July 23, 2017

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

10:00 – 11:00 AM meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Sarah McClellan, speaker; care of meeting, Judith James, Renae Bonde, and Tom Wells (mic)

But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NASV)

Take advantage of the lazy, hazy days of summer and linger for a cup of coffee, a nibble, and brief visit today after worship. Sign up to host coffee and conversation following worship this summer. The sheet is on the elevator table.

Pat Jones will be in the conference room from 11:30 – 1 TODAY should you wish to join her for reminiscing, discussion of retirement – hers and / or yours – or spiritual “opportunity” (waiting for God’s leading for the time together.) You may enter and leave at any point in this time.

THANK YOU to those who did all the back-breaking work to make the east side lawn fresh and lovely! Among the workers: Rae Beth, Betsy, Sarah, Clifford, Nancy, Ed, and Tom.

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Pat’s retirement celebrations will soon be upon us – Sept 10th to be exact! There will be expenses before the actual celebration. A designated fund has been set up to receive funds to cover expenses. Please consider contributing to this fund sooner rather than later. Make checks for Pat’s retirement celebration payable to Minneapolis Meeting with Pat’s retirement on the memo line.

Pat Jones’ Retirement Video: Pat has touched the hearts and lives of many here at the Meeting. Let’s tell her how much she means to us! Terry will video F(f)riends, individually or in a group, during the potluck on August 6. Thankful, sad, best wishes, the message is up to you. Please keep it short – 30 sec. to one minute. And practice your message beforehand. The compilation will be shown at Pat’s retirement celebration and then will be given to her as a gift. If you are unable to be filmed at potlucks but would like to be included in the video, contact Terry to see if other arrangements can be made.

Loaves and Fishes: Monday, July 31st is the next opportunity for MFM to help serve dinner to the people of the Phillips neighborhood at Holy Rosary Church, 2424 18th Av. S. Please help if you have a few hours between 1:30 and 7 PM and sign up for a shift: chopping veggies or prepping dessert fruit 1:30-4:30 PM; serving food 4:45-6:30 PM; clean up 5:30-7 PM. Fresh fruit donations for dessert are needed, too. Put it on your calendar. Sign-up sheet on the bulletin table.

Welcoming and Outreach will be hosting a neighborhood worship and an ice cream social on August 20th. Please come and help make guests feel welcome and invite your friends and neighbors to come too!

Joining the MFM Google Group is one of the easy ways be engaged with the Meeting. It is also a good tool for committees to communicate with those members who participate. To sign up simply send an email request to Roland. For more about the MFM Google Group, go to minneapolisfriends.org/google-group. To help keep abreast of Meeting news, bulletins, events, and monthly meeting minutes can be found on the website.

Congratulations to John who was one of three recipients of this year’s Friend School of MN’s Collins-Fieldseth Award for Exceptional Volunteerism.

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Towards Justice Together! War Tax Resistance and Organizing Against State Violence. Friday, Aug. 4th at Twin Cities Friends Meeting 1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul. Potluck at 6 PM; overview of history, reasons, and practice of war tax resistance including info on redirecting tax dollars to resistance efforts instead of weapons at 7 PM. See flyer on the elevator table for more.

The memorial service for Don Irish will be held Sat, Aug 5th, 2-4:00 pm at Friends School of Minnesota, 1365 Englewood Ave, St. Paul. Donations of chocolate and/or peanut butter cookies (Don’s favorites!) for the reception following welcomed.

The American Friends Service Committee’s Summer Freedom School will be held August 1-5 at Twin Cities Friends Meeting. Volunteers are sought, primarily to help out with lunch. If you’re available and interested, please contact Sharon Goens-Bradley at sgoens(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)afsc.org, or 651-383-3505. If you know of anyone ages 16-23 who might want be interested send them to afsc.org/event/twin-cities-freedom-school-1 for more. You can read an article written by Sara Osman and Miraf Kebede, AFSC’s youth leaders, written in response to the Yanez verdict: afsc.org/blogs/news-and-commentary/mn-youth-leaders-respond-to-philando-castile-verdict .

From Friends Committee on National Legislation: This August, bring your faith and witness to members of Congress while they are back in Minnesota during the congressional summer recess. Recent action alerts: cqrcengage.com/fcnl/action?0 or sign up to receive lobby support this summer at: fcnl.org/updates/your-quaker-summer-911

Nightengales will gather Friday evening July 28 through Sunday lunch, July 30 in Stoughton, WI for a weekend of fun and singing (and a few chores). All are welcome; details are posted.

