March 30, 2014

9:00 AM meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Dan Homolka

10:15 AM If you are a newcomer at Mpls Friends Meeting, what puzzles or concerns you about being here? If you are not new, how did you find your way when you were new to a meeting or to Quakerism? Your candor is needed and appreciated in small group discussions facilitated by Sandy Olson and Nettie Smith.

11:15 AM meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Lynn Patricia, speaker; Kathy Webster, musician; care of meeting, David Woolley

TODAY

While parking restrictions are in effect, please park further from the meetinghouse if you are able, leaving spots close to the building for those with mobility challenges.

After both worships, Mary Jean Port and Terry Hokenson will have information about the proposed expansion of the tar sands pipeline that crosses northern MN and about steps being taken to oppose it. There will be postcards for people to sign and mail. The tar sands crude puts the waters and lands of our state, as well as the earth’s atmosphere, at serious risk.

We are invited to join Mayim Rabim Congregation for a class on “Preservation of Photographs” this afternoon, 2-4 PM, here. Mayim Rabim’s David Kopperl, will share examples of degraded photos, explain what caused the damage, and how to restore them. Bring damaged family photos for advice on how to preserve or restore them.

The Lost and Found box is getting full! Check to see if any items are your before they journey to a new home!

MEETING MATTERS / CALENDAR

The end of March is the close of the Meeting’s business and fiscal year. Any time is a good time to say thank you to one another for the work and ministry Friends do within and on behalf of the Meeting. Many Friends are finishing terms of service now, or are continuing with terms of service. For your time and care and the lending of your gifts, we thank you. Thank you also for your contributions of money to support the work of the Meeting. Other types of giving too, often done in unrecognized ways, make the Meeting what it is, and we acknowledge those many, often unseen acts.

Please submit requests for reimbursement for this fiscal year by today. Reimbursement forms and instructions for submission are in the top of the blue box in the long hall. If you do not have receipts or required information, contact the clerk of the committee for which the costs were incurred and let them know.

Next week, you are welcome to the monthly Sunday potluck lunch. To regulars, please bring plenty of food so there will be ample to accommodate visitors and those at the end of the line. Also, please list your dish(es)’s ingredients.

Next Sunday, adult program at 10:15: John Cutler – “The intersection between the spoken word, the complete immersion in the life of a character, my own life, and the immediacy and rarified ‘presentness’ of a live performance is where I spend a lot of my time and spiritual energy. To live very personally and privately on stage, to reveal the deep secrets of the soul is my passion. I will tell a bit of my story, how I work on a role, and how it has become essential to my spiritual growth.”

Friendly Philosophers meet next Sunday at 10:15 in the conference room. This open, informal, discussion group meets every first Sun of the month, here, at 10:15 and every Thurs night, 7 PM at Bush Terrace Condos: 4014 – 15th Ave. So, Mpls.

It is our turn to help prepare and serve a meal with other metro area Friends through the Twin Cities Loaves and Fishes, tomorrow, March 31st, at Holy Rosary Church 2424 – 18th Ave So. Shifts: 2:30-4:30, cooking; 4:45-6:45, serving; 5:30-7:00, clean-up. Also needed, 20 batches of cookies (4 dozen to a batch) – fruit / cookies or bars on the healthier side encouraged! Help is needed in all areas! Additional volunteers are needed to tend the new salad bar. Sign up on the sheet by the bulletins.

Some call it worship sharing, others call it lectio divina (divine reading). Come to this open-hearted study of Quaker quotes; 12-12:30 Wednesdays 2nd, 9th, and 30th; Kenwood Isles. Light lunch to follow. Call Steve or Mary for more.

An excellent Quaker education opportunity! Four Doors to Meeting for Worship, a booklet by William Taber, describes four ways to access worship and experience the living Presence, and will be read together aloud and discussed at the next George and Elizabeth Watson Memorial Reading Group, here, Wed, April 9th at 7:00. Multiple copies will be available. No preparation needed. New or old to the Meeting, just show up!

Jim Bruener is hosting an informal, semi-programmed worship at the meetinghouse on Good Friday, April 18th, for those who would like to worship together. More details to come.

Men sought to help host an Easter brunch at 10:15 on Sun, April 20th. Able and willing to join in food preparation, serving, and/or cleanup? Contact Jim.

Looking ahead: Come to storytelling, 7:00, Thurs evening, April 24th, here at the meetinghouse. This informal, engaging evening – for newcomers and old-timers alike – is a delightful way to know and be known.

Zephyra and Roland Shepherd Scholarship applications and criteria are available on the long table in the east hall and are due April 27th. This scholarship for post-secondary education was started by the Shepherds in 1977. Applications should be mailed back to the meetinghouse or put in the Shepherd Scholarship file in the blue box.

A Northern Yearly Meeting retreat for high school Quaker youth is coming up, April 25 to 27 in Duluth. Friendly Adult Presences are needed.

