BARNSTABLE FRIENDS MEETING -- State of Society Reports
Barnstable Friends Meeting (Preparative) State of Society Report 2022
(approved 3rd Month 5, 2023)
For Barnstable Friends, it seemed like this was a year of abiding, and waiting in the silence of worship and light. Waiting for whatever seeds germinate and grow. For BFM, it’s meant settling into and shaping our new home in Dennis, MA, putting out signs and the wonder of holiday lights. While waiting for the spring thaw that is sure to come, some of us were reminded of a quote from John Milton’s poem, On His Blindness, “they also serve who stand and wait”.
Other relevant quotes that Barnstable Friends found particularly meaningful this year are:
“And don't think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It's quiet but the roots are down there riotous”. –Rumi and
"Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers”.--Khalil Gibran. (See addendum for complete source texts.)
ADDENDUM
“On His Blindness” by John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
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Kindness is like snow — it beautifies everything it covers. - Kahlil Gibran
For the past year (more like decades), hate against people of color has grown. Some want to believe racism doesn’t exist anymore, but it never went away. We live in a world where the color of someone’s color is more important than showing some kindness.
Diseases and things don’t discriminate, people do. Covid has taught me that life is too short to hold grudges. People waste more time hating a person or wanting to rush through life, when we should stop; take a breather; enjoy the things around us. If we stop and take a moment to help someone in need, we’ll see the true beauty of the world.
Similar to snow, kindness purifies the soul; giving a fresh start in life. It has the power to bridge divides and heal. Small acts of kindness will go a long way. Remember everyone is going through something. Hold a door; say hi; say please and thank you. An act of kindness can change someone’s life.
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FORM IS ECSTATIC
There is a shimmering excitement in being sentient and shaped. The caravan master sees his camels lost in it, nose to tail, as he himself is, his friend, and the stranger coming toward them. A gardener watches the sky break into song, cloud wobbly with what it is. Bud, thorn, the same.
Wind, water, wandering this essential state. Fire, ground, gone. That’s how it is with the outside. Form is ecstatic. Now imagine the inner: soul, intelligence, the secret worlds!
And don't think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It's quiet, but the roots are down there rioutous. If someone bumps you in the street, don't be angry. Everyone careens about in this surprise. Respond in kind. Let the knots untie, turbans be given away. Someone drunk on this could drink a donkey load a night.Believer, unbeliever, cynic, lover, all combine in the spirit-form we are,but no one yet is awake like Shams.
Rumi, The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems
Barnstable Friends Meeting (Preparative) and
Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting Joint State of Society Report 2021
Barnstable Friends Meeting (Preparative) State of Society Report - 2020
(approved Barnstable 3/17/2021 Mattapoisett 3/17/2021) Although Barnstable Friends Meeting, a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting, continues to be small and although as every Meeting in New England, we were unable to meet in person for most of the year, we stayed connected to each other, Friends in Mattapoisett and to that which is Eternal. As worshiping in front of a computer screen seemed less spiritually alive, each Sunday we were reminded to worship in our own spaces and afterwards connect with each other through Zoom.
The year 2020 felt both critical and fraught, a time of danger and possibility. There was Life and ways we felt drawn to service through three initiatives:
One, due to the role that oppression, exclusion and white supremacy play in the current deep divisions in our world, create (including support, encouragement and promotion,) the website Tools for Racial Justice, with the Healing Racism Toolkit; https://tools4racialjustice.net.
Two, create (including support and encouragement) a virtual Sermon that the clerk was invited to give at the Barnstable UU church. Part of the Whole: Healing a Broken and Fractured World and the Blessing of Stillness at this Critical Time. You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCH1R6lntqg
Three, make a prayer and healing quilt. Each of us is either knitting or crocheting a square or rectangle in any size, shape or color which eventually will be stitched together and any gaps filled in. The quilt is to be given to an individual when they are in serious distress. It isn’t so much about the finished product though. The idea for this action is that every stitch is part of holding us all together, each is its own prayer for unity and being one part of a diverse whole above the rancor, chaos and fear. The sentiment is that all is good, that even those inexperienced, who might from time to time drop a stitch are simply creating more holes for the light to get in.
As the year ended we continue to express gratitude for both the goodness but also the challenges in our lives. We pray that all our imperfections can be useful for creating a tapestry of Light and oneness.
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Barnstable Friends Meeting (Preparative) and Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting
Joint State of Society Report 2019
Precious seems like one of the best words to describe Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting and Barnstable Friends Meeting (Preparative). In a world being tossed about in a sea of chaos and division, our Meetings are harbors for mutual respect, unconditionally love (even in the midst of differing, strongly held opinions) and a harbor of peace. It’s a place where everyone, especially Barnstable Friend feels welcomed, accepted and spiritual affirmed.
Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting and Barnstable Friends Meeting (Preparative) demonstrate loving and tender care in many different ways. These include a real heart felt tenderness that flows forth in attention to needed details; such as a particular potluck dish, or when some express in worship what is moving their spirit. Much joy comes from after meeting gathering for tea or potlucks. They present opportunities for those present to talk about and resolve old misunderstanding.
This past year, Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting attempted to encouraged newcomers with an open house. Although sparsely attended it did help draw us together and learn new things about our heritage such as the story of Quaker cannibals of Nantucket. Barnstable Friends attempted to encouraged newcomers with a book club using Amanda Kemp’s “Say the Wrong Thing” and initiated a “17 characters ministry” with a changeable street sign that reflects Quaker principles. Meetings also did concrete things in the wider community such as the annual Buzzard Bay swim, tabling for LQBTQ concerns at New Bedford Pride and supporting the local immigrant community.
Loss, love and learning are three themes that rose for us during 2019:
Loss of the four members who are deeply missed by our Meeting community. The love was palpable during the three memorial services that were held. They were a lovely time with family and F/friends to remember the unique place these Friends had in the world and special things, like how one of them would be giggling about the sounds of an early spring. Three of these members were artists and there was renewed awareness of the importance of their role in society, the spiritual need for art and beauty.
