December 16, 2018

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Bill Hendricks; Renae Bonde (mic)

10:15 – 11:00 Tish Jones, poet, performer, educator, and organizer from St Paul, will perform some of her poems with a large amount of time reserved for questions and answers.

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Scott Chapman, speaker; Kate Coon, musician; care of meeting, Clifford Goltz

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
–Step 11 of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

Leah and Friends for a NonViolent World. Leah is FNVW’s new Volunteer Engagement Specialist. She started at FNVW on Dec 4.

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: Feel the Christmas love! Join in song, conversation, and refreshments with all ages. Bring finger-food snacks, juices, and musical instruments as you wish.

The Winter Gift is a one-time contribution, outside the general budget, that the Meeting makes to chosen organizations. Monthly Meeting approved this year’s gift to go to: Doctors without Borders to help fund their work with Rohingha refugees from Myanmar; Honor the Earth which uses indigenous wisdom to raise awareness and support for indigenous environmental issues; and Better Angels, a bipartisan citizen’s movement to unify our divided nation. Friends may contribute to the winter gift through December by writing a check to Minneapolis Meeting and putting “winter gift” in the memo line.

Participate in friendly conversations and good food through Friendly Meals, opportunities to build community and to help us get to know each other informally, including those new to Meeting. Friendly Meals, a series of meals in participant homes, will happen in February, March and April 2019. There are two options when signing up:
*All in: you participate in three meals, hosting one of them. The three meals, one each month, will be attended by three different groups of assigned people (remember, this is a mixer-uper!).
*On call: you can’t commit to three meals but want the chance to participate. Your name will be placed on a substitute list to fill in for those unable to attend a particular meal.
*Sign-up deadline is January 5;
You may sign up as an individual or pair (significant others, older children, or if you’re an individual who may not have room to host six people, you can pair up with someone who can host and then you can attend the other two meals together.)
A more detailed description is available on the elevator table. Sign-up sheets will be on there too. There will be two sheets – one for All-in and one for On-call. Friendly Meals can be very flexible arrangement – the meal could be breakfast, lunch or dinner. And if the month you are assigned to host is inconvenient, you may coordinate a time that is better for you.
Friendly Meals are Coordinated by the Welcoming and Outreach Committee. Call or email Keitha with questions.

There will be a service of remembrance for Nancy Lichtenstein on Sunday December 30 at 1 PM at the meetinghouse. Contact Tom Ward if you are interested in helping with the service.

Read Primitive Quakerism Revived by Paul Buckley at the Watson reading group this Tues, Dec 18th at 7 PM in the conference room. No need to read ahead – we’ll read together! One-timers and regulars – everyone is welcome! Paul will be visiting and speaking about this book and more at Minneapolis Meeting in February.

The Peace and Social Concerns Committee will meet this Wed night, Dec 19th, at 7 PM in the conference room. The meeting is open to everyone who is interested.

Interested in trying Experiment with Light meditations with a small group from the Meeting? Let Diane know by Fri, Dec 21. Groups will begin meeting in January.

Gloves, mittens, and scarves are needed for the winter clothes closet at Green Central Elementary where Quaker Voluntary Service Fellow, Angelica, works. Also needed, small coats for the pre-schoolers. Bring items to the meetinghouse until Dec 18th so they can be distributed before winter break.
Can you offer a Fellow a ride to or from the airport this season? Contact Sonja (Sonja(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)quakervoluntaryservice.org)

Loaves and Fishes: Monday December 31st is the next opportunity for MFM to help prepare and serve dinner to the people of the Phillips neighborhood at Holy Rosary Church, 2424 18th Av. S, Mpls. Please help if you have a few hours between 2:00pm and 7pm that day. Volunteers sign up for shifts: chopping veggies or prepping dessert fruit 2:00 4:30pm; serving food 4:45 6:30pm; clean up 5:30 7pm. Fresh fruit donations for dessert are needed, too.

Paul Buckely, Quaker scholar and author, will visit MFM the weekend of Feb 1-3 to offer presentations and lead discussions on his two recent books: Primitive Christianity Revived (a modern translation of Wm Penn’s classic) and Primitive Quakerism Revived. Buckley identifies ten signs that Quakerism is in need of revival: God is not the center of our lives or our Meetings; being Quaker is not our primary identification; the spread of individualism among Friends; the redefinition of community; being unwilling to say what we believe; ritualizing meeting for worship; encrusting outward characteristics; treating outreach as an activity; accommodating the surrounding culture; and being admired. Intrigued? Disagree? A few copies of Primitive Quakerism Revived are available for purchase here ($15 ea); two copies are in the MFM library.

Mark your calendars now – there will be a Northern Yearly Meeting middle school retreat over President’s weekend, Feb 15-17 at Grace Lutheran Church, 202 W Grand Ave, (downtown,) Eau Claire, WI. Topic: bridge-building. Questions? Contact the office to be put in touch with the coordinator.

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Northern Yearly Meeting will start publication of the NYM Journal to inform and inspires Friends with examples of Quaker faith and practice. Each issue will feature articles related to the Quaker values that are the focus of NYM Faith and Practice. The editor will be Tom of Kenosha-Racine Friends and technical/layout will be done by Colby of Duluth-Superior Friends Meeting. There will be three NYM Journal issues per year: Winter/Spring; Summer, and Fall. Deadline for the first issue (Winter/Spring) is January 10, 2019. Submissions, stories including reflections, personal insights, analysis of concerns, even the evaluation of life itself, may be sent to nymjournal(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com. The Journal will be publicly available on the website so authors will need to obtain permission to include names, images or personal information prior to submission (a form will be available).

OFFICE HOURS

Carolyn VandenDolder, the interim Meeting Coordinator, will be in the office Wednesday through Friday, 10:30-4:00. Phone messages will be checked daily. Bulletin deadline, noon Thur. Bulletin items can be phoned in to the office, emailed to office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org, or written and put in the bulletin file of the blue box.