Minutes of Meeting for Business

Minneapolis Friend Meeting

August 12, 2018

[some information has been edited or deleted for publication on the web]

10:00 – 11:00 am–     Unprogrammed Meeting for Worship  11:00 am

Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business 

Attendance: John Kraft—Presiding Clerk, Stephen Snyder—Recording Clerk and 42 other Friends.

1.   Silent Worship 

2.  Agenda was approved

3.  Minutes of the Seventh Month 8, 2018 Meeting for Business were approved with the following amendment to the Stewardship Report Friends are encouraged to continue their normal pattern of giving so that Meeting can meet its ongoing financial obligations.  This will help the Stewardship Committee determine whether this reduced giving is a temporary fluke, or a problem we need to address.

4.  Ministry and Counsel Report/Annual Report  – S. Olson  Several friends have spoken to members of Ministry and Counsel about finding it difficult to settle into worship when people arrive late.  It can be very distracting to have others arriving for ten or more minutes after the designated start time for worship.  M&C understands that road construction has increased travel time and other factors sometimes arise that can make it hard to arrive on time. The Committee hopes friends will allow a little extra time for travel, and if you must arrive late, please enter this meeting room as quietly as possible understanding that worship is already in progress.  Discussion:  A couple of friends noted that late arrival at meeting is an ongoing problem in many meetings.  A most easy and effective method to address this matter is to have late comers wait outside the meeting room for the first 10-15 minutes or until the children leave.   Clerk suggested that Ministry and Counsel take this suggestion under consideration. 

M&C Annual Report  M&C works closely with three sub-committees—Care of Un-programmed Worship, Care of Semi-programmed Worship, and the Death and Memorial Committee.  Over the past year, M&C wrestled with how to best provide pastoral care following the retirement of the Director of Ministry and established procedures for continued pastoral care.  M&C offered a well-attended “Introduction to Friends” class with Welcoming and Outreach on Sunday afternoons and Tuesday evenings in March, 2018, and a mid-morning program “On Hallowing One’s Diminishments” which was well received.  It supported the summer meeting for worship, provided phone coverage on days when the Interim Meeting Coordinator was not in the office, organized two Clearness Committees for membership and four Care Committees and facilitated rides to meeting.  Pastoral care is an ongoing challenge for Ministry and Counsel as the committee is aware that others probably have needs and may not know how to best communicate them. Learning how to tend to the individual and collective sense of diminishment, fostering a greater sense of being one meeting, and addressing the difficulty in finding musicians to provide music for semi-programmed meeting for worship are other challenges.  In the coming months, M&C will offer several mid-morning programs beginning with one on September 30^th on the topic “Seasons of our Lives,” and will continue to explore ways to learn more about each other’s concerns and how to respond in a timely manner.  To stay connected to the leading of the Spirit, the committee begins each meeting with a brief reading followed by silent worship, and each meeting ends with silent worship.  Even though M&C is a strong committee, it is aware of the need to cooperate with others in the Meeting and to remain open to guidance from fresh winds of the Spirit. The five members of the Care of Un-Programmed Worship Committee have provided for the closers and microphone carriers for the early worship.  The quality of worship has been high, whether there is spoken ministry or not. One concern is the tendency of attenders to be scattered about the meeting room.  If friends sat closer together there might be more of a sense of a gathered or covered meeting.

T. Ward reported that the Death and Memorial Committee organized a memorial service in January for D. Magraw, a long-time member of Minneapolis Friends Meeting, and assisted with coordination of a service and reception for R. Gilman, a long-time member of Twin Cities Friends Meeting. A large turn-out was anticipated so Twin Cities Friends requested the use of our meeting house for the service. In January, during a Mid-Morning program L. Coffin explored 160 years of Meeting history by focusing on the “Quaker section” at Lakewood Cemetery where current members’ end-of-life plans can include Lakewood burial plots that are still owned by the Meeting.   In the past Death and Memorial Committee has worked closely with the Director of Ministry so Pat’s retirement had major implications for the committee. The committee has strengthened its ties to Ministry and Counsel and shared with them all the committee’s plans that guide its activities when a death has occurred.  The committee’s biggest challenge is to keep the meeting informed about how to contact the committee during a time of need. The contact information for the clerk of Death and Memorial is routinely disseminated along with other meeting officials.  The committee recognizes its need for the support of everyone in Meeting to provide meaningful support and guidance both at the time of an individual’s death and through their memorial service and beyond.  Discussion:  Friends expressed thanks to the Death and Memorial Committee for its conduct of the two memorial services, and for the work of M&C for its attention to the life of the Meeting.  Their prayerful attention to worship and other matters really helps strengthen our Meeting.  Friend reiterated that pastoral care is shared responsibility and invited everyone in meeting to reach out to friends in need.  Another friend pointed out that pastoral care is both an individual and corporate responsibility. Friends who are undertaking care for others should engage M&C as well.

