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"The Meeting" by John Greenleaf Whittier And so I find it well to come
For deeper rest to this still room.
For here the habit of the soul
Feels less the outer world's control. The strength of mutual purpose pleads
More earnestly our common needs.
And from the silence multiplied
By these still forms on either side.
The world that time and sense have known
Falls off and leaves us God alone.
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Report of the Spirtual State of Jacksonville Monthly Meeting:
We regularly worship First Day mornings in the library of Bolles School - Bartram campus, except periodically when we meet in a home on First Day for worship discussion and a potluck meal. Usual attendance varies between 4-13, mostly attenders.
E-mail, the meeting newsletter, and phone calls keep Northeast Florida Friends connected over the great physical distances between us. A core group of Friends live in the same geographic section of Jacksonville and regularly visit between first Days and eat First Day lunch together at a restaurant with other Friends joining them occasionally.
Several new attenders were welcomed in 2005, and we bade farewell to Joanne Herrmann when she moved to Milwaukee, WI. She was a faithful attender, organizer of the local exhibiting of Eyes Wide Open, and is a peace activist and inspiring practitioner of nonviolence. Originally, Julia Geiger had the confidence to invite Joanne to attend meeting for the first time. For another Friend - who was a periodic visitor from Madison, WI - attending Jacksonville Meeting led him to finally join his home meeting.
Most visitors find Jacksonville Meeting through FGC's quakerfinder.org or through our website, jacksonvillefriends.org, as we find the phone book listing too costly. Many attenders find value in the silence, fellowshipping with Friends, and Quaker newsletter and being on the e-mail list, but they seldom participate in First Day corporate worship. For some Friends, the driving distance is far, but they are regularly irregular in their attendance on First Day mornings. Then there's Noel and Daisy Palmer, who regularly attend meeting in Jacksonville while wintering in St. Augustine. Their whole being is in such a depth of Friendliness that the rest of Jacksonville Meeting treasures meetings with them, and their spiritual contributions linger long after they'be returned to their home meeting in New York. Noel's biblical lessons are a needed and welcome addition to meeting. Fritz and Tacie Renken, of Germany (and Switzerland Yearly meeting), visit one monthe each year and bring an international perspective; and, their spiritual gifts, also, deepen worship and flavor meeting for months to come.
Beverly Bird of Halifax Meeting is sojourning in Jacksonville while undergoing chemotherapy and regularly shares her warmth, spunk, and wisdom with Friends on First Days.
In 2005, Friends particiapted in: the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice (FCPJ) Youth Peace Camps; FCPJ's Jacksonville Community Dialogue program; peace vigils and activities of the local group Wage Peace (wagepeace.net); humanitarian aid shipments, art exhibits, and delegations to Cuba through the St. Augustine-Barcoa Friendship Association (staugustine-barcoa.org); the Alternatives to Violence Project; the annual Alternative New Year's Gathering of peace activists from the Southeast U. S. held in St Marys, Georgia; FUM's chain of prayer; a "musical play-in for peace" in New Hampshire; the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist temple dedication in Cosby, Tennessee; welcoming Julie Harlow of Friends House Moscow Support Association (based in CA) at a potluck; and, Yearly Meeting, Half Yearly Meeting and winter Interim Business Meeting and the Michener Lecture.
Jacksonville Monthly Meeting
Sue E. Williams, Clerk
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