are willing to discuss their Spiritual Journeys, with some having spoken more than once for this popular program. Harvey Zendt has coordinated the Journeys this year and his own presentation was inspiring. Please contact a member of the committee if you would like to share your story. A Friendly and attentive audience is guaranteed.
Mary Yancey will talk about the importance of nature to her Spiritual Journey this Spring, which seems an appropriate time. Also, she will facilitate discussions about the month’s query next year on the 4th Sunday of the month in the Common Room before Meeting for Worship.
Janet Kemp and Tom Corl updated materials for Third Haven’s website this year. Katherine Johnson updated the section on Spiritual Formation. In September Matthew Moore took pinhole photographs during Meeting for Worship twice. This captured the historic Third Haven Meetinghouse using early photographic technology.
We have a few groups that meet independently in the Meeting’s facilities in ways that nurture spiritual growth. These include a journaling and creative writing support group and a Jungian dream group.
I’m grateful for the efforts of members who served on Worship and Ministry in 2023. They are: Tom Corl, Kristina Herold, Janet Kemp, Steven Meixner, Nancy Robbins and Harvey Zendt. Tom and Harvey, now telecommuting from Rhode Island, have agreed to serve for another year and we will be joined by John Schreiner and Clinton Pettus.