The love being shown to our children, particularly a young granddaughter and young adult Friend, helped people feel connected and attached to our Meeting. When the peace corp volunteer had a medical difficulty and briefly came home, he was grateful for being loved and supported and for the elders who previously had similar Peace corp service experience. It helped them all feel part of a caring continuum.
Learning about clerking and some of the strange, funny, quirky Quaker ways is an ongoing process for all of us. We continue to learn to listen in different ways and are becoming aware of how ego can jump in. We find it an interesting and loving process.
Spring comes late to Cape Cod but eventually green shoots appear; just so for Barnstable Friends Meeting. In 2017 we had a few more attenders make their way to our door and even though we are still very small, worship is verdant, rich and meaningful.
"Peacemaking doesn’t mean passivity. it is the act of interrupting injustice without mirroring injustice, the act of disarming evil without destroying the evildoer, the act of finding a third way that is neither fight nor flight but the careful, arduous pursuit of reconciliation and justice. It is about a revolution of love that is big enough to set both the oppressed and the oppressors free. Peacemaking is about being able to recognize in the face of the oppressed our own faces, and in the hands of the oppressors our own hands. — From A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
May this be so for us in this tiny meeting on Cape Cod and for all of us.
______________________________________________________
Barnstable Friends Meeting, a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting
State of Society Report 2013
(draft accepted with input by Mattapoisett and BFM Business Meeting 2/23/2014)
What has been most relevant to Barnstable Friends Meeting in the past year is best described by Nancy Wood in "Poetry and Prose of the Pueblos."
Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here.
We started the year our strong beautiful selves, writing a State of Society report that conveyed the preciousness of a spiritual community. But, and as is not uncommon after many years, we had interpersonal difficulties that went from bad to worse very fast and there were some who for one reason or another could no longer make the journey to meeting. The result was a small Meeting got tiny with attendance numbers falling to an average of 3-4 in worship.
It has felt like all we could do was hold on to a mere handful of earth; but it is good earth, rich in spiritual significance. Goodness was made manifest in a number of instances, one key way was Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting who stepped up yet again. They comforted, loved and supported us. We initiated a routine where 2 of them come to us once a month and once a month we go to them (while there we hold a concurrent Meeting for Business). We updated a blog where messages that came from worship could be posted. Some of the ongoing themes on the blog were "Divine paradox," "unexpected blessings," "Spirit as ultimate witness," "that there is an Eternal force that renews everything, nothing goes to waste. So in the end all of it is for the good. Nothing lasts as it is forever, except Forever." We held on.
In spiritual seeking, we actually experienced many blessings from this experience. Looking for what is real taught important lessons and we found insight in religious texts such as Jones, Merton, Penn, and of course Fox. Although it seemed we were a tree standing by itself, through the pain we held fast to faith and to sacred commitment. For even though we were no longer in relationship, we held onto the belief in the inherent goodness of everyone, that we all are doing the best we can with what we have. Forgiveness, letting go of resentments and judgment as well as letting go of the way things were in the past, was a vital part of our healing process and acceptance of Creator’s will. We are grateful and content in the here and now of the unfolding mystery.
Throughout the year it did feel like we had a long way to go; however, members continued their work with the homeless, racial justice and relationships with Wampanoag and other New England indigenous people. Because there was no place for people to go if the power went out for a 5 mile radius (including much of Mashpee/Wampanoag territory,) we partnered with the Waquoit Congregational Church on building a warming station. We provided support for the “Pilgrim 14” who were arrested May 20, 2012 at a rally and demonstration outside the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The NEYM committee of Racial Social and Economic Justice held their retreat with us in June.
Together we move forward, holding on to what we must do as Friends; step by step holding on to what is good.
“Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.” Albert Schweitzer
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STATE OF SOCIETY 2011 --- Barnstable Friends Meeting
When considering the spiritual health of the our beloved Barnstable Friends Meeting for 2011, a visualization came to us of a tapestry of our own making. Rather than well defined and recognizable forms in this tapestry we see a vibrancy of color- threads that each of us has sewn in. The texture of this thickly woven tapestry speaks of a year in search of the Light, truth, justice and always love. This tapestry is not yet finished, ever evolving, one end awaiting the threads of continued growth and ever deeper devotion to prayer.
Looking close at our tapestry there is the warp which provides the comfort of spiritual foundation and there is the weft which runs back and forth, an ebb and flow, the duality of busy/quiet forming patterns, the examples, the challenges of leading a spirit center life. As George Fox said "And this is the word of the Lord God to you all ... be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people."
In 2011 there was a lot of activity in these warp threads for Barnstable Friends as we interacted with other Meetings and groups taking stands on Friends principles. This included disseminated in various newspapers and among wider Friends, a peace minute beginning with the words “It is with tears that we mourn” and ending with “Penn put this truth {nonviolence] to test, ... instituting what was known in Indian terminology as a "chain of friendship”. Let us then try what a chain of friendship, try what Love will do". Members and attenders also were involved with Occupy activities, initiatives to help the homeless and assistance to elders in need. In addition we outreached to communities of color with funds and a letter of support for their activities. We approved a decision to withhold proportional contributions to NEYM that supports FUM. Minuting that we take this stand based upon a 8/26/07 minute which states, "...We come to this from our belief that all discrimination is contrary to the working of the divine, the spirit in each of us, the capacity to join soul to soul, the desire to love unselfishly should be celebrated in all its forms.”
Some outward actions were challenging. These included members sleeping outside 12/23/11 in solidarity with those who sleep in the dust every night, supporting our clerk as she also clerked a Yearly Meeting committee that led one of the Plenarys at Sessions and the burden of traveling off Cape to attend meetings and events at our monthly meeting and Quarter. Some question whether we challenge ourselves sufficiently in ways that are useful for spiritual awakening while others ask if with our busyness and attention to Quaker bureaucracy was getting in the way of the simplicity that Quakers advocate & cherish.
