Hamilton Monthly Meeting State of SocietyReport, 2001
During the past year, Meeting for Worship usually hasbeen well attended and often has been gathered as a community of seekers inquest of the Spirit. There have been times when we have needed the discipline of silence to prevent worship from degenerating into discussion.The ten minute period of "after-word" following the close of meeting propercontinues to be a rewarding time for the sharing of insights that were notready for Ministry; but here,again, we have needed to check unnecessary wordiness. Habitual lateness isstill something of a problem which will be addressed by Ministry andCounsel in the new year.
We have celebrated one new Member and we havereceived one Associate Member into adult membership. We gave thanks for the lives of two elderly Friends who diedin 2001. In the past, they were both active, vital participants in theMeeting. We are mindful of the aging of the Meeting and increased needs asa result. Friends have been keeping in contact with elderly Friends by visiting, telephoning, andproviding rides to appointments and rides to Meeting. We now keep awheelchair and a walker at the Meeting House. We have tried to besupportive of a number of Friends struggling with family and marital problems, ill health, and other circumstances causingstress in their lives. This help has come through Committees of Care,Ministry and Counsel, and individual Friends helping Friends.
Attendance at Meeting for Worship for Business fluctuates and the number ofitems to be dealt with seems to increase making it difficult to completethe agenda within reasonable time limits. As well, friction within thegroup has sometimes made decision-making quite stressful. In response to difficulties experienced in theMeeting, a "visioning" process was held over a weekend in late March, witha follow-up session in April. It proved to be a fruitful endeavor for theMeeting as a whole.
The visioning process led to further discussions on three key areasidentified in the "visioning": Meeting for Worship for Business; ConflictResolution; Community Building and Deepening Spirituality. The twobrown-bag lunches on Meeting for Worship for Business reminded us to season issues as much as possible before we bring them to Meeting; to speak from a spiritual base; to keep ourcomments concise; to focus on actions that are needed; and to use silenceconstructively where there is conflict. The idea of a brief guide toMeeting for Worship for Business is still in process. A potluck on conflict resolution in the Meeting helped toprovide thoughtful and constructive methods of approaching both conflict ingeneral and conflict between individuals in the Meeting. Hamilton Friendsand Attenders have tried to be more aware of how actions and words can affect others, in some cases, quitenegatively. In the process, we have encouraged Friends to deepen theirspirituality. In response to community building, a somewhat successfuleffort has been made to re-awaken dinner groups. And plans were put in place to begin a process to engage morefully in days of spiritual retreat for the Meeting.
In a related effort, a committee was struck toexplore our nomination process more fully. After thorough threshing by theMeeting, this committee brought forward a series of guidelines that were acceptedsubject to a review after one year.
A significant undertaking for the Meeting this past year was hostingRepresentative Meeting. Preparing food, finding billets and providingtransportation for Friends from across Canada was certainly a handful, butalso a rewarding and much appreciated effort.
First Day School continues to have a small butlovely group of children-we are challenged, however, to create acurriculum for small classes and sporadic attendance. We decided to try "vertical grouping" whichbrings all the children together into one class. In the Spring, our themewas homelessness and stewardship of the world. The children collectedsocks for the homeless, planted and grew seeds, and weeded and mulched the Meeting House ecological garden. Theclass used stories, play-acting, slides on Iraq, and outings to demonstratethe Quaker testimony on simplicity. The children made crafts to raisemoney for their project, which was to fill shoe boxes of toys for needy children in Hamilton. We ended theyear with a Christmas play that drew upon different cultural traditions ofcelebration.
The Garden Committee brought to fruition the transformation of the MeetingHouse grounds into an ecological garden featuring native plants, shrubs andtrees, many of which provide food and habitat for wildlife. This is seenas a contribution to the healing of the Earth, a place for reconnecting our species with the rest of thenatural world, and a teaching tool for Friends and the larger community. The neighborhoodwas invited to a September open house to celebrate the new ecologicalgarden and the dedication of a peace pole inscribed with the words, "LetPeace Prevail on Earth" in four languages: Mohawk, Swahili, English and French.
