August 21, 2016

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

10:00 AM meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Elizabeth and Andy Showalter and Judith James

Today’s picnic table conversation at 9:00: Who Is John Woolman?

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Read Thich Nhat Hanh’s, Living Buddha, Living Christ with Friends at the Watson Reading Group, next meeting on Thurs, Aug 25th at 7:00. All are welcome – new-comers and oldies; one-timers and regulars! Read aloud and discuss as we go along, so NO homework! Please come!

Every Sunday in the summer months, there is a 9 am picnic table discussion (inside if raining). A list of topics is by the bulletins – next week’s topic: Testimony of Simplicity.

Calling All Musicians! Do you have a musical gifts to share at semi-programmed worship. If you play an instrument or would be willing to lead singing, please consider offering your talents for preludes, leading acapella singing, and/or playing piano accompaniment for hymns. Contact Barbara with interest. Thank you!

THANK YOU to all who work to maintain and improve our building and grounds!

Minneapolis Friends Fall Camp is turning sixty! Celebrate 60 Years of Fall Camp, now only six weeks away. Brochures and registration forms are available on the table by the elevator – pick yours up today to help save postage costs! Registrations are due on or before Thurs, Sept 15th. Please come to camp for as long as you are able – a morning, an afternoon, a day, a meal, for the talent show, the weekend, or any combination in-between! A rideshare sign-up is posted for part-time attenders.

Fall Camp Memories and Photos Do you have photos from Fall Camp weekends of yore? Please bring a couple of your favorites for a display at the meetinghouse, (put your name on the back!) Include a note about the photo to explain what it is about! Do you have a special memory you’d like to share? Just drop off a note in the designated box on the elevator table.

Loaves and Fishes needs three sets of volunteers to serve dinner to folks living in the Powderhorn/ Little Earth area of Mpls. at Holy Rosary Church on Mon, Aug 29th. One set of volunteers helps with prep (cutting veggies, washing fruit, buttering bread, etc) from 2:00-4:00 pm, (4-6 people needed); another set prepares and serves and starts clean-up from 4:45 – 6:15, (20 people needed); the last crew cleans up: doing dishes, putting leftovers away, cleaning the stove, cleaning tables and chairs and the floor, (8-10 people needed). Please help with this meal if you are available! If you cannot come on the 29th, bring a batch of 3 dozen pieces of whole fruit to the meetinghouse on the 28th or to Holy Rosary before 4. Sign-up on the bulletin table.

Left something at the Four Rivers Friends picnic? Contact Cynthia to retrieve lost items.

OFFERING BOXES are located on small tables near both meetingroom doors.

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Ben Pink Dandelion is offering a free online, three-week course on the beginnings of Quakerism, starting Oct 3rd (but enroll any time.) Friends will need to register with Futurelearn (an easy process) which manages the course operation. Register and more information at futurelearn.com/courses/quakers/1 Pat, Carolyn, Stephen, Tom, and Roland have registered for this course which promises to be first-rate as well as free. Please tell Pat if you register too.

Friends General Conference 2016 Gathering Plenary speakers can now be heard online: Rex Ambler (http://www.fgcquaker.org/blog) and Nekima Levy-Pound (http://bit.ly/FGCNekima)

Conference for Quakers in Pastoral Care and Counseling, “Centered in Wholeness: Body and Spirit,” at Quaker Hill in Richmond, IN, Sept 15-18. Register by Aug 23rd for the early bird rate. See QPCC.us for more.

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a leading peace and justice organization working on five continents, seeks a General Secretary to lead this diverse organization into the next phase of its work, advancing its vision of a world in which lasting peace with justice is achieved through active nonviolence and the transforming power of love. See the website (www.afsc.org/jobs) for details and job description. Resumes and letters of interest should be sent to Wstreater(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)afsc.org and must be received by Sept 6, 2016. Electronic submissions are preferred.

Friends Committee on National Legislation: President Obama recently launched airstrikes in Libya, invoking the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. This law has allowed two presidents to justify military action around the world. In Jan 2017, it could continue and give our next president the power to wage war anytime, anywhere. When Congress has to vote on wars — and are accountable to their constituents — the U.S. is less likely to pursue military action. With the president acting alone, we have seen: special ops in 150 countries; drone strikes with countless civilian deaths; warrantless surveillance of Americans; indefinite detention in Guantanamo Bay. For more about contacting lawmakers to restore the integrity of the 1973 War Powers Act, google “FCNL Questions for Candidates: Endless War”.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Mayim Rabim, with Jewish Community Action, is hosting presentations and discussion on the US criminal justice system. MFMers are invited, first on Wed, Aug 31, 7 – 8:30 PM. Topics: racism and mass incarceration, historical perspectives, how Jewish sources can guide us, how we can help improve the system. On Wed, Sept 14, 7 – 8:30 PM, the conversation continues with The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, (Michelle Alexander) book discussion.

Hennepin County seeks households willing to commit one full year to its Zero Waste Challenge. Record how much waste your household produces every week for a year and, with support and advice of experts, recycle or compost as much as possible. Stipends offered to those who complete the full year AND Hennepin County gets deeper insights into the challenges and triumphs of dealing with household waste. Online applications due August 26: hennepin.us/zerowastechallenge.

Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline to transport crude oil from ND’s Bakken oilfields to Patoka, IL has recently been given approval by the US government. Last weekend, hundreds, primarily Lakota and Dakota from Standing Rock, Rosebud, and Lower Brule Lakota reservations, gathered to protest at the edge of the Standing Rock reservation in ND. The pipeline would travel through lands sacred to the Lakota people and cross under the Missouri, Mississippi, and Big Sioux Rivers. A spill, which can occur with any pipeline, would contaminate farmland and drinking water for millions. Protesters have succeeded in temporarily halting the beginning stages of construction. Google Sacred Stone Camp for more. A list of protest supplies requested at: facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100929011849618&set=p.10100929011849618&type=3&theater .

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, Thurs and Fri afternoons. 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.