State of Society 2023
Minneapolis Friends Meeting

It was a great joy to return in person to meeting for worship at the meetinghouse on February 27, 2022. This followed a near herculean effort by many, spearheaded by our tech crew, to assemble and start a hybrid video communication system that merged those meeting on Zoom with those at the meetinghouse. This hybrid system allows us to worship and conduct business together while creating a safe environment for worship during Covid. By the end of the year, we had hired a teen from the Meeting to serve as an AV Tech and recruited and trained a team of friends to act as Zoom hosts.

Ministry and Counsel continues to carry a special concern for the spiritual life of our Meeting community. It initiated a successful effort to encourage more volunteers to serve as speakers at semi-programmed meeting. It also offered three mid-morning programs on sharing our faith as Quakers. This experience of sharing together and in small groups was rich and powerful. Knowing one another at a deeper spiritual level has enriched our sense of community. The concern for community has also led some members to propose holding only one meeting for worship each Sunday, alternating between unprogrammed and semi-programmed worship. While the current practice allows individuals to worship in the manner that is most satisfactory for their needs, for others it sometimes feels like we have two separate communities. Others wonder why we would want to have fewer opportunities for worship at a time when we see an influx of new attenders. Changing Covid mask restrictions has also been discussed. A threshing session on mask restrictions was held but the issue is not resolved.

We continue to mourn the deaths of several dear friends over the past two years. Sue Murray died on October 27, 2021; Barbara Coffin on November 2, 2021; Alice Bell on August 5, 2022; and Mary Jean Port on October 14, 2022. Caitlyn Wright also died during the year; a memorial was held on October 1, 2022. While we grieve their deaths, we also celebrate the gift of their faithful presence and joy for life they shared with us for so many years.

Covid has had a negative effect on the religious education program of the Meeting and other Meetings. To address this, Meeting, for some months considered hiring a Children and Families Coordinator part-time (10-15 hours per week) and in September agreed to do so. This position has been posted and there are applications.

The Peace and Social Concerns proposed a minute calling on Congