9:00 AM unprogrammed meeting for worship: care of meeting, Steve Snyder
10:15 AM social time with casual music, visiting and potluck finger food
11:15 AM semi-programmed meeting for worship: Pat Jones, speaker; Nancy Lichtenstein, musician; care of meeting, Chester McCoy

TODAY

White Envelope Gift: Contributions can be placed in a white envelope and put in the offering boxes today. Checks should be made out to MFM with “White Envelope Gift” in the memo line. Cash for the WEG should be put in an envelope with “white envelope gift” written on the outside. Descriptions of the two organizations are on the bulletin table.

MEETING MATTERS / CALENDAR

Next Sunday, Dec 30th, at 10:15: What is there about your past or your present that fellow Quakers might be surprised to know? Come to a fun, community-building small group discussion.

Adult Program on Jan 6th, 10:15: Nancy Peterson will speak on her experience and work in the area of racial justice.

Minneapolis Friends Meeting recorded a minute at November’s monthly meeting urging Congress to cut the Pentagon budget by one trillion dollars over the next ten years and to prevent devastating cuts to the peaceful prevention of deadly conflict and domestic programs that could address climate change and human needs. FCNL staff strongly encourages you to schedule a meeting with your local congressional office to deliver the minute in person and reinforce the message that we need to cut $1 trillion from the Pentagon budget over the next ten years. Members of Congress are having conversations every day in Washington, working to make this budget deal happen. The more they hear from their constituents the better! You are also encouraged to write letters to the editor on this same topic. Letters that mention members of Congress by name are read by staff every day. Staff are then required to report to their Congress member. (minneapolisfriends.org/2012/11/12/recorded-minute-to-reduce-pentagon-spending/). MFM is also setting up small delegations to visit Congresspeople home on recess. If you would like to be part of a delegation, get word to the office, office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minenapolisfriends.org; 612-926-6159.

Friends are welcome to Christmas Eve worship and dessert potluck (finger food items), Monday, Dec 24th. 7 pm worship, and 8pm fellowship and singing – Twin Cities Friends Meeting, 1725 Grand Ave in St. Paul.

Twin Cities area Friends will NOT be serving a Loaves and Fishes dinner at Holy Rosary Church on New Years eve, December 31st. Our next scheduled time to serve is Monday, April 30th.

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.)

Metro Friends is sponsoring another poetry jazz cabaret – an evening of music, poetry reading by kids and adults, and homemade desserts – on Saturday, January 26, at MFM. Tom Wells and friends will play jazz throughout the evening. The event was a smashing success last year!

Offering boxes are located on small tables near the meetingroom doors. Average contributions of $9,725 per month are needed to meet our budget. First and second quarter contributions have covered only 30% of our approved budget. If you would like to automate your contributions, please talk to Suzanne Ferguson, receiving treasurer. A list of short-term volunteer opportunities is by the offering boxes. Thank you, Friends, for your generous support of the Meeting in all manner of ways.

OUR WIDER COMMUNITY

Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed MN ASAP Resolution, (which MFM endorsed,) calling for a reduction and redirection of Pentagon spending back to local communities! If you live in Minneapolis, please send your council member a quick email of thanks.

FNVW will host an event with award winning journalist Reese Erlich, “The Arab Spring in Syria, Egypt and Gaza” Feb 25, 6:30 PM at Twin Cities Friends meetinghouse. You may read Reese’s excellent on-the-ground-reporting, 3-part series on Bahrain’s changing opposition (1) a younger, more militant faction of Bahrain’s reform movement is threatening the moderates; (2) the deepening Sunni-Shiite divide in the opposition; (3) Bahrain’s labor unions split over the uprising: www.globalpost.com/series/bahrain-protests-uprising-reform-violence-shiite-sunni-labor-unions-strike .

Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Concerns Midwinter Gathering You are enthusiastically welcome at the gathering at Bryn Mawr Mountain Retreat and Conference Center in the Poconos of PA, Feb 15-18, 2013. Together we will seek spiritual growth and renewal through unprogrammed worship, learning, fellowship, and play. We will be blessed by the ministry of Niyonu Spann, founder of the Beyond Diversity 101 workshops. For more and to register: flgbtqc.quaker.org/ ; click on Midwinter Gathering or email, flgbtqcmidwinter(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com or phone, 267-713-8694.

Seminary of the Streets, Thurs, Jan 10th, 5:15-8 p.m, Mount Olive Lutheran Church, 3045 Chicago Ave, Mpls. Come on the eve of Global Human Trafficking Awareness Day for an interactive workshop with Amy Hartman (Cherish Our Children) and others who work to end human abuses. Learn to recognize signs of human trafficking and some concrete ways we can act and organize to help end human trafficking in MN today. A meal will be served by Mount Olive’s Neighborhood Ministries Team at 5:15; interactive workshop starts at 6 p.m. To register: endtrafficking.eventbrite.com.

Every Church A Peace Church: Mon, Jan 14th, at Mount Olive Lutheran Church, 3045 Chicago Ave. Mpls. Potluck at 6:30 p.m. Program (about 7) will feature Dr. Charles Amjad-Ali, the MLK Jr. Prof. of Justice and Christian Community at Luther Seminary, speaking on “Peace from Below – Martin Luther King’s Legacy and our Vocation.” Peace seen from the perspective of the poor and disenfranchised is different from that seen by those who are rich and powerful – those who rule the world. Martin Luther King’s take on the Viet Nam War, militarism and violence in general will be examined. There will be ample opportunity for discussion.

OFFICE HOURS
Pat Jones will be in the office Thurs, Fri. and Sat.
Carolyn 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.