When I first began this Meetinghouse Project, about a year ago, I had no idea what kind of journey I would be taking.  What a journey I have had!  I have seen some amazing meetinghouses and Quaker places of interest in Massachusetts.  I have learned a lot about Quakerism, about taking and editing photographs, and about editing a collection of photographs.  I have been to 25 meetinghouses, some empty, and most still in use.  I have taken over 7,000 pictures.  I have written 18 blogs, and still have six yet to publish.  I have found that I am not in love with writing and blogging, but that the feedback may make it worthwhile anyway.  I have learned to rely on a core group for editing my writing, and another group for editing my photographs, and yet another group for keeping me rooted in Quaker experience.  I feel pride that I can say that I am a Quaker.

I do not know who is reading my blog, but I do know that about 170-415 people at least touch each page.  That amazes me.  I know many Quakers read it.  I know people who do not know much about Quakerism also read it.  I know some people just want to look at the pictures and not read the blog.  Beyond that, I have no idea who my audience is.  So…. who are you?  Please let me know via comments on Facebook, contact on this blog page, or by personal email.

One of the things that bothers me about some of the blog postings is this:  for some meetinghouses, the blog photo matched my story, but did not really represent the Meetinghouse itself.  For example, I did not post a single photo of the Beacon Hill Meetingroom.  And Beacon Hill’s Meetingroom is very special and worth seeing.  And East Sandwich, which is such a beautiful Meetinghouse, had a blog and a picture that was more about my process than about the Meetinghouse.  So I will be rectifying this situation.

Currently, I am in the process of editing my collection of photographs from many to a few of the best of the best.  In a continuing process, I have gone from about 7,000 photos to about 150 photos, to about 70 photos, to a final 20-30 photos.   Will I have a collection of fine art photographs that will say something about Quakerism?  Will I have a set of documentary photographs that will tell a story?  Or will I have a combination of these two? I do not know.  Stay tuned!!  Many people have asked me about whether the photos will be in a book...that is possible, maybe, if I have the time, the energy, and the money to make a book.  To help in making that decision, I will need to have more information about my core audience, and how many of you there are.  That is where you come in.  Who are you? Should I go for it?  Would you buy a book? 

I am launching a Framing the Light: Quaker Meetinghouses Facebook page where I will post a set of photos periodically.  I will be showing more photos of each Meetinghouse, and I also will show some topics in more depth.  For example, the winching systems found in many meetinghouses are really interesting.  It would be fun to explore that photographically.  And I can now do that.

 I am asking that you go to the Facebook page, “like” it, and also sign up to follow the page.   I hope you will share it with others if you like it.  I am hopeful that comments and numbers of viewers will be helpful in deciding whether I should move forward on a book… You can find my page on Facebook by searching for “Framing the Light”.  If you are not a Facebook user, you can see the photos by clicking on "Meetinghouse" in the menu at the top of this page.  I hope you will find the Facebook page if you are able.  

 I am humbled by the feedback given thus far by comments on this blog page and also in person and by email.  Thank you.  Please keep the comments coming.  

Even though this is not a blog posting about a particular meetinghouse, I am still posting a photograph.  I picked this photo because it has become the header for my new Facebook page.  I used this photo on Facebook for a very technical reason: it is one of the few I had that fit into a horizontal rectangular space.  I had to mangle the photo a little bit to make it fit on Facebook, so I am posting the full photo here.  You can also see the editing changes that have taken place over the past year in this photo.  The original one is posted in Yarmouth's blog in April, 2014.   At most meetings I visited, kids' artwork adorns the walls.  This photo, taken in Yarmouth Meeting's Community Room,  is representative of a lot of the kids' work that I saw.  Much of it is peace related.  Peace is, of course, one of our Testimonies and is one of the bedrock core values that we hold.   

