Sessions 2024
We are Called to Healing — healing ourselves, our local communities, and our world.
- Annual Sessions: Saturday, July 6th to Sunday, July 7th at Haverford College.
- Fall Continuing Sessions: Friday, November 8th – Sunday, November 10th, 2024 at Arch Street Meeting House.
What is Sessions?
Annual Sessions is one of the oldest Quaker traditions! Today, all over the world, yearly meetings gather once a year to bring together members and attenders from their local meetings. We call them “Sessions” because meeting for worship with attention to the business of the Yearly Meeting is central to these times together. Continuing Sessions are our one-day events on the second Saturday of November and March, where we attend to the continuing business of the Yearly Meeting and enjoy fellowship across generations. During all these times we ask: What is God’s big idea for PYM Friends?
Annual Sessions: July 6-7
The Gathering, Friends General Conference’s annual program for Friends from across North America, is coming to the Philadelphia area this summer and will be held at Haverford College from June 30-July 6, 2024. Read more about this summer’s Gathering here.
This is cause for celebration and a rare opportunity for PYM Friends to worship, learn, and share fellowship with the broader community of FGC here in our Yearly Meeting footprint. Yet, it also raised for PYM’s Sessions Coordinating Committee the question of how our Annual Sessions might work in conjunction with The FGC Gathering? Both annual events happen in the month of July, and participation can mean a significant investment in time and financial contribution.
Sessions Coordinating Committee created a proposal to creatively address the opportunity and concerns, and it was approved by the joint Councils on October 20 — PYM will adapt the format and schedule of Annual Sessions for 2024!
Annual Sessions 2024 will happen immediately following the FGC Gathering at Haverford College. We hope all Friends will participate in a day-long program focused on attending to the Yearly Meeting’s business. There will be options to join online with Zoom, continue on at Haverford College after attending the Gathering, or join on campus post-Gathering. The FGC Bookstore will remain open for our extended time on campus.
Along with this creative summertime solution, Continuing Sessions in March and November are expanded in 2024 to be Friday-Sunday weekends together, with time for business, worship and fellowship. SCC and the Councils offer the assurance that we will have the equivalent hours for business spread throughout the year that we typically have during our summer Annual Sessions.
This change is a unique circumstance intended only for 2024.
Looking forward:
2024 gives Sessions Coordinating Committee a rare opportunity to pause and think about our longer-term needs and planning. SCC will be seeking input on your hopes, ideas and needs for Annual Sessions in years to come. If you are interested in joining SCC and would like to share your gifts and skills as we vision our way forward, please contact the Director of Program and Religious Life.
Questions?
- Tara Rubinstein, Sessions & Events Coordinator, trubinstein@pym.org
- Melinda Wenner Bradley, Director of Program and Religious Life, mwennerbradley@pym.org