Quakers in Britain Yearly Meeting 2024
A Reflection of Day 1, Friday 26th July 2024
Why go to BYM?
As I travelled from St Albans to St Pancras a slight impulse was asking “Why are you going to Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM)?”
On the surface, there is little to go to. A couple of hundred Quakers are silent. The reality is yes silence but also a lot of business. The business is nominating people into roles that make BYM functional. Did I hear that there are over 100 people in roles? But that pulse still asks, “Why would you sit through that?”
If I formulate a response it is something about being part of a rare process. I know of nowhere else that makes decisions ‘in the manner of Friends’. There is never applause, if thanks are to be given it is done by waving hands. Should you wish to speak you do what you do in your local meeting, check it is beyond ego and that you are so moved that you are on your feet. Then it is for the meeting clerk to decide who should speak from those standing. What is spoken is usually said nervously rather than assertively.
What permeates Quaker meetings is an awareness of the Spirit and a desire to give expression to it. Maybe that is the reason I go; to be present in an atmosphere in which I may hear the voice of the Spirit.
BYM is the place where Quakers discern what the Spirit is asking of them for the year or years ahead. To facilitate this it requires committees to organise it.
Windows into the Quaker world
Such a gathering opens windows into the Quaker world not only in Britain.
One such window was to learn that a dispute had occurred between the Quaker Socialist Society (QSS) and BYM agenda committee. The QSS invited Jeremy Corbyn, Member of Parliament (MP) to give this year’s ‘Salter lecture’. The lecture is normally part of BYM however it seems a concern arose within the agenda committee about Jeremy Corbyn being the lecturer. This resulted in the QSS being asked to change the lecturer or the venue. QSG decided to change the venue. The concern regarding Jeremy Corbyn appears to surround his views on Israel / Palestine. It was felt if BYM incorporated him as a lecturer into the gathering, Quakers in Britain could be seen to be taking sides in the conflict. It was said that this could undermine the ecumenical accompaniment work that Quakers organise in Palestine / Israel.
This dispute serves as a reminder that Quakers although peace builders are also challenged to build peace with one another.
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The link below will update you on when Jeremy Corbyn is due to speak to QSS
