March 21, 2021

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Dan Jensen

10:15 – 11:00 Police Reform—What We Have Done and What’s Next? Hear from a variety of members and attenders who have been working on this issue and consider together, What comes next?

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Kate Wolfe-Jensen, speaker; care of meeting, Dave Bostrom

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

First day school for youth at 10:15: Today, youth and families are encouraged to tune in to the mid-morning program on Police Reform.

THINGS TO KNOW

Do you have a message yearning to be offered at second hour worship? Ministry and Counsel Committee is inviting members and attenders who have a message pressing to be given, to contact Keitha, Stephen, or Bill so a second worship in March or April 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.

SAVE OCT 9th for a day of fun at Minneapolis Meeting Fall Camp! We will be back at Fish Lake Park – outside as much as possible. Save the space to enjoy the great outdoors in the easy company of F(f)riends!

Ranae Hanson’s new book, Watershed: Attending to Body and Earth in Distress is described at https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/watershed. There you could also pre-order the book (to be delivered in April or early May). The book includes stories offered by some of Ranae’s former students at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

Jakob Guanzon, son and stepson of Mi and Gib, was interviewed on All Things Considered about his new book, Abundance. The interview is available at: https://www.npr.org/sections/author-interviews/

Friends who must visit the meetinghouse or who want to meet on the meetinghouse grounds are asked to schedule those visits with the office to help avoid conflicts and make sure you know COVID precautions: office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org .

OPPORTUNITY TO CONNECT WITH MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

TODAY and next Sunday: Stay after second worship (or tune back in at 12:20) to make suggestions for the State of Society report. Drafting and approving a State of Society Report offers the opportunity for self-reflection and honest assessment of how the meeting is doing. Done carefully, this process can help us grow in understanding and fellowship and deepen our spiritual life. A series of queries we would like to explore follows this bulletin. Any questions or comments, text or email Bill.

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: Prayer. Ministry and Counsel Committee will facilitate discussion and sharing around our understanding and practice of prayer.

Experience thirty minutes of worship sharing on a Quaker reading: 11:25AM Wed. 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.

An Introduction to Quakerism through the Testimonies, a series offered by the Welcoming and Outreach Committee, will begin Wed night, March 24th, 8PM following mid-week worship. Come explore Quaker faith through the testimonies: simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship. This Wed: Community with Jim and Equality with Sarah. For everyone – newcomers and old-timers alike! Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Wed for the link.

Welcoming and Outreach Committee will hold a Friendly Meal THIS Fri, March 26th at 6PM over zoom! Link sent on Wed, the 24th to those who have contacted Keitha and signed up. Singles, significant-other couples, families, youth – all are welcome. Have your meal ready to go and your computer on the table and logged in to zoom at 6 – break-out rooms when everyone arrives, (hopefully with no late-comers.) Gather around one computer – or, if using two, please have them in separate rooms. 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.

Loaves and Fishes, Mon, March 29: Join other metro-area Friends, the Ismaili Community and the Mayim Rabim congregation to provide a meal at Holy Rosary Church in S Mpls, 2424 – 18th Ave S. One group will prepare chili burrito, fruit, and salad (2-4:30); another will pack up and hand out the meals (4:45-6:30,) and another, clean up (5:30-7.) Fruit donations, dropped off at Holy Rosary after 2:00, are needed. Covid-19 has put many people out of work and school creating a need for more meals to be served. At the same time, the number of volunteers and fruit donations have decreased. Email Sue to sign up for a shift to make sure there is sufficient space. Masks, gloves, and hats required. This activity remains a COVID transmission risk so please be aware of your risk. Please sign up to come if you can!

Quaker Voluntary Service Fellows have a program day twice a month. Area Friends willing to bring vegetarian lunch for the six Fellows are encouraged to sign up with Eli: eli(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)quakervoluntaryservice.org. Lunches needed on April 2, 16, and 30th

OPPORTUNITIES TO CONNECT WITH OTHER FRIENDS

Opportunities to worship with the wider family of Friends :
~ Friends General Conference hosts a weekly worship, Sat nights, 8PM: https://www.tfaforms.com/4816591 For other opportunities, see: https://www.fgcquaker.org/resources/online-worship-opportunities
~ Pendle Hill Study and Retreat Center has daily worship, M-F, 7:30-8:10 AM (CT): https://pendlehill.zoom.us/j/432071090?pwd=aU5OOWk4ZGJkcWNUbzI5TXdjdVpSdz09
~ Quaker Voluntary Service has daily worship M–F, 10:30-11AM (CST): https://zoom.us/j/5702463400
~ Quaker Center in California has a Wed worship sharing at noon (CT) with Friends from around the world responding queries based on short readings. JOIN HERE; password, email: BobFisher(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)QuakerCenter.org
~ Global meeting for worship is offered every Wed, 1 PM (CT). Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org to be put in touch.

It’s another evening of games, laughter and connection – it’s the Northern Yearly Meeting High School game night! Mar 27th, 7-9PM. Email coordinator, Cynthia, or office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the link.

Friends School of MN’s Plant Sale is gearing up; ordering online is available: https://www.friendsschoolplantsale.com/seeds-bulbs. Volunteers are needed already! More: https://mailchi.mp/a3ca331f2b01/fsm-april-20-2017-mission-moments-4904796

Friends for a NonViolent World’s annual meeting will be on March 27th from 10-11:30AM. Come celebrate what FNVW accomplished during 2020, welcome new Board Members and appreciate outgoing Board Members, too. You’ll also learn what’s on the horizon for FNVW in 2021. Link: http://bit.ly/fnvw2021; ID: 982 9223 3824

COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES

The Planetary Health Annual Meeting aims to bridge communities to achieve the Great Transition, highlighting collective planetary health values; showcasing change-making science, stories, solutions, and communities; and building systemic solutions across economics, governance, and civil society. April 25–30; virtual; free: https://www.planetaryhealthannualmeeting.com

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).

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Queries to be held as you consider suggestions for this year’s State of Society report. Small group sessions will be available at approximately 12:20pm on March 21, and 28. If you are unable to attend you may text your suggestions to Bill Hendricks, at 612.327.9069 or email him at Hendricks.quaker(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com

The below is from Quaker Process for Friends on the Benches by Mathilda Navias. She borrowed from the Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice which contains a particularly helpful list of things to consider when drafting a report.
The report should cover such matters as:
*What is the spiritual condition of the meeting – its strengths and failings?
* What was the nature of meetings for worship during the year, the quality of the silence and the content and quality of the spoken ministry?
* Meetings for business during the year: the range of concerns considered; attendance of members and implementation of the meeting’s decisions; was it in keeping with your understanding of Quaker practice?
* Were the contributions of Peace and Social Concerns, Religious Education, Ministry and Counsel, Care and Counsel, and other committees supported and uplifted the meeting?
* What is most needed to deepen the spiritual life of the meeting and to strengthen its witness in behalf of Friends testimonies to the world?
There are some common pitfalls meetings fall into in drafting a report:
– The report consists of a laundry list of activities
– Problems are glossed over or omitted
– The report is a collection of individual comments rather than a corporate statement.