Peace & Social Concerns Threshing Session, June 9, 2013
On Sunday, June 9th, the monthly meeting agenda will be slightly expanded to allow us, as a Meeting, to attend to our Peace and Social Concerns activities. Currently, we have no P&SC clerk or active committee, though we have many and varied active groups and projects. We are seeking guidance for a clear way for the monthly meeting to support and coordinate these efforts. Please come and please encourage others to come to help us discern the best path forward.
Explanation of Threshing Session Process for June 9th
After the 10 o’clock meeting, monthly meeting for worship with attention to business will begin at 11 and focus on the regular agenda items for half an hour.
Between 11:30 and 1:00 we will engage in the threshing session regarding peace and social concerns. Friends will be welcome during this time to eat bag lunches. This part of monthly meeting will follow a three-step process.
1. For the first half hour, we will ask that a representative of each volunteer group (such as P&SC, Climate Stability, Winds of Change, Same Sex Marriage, Loaves and Fishes, those concerned with educating Meeting adults and children and newcomers about the depth and breadth of Quaker witness and work, including testimonies, history, and peace and service work, . . .) sit in a center circle and discuss together three questions:
–What has your group focused on during the last six months?
–What will your group probably focus on during the next six months?
–What do you most need from the Minneapolis Friends Meeting during the next six months?
Others will sit in a circle around these people, holding them in Light and listening carefully. If you are part of such a voluntary group, please be sure that a leader or representative is able to speak for your concern during this time. If no one is able to speak, we ask that answers to these three questions be written up briefly and sent to me before Sunday so that your thoughts can be represented.
2. Then, for the second half hour, we will ask that a representative of each outside organization that has MFM representation sit in the center circle and discuss similar questions. These groups may include AVP, AFSC, local, regional, and national, FNVW, FCNL, JRLC, Right Sharing, and others. These representatives should send answers to the following questions ahead of time if no one is able to be there to represent the groups:
–Briefly, what has this group focused on during the last six months?
–Briefly, what will this group focused on during the next six months?
–What kind of connections does this group most need with the Minneapolis Friends Meeting during the next six months?
Again, others will sit in a circle around these people, holding them in Light and listening carefully. If you work with one of these groups, please try to make sure that a spokesperson will be present or else that written answers to those questions are sent to me ahead of time.
3. At that point, the listening group will discuss, for half an hour, what we have heard and what leading might be emerging. We trust that two or three of the listeners will feel led to take what the group has gathered and come up with a proposal for how Minneapolis Friends Meeting can best support our peace and justice work. Consider, between now and then, whether this may be a role for you.
Thank you, Friends.
Ranae Hanson, Presiding Clerk