9:00 AM unprogrammed meeting for worship: Steve Snyder, care of meeting
10:15 AM – Ranae Hanson will speak in the meetingroom about what she and others are doing with students at MCTC around the issues of race and inequity
– Lisa First will offer a yoga session in the conference room to help open your body in preparation for meditation in semi-programmed worship
11:15 AM semi-programmed meeting for worship: Nancy Peterson, speaker; Dave Bostrom, musician; Nancy Helfrich, care of meeting

“What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast, inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours.”
– R Maira Rilke

TODAY

Please stack the chairs against the wall under the balcony or on the wall behind the piano at the rise of semi-programmed worship today, in preparation for the Holiday Fair. (Access to the storage room is still needed!)

You are welcome to the monthly potluck lunch today at the rise of semi-programmed worship. Please come to this time of fellowship and sharing!

MEETING MATTERS / CALENDAR

Two more questions for you concerning Friends for a Non-Violent World’s Holiday Fair: Dec 7, 1 – 9:00 pm and Dec. 8, 10 – 4:00 pm:
1. Have you decided when you are attending? IT IS THIS WEEKEND FOLKS!
2. Have you checked out the list of fabulous musicians performing? fnvw.org

Now onto an imperative and then exclamatory statement: PLEASE COME TO THE FNVW HOLIDAY FAIR, Fri, Dec. 7 from 1 – 9 OR Sat, Dec. 8 from 10:00 – 4:00! You will have a great time while supporting a great organization that works for a great cause: peace among people in our cities, in our state, in our nation, and in the world!

Holiday pictures will again be taken by Sue and available for purchase this year at the Holiday Fair. (She does a GORGEOUS job!) You may also have a photo taken for the MFM ID Board (no charge). All proceeds benefit FNVW.

Kid’s Store at the FNVW Holiday Fair: Kid’s can buy gifts for the whole family for just $1 or under. Some are even free! We need items for the store that are potential gifts to teenage and adult members of the family. If you have any jewelry, men’s accessories, etc, you would be willing to donate, please bring them to primary classroom, marked Kid’s Store. THANK YOU!

The MN Arms Spending Alternatives Project (ASAP) Resolution that was approved by MFM passed unanimously in the St. Paul City Council. Mpls City Council will vote on it early this week. The resolution calls for the MN Congressional Delegation to shift federal funding priorities from military operations to meeting the essential needs of our local communities. Contact you Minneapolis City Council person to encourage their endorsement of the resolution.

Minneapolis Friends Meeting recorded a minute at monthly meeting urging Congress to cut the Pentagon budget by one trillion dollars over the next 10 years and to prevent devastating cuts to the peaceful prevention of deadly conflict and domestic programs that could address climate change and human needs. Friends are encouraged to send the minute to national representatives: (minneapolisfriends.org/2012/11/12/recorded-minute-to-reduce-pentagon-spending/). The direction of this lame duck session and the new Congress will shape our federal budget for years to come.

White Envelope Gift recipients were approved at monthly meeting last week: Messiah Lutheran Mission and Link Vostok, East/West International Arts Exchange. Envelopes will be out for this special offering on December 16th.

~Messiah Lutheran Mission serves the community in the Phillips neighborhood, one of the poorest in Minneapolis. Besides coordinating with other churches to offer meals, a food shelf, a community garden, book drives and free store for clothes, Messiah has a thriving children’s ministry. A van collects neighborhood children for after school and summer activities and for Sunday school. The bus has broken down and as a result, the children, whose parents are often not involved at all in Messiah, have not been able to participate. The WEG will hopefully cover the expenses of bus repair so these children can again enjoy this ministry.

~Link Vostok promotes open and stable relationships between international arts communities by fostering creative, cross-cultural exchanges between North America, Europe, Russia and other countries previously separated by the Cold War. Most recently, Link Vostok has been working with abled and disabled artists in dance and community work to raise awareness of accessibility issues in Russian and Siberian towns over 1000 years old. Often the prevailing attitude there is that the disabled should stay out of sight – and they do simply because there is no accessibility. Having abled and disabled together in public workshops and performances not only gives residents a new perspective but gives those with disabilities a sense of value and possibility. The organization, founded in 1993 by MFM member, Lisa First, has lost a major operational funder. Our WEG will help bridge the gap as new, on-going funders are put in place.

Lectio Divina (divine reading, similar to worship sharing) is a Benedictine method of reading and listening deeply for the ways in which a biblical text may speak to us today. You are invited to come to a Benedictine lectio at 11:30AM Wed, Dec 5 at Kenwood Isles, Apt 109. We will examining some of the same passages in Isaiah that have spoken to the children during their study of Puppets and Prophets. For more, phone Steve or Mary.

Next Sunday, Dec 9th at 9:45: worship with attention to business. You are encouraged to come!
Sunday, Dec 16th at 10:15: in the meetingroom, a presentation about Light of Hope Home and School for girls in Kenya, with Joanne Esser and Sheila Ross from Wayzata Community Church. Both traveled to volunteer at the school last summer. There will be a short video that tells the story of one of the Light of Hope School girls who lives there.
Peace and Social Concerns will meet in the conference room. All are welcome.

First day school children continue work on giant puppets and peacemaker signs, (thank you for donating supplies!) The Prophet Puppet Play will take form on Sun, Dec 16 during first day school. A performance will be offered at the rise of semi-programmed worship also on the 16th. This is an all-ages, all-Meeting event! Please stay an extra 15 minutes!

Journaling will meet in the conference room Sun, Dec 16th, 12:30, after the Prophet Puppet Play. Bring a bag lunch.

Mary Logue will read from her new bedtime children’s book, Sleep Like a Tiger, 3 PM on Sat, Dec 15th, Common Good Books, 38 S. Snelling Ave, St. Paul.

The George and Elizabeth Watson Memorial Discussion Group will next tackle Stephen Cave’s Immortality which discusses the four types of immortality that various religions and peoples have believed through the ages. The next gathering is Wed, Jan.9th, 7 pm at the meetinghouse. All are welcome! (It helps if you have time to read the book first.)