December 20, 2020

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

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

10:15 – 11:00 Come visit in small groups and celebrate Christmas through social time and sharing stories. Come ready to share something of your choosing – a Christmas story, a Christmas memory, a children’s Christmas book, the funniest thing that ever happened in a Christmas past, or your favorite Christmas tradition.

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

Worship and mid-morning program in December: email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Wed for the link.

First day school for youth at 10:15: In order to better match first day school with student and family energy and zoom tolerance, we will have first day school / programming for youth on the first and third Sundays of the month. This Sunday, the younger youth will be using play figures to tell and experience the Christmas journey of Joseph and Mary. Sheep and Angels will make an appearance. Any adults who wish to tune in before joining mid-morning program are welcome! Older youth will talk about family traditions and what the season holds for them. Pictionary may be involved as well! Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Wed for the link.

Wherever I look, you are there, / while I wait and gather myself.
I feel Your sweet breath upon me, / I know You in myself for who we are.
And we are only One / no division, no departure, no separation:
whole and entire and endless.

The only way to see You / is to look at You
the way You look at me.
~Steven Riddle

I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.
~Hafiz of Shiraz

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

Those who are feeling disconnected, displaced, anxious, and those who are bereaved.

THINGS TO KNOW

Christmas might be very different for people this year – fewer gatherings and opportunities for connection. There will be an unprogrammed worship Christmas morning at 9:00. Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Wed for the link.

Worship is at the heart of our practice as Friends. And we mostly leave each other to find our own way in this crucial part of our lives. This need not be the case. While Spirit-filled worship is something we can’t make happen, there are practical skills we can learn which will enhance our ability to enter into deep, transformative worship. Christopher Sammond will be offering Minneapolis Meeting Friends a workshop focused on practices which can make us more ready to receive that blessed gift of powerful worship, which can nurture, heal, and transform us and our lives; AND draw us closer together as a community. The workshop will be offered twice: Feb 12, 13 and 21 and Feb 19, 20 and 21. Space limited to 25 per workshop. More details to come; SAVE THE DATES on your calendar for one of these enriching, community-building opportunities.

Winter Envelope Gift: Every winter, Minneapolis Meeting designates organization(s) or programs to receive a one-time gift, outside the Meeting’s annual budget. This year’s recipients respond to current crises in our community.
~ NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center Food Shelf – serving the North side of Minneapolis and people who have been particularly hard-hit by COVID. Financial donations allow discounted food purchases, buying to fill holes in inventory, and fresh meat, milk and eggs.
~ Friends for a NonViolent World’s Bridging the Divide: Policing that Works for Everyone – working for policing characterized by equity, professionalism, partnership with the community, and respect for the dignity of everyone.
~ To contribute to the Winter Envelope Gift, make checks payable to Minneapolis Meeting with “Winter Envelope Gift” in the memo line and mail to Minneapolis Meeting, 4401 York Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55410. Year-end contributions must be received and processed by Dec 31for 2020 tax deduction eligibility.

OFFICE HOURS Carolyn VandenDolder, the Meeting Coordinator, will be in the office Tues and Wed afternoons. Phone messages checked daily; email checked Tues and Wed. Bulletin deadline, noon Wed.

OPPORTUNITY TO CONNECT WITH MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: “There is perhaps no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive. Even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility. ” ― Benjamin Franklin. Come consider Pride, Ego, Hubris, Humility and Openness in worship and when offering ministry during worship. Offered by Ministry and Counsel Committee.

Experience thirty minutes of worship sharing on a Quaker reading: 11:25AM Wednesdays through December. Email Stephen or office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Tues. for the link.

There is mid-week worship every Wed night, 7PM. There will be a brief reading at the beginning of worship on the first and third Weds. Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Wed for the link.

The Writing Group will not meet this Tuesday, but hold the fourth Tues in January (Jan 26) for another session! All are welcome.

OPPORTUNITIES TO CONNECT WITH OTHER FRIENDS

The Gwich’in people, a tribe in the northern part of Alaska and Canada, have relied on the Porcupine Caribou Herd for thousands of years, for food, and for cultural and spiritual needs. The Porcupine Caribou Herd migrates to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain every year to give birth. The Coastal Plain is sacred to the Gwich’in, the “Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit” (The Sacred Place Where Life Begins). In these thirty days prior to the proposed lease sales on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Gwich’in and Iñupiat peoples are calling on protectors to join in prayer and advocacy for protection of Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit. Alaskan Friends invite you to join thirty minutes of worship and prayer on Mon, Wed, and Fri, beginning at 10:30AM MN time. Vocal and silent prayers during this time are welcome. Email Ranae or office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the link. Alaskan indigenous women are leaders in the effort to protect the Coastal Plain. The prayers are one important action. This week’s other action is emailing/calling oil-and-gas producers, asking them not to bid on the lease sales. It’s having some effect! The state of Alaska is concerned that none of the “majors” has indicated much interest thus far. For more, see: https://ourarcticrefuge.org; for advocacy actions: https://www.defendthesacredalaska.org/arctic-refuge

Pendle Hill is offering two free, public events: A Musical Celebration! (6:30-8PM Dec 30, registration deadline, Sat, Dec 20) and a Candlelight Meeting for Worship with Care for the New Year (10 -11PM Dec 31, registration required.)