Diane Randall is one of the featured speakers at Earlham School of Religion’s Leadership Conference August 11-13th. Diane will speak about how being a Quaker has helped her cultivate and nurture entrepreneurial leadership within and outside an organization. Using her own story of leading Friends Committee on National Legislation, she will offer ideas on how we sustain our sense of calling and community in a challenging environment. More at esr.earlham.edu/news-events/events/leaders17

Register for People Camp, Friends for a Nonviolent World’s week-long experience of cooperation, community living, and exploration, Aug 13-19 at a comfortable and accessible facility on a lake. Theme: “What Do We Do Now: Organizing for Resistance in a Changing Political Climate.” Workshops and children’s programming in the morning; interest groups, music, recreation and fellowship the rest of the day. Great for all ages! Shared tasks make camp work. Talk with Nancy Helfrich – in person via phone or email – to hear more or go to bity.ly/fnvwPCx .

Watch this week’s Quaker Speak on Narrative Theology: quakerspeak.com/narrative-theology-quaker-histories-biographies

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Ranae was recently featured on KFAI, speaking about climate transition and the upcoming National Transition Gathering: kfai.org/catalyst-politics-culture/playlists/20170714 . National Transition Gathering, Macalester College, St. Paul, July 27-30. Transition is an international grassroots movement to prepare for climate change, to live more sustainably, and to strengthen all aspects of communities in the climate crisis. Speakers include: Paul Muessig (MN Pollution Control Agency), Ranae Hanson (MCTC) on climate grief, and Leslie McKenzie organizer of neighborhood-based Longfellow Transition group. More at transitiontwincities.org

Friends for a Non-Violent World is co-sponsoring a training led by American Civil Liberties Union’s Jana Kooren to learn about constitutional rights when filming and photographing the police: Thurs, Aug. 3rd, 6-8 PM, St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 519 Oak Grove St, Mpls. A slideshow, put together by the ACLU, gives you a quick preview of the training. aclu.org/know-your-rights/photographers .

March against Keystone XL in Nebraska! On August 6th, meet in Lincoln, NE for the March to Give Keystone XL the Boot! The march comes on the eve of a week-long public hearing process where the NE Public Service Commission will consider whether to approve KXL. There is a bus from Minneapolis to the march leaving on Aug 5th. Get on board! Tickets are pay-what-you-can. More at: mn350.yapsody.com/event/index/118476/mn-to-nebraska-bus-to-give-kxl-the-boot

The annual FLOW Northside Art Crawl is next weekend, July 27-29: northmpls.org/flow2015

Host families sought: Greenheart International and AFS Intercultural Exchange, as well as other agencies, are searching for volunteer host families for international students. One student seeking placement through Greenheart is George from Romania. George is the recipient of the prestigious U.S. State Department FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange) scholarship. He enjoys doing volunteer service, debate, singing, student government, reading, and writing prose. His English is quite good, he has medical insurance, and his own spending money. A volunteer host family provides a room (may be shared), meals, and a caring environment for the student. George would arrive August 16 and will stays through early June while he attends the local public high school. For more info about hosting through Greenheart, contact Mary Armstrong at 952-657-3406 /armstrong.mary(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)mac.com / ccigreenheart.org . For more information about hosting through AFS, see afsusa.org

OFFICE HOURS

Pat Jones’ work week is Wed-Sun. She will be in the office Wed. from 1:00-4:00 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.

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The Transition Committee would like your input on a refined proposal about how some forms of communication might be handled by an assistant clerk-type of position upon Pat Jones’ retirement. This is only for the transition phase, until the Meeting discerns a long-term plan for the aspects of meeting life, decision-making, and coordination handled by the Director of Ministry. Here is the proposal, discerned over the course of two business meetings and summarized by recording clerk, Stephen Snyder. If you would like to give the ad hoc Transition Committee your input, please contact any or all of the committee members: Roland, Jeannette, Tom, Maddi, Renae, Evelyn.

Sense of the Meeting regarding the assistant clerk position

The recording clerk senses there is unity on the following points based on the seasoning that occurred during the June and July MFB.

1. In the absence of a director of ministry, there is a need for a position with responsibility to provide support for committees and coordinate communication among the committees and clerks in the meeting.

2. There is concern that the position as initially described is too burdensome and detailed and that the person in this position needs some flexibility to discern how best to meet the needs for coordination and communication.

3. The person nominated to be assistant clerk should be a Friend with extensive experience and institutional memory regarding the Meeting.

4. During the transition this will be an unpaid position.

5. The Meeting is undergoing transition and we need to give the role of the assistant clerk time to evolve, proceed in faith and remain open to the leadings of the Spirit.

Proposed Minute based on sense of the Meeting above

Assistant Clerk

To assist in the transition, the Meeting asks the Nominating Committee to nominate one experienced member of the Meeting to serve as assistant clerk with the following initial responsibilities.

1. Encourage and facilitate communication among the meeting committees and the clerk. The assistant clerk will use discernment in determining when and how often attendance at committee meetings is needed.

2. Call a meeting of the committee clerks at least once per year for purposes of education and communication. May call additional meetings as the need arises.

3. Assist the clerk of Meeting with other tasks based on mutually agreed need and ability.

Note: The position description is written in broad language to give flexibility to the clerks as to how best to proceed given time and talents.