An Invitation from Presiding Clerk, Melissa Rycroft

Dear Friends,

I am so excited to invite you to join me at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s 343rd Annual Sessions. We’ll be gathering at The College of New Jersey and on Zoom, hopefully in ways that are accessible to as many Friends as possible across the Yearly Meeting.

During one of my recent visits to a Meeting, a Friend shared that she always refers to PYM as “our beloved yearly meeting.” During worship, fellowship, and shared meals with the members and attenders of this Meeting, I heard these words repeated by this Friend several times.

What does it mean to think of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting as “our beloved yearly meeting?” Or your Monthly Meeting as “our beloved Meeting?” Is your Quarterly Meeting “our beloved Quarter?”

Faith and Practice reminds us that:

Friends are encouraged to attend the annual, continuing and other sessions of yearly meeting and participate in worship, fellowship, and decision-making with other members of the yearly meeting. Yearly meeting is enhanced when as many members as possible attend sessions, since this assures a larger pool of wisdom and insight; such participation is also beneficial for the members and their Friends meetings.

The invitation to attend Annual Sessions comes not from a sense of obligation, but from our love for our Yearly Meeting. When we gather together as a beloved faith community in worship and fellowship with each other, we are Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

While I hope you can attend all the events of Annual Sessions, please note that each day includes worship, including the opportunity to join with the whole Yearly Meeting at All Together Worship on Sunday morning at 9:00 AM.

I hope to see you in the room or on the Zoom, in worship and in fellowship, at the 2023 Annual Sessions.

In peace, Melissa Rycroft, Presiding Clerk

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