At the Crossroads Between Fear and Hope

My Quaker meeting is a large, urban, liberal meeting that is currently facing a lot of major decisions. We are considering whether to renovate our properties, contemplating our relationship to the environment, and considering taking on a ministry to young adult Friends in the form of a Quaker service year. At the same time that all of these decisions are on the surface, there is an undercurrent of both grief and fear within the meeting.
The source of the grief and fear is multifaceted. One aspect is the perception of some Friends that we are an aging and dying meeting. We have had several beloved members die in the last year. Many of our members are elderly, and we have not been able to retain our young people. Another dimension is the dilemma common to many liberal meetings: how to deal with the tensions between the Christian heritage of Quakerism and the theological diversity within our meetings. The quality of our meetings for worship has become unpredictable. Some days are rich and vital, infused with the same expectant waiting that moved me to tears the first time I attended. But often there is inappropriate speech, including direct replies to previous messages that turn meeting for worship into an intellectual debate. Finally, as we swing from fear to hope and back again, it strains the ties within our community. If we're a dying meeting, what do we have to offer a newcomer? If we don't feel that we have a place in the community, how can we extend hospitality to others on the margins of the meeting?
We can choose to move forward into the Light with open hearts, or we can choose to shrink in fear and remain in the shadows. May we have the faith to trust God to open the way, and ourselves to follow Divine leading.