Meanwhile we are blessed by the threads of the warp firmly grounded in a rich deep worship and personal commitments to a spiritual life. All deeply appreciate the depth of love and support felt one to another and the wisdom within the meeting shared in both messages during worship which connect us to the beauty of the infinite Spirit and afterward during times of discussion and one member’s lovingly presented hospitality. We feel blessed not only by relationships among us, including the welcoming of two new members, but also by the loving care of Friends from Mattapositt Monthly Meeting and by the space we have in our precious Burgess House.
There are places in the tapestry of our meeting which require our prayerful attention. We are saddened that some feel feel dissatisfaction with us as a meeting. We will continue to hold them in the light and look forward to a day of peace and reconciliation. Another concern is that we would like to grow our meeting particularly in ways that could attract young people how to make it fun and speak to their spirits.
If one stands close to a tapestry, one sees many individual threads, but if one steps back one sees only the whole. If we step back the above detail blurs into that vibrancy of color. We are left with simply
“In Light we are seen, in Love we are known, in Peace we are whole, and in Light, in Love and in Peace we are One.”
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STATE OF SOCIETY REPORT 2010
There is also an aspect of this Truth that BFPM finds in the deep valley of the rich, dark silence of the soul. It is here that we find an inner comfort, knowing that there is a heavenly force that holds us in Its love. It is out of this depth that the still, small voice of Creator guides our discernment of a positive way forward with forgiveness, dignity and faith in the ultimate triumph of Truth, wholeness and peace.
Social testimonies were frequent topics of conversation. This outward practice of our faith expanded to include partnering with a local motel to provide homeless women respite from the streets for one week a month and helping a Wampanoag elder publish her book. We distributed “War is Not the Answer” signs around Cape Cod and also expanded our publication on death, dying and bereavement. Our worship has helped us clear our minds and feel Spirit bring us together, giving us the strength to face the week ahead.
Some discussion also took place around the concept of “submitting to an authority” beside that of Creator. BFPM expressed concern about this phrase. We were reminded of this relevant quote: “These things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all, with the measure of Light which is pure and holy, may be guided; and so in the Light walking and abiding, these may be fulfilled in the Spirit, not from the letter, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” — George Fox.
We move into 2011 with a strong sense of the abiding presence of Divine beauty. We thank Creator for our blessings: the difficult times for they are an opportunity for growth, and the joyful times for they nourish and sustain us. We held all in NEYM in the Light and prayed for a time of healing. We are eager for a reconciliation with all in our Quarter to bring everyone back into loving harmony.
Creator, Spirit has such a calming and warm effect, it speaks to Love, the Light. This inspires us — along with the words that came during the silent worship at a Sandwich Quarter Meeting, “blow on the coals of one's heart” (from JB, a play about Job, by Archibald MacLeish). When one feels all is lost, there is more hidden within, — just blow. Approved 3/6/11
Precious seems like one of the best words to describe Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting and Barnstable Friends Meeting (Preparative). In a world being tossed about in a sea of chaos and division, our Meetings are harbors for mutual respect, unconditionally love (even in the midst of differing, strongly held opinions) and a harbor of peace. It’s a place where everyone, especially Barnstable Friend feels welcomed, accepted and spiritual affirmed.
Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting and Barnstable Friends Meeting (Preparative) demonstrate loving and tender care in many different ways. These include a real heart felt tenderness that flows forth in attention to needed details; such as a particular potluck dish, or when some express in worship what is moving their spirit. Much joy comes from after meeting gathering for tea or potlucks. They present opportunities for those present to talk about and resolve old misunderstanding.
This past year, Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting attempted to encouraged newcomers with an open house. Although sparsely attended it did help draw us together and learn new things about our heritage such as the story of Quaker cannibals of Nantucket. Barnstable Friends attempted to encouraged newcomers with a book club using Amanda Kemp’s “Say the Wrong Thing” and initiated a “17 characters ministry” with a changeable street sign that reflects Quaker principles. Meetings also did concrete things in the wider community such as the annual Buzzard Bay swim, tabling for LQBTQ concerns at New Bedford Pride and supporting the local immigrant community.
Loss, love and learning are three themes that rose for us during 2019:
Loss of the four members who are deeply missed by our Meeting community. The love was palpable during the three memorial services that were held. They were a lovely time with family and F/friends to remember the unique place these Friends had in the world and special things, like how one of them would be giggling about the sounds of an early spring. Three of these members were artists and there was renewed awareness of the importance of their role in society, the spiritual need for art and beauty.
The love being shown to our children, particularly a young granddaughter and young adult Friend, helped people feel connected and attached to our Meeting. When the peace corp volunteer had a medical difficulty and briefly came home, he was grateful for being loved and supported and for the elders who previously had similar Peace corp service experience. It helped them all feel part of a caring continuum.
Learning about clerking and some of the strange, funny, quirky Quaker ways is an ongoing process for all of us. We continue to learn to listen in different ways and are becoming aware of how ego can jump in. We find it an interesting and loving process.
Worship at both our Meetings is nurturing and deep. There is a sense of calm, of oneness which carries over into how we engage among Friends, community and the wider world. What could be more precious or wonderful?
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State of Society Report 2017
BARNSTABLE FRIENDS MEETING
(a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting)
Spring comes late to Cape Cod but eventually green shoots appear; just so for Barnstable Friends Meeting. In 2017 we had a few more attenders make their way to our door and even though we are still very small, worship is verdant, rich and meaningful.
Mattapoisett continues to hold us in their loving care and we are grateful. The following spoke to our condition:
"Peacemaking doesn’t mean passivity. it is the act of interrupting injustice without mirroring injustice, the act of disarming evil without destroying the evildoer, the act of finding a third way that is neither fight nor flight but the careful, arduous pursuit of reconciliation and justice. It is about a revolution of love that is big enough to set both the oppressed and the oppressors free. Peacemaking is about being able to recognize in the face of the oppressed our own faces, and in the hands of the oppressors our own hands. — From A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
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State of Society Report 2016
BARNSTABLE FRIENDS MEETING
(a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting)
“When all is said and done, we’re all just walking each other home.”
