September 25, 2022

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Keitha Herron; Zoom host – Marilyn

10:15 – 11:00 Planning the Future of Friends for a NonViolent World (FNVW) Help FNVW continue putting Quaker values into action by participating in FNVW’s strategic planning process! FNVW’s Executive Director, Leah Robshaw Robinson, will share brief updates on FNVW’s programs and then get feedback on the following queries. Input will help shape the direction of FNVW’s work in the future. Zoom host – Marilyn

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Gib Pellet – planned speaker; care of meeting, Carolyn VandenDolder; Zoom host – Rae Beth

Need the link for worship? Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Friday.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
~ Isaiah 40:28

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: War in Ukraine – What Can Peacemakers Do Now? Jim Hefemyer will inform and facilitate a discussion of the current war in Ukraine. Jim is a Minneapolis Meeting representative to Friends Committee on National Legislation and works with the FCNL Twin Cities Advocacy Team.

There is an online 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.

Meet the 2022-2023 Minneapolis/St. Paul Quaker Voluntary Service Fellows, Elsa and Robie this coming Sat, Oct 1st, 3-5PM , here in the meetinghouse garden. Visit with this year’s Fellows as well as metro-area Friends, and the Local Support Committee members: Mary Ellen, clerk, Cynthia, Lin, Annika, Jane, Lillian, Glenna, Mark, Tom, and Ed.
Quaker Voluntary Service has two program Fridays each month. Could you provide a vegetarian lunch for three on Sept 30th, Oct 14th, or Nov 18th? Sign up with Miranda, QVS Local Coordinator: miranda(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)quakervoluntaryservice.org. THANK YOU, Friends, for this gesture of care and support.

Save October 28-29 so you can attend the Northern Yearly Meeting Fall Interim Session, held in-person here at the meetinghouse and online. More details soon. Northern Yearly Meeting, a gathering of monthly meetings and worship groups in the upper mid-west for mutual support and nurture. Interim sessions are a wonderful opportunity to hear about what NYM is doing and to experience a different flavor of Quaker practice. Please come to all or part!
NYM Interim Sessions Host Homes needed. If you are able to host out-of-town interim session attenders on Friday Oct 28th and Sat, Oct 29th, please contact office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org to be put in touch with the hospitality coordinator.

Fall Together at Fish Lake on Sat, Oct 8th is a GO! Come to this gathering of vaccinated Friends at Fish Lake Regional Park (14900 Bass Lake Rd, Maple Grove) from 11AM-5PM. Enjoy being with each other in this beautiful and inviting park. Children are welcome. No registration needed. Bring your own lunch, drink, and lawn/camp chair. Come prepared for an afternoon outside. We will have access to the pavilion for restrooms and stowing belongings, and then end the day by moving indoors for a snack (provided) and activity. See you at the lake!

It’s past time for a new directory! Please respond promptly to emails asking for information confirmation. If you’re a regular attender, new(ish) to Meeting, and want to have your information included, please fill out a form from the table by the elevator. Personal contact information is used for Meeting communication only and is not shared with those outside Minneapolis Meeting.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

Established writers as well as dabblers will have an informal writing session Mon night, Oct 3rd, 7-9PM. This is a chance to connect with each other, writing with prompts and sharing what we write. ALL INVITED, whether or not you have participated before!Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the link. Contact Jane for more.

The Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice group is sending out a special welcome to new (and current!) participants to the next meeting, Oct 11th from 7-8:30PM. We will begin to work through Resma Menakem’s latest book together, The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating our Nation’s Upheaval and Racial Reckoning. This is a profound and inspiring guide for developing/nurturing an anti-racist culture and community that practices settling our bodies so we can be fully present to our implicit bias and to what is happening in our country. And to respond effectively. Open to all – from the just curious to those with strong interest; those beginning this journey to those who have long experience – and to anyone who has read/is reading Resma Menakem’s book: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies and wants to continue and strengthen this work. You can find videos of Resma Menakem talking about the book by searching YouTube.com for “The Quaking of America.” Questions or to get the Oct 11 link, contact Nettie or Jimbo.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER WORLD OF FRIENDS

