April 4, 2021

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): Carol Bechtel – care of meeting

10:15 – 11:00 Minneapolis Meeting Supporting (or not) Friends. A panel will share when they have made a specific request of the Meeting and the outcome. After the panel there will be small groups to discuss how the Meeting can better support you.

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Gayle McJunkin, Ranae Hanson, Pat Jones – readers; Juliet Nail – care of meeting

Matthew 28:1-10
Mark 16:1-8
Luke 24:1-11
John 20: 1-18

Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Friday for the link to worship and mid-morning program in April.

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. Today, youth will do a play, Elizabeth Fry and the Boot. There is room for characters of all ages! Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Friday for the link.

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 Juliet or Bill so a second worship in 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.

Carolyn VandenDolder, Meeting Coordinator, will be out of the office this Friday, April 9. The bulletin deadline this week, noon Thurs, is firm.

April 1st is the start of Minneapolis Meeting’s service year. Any time is a good time to say thank you to one another for the seen and unseen work and ministry Friends do within and on behalf of the Meeting. For your time and care and the lending of your gifts to committee work, thank you!

OPPORTUNITY TO CONNECT WITH MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Next Sunday, 9:45-11:15 is monthly meeting for business. Come be part of the discernment.

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.

The Writing Group will have an informal writing session this Mon, April 5th, 7-9PM. Come connect with each other, writing with prompts and sharing what we write. ALL INVITED, whether or not you have participated before! Contact Jane or office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org with questions or interest.

An Introduction to Quakerism through the Testimonies, a series offered by the Welcoming and Outreach Committee, continues Wed night, April 7th, 8PM, following mid-week worship. Come explore Quaker faith through the testimonies: simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship. This Wed: Peace with Gerry and Stewardship with Phil. For everyone – newcomers and old-timers alike! Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Wed for the link.

Want support as you get / stay involved in racial justice work? Starting Tues, April 13, 7PM, then every second Tues, there will be a zoom check-in about how things are going, particularly looking at how our whiteness or implicit bias is showing up in our lives and the racial justice work we are doing. Are we using our spiritual discernment and our body awareness to ground our outer work? Are we learning to uncover our own racism so we can be better allies and accomplices with People of Color? We will work with some readings and body awareness exercises from My Grandmother’s Hands (Resmaa Menakem) and other sources from the American Friends Service Committee and Northern Yearly Meeting. You are welcome, whether or not you have read Resma Menakem’s book. Questions to Nettie or Jimbo.

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 16th and 30th

OPPORTUNITIES TO CONNECT WITH OTHER FRIENDS

Pendle Hill first Monday lecture tomorrow, April 5th, 6-8PM (CT): The Gathered Meeting and Embodied Quaker Voices, a 17th century perspective about the gathered Quaker experience. See other offerings from Pendle Hill at: https://pendlehill.org/learn/workshops-courses-events/

Friends for a NonViolent World is hosting a Bridging the Divide: Policing that Works for Everyone session, Tue, April 6th, 6:30-8PM: https://zoom.us/j/91677632808?pwd=RHYxQXE0WE5xT1V2U3RsM2dJOGxZUT09; ID: 916 7763 2808; Password: 199615. This work will follow the lead of the Twin Cities Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community.

Connect with American Friends Service Committee. This year’s American Friends Service Committee Corporation Meeting, Making New Worlds – Pursuing Peace with Justice, April 11-15, will be virtual so all Quakers who would like to join, learn from, and engage with AFSC staff may! The meeting starts with a program “Quakers and Abolition: Then and Now” on Sun, April 11 (7PM ET) and concludes April 15 with a plenary by Nyle Fort, a minister, activist, and scholar, who has worked in education, criminal justice, and youth development for over a decade in various capacities including the national director of Communities Against Militarized Police. For more about the schedule and links: www.afsc.org/corpprogram .

The Friends General Conference Gathering will be virtual and pay-as-led, June 27-July 3. This is a low-barrier opportunity to check out all or parts of the Gathering. More at: https://www.fgcquaker.org/connect/gathering. Workshops listed at: https://www.fgcquaker.org/connect/gathering/programs-and-events/workshops and include “Challenging Ethnic and Racial Divisions,” “Where the Words Come From” (Christopher Sammond,) “Decolonizing Our Future,” “Deepening the Conversation and Building Community,” “Gathering in the Light – a Writing Workshop About Joy,” “Listening Meetings and Organizations into Wholeness,” “Practical Discernment in Daily Life,” “Accompaniment for Following God’s Call,” and more. Early registration begins April 15!

Northern Yearly Meeting (NYM) is offering a Clerking Workshop for any interested, April 23-24; (Fri 7-8:30PM; Sat 10-11:30AM and 2 -3:30PM) Come for all three sessions or however many fit into your life. Each one will be a stand-alone presentation/discussion with past monthly and yearly meeting clerks (including Stephen Snyder, John Kraft, and Christopher Sammond,) with an emphasis on sharing experiences. For more: https://www.fgcquaker.org/cloud/northern-yearly-meeting/events/nym-clerking-workshop . Friends General Conference has a collection of resources on clerking available at: https://www.fgcquaker.org/resources/clerking-resources-and-interviews-friends

First Friends Church in Whittier, California offers Peace Camp for children each summer (1st – 8th grade). Because of the pandemic, camp will gather virtually so it can broaden to include Quaker Friends from around the world for a week of sharing and fun – Mon, July 19th – Fri, July 23rd, 10 – 11:30AM (PST). Reach out to Pastor Loletta Barrett at pastorffc(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)verizon.net with interest.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

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 and Thurs 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).