Stewarts BYM Report

It would be easy to think of this year’s Yearly Meeting as being ‘low key’ when compared with last year’s Summer Gathering, but there were plenty of opportunities to share our responsibility for decisions that will affect the direction the Society of Friends will take in the future.

16 Friends from this area meeting joined over a thousand friends, including 116 children and young people.

There were times to celebrate Quaker work; reflections on the testimonies to the grace of God as shown in the lives of deceased Friends; the report from Meetings for Sufferings that looked at the first year of implementing the Framework for Action 2009-2014 and the plethora of informal groups represented at the Groups Fair.

Most of the sessions were introduced by a Friend who responded to the questions “Why I am a Quaker, how am I a Quaker?” I found their responses both inspiring and an aide to centring down for the sessions,

Throughout the Yearly Meeting we were asked to consider our responses to the challenges that lie ahead for Friends. We were told by the treasurer to Trustees that central work for 2010 and 2011 had been guaranteed financially by drawing on reserves. Friends were now contributing less than they did 10 years ago. The clerk of Trustees asked us what sort of work do we want we want the Society of Friends to be doing and how will we support it? In the Swarthmore Lecture we were asked to question whether our testimony to peace was adequate “when the killing starts?” We were urged to focus on bringing about economic equality in the Salter Lecture. We were reminded in the session on ‘Engaging with the political process” that we are all part of this process, in that politics are about “the decisions we make every day such as where we shop and what sort of transport we use”. In the session “A ministry of giving” we were encouraged to examine our responsibility and commitment to central work.

In the Documents in advance, we were given a reading list for every session to aid discernment. Advices and queries 20 was quoted for the session on the ministry of giving. It seems very apt to share it.

Do you give sufficient time to sharing with others in the meeting, both newcomers and long-time members, your understanding of worship, of service and of commitment to the Society’s witness? Do you give a right proportion of your money to support Quaker work?

Stewart Bailey 8.6.2010