Saturday-Sunday, July 6-7, we completed the 344th Annual Sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Annual Sessions events began in June, and this year we’re combining days and sharing one Mott Memo recap — a loving tribute to the august Quaker, Lucretia Mott. Our Annual Sessions this year included experiments in scheduling that gathered Friends in online and onsite spaces, as well as hybrid community. Watch the Sessions page of the website for the Minutes and Epistle for 2024.
Friends joined Annual Sessions on Saturday afternoon, July 6, in various ways! Some “Zoomed in” online to join the first meeting for worship with attention to business, others arrived on the campus of Haverford College beforehand for lunch and fellowship, and still others were making the shift from a very full week of FGC Gathering on the campus to gathering with our PYM community. There was joy in seeing Friends and coming together in all these ways, and the energy of the FGC Gathering seemed to flow forward.
The agenda for Saturday afternoon’s business session included several reports; the time opened with five Friends sharing explorations to “set the table” for us to gather, reflecting on the practice of worship, discernment in the manner of Friends, addressing racism as we gather, and addressing climate change at Sessions. Using song, Bananagrams, slides, and Spirit-led reflections, the sharing both in the plenary space and online invited us to listen in new ways to descriptions of our practices and commitments to one another in community.
Approval of the Nominating report and 2025 Yearly Meeting budget was followed by a Spiritual State of the Meeting report from Ministry and Care Committee. Blank puzzle pieces had been handed out at the door into the plenary space, and M&C members reporting asked those present to write on their piece a word to describe their meeting. Friends online also shared in the chat, and those words — along with sharing from the children in the Youth Program happening in another building — were added to puzzle pieces. The resulting image, put all together, was shared on Sunday morning during the Quaker Life Council report. Friends heard a presentation from the Middle East Collaborative, an update on the lobbying policy, and presentation on the Yearly Meeting’s five strategic directions.
Following dinner, there were options for intergenerational gathering and Friends gathered to sing, walk the college’s Arboretum trail, hear stories, and in one hybrid space have a discussion of George Fox’s Book of Miracles. There were reports that the latter turned into a dance party!
Our youngest Friends also gathered together on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning of Annual Sessions. Considering our theme of “Called to Healing,” they discussed what healing means, and looked at it from two perspectives: feeling safe and included in our community, and taking care of our Earth. After reading the story You Will Always Belong by Matthew Paul Turner, the children created personal representations of themselves using markers, collage materials, and stickers. We considered how all of the uniquely designed people make up our beautiful community. We also read One World by Michael Foreman. The children then painted watercolors representing the parts of our natural world that they love and want to protect.
In addition to these activities, we also had time for a get-to-know-you icebreaker, group games, bubbles, and water play. Time spent on the playground at Haverford Monthly Meeting and getting to know new Friends from around the Yearly Meeting were highlights of the weekend!
Sunday morning, July 7, Friends on campus headed to Haverford Meeting for All Together Worship. Huge thanks to Haverford Meeting for hosting the fellowship beforehand and their preparations for hybrid, all-ages worship that morning. The time in worship opened with a reminder that as Friends we “listen with our whole selves” and a body prayer. Several messages lifted up the concerns and joys on hearts in this time. The children sat together on a big quilt on the floor and had spiritual practices available in the silence — finger labyrinths, pipe cleaners, coloring, and a big settling jar. They moved around between that space and beloved adults sitting in the benches, surrounded by the community in worship.
Back on campus for Youth programs and the final meeting for business session, Friends were relieved to be back in air conditioned spaces as the Philadelphia region experiences a heat wave! Regathered in the spirit of worship to complete our Annual Sessions business, we heard the report from Quaker Life Council and engaged in small group sharing. The General Secretary, Christie Duncan-Tessmer, focused her General Secretary report on how sprints and collaboratives are two ways the yearly meeting releases and supports the ministries of 10,000 Friends and 100+ local meetings. Following this report, Presiding Clerk Melissa Rycroft shared the news of Christie’s decision to step down from the General Secretary role at the end of July 2025. In the coming year, a search for the next General Secretary will be conducted with the support of clerks from all three councils — Administrative, Nominating, and Quaker Life. Melissa shared that Christie has brought gifts both of vision and strategic direction to her work, as well as a deeply generous spirit.
Alongside the pattern of acknowledgement that we were doing things in new ways this year, the theme of transition continued in the final business session as Rising Clerk Nikki Mosgrove invited us to share in gratitude for the loving servant leadership of Melissa Rycroft, as she completes her term as Presiding Clerk of the Yearly Meeting. Nikki read from 1 Corinthians 13, 4-7, and lifted up how this described the faithful service Melissa has shared. The afternoon session ended with the reading and acceptance of the Epistle, and gratitude to the Epistle Committee for their work — which included a limerick!
Our 2024 Annual Sessions included a Bible Study series and the opening business session in June, before we gathered for a busy 24 hours on the Haverford campus and online to complete the business of the yearly meeting in its summer session. Along the way, there was playfulness and a spirit of love that moved among those who gathered both in person and online. Our Sessions theme, “Called to Healing,” continues through Fall Continuing Sessions, November 8-10, at Arch Street Meeting House.