Bridge City Friends Meeting
State of Society Report
2023
This past year has been one of transition and community building for our meeting. We cautiously moved from being totally online for worship to a blended format, returning to the Architectural Heritage Center for Sunday morning in-person worship, connected to those on Zoom via a portal device set into the circle of Friends. While we have lost a few Friends who find technology untenable, we are able to connect with those who find technology helpful and others who find it annoying.
As we sat in Worship and reflected on the state of our meeting’s spiritual health, certain themes emerged. The meeting is spiritually healthy. Zoom allows folks at a distance, and others who may not want to or cannot come to in-person worship, to be part of our community. In-person worship allows those who don’t feel connected using Zoom to be the other half of our community. It is not perfect, but it works. It is a joy to worship together.
We are a meeting that often is silent for most of our worship. However, the spirit is with us and is often vocalized during our sharing time following the close of worship. It is almost as though we have two different kinds of worship. “Afterthoughts,” those messages that didn’t quite rise to vocal ministry during worship, enhance the spiritual health of our meeting. With Zoom we get to know each other better, introductions are longer, and because only one person speaks at a time, we listen to each other.
Bridge City Friends engage in many Meeting activities, such as committee meetings, business meeting, adult education, and Peace and Justice presentations. Most of these are Zoom only, but attendance is high and participation active. When we do have in-person contact, it feels good and comforting. We are once again planning an in-person (outdoor) one day retreat for later in the Spring.
Most of us are elderly and know that our meeting may need to be laid down at some point in the future. Attempts to get younger folks involved in the life of Bridge City Meeting have been slow and not very successful. Some of us are losing energy but don’t feel despair. We feel joy and comfort from the richness of friendships and connections. Community is a place to go where they have to take you in. Bridge City is the place to go where we lovingly take you in.