October 30, 2022

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

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

10:15 – 11:00 Staying Power. Long-time members and attenders, Allen Gibas, Connie Archbald, Tom Ward, and Nettie Smith, will speak about their experience with Quakerism and the Minneapolis Meeting and why they have stayed. Moderated by Linda Coffin; Zoom host – Mary

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Jane Furnas – speaker; care of meeting, Jim Lovestar; Zoom host – Mary

Need the link for worship and mid-morning program in October? email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Friday.

The first step of peace is to stand still in the light…. ~ George Fox

Scattergood Friends School – Plan to linger after semi-programmed worship TODAY and attend (at about 12:30), a question-and-answer session with Ethan Huelskamp, Director of Development at Scattergood Friends School in West Branch, IA. Scattergood is a community-living school that offers college-prep courses, farm experiences, and a shared work program for students, grades 6 – 12. Hear about Scattergood’s mission, philosophy and the school’s new middle-school program. Learn why students come from around the world to attend this unique Quaker school.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Happy birthday to those members and attenders born in November: Jim H, Steve C, Sarah McC, Diane B, Mary L, and Frank B! If you would like to have your birthday acknowledged by meeting Friends, please send the month and date of your birth to Judith J.

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: The Quaking of America : An Embodied Guide to Navigating our Nations Upheaval and Racial Reckoning. Come learn about this challenging and profound book and what the on-going Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice group is doing as they work through the book and confront racism – without and within.

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.

The celebration of Mary Jean Port’s life will be at 1PM on Sat, Dec 3rd, in person here at the meetinghouse, and online via Zoom. Mary Jean died on October 7th. She was accepted into membership in Minneapolis Meeting in 1998.

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.

Loaves and Fishes,Mon, October 31: Join other metro-area Friends, the Ismaili Community and the Mayim Rabim congregation to provide a meal at Holy Rosary Church in S Mpls, 2424 – 18th Ave S. Prepare dinner (2-4:30); pack up and hand out the meals (4:45-6:30,) or clean up (5:30-7.) Fruit donations needed. Covid-19 has created more need and fewer volunteers (and fruit donations.) Email Sue K. to sign up for a shift to make sure there is sufficient space or to arrange to drop off fruit. Masks, gloves, and hats required; Halloween costumes optional! This remains a COVID risk. Enough food to make 400 meals has been ordered – sign up to come if you can!

Meeting life is starting to hit its stride. With our new integrated worship, there are even more roles needed to allow MFM life – worship, member care, mid-morning program, first day school, outward witness – to unfold. One important way to get to know others and become known in Meeting, (and to ensure that MFM continues to offer spiritual support, challenge, and nurture,) is to labor with others through committee work. A description of committees and their area of focus can be found on the website: https://minneapolisfriends.org/committees/. Need help discovering where you might flourish? Contact anyone on the Nominating Committee: Connie A, Bill H, Jim L, or Carolyn V.

The Peace and Social Concerns Committee receives nominations, then reviews and recommends recipients for the meeting’s Winter Gift in December. If you would like to nominate an organization to be a recipient, please send an email to Deborah J.

Need to schedule a Zoom meeting for a committee meeting or Minneapolis Meeting activity? Please send a request, including date, time, and purpose to office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org to have it set up.

Quaker Voluntary Service has two program Fridays each month. Could you provide a vegetarian lunch for three on 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.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

Join Lectio Divina for thirty minutes at noon this Tuesday. Hold a short reading from the Bible, Quaker, or other text to see if and how it might speak to us today, followed by worship-sharing. Contact Stephen S. for the link.

FUN WITH FRIENDS: Attend a very special excursion this Thurs, Nov 3 at 7:30PM when a group will attend the one-man show of our own John Cutler in Six Points Theater’s Uncle Philip’s Coat. The Star Tribune named Uncle Philip’s Coat one of the 10 best and brightest theater shows to catch this fall. More and tickets at Sixpointstheater.org

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER WORLD OF FRIENDS

VOLUNTEER

Planning has begun for the 2022 Friends for a NonViolent World Holiday Fair! 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

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. Find more here; register by Nov 1 here.

Friends for a NonViolent World will offer an Alternatives to Violence Project Basic, Advanced and Training for Facilitators Combo Virtual Workshop. In the context of a supportive community, you’ll discover your power to build safer communities and transform conflict and frustration in your life. Thurs, Nov. 3rd evening; Sat, Nov. 5th; Thurs, Nov. 10th evening; and Sat, Nov. 12th. Sign up now to reserve your spot: AVP-MN Combo Community Virtual Workshop – November 2022 Registration Form.

Registration is now open for the Friends Committee on National Legislation Annual Meeting and Quaker Public Policy Institute, “Brave and Constant,” Nov 16-20. Help make decisions that will guide FCNL’s work during the coming Congress and to connect with people who share like values. Underlying this whole experience is the worship that anchors and strengthens our connections. In-person (in DC) and via Zoom. Schedule and more here. Reg deadline, Nov 9th.

Northern Yearly Meeting’s Anti-Racism working group is hosting two more evening discussion (7PM CT):
– Thurs, Nov 10: Discuss the Paula Palmer video interview with Jerilyn DeCoteau about Quaker Indian Boarding Schools. Watch the interview beforehand at: https://act.fcnl.org/go/125381
– Thurs, Dec 8: Discuss the film “Two Rivers” (Watch the film beforehand.) Find the trailer here: http://tworiversfilm.com/2riv_film.htm
Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the link to both events.

Friends for a NonViolent World’s most recent Everyday Nonviolence Podcast features Mike Alberti, Managing Director of the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, the largest and most enduring prison-based literary organization in the country. Listen here.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) — a law that protects Native children from forced removal from their families, tribes, and culture, and preserves tribal sovereignty — is currently under attack and at risk of being overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court this November. Brackeen v. Haaland challenges the constitutionality of ICWA. Congress passed ICWA in 1978 to address state child welfare agencies taking Native children from their families and placing them in non-Native homes, in an attempt to have Native children assimilate and adopt white cultural norms. Before ICWA, public and private agencies were removing 25 to 35 percent of Native American/Alaska Native children from their homes; 85 percent of those children were placed in non-Native households. The legal arguments made by the plaintiffs challenging ICWA in Brackeen, besides undoing the safeguards of keeping Native children in their cultural home, undermine key tenets of federal Indian law, and threaten many other laws upholding tribal sovereignty. Let your Congresspeople know that tribal sovereignty matters to you and encourage them to continue working for the protection of Native rights now and at the case’s conclusion. More from the American Civil Liberties Union here.

Overcoming Racism: The Power of Truth-Telling will be held Nov 11-12 at Metro State University, St. Paul. The conference features keynote speaker Kao Kalia Yang, author of The Latehomecomer, and entertainment keynote JUSTMove. Learn more and register here.

The Minnesota Council of Churches has commenced a program on Minnesota’s Racial Legacy, Finally Telling the Truth. The first EXCELLENT MN’s Racial Legacy program is available online: http://www.mnchurches.org/what-we-do/minnesotas-racial-legacy. White Church Truths will be offered at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Nov 5 9AM-3PM, and will focus on identifying and facing the truths hidden in our own beliefs. With open eyes, we will more clearly look to the future – and see our role in creating it.

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).