June 19, 2022

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

10:00 – 11:00 AM meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Mary Gochnauer; Zoom host – Mary B

Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the link to worship.

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

People who are grieving or suffering from injustice, racism, colonialism, displacement, loss, violence and the threat of violence, and the climate crisis, and all those who are aiding victims and the dispossessed.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

There is mid-week worship every Wed night, 7PM. Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Wed for the link.

Ministry and Counsel Committee (M&C) asks individuals who feel led to share a prepared message or a reading during semi-programmed worship, to contact John C. or other members of M&C. M&C is also looking for closers for both worships. Serving as a closer is a ministry of service to the meeting.

People who are interested and willing to learn the new AV system at the meetinghouse are now being sought. Let Terry K. or Roger M. know if you are interested.

Zephyra and Roland Shepherd created the Shepherd Scholarship in 1977 for the post-secondary education of Minneapolis Meeting members or children of members. Applications and eligibility criteria are available from the office (office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org,) or on the long table in the east hallway. Applications should be mailed to the meetinghouse or emailed to the office by June 25th.

Quaker Voluntary Service. Could you provide the last vegan lunch (for seven – two gluten-free) needed this year on June 24? Sign up with Miranda: miranda(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)quakervoluntaryservice.org . THANK YOU, Friends, for this act of care as the year wraps up!

The Northern Yearly Meeting Summer Journal deadline is July 22: Share your feelings, concerns, or insights about the annual sessions or the life of you Meeting. How have you experienced worship recently? What are the children of your meeting up to? Do they have something they would like to submit? Your poetry, reflections on a favorite Quaker theme, photos, and book or film reviews that provide spiritual insights are also welcome. Send all materials to the Editor at (nymjournal(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com). Please limit written articles to 1500 words, and feel free to include a suggested image. The Spring issue of the NYM Journal is available online.

Seiki Oshiro, husband to the late, cherished member, Vici Oshiro, was recently featured in a Star Tribune article.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

FUN WITH FRIENDS – Mark your calendars for the next summer event, Sun, July 3rd – attend a street concert performed by Tom Wells and the Selby Ave Brass Band! Questions – David and Jane D. Bring a lawn chair!

The Police Reform Group will meet this coming and every third Tuesday night at 7PM. A representative from Minneapolis for Community Control of Police will attend. You are welcome to come, even if you’ve not been before! Contact Nettie or John S. for the link.

Interested in gardening? Meeting gardeners (currently Clifford, Betsy, Sarah, and Rae Beth) meet at 6PM on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, June – Sept, at the meetinghouse. Come when you can for satisfying fun playing in the dirt, fabulous people and lots of laughs. Questions? Contact Clifford.

OPPORTUNITIES AMONG FRIENDS

WORKSHOPS, FILMS, RETREATS, PROGRAMS, PRESENTATIONS

The 2022 Friends General Conference Gathering, “. . . and follow me” will be July 3-9, online. Find the list of offered workshops here. Learn more and register for the Gathering on the FGC website. YAY (Young Adult and Youth) Gathering, an in-person event braiding junior gathering (birth – 9th grade), high school (10-12th grade), Adult Young Friends (ages 18-37) and Adult Friends (volunteers, parents, and sponsors for minors) will take place in Radford, VA July 6-10, 2022. Learn more about YAY here or register now! Registration closes TODAY, June 19.

Quaker Earth Witness recently hosted a Zoom workshop on the Racial Wealth Gap. A follow-up session, open to all whether or not you attended the May 17 workshop will be on Tues, June 21, 6PM (CT). Register here (even if you attended the first session.) The June discussion builds on the material covered in May and the resources distributed then. Access the May event here. Some useful resources for preparation include:
• Applying a Racial Equity Lens to End Hunger Handout
• Climate, Racial Equity, and Hunger Series: African American Communities
• Climate, Racial Equity, and Hunger Series: Indigenous Communities
• Climate, Racial Equity, and Hunger Series: Latino/a Communities
• Getting to Zero Hunger by 2030: Race, Poverty, and Hunger
• Using a Racial Equity Scorecard for Policy and Programs
• (NEW!) Policy Packet

From Friends Committee on National Legislation: Congress has finally taken steps to address reparations for slavery. If passed, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act (H.R. 40) would examine the detrimental impacts that slavery continues to have today. In local communities, some Friends are also beginning to grapple with how to create a more just present. Come to June’s Quaker Changemaker event, “H.R. 40 and the Quaker Push for Reparations,” THIS Wed, June 22, 6:30PM and learn how Friends Committee on National Legislation and F/friends are advocating for reparations in Congress and local communities. Learn more about HR 40 here. Register for Changemakers on the 22nd here.