~Ram Das
Barnstable Friends Meeting is a place of solace for those who gather during this tumultuous time as we do our best to “walk each other home” in safety, peace and joy. Although we occasionally get visitors, our Meeting in 2016 has remained tiny. Worship, however, was still most sweet and restorative. We continue to be supported by Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting and feel deep love, gratitude and connection between our Preparative and our Monthly Meetings. Our hope is that in the coming year we can make visitation a more regular occurrence.
We feel the following quote speaks to our condition, and forms a prayer that we may be a constructive part of the "chorus of the Union” that makes up the various pieces that is New England Yearly Meeting, and that we may all be blessed by "the better angels of our nature.”
"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield [vigil or protest] and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
~Abraham Lincoln
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Barnstable Friends Meeting: Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting
State of Society Report for 2015
(approved Barnstable 2/7/16, Mattapoisett 2/28/16)
Although tiny, Barnstable Friends Meeting; a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting is precious to those who attend, it is where we connect to the deepest part of our being as typified by the following message:
Walking the Path of Love
It came in a dream and then a memory of a dream; elusive upon waking. A mass of extraneous things swirled around the seed of truth. The things the mind hooks onto are easy to remember. They seem annoying, a distraction but the realization came that they fill an important function by presenting the aspects that tell where the path is not. These need to be cleared out before the essential is reveled. It does no good to clear the undergrowth from the whole forest. It is only when we can clear away the obstructions from where we want to travel that we can rise to a higher plane of being and walk the path.
What are the components of this undergrowth? Much is a normal part of the human condition, thoughts or feeling that possibly everyone has from time to time:
a. Competition: finding the path has nothing to do with being the victor or loser, winning or losing. Rivalry, antagonism obscures the path.
b. Judgement: The path of love has nothing to do making a negative assessment, recrimination, judging someone to be troublesome or mean.
c. Differences: It also surprisingly, has nothing to do with reconciliation, the repair of a past relationship, overcoming rejection or irreconcilable differences. This type of love is not about expectations.
d. Success: It is not about success, achievement, being given a great honor, recognition and the pleasant feeling this engenders.
e. Failure: it is also not about failure; everyone, everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have available.
f. Friendship: Odd as it sounds, its not about the love people feel for each other, even those who set the heart racing.
To get to the core of the message all this has to be cleared away.
The essence of how to walk the path of love can only break through when everything seems lost, when all hope of doing or making things better is gone. Realization comes after, in that dream of being chased, there is no where to turn, not intellect, not feelings, not strength, not even faith. It is then that a voice comes; at this time when there is nothing else to hold onto, there is a feeling of being receptive, resigned and complete surrender. It's a secret message but in plain sight, it comes and says something so simple it seems idiotic. Pure, unconditional Love can be held in one’s heart. It’s possible. As President Obama said quoting MLK Jr. "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."
The instruction that came through the dream about how to walk this path, was simple. At times of meditation think about a person only in terms of how they are wonderful, miraculous and special. Reject the components of this undergrowth; judgement, differences, success, failure, friendship. See, feel, sense the inner essence; see only the eternal, not finite, beauty. The negative or positive stuff might be true but it isn’t Truth. For this moment it doesn't matter. Cleared away what is left is brilliance, uniqueness and beauty; just radiant inner goodness, with no, expectation. None. No right or wrong, no if / then. No quid pro quo, no strings, no "going back to how things were,” no opinion, or business, just simply being in that space of pure positive soul to soul connection. In prayer BE in the place, hold this energy. This is relating on a higher plane. On the lower plane of life there is good and bad and tangled agendas, like a piece of paper filled with so much writing that eventually there is no space to write even one more letter. But on the higher plane it is all blown away with one breath, disappearing ink; no duality.
Imagine the world where this is practiced; a different way of being with each other surrounded by peace and joy. Certainly we all will fail at this but what would it be like if we don't give up? Imagine starting right now … Imagine…
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Barnstable Friends Meeting
State of Society Report for 2014
Though small, our meeting has deep and rich worship. In addition to our regular members/attenders, occasionally we have visitors from the neighborhood. Quaker dog, chocolate lab Ellie, also enriches our times of meditation.
We are fortunate to have a mutually helpful and friendly relationship with Marstons Mills Village Association that manages our beloved Burgess House and also especially with Mattapoisett Friends Meeting. Our whole meeting usually travels to visit theirs once a month, and a group from their meeting also comes to ours about once a month. Our business meetings are held jointly and we are supporting them in their work to preserve their meeting house. Also, we have participated in Sandwich Quarterly Meeting and Sandwich Quarter Ministry and Counsel.
We continue to recognize the urgency and spiritual need to address many worldwide and local issues including poverty, climate change, race relations, equal rights and war.
- · We have been actively involved with Homeless not Hopeless (an organization of homeless people helping other homeless people).
- · We have supported the Cape Cod Downwinders whose purpose is to call attention to Pilgrim and other nuclear energy locations in New England that are similar to the Fukushima nuclear plant with its built-in dangers.
- · We sponsored a program on Gospels, Spirituals and African-American Folklore that was well attended. We are working with New England Yearly Meeting’s committee that sponsors the Journey of Healing (workshops to help New England Friends be in good relations with our indigenous neighbors). We enjoy giving gift certificates and turkeys to the Wampanoag community at Christmas time. We held vigils to address hate crimes designed to bring the power of prayer to the trouble faced by people of color in Ferguson, MO and elsewhere.
- · Displayed in our meetinghouse and website are NEYM Working Party on Racism's minute and minutes that we have written on same gender marriage and another on war and peace.
In addition, Barnstable Friends had two letters to the editor published this year: One regarding the Harwich Conservation Trust's hope to purchase 40 acres: we asked people to consider “by what right did the land transfer from Wampanoag people to Europeans — in light of our belief that the essence of who we really are, that that of God within exists in eternity, therefore serious wrongs do not dissipate with the passage of time.”
