Yearly Meeting Gathering 2021 moves online
Covid-19 has led to many changes. This summer, around two thousand Quakers expected to spend a week together for worship and business. Now the pandemic has led to Yearly Meeting Gathering 2021 happening online.
Yearly Meeting Gathering (YMG) brings Quakers together, to see each other's faces, to listen to the promptings of love and truth and to share them with the wider world.
Plans are in hand for YMG to be an all-age, online, inclusive event, grounded in worship. It will be spread over three weeks instead of one.
[QUOTE-START]
In this very challenging time, how are we to live our testimonies to equality and truth?
- Clare Scott Booth, Clerk Yearly Meeting Gathering
[QUOTE-END]
Quakers across Britain can note these dates for diaries: main business and worship will happen Friday to Sunday, 30 July to 1 August and Friday 6 to Sunday 8 August. There will be sessions for children and young people from Monday to Friday, 2 to 6 August. During the three weeks beginning in mid-July there will be opportunities to get used to online platforms, and meet each other in online community spaces – from reading and craft groups, to singing together.
This year, Covid-19 presents a challenge and an opportunity. With less travel and fewer documents, the carbon footprint will be lower. And some may join online who would not be physically able to attend in person.
Clare Scott Booth, Clerk for YMG 21, said, “In this very challenging time, how are we to live our testimonies to equality and truth? Join us at Yearly Meeting Gathering 2021 as Quakers seek to determine what love requires of us."