July 18, 2021

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

10:00 – 11:00 AM meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Ranae Hanson

Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Friday for the Sunday worship link.
It’s easy to be in worship for as long as you are able. Consider inviting the youth of the meeting to participate!

Yearning to visit with Friends but not necessarily all Friends at the same time? Stick around after worship today for informal visiting in break-out rooms!

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

All those who live in places of disruption, fear, and violence or the threat of violence including Cuba, Haiti, South Africa, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands.

Gretchen Castle and Earlham School of Religion. Gretchen begins her work as dean of ESR August 2nd.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW

There will be two informal sessions to share hopes for, concerns about, and questions regarding renewing worship at the meetinghouse. A summary of where we are in the process follows the bulletin today. Friends are invited to contact the clerk, John Kraft, with specific questions or topics prior to the upcoming sessions. Save the dates: Thursday, July 29 at 6:45PM and Sunday, August 1 at 11:30AM. Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org if you need the link.

From a Friends World Committee for Consultation correspondence with Friends in Cuba: “The situation is difficult. I think if the embargo doesn’t stop, we will not survive. The brothers and sisters of the Church have not been in the riots. We are concerned about the violent situations that have taken place. We call for peace, understanding and dialogue. And for there to be no confrontations. We believe in the “Spirit that takes away the occasion of all war.”
On the other hand, I have two sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law with Covid and the Health system is doing everything they can. They are in schools converted into hospitals, but there are few medicines. It seems to me that if the embargo is not stopped, with so many needs, illness and lack of medicines, we will not survive.”
Currently, there are no legal means to send money or medicine to Cuba from the US or many other countries in the world. But FWCC is looking for ways that open hearts and change laws in the face of this emergency.

OPPORTUNITIES TO CONNECT WITH MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

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.

Interested in gardening? Meeting gardeners (currently Clifford, Betsy and Rae Beth) will gather on the first and third Mondays, 6:30PM, to play in the dirt. Contact Clifford for more.

OPPORTUNITIES TO CONNECT WITH OTHER FRIENDS

Northern Yearly Meeting summer Journal submission deadline is July 23rd. Insights, poetry, reflections, photos, book or film reviews, Meeting or Worship Group activities – all are welcome. Send all materials to nymjournal(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com. Limit written articles to 1500 words; feel free to include a suggested image. The Spring, 2021 Issue of the Journal is at this link.

Bible half-hours from the recent Friends General Conference are available at FGC gathering video page. Transcripts of some of the evening plenary sessions are available there too!

The Northern Yearly Meeting Middle School Coordinator position is still open! The NYM Children and Youth Committee have yet to receive any applications for the Middle School Coordinator position. Please prayerfully consider if you are led to support and nurture the young people of Northern Yearly Meeting. A complete job announcement and job description, with payment information, can be found on the NYM website.

Friends for a NonViolent World seeks a new part-time Volunteer Engagement Specialist! This dynamic role develops opportunities for volunteers to be deeply engaged in every facet of FNVW’s work, recruiting, training and supporting new FNVW volunteers and student interns. Also collaborates in planning, implementing, organizing and coordinating the volunteer and community engagement opportunities that drive FNVW’s mission forward. Come help build on the organization’s strong volunteer program and help realize its potential for growth. Job description and application at fnvw.org.

Friends for a NonViolent World is participating in the Emergence Festival, celebrating what we’ve learned about ourselves, others, and our world during the pandemic and how we can come together as a community to support and promote behaviors that will advance racial justice, protect ecosystems, and reduce our carbon footprints. Sign up for a tabling shift, offering information and ways to get involved with festival attendees. Sat, July 24, 2-6PM; set-up begins at noon (tentative rain date: July 31) ; Lake Como Walking Path in St. Paul: Emergence Festival Volunteer Sign-Up Sheet. Questions to Leah: leah(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)fnvw.org.

Friends for a NonViolent World will offer a virtual Alternatives to Violence Basic Community Workshop! Discover new skills and attitudes to address, prevent, and transform violence. Holistic, experiential, safe, and lively in approach, learn the tools to discover your own power to transform conflict and frustration wherever the find you: Fri and Sat, July 23 – 31. No prior experience is needed. Sliding fee scale, $25-$100. More at: fnvw.org ; register here.

Read about one Philadelphia Quaker Voluntary Service Fellow’s spiritual opening during the past Fellowship year, here.

Eau Claire Meeting invites Northern Yearly Meeting Friends to a Nonviolence Action Training workshop on August 20-21 (Fri night through all day Sat). By the end of the ten-hour workshop, participants will have begun to:
1) learn principles of nonviolence and how to apply them strategically in their lives
2) learn some verbal de-escalation techniques and
3) learn how to plan nonviolent protests and interactions.
Eau Claire Friends decided they needed this hands-on training to be effective anti-racist activists (and to do climate, equality, and other work), so they sought out resources for themselves and are opening it to the wider community to broaden the effect of the work. Sat lunch will be provided by local Quakers and Muslims; Sat supper provided as well. Eau Claire Friends will try to organize hospitality for those out-of-town Friends wishing to attend. The full schedule, additional information, and registration can be found at http://ecquakers.org/article/nonviolence-training

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Healing Minnesota Stories Sacred Sites Tours: July 24, 10AM – 2PM; August 2, 1 – 5PM, starting at St. Peter’s Church, St. Paul. Listen to the stories of the people who called Minnesota home before settlers arrived while being present at sites sacred to the Dakota people. Better understand the history of indigenous peoples whose lives still shape this state. Register here.

OFFICE HOURS

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