February 21, 2021

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

10:15 – 11:45 extended, unprogrammed, meeting for worship: care of meeting, Christopher Sammond

Worship in February: email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Friday for the link.

There is no other worship, mid-morning program or first day school this morning. For those involved in the Opening to the Heart of Worship workshop, use your workshop link for the sessions today.

THINGS TO KNOW

Do you have a message yearning to be offered at second hour worship? As an experiment, the Ministry and Counsel Committee is inviting members and attenders who have a message pressing to be given, to contact Keitha or Stephen so a second worship in March can be made available to you. Meeting for worship will be unprogrammed on those Sundays when a planned message or reading is not waiting to be given.

Northern Yearly Meeting high-schoolers will have a monthly game night starting this coming Sat, Feb 27th, 7:00-9:00PM. Contact Cynthia (HS coordinator) or office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the link.

From Nominating Committee: In our search for two people to be receiving treasurers as part of the Stewardship and Finance Committee – we have gotten one volunteer! We now just need one more. Might that be you? Are you comfortable with Excel, QuickBooks or numbers? Are you able to come into the meetinghouse to process deposits? Have questions? Contact Marilyn. Nominating Committee thanks you for your prayerful consideration.

OPPORTUNITY TO CONNECT WITH MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: Follow the Money, or Direct It: How the Meeting Determines its Budget. Come hear a brief description of the process Stewardship and Finance Committee uses in planning the Meeting’s annual budget. There will be time for questions. Time allowing, we may address broader questions such as whether we should more actively encourage members and attenders to make and/or increase their contributions; whether we should continue the practice of over-budgeting – i.e., planning to spend more than we expect to receive in contributions; whether we should keep a high balance in our checking account or elsewhere, etc.

Police Reform: this Tues, Feb 23rd, 7PM, meet with Abigail Cerra, a progressive lawyer on the Police Oversight Commission. If you are interested in participating but you are NOT on the police reform email list, please email John S to get the link.

Experience thirty minutes of worship sharing on a Quaker reading: 11:25AM Wednesdays. Email Stephen 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.

Welcoming and Outreach Committee will hold a virtual Friendly Meal on Fri, Feb 26th, at 6PM over zoom! The link will be sent on Wed, the 24th to those who have signed up. Singles, significant-other couples, families, youth – all are welcome. Sign up by contacting Keitha. Have your meal ready to serve so that all you need to do is fill your plate(s); have your computer on the table and already logged in to zoom. We’ll go to break-out rooms when everyone is logged in, (hopefully with no late-comers.) Gather around one computer – or, if using two, please have them in separate rooms (and sign-up separately.) Join this time of fellowship and informal conversation, enriching our community, hopefully bringing new life to our pandemic-ordered routines, as well as a laugh or two. There will be another virtual Friendly Meal on March 26th. We hope to see you then too!

Care and Counsel Committee seeks people willing to participate in a mid-morning program about a time when you asked for help from MFM and the outcome. Such requests could include a spiritual support request, food while you were sick, moving furniture . . . — or a time when you reached out with an idea for the Meeting, gave ministry, started a group. Maybe you got what you needed, maybe not. We’d like to know your story. Please email Judith or John S.

There will be no writing group this month. The meeting time is moving to second Mondays (next, March 8.) Link to come. At this informal group, we write with prompts and then share what we write. Open to new and experienced writers, it offers a lovely chance to connect with each other.

OPPORTUNITIES TO CONNECT WITH OTHER FRIENDS

The memorial service for Stan White will be Sat, Feb 27th, 2PM. Stan was the first clerk of NYM (when it was a Half-Yearly Meeting in the 1960’s) and very active in Madison Meeting and NYM until he died on January 21: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85873705508?pwd=Z1F2NFBlSjVwemgva0ZCaU44WUUrZz09 ; ID: 858 7370 5508
Passcode: 481137. The connection will be open starting at 1:30PM.

Friends for a NonViolent World Watcha Wednesday: Listen . This week’s teaching and guided inquiry helps us understand why listening to opponents is worthwhile and when it is our role to listen. We’ll explore the challenges of listening, the gifts it can bring, and how to listen when it’s difficult (from The People’s Inauguration website). Feb 24th, 10-11:30AM: https://zoom.us/j/96162676801?pwd=Q3ZOWCtGTE1WMEJLbG96NmpHVDNpZz09 ; ID: 961 6267 6801; Password: 655383

Friends Committee on National Legislation’s Quaker Changemaker series will host “Quakers and Migration” on Wed, Feb 24th, 2PM (CT): How are Friends working for a shared vision of migration justice at the local, national, and international levels? How does Quaker action on immigration intersect across these arenas? What are the prospects for change in the coming year? Register here for this event. Speakers include Oscar Hernandez Ortiz, an FCNL Advocacy Corps organizer in Arizona, and Laurel Townhead, human rights and refugees representative for the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva. FCNL recently joined QUNO and other Quaker organizations in issuing the Quaker Statement on Migration. Marisa León-Gómez Sonet, FCNL’s program assistant for immigration and refugee policy, will moderate.

Population, a major contributor to the environmental crises we see around us, is often a topic avoided by progressives concerned about the environment. Join Quaker Earthcare Witness and Friends General Conference for worship sharing concerning human population this Wed, Feb 24th at 7PM (CT). Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArduyhrzwjHd3WkD1z2zBoyqzj5SZEetUG

The Northern Yearly Meeting Winter 2021 Journal can be found here , packed with news of area Quaker communities and individuals, including a piece by Jim Lovestar about the book, Farming While Black – Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land and art by Bill Hendricks. The deadline for submissions to the spring Journal is April 2: nymjournal(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com.

There’s never been a better time to join Friends for a NonViolent World’s Board of Directors! The Board is responsible for developing, defining, and reviewing the organization’s mission and for providing overall leadership and strategic direction to the organization. Board Members are stewards of the organization’s vision, mission, and resources. The Board actively sets policy, ensures that the organization has adequate resources to carry out its mission, provides direct oversight and direction for the Executive Director and the organization as a whole, and evaluates its own effectiveness as a governing body. Contact FNVW’s Board Chair Brucie Hawkins at brucie(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)fnvw.org if you have interest in serving or for more information.

OFFICE HOURS

Carolyn VandenDolder, the Meeting Coordinator, will be in the office Wed – Fri afternoons. Phone messages checked daily; email checked W-F. Bulletin deadline, noon Thur. Bulletin items can be phoned in to the office (612-926-6159) or emailed (office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org).