New York Yearly Meeting's 2025 Epistle
Beloved Friends everywhere, gathered in the Light —
With the theme Dare to Hope! Dare to Heal! Dare to Witness!, Friends gathered for the 331st New York Yearly Meeting Summer Sessions, beginning online and continuing as a hybrid gathering at Oakwood Friends School. In opening worship, we were called to consider:
What seeds of hope am I being called to plant?
What needs healing in me, and whose pain is Spirit calling me to tend?
Where am I being invited to witness — with Spirit’s courage — in this world?
We came burdened with deep concerns, carrying grief, confusion, and rage, feeling the weight of Gaza, the dehumanization of many, and the assault on institutions and civil rights. What sustains us when we feel powerless and overwhelmed?
We Dare to Hope. Hearing about the walk from Flushing, Queens to Washington, DC with a video of the journey, a reading of the ‘Walker’s Remonstrance’ delivered to elected officials, and an account of both how it was accomplished and its impact, was galvanizing. Our hearts opened.
We Dare to Heal. “Healing requires truth telling, demands Presence.” Time together felt like communion. Informal, deep sharing among Friends inspired us. Friends found healing in open-hearted worship groups. The ministry of laughter and song arising out of the silence of worship lifted our hearts. Activities that we did together across ages were openings for healing and love. Spirit calls us toward radical welcome. Connection does not require agreement. We were all invited to both respond to change and change ourselves.
We Dare to Witness. Our faith’s power, whether gathered in worship or witnessed in the streets, cannot be taken away. “To witness is to not look away, to stand in the Light even though it is costly.” Spirit calls us to look to people living on the margins and act there, for what is at the margins is also at the core. Each of us knows something of standing on the outside; our differences shape us and lead us to look outwardly and act. We have engaged deeply with issues of justice, holding tenderly our concerns about genocide, dehumanization of immigrants and queer and trans people, and other injustices — wrestling honestly with our sense of powerlessness and uncertainty about how to witness effectively. For some Friends, their own sense or vision of a loving, powerful witness began to take shape as others shared.
We are called to continue daring to hope, daring to heal, and daring to witness; this gathering is one step in our shared journey. We go forward refreshed by our time together in Spirit, in companionship, in shared lament, in song, in laughter, with renewed faith, clarity, and inspiration to witness. May we continue to grow mutual support and love, both amongst ourselves and outwardly. May we draw on courage as we speak Truth. May we trust Spirit and remind Friends everywhere that none of our work is done alone — we are woven together by Love.
Written for the same Spirit who has moved among us here,
The Epistle Committee
Anne Barschall, Carol Clarke, Matt Sunderland