December 9, 2018

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 9:20 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Roland Barrett; Renae Bonde (mic)

9:45 – 11:00 monthly meeting for business: John Kraft, clerk; Stephen Snyder, recording clerk

11:15 – 12:00 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): John Dunham, speaker; care of meeting, Clifford Goltz

There is a clerk’s meeting TODAY in the conference room at the rise of second worship. Questions, contact John.

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

THANK YOU to the Friends who helped with the FNVW Holiday Fair last weekend – the set-uppers, the clean-uppers, the cashiers, musicians and decorators; the crafters and the pricers, the bakers, servers, cooks, and carriers. It was festive event of warmth and generosity of spirit. Thank you.

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: Tish Jones. Tish is a poet, performer, educator, and organizer from St Paul. She has performed at CBGB (NYC), Kaplan Theater, The Walker Art Center, Intermedia Arts, The Cedar Cultural Center and more. Her work has been published in the Minnesota Humanities Center’s anthology, Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota, the 2011 and 2013 Saint Paul Almanac, and the Loft Literary Center’s Nation of Immigrants. Tish will perform some of her poems with a large amount of time reserved for questions and answers.

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.

Interested in trying Experiment with Light meditations with a small group from the Meeting? Let Diane know. On-going groups will be configured in Jan.

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.
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 would 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.
*Sign-up deadline is January 5.
Coordinated by the Welcoming and Outreach Committee. Call or email Keitha with questions.

The Nominating Committee will soon begin work for the upcoming year. Please help forward the work of the committee by responding to phone calls and emails inviting you to be part of the Meeting’s work and life. If you would like to become more involved in Minneapolis Meeting, participating in a committee is an excellent way to meet people and learn more about how the Meeting works. If you would like to know more about committees or the work they do, questions or indications of interest may be directed to Doug, Annamary, Debbie, and Jim. The committee next meets this Tuesday, Dec 11.

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.

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.

Read Primitive Quakerism Revived by Paul Buckley at the Watson reading group 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.

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. 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)

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Friends School of MN will be hosting the first visitor coffee of the year Dec 11th from 9:30 to 11:30AM. Anyone interested in getting an introduction to the school’s mission and philosophy over a cup of coffee, followed by a tour and classroom visits, please call or email Jennifer Bratulich – development(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)fsmn.org . 1365 Englewood Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55104.

Friends for a NonViolent World Movie Night – Come on Wed, Dec 12th at 7pm to see Mapantsula, a 1987 South African film that follows Panic, a small-time thief and hustler in apartheid-era Johannesburg, as he navigates the injustices taking place in his township, Soweto. Written and directed by Oliver Schmitz, a white South African, and Thomas Mogotlane, a black South African who also portrays Panic, the film depicts protest, while being a form of protest itself. The film was made secretly when censorship around apartheid was strict and criticism unwelcome. After the film, there will be discussion including how the film relates to FNVW’s work today. 393 N Dunlap St, Saint Paul MN 55104; fourth floor conference room.

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 Darrow of Kenosha-Racine Friends and technical/layout will be done by Colby Abazs 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 Wed afternoon and 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, or written and put in the bulletin file of the blue box.