Yarmouth Preparative Meetinghouse

The Worcester Friends Meeting began as a Preparative Meeting of Uxbridge Meeting (See Uxbridge blog entry, May, 2014) in the 1800's.  This is the third Worcester meetinghouse for the Worcester Meeting.  By the time they acquired this new meetinghouse in the 1970's, they had already outgrown two buildings in Worcester proper.  Also, the demise of the Leicester Meeting and the Uxbridge Meeting had occurred.   

For this third Meetinghouse space, a Victorian-style house was purchased.  Taking the wall down between 2 rooms created the Meetingroom.  The room has 2 deep window seats as well as blue chairs.  The hardwood floor gleams.  This is a very versatile room.  When I arrived, the chairs were stacked around the edges for cleaning.  During Meeting for Worship the chairs are arranged in concentric circles.  After Meeting, the room is rearranged to accommodate tables set up for a community potluck lunch, which happens weekly.  The chairs are again rearranged for business or committee Meetings. 

The second and third floors of the house hold First Day School rooms, an organizing office, and rooms rented by New England Yearly Meeting and an organization called “The Center for Nonviolent Solutions.”

The flexible chair arrangement was echoed in Worcester Meeting’s flexible organizational structure.

Since Friends believe that each person has that of God within, and that no person should be above another person, their organizational structure is very flat.  There is no one person in charge.  All members run each Meeting community and all members do all of the Meeting work.  All major decisions are group decisions (See South Berkshire blog entry, September, 2014).

Traditionally committees carry out the work of the Meeting.  There is usually a Finance Committee, a Maintenance Committee, a Library Committee, a Peace and Social Concerns Committee, a spiritual nurture committee usually called Ministry and Counsel, a pastoral concerns committee, and a First Day School Committee.  There may be other committees such as Outreach, a committee to organize potlucks and Sunday coffee, and…you get the idea…lots of committees.  There is a website which pokes fun at Quaker tradition (http://quakerprobs.tumblr.com) and they show a picture of a Quaker looking heavenward saying “99 problems…98 committees.”  It is kind of like that…

Committees are a good news/bad news situation.  The committees are run by Quaker practice and so Quakers can spend a LOT of time making decisions and doing good work.  In today’s world, the committee structure can be problematic:  shrinking memberships at some meetings mean fewer people to join committees and do the work.  In the busy world of today, finding time to devote to committee work is difficult for many.  So sometimes, a few willing people do the majority of committee work.  However, the good news is that all members are involved in running the Meeting. 

In Worcester, they are using a flexible arrangement for committees with just three of them:  Spiritual, Practical, and Peace and Social Concerns/Outreach.  They looked at the problem of too few people and too little time for too many committees, and they tried an alternative arrangement.  When a project/problem arises, people join in and help to solve it, no matter what committee they belong to.  This structure works well for this meeting.  They are still experimenting with it, and are planning an evaluative process soon.  I will be interested in hearing the outcome…

The picture I have chosen is the picture of the Worcester Meetingroom, with the chairs arranged in concentric circles for their Meeting for Worship.  I have chosen this picture to show the flexibility of this room.  You can imagine the chairs stacked and to the side for their other community functions.  And you can see that it is in a room that was once two rooms.  The stairs to the second floor can be seen on the right.  

Worcester Friends Meetinghouse

I will get to the story of Smith Neck, I promise.  But first, I have to give some more bits of Quaker history and Quaker theology lite.

In their earliest days Quakers were a mix of the mystical and evangelical.  Waiting in silence, gathered meetings and belief in the Inner Light are all mystical, seeking experiences.  But make no doubt about it, early Quakers were also evangelical and preached with fervor so that others could hear their truth.  Evangelical fervor brought Quakers to American shores and increased the numbers of Quakers in the colony dramatically.  I am astounded that 2000 Quakers came to the opening of the Apponegansett Meeting and that 2400 Quakers lived on Nantucket in its heyday.

