 March/April 2000 (XXXVIII 2) |
ear Friends,
One of the things which I have always loved about Yearly Meeting Sessions is coming into the meeting house at Fourth and Arch, often with a sense of spring already in the air, and hearing and seeing large numbers of Friends warmly greeting each other and abuzz in conversation. While our Monthly Meetings are certainly our basic units of community among Friends, there is something special also in being part of our larger Yearly Meeting community, truly entering that experience, and through our worship, fellowship and conduct of business rediscovering what it is that binds us together as Friends.
Our Sessions, to be held this year from March 23 through March 26, have been designed to provide opportunity for engaging with each other both in smaller groups and in full plenary sessions. We expect that at Yearly Meeting we will be learning from each other, sharing our own experience and wisdom, and having opportunity to reflect deeply on our experience of the Spirit at work in our lives individually and as a Society. Details on the many rich and searching topics to be covered at our Sessions may be found in other articles in this issue of PYM News and in the Agenda booklets mailed to all households in February.
I wish to share a message of invitation. We are the stewards of a vibrant, revolutionary faith which holds that Truth continues to be revealed to us today. We know the rich history of those Friends who have gone before us, and who, while not perfect, nevertheless witnessed to their faith in ways which have helped to build a more peaceful and just world. Let us come together in these, our 320th Annual Sessions, and open our selves to the experience of God at work in our lives, risking the discovery of what it is to which we are called, in this time and in this place.
I look forward to entering that search and sharing that experience with each of you.
Peace,
Arlene Kelly
Central Philadelphia Meeting
Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM