Phil Anthony's Meeting Visitation report

Middletown Monthly Meeting, Concord Quarter - 17 Tenth-month 2004 - visit by Phil Anthony

report in PDF (112k)

Middletown Monthly Meeting, Concord Quarter, is located in Lima, Pa., not far from both Swarthmore and Media Monthly Meetings. It lies about a mile from Middletown Preparative Meeting, under the care of Providence Monthly Meeting, and is also close to Providence Monthly Meeting itself. The meeting I visited is housed in the newer of the two Middletown meetinghouses, having been built for the Orthodox meeting during the split.

I already had a number of friends and acquaintances at Middletown MM, though I hadn't realized how many of them were members there before discussions began about my visit in March 2004. At that time I broached the possibility with the meeting's clerk, Rich Ailes, and I wrote him in more detail about a month later. Preparations were not made quickly but with deliberation and concern for Quaker practice over the summer and early fall; I was to discover that this care for Gospel order is customary at Middletown. I received an invitation to visit received shortly after Middletown's June business meeting, and at the beginning of September my oversight committee sent a copy of my minute and a letter of introduction to Rich Ailes, clerk. He brought it to September business meeting, and the date for the visit was confirmed.

The schedule for the day was to be business meeting at 9:00 am, worship at 11:00, lunch with meeting members around noon, and time for me to listen to the meeting about 1:00. My dear friend Christine Greenland of Horsham MM, Abington Quarter, agreed to serve as my elder for the visit. Another long-time friend, Beth Lawn of Newtown Square MM, Haverford Quarter, had just been named staff person for Concord Quarter. At my suggestion, she was invited to be present for the day as an introduction to Middletown, which she had not previously visited.

Overview. As Christine and I spent our day with Middletown MM, several facets of the meeting came clear to us. Taken together, perhaps they sum up what we saw as its particular flavor and texture.

Middletown is an intentional meeting. Many, perhaps most, of the active members are neither birthright members of Middletown nor converts from other faiths. Rather, they came to Middletown from other Quaker meetings, primarily monthly meetings within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Middletown provides them something precious that they did not find in their meeting of origin; I might characterize it as a spiritual depth that is not common elsewhere. At the same time, one of those members was careful to point out that other meetings do offer depth that their own members may not always recognize.

The meeting identifies itself as Conservative. This first struck me when I examined their Website prior to the visit and found the word used in several different documents. Members describe 'Conservative' somewhat differently from one another, however. One pointed to the fact that frankly Christian messages, while not the only ones heard during worship, are welcome. Others pointed to connections meeting members have with Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) and with the Olney School in Barnesville, Ohio. There is also a consciousness of earlier Friends‚ practices and expectations, and a mindfulness among some at least that this had been an Orthodox meeting prior to reunification in 1955.

A sense came over me during our visit that the meeting is seamless. That is, the worship began during the business meeting, continued through the open meeting for worship, and still could be felt as central to our companionship during lunch and our after-lunch conversation. Integrity, both as individuals and as a corporate body, is a hallmark of this. That hallmark, however, felt secondary to an ongoing awareness of the divine Presence, which I would identify as the content of the integrity that was displayed. At the end of the day I was left pondering the image of Jesus' tunic, which could not be torn apart to divide among the soldiers at the foot of the cross because it had no seams (John 19:23-24).

To say that Middletown is a caring meeting does not do it justice. What impressed itself on us was the quality of the caring: an abiding concern not only for each other, but also for that of God in one another. This evidenced itself throughout the day in the care and respect that was evident in Friends' listening to one another, seeking to understand both what was said and what lay behind it, and responding to each others‚ joys and concerns. The unspoken context of the meeting's care was God and the community in covenant. It showed in both the members' treatment of each other and their hospitality to their guests.

At the same time, the meeting feels that it is dwindling. This has led to a pressing concern for outreach. Despite a fairly large official membership, the total number present wasn't much over twenty. No children were in attendance, though we were told that two children sometimes come. The concern for the meeting's size evokes mixed emotions among the members I spoke with. It wasn't stated explicitly, but I believe that the members understand the difficulty of integrating new Friends into the meeting without changing its character radically, perhaps losing the very qualities that drew the current membership. They are also wrestling with the question of how far they can welcome people who may be quite different from themselves in background, culture, and condition.

Sunday morning, 17 October, Christine Greenland and I arrived together about half an hour early. Christine took me a mile north to the older meetinghouse, where we were able to see the inside when the caretaker opened it to light the fire. We then returned as the first Friends were arriving at Middletown.

After greetings and a welcome cup of tea, we settled into the meeting for business. Despite an official membership of 125, not many more than twenty Friends were present. The agenda was long, but each item was addressed with no sense of hurry. In consideration of a weighty policy statement offered by the Religious Education Committee, comments and suggested changes of wording were thoughtful and aimed at moving it forward.

A Friend spoke to the condition of a member who had asked for release from membership. At the initial request in May, he had felt a stop about the meeting's granting it lightly. Since then he had spoken personally with the member on four occasions to come to clearness. He was now clear that release was rightly ordered, and he had satisfied himself that the Friend had found a more suitable source for spiritual nurture. He suggested that the meeting had not served this Friend as well as it might have, and advised that greater care be taken in the future. This was received gratefully.

The meeting treasurer gladly forewent his report to allow sufficient time to consider a minute of religious service for a Friend intending to travel in the ministry to Great Britain for something between two and seven months, as Way opens. This Friend, whose ministry of teaching had previously been minuted by the meeting, spoke of the leading, the circumstances that made it possible, and several activities he expected to pursue. He talked about the English Friends who would provide him with oversight. A member of the meeting offered to serve as his elder across the Atlantic, conveying information and any requests to Middletown MM during the travel, and her offer was accepted.