The second letter was in support of the County Human Rights Commissioner who was under fire for saying “everyone who is white-skinned is racist” (as we agree that its likely we all carry unconscious bias). We asked in our letter: “How do we build a truly beloved community that embraces that of God in everyone?” and “Are we a part of this awakening, speaking Truth about who we are in relationship to all humankind, all our relations?” We ended with a prayer that “each of us be a lamp of pure Love and Light to bring a new dawn of real peace into this beautiful world.”
May this be so for us in this tiny meeting on Cape Cod and for all of us.
______________________________________________________
Barnstable Friends Meeting, a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting
State of Society Report 2013
(draft accepted with input by Mattapoisett and BFM Business Meeting 2/23/2014)
What has been most relevant to Barnstable Friends Meeting in the past year is best described by Nancy Wood in "Poetry and Prose of the Pueblos."
Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here.
We started the year our strong beautiful selves, writing a State of Society report that conveyed the preciousness of a spiritual community. But, and as is not uncommon after many years, we had interpersonal difficulties that went from bad to worse very fast and there were some who for one reason or another could no longer make the journey to meeting. The result was a small Meeting got tiny with attendance numbers falling to an average of 3-4 in worship.
It has felt like all we could do was hold on to a mere handful of earth; but it is good earth, rich in spiritual significance. Goodness was made manifest in a number of instances, one key way was Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting who stepped up yet again. They comforted, loved and supported us. We initiated a routine where 2 of them come to us once a month and once a month we go to them (while there we hold a concurrent Meeting for Business). We updated a blog where messages that came from worship could be posted. Some of the ongoing themes on the blog were "Divine paradox," "unexpected blessings," "Spirit as ultimate witness," "that there is an Eternal force that renews everything, nothing goes to waste. So in the end all of it is for the good. Nothing lasts as it is forever, except Forever." We held on.
In spiritual seeking, we actually experienced many blessings from this experience. Looking for what is real taught important lessons and we found insight in religious texts such as Jones, Merton, Penn, and of course Fox. Although it seemed we were a tree standing by itself, through the pain we held fast to faith and to sacred commitment. For even though we were no longer in relationship, we held onto the belief in the inherent goodness of everyone, that we all are doing the best we can with what we have. Forgiveness, letting go of resentments and judgment as well as letting go of the way things were in the past, was a vital part of our healing process and acceptance of Creator’s will. We are grateful and content in the here and now of the unfolding mystery.
Throughout the year it did feel like we had a long way to go; however, members continued their work with the homeless, racial justice and relationships with Wampanoag and other New England indigenous people. Because there was no place for people to go if the power went out for a 5 mile radius (including much of Mashpee/Wampanoag territory,) we partnered with the Waquoit Congregational Church on building a warming station. We provided support for the “Pilgrim 14” who were arrested May 20, 2012 at a rally and demonstration outside the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The NEYM committee of Racial Social and Economic Justice held their retreat with us in June.
Together we move forward, holding on to what we must do as Friends; step by step holding on to what is good.
“Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.” Albert Schweitzer
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STATE OF SOCIETY 2011 --- Barnstable Friends Meeting
When considering the spiritual health of the our beloved Barnstable Friends Meeting for 2011, a visualization came to us of a tapestry of our own making. Rather than well defined and recognizable forms in this tapestry we see a vibrancy of color- threads that each of us has sewn in. The texture of this thickly woven tapestry speaks of a year in search of the Light, truth, justice and always love. This tapestry is not yet finished, ever evolving, one end awaiting the threads of continued growth and ever deeper devotion to prayer.
Looking close at our tapestry there is the warp which provides the comfort of spiritual foundation and there is the weft which runs back and forth, an ebb and flow, the duality of busy/quiet forming patterns, the examples, the challenges of leading a spirit center life. As George Fox said "And this is the word of the Lord God to you all ... be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people."
In 2011 there was a lot of activity in these warp threads for Barnstable Friends as we interacted with other Meetings and groups taking stands on Friends principles. This included disseminated in various newspapers and among wider Friends, a peace minute beginning with the words “It is with tears that we mourn” and ending with “Penn put this truth {nonviolence] to test, ... instituting what was known in Indian terminology as a "chain of friendship”. Let us then try what a chain of friendship, try what Love will do". Members and attenders also were involved with Occupy activities, initiatives to help the homeless and assistance to elders in need. In addition we outreached to communities of color with funds and a letter of support for their activities. We approved a decision to withhold proportional contributions to NEYM that supports FUM. Minuting that we take this stand based upon a 8/26/07 minute which states, "...We come to this from our belief that all discrimination is contrary to the working of the divine, the spirit in each of us, the capacity to join soul to soul, the desire to love unselfishly should be celebrated in all its forms.”
Some outward actions were challenging. These included members sleeping outside 12/23/11 in solidarity with those who sleep in the dust every night, supporting our clerk as she also clerked a Yearly Meeting committee that led one of the Plenarys at Sessions and the burden of traveling off Cape to attend meetings and events at our monthly meeting and Quarter. Some question whether we challenge ourselves sufficiently in ways that are useful for spiritual awakening while others ask if with our busyness and attention to Quaker bureaucracy was getting in the way of the simplicity that Quakers advocate & cherish.
Meanwhile we are blessed by the threads of the warp firmly grounded in a rich deep worship and personal commitments to a spiritual life. All deeply appreciate the depth of love and support felt one to another and the wisdom within the meeting shared in both messages during worship which connect us to the beauty of the infinite Spirit and afterward during times of discussion and one member’s lovingly presented hospitality. We feel blessed not only by relationships among us, including the welcoming of two new members, but also by the loving care of Friends from Mattapositt Monthly Meeting and by the space we have in our precious Burgess House.
There are places in the tapestry of our meeting which require our prayerful attention. We are saddened that some feel feel dissatisfaction with us as a meeting. We will continue to hold them in the light and look forward to a day of peace and reconciliation. Another concern is that we would like to grow our meeting particularly in ways that could attract young people how to make it fun and speak to their spirits.
If one stands close to a tapestry, one sees many individual threads, but if one steps back one sees only the whole. If we step back the above detail blurs into that vibrancy of color. We are left with simply
“In Light we are seen, in Love we are known, in Peace we are whole, and in Light, in Love and in Peace we are One.”
