February 9, 2020

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 9:40 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Lin Butler; Carol Bechtel (mic)

9:45 – 11:15 monthly meeting for business: John Kraft, clerk; Stephen Snyder, recording clerk
first day school for youth

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Monica De Castro, speaker; care of meeting, Juliet Nail

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: Winter Sing-a-Long. Come make a joyful noise! Bring musical instruments if you wish. This will be a lovely opportunity for mid-winter celebration and fellowship. First day schoolers, grades 1-6 will participate in the fun upstairs and will have no programming downstairs. Steve Snyder, Tom Wells, and Dave Bostrom musicians / hosts.

Nominating Committee is at work to match Meeting needs with member / attender gifts and ministries. Please return phone calls from Nominating Committee members who reach out to you. NEEDED: individuals to serve on the Stewardship and Finance (S&F) Committee. S&F does such important work on behalf of all of us! Committee members have clear roles –
Contributions: one or two individuals comfortable with working/learning Quick Books on the computer, logging donations, creating and making the deposit, (including, taking it to the bank). This takes about an hour a week – and need not be done on a Sunday. Schedule determined between the two volunteers.
Long Range planning – investigating and making recommendations to S&F about socially and fiscally wise places for us to keep our reserve funds.
If you are interested in these roles or any other in the life of the Meeting, contact a member of Nominating Committee: Debbie, Doug, Annamary, and Jim.

The Nursery Committee, on behalf of the Meeting, seeks the right person to work with the little ones in the nursery. The work hours are Sundays during the school year, 8:45-12:30; and 9:45-11:15 during the summer months. The pay is $15 an hour. For more, contact Betsy, Emily, or Sara.

Save the date for the Northern Yearly Meeting Middle School Retreat, Feb 14-16th in Madison. Come for the sweetness of being with Friends – laughing, making art, playing games, getting outside, basking in Spirit, and delving into the discussion of institutionalized racism (with some climate considerations to boot!) More details to come, send any thoughts, concerns or ideas to office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org to be sent along to Seres, the coordinator.

Terry Kayser has two pastel paintings in a show of Minnesota Landscapes – paintings by Minnesota artists depicting scenes from across the state. State Capitol Building, Third Floor Gallery. Friends are warmly invited to a reception there on Wed, Feb 12th, 3 – 6PM.

Mary and Stephen invite Friends to their home at Kenwood Isles, this Wed, Feb 12th, and every Wed until March, for worship sharing at noon. Come center on a passage followed by conversation over a light lunch. Please RSVP.

The Watson Reading Group will meet on Tues, Feb. 18th, at 7PM here at the meetinghouse. Currently reading Testament of Devotion, by Thomas Kelly, we read aloud and reflect on how these and other texts can help us lead Light-centered lives during turbulent times in the world. Everyone is invited.

SAVE THE DATE – Barbara is turning 100! Come celebrate with her and her family on the afternoon of April 4th. More details coming.

TODAY at the rise of semi-programmed worship: Some Friends will walk to the Art Shanty Project at Lake Harriet to join Extinction Rebellion’s walking meditation. The event starts at noon, so we join late. A public worship is a possibility. Extinction Rebellion (XR) is a global movement using non-violent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk of social and ecological collapse. XR chapters all over the US are participating. Meet by the elevator at the rise of second worship if you’d like to go together.

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

The Northern Yearly Meeting Journal, published quarterly, offers reflections, personal insights and testimonies from the work or experience of area Quakers. Original poetry, art, photography, articles, and letters to the editor are welcome. Please limit written articles to 1500 words; feel free to include a suggested image. Submission deadline Feb 14th: nymjournal(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com.

Second Chance Day on the Hill. Join Friends for a Nonviolent World at MN Second Chance Day on the Hill. Wed, Feb 19th, 10AM – 12PM, at the Minnesota State Capitol. Come advocate for criminal justice reform. Register: Eleanor(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)fnvw.org .

How Does God Call us to Act? Sustainability: an online conference with Friends world-wide; Sat, Feb 22nd, 10AM – 1PM. Register for the Friends World Committee for Consultation’s first world-wide online conference on sustainability. It is free and certain to be interesting as FWCC convenes the world of Friends to discuss and worship share on this critical topic. Register by Feb. 13th at: fwcc.world/sustainability/conference2020

The Elizabeth Ann Bogert Memorial Fund for the Study and Practice of Christian Mysticism Grants Program is soliciting proposals. Proposals and references for 2020 grants are due March 1; decisions made in May; grants distributed in June. See posted information for more or see: fwccamericas.org/docs/Bogert%20Fund%20Brochure%202019.pdf

Friends Peace Teams offers Creating Cultures of Peace, a movement of love and conscience for teens and young adult leaders working for peaceful homes, communities and societies – online learning (meets via Zoom twice monthly) and an experiential training in Buffalo, NY, August 1-9, 2020. More at friendspeaceteams.org/creating-cultures-of-peace-youth-training/

Love to sing? Song Circle is being hosted by Marilyn and Dave on Feb 15th, 7PM. Everyone welcome; contact Dave or Marilyn for more.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Minneapolis Council of Churches Refugee Services is offering a new volunteer opportunity, enabling you to meet and support MN’s new refugee arrivals. Cultural orientation workshops, taught by a master teacher, will be offered across the Twin Cities (at four different locations.) Volunteer assistants are needed to help facilitate discussions. Once a week 9:30-1; you choose day / location. For more, see mnchurches.org/refugeeservices/get-involved/individual-opportunities.

OFFICE HOURS: Wed – Fri, 11:00-4. Phone messages checked daily. Bulletin deadline, noon Thur. Bulletin items can be phoned in to the office (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.