December 23, 2018

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, John Dunham; Carol Bechtel (mic)

10:15 – 11:00 Join in caroling, conversation, and refreshments with all ages. Bring finger-food snacks, juices, and musical instruments as you wish.

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Jane Furnas, speaker; Stephen Snyder, musician; care of meeting, Clifford Goltz

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.
~ O Holy Night as translated by John Sullivan Dwight

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: Witnessing hope amid the dysfunction of American politics today. Panelists Jim Haefemeyer, Mary and Stephen Snyder, and Doug Herron will discuss their work with the Friends Committee on National Legislation and its Advocacy program in Minnesota, South Dakota and Washington, DC.

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 there too – one for All-in and one for On-call. Friendly Meals can be very flexible – 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 NEXT Sunday, December 30 at 1 PM here at the meetinghouse. Contact Tom if you are interested in helping with the service.

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.

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Twin Cities Meeting will have worship tomorrow evening, Christmas Eve, at 7:00. Singing and refreshments following. 1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul.

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.

Quaker Voluntary Service Courageous Conversations: Quakers as Colonizers, Jan 12th, 6:00 PM. Come join the QVS MSP fellows to see the QVS house, enjoy a hearty, home-cooked meal, and brave a discussion about what role Quakers play as colonizers. $10 suggested donation; more gratefully accepted; no one turned away. Please bring your own bowl, plate, spoon and fork.. 3241 Park Avenue, Mpls RSVP at QVS Courageous Conversations.

Friends Committee on National Legislation encourages Friends to write to their elected officials, welcoming them and building and renewing relationships for working on priorities in the coming year. Paper copies of a sample letter are available on the elevator table and can be found at: fcnl.org/documents, (scroll to the second page.)

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners and author of America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America, will deliver a keynote address and moderate a panel of local anti-racism experts, on Saturday, Jan 12, 7 PM at Hennepin Ave Methodist Church, Mpls. The evening is meant to help our community understand and respond to the devastating impact racism has on our neighborhood and our nation. More at race-religion-and-response-an-evening-with-jim-wallis-tickets.

Kitchen supplies needed for new refugee neighbors. New families are continuing to arrive at a steady pace, including refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. MN Council of Churches Refugee Services continues to need critical kitchen supplies including hand soap bottles, kitchen wastebaskets/bags, brooms and dustpans. Help warmly welcome persecuted families to new lives in Minnesota. To arrange a drop-off, please contact rsvolunteers(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)mnchurches.org or visit mnchurches.org/refugeeservices for more.

OFFICE HOURS

Carolyn VandenDolder, the interim Meeting Coordinator, will be in the office Wednesday through Friday, 12:00-4:00. 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.