Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Annual Session 2022

The theme of Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Annual Sessions is “Considering the Wildflowers: Rooted in History, Growing Toward Spirit.” Registration is now open. For details, see the BYM Annual Session website.

Clinton Pettus (Baltimore Monthly Meeting, Stony Run) will lead the retreat on Monday and Tuesday, August 1 and 2. He has been working among Friends to develop Trust Circles since 2018. The purposes of the Circles are to reduce our tendency to engage in "othering;" to give space and voice to those who are reluctant to share their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, wants, and needs; to strengthen our individual and collective sense of "unity and wholeness;" and to increase our sense of belonging to our worship communities. During the retreat, Clinton will share the journey BYM has taken from discussing how to be more anti-racist to building trust across ethno-cultural and other differences. Participants will engage deeply in trust circle exercises with one another and learn how to carry the practice forward in their lives and Meetings.

The Plenary Session on Tuesday, August 2, at 7:30 p.m. is called Re/Membering the Past: Seeking Lessons on Racial Justice, Indigenous Peoples, & Peace. Panelists Bette Hoover, Cynthia DeVries, and Ruth Flower will  weave together the roots and relationships among three areas of Friends' values and testimonies over the last 350 years and how colonization affected our faith and our practice relating to racial justice, Native Peoples, and the peace testimony, and how it continues to affect our faith community today. How does Spirit lead us into a future that takes responsibility for the harm done and is welcoming to all people?

On Saturday, August 6, at 7:30 p.m., Emily Provance will give The Carey Lecture. You can learn more about her here.

There are many interesting workshops; some from Thursday, August 4 to Saturday, August 6.