Even if you can’t be there in person, a shared spiritual preparation
creates the foundations upon which Yearly Meeting in session can build.
Yearly Meeting 2015 is the first of a new three-year arc on
the theme ‘living out our faith in the world’. One of the focuses this year is
housing as a particular example of a tested concern in the areas of inequality
and injustice. Challenged by the structural injustice we see all around us, can
we draw inspiration from the work of Friends a century ago, recorded in Quaker faith & practice 23.16? How might we express now our spiritual
insights that give rise to our testimony, impelling us to action in the world?
Questions for consideration in your meeting
on the theme of living our faith in the world:
How can we open ourselves fully to the pain of
the world without despairing or turning away? Might allowing ourselves to be
vulnerable to each other transform pain into compassion and kindle a passion to
heal?
How can meetings be places where individuals
are both supported and challenged as they wrestle with the complex issues that
face us?
How are we committed to our Quaker values? How
can we witness for a better social order? How can the testimonies of individuals
bring more peace and economic justice?
What can we do to help bring about justice and
equality in the society in which we live?
Suggested reading
All suggested reading is available at
www.quaker.org.uk/ym.
Quaker faith &
practice 20.17, 20.18, 23.04, 23.06,
23.12, 23.16, 23.17, 23.18, 23.21.
Swarthmore Lecture 2014: Open for
transformation: Being Quaker by Ben Pink Dandelion.
Jan Arriens’ prepared ministry, Yearly Meeting
Gathering 2014.
Britain Yearly Meeting Statement on economic
inequality in Britain, May 2014.