Feel like crises press from every side? A group of Friends is coordinating a national conversation to encourage and help enable Friends to: 1) defend truth in an age of the persistent lie; 2) work for true equity and justice for all; 3) promote free and fair elections; 4) prepare for nonviolent resistance against further erosion of political, economic and social structures that safe-guard individual rights and the rule of law. The initial conversations, hosted by Earlham School of Religion, will be Mon, July 25, 6-8PM (CT) or Sun, July 31, 2-4PM (CT). For more and to register, go to quakercall.net/

Nurturing Faithfulness, a 9-month faith and leadership program (Sept 10, 2022 – May 22, 2023,) will be offered by New England Yearly Meeting, Woolman Hill Quaker Retreat Center, and the Beacon Hill Friends House, with core teachers Hilary Burgin and Marcelle Martin. Applications are being accepted now. Learn more at this link.

VOLUNTEER

From Friends for a NonViolent World – Call your representative and encourage them to support a Senate vote on HR 8 -The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 and HR 1446 – The Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021. Click here for info on reaching your Senator.

Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) asks for your support and advocacy:
1. support legislation for Extreme Risk Protection Orders as a first step to reducing gun violence. More at this link.
2. for the Yemen War Powers Resolution in the House of Representatives. With critical help from the US—including ongoing maintenance and logistical support for warplanes conducting airstrikes—the Saudi-led coalition’s seven-year war in Yemen has killed nearly 400,000 Yemenis and has created famine and acute food insecurity among 19 million people. More at this link.
3. to urge your US legislators to co-sponsor the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the U.S. Act. The act would establish the first formal commission in U.S. history to investigate and document the policies and practices of 367 federally-sponsored, faith-run institutions from the 1860s through the 1960s. This includes assimilation practices, attempted termination of cultures and languages of Indigenous peoples, and human rights violations. Read more here. For easy access to your representatives, click here.

Save the date: Quaker Voluntary Service will share the summary of feedback from last month’s survey as well as additional research conducted on generational trends, economic and environmental analysis, and conversations with stakeholders, which begin to suggest the dip in enrollment right now. Opportunities to connect, interact, and contribute, please tune in Tues, Jul 12, 2022 6PM(CT,) and share your thoughts and guidance. Register here.

EMPLOYMENT IN THE WORLD OF FRIENDS

Friends School of MN is in search of a K-8 Music Teacher (.8 FTE) and a first / second mixed grade lower school Lead Teacher (1.0 FTE). Both positions are for employment beginning this fall for the 22-23 school year. For details and application instructions, see: https://fsmn.org/about/employment/ Also sought – extended day staff.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

ACTION, (A Commitment to Inclusion in Our Neighborhoods – a three-year program of the MN Council of Churches,) is looking for congregations to participate in the coming year’s cohort. Over the three years, congregations join with other people of faith to learn, experience, and grow in attitudes around race and intercultural competency, exploring how the present situation of racial injustice came to be, what our current climate of life and faith are, and looking for tools to be in solidarity with those on the margins. Learn more here . Watch an information session that featured ACTION alumni.

From ISAIAH: primary voting starts June 24. Plan to vote in the primary election Aug 9, 2022. Early voting starts June 24. The primary shapes who gets on the November ballot, where all state senators, representatives and the governor seats are up for election. This year’s redistricting may impact who is on your ballot! To learn about your options for early, absentee and in-person voting, click here. See a sample ballot here. View the changes to state legislative districts here.

OFFICE HOURS

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