September 4, 2016

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

10:00 AM meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Joanne Esser

Today’s picnic table conversation at 9:00: how mysticism informs Quaker activism. The topic for next week, Sept 11th, (and the last in the series): how Quakers got their name.

You are welcome at the potluck following the rise of worship today! Please come enjoy food and visiting, even if you didn’t bring anything! To regulars – look for ways to help – clear, wash, and put away tables and chairs, wash dishes, vacuum . . .

Fall camp brochures and registration forms are available on the table by the elevator (sorted by first name). Please pick yours up today to save postage costs and to have easy access to a wealth of information. Any remaining brochures will be mailed out Tues. Camp is October 1-2. Registrations due Thurs, Sept 15th.

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Next Sunday, business meeting will start, after worship, at 11:00. Next Sunday is the last Sunday on our summer schedule of one combined worship at 10:00. The school year schedule will resume on Sunday, Sept, the 18th: 9:00 unprogrammed worship; 10:15 adult program; 11:15 semi-programmed worship and first day school for children.

Calling All Musicians! Do you have musical gifts to share at semi-programmed worship? If you play an instrument or would be willing to lead singing, please consider offering preludes, to lead acapella singing, and/or piano accompaniment for hymns. Would you like to be part of an ad hoc choir? Worship Planning Committee is thinking to send out an email to such a choir when we are without an instrumental accompanist. The choir will learn hymns ahead of time and co-lead acapella singing. Contact Barbara to be a part.

Celebrate 60 Years of Fall Camp, now only four weeks away – Oct 1-2. Come to camp for as long as you are able – a morning, an afternoon, a day, a meal, for the variety show, the weekend, or any combination in-between! A rideshare sign-up is posted for part-time attenders. And speaking of the variety show – get to work on your act! Registrations for camp are due Sept 15th.

Your Help Needed at Camp! Three specialized volunteers are needed to make Fall Camp safe and fun: a lifeguard to supervise the pool time, (two hours on Sat afternoon, possibly again Sat evening); one person certified in CPR/AED and First Aid to be our “go-to person” should anyone need medical help at Camp; and someone to help Allen and Nettie lead a dance on Sat night. Share your talents! Contact Wina if you can meet any of these needs.

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

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

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Conference for Quakers in Pastoral Care and Counseling, “Centered in Wholeness: Body and Spirit,” at Quaker Hill in Richmond, IN, Sept 15-18. See QPCC.us for more.

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 at futurelearn.com/courses/quakers/1 Pat, Carolyn, Steve, 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.

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

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

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Mayim Rabim invites MFMers to a book discussion of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, (Michelle Alexander), here, Wed, Sept 14, 7 – 8:30 PM. The discussion will be informed by the Haggadah which states: “Whoever expands upon the story of the Exodus from Egypt is worthy of praise,” and “In each and every generation, a person is required to view the story of leaving slavery as his or her own story.” Also, A Jewish Study Guide to the New Jim Crow.

Native Americans from over ninety tribes including Lakota and Dakota from Standing Rock, Rosebud, and Lower Brule Lakota reservations, and First Nations from Canada, have gathered to protest construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline to transport crude oil from ND’s Bakken oilfields to Patoka IL. 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. Google Sacred Stone Camp for more.

United for Peace and Justice has been working to stop US military weapon sales to Saudia Arabia, a human rights violator currently engaged in committing deadly war crimes in Yemen. There is a brief window to stop the most recent sale. See http://www.unitedforpeace.org/tag/saudi-arabia/ for more and to easily contact your Congresspeople.

Every Church A Peace Church potluck Mon, Sept 19th, 6:30 at St. Joan of Arc, 4537 – 3rd Ave So, Mpls. The program: Human Rights Issues on the US/Mexican Border with Kathleen Ganley who has taught courses on Latino immigration at the U of MN and is very involved with the MN Immigrants Rights Action Committee (MIRAC).
Urgently needed basic supplies for refugees: Please help warmly welcome new neighbors by donating: shampoo, large pots or sauce pans with lids, brooms and dust pans, and alarm clocks. For more: mnchurches.org/refugeeservices/get-involved/donation-needs

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, Admin. Assistant, will be in 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.