March 11, 2012

9:00 AM unprogrammed meeting for worship
9:45 AM worship with attention to business: Jeannette Raymond, clerk; Terry Hokenson, recording clerk
11:15 AM semi-programmed meeting for worship: no planned speaker or musician; Mary Leikvold on the facing bench

TODAY

Nursery care today is downstairs with Susie Kanimitsu. THANK YOU Susie!
Teachers downstairs include Jane Furnas, Allen Gibas, Hannah Powers, Rae Cornelius and Mike Finley. THANK YOU!

MEETING MATTERS / CALENDAR

We are nearing the end of our fiscal year. Please make reimbursement requests for the 2011-2012 budget year before March 31. Forms and instructions are on the blue box in the long hall.

Worship in Bloomington this Tuesday, March 13th, at the home of Louise White, 7:00. All are welcome!

Next Sunday, March 18th at 10:15: a panel of Quakers from MFM will discuss their experience with prayer: If they pray, when or where and how do they use prayer? Do they find spiritual comfort in prayer? What are their doubts (if any) about the power of prayer? Do they receive the gift of spiritual intimacy through prayer?

Worship Planning Committee will meet next Sunday, March 18th, at 12:30 in the conference room.

“Sounding the Divine” workshop April 28th, at Twin Cities Friends Meeting (1725 Grand Ave. St. Paul, MN). Vonn New, a released friend of New York Yearly Meeting, will present a day-long workshop to explore non-verbal forms of creative expression and sensory experiences which can be doorways to deeper union with the Spirit and may be the most effective way to defy violence and build peace. This workshop will be limited to 40 participants, so pre-registration is required. Register at sharonwoods(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)dishup.us or 715-220-3212. Sponsored by Metro Friends CC and NYM’s A and O.
There will be a potluck supper at 5:30 and family folkdance at 6:30. Come for the whole day or come for the evening!

There will be a meeting for worship for healing with attention to the proposed constitutional marriage amendment Thurs, March 29th. Worship 7-7:45; social time to follow until 8:30.

Needed: people to help tend to the pergola (trellis) – sanding, painting. Great volunteer job for those wanting only a short-term commitment. April or early May. RSVP to Pat Jones or office, 612-926-6159.

Northern Yearly Meeting asks each constituent monthly meeting to have a representative to attend NYM Executive Committee meetings and to serve as a liaison and conduit between the monthly meeting and the yearly meeting. Interested in serving as MFM’s NYM rep, please tell Pat Jones. Nancy Peterson has been serving in this capacity for several years.

Come hear sacred stories from various traditions around the world. Mayim Rabim Congregation proudly presents Carla Vogel, and her husband Barry Nienstadt, in an evening of spiritual storytelling at MFM, Sat, March 24th. Havdalah Service at 6:30 pm, storytelling at 7 pm, followed by middle eastern desserts and Turkish coffee! All are welcome; childcare will be provided. Save April 18 for storytelling at MFM.

Offering boxes are located on small tables near the meetingroom doors. Our fiscal year ends March 31st. As of last Sunday, we had contributed $100,030.00 toward our budget of $116,748.00. These are difficult financial times. Please give as you are able.

OUR WIDER COMMUNITY

Quaker Action and Work Groups on defeating proposed anti-LGBT amendment on marriage. Saturday, March 17th, 9:30am-2:30pm, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 1895 Laurel Avenue in St. Paul, (between Marshall and Summit and between Prior and Fairview.) All are welcome and encouraged to register in pairs or triplets or quads. See flyer for details; call Liz Oppenheimer to register: 612-567-8406.

The El Salvador Committee of Northern Yearly Meeting is sponsoring a trip to visit El Salvador Yearly Meeting in August, 2012. Open to Friends ages 15 and up – teens, adult young Friends, adults and physically fit elders. Interested or more: Ruby Steigerwald at 612-721-7040 by 01-31-2012.

Joint Religious Legislative Coalition Day on the Hill, “And What Does God Require?,” is March 20, 8:30-3:30.
Registration required. Gather in the morning at RiverCentre for issue briefings. Keynote by the pastor of Kwaanza Church. Buses will take you to the Capitol for meetings with legislators in the afternoon. jrlc.org/register-for-day-on-the-hill.

Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends mid-year meeting, “Who We Are Today and Where Are We Called?” will be at Bear Creek meetinghouse near Earlham, IA April 21-22nd. See posted schedule and registration forms for more.

Every Church A Peace Church next potluck – tomorrow, Mon, March 12th, 6:30 p.m. at St. Luke Presbyterian, 3121 Groveland School Rd, Minnetonka. The program, a presentation by MN Sen John Marty, Move to Amend: Working for Justice in an Unjust World. “We … reject the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.”

God and Politics: A Spiritual State of the Union, by Rabbi Sharon Brous Tuesday, March 13, 7:30 p.m.at OEC Auditorium, U of St. Thomas. Recent years have witnessed a dangerous resurfacing of racial tension, religious intolerance, and political divisiveness in American life. Still, Americans, often inspired by their faith, have responded courageously and contributed generously to others in the wake of disasters at home and abroad. Rabbi Sharon Brous, named by Newsweek as the most influential female rabbi in America, will reflect on how different views of God serve to foster different types of public discourse, action and culture. Sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning. More at stthomas.edu/jpc/events

Neighborhood Sustainability Fair, Saturday, March 17, 1:00-5:00 p.m., Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 East 22nd St., Minneapolis. Drop in for electronics and plastics recycling, bike repair, clothing exchange, seed swap, free food, arts and crafts projects, activities for kids, and information on alternative transportation, alternative energy, urban gardening, and sustainable living. Sponsored by: Seward Environment Committee, Faith Mennonite Church, Missio Dei, Community of St. Martin. For more information contact Phil Stoltzfus, 612-375-9483, minstaff(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)faithmennonite.org.

OFFICE HOURS
Pat Jones will be in the office Wednesday from 2:00-5:00 and other times Wed, Thurs, Fri. and Sat.
Carolyn Sherer VandenDolder, the Administrative Assistant, will be in Wed. afternoon and Fri. Bulletin deadline, noon Thur. Bulletin items can be phoned in to the office, emailed or written and put in the bulletin file of the blue box.