March 27, 2016

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 AM meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Roland Barrett

10:15 AM Monthly Meeting for Business and Quaker Process with John Kraft and clerk, David Woolley

11:15 AM meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Barbara Mohr, speaker; Nancy Lichtenstein, musician; care of meeting, Clifford Goltz

The end of March marks the end of the Meeting’s fiscal year. If you have outstanding reimbursements for expenses incurred in the 2015-16 fiscal year, please submit your receipts and a completed reimbursement request form (available in the lid of the blue box) to your committee clerk for approval. Clerks, please place approved request forms in the Reimbursements folder.

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

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 service on committees 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 and life 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.

Next Sunday, you are welcome to the potluck at the rise of semi-programmed worship.

Adult program next Sunday, April 3rd, at 10:15: Get-to-know-you games! Come to this informal time of light-heartedness!

Adult Program Committee wants feedback on the past year of programs. We have put together a survey so we can better meet the needs of members and attenders. The survey is available online at http://goo.gl/forms/MqZCccg5a5 . Paper copies are available on the elevator table. You can respond until April 2nd.

Caring for Creation Tip of the Week: Check out savingourplanet.net for a welcoming portal to resources for earth-care. You will find links to movies and short clips, education materials for children and adults, suggestions for actions, information about climate refugees, and links to groups like 350.org, The Transition Network, World Population Balance, I Matter Youth, and more. This growing site promises to be a useful gateway, no matter what aspect of earth-care you are called to.

A memorial service for Adolph Burckhardt will be held here on Sunday, May 15, at 2 pm.

Minneapolis Meeting Fall Camp is turning sixty! Save the dates Oct 1st and 2nd to trek to Camp Courage and celebrate the years of community, friendship, and fun.

Friends General Conference 2016 Gathering advance programs have arrived. Early registration, online or via phone, opens April 1. Anyone who registers by April 10 has an equal opportunity to get the workshop and housing of their choice. View the information online by googling: 2016 FGC gathering advance program. Find paper copies on the elevator table along with information about the 2016 Northern Yearly Meeting, Spiritual Deepening – Bringing the Full Depth, Joy and Fire of Quaker Faith into Our Lives.

Offering boxes are located on small tables near the meetingroom doors. With one more week left in the fiscal year we are $11,298 short of our budget goal of $114,838. We received almost twice our weekly average last week, but still have a ways to go. Thank you for your sustaining generosity. Roland – Stewardship and Finance Committee

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

The Northern Yearly Meeting newsletter’s new editor, Elizabeth Showalter, is eagerly seeking items. Poetry, articles about your faith-journey, new insights or happenings in Quakerism, Quaker jokes. Submission deadline, April 10th.

Embracing Our Young Women, an organization started by Nettie Smith and others to support young women living on the North Side, is seeking used, functional sewing machine donations. Contact Nettie.

Aimee McAdams (of Twin Cities Meeting) recently traveled to Peru for the Friends World Committee for Consultation Plenary. The conference gathered 320 Friends from 37 countries, 77 Yearly Meetings, 8 independent Monthly Meetings, and 2 worship groups. Aimee will talk about her experience of the conference and Peru on Fri, April 8th at TCFM (1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul). Potluck at 6:15pm, program at 7pm. All welcome!

Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Mid-Year Meeting, Understanding Islam, Overcoming Fear, will be April 9 and 10 in Iowa. A schedule and registration information is posed. Jim, Clifford, Steve and Mary usually attend.

The School of the Spirit offers Inner Journey, Outer Journey, a contemplative retreat in the manner of Friends next spring, April 21-24 at the DeKoven Center in Racine, WI. Brochures available on the long table. Or see schoolofthespirit.org

Healing Minnesota Stories (HMS) Sacred Sites Tour Sat, April 30th, 11 – 3. Visit sacred sites in the vicinity of B’dote, the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. Tours offer an opportunity to learn, from Native story-telling perspectives, parts of Minnesota history too-often ignored. Register at: spinterfaith.org/healing-minnesota-stories/educational-events.html Six people from Minneapolis Friends have registered. Questions? Ask Nettie.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

The annual White Privilege Conference will be in Philadelphia, April 14‑17. Friends General Conference provides a significant discount to Quakers who register through FGC, fgcquaker.org/wpc . Register soon! whiteprivilegeconference.org .

Fundraiser for Syrian Refugees next Sun, April 3, 3:00. Silent auction, coffee and treats, speakers: Keith Ellison and Dr. Aref Al-Kali of Syrian American Medical Society. Macalester Plymouth United Church, 1658 Lincoln Ave, St. Paul.

Recovering from Religion: Toxic Theology, PTSD and the Road to Healing, April 6-9, Loft Literary Center, Mpls. Religion plays a major role in the lives of millions, especially in formative years. Sometimes this formation is positive but often it is not. Toxic theology, any theological system that fosters trauma or abuse, is too common in the Christian Church experience. Explore the negative impacts and the ways in which we can heal from this trauma: micahprays.org/events/conferences.htm

“A Relationship Transformed: Jewish Gratitude for Catholic Initiative: Reflections on the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate” Sun, April 17th, 4:00 – 5:30, here at the meetinghouse with Yiscah Brachah of the Jewish Community Resource Center. In 1965 the Second Vatican Council passed Nostra Aetate [In Our Times], a Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions. This signaled a significant change in attitude toward non-Christian religions, with a special focus on Jews. The document, which could have been relegated to a shelf, was brought to life with subsequent initiatives.

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.