Friends met in Bad Pyrmont. Photo: Simon Mangels.
German Friends come together
German Yearly Meeting took place from 22 to 25 October
German Yearly Meeting took place at the Quaker Meeting house in Bad Pyrmont, Lower Saxony, from 22 to 25 October.
Some 180 Friends and attenders were present, among them children and Young Friends. The annual Cary Lecture was given by Esther Köhring, a Young Friend.
Co-clerk Sabine Alvermann told the Friend that Esther talked about ‘the constant challenging of Quaker structures taking place among Young Friends in every generation, and how we are all Quakers (and not separate groups).’ She said: ‘Quite a few of us have been Young Friends ourselves, and we realised what we have lost in living our comfortable lives and forgetting to continue to question our structures.’
Sabine added: ‘The other big concern was the situation the refugees in Germany find themselves in. Many Friends are active in the work for and with refugees and we wrote a letter to Angela Merkel formulating our concern and thanking her for her willingness to welcome refugees in Germany in spite of the opposition she faces.’
Representatives of several Yearly Meetings attended, including Jonathan Hodgkin from Britain Yearly Meeting and Arthur Clarke from Ireland Yearly Meeting. Other Yearly Meetings represented included Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Visitors from Britain Yearly Meeting and Netherlands Yearly Meeting were also present, in addition to visitors from Hungary and Georgia.
