March 19, 2017

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 AM meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, John Dunham and Dan Jensen

10:15 AM Choose your own exploration: Is there something you would like to discuss with Meeting people? A Quaker faith and practice topic? Current global condition? Sharing faith journeys? Exploring how day-to-day life is informed by Quaker testimonies? The possibilities are endless! Jeannette Raymond will facilitate a quick process to identify topics and to organize people into groups. Proposed topics welcome. The remaining time will be for discussion. Please arrive by 10:15.

11:15 AM meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Gerry Ronning, speaker; Nancy Lichtenstein, musician; care of meeting, Judith James

“Do I live in the power of that Life and Spirit that takes away the occasion of all wars?”

Come to a discussion / practice of having meaningful conversations with folks who disagree with you. Maybe it is a relative who supported a different presidential candidate than you did. Maybe it is someone in Meeting who has a very different view of Christianity than you do. How do we have meaningful dialogue in these situations? Role playing and perhaps “real” examples, we will also talk about how we might connect with people who seem so different from us in the broader community. Come help create the means to connection and understanding TODAY at 12:45 in the conference room.

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: the first of two programs on grief that Ministry and Counsel Committee is coordinating in response to Monthly Meeting’s request to help the Meeting deal with the grief around the retirement of Director of Ministry, Pat Jones. Guest speaker, grief educator, Ted Bowman, on Adaptive Caring: Care for Self and Others When Responding to Disruptive Changes; Caring communities are routinely tested when faced with disruptive news and changes. Ways of interpreting changes, coping, responding, and grieving vary widely. One size does not fit all! Further, rarely does only one change occur at a time. One’s personal situation often evokes another’s awareness of their own; and what is happening in our larger worlds enters our most intimate challenges. We live in intersections. In this brief interactive session, you will be given and will discuss various perspectives and tools for responding to disruptive changes. Adaptive caring will be emphasized. There will be a second mid-morning program at 10:15 on May 7th. You are urged to attend both!

There will be a clerks’ meeting next Sun, March 26th, at the rise of semi-programmed worship. If you, as clerk of a committee, are unable to attend, please send another representative from your committee. Contact David Woolley with questions.

Budget numbers at week 50 of our fiscal year: contributions – $99,000; budget for the year – $118,300. To meet our budget, we need $12,000 in additional contributions by March 31. Actual expenses may be somewhat less than budgeted.

Beyond the Divide will be shown HERE THIS WED, March 22nd, at 7:00. The film is about a Vietnam veteran and a peace advocate who, together in Missoula, MT, to forge a path to healing old wounds from the Vietnam era. Received nineteen film festival and several other awards when released in 2014. A discussion led by Jeff and focusing on the ways we might cross today’s political divide will follow. Refreshments will be served.

The Watson reading group – THIS Thurs, the 23rd, at 7 PM, here in the conference room. No need to read ahead – read Out of the Silence: Quaker Perspectives on Pastoral Care and Counseling together! First-timers and regulars, everyone welcome!

Young Adult Quakers (YAQs) will be gathering for a potluck March 30th at 6:30pm at the meetinghouse. RSVPs to Elizabeth are appreciated but not required. If you would like to be added to the email list contact Elizabeth.

Zephyra and Roland Shepherd Scholarship applications and eligibility criteria are available on the long table in the east hall and are due April 1st. This scholarship for post-secondary education of members or member’s children was started by the Shepherds in 1977. Applications should be mailed to the meetinghouse or put in the Shepherd Scholarship file in the blue box.

Yom Ha’Shoah/Holocaust Remembrance Day observance, here at MFM, Sun, April 23rd, 2:00. Though small in number, Quakers performed deeds of courage, conviction, and compassion during one of the darkest periods in history. Learn more in a talk by Judith Eisner, and listen to Yiddish music for meditation on violins, mandolin, bass, and tsimbl. Share thoughts and feelings as we contemplate the darkness and light in the human soul. Donations will go to Doctors Without Borders. Can’t make it on Sun? Twin Cities Mtg is offering the same program on Fri, Apr 21st, 7 PM at TCFM, 1725 Grand Ave in St. Paul.

CONGRATULATIONS to former long-time attender and annual visitor, Stephen Potthoff, whose new book, The Afterlife in Early Christian Carthage: Near-Death Experiences, Ancestor Cult, and the Archaeology of Paradise, is now available in hardback or e-version on Amazon! A paperback edition is coming. Stephen teaches religion at Wilmington College in Ohio.

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Northern Yearly Meeting’s newsletter submission deadline, April 2nd. Have you read something that was spiritually meaningful to you? Had some insight that you want to share? Want to let Friends know about an upcoming event, or movements of the Spirit in your Meeting? Write it up and send it to catli022(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)morris.umn.edu with “NYM Newsletter” in the subject line.

Twin Cities Meeting is looking for a new resident caretaker. See posted information for more.

A new coordinator is being sought for the Northern Yearly Meeting middle school program. See more at northernyearlymeeting.org/article/job-opening-for-nym-middle-school-coordinator. Application deadline is Apr 1.

Northern Yearly Meeting (NYM) high school program seeks speakers and a male co-leader: The programming theme this year is nonviolence. How is it currently valued? Historically practiced? How do Quakers navigate the complexity of a nonviolent stance? Particularly sought, those who can discuss the topic thoughtfully, allowing space for youths’ perspective. Also seeking a male co-leader. Email Bri, the current high school coordinator.

White Privilege Conference will be held in Kansas City April 27-30. Once again, Friends General Conference (FGC) will offer deeply discounted group rates for interested Quakers to attend, and Friends in Kansas City will provide hosting. Receive information as soon as registration opens through FGC by filling out and information form at: fgcquaker.org/register-2016-white-privilege-conference. More on the conference: whiteprivilegeconference.com/.

Love to sing? Nightingales, mostly Quakers from WI and MN, gather over a weekend three times a year to sing. The spring gathering, open to newcomers, is Fri, April 21 – Sun, April 23 at Beaver Creek Reserve, Fall Creek, WI. Details posted.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Register by March 20th (TOMORROW!) for a chance to purchase a $25 tree: treetrust.org/minneapolis-tree-sale-lottery

OFFICE HOURS: Carolyn VandenDolder will be in the office Wed, Thurs, and Fri. afternoons. Bulletin deadline is noon on Thursday.