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STATE OF SOCIETY REPORT 2010
Barnstable Friends Meeting, a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting (BFPM), continues to find inspiration and Truth in our connection to the Divine. In 2010, this motivation guided us to work in comforting the suffering of people in a number of big and small ways, including the problems of the homeless and of the low-income elderly’s lack of access to compassionate care. An abiding faith in this transcendent Source strengthened our resolve this past year to be true to our Quaker roots, practices and faith.
In the early summer, as avenues to our continued membership in New England Yearly Meeting were closed, Mattapoisett Friends offered us a home as a preparative meeting within their beloved community. We have worshiped together and have felt blessed that we were in each other’s lives — including cross fertilization in business meetings. The blessings of this union have been astonishing.
In the early summer, as avenues to our continued membership in New England Yearly Meeting were closed, Mattapoisett Friends offered us a home as a preparative meeting within their beloved community. We have worshiped together and have felt blessed that we were in each other’s lives — including cross fertilization in business meetings. The blessings of this union have been astonishing.
There is also an aspect of this Truth that BFPM finds in the deep valley of the rich, dark silence of the soul. It is here that we find an inner comfort, knowing that there is a heavenly force that holds us in Its love. It is out of this depth that the still, small voice of Creator guides our discernment of a positive way forward with forgiveness, dignity and faith in the ultimate triumph of Truth, wholeness and peace.
Social testimonies were frequent topics of conversation. This outward practice of our faith expanded to include partnering with a local motel to provide homeless women respite from the streets for one week a month and helping a Wampanoag elder publish her book. We distributed “War is Not the Answer” signs around Cape Cod and also expanded our publication on death, dying and bereavement. Our worship has helped us clear our minds and feel Spirit bring us together, giving us the strength to face the week ahead.
Some discussion also took place around the concept of “submitting to an authority” beside that of Creator. BFPM expressed concern about this phrase. We were reminded of this relevant quote: “These things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all, with the measure of Light which is pure and holy, may be guided; and so in the Light walking and abiding, these may be fulfilled in the Spirit, not from the letter, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” — George Fox.
We move into 2011 with a strong sense of the abiding presence of Divine beauty. We thank Creator for our blessings: the difficult times for they are an opportunity for growth, and the joyful times for they nourish and sustain us. We held all in NEYM in the Light and prayed for a time of healing. We are eager for a reconciliation with all in our Quarter to bring everyone back into loving harmony.
Creator, Spirit has such a calming and warm effect, it speaks to Love, the Light. This inspires us — along with the words that came during the silent worship at a Sandwich Quarter Meeting, “blow on the coals of one's heart” (from JB, a play about Job, by Archibald MacLeish). When one feels all is lost, there is more hidden within, — just blow. Approved 3/6/11
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STATE OF SOCIETY REPORT 2009
Barnstable Friends Meeting
In 2009, Barnstable Friends Meeting celebrated the beginning of its fourth year of gathering for worship and business. What began as a fledgling group has become a family whose members love and care for one another. Our worship is deep and meaningful, and our outreach into the community truly is inspired by our inward leadings. We strive to be faithful to the certainty of Creator’s light and love in the individual’s soul.
We decided this year that each of us would write a personal statement describing the spiritual state of our meeting. The following statements are the outcome of that effort:
- Barnstable Friends Meeting is my spiritual home, and I mean this apart from the physical building that houses us, as special as the Burgess House certainly is. This past year I feel very strongly the presence of “seeking” within the meeting. During challenging and difficult times this question has often directed us: “What is it that Creator would have me do?”
- Our Meeting has become more cohesive as we accept each other and perceive our roles within our community. Although concerned about our status within the greater Quaker community, our angst has diminished and we proceed forward. I think the search for our path is honest and we do well.
- Just some small words of thanks for being open to the experiment of a mid-week meeting…Being in touch with this group of Friends has been very gratifying. While the 80 mile drive (RT) and Sunday meeting time presents some personal challenges, we have found there a place of peace, comfort and connection, and we are hoping to resume attendance of some Sunday meetings.
- As those present on first day settle down, a sense of communion permeates the room. The thoughtfulness and love generated carry over to the social time after meeting for worship. Discussions are thoughtful and well reasoned. The caring of each other is always evident. I feel that my spirit has been refreshed and that my strength to carry through another week has been replenished; I am thankful.
- It is most satisfying to worship with such dedicated Friends. It is obvious that the small, nine or ten, active members make a committed group but also a fragile entity: for it is conceivable that if a couple were to leave due to health or attrition we would most assuredly be concerned. Our clerk has been exemplary in expenditure of time, energy, physical needs, and spiritually all the while adhering to the proper proceedings as laid out in Faith and Practice.
- A passage in Faith & Practice, Chapter 1. The Quaker Message speaks of what I'm trying to say. “Since those early beginnings, Friends have continued to hold that their faith is one of first-hand experience of God in their lives. Spiritual life, they say, does not depend upon the acceptance of certain doctrines, nor … external authority in religion, because they feel that for them these do not serve the life of the spirit. … They seek to be obedient not only in the quiet gathering for worship together, or in their meeting for settling practical affairs, but also as they are led as a group to be concerned for those about them, particularly those suffering injustices or inequities. ” I feel so strongly and proudly that Barnstable Friends Meeting is so very grounded in this. I pray that Quarter will understand this about us, love this about us and welcome us as a monthly meeting.
- Barnstable Friends Meeting grounds me, and helps me remember to stay aware of The Light; the meeting provides me with friends on whom I can rely and a weekly sanctuary that spreads peace throughout my week.
- Barnstable Friends Meeting is the source of my spiritual strength. When I feel discouraged my heart and mind turns toward these Friends with whom I worship each Sunday. I feel restored. Like David in the psalm “Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” It is this worshipping together that grounds my life as I feel present with Friends who love me with all my flaws. In those last few moments of silence before the hour hand hits 11 o'clock, I breathe deeply that stillness; for meeting is where I find the sustenance to continue the journey of service to Creator. A harmony is present without sound as in the following poem by a George School classmate.
