May 25, 2014

10:00 AM meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Sally Wiedeman, speaker; Nancy Lichtenstein, musician; care of meeting, Clifford Goltz

TODAY

Today is the beginning of the summer schedule – a single worship at 10:00. Stay for some relaxed social time at the rise of worship today! Next Sunday’s worship will be unprogrammed with a potluck at the rise of worship.

Child care today is in the lower level with Susie Kanemitsu.

MEETING MATTERS/CALENDAR

Next week, please come to the monthly potluck at the rise of worship! 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 label your pot-luck item/s.

Friends are reminded to tell the closer of announcements before worship so the closer might consider priorities and timing. Friends are also encouraged to place announcements in the printed bulletin. Bulletin deadline is the Thurs preceding.

Make worship this summer a really friendly affair! Our summer schedule is a single worship at 10:00. One of the things most people appreciated about the experience of this single worship last summer was the opportunity to visit with one another over a cup of coffee and a little tid-bit at the rise of worship. Friends are invited to help support this community-building time by hosting a social hour this summer. Bring finger food, set up coffee and hot water, visit, then do light clean-up afterwards. Ideally there will be two people for each social hour so the burden will be light. PLEASE SIGN UP if you are willing and able on the sign-up sheet on the library table.

Lunch Bunch will meet Wed, May 28th, 11:45 at Presbyterian Homes. RSVP to Louise by Tues, May 27th . If you are available in the middle of the day, please come! It is a great opportunity to deepen relationships with and bring news to those not able to come to worship every Sunday.

There will be a meeting for all current committee clerks Sun, June 8th, at the rise of business meeting. Bring a bag lunch and/or simple food to share.

The Adult Program Committee is seeking your ideas! Who would you recommend to offer an adult program to the meeting? It might be someone within Minneapolis Meeting, someone else who is Quaker, someone else entirely, or someone with an organization you particularly love.

Minneapolis Friends Meeting is looking for someone to clean the meetinghouse on a weekly basis. Hours are flexible, about 4 a week.

Building on the momentum of the Exploring Together event held at Twin Cities Friends Meeting in March, Friends School of MN is hosting a community meeting for worship at Friends School on Sun, June 1st, 1 – 2:00pm. All meeting members/ attenders and the school community are invited. Area Friends will tour Friends School with Lili Herbert, Head of School while school families attend a short (half hour) “Introduction to Quakerism” session. Then all will come together for a half-hour of worship. Please come!

American Friend’s Service Committee’s Film Series ends Thurs. June 5 with Anne Braden: Southern Patriot – a first person documentary about the extraordinary life of an American civil rights leader. This series brings L/light to systems that perpetuate racism and our role in disrupting them. After each film, AFSC’s Sharon Goens-Bradley, along with a member of the Quaker community, facilitates a discussion. No admission fee. More info: sgoens(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)afsc.org or 651-789-3852. Films shown at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd St. Minneapolis, 6:30-9:00 pm.

Offering boxes are located on small tables near the meetingroom doors. Please give as you are able. Copies of the new budget are available on the elevator table.

OUR WIDER COMMUNITY

Quaker values and personal financial decisions: Quakers have a long tradition of building our lives around our values. Beliefs lead to action. How do we handle our money? It is important to financially care for ourselves and our loved ones, but how can we do that in ways that also support Quaker values? Twin Cities Friends Meeting is hosting two workshops on this topic. Larry Jalowiec, Director of Friends General Conference Stewardship Services, and Craig Foor, a certified financial advisor with Everence, a Mennonite financial organization, will facilitate this program. Both workshops will be held at Twin Cities Friends Meeting (1725 Grand Ave., St. Paul). There is no fee for either workshop. Contact Bob Nechal, bnechal(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com, if you need childcare or have other questions. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY!

Estate planning – Saturday, May 31st, 1 – 5:30: Good estate planning should include advance medical directives, powers of attorney, and other important documents that care for your loved ones, reflect your values, and support the causes you believe in. The workshop provides an overview of the financial considerations involved in the planning process and how to best use various annuities, trusts and other vehicles to help reduce your tax exposure and maximize your gifts to family and charity. It will also help you overcome procrastination!

Stewardship investing – Sunday, June 1st, 1:30 – 3:30: Saving and investing is a hallmark of good stewardship, but how well do we connect our financial decisions with our values? This workshop will help you think about the values that are important to you and how they can be reflected in the investment decisions you make.

Friends General Conference: Let Love Be the First Motion. Taste the vibrancy and the variety that is available by immersing yourself in a community of Friends for a week at the Friends General Conference Gathering at California University of PA, south of Pittsburgh, June 29-July 5. The Gathering is packed with opportunities, from small group morning workshops to public evening plenaries; programs for children, teens and young adults. Opportunities for worship permeate the Gathering – indoor and outdoor; large groups and small. More at fgcquaker.org/connect/gathering. Registration deadline, May 31.

Friends United Meeting Triennial: A Great People to be Gathered in Christ, in Community, in Mission, June 11th – 15th at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, IN. The keynote Johnson Lecture will be given by Richard J. Foster – Quaker author, theologian and founder of Renovaré. Details at: fum.org/friends-united-meeting-triennial-2014/

Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) will hold annual sessions July 22-27 at Scattergood Friends School in West Branch IA. A tentative agenda and registration are posted. (Please make copies and leave the original.)

Friends Committee on National Legislation drafted a Sense of the Congress Resolution that you can ask your legislator to co-sponsor as a way of publicly declaring his/her commitment to addressing climate disruption. Read about FCNL’s approach to addressing our climate crisis along with a link to the resolution and ways to contact your legislators at: fcnl.org/issues/energy/call_to_conscience_on_climate_disruption/

Middle East Peace Now: “Israel – ‘the only Democracy in the Mid-East’ – Is it?” 9:30 AM, May 31st, Southdale Library. Israel and the U.S. consistently refer to Israel as “the only democracy in the mid-east”. We are going to take an in-depth look to see if it really is a democracy. This PowerPoint presentation by Alex Vella deals mainly with Palestinian citizens of Israel and the unequal treatment they face under Israeli law. More at www.mepn.org.

OFFICE HOURS

Pat Jones will be in the office 2-5 on Wednesday and at other times on Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sunday.

Carolyn Sherer VandenDolder, the Admin Assistant, will be in Wed. afternoon and Fri. Bulletin deadline, noon Thurs. Bulletin items can be phoned in to the office, emailed or written and placed in the bulletin file in the blue box.