As religious tolerance grew in the Colonies in the late 1700's,  Quaker evangelical fervor lessened.  Meetings had less vocal ministry and followed strict behavioral rules.  Many Quakers were disowned for marrying out of the Society of Friends, for playing music, for fighting in the Revolutionary War, or for wearing bright colored clothing.  After 1820, the numbers of Quakers began to decline. 

Following this “Quiet Period”, the mid-1800s ushered in a new era with differences of opinion about Quakerism, followed by schisms.  There were three major splits during this time.  I will talk about just one of them in this blog. 

John Gurney came along in the mid 1800s.  He emphasized the evangelical side of early Quakers, placing the Bible as the ultimate authority, with the Inner Light in a more supporting role. This was quite different from the traditional Quaker practice which placed the highest value on continuing revelation from the Inner Light with the Bible in a more supporting role.   Gurneyites further broke from tradition by holding meetings for worship with pastors, sermons and music. These were called programmed meetings.  This appealed to many Quakers in those times and led to further expansion of Quakerism in the American Midwest and West.  

Today, in fact, the majority of Quakers worldwide have programmed Meetings.  However, in Massachusetts, the majority of Quakers practice traditional Quakerism with unprogrammed or traditionally silent Meetings for worship, with the belief in the Inner Light as the primary authority and the Bible in a supporting role.  There are currently just two Meetings in Massachusetts that hold programmed Meetings:  Smith Neck and Allen’s Neck, both in the Dartmouth area.  

Now…. back to the story of Smith Neck Friends Meeting, as it is known locally.  It conducts business under the formal name of Dartmouth Meeting, which was originated in 1699.  The story of the Smith Neck Meetinghouse continues the rich Quaker history of the Dartmouth area (See blog entry for Apponegansett, February, 2014.). The Quaker settlers in the Smith Neck area of Dartmouth began to meet in homes about 1768.  The group was designated as a preparative meeting under the care of Apponegansett.  In 1818, the Meetinghouse was built at Smith Neck.   Over time they have added a community room, electricity, plumbing and a change to one uni-sex door for the entrance to the Meetingroom.  At the time of John Gurney, the Smith Neck Quakers began to invite pastors to preach. To this day, this Meeting has continued with a programmed service with a part-time pastor. The service includes singing as well as a short period of silence.  There is an organ, a piano, and a pulpit for the pastor, as well as benches that look more like pews. They describe themselves as Christ-centered, which means a greater emphasis on Jesus and the Bible than I have found at most other Massachusetts meetings.   Despite having a pastor, they have traditional Quaker governance with committees and a Clerk.

When I first walked into the Smith Neck Meetingroom, my thought was:  This looks like a church.  What am I doing here, and what will I photograph?  I felt a little out of my league.  However, as I began to meditate and photograph, I realized that though there are stylistic differences and probably even some theological differences, there is a recognizable culture that is uniquely Quaker.

There were two things that made me feel right at home in their Meetingroom.  There is an old wall clock ticking in the quiet of the room.  And the hymnal on the organ was open to the hymn “We are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.”  I found myself quietly singing all the verses as I worked.  Both of these things were so familiar to me from my home meeting, Valley Meeting in Pennsylvania, which was an unprogrammed traditional Meeting.   I used to listen to the clock tick during silent Meeting, and we sang that hymn on First Day morning before settling into silent worship.  The sounds of the clock and the hymn helped me to realize that although Quakers may practice different forms of Quakerism, may have Meetingrooms that look different, may even have slightly different theologies, we share some similar beliefs and we share a very similar “Quaker culture.”  And we are united in our beginnings as a religion and united in a belief in the Light Within.  We also subscribe to the same Quaker testimonies, which is a very important set of values to share. 

I have chosen a straight forward picture of the interior of this Meetinghouse.  It is a beautiful and well maintained Meetingroom.  I wanted to show how this Meetinghouse differs from unprogrammed meetings: the benches are all front facing and there is a pulpit.  Not visible in this photograph is the organ in the left front of the room.  The aforementioned clock is on the right wall, near the window.  

Smith Neck Friends Meetinghouse