Yearly Meeting 2024 - part eight
The Friend reports from Yearly Meeting 2024, Monday to Tuesday
Outside of Yearly Meeting sessions, Friends had opportunities to worship together throughout the five days – early in the morning, and bringing the day’s schedule to a close in the evening.
On Saturday evening, Young Friends General Meeting (YFGM) led worship with a theme of inclusion and exclusion in Quaker Meetings.
Friends were asked to think of someone they know who was somehow excluded from a Quaker Meeting and what Friends must do to ensure they were included instead.
On Sunday evening, Junior Yearly Meeting (JYM) led Friends in a guided meditation.
It began with inhaling for a count of four, holding the breath for a count of two, then exhaling for a count of four.
This was followed by a slow body scan meditation, starting from the toes and gradually working up through the body to the top of the head.
Friends were then invited to think of times when they had been shown love and kindness and when they had shown that to others. How did feel? Imagine it as a seed that can be planted and grown into a fruit-bearing tree. Imagine picking the fruit and offering it to those you love, and those you don’t.
The meditation came to a close with Friends visualising a white light flowing in through the top of their heads with each inhalation, and imagining it filling the whole body with each exhale.
Quaker World Relations Committee (QWRC) hosted two worship sessions, inviting Friends from overseas to lead Friends in worship on Saturday morning and Monday evening.
Monday saw Friends settle into an epilogue, considering the query: ‘What are you gathering to take with you from this Yearly Meeting?’
The Friend introducing the session said: ‘I often love to think we’re sitting around a big pool and that offering is gently put into the pool and we can all uphold until it settles.’
Worship sharing included a ‘sense of gratitude’, the comfort and challenge of Quaker discipline, experiences and reflections from Friends’ home countries, and how different experiences of Yearly Meeting, for example, trying to articulate the discernment in a way that was accessible for children, were offered.
One Friend praised ‘the beautifully skilful sound system and camera system you have created and operated for us hybrid visitors, it’s truly professional and inspiring’.
As the session drew to a close, a Friend reflected: ‘In the next coming days, you may find yourself longing for a bit of quiet, and I know when you have gone through an experience like this it can be difficult to move right back into your normal life… I would just like to encourage everyone to take that time.’
