It’s cold and flu season. Please remember that viruses are contagious as long as symptoms persist and some Friends attending worship may be immunocompromised or otherwise susceptible to infection. Please take precautions to prevent the spread of winter maladies: wash hands frequently; cough / sneeze into your sleeve; clean and disinfect surfaces touched by many; consider staying home.

January 20, 2019

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Lin Butler

10:15 – 11:00 Is Quakerism in Need of Revival? Come explore, listen, and share our individual responses, based on our personal experience, to the query, “Is Compassion, the Holy, God, the call to Goodness, the center of our lives?” Facilitated by Nettie Smith and Carolyn VandenDolder

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Tom White, speaker; Stephen Snyder, musician; care of meeting, Gib Pellet

They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they train for war again. ~ Isaiah 2:4

A Nation that continues, year after year, to spend more on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching Spiritual Death. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Riverside Church, 1967

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: Listening and Settling When the Body and the Earth Are Distressed. Query: How can we listen to our bodies and to the lands we live upon? Offered by Ranae Hanson.

The Nominating Committee has begun work for the upcoming year. Please help forward the work of the committee by responding to phone calls and emails from committee members. If you would like to become more involved in Minneapolis Meeting, participating in a committee is an excellent way to get to know 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 interests may be directed to Doug, Annamary, Debbie, Jim, and Rick. Thank you for your commitment to MFM.

Paul Buckley, 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,) Primitive Quakerism Revived, and on contemporary Quakerism. He will also speak at mid-morning program on Sun, Feb 3. The schedule for his visit is available on the bulletin table and online . Please participate as much as you are able – this is a unique opportunity for Quaker education and development. Friday night might be of particular interest to newer Friends. Childcare available. Two copies of Primitive Quakerism Revived remain for purchase ($15 ea – ask Carolyn).

A quick Camp Committee survey was sent, via email, from the MFM office on Jan 10. So far, there have been 40 respondents; only two under the age of 18. The committee would like input from as many people as possible – even (especially?) those who didn’t attend last fall! Please complete the survey promptly so that the committee can plough into planning next year’s gathering. Click here to fill out the survey.

Are you willing to meet with newcomers (or others) to discuss and share questions about Minneapolis Meeting and Quakerism in general? Sign up to be on call for Coffee with a Quaker (- it doesn’t have to be coffee)! Volunteers agree to meet, one-on-one, with those wanting to explore Quakerism, sharing from their experience and understanding of the Meeting and Quakerism and guided by listening to the newcomer’s needs. The Welcoming and Outreach Committee will match new-ish Friends with less-new Friends. Sign up on the sheet on the elevator table or contact Ed.

Two MFM members of an Friends Committee on National Legislation advocacy team, Doug and Jim, are seeking someone to accompany them on a visit to the local office of Rep. Ilhan Omar to request her support for a repeal of the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). Particularly helpful would be someone who worked on her election campaign. Call Doug with interest.

Two Fridays a month, the Quaker Voluntary Service Fellows have a program day – worship, check-ins, community-building, and a topic often related to Quakerism. Are you willing to drop off lunch for eight (dairy-free, vegetarian) at the QVS house on Fri, Feb 15th? If so, please contact the Local Coordinator: Sonja(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)quakervoluntaryservice.org. Many thanks for the delicious meals Friends have provided to date which help with the flow of program days and embed the Fellows in the care of the community.

The local Quaker Voluntary Service program is seeking site organization for next year! QVS partners with agencies and organizations that offer direct support to marginalized individuals and communities and that strive to transform unjust structures. If you have connections with a local non-profit organization that represents these values, please contact Sonja Sponheim, Local Coordinator (sonja(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)quakervoluntaryservice.org). Deadline for organization applications is Feb 1.

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Mindful Direct Action Training will be offered next Sat, Jan 26th, 10 AM – 3 PM, at Twin Cities Meeting, 1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul. How can you support and participate in spiritually-grounded protest? Come for an introductory training which will include: mindfulness techniques to discern your spiritual calling to act; practicing de-escalation during protests; and organizing for inclusive action. All are welcome. RSVP here. Facilitated by Ethan Nuss from Common Ground Meditation Center and Quaker Voluntary Service Fellows Alina Yaman, and KT Glusac.

Friends for a NonViolent World seeks new Quaker board members! Responsibilities include: strategic planning for the future of FNVW; providing the link between FNVW and its constituents; reviewing and writing governing policies; guiding and monitoring the organization’s work; hiring, supporting and evaluating the executive director. Experience and skills in one or more of the following would be helpful: event planning, facilities, finance, fundraising, communications, volunteer management, personnel/human resources, research, and training. For more or to express interest, email: board(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)fnvw.org .

Woolman Hill Retreat Center: Nurturing Faithfulness, August 2019-May 2020. This Tues, Jan. 22nd, there will be a webinar for those considering participation in Nurturing Faithfulness, a nine-month program in spiritual deepening in community, sponsored by Woolman Hill (Deerfield MA) and New England Yearly Meeting with teachers Marcelle Martin and Hilary Burgin. The program includes three residencies at Woolman Hill Retreat Center and monthly online webinars/ telephone conferences. The first residency is Labor Day weekend. Click here for more and how to access the Jan 22 webinar.

Friends General Conference (FGC) will again provide a discount to the upcoming White Privilege Conference, (March 20-23 in Cedar Rapids, IA,) a secular conference that unpacks how whiteness originated; what systemic racism looks like; how race, gender, and class intersect (as privilege, oppression, or a combination); and more. Registration for the conference has been re-scheduled to open tomorrow, Jan 21. Sign up with FGC here in order to receive the discount code to put in your registration. Click here to read about FGC’s past involvement in WPC.

Liz Oppenheimer of Laughing Waters Preparative Meeting authored a recent Friends Journal article, “Building White Racial Stamina,” which tells the story of her own journey to becoming an anti-racism ally, and challenges Quakers to increase our individual and corporate racial stamina.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Every Church A Peace Church potluck supper meeting will be Mon, Jan 28, 6:30 at St. Joan of Arc, 4537 Third Ave S. Program: Hamline political science professor and U of MN law professor, David Schultz, will speak on “Critical Realignments and the Future of American Politics.” This talk examines the impact the 2018 elections had on the longer realignment of American politics and what that realignment means for the 2020 election and beyond. Emphasis will be on how a generational shift is producing a new politics and the implications of that shift for America.

The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition’s (JRLC‘s) Day on the Hill (Feb 7) is an annual policy briefing and lobby day to show our interfaith commitment to social justice and to participate in the lawmaking process. The event includes prayer, issue briefings, time to meet with your district, and opportunities to take action. Registration is required.

OFFICE HOURS

Carolyn VandenDolder, the interim Meeting Coordinator, will be in the office Wed – Fri, 10:30-4:00. Phone messages checked daily. Bulletin deadline, noon Thur. Bulletin items can be phoned in (612-926-6159), emailed (office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org), or written and put in the bulletin file of the blue box.