January 10, 2016

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 AM meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Gayle McJunkin

9:45 AM worship with attention to business: David Woolley, clerk; Tom Ward, recording clerk

11:15 AM meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Rick VandenDolder, speaker; care of meeting, Sarah McClellan

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Upcoming Adult Programs:

Jan 17th at 10:15: Simplicity. Discussion and sharing on Douglas Gwyn’s book, A Sustainable Life, and where simplicity, long-embraced by Quakers, has an important place. Discussion led by Sandy Olson and Elizabeth Showalter.

Jan 24th at 10:15: sharing quotes that have been meaningful to you in your spiritual journey. Bring a meaningful quote and take the opportunity to hear parts of one another’s spiritual journey in small group sharing. Quotes that are written out will be collected at the end of the time together and posted somewhere in the meetinghouse. Facilitated by Stephen Snyder.

Caring for Creation tip of the week: Take a few moments once a week to make a list of all the errands you need to do, and see if you can batch them into one trip. Not only will you be saving gasoline, but you might find yourself developing better time-management skills!

Friendly Meals are again being organized for February, March, and April, 2016! Friendly meals are designed to be mixers. Sign up for all three months / meals, (which means agreeing to host once,) or sign up as a substitute / on-call participant. Hosts will email the group assigned to them to set a date, provide an entree and coordinate what others are bringing. Other participants bring salad, drinks, appetizer or dessert. Keitha of Welcoming and Outreach Committee will mix and match those who sign up so it is a new group (as much as possible) every meal. If your family – including children – would like to participate, please tell Keitha. Flyers with more and the sign up sheet are on the elevator table. Sign-up deadline is Jan 17.

The George and Elizabeth Watson Discussion Group will meet Thurs, Jan 28th at 7 PM. We will read together and then discuss another chapter of Karen Armstrong’s book on compassion. No homework, all are welcome to come!

Northern Yearly Meeting will hold its interim session here at Minneapolis Meeting this coming March 11-12. Plan to come to this time of meeting, greeting, worshiping, eating, and doing a little business. And consider if you can host overnight guest(s) on Fri night or bring food for snacks and lunch on Sat. For more or to volunteer, contact Carolyn.

Pat Jones is available to meet with Friends about Meeting business or personal, family, or spiritual concerns on Wednesdays and Sundays. Please contact her at the meetinghouse: 612-926-6159 or PatJones(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org . She can meet with you at the meetinghouse, your home or workplace, or other. Pat encourages you to call her at home in cases of emergency such as serious hospitalizations or deaths, but not for regular business or non-emergency concerns.

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

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Friends School of MN will host a Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration 7:00 on Friday, Jan 15th at O’Shaghnessy Auditorium at St. Catherine University. This annual all-school event explores the Quaker values of integrity and justice through a variety of songs, dances, and multimedia and spoken word performances.

Northern Yearly Meeting will host a high school retreat Jan 22 – 24 at Twin Cities Friends Meeting, 1725 Grand Ave, St Paul. Drop off starting at 6:30 pm Fri, Jan 22nd and pick up Sun, Jan 24th after worship at noon. The weekend will include: Theme “Understanding Privilege and Identity”, ice skating/winter fun, games and activities, service (tbd), laughter, and joy! Kindly Adult Presences are being sought for part or all of the weekend. If interested – adults or highschoolers, both – contact Brianna. For more about the retreat, visit http://www.nymyouth.org/.

The Friends General Conference Gathering will be July 3rd-9th in St Joseph, MN. More than a thousand Friends of all ages from across North America are expected for a week of worship, workshops, recreation, fellowship, and much more. Check out MFM’s Facebook post of a video about the Gathering (and “like” MFM’s Facebook while you are there!)

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Dr. William Beeman, an internationally known expert on the Middle East and the Islamic World, and chair of the anthropology department at the U of MN, will speak about current developments in the Middle East, interpreting them and their implications in the larger frame of world events. Sat, Jan. 16th, 9:30 AM (refreshments,) 10:00 AM Presentation and Discussion, Southdale Library, 7001 York Ave S, Mpls. More at mepn.org .

For white Friends who want to connect with other white people working on racial justice, the relatively new MN chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ MN) has a public meeting on Sat, Jan 16th, 11:00am-12:30pm, at First Universalist Church, 3400 DuPont Ave S, Mpls. SURJ MN is a secular group but there are a number of people of faith who are active in it.

Eyes on the Pies – Sweet Potato Comfort Pies, a catalyst for caring and building community, will be held on Sun, Jan 17th, 2-4 PM at Calvary Lutheran Church, 7520 Golden Valley Road in Golden Valley. This special weekend of service allows participants to engage one another by sharing and listening to each other’s authentic stories and then gifting 87 (the age Dr. King would have been this year) delicious sweet potato comfort pies to people in the community whom you want to celebrate. Jim Lovestar and Ed Souther attended last year and highly recommend the event. To register and for more, visit Sweet Potato Comfort Pie on Facebook, or call (612) 865-1787.

The annual White Privilege Conference will be in Philadelphia, April 14-17. A number of Quaker groups, organizations, and yearly meetings are supporting this year’s WPC. Friends General Conference is again able to provide a significant discount to Quakers who pre-register through FGC, fgcquaker.org/wpc . Registration is expected to open on Martin Luther King Jr Day. Information about the conference itself can be found at: whiteprivilegeconference.org .

OFFICE HOURS
Pat Jones’ work week is Wed-Sun. She will be in the office Wed. 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.