With attention focused on the Keystone XL pipeline, the oil industry is quietly sending more and more tar sands oil across northern MN by pipe, through our forests and under our lakes and streams. Enbridge, the Canadian com-pany that owns the MN pipelines, has applied to dramatically increase the flow of oil through their newest line, the Alberta Clipper. A hearing on this increase will be Thurs, April 3, 3 p.m. in front of the MN Public Utilities Commission. Quakers, let’s turn out! Background sheets on the elevator table. For more or to carpool, contact Mary Jean.

Offering boxes are located on small tables near the meetingroom doors. Please give as you are able.

THE WIDER COMMUNITY

The American Friends Service Committee’s (AFSC) Film Series for its Healing Justice Program is underway! The next film, based on a recent killing in CA, is Fruitvale Station, April 10th at 6:30 pm, Faith Mennonite Church in Mpls. The series brings L/light to systems that perpetuate racism and to our role in changing them. After each film, AFSC’s Sharon Goens-Bradley, along with a member of the Quaker community, will facilitate a discussion. No admission fee; donations welcome. More info: sgoens(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)afsc.org or 651-789-3852. Films will be shown at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd St. Mpls. Remaining dates for films are May 8th and June 5th.

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) invites all Friends from the metro area who have a concern for racial justice to come to a gathering event Wed, April 16th, 5:30-8:30 pm (details about a meal TBA), at the AFSC office, 1671 Summit Avenue. Have you been to the national White Privilege Conference, the Overcoming Racism conference, or other anti-racism events? Are you wondering how to get involved in racial equity and justice work? Come listen to and share answers to a few questions: How did the conference(s) impact you? What do you want to do with your experience? What would you love to see happen next? What would engage you, or fill a longing that you have, around the creation of a society that works for everyone? In what ways, large and small, can we get started? FFI: Sharon Goens-Bradley, sgoens(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)afsc.org, 651-789-3852.

Nightingales Spring Gathering, Beaver Creek Reserve, Fall Creek, WI, April 11-13. Nightingales are mostly WI and MN Quakers who gather to sing three times a year. Sing Fri evening; Sat may include a sharing circle, hiking, work shifts, visiting, eating, and singing. Sun includes worship followed by lunch and clean-up (while singing.) Like to sing? Please come! It’s okay to come for all or part.

Play at Friends School: April 23rd at 7 pm – Mixed Reality explores identity and what it means to be bi-racial using movement, dialogue, and voice. This one-woman show about growing up as a multiracial individual is an opportunity for all of us to ask the questions: Who am I? What am I? What do I believe? Why do I believe? There is no charge.

Northern Yearly Meeting’s annual session, “What Canst Thou Say?” is coming Memorial Day weekend! A few paper registration and session information packets are available on the elevator table or contact the office for an electronic copy. Northern Yearly Meeting was created to provide support for and between worship groups and monthly meetings in the upper mid-west. Annual sessions offer times of fellowship, relaxation, worship, dancing, talent displays, workshops and interest groups. Want to know more? Ask Allen, Pat, Marilyn, Dave, John or Carolyn (recent past attenders.)

Workshop leaders are being sought for this year’s Northern Yearly Meeting session. Workshops and interest groups bring Friends together at NYM to share their passions and interests. Workshops begin with a presentation, often, but not necessarily, related to the theme for the year (What Canst Thou Say?). Ideally, the workshops collectively address issues of personal spiritual growth, building the Meeting community, and social action. They are scheduled from 1:30 to 3:30 on Saturday or Sunday. Please send your ideas! Include a description, your name and contact info by May 16.

MN Council of Churches will sponsor a luncheon with Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, Hedrick Smith: Who Stole the American Dream? Thurs, April 10, 12:00pm – 1:30pm at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, Mpls. Smith’s latest book is on income inequality in America. Smith will speak with former U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger about the American economic system and potential political and private fixes. If interested, email Jed(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)cauxroundtable.net.

Missed the Love Your Planet comedy show? Here’s the url; it’s about an hour long: youtube.com/watch?v=X7sGasih2nk

THE WIDER QUAKER COMMUNITY

The School of the Spirit, a Quaker ministry of prayer and learning, is holding a contemplative retreat in the manner of Friends next weekend, April 4-7, at the DeKoven Center in Racine, WI; led by Roger Hansen (Milwaukee Mtg) and Catherine Cox (Goose Creek (VA) Mtg). For more and to register: schoolofthespirit.org/retreats/. Rates start at $350; significant scholarship assistance available. For more: Michael Green, 1-919-929-2339 or info(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)schoolofthespirit.org.

Iowa Yearly Meeting’s mid-year meeting will be April 12-13 at Bear Creek Meetinghouse near Earlham, IA. The topic: Our Faith, Our Practice. Program and registration information posted.

OFFICE HOURS
Pat Jones will be in the office Wednesday from 2:00-5:00 and other times Wed, 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.