The Adult Study Group met regularly to discuss avariety of topics ranging from an Introduction to Islam to readings fromthe Dalai Lama. The study group has been described as a place whereparticipants can sharetheir deepest feelings about life.
Arising from a concern to increase the visibility of Friends in Hamilton,an Outreach Committee was formed in late 2000. Proceeding from its termsof reference, which were adopted in February, 2001, the committee settledon three priorities: campus presence, visible support of public events, and a new attenders program.This resulted in a monthly session for new-comers called Quaker Lite, an"ecological walk as ministry" outing, an on-line community website for the Meeting, a Quaker information table at McMaster University’sClubFest, and support for the Protesters at the Hamilton Air Show.
The Peace and Social Action Committee functions through two sub-groups, oneto deal with environmental and sustainability issues, the other to considerissues related to peace and justice. The main focus of the peace andjustice committee is the regularmeetings which take place once a month at the home of one of the members.Several of these Friends have been central to the Culture of Peace Movement in this area. A significant initiative of theenvironmental and sustainability committee has been to reduce the "energyfootprint" of the Meeting House. To that end several meetings have beenheld to thresh through decisions about how best to create a more environmentally sustainable building. TheMeeting, after much deliberation, has set up a special fund into whichMembers and Attenders can deposit gifts toward the insulation of theMeeting House.
Several potlucks and projects related to peace and social justice issues have enlivened the Meeting. Wehosted a potluck to explore how conflict resolution methods are being usedby Peace Brigades International in their East Timor work. Also, theMeeting provided a letter of support to an Afghan family seeking to immigrate to Canada. Meeting also offered toshare the financial support required of the sponsoring group which includesMembers of the Meeting. We thought it significant that this project wasstarted well before the eventswhich transpired in September.
Although not a project of the Meeting, some members of Meeting also gaveguidance to a Peace House, made possible by the generosity of a Friendduring its year of operation. Through it a children's peace camp forToronto Sri Lankans was held, and plans were developed for a peace camp for adults at Camp NeeKauNis, to bringtogether people of opposing factions (Tamil and Sinhalese, Palestinian andIsraeli, etc.). These plans unfortunately could not be realized. A grantand loan was given for the resident of Peace House to make a trip to Sri Lankato collect peace stories. We continue to hold Sri Lanka as a concern ofthe Meeting.
In 2001, two Friends from our Meeting completed a year long assignmentworking for Mennonite Central Committee and the American Friends ServiceCommittee in the Middle East. For over seven months of their twelve monthassignment, they were able to live in Iraq. After a potluck and slide show one participant commented on "theimpact of seeing the Iraqi people as 'just folks' like us." This enabled him to relate to Iraqison a "human-to-human level." The potluck has helped to revitalize ourMeeting's commitment to the children, women and men of Iraq.
Because of the exceptional circumstances surrounding the events ofSeptember, 2001, and the US war in Afghanistan, for a time, the entireMeeting has become a functioning Peace and Social Action Committee. It hasbeen deeply affected and committed to working through a Friendly response to this violence and its local impacts. Shortly after the September events, the Meetingwas able to publish a letter in the local newspaper. Several CalledMeetings were held over the ensuing months. From these arose an initiativeto send a group of four Friends fromour Meeting to Ottawa to meet with politicians and let our views be knownin wider circles there. The concern, as is true for many Friends andAttenders across the country, continues to exercise our Meeting as we seekto keep centered in the midst of so much violence and to help to provide non-violent alternatives.
In the Fall, as part of our participation in the West Hamilton InterfaithCommittee on Child Poverty, Meeting Members and Attenders helped to packknapsacks for needy schoolchildren. Then, in December, we collected socksfor the "Out Of The Cold" program in Hamilton. Still other Friends have been very active in peace, justiceand environmental issues and organizations including the Peace ResearchInstitute-Dundas, Camp NeeKauNis, Quaker Aboriginal Affairs Committee, jail counseling, refugee support, Sacred Circledancing, political and environmental demonstrations, meditative chantingand teaching literacy. We are thankful for the involvement of all theseFriends and Attenders who help breathe vitality into our Meeting and into the world.