It is the practice of Friends meetings to take time early in the year to reflect on the condition of their community in the prior year. These reflections are then used to prepare a “State of Society” or “spiritual condition” report, which is shared with other meetings in the region, and sent to the Yearly Meeting for consideration. (See FAQ #12 for a few more details about how we are organized). These reports are used for reflection and discussion among the meetings. If you visit us, you may want to ask about something you see here.
Here is our report in 2023, for last year.
Souhegan Preparative Meeting
State of Society Report foe 2022
During this year, as pandemic restrictions have diminished, and vaccinations increased, we began to meet regularly in person once again, and we are grateful. One regular attender continues to join us remotely for health reasons, and the continued availability of remote attendance has meant that when one of us is traveling, they have been able to join us for meeting — sometimes across many time zones.
Our attendance has been steady on the whole, but because some of us travel for work, any particular Sunday may be sparsely attended. Worship is quiet and mostly centered. Nourishing vocal ministry does arise from our shared exercise and the ministry is shared among several people.
Modest efforts at outreach, most recently the posting of a sign on our meeting place, have resulted in a steady trickle of visitors, some of whom now join us regularly. We are going to find other ways to be more visible in 2023, as we believe that there are many in our area who might be glad to find us. At present, children or young adults join us only rarely.
Our sense of community is fostered most by our worship together, and also by our after-meeting conversation, which is usually leisurely and enables us to know more about what’s happening in our lives. We have also had times of shared reading and discussion (on A language for the inward landscape, and on Lucretia Mott) which have been nourishing to those participating. We have had little business to attend to, but one regular attender applied to join the meeting, which provided an opportunity to explain the membership process to some who were unfamiliar with it, and to engage with Weare/Henniker Friends to accomplish the business.