VOLUNTEER

Planning has begun for the 2022 Friends for a NonViolent World Holiday Fair Fundraiser and Social Event! FNVW would love your assistance in gathering the following items to sell at the fair this winter: handmade crafts, donated services, used books, Quaker treasures, desserts, donated items from local businesses. Sign up here to help: Donations Form

WORKSHOPS, FILMS, RETREATS, PROGRAMS, PRESENTATIONS

Friends for a NonViolent World is embarking on creating a three-year strategic plan. They ask for YOUR priorities and insights! Come to an interactive, energizing, organization-wide day of visioning the future of FNVW’s work! Sat, Oct 1, 9AM-1PM at Twin Cities Meeting, 1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul. RSVP and more here.

Quaker Call to Action – There is concern about the volatile atmosphere in which the upcoming elections will be held. There has been a series of across-the nation, Quaker conference calls to prepare individuals to be a peaceful, constructive element in the midst of this volatility. Resources from these discussions include: a video recording of the most recent ninety-minute session; a slide deck from the presentation; and a resource list which can connect you to actions you may take to protect elections.
UPCOMING EVENT – Register HERE for OCT 13 national Zoom call, hosted by The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the last national call before the November elections.

Friends General Conference seeks widespread input around revisioning the annual Gathering, in existence for 120 years. Learn more about this process here. Now is the time to have a direct impact on the transformation of the Gathering, preparing to meet the needs of the present and the future. Browse the schedule of focus group meetings and sign up to participate!

Quaker parent mutual support groups provide a forum in which Quaker parents can talk about their parenting and their faith. Parents celebrate one another’s successes and provide fellowship for one another through difficulties. Each group has two co-facilitators who will structure the conversations. Groups are free and open to any Friend currently raising children under the age of nineteen. Groups meet for one hour, via zoom, every-other week, Nov, 2022 through Apr, 2023. In past years, groups have included Friends from many yearly meetings, isolated Friends, and Friends across the theological spectrum of Quakerism. Find more here; register by Nov 1 at this link.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

Participate in the Vigil Watch Fire at Gitchitwa Kateri Catholic Church, 3045 Park Ave, Minneapolis, 6PM September 30 – 6AM October 1. Join with other people of faith to pray and to learn about the effects of the Residential Boarding Schools for American Indians. In preparation, consider reading the article from Church Life Journal, Guilt, Responsibility, and Purgatory: How traditional Catholic Teaching Can Help Us Think about Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations. Register for one-hour shifts. 6pm Prayer Guide: Shawn Phillips: Introduction to Boarding Schools in relation to American Indians and the Catholic Church; 9pm Prayer Guide: Fr. Stan Sledz: a look at lamenting; 12:00am Prayer Guide: Maka Black Elk, Director for Truth and Healing at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, SD, (Lakota): the current truth and healing process that he is participating in; 3:00am Prayer Guide: Robert Haarman: allies in the path of healing; 6:00am Prayer Guide: Gypsy Lemoyne: Healing Circles and closing the watchfire. More here.

The Basilica of St. Mary will host a Prayer Service, Pilgrimage Walk, and Lunch, on Oct 1, 9AM. Opening prayer regarding the trauma of residential boarding schools for Indigenous People, walk 2.5 miles to Cristo Rey High School in penitential pilgrimage, concluding with an address by a Native speaker and closing prayer followed by lunch, (provided by Pow Wow Grounds coffee shop). Shuttle available 12-1PM for the return to the Basilica. Register and more here.

Voter Disenfranchisement in the US: The US is condemned internationally for the disenfranchisement of felons, transgender people, and other groups and their exclusion from political life. Learn why, Tues, Oct 11th, 7- 9pm, online. Register here.

Understanding Christian Nationalism Episcopal theologian Diana Butler Bass uses three of her recent essays on the topic of Christian nationalism for a study series. Find links to each essay with discussion questions, appropriate for use in a small group or other adult reflective setting.

OFFICE HOURS

Carolyn VandenDolder, the Meeting Coordinator, will be in the office Wed – Fri 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).