March 26, 2023

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Carol Bechtel; Zoom host – Bill

10:15 – 11:00 Acts of Kindness. Come explore how simple (or radical) acts of kindness have changed, or even saved, a life. We will watch the short TED talk “I Was Almost a School Shooter” and then discuss the many aspects of acts of kindness, including how such acts have impacted our own lives. Offered by the Peace and Social Concerns Committee. Zoom host – Kate

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Roland Barrett – speaker; Tom Wells – musician; care of meeting, Jane Furnas; Zoom host – Kate

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

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Please plan to attend a Meeting Threshing Session regarding the masking protocols and the Sunday morning schedule, TODAY, 1:30 – 3:30 at the meetinghouse and on Zoom. Same link as March 26th Sunday morning programming.

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: How and When to Use the Meeting’s Automatic External Defibrillator. This will be an overview of the AED, exploring how it works and reviewing steps to follow in an emergency. This is intended as an informational session to familiarize everyone with the AED, not a hands-on training in its use or in giving CPR. It is a chance to ask questions about what to do if someone collapses in the meetinghouse.

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 is again working on the State of the Society report. If you would like to send a sentence or more regarding your experience of Meeting this past year, please do! Send an email to Mary B.

Friends Committee on National Legislation is beginning a process to reconsider the organization’s policy on abortion. The current statement in the World We Seek notes: “Members of the Society of Friends are not in unity on abortion issues. Therefore, FCNL takes no position and does not act either for or against abortion legislation. On occasion, FCNL may appeal to lawmakers not to use the abortion debate to paralyze action on other legislation.” The policy committee is exploring whether or not they should change this position. Doug H and Jim H are MFM representatives to FCNL and would like to hear your thoughts and feelings about this issue, by email or phone in the next few weeks.

Quaker Voluntary Service has two program Fridays each month. Could you provide a vegetarian lunch for three on April 14th or 28th? Sign up with Miranda, QVS Local Coordinator: miranda(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)quakervoluntaryservice.org. Also check with Miranda if you are interested in joining her and the two Fellows for the lunch you provide! THANK YOU, Friends, for this gesture of care and support.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

Come for thirty minutes of Lectio Divina and worship sharing at noon on Tuesdays. We hold a short reading from the Bible, Quaker, or other spiritual texts to see if and how it might speak to us today, followed by a time of worship-sharing. Contact Stephen for the link.

A new Spirituality in Dance and Movement group will have its first gathering at the meetinghouse on Tues, March 28th at 1PM. Those interested in moving and those who are interested but uncomfortable with movement are welcome. Contact Ellen for more.

The Watson Reading Group will have its second meeting this Tues, March 28, (and every fourth Tues. of the month) 7-8:30PM via Zoom. We take turns reading aloud from Karen Armstrong’s Sacred Nature with time for intermittent discussion. Most participants have a copy of the book available to them but it is not mandatory. If you have interest and have not expressed it already, please let John D. know. He will send out the link on Monday to previous attenders and others who are curious.

There is a new Getting to Know You, storytelling group meeting at 1PM on the second Tuesday of each month. Want to find out more? Contact Kate W-J.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER WORLD OF FRIENDS

VOLUNTEER

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.

Friends School of MN Plant Sale need YOU! Volunteers come from all over the Twin Cities to perform jobs at all skill levels. For example –
~ take a four-hour shift setting up; stocking the shelves; assisting shoppers /tidying / clerking during the sale; or cleaning up after (sign-up here: https://www.friendsschoolplantsale.com/volunteer)
~ collect newspaper sleeves / bags for bulb packaging (bring to the box at the meetinghouse)
~ collect strawberry / tomato boxes for shoppers to use (contact to learn when and where to take them)
~ volunteer to help feed those working back-to-back shifts: (sign-up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0f48a8a62ca4f49-food#/)
~ help with catalogue distribution (see more here: https://gallery.mailchimp.com/df4d6b66680825de4b3fa4d58/files/Plant_Sale_Catalogs_Distribution.pdf; the spreadsheet can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17OdJ-jF0mUqqQzPkmLAruBn_2KbfzoYc1yz3Dx9wAv8/edit#gid=781691803)

WORKSHOPS, FILMS, RETREATS, PROGRAMS, PRESENTATIONS

The American Friends Service Committee is hosting a webinar, Remembrance and Accountability: The Iraq War at Twenty. Come consider the impacts of the war and how we might work toward a different future. Tues, Mar 28, noon(CT). Info and registration here.

Friends for a NonViolent World warmly invites Friends to its annual meeting on Sat, Apr 1st, 9AM-noon. Come celebrate FNVW’s 2022 accomplishments, learn about plans for the future, welcome new board members and greet old Friends! Breakfast and door prizes for those who come in-person – Twin Cities Meeting, 1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul! Can’t be there in person? Join via Zoom – https://default.salsalabs.org/Taae9b73e-dcef-4583-a844-5e092b798e1c/b2dba806-8d6b-4084-9ed3-ac3e130b83ae; ID: 840 8245 2330; Passcode: 894621

The Black Quaker Project is sponsoring the Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival and Forum. Films will be shown online, followed by commentary and discussion, every other Sat afternoon at noon (CT). Registration required, in advance, for each film to receive the Zoom link. The last film is the series: Paul Robeson: Tribute to An Artist (1978) and the Proud Valley (1940) on Sat, April 8th. Register at this link .

