Minneapolis Friends Meeting

Minutes of Monthly Meeting for Business

February 13, 2021

[Business meeting conducted via Zoom]

Attendance: John K. – presiding clerk, Tom W. – recording clerk, Bill H. – Zoom host, and approximately 55 other attenders

1. 9:45 Silent Worship
2. Approve Agenda – APPROVED
3. Approve Minutes –  APPROVED
4. Update – COVID and Our Meeting – Presiding Clerk    Clerk read letter sent out this morning to everyone. [see Attachments for letter]  Discussion: Friend asked about the status of the ad hoc committee reviewing re-opening the meeting house and who was on the committee. Clerk – committee is comprised of people from our meeting and from Mayim Rabin.  He listed some of them from memory. The ad-hoc committee met several times in the fall and, again, a couple weeks ago. They are looking into adopting a hybrid format – providing for in-person gatherings at the meeting house and remote viewing of Meeting activities via Zoom telecast. Roger M. and Terry K. are exploring the technical side of making this happen and the committee will re-convene to assess their recommendations. More attention is being given now to how we are going to get people back together again, safely, in the meeting house. Friend asked if updates of the committee’s progress could be provided, monthly, during meeting for business. Terry said they have tested video and audio equipment in the meeting room and they encountered some technical challenges, mainly with the sound system that was installed in 1991. They are trying to keep the set-up economical, but it is clear there may be some capital investments needed as well as the potential for some on-going operational costs. When asked about including these costs in next year’s budget, the clerk responded that we are too early in the process to make recommendations for the 2021-22 budget which needs to be approved next month. Friend suggested there are other accounts in the Meeting that might be tapped to cover expenses.  Also, the committee is thinking in terms of designing a system that not only addresses short term concerns around reopening with COVID-19, but also addresses the longer term goal of improving communications with membership and the community, both for Minneapolis Friends Meeting and for Mayim Rabim.
5. Ministry and Counsel (M&C) Monthly Report – Bill H.  A request for membership was received from John C.  A clearness committee met with John and reported back to M&C in favor of his membership.  M&C now brings this request to Meeting.  Friends heartily APPROVED membership for John C. in Minneapolis Friends Meeting. Welcoming and Outreach Committee will organize a recognition celebration for John and all recent new members when the meeting house is, once again, opened for regular business following COVID-19 restrictions.
   •  Roger and Kim M.’s marriage celebration, originally scheduled for June, is now delayed until sometime in October when the meeting house will, hopefully, be open.
   • On Sunday, February 7, during mid-morning program, C. Sammond led an introduction to his Heart of Worship workshop. Eighteen people took part in the first workshop on February 12 and 13. The second workshop, February 19 and 20, has twenty-four people signed-up with only one slot left.  A waiting list will be created to fill any cancellations. As part of the workshop, there will be changes in next Sunday’s worship service schedule. Instead of having two services on February 21, there will be one combined worship service from 10:15 – 11:45 AM.
   • On Sunday March 28^th, M&C and Care and Counsel Committee will host a mid-morning program to consider the value of prayer in meeting for worship. This is part of an experiment taking place during March to explore how Meeting chooses speakers to share messages during semi-programmed worship. Throughout March, instead of M&C seeking out speakers for 11:15 semi-programmed worship, M&C is requesting that those who feel they are led to share a message to come forward and volunteer to speak. Contact Stephen S. and Keitha H. if you are so led. If no one comes forward to speak during semi-programmed worship in March, the service will be unprogrammed.  Discussion– there was some confusion, a number of questions, and a lot of discussion about this experiment. Friends wanted more clarification of what would happen and why M&C was proposing this change in March. What is the objective of doing this? What is the hoped for outcome? Bill – this is an experiment, an opportunity to see if we can deepen the depth of worship. Stephen – M&C is concerned that they may be missing people who have leadings to share a message since we have many new attenders and members; and M&C is trying to address the conversational tone that sometimes occurs. Other concerns: experimenting is good – the process calls on us to examine in the Light our leading to speak a message, but there can be a down side – some are shy about speaking, while others are not so shy and we want to avoid ritualization. We have a love-hate relationship with ritual but we enjoy the ritual of semi-programmed meeting. Some appreciate trying a different process as an experiment, but they are satisfied with the way it is now.  Friend thought the concern about improving the quality of worship is good, but what about the role of elders as spiritual guides in the Meeting? That is something we don’t talk enough about.  Bringing C. Sammond here has been very positive for our Meeting and they support something like this experiment to try to enrich worship. Friend remarked on the challenge to communicate the goals of this experiment and on the need to provide guidelines to those who are offering their message. M&C will still work with anyone volunteering to speak, to help discern their message, and they will still send out instructions.  M&C is interested in improving the quality of worship and in reducing conversational remarks, such as thanking the speakers during worship, etc. – keeping more to the spirit of Quaker worship.  Also, M&C wants to encourage messages from those who have a strong, inspired yearning to share, not just from anyone who comes forward to volunteer to share a message. One Friend thought this made sense, but added that if we are worried about a conversational tone in meeting for worship, it might be a better to consider more eldering. Friend asked what is going to happen after the experiment ends.   Friend expressed concern over how this discussion relates to our work with C. Sammond and the workshop “Opening Our Heart for Worship”, that a number of us just participated in.  During this week’s workshop, we had agreed with Sammond to change the topic of the final joint session to “surrender”. Originally, he was going to talk about 2^nd Day meeting where, historically, ministers and elders would gather on the day after meeting for worship to review and offer guidance to those who provided vocal ministry.  We could suggest to Sammond that he continue with his original topic, that included eldering, since this would better reflect where our Meeting is, based on our discussion this morning.  Friends supported going back to Sammond’s original topic.
