State of the Meeting – April 2024
State of the Meeting Report
Grass Valley Friends Meeting
2024
We begin this report somewhat unconventionally, with our Children’s program. Grass Valley Friends Meeting maintained an active weekly First Day School throughout the pandemic. We met on zoom and then in person once worship returned to the Meeting House. We have very few children in regular attendance, and it is not unusual to have no children on any given Sunday. Nevertheless, our teachers have made a commitment to prepare a program regardless of whether they are able to deliver it or not. At times this has meant a program for a new family just arriving. Perhaps more significantly, it conveys the value we place on our children and on the learning that can benefit us all.
Our children are few, but they are important to our meeting; they participated fully in our Friendly 8’s discussions and helped to plan (as well as attend!) our fall field trip. They have expressed appreciation for learning about SPICES and about the Nisenan in the Children’s Program and when asked, suggested that there might be more attention given to their spiritual development.
Our hybrid meeting was identified as another major strength of our meeting. We transitioned relatively smoothly from zoom-only to hybrid when we were able to return to the Meetinghouse. This has meant that longtime members who are sojourning overseas are able to be with us, as well as members and attenders whose health conditions do not allow them to come in person. We have invested in equipment to make the meetings run more smoothly, such as a new computer and an Owl, which enables better viewing between the room and those online.
The hybrid setup does have challenges. Many of our members and attenders have some hearing difficulty and the sound transmission is far from perfect. Our efforts to adjust to this technology and feel worshipful continue with some success and some disappointment. We remain undaunted by the challenges and are grateful for the technology that allows us all to be together on First Days.
A third strength of our Meeting is the weekly hour of music ministry offered by two of our members. When Meeting begins at 10:00 am, spirit has already been present and moving in the Meetinghouse for an hour. Hybrid also benefits the singing hour as several attenders are members of other meetings and come online to GVFM just for the music.
These three strengths are not the only ones that were noted in our gathering. We continue to appreciate our committee structure which was streamlined several year ago. Our committees seem to function more smoothly, thus allowing our Meetings for Worship for Business more opportunity to sink down into spirit for the work that the committees bring for discernment and decision.
Our membership is small compared to years past and at times that means we must limit what we take on. At the same time, it also means we know each other well and have become a closer community. We have several long-term care committees that are deeply appreciated. In another effort to care for each other, we have taken care to allow our newer attenders to settle in before serving on committees. This has meant that two of our more recent attenders (within the past 2 years) have taken on leadership roles after serving as members on committees for a period. This taught us the value of mentoring and we are practicing the same with our new Recording Clerk. She partnered with the outgoing Recording Clerk for six months before stepping fully into the role.
Our fourth Sunday spiritual life programs have shown us the importance of coming together in education and worship separate from our weekly Meeting for Worship; we long for more continuity among the offerings to deepen us. Transformational spiritual experiences have happened in our meeting and we long for more discussion about our spiritual lives and experiences.
Over the past several years, members and attenders have come together to work with each other challenging unconscious cultural biases including racism and sexism. This has been hard and valued work. Eyes and hearts have been opened. A commitment to taking actions to counter these issues has grown in our meeting.
All these strengths have flowed into a vital and beloved community. One member’s description seemed to capture it: “We have done careful, deliberate, loving tending. We have dedicated our hearts, minds and hands to building this meeting. The fruits of our labors have bloomed.”
These fruits, these strengths, have been called on this past year. Sierra Friends Center and its board, College Park Friends Educational Association (CPFEA) have been going through a major transition with profound implications for our Meeting. At this writing, CPFEA is in escrow with the California Heritage Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP)IRP)HH, a tribally guided 501-C3 with legal status to purchase the property. It is presumed that when successfully completed, the 232 acres of Sierra Friends Center will again become the home of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe.
These transactions have not been without deep divisions and discord within the larger community. Our Meeting has been called on to hold all involved with calm and caring. We have also been called to take special care of our own community as we step into the unknown in terms of what these changes will bring about for our Meeting.
In Grass Valley Friends Meeting we have been educating ourselves about the Nisenan and their experience as the people of this land. For over a year we have been speaking the Nisenan Land acknowledgment at the beginning of our Meeting for Worship. We have been preparing to go beyond the land acknowledgment. We enter the coming year with humility and hope as we prepare to take that step.