Spring Sessions 2025
Spring Sessions will continue with a final, online-only Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. Registration is still OPEN!
What is Spring Sessions?
Spring Sessions is one of the three times a year that members of the New York Yearly Meeting community gather to worship, conduct business, and have fellowship together. New York Yearly Meeting encompasses all of the Quaker meetings within New York State and parts of Connecticut and New Jersey. These gatherings are open to anyone who is interested in Quakerism or the Quaker meetings in our area.
Meetings for Worship and Business
At Sessions we gather in meetings for worship with a concern for business. Business meetings are preceded by an hour of worship to help us spiritually center and gather ourselves together. This worship will be a mix of unprogrammed worship (silent, unless someone is moved to speak) and programmed worship. Worship may include readings, singing and playing music. At business meetings the clerk leads us through an agenda of items, including the hearing of reports and the discernment of issues that require an action on the behalf of the gathered body of Friends.
The business meeting agenda and reports to be read in advance of Spring Sessions will be posted below once available.
Evening Programs
Friday Evening Program: Hope, Healing, and Witness in a Time of Discord
The Friday evening, April 4, 7-9 p.m. program will be a worship experience titled “Hope, Healing, and Witness in a Time of Discord.” Prayers and messages will be given by Friends from different beliefs and practices, and may include a pastor-led program, unprogrammed silent (listening) worship, songs, and readings from Buddhist and non-theist Friends. Friends are invited to “Listen in Tongues” as we celebrate the diversity of belief in our yearly meeting and feel the love that binds us together.
Saturday Evening Program: Ministry and Witness in a Time of Discord
Join Friends for a plenary program during Spring Sessions on Saturday evening, April 5, from 7-9 p.m., on “Ministry and Witness in a Time of Discord.” We will hear from:
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Amy Gottlieb of American Friends Service Committee and Ravi Ragbir, an activist on immigrant rights who the first Trump administration tried to deport to punish him for his activism;
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Yohannes "Knowledge" Johnson, who recently was released from prison after 40+ years and who found Quakerism while in prison and served a leading role in the meeting in Green Haven Correctional Facility (as well as becoming a member of Bulls Head-Oswego Meeting);
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Daniel Seeger, who applied for conscientious objector exemption from the draft as a non-theist, and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court (where he won); and
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Jens Braun, a member of Old Chatham Meeting who will talk about his vision that "Another World Is Possible".
Schedule
(Meals in cafeteria, programs in the Theater except where noted)
Friday (4/4)
4:30 Check in begins - Collins Library
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Dinner
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Hope, Healing, and Witness in a Time of Discord - Extended Worship in Multiple Formats
After Evening Program: Games and Social Time in Collins Library
Saturday
7:30 - 9:00 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 - 9:30 a.m. Programmed Worship
9:45-11:45 a.m. Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
12:00-1:30 p.m. Lunch (Food OK in other buildings except Theater and Science Labs)
1:30 - 3:45 p.m. Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Meeting for Remembrance
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Dinner
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Ministry & Witness in a Time of Discord
After Evening Program: Games and Social Time in Collins Library
Sunday
7:30 - 9:00 a.m. Breakfast
10:00 - 11:00 a.m. Worship with Poughkeepsie Meeting (Main Building Meetingroom)
11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Box/Bag Lunch
2:00 p.m. Departure (rooms cleared)
Friday April 11, 2025
7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Online-Only Meeting for Business
Costs
There are multiple costs associated with sessions.
Direct costs are paid through NYYM for on-campus meals and dormitory housing. Indirect costs are incurred by NYYM more generally, such as the rental fee, staff time associated with preparing for sessions, and making it possible to hold sessions in a hybrid format. The suggested registration contribution of $100 helps offset some of these costs.
Paying less: Please keep in mind that your presence is more important than your ability to pay these costs. You don’t need to pay anything. If you underpay NYYM for meals or housing at Oakwood, the balance will automatically be covered by the Equalization Fund. The suggested registration amount of $100 is voluntary.
If you need help paying for your transportation or off campus housing costs please contact [email protected] or call the NYYM office at 212-673-5750.
Paying more: Anything you contribute beyond the costs NYYM incurs for your meals and housing will be part of the Sessions Income that NYYM receives to offset the cost of sessions. This will be acknowledged as a contribution to NYYM at the end of the year.
Registration
Registration is OPEN!
Before you register, please read the Participant Agreements. In order to be fully and authentically present to each other as a faith community, we have agreements that guide our behavior toward each other and towards the whole body, ensuring safety and comfort for all of us, starting with living into our testimonies of integrity, simplicity, peace, and equality. All participants at NYYM Sessions must agree to these guidelines as part of registration. Please use the Online Registration Form to register for Spring Sessions, or call the NYYM office at 212-673-5750 for assistance.
Supporting Documents and Agenda
The Agenda (below) has links to supporting documents that will help Friends prepare for our time together in Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business. The Agenda is not yet finalized, and may change as way opens. Please check back regularly to ensure that you are viewing this up-to-date Agenda.
Agenda with links
Supporting Documents