Quaker Youth Retreat at Scattergood Friends School, April 14-16! This will be a great opportunity for rising 8th-12th graders who want to visit Scattergood for a weekend aimed at service, leadership, and finding one’s voice. This is a free event; limited lodging/meals for drivers. For more information, contact: Sadie at skirschenman(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)scattergood.org.

Friends are welcome at the American Friends Service Committee Corporation Program, Connecting for Lasting Change, April 14 – 15. Plenary speaker and some workshops available online. Register by clicking on the items that interest you.

Twin Cities Meeting’s Toward Right Relationship with Indigenous Peoples-MN is offering an in-person film series. Next up, Smoke Signals – a coming-of-age comedy-drama about two young men growing up on the Coeur D’Alene Indian Reservation in Idaho; Apr 15th, 7PM at 1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul.

Attend The Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools: A Call for Accountability and Healing, an online presentation of the research findings around the role Quakers played in the forced assimilation of Native children during the 19th and 20th centuries, offered by Quakers Paula Palmer, Gail Melix (Herring Pond Wampanoag) and Andrew Grant. Discussion will focus on how Friends can acknowledge the harm that was done and appropriately support healing in Indigenous communities. April 16, 1-3PM (CT). Register at: https://friendspeaceteams.org/quaker-boarding-schools-apr-2023/

“What are you doing here?” the interplay of Quaker Values and Spiritual Accompaniment in Quaker and Non-Quaker Settings” will be offered Thurs, April 20 – Sun, April 23, at Quaker Hill Conference Center, Richmond, IN, and online. Consider how we as Friends engage in spiritual care with each other and in our multi-faith settings. How do hierarchies play out in Quaker and multi-faith settings alike? How do we explain what we do to different audiences? How do we maintain our own spiritual integrity as we accompany people with a variety of spiritual beliefs and practices? Through participatory workshops, insight sessions, and small group sharing, attenders will have a chance to engage with issues such as professional and spiritual authority, theological grounding, and the dynamics of seeking, finding and helping or accompanying others. Register and learn more at QPCC.US.

The first annual Quaker Leadership Conference will be April 27-29 at Earlham in Richmond, IN. Gather to share, listen, learn, and discern how God is working through us and among us and how we might contribute to a vital future for the Religious Society of Friends. Quaker leaders under the age of 40 are eligible for a discount code. For more, see https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1st-annual-quaker-leadership-center-conference-tickets-548018276417

School of the Spirit will offer a Contemplative Retreat, Reconnecting With the Divine in One Another, at the Siena Center in Racine, WI, April 27-30. Come experience the distinctly Quaker manner of knowing contemplation in community. There will be time for individual prayer, reflection, rest, and walks. Sinking down into the silence, we are likely to want to give voice to what we’re encountering there, so there will be times for worship sharing in small groups as well as opportunity to meet one-on-one with a retreat leader. More information, including the flexible fee structure and the registration info, is available on the retreat website. Early registration recommended.

The 2023 Friends General Conference Gathering (FGC), Listen So That We May LIVE, will be July 2-8 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR. Plenaries will be hybrid. FFI, see fgcquaker.org/fgcprograms/the-gathering/ Friends are invited to apply to exhibit art. Participate in the Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts (FQA) 2023 Show, “Out of the Silence,” presenting all forms of art (still art; videos of performances). This will be a Slide Show Exhibition available at FGC at Western Oregon University from July 2nd through 8th, and will also be shown, in perpetuity, on FQA’s website beginning July 1st, 2023. There will be an online Zoom reception for participating artists, FQA members, and guests. Learn more at www.fqaquaker.org. Application information is at this link (application deadline is May 1; earlier is appreciated.) If you have questions about the show, submitting your work, or how to become more involved in FQA, contact the co-curators: Jonathan Talbot – jonathan(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)talbot1.com, or Doris Pulone – dpulone(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)comcast.net.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition’s Day on the Hill is March 29, 6:30 – 8:45PM, online and March 30. The program this year will be focused on homelessness in our state and advocating for HF1872, the Sacred Settlements bill. Register to attend a virtual issue brief and advocacy training program, then schedule an advocacy appointment for March 30 by contacting your legislators. Minneapolis Meeting is a member of JLRC.

The Muslim American Society of Minnesota and Minnesota Council of Churches have built relationships, reduced Islamophobia, and fostered conversations between people of different faiths through Taking Heart Ramadan Iftars. During Ramadan you are invited to an open house at a mosque where you can witness prayer, learn about your neighbors and enjoy a fast-breaking meal. Sign up to attend a Taking Heart Iftar.

OFFICE HOURS

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).