February 12, 2023

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 9:40 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Keitha Herron; Zoom host – Bill

9:45 – 11:15 monthly meeting for business: John Kraft, clerk; Tm Ward, recording clerk; Zoom host – Stephen

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): no planned speaker; care of meeting, Eleni Wolking; Zoom host – Stephen

Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the link to worship and mid-morning program.

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

People around the world who are grieving or suffering from natural disaster, conflict, racism, colonialism, displacement, loss, and the climate crisis, and all those who are aiding victims and the dispossessed.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: What Does It Mean to be a Quaker? Come for part two of the three-part exploration offered by the Ministry and Counsel Committee. What threads from your previous faith history and Light experience do you bring to the Meeting? How does this impact your experience of, or interaction with, the Meeting? Small group discussion facilitated by John Kraft and Lolly Lijewski.

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.

Fun with Friends’ next outing will be Sun, Feb. 26th! Gather in front of the elevators at the north end of the main floor of the historic Landmark Center (St. Paul) at 1:30PM. We’ll decide which music, dance, exhibitions, galleries, and museums to explore on arrival. Masks are required for some offerings. Questions, contact Jane .

An index of the monthly meeting decisions over the past twenty years is now available for interested F(f)riends. Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org to have it emailed to you.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

The Right Relationship with Indigenous People group will meet this coming Monday night, Feb 13th, at 7PM. Open to all interested, this group meets every second Monday night.

The Watson Reading Group will resume meeting on Feb 28th and every fourth Tues of the month, 7-8:30PM, via Zoom. We will take turns reading aloud from Karen Armstrong’s Sacred Nature. We will save the last half hour for discussion and a brief meditation. Participants will each need to obtain a copy of the book. If you have interest in joining and have not expressed it already, please let John D know.

A group of MFM F(f)riends plan to visit the Hocokata Ti public exhibit in Shakopee on March 1 at 1PM. The exhibit “Mdewakanton: Dwellers of the Spirit Lake” provides visitors with a cultural experience that enhances their knowledge of the Mdewakanton Dakota people and history. This is about a people telling their own story. Contact Nettie if you’d like to be a part of the outing!

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER WORLD OF FRIENDS

VOLUNTEER

Raise the visibility of Friends for a NonViolent World by following it on social media! Like FNVW’s facebook page and share its posts: www.facebook.com/FriendsNVW; follow FNVW on instagram: @friendsnvw; subscribe to FNVW’s YouTube channel: Friends for a Nonviolentworld

The Northern Yearly Meeting Journal is published 2-3 times/year. Friends are encouraged to submit creative artistic work and writing, including personal reflections and articles about your work and experiences as Quakers to nymjournal(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com. Submission deadline for the Spring Issue is March 31st. The NYM Journal is available on the Northern Yearly Meeting Website at About > Publications and includes an inspiring article by Pamela Minden, Friends Committee on National Legislation’s Midwest Regional Anchor, and Northern Yearly Meeting’s recorded minutes on gun violence, renouncing the Doctrine of Discovery, and in support of the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools.

WORKSHOPS, FILMS, RETREATS, PROGRAMS, PRESENTATIONS

The Black Quaker Project is sponsoring the Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival and Forum, Feb 4-April 8. Films will be shown online, followed by commentary and discussion, every other Sat afternoon. Registration required, in advance, for each film to receive the Zoom link. Film subjects: Bill Suherland, Joan Countryman and African Americans in Quaker Schools, Sarah Mapps Douglass and Women in the Abolition Struggle Against Slavery, Benjamin Banneker, and Paul Robeson, celebrating his 125th birthday. Sat, Feb 18th: The Prep School Negro (2012) –Joan Countryman & African Americans in Quaker Schools. Register at this link for each film.

The Antiracism Working Group of NYM hosts a monthly discussion at on third Thursdays at 7PM. On Feb 16th, Kat Griffith will offer, via zoom, a slide presentation (lots of photos!) on Asylum: the Seekers, Their Stories, the Policies and Myths. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85615929757?pwd=L1lFTS9FZkxQajBxVDd4bXhkRWpMZz09; ID: 856 1592 9757;
Passcode: 924914

Save the dates for the Northern Yearly Meeting (NYM) Spring Interim Session, March 10-11. This will be a blended session with the in-person gathering at Madison Friends Meetinghouse. Let Shel, NYM presiding clerk, know if you have any questions/suggestions.

Twin Cities Meeting’s Toward a Right Relationship with Indian People Group will show the film, Smoke Signals, on Sat, Feb 18th at 3PM in the fellowship hall of the TCFM meetinghouse (1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul.) This coming-of-age comedy-drama, based on Sherman Alexie’s short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven , won several awards and accolades and shows (sometimes with humor) the complexity of life on a reservation. Discussion will follow. All are welcome.

Working for healing, rather than punitive, justice. One of the most powerful things we can do right now to protect Brown and Black community members is to avoid calling the police, when possible, using simple strategies. Learn more from American Friends Service Committee’s Community Safety Beyond Policing project, Chicago.

The Elizabeth Ann Bogert Memoral Fund for the Study and Practice of Christian Mysticism, administered by the Friends World Committee for Consultation, makes annual grants of up to $1000. See more about the grant program and application process on the long bulletin board or go to https://scholarships.gtu.edu/fwcc-grants-for-the-study-and-practice-o-christian-mysticism/ Application deadline is March 1. Diane Barrett and Patricia Jones have both received grants in the past.

The 2023 Friends General Conference Gathering, Listen So That We May LIVE, will be July 2-8 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR. Plenaries will be hybrid – available in person and online.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition is offering a free online event, Traditional Medicines for Your Healing Journey on Feb 15, 1PM(CT). Indian boarding schools disrupted traditional knowledge systems and connection to traditional indigenous medicines. Ethnobotanist, Dr. Rosalyn LaPier, (Blackfeet / Metis,) will share how to incorporate traditional medicines back into daily lives. For more and to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zUl-kwviSHm8x-LlCu1RSw

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).