Finally, a Friend rose to announce that another meeting in Concord Quarter was having unspecified difficulties. He asked that Middletown MM pray for its sister meeting. The meeting for business fell into a period of worship to hold the other meeting in the Light.

A break was called following business meeting, and a small handful of those who had been present left. Seventeen members, Beth, Christine, and myself joined in worship. Christine and I had been invited to join the meeting clerk and recording clerk on the facing bench. After some consultation, we agreed and settled to be enveloped in worship. It was clear to me as we settled that we were resuming corporate worship which had started more than two hours earlier.

The worship itself was deep. The four messages did not follow the pattern common in other meetings of theme and development. Each person's vocal ministry rose out of the silence itself. Despite this, there was no sense of disconnection between the messages. Rather, each message seemed to grow out of shared Truth to draw the meeting closer into gathered community.

Original plans were for a potluck lunch after worship. One member, however, had provided enough food for the entire group, and others' contributions became a welcome addition. The Friend was gently teased about her customary efforts toward hospitality. She took this with good grace and an apparent sense of satisfaction that her exercise of her gifts was appreciated.

We gathered in a circle following lunch. Despite the length of time since we arrived, by now it was after 1:00, very few of those who had joined in worship left. All participated in the conversation, with periods of silence after each person's contribution to allow the words to settle into our consciousness.

Topics were wide-ranging, covering almost every aspect of the meeting's life except for its finances. Differences seemed to be acknowledged as reflecting the members' different perspectives rather than contradicting one another.

Time was spent on Middletown's view of itself as 'Conservative'. Friends had not been aware of how frequently the word had appeared on their Website in documents posted over a long period of time. In private conversation later, one member acknowledged that it may be used as a more acceptable term in PYM Quakerism than 'Orthodox', although members' connections with Conservative yearly meetings add a dimension that goes beyond Hicksite-Orthodox differences. Certainly it points to a Christian understanding of Quakerism and to concern for living into the power of early Friends' worship and practice.

The quality of worship was explored. Its customary depth, and the acceptance of Christian perspectives, had been major reasons for several Friends' transfer into the meeting. It was recognized, however, that non-Christian messages in worship were not unwelcome. If occasional visitors' vocal ministry sometimes seemed to interrupt the flow of worship, that had more to do, they believed, with where the words came from than with specific faith language. Many members of Middletown are active elsewhere in Yearly Meeting, and one of these pointed to the depth that may be found at meetings where non-Christian messages are the norm.

The meeting currently has only two children in its religious education program, who apparently do not attend regularly. Rich opportunities for religious education are available for adults, however. Care of members is to some degree a concern. Friends spoke of the difficulties of a small meeting trying to serve its membership faithfully. One Friend stated that "our small size may keep us from doing everything that needs to be done, but there's no question that we care".

While perspectives differed on all these subjects, the only area where I detected real uncertainty was in the discussion of outreach. The official membership list counts 125 members, according to PYM's 2003 statistics, after release of 30 members in 2002. Friends noted that many of those who are listed live distant from the meeting, even though they maintain their affiliation; one Friend, for instance, pointed out that her daughter in Connecticut makes a point of worshipping at Middletown whenever she and her family are in the area. Reference was also made to larger meetings within easy driving distance, including Providence, Media, and Swarthmore, which tend to draw off local potential members.

Doubt was expressed whether the meeting was ready to embrace those of different backgrounds, including young people at a nearby correctional institution. This was mentioned as a common problem among PYM Quakers, and it troubled the Middletown Friends. The question, however, seemed not to be whether such persons could be reached by Quakerism, but rather how and when the meeting could prepare itself to reach out to them. The meeting is not in a hurry to resolve its doubts, and is looking to a major session on outreach next spring to help thresh its questions.

As time came to part, I felt deep gratitude to the meeting for the time it had given us and the openness of the sharing. Handshakes and hugs were exchanged. We thanked Rich Ailes for the meeting's allowing us to visit. In turn he thanked us for helping the meeting see itself in ways it hadn't considered before. He said that he expected to draft a letter to the clerk of Chestnut Hill MM speaking of our visit. His concern for my accountability to my own meeting is greatly appreciated.

Christine Greenland kindly made herself available to meet with my oversight committee one Saturday morning at the end of October. She spoke freely about our visit and her part in it. One of the members later said that Christine had helped the oversight committee understand what she called the "invisible part of the ministry".

In the course of that meeting I lifted up Rich Ailes' comment about our visit helping the meeting. I had never considered what effect my visit would have on another meeting during the clearness process leading up to the adoption of the minute, nor in making overtures about other visits. I'm pleased and somewhat humbled at this unexpected discovery: It emphasizes the importance of remaining faithful to the Guide, and emptying myself to hear others better, as the ministry continues. After having seen the same result at Towanda MM, I've begun to think of it as an important aspect to recognize, examine, and hold in prayer.

Another aspect that I'd realized only dimly is my own concern for the meetings I've visited. I feel sure that my connections with Middletown MM won't be limited to this single instance. I've since found my thoughts and prayers turning, unbidden, to both the meeting and its members.

Christine and I have met several times, both before that meeting and since, sharing our impressions, insights, and openings. Her help has been invaluable in clarifying and putting words to what we experienced. We were blessed by the opportunity to make this visit. I look forward to sharing more of what we found with Chestnut Hill MM as God permits.

Grace and peace Phil Anthony.