As Wilton Meeting looks back at 1989, we can see strengths and weaknesses. These were brought out in the comments people made in response to the New York Yearly Meeting suggested questions. Meeting for Worship remains at a high level for most of us, although we have missed the presence of three members who moved away. On the other hand, four new members have been welcomed this year, and their presence, along with several new faithful attenders, enriches us.
Messages reflect the gathered quality of worship, just as the depth of the silence reflects it.
Instead of preparing a message we need to think about preparing ourselves for Meeting for Worship so that we are open for messages to come through us. Listening during Meeting for Worship is not an automatic thing for our meeting. We try to open our hearts, not only our ears. In general, ours is a very unified meeting with little overt divisiveness. However, we do feel that the issues about family life raised in the revision of Faith and Practice are capable of raising strong feelings that may, at least on the surface, seem to conflict.