5.       Piano Player Discussion – B. Mohr  The committee for Care of Semi-Programmed Meeting has the task of finding musicians three or more times per month for meeting for worship.  This used to be a pastoral meeting where every meeting for worship was programmed and included music.  Semi-programmed meeting came out of this tradition and music remains a central part of the worship experience for many members.  The committee is very appreciative of the music provided by our current volunteers, but they are often not available and it has proved difficult to find enough volunteers within meeting to provide music on a regular basis.  Therefore the committee requests approval to hire back up musicians for $50 per time for Sundays when volunteers within meeting are not available.  This would cost between $350—750 for the year which is less than the $800 included in the meeting budget for this purpose.  The committee has talked with several musicians who might be willing to play piano should meeting approve this proposal.  Discussion:  Although the Clerk tried to keep the focus on whether meeting is willing to hire outside musicians to provide music on a limited basis a number of issues emerged.  First, does meeting value having music during worship and who decides?   Several friends spoke of the value of music to their worship experience and noted that many friends come from traditions where they enjoyed singing hymns.  Another friend indicated support for the proposal in the short term but felt that music interrupts the centered worship experience and wondered if the time and effort put into finding musicians is a good use of the energy of friends.  Friend wondered if semi-programmed worship could just proceed without music on days when volunteers from within meeting are not available.  Second, is it fair to ask the Committee for Care of Semi-Programmed Meeting to provide musicians when not enough volunteers from within meeting have come forth to provide music.  One of the current volunteers spoke in favor of the request to hire outside musicians noting that volunteers have other responsibilities in meeting and often need to invest considerable time in practice before playing hymns.  Another friend described the request as a cry for a life preserver as the committee flows downstream with this issue.  Several friends expressed willingness to approve the request, at least on a short term basis, to assist the committee in its work.  Another friend noted that historically meetings have split over issues like pastoral versus unprogrammed meeting.  Today there are very diverse practices in the wider world for Quakers.  Friend expressed the hope that friends can stay in a loving space, go forward with an attitude of generosity and love for one another and not let the issue divide meeting.   Clerk noted that there did not appear to be unity on the proposal to hire outside musicians on a limited basis and asked friends to continue to hold these issues until a future meeting for business. 

6.  Transition Minute  Clerk read the proposed minute which essentially would bring the transition period following the retirement of the director of ministry to an end and have meeting go forward with the existing leadership structure.  Discussion:  Friend spoke with feeling against the proposed minute seeing a need to have a person in a pastoral position to assist leaders in meeting who are stretched with concerns such as the religious education program, music and other matters.  All friends’ voices should be heard and some are being ignored.   Another friend noted that it takes time, prayer and effort to be led by the Spirit. The Transition Committee has led friends in a process of discernment over many months and dealt with many issues.  What is left is for our community to address the highest concerns.  M&C is already addressing many of these concerns.  The proposed minute leaves open the possibility of looking at staff in the future.  Friend wondered if there are needs that are going unmet or not being addressed.  Who would friends approach if they have unmet needs and there is no Transition Committee?  Clerk responded that such matters can be taken to the presiding clerk or committees that usually address these matters.  Friend expressed agreement with the gist of the proposed minute, but saw the missing piece as an extended meeting for business to address feelings and emotions that may be blocking movement forward on this matter.  Friend noted that one proposal presented by the Transition Committee was to have a special called meeting for business just to address issues around the transition process. The clerk indicated that there did not seem to be unity around the proposed minute to bring the interim transition process to an end.  Clerk will try to find a time for a called meeting to address the matter further. 

7.  Sabbatical Funds – Liaison and Review Committee (L&R) – J. Raymond  Meeting for business in September 2017 approved setting aside existing sabbatical funds for Pat Jones to use in support of her transition from Director of Ministry to retirement. To date, Pat has only used some of the funds and has identified several retreats for the coming year which have been approved by the Liaison and Review Committee.  Additional opportunities will be approved by L&R following discussion with Pat.  Given that the transition for Pat is important and not to be rushed, L&R requests that the use of the remaining Sabbatical Funds (held in the Trustee Fund) be extended to March 31, 2020.  Any unused funds after that date will be returned to the meeting’s Sabbatical Fund.  Meeting approved the request.

8.  Other Reports

   a.  Naming of Nominating Committee  The Clerk recommended and meeting approved the naming of D. Jones and J. Lovestar to serve on Nominating Committee.

b.  Nominating Committee Report– A. Herther  Nominating Committee recommended and meeting approved L. Maupin to serve with J. Reimer as a Religious Education Coordinator, and S. Hoppe to serve on the Nursery Committee.  

9.  Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) Update  T.Wells updated friends on the arrival of the QVS volunteers, noted there will be a fundraising  festival from 4-7 pm at Twin Cities Friends Meeting on October 13^th, and expressed appreciation for friends’ response to its request for furnishings for the QVS house.

10.  Meeting for Business closed with a period of silence at about 12:30 pm.