February 15, 2015

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 AM meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Sandy Olson

10:15 AM The Quaker version of Interfaith Power and Light’s “Preach-In”. A reading, queries and small group discussions on climate change and our response to it. Facilitated by Peace and Social Concerns and Ministry and Counsel Committees

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

“It would go a great way to caution and direct people in the Use of the World, that they were better studied and known in the Creation of it. For how can [people] find the Confidence to abuse it, while they should see the Great Creator stare them in the Face, in all and every Part thereof?”
—William Penn in The Fruits of Solitude

Nursery care is available. Please inquire (Pat Jones or Jeannette Raymond) if it is needed during unprogrammed worship. After 10:00, just go straight to the nursery downstairs where Betsy will be ready to receive children.

First day school runs concurrently with semi-programmed worship. Children begin in worship and then leave with their teachers after the first hymn. Teachers this week are Allen and Annette.

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Liaison and Review Committee oversees the work of the Director of Ministry, as well as keeping an eye on general personnel processes in the Meeting. Periodically the committee asks for feedback on the perceived duties and performance of the Director of Ministry. Friends are asked to fill out a survey to provide such feedback. Pick up a paper copy and return it to Or pick up a paper copy of the survey and return it to Suzanne, Gayle, Barbara, or Ranae or go online to: surveymonkey.com/s/MFM_Directory_of_Ministry_Survey . The results of the survey may help in developing goals for the Director of Ministry in the coming year and will aid in anticipating some of the future needs of MFM. Deadline for survey submissions – paper and online – is February 28.

Next Sunday, Feb 22nd, at 10:15: Northern Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice draft chapter on Equality. Equality is a historic testimony of Friends, and this chapter is a contemporary upper midwestern attempt at articulating the testimony. We will read through it together and compile our comments to send on to the Faith and Practice Committee. Copies of the draft chapter are online at www.northernyearlymeeting.org, and paper copies are available on the bulletin table.

The George and Elizabeth Watson Memorial Discussion Group will meet this Weds, Feb. 18, 7 pm. We will read discuss Will Taber’s article, “The Lamb’s War and Climate Change” from the current issue of Friends Journal. Everyone is welcome!

Fall Camp will be October 10 and 11 this year at Villa Maria, scheduled to avoid conflicting with MEA. An alternate time for October’s meeting for business will be arranged if it is crucial that we have one.

The Meeting is seeking a custodian to clean the meetinghouse, a paid position – approximately 4 hours of work per week. Interested? Contact the office.

The draft of a proposed planning process to care for the future of the Meeting is available on the website: minneapolisfriends.org/2015/01/11/care-of-the-future/ Friends are encouraged to take a look and hold the Meeting’s planning process and its future in prayer and reflection. Opportunities for participation along the way are outlined in the draft. Comments and questions for now can be directed to Jeannette, Gayle, Pat or Ranae.

Offering boxes are located on small tables near the meetingroom doors. If you would like to automate your financial contributions, please talk to Roland, clerk of Stewardship.

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Lectio Divina, or, as Quakers call it, worship sharing, on a text from Scripture or Quaker Faith and Practice. We are invited to join a group at Kenwood Isles for this, then a simple lunch, Thursdays, Feb 19th, 26th, and March 5th, at noon.

Friends for a Non-Violent World’s annual meeting – reviewing the past year’s accomplishments, providing a look forward and electing new members to the board of directors – will be next Sunday, Feb 22, 1:30, at Twin Cities Friends Meeting in St. Paul. This is a great opportunity for FNVW constituents, including Minneapolis Friends, to learn more about what FNVW is doing and to participate in FNVW’s future. There will also be discussion about how to respond to President Obama’s policy and military initiative against ISIS. As background, consider reading: “Obama’s request for congressional authorization to fight the Islamice State” (The Washington Post); “Obama’s party threatens alliance against ‘carte blanche’ power to wage Isis war” (The Gaurdian); “Here’s Why Obama’s Request For War Limits Does Nothing To Limit War” (The Huffington Post).

AFSC Freedom School debrief, Tues, Feb. 24, 6-8 pm, at the AFSC office, 1671 Summit Ave, St. Paul. Some of the youth leaders and youth who participated in the December Freedom School will talk about their experience at the recent pilot program.

Friends General Conference (FGC) Gathering will be held July 5-July 11, 2015, at Western Carolina University in the Smoky Mountains. The Gathering is a lively and rich week of many, many options in worship, workshops, kids program, speakers, films, art, bookstore, etc. Friends come from all over the U.S. and Canada. Info at FGCGathering.org. Registration begins April 1 and financial aid is available, especially to Friends who apply early. If you are considering helping plan the Gathering in 2016 – take this opportunity to experience the event!

Friends General Conference Gathering is coming to Minnesota in 2016! A Gathering Committee is being formed to help plan and coordinate the week-long, spiritually-grounded, lovingly inclusive, joyous, challenging, nurturing event. If you are interested in helping, fill out the Expression of Interest Form online at FGCquaker.or/gathering-committee. More information is posted on the long bulletin board. The first meeting is in St. Paul on May 1 and 2.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

John Cutler is performing in “The Woman in Black” at YellowTree Theatre in Osseo through March 8. Info at www.yellowtreetheatre.com.

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.