July 24, 2022

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

10:00 – 11:00 AM meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Stephen Snyder, speaker; care of meeting, Carolyn VandenDolder; Zoom host – Bill H.

Get the link to Sunday worship by emailing office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Friday.

After worship TODAY at 11:15: Sally Sudo, a Japanese-American and retired Minneapolis teacher, will talk about the discrimination that she and her family faced in Minneapolis during and after WW II. Of the 120,000 Japanese-Americans who were put into concentration camps during WWII, two-thirds were American citizens. Sally was six years old when she, her nine siblings, and her parents were forced to live in a concentration camp where they remained for three and a half years. They could take only what each of them could carry. Her parents stored their other belongings in their Japanese Christian church. After the war their possessions were never returned to them. Eighty percent of Japanese-American possessions, stored privately during the war, were stolen or sold by other people. It is estimated that Japanese Americans lost at least 400 million dollars worth of property. Sally will be speaking in the meetinghouse; the presentation will be available via the Zoom worship link. Discussion will follow.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

The pergola painting and pizza party has been pushed to July 30, 10AM. You, ladder-holders, roller and brush-cleaners, paint bucket and tray-refillers, masking off-ers, drop-cloth spreaders and brush and roller-wielders – your help is needed and welcome! Mostly outside, bring a mask to venture inside. We will be top-coating the pergola. Pizza for lunch! Rain date – August 6.

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

Safety is Communal: from Fear to Focus workshop. Mary Jean Port and John Stuart have arranged for this workshop to be offered on August 9 – open to MFM members and attenders; limit of 25. This 90-minute workshop begins with an overview of the neuroscience of fear and safety. Through a series of interactive, reflective activities, we will learn how to name fear responses and apply specific coping skills to increase choice in how we respond to danger. Recommended for anyone who has ever felt afraid, (and particularly relevant for parents processing fear with young people,) this is an amazing opportunity to practice identifying somatic experiences we have in response to fears around race and other issues. To reserve a spot, email Nettie or Jim L.

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 know if you are interested.

OPPORTUNITIES AMONG FRIENDS

WORKSHOPS, FILMS, RETREATS, PROGRAMS, PRESENTATIONS

Registration for Friends for a NonViolent World’s People Camp (Aug 7-13) ends TODAY! People Camp is an intergenerational experience of cooperation, exploration and community living. Come rest and refresh your mind, body, and spirit through a variety of workshops, group activities and recreation. More here.

The most recent Friends for a NonViolent World podcast, Surviving Gun Violence; Advocating for Change, featured Jarren Peterson Dean and Shannon Johnson – who were both devastatingly impacted by gun violence. Jarren and Shannon received grants from Everytown for Gun Safety enabling them to learn how to use their experiences as a force for positive change to end gun violence. More and listen here.

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 the 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 TOMORROW, Mon, July 25, 6-8PM (CT) and Sun, July 31, 2-4PM (CT). For more and to register, go to quakercall.net/ .

VOLUNTEER

Friends Committee on National Legislation: 1) 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. 2) Tell Congress: Resist Wasteful Spending on the Pentagon and Nuclear Weapons. More and take action at this link.

The Northern Yearly Meeting Journal offers space where Friends can share joys, concerns, struggles, or insights that reflect Quaker faith and life. Reflections on the Annual Session or favorite Quaker theme, issues that confront your meeting or all Quakers, a letter to the editor, poetry, photos, book or film reviews that provide spiritual insights – no more than 1500 words – submit them all to nymjournal(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com by July 22. The Spring issue is available here.

In April, the MN Department of Human Rights released its findings that the City of Minneapolis and its Police Department engage in a pattern or practice of race discrimination. The MN Justice Research Center (MNJRC) is hosting public sessions to collect input that will shape the state’s consent decree for the Minneapolis Police Department. A consent decree is a court-enforceable agreement that identifies specific changes to be made and timelines for those changes to occur. Learn more about the consent decree here. There are a couple remaining sessions in which to participate: https://www.mnjrc.org/events.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

Healing Minnesota Stories Sacred Site Tour will be offered Oct 30, 1PM – 5PM, St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Mendota Heights, (the July tour is full.) Take advantage of this MN Council of Churches, open-to-the-public, tour and hear the MN history you didn’t learn in high school. Take the first step in Healing Minnesota by absorbing the sacred narratives of Minnesota places. Learn more and register.

ACTION, (A Commitment to Inclusion in Our Neighborhoods) – The work of justice is not a sprint. There is no easy path to ending systemic racism. It is a relay race of generations. Be part of the church body willing to take the baton and carry it to the next step. Through the three-year ACTION Project, congregations will be lead by BIPOC facilitators to learn the history, engage in individual reflection and skill-building, and team up to shape a racially reparative future in MN. Learn more here . Watch an information session that featured ACTION alumni.

From ISAIAH: early primary voting has started. Take advantage of the many ways to vote early or plan to vote in the primary election Aug 9, 2022. 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! Learn about early, absentee and in-person voting here. See a sample ballot here. View changes to state districts here.

OFFICE HOURS – Wed, Thurs and Fri, afternoons. Phone messages checked daily; email checked W-F. Bulletin deadline, noon Thursday.