- Words for the Silence, by Shmuel Klatzkin
Harder than finding
words for the thoughts
is finding words for the silence,
when the last note has played
and no one moves for fear
of disturbing that which is now left,
the harmony that now
no longer wants expression
and is present without sound.
We look forward in hope to the restoration of loving unity of all Friends on Cape Cod, and patiently attend the labors of Quarterly Meeting in achieving this goal. May the spirit of Love that binds Barnstable Friends to each other and the wider Quaker community of Friends bless all we encounter along our path of spiritual devotion.
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Barnstable Friends Meeting -- State of Society Report 2008
Barnstable Friends Meeting (BFM) gathered together for Worship Sharing to consider the quality of our worship and spiritual practice during 2008.
We find our meeting to be quite like a community garden, truly a labor of love and hard work, with all of us contributing to the garden’s well being. In some ways, we are not only tending our precious plants but we ARE the plants seeking nourishment from Creator and we are also the soil that nourishes the harvest.
It has been a very fruitful year both in the richness and depth of our worship and in the outward manifestation of our spiritual practice. Vocal ministry at Meeting for Worship has been vibrant, meaningful and spirit-centered. Each of us brings a depth of seeking into our circle, accepting and welcoming differing points of view and fostering each other’s growth. One member stated, “ For me, finding BFM was a great relief from solitude and a lack of spiritual support. It took a great weight off my shoulders.” Another mentioned, “At BFM I have found what was missing in my life. More than a place to worship, it was finding a people whose faith and practice was so pure, so genuine and so active in the world. I know with certainty and heart that their presence was integral to my many deep, spiritual experiences during silent worship with them.”
Our harvest, the outward manifestation of our inward prayer life, included work with the homeless population through funding initiatives, attending events, writing to the newspaper and purchasing jewelry made by the homeless. We supported our clerk during her facilitation of a workshop on white privilege at New England Yearly Meeting and supported her decision to accept the clerkship of Yearly Meeting’s Racial, Social and Economic Justice Committee. We also proposed a revision of a historical writing in Faith and Practice concerning King Philip’s War and assisted a Mashpee Wampanoag elder with a book she is writing on the history of the Wampanoag. Turkeys were purchased and given to the Mashpee Wampanoag food pantry at Christmas for those in need.
Considering our size, we feel that we are a strong meeting and do reach out to our members and attenders in a way that fosters spiritual growth. We do this, in part, by sharing educational materials and holding after meeting sessions such as: Quakerism 101, Worship for Healing, Worship Sharing and Racists in Recovery Anonymous. We also enjoy a meal and social time after Meeting for Worship every First Day. We are excited to report that we approved one membership to BFM this year. As regards membership, it was made very clear that this involves membership to BFM only, not the wider Quaker community. We also hired a First Day School teacher who holds classes every month. As we move forward into 2009, it is the sense of the Meeting that we continue to listen deeply, go with gratitude and feel strength from the spirit-filled meeting we have become.
Individually and collectively BFM continues to work on love and forgiveness within our lives.
Statements from worshippers during our Worship Sharing included the following:
• “I am a little confused by Quaker process in regards to our relationship with Sandwich Quarter. A non-decision in my world IS a decision.”
• “We want our group to be respected and loved by other Friends’ Meetings.”
• “Two and a half years ago, when we started this meeting, we did not know how we would handle logistics, obstacles and discomfort with our presence. We knew we would move forward with faith and in the Light. Each of us brought a spiritual commitment that provided the framework for moving forward in a positive way. We have been guided by that ‘source of all love.’ It has brought us into this garden, into this place of nurture, and through the difficulties.”
With much anticipation, BFM is awaiting a visitation committee from Sandwich Quarterly Meeting regarding our request to become a monthly meeting.
Spirit is so great but it does not force itself on us. As we look forward, we are big in spirit and heart, but we don’t force ourselves on people. The Light of Spirit is incomprehensible, but does not intrude. It offers itself as a gift that we can choose or not choose. Where would the garden be without the Light? Where would we be in our lives without our faith in the Light? We also honor the Darkness and the soil. Mother Earth and Father Sky.
“Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime, Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; Therefore we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone, Therefore we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own; Therefore we are saved by the formal form of love, which is forgiveness.” Reinhold Niebuhr
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STATE OF SOCIETY REPORT 2007
Barnstable Friends Meeting
Barnstable Friends Meeting gathered in personal and group worship to consider how Spirit had grounded us and moved through our midst during 2007. Reflecting upon the past year, since our founding in December 2006, we are grateful that attendance has more then doubled since our beginning. We began the year mindful of this quote from Faith and Practice:
“That is the beauty of the way of love, it can not be planned and
its end cannot be foretold.”(pg.188)
Usually our worship experience is blessed with two to three deeply spiritual messages that touch people in important and powerful ways. Many of us rely on this time to “recharge our spiritual batteries.” Other accounts from worshipers included these statements: “Personal concerns can be put away and mind and heart is rejuvenated and able to move forward with a clean slate”; “It is inspirational and rewarding to worship Sunday mornings with the most pleasant, committed group of nice people I have ever known”; “It is like a nest that I fly back to each Sunday”; “It is a joy to find a meeting which I feel I can both give and receive energy towards shifting the paradigm from fear to Love, from violence to Peace”; “We cherish a unity that transcends all differences as our worship fills with the Loving Light of All that is.” We have found ourselves to be a beautiful garden of Friends that bears a rich and varied produce.
We seek to act upon messages received with a constant, active seeking of the Light of Spirit, a questioning, “Is this truly where we are being led?” One area of great concern and action for our Meeting is with homelessness. It was an honor to be a part of the annual walk with four of us participating and events of National Homeless Persons Memorial Day. In return for our prayers and acts of love, we have felt great blessings in return.
In Business Meeting sometimes our enthusiasm interrupts the sense of worship; we hope to do better at this in the coming year. However, many are struck by the joyfulness that is present. Every action is based upon complete unity and so we have had little internal conflict. One example is how we dealt with a request that we change our name. We gave time for Spirit to move everyone to a place where we could lovingly move forward. In May, we changed from Cape Cod Friends Meeting to Barnstable Friends Meeting. In addition, with celebration, we wrote and approved a same gender marriage minute.
Our relationship with the Marstons Mills Village Association, which owns our beloved Burgess House, (once the home of Quaker physician, Dr. Bennett Wing), has been sustained by an cooperative attitude of appreciation. Many of us participated in clean-up days and in planting a variety of annuals and perennials in the beautiful grounds. Our relationship with wider Friends, though, still saddens and troubles us. We were disappointed in the decision of Sandwich Quarter, nine months after we made a request, to not accept its Ministry and Counsel’s recommendation to appoint a clearance committee for us. Instead we were asked to “forbear” for an additional year. Some of us look forward to the restoration of unity with Friends of other meetings, others have let go of all expectation and are simply remaining receptive to possibility, however Spirit manifests. Some of us feel there are blessings in the challenge, that we become stronger in our ability to stay in the positive in the face of any storm — recognizing that the challenge of the Light sometimes is to be willing to be uncomfortable and still hold our hearts open.
Our Ministry and Counsel committee has been an active contributor to the well being of the meeting. It organized a number of memorial services and produced a booklet on death and bereavement. Ministry and Counsel oversees a wide variety of meeting activities and initiated monthly Quakerism 101 discussions and Worship for Healing. Ministry and Counsel has also produced other publications: a brochure for general information about the meeting, one on worship and another on healing. It also oversees work on Racists in Recovery Anonymous.
Barnstable Friends hosted a retreat for the Yearly Meeting Racial, Social and Economic Justice Committee [RSEJ] and supported RSEJ’s co-clerk in visiting Atlanta for the Freeman’s fund. We felt called to assist and support our own clerk as she accepted the request from this committee to write an article for the Freedom and Justice Crier on the circumstances which lead to a parting of Friends from the East Sandwich Meeting. We also gave input and participated in a Yearly Meeting workshop on white privilege that our clerk conducted, sponsored by RSEJ. Unfortunately, this article did stir things up again. It has been and continues to be our hope that we can all learn from this discord, recover and move on in a more wholesome way. What does the Light ask of us here? We are committed to work on learning more about racism and the difficulties around talking about and addressing these issues.
Our children’s program continues to grow. Our co-coordinator is one of our young Friends who said “I attend Meeting because of the people I have met there. I feel respected by adults who want to know my ideas and consider that what I have to say is important and matters. I feel like an equal. I like the peaceful way I feel after attending Meeting for Worship. I also like the vocal ministry, and how one message will connect to the next and grow, change, and add to other messages, and to what I am thinking. It's like a painting that everyone creates together, some add to the foreground, others the background, and some add the colors.” One of our secret blessings is our five Elders over 75 who add a dimension of dedication, intellect, humor and creativity; but mostly they add wisdom.
We move into the new year with hearts full of gratitude.
“When all else is stripped away, a life lived with love is enough." (Kent Nerburn, Small Graces)
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CAPE COD FRIENDS MEETING
(5/27/2007 at request of Sandwich Quarter, we approved changing our name to Barnstable Friends Meeting)
STATE OF SOCIETY 2006
Our group of Friends began worshiping together on 6/18/06. We responded to a spiritual call to bear witness to our Quaker faith by worshiping on the lawn outside the Meeting House in East Sandwich when a person of color was prevented from entering the Meeting House for worship. A number of Friends from Yearly Meeting Ministry and Counsel Working Party on Racism joined us in support. This continued for approximately four weeks until we were informed that we were not allowed to congregate on the lawn and no trespass orders were threatened. Soon the Meeting House was closed by the Monthly Meeting with 8 people out of 32 not in unity with the decision. We then formed a worship group and for the next four months met in the home of one of our members. During this time we discussed reconciliation and restitution of our beloved community. We drafted a minute and presented it to Sandwich Monthly Ministry and Counsel November 15 and at the Business Meeting December 3, 2006. The minute was rejected in both groups. The Sandwich Monthly Business Meeting minuted “the proposed minute does not address actual problems in the meeting and therefore does not move us towards reconciliation.” No alternative proposal was brought forward.
Following George Fox’s advice, “Let the authority of your Meetings be in the power of God” (epistle #264), after deep reflection and a process of spiritual discernment, both individually and collectively, we were led to form a new Meeting. Stating that we were available to meet with the committee appointed by the Quarter, we respectfully requested that Sandwich Quarterly Meeting approve the organization of a new meeting in accord with Faith and Practice p. 219 under the name Cape Cod Friends Meeting - Quakers of the Light. Rufus Jones said that for early Friends, “ The thrilling thing was the certainty of God’s light and love in the individual’s soul.“ Cape Cod Friends Meeting affirms this universal principle through our word, action and name.
At our December 26th Business Meeting we approved entering into an informal agreement to use the Burgess House in Barnstable as our spiritual home, opening a bank account with an initial donation of $4,000, and approved officers. All of us have been greatly enriched by the gathering in the power of the Spirit. We have been committed to focus only on the positive and not engage in accusatory or defensive behavior. Our group has doubled in size with several people joining us who are new to Friends. Our worship is deep and meaningful. There are many spoken messages, all true to the Spirit. We rejoice in the support and affirmation of the best in each of us and find comfort with each other during the difficult times.
Cape Cod Friends Meeting is a diverse group which includes Universalists, Jews, Native Americans, Pagans, Agnostics and Christians. We honor this by refusing to deny that problems exist or our responsibility to address these issues, be they homelessness, homophobia, sexism, narrowly defined Christianity, racism, poverty, war, or social injustices. We feel that to do otherwise is contrary to our witness to truth. Cape Cod Friends Meeting encourages discussion and is a place where we can freely be a Quaker and follow our spiritual path. We are very grateful to NEYM Faith and Practice for its clear guidance in all matters and are enthusiastically looking forward to a new year of manifesting the Light within the outer world and ourselves.
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