The title of this year’s lecture was: Hospitality & the Pilgrim: a Quaker’s reflection on communion and community given by Harvey Gillman.

A copy of his pre-talk text is available here via this link.

Or you can watch a recording of Harvey’s talk here >>

Through reflections on his own life journey, Harvey, who is a Member of Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, explores spirituality as a process of hospitality.

Harvey (who describes himself as a seeker, finder, explorer, discoverer, dissident, exile, would-be poet and heretic!) sees every human being as a pilgrim.

“We look for meaning, a sense of belonging and a way to act in the world which seem true to our experiences,” he says. “The self, the other, and the world itself are inter-related. How do we forge links in a world that often seems to pull us apart?”

Harvey, who was brought up in the Jewish tradition and joined Quakers as an adult, says he has always desired the constancy of community and that Friends/Quakers offered him the hospitality he was looking for and a space in which to breathe.

You can see a selection of Harvey’s books here.