   • Presiding Clerk – this is a big discussion. He re-iterated that the only change for March is that M&C will not be searching out speakers for semi-program worship, but will ask potential speakers to search them out, instead.   Maybe we should continue today’s discussion outside of meeting for business. Clerk paused business meeting to reconsider how to best proceed with the agenda. The remainder of business meeting was devoted to the Meetings’ on-going discussion on racism, a discussion that had been postponed last month and was facing postponement, again, today.
6. Reports:  Presiding Clerk requested that these reports be postponed until next month, with extra time set aside for review and discussion. The preliminary budget report will be distributed to the meeting before next month so people can review it. Friend noted that the mid-morning program on February 28th will be a presentation on the budgeting process. Nominating Committee clerk indicated they would distribute the preliminary Nominating Slate before next month’s business meeting.
   1. Stewardship and Finance Preliminary Budget – Marilyn J.  (postponed)
   2. Nominating Preliminary Slate – Deborah J.  (postponed)
7. Continued Work on Racism – John S., Mary J.P. (update and worship sharing):
   • There are two areas being addressed by the group. The first is police reform. (Presenter -John S.) Here, they are focusing their review of police operations in the areas of equality, peace and integrity. About forty people have been involved in this process, and after organizing by city wards, they have had 8 meetings with city council members – with reactions that are all over the map. They believe they have access to the decision makers in city hall. The group met 2 weeks ago and intends to meet monthly at 7PM on the 4^th Tuesday of each month.  Their next meeting is Tuesday February 23 with a presentation by a progressive lawyer involved with police litigation. The following month they will hear from State Representative F. Hornstein (61-A), who represents Linden Hills. He will discuss what the legislature can do to improve policing.  The group expects this review of police operations to be a long term project, perhaps 5 years.
   • (Mary J.P.) The second area of discussion – trauma, racism and the need to heal our souls. About twenty people have come together since July to explore the leadings of “My Grandmother’s Hands” by Resmaa Menakem, and they have benefitted from the book’s message in understanding trauma and racism.  Mary Jean thinks of this as soul work that Meeting can do while others direct their energies toward police reform and outreach, such as at Northpoint Clinic. Both Mary J.P. and John are looking to step back from their leadership role, hoping new leaders will emerge from Meeting to continue their efforts.
   • Worship Sharing – The third step in today’s review of racism and our Meeting is to open ourselves to new directions and to explore ideas for our next steps through worship sharing. The remainder of business meeting was spent in worship. Three queries were provided to focus the worship: 1) What are our leadings as a Meeting about doing soul work in our Meeting regarding racial justice work. 2) What might we do next? 3) Who will lead us?          [Since the purpose was to elicit ideas and to guide our next steps forward, I have recorded the vocal ministry – recording clerk]
     • • Our work on racism is similar for us, as a community, as the speakers own work to escape from his family’s history.  Racism is part of our community’s and our Meeting’s history. It is truly part of who we are. Our efforts need to be consistent, long term and intentional. We need to be intentional in our actions – like this is therapy for the Meeting. —  Friend shared a song, “Lead me Lord”  —  Hope we don’t lose the thread. We trust that new leadership will step up.  Whoever takes this on must be non-judgmental, with the experience to speak to the issues. — Friend would like to hear the personal experiences with racism from others in the Meeting. Why can’t we use a sharing format, like we did in Sammond’s workshop, to explore where we have been and where we can go from here.  This could be similar to what happens in an Alternative to Violence Project workshop, where we get to know each other on a deeper level – what we experienced, and what we did to move past these experiences. —  George Floyd’s death kick started our activities. We need to stay awake to this and not fall back asleep. We will need help in this. The book group provided some guidance, to become more compassionate to justice and integrity. We may love each other, but we still need each other to point out how we are asleep. — Friend remembers how the Meeting’s youth trips to Cuba changed the lives of many of us. Is there some comparable experience we could participate in, here in our neighborhood, perhaps in conjunction with other churches, which would communicate to our souls? — Referencing a puzzle of the “Peaceable Kingdom” by Edward Hicks, Friend noted how William Penn is always shown in the painting to be meeting with the Indians while concluding their treaty. As we look outside, we should also look inside to understand what it is we tell ourselves. It is both outward and inward, individual and collective. It is important to understand the different stories we share about our commitments, our limits, and about how we have expressed ourselves in the past. —   Witness the Spirit moving through us today, calling us to more discomfort than we want.  Feel the ache that is inside of me and pray that we carry that discomfort beyond this morning – to continue to keep us awake and to be attentive to what is inside us and around us.  Soul work in racial justice – it I what we do as Quakers. Our activities are trying to make our soul right. Maybe we need something like a racial justice ombudsman for the Meeting – to ensure everything we do as a Meeting incorporates racial justice into the totality of what we do. —  Friend hopes there are other opportunities to consider how to respond, such as a special called meeting. They do not want our racial justice efforts to just trail off.  —  Addressing social justice issues deepens our Meeting. The intimacy created when we pursue these challenges is often what we seek during worship.
     • Presiding Clerk drew the worship sharing to a close. He responded that there just never seems to be enough time to fully vet some issues during the 1 ½ hours of meeting for business. Would a second monthly meeting for business resolve this challenge – one focused on business, the other focused on the direction of the Meeting? He is not sure, but today there are fifty people taking part in business meeting and this has been a wonderful opportunity to dig into issues.  We need sufficient time to explore these issues, but we don’t want to commit to spending more time at the expense of having fewer people involved in the process. The work we do is precious and it needs the right amount of time and attention, over time, to allow for sufficient input. We want to be committed to this and to carry this on.
8. Closing Worship
9. 11:15 Close of Business Meeting

 

 

ATTACHMENTS

 

Update on COVID – 19 and Re-opening the Meeting House

Hello Friends,

I wanted to give you a brief update on planning and research we are doing in preparation for a possible expansion of in person gatherings.

First, I want to affirm that all decisions regarding our posture and approach will be made by the Meeting as a whole. We will do our best to have multiple ways and opportunities to engage in discussions, and decision making will follow the Quaker practice of community discernment of God’s direction.

As a brief summary of current activities:

We will continue under our current rules until there is an explicit decision to change. It is very important we act as a community, with community agreement. If there are any questions or concerns about our approach please contact me so we can integrate them into our work.

I have been attending State Department of Health meetings targeted to faith leaders. These have been very informative and clarifying regarding approach, guidance, and vaccination. The last meeting included Governor Waltz, Lieutenant Governor Flanagan, and Department of Health COVID 19 leadership. All of these folks stressed the important impact the actions of faith communities have on the health and well-being of our communities and our state. They ask for our continued support in following guidelines, spreading accurate information, and providing feedback towards a Just, Equitable, Inclusive, and effective response.

We have an Ad hoc team, including folks from our Meeting and Mayim Rabim, exploring the requirements and options for hybrid (both virtual and onsite) meetings in the future. This team will likely present some options over the next couple of months. Please contact me if you have ideas regarding this hybrid approach.

I am very conscious of how what a giant challenge COVID 19 has presented to us each as individuals and to our Meeting Community. I want to acknowledge and thank all of you for everything each of you do for each other, for our Meeting community, and for the World, even under these most difficult conditions.

As always, please always feel free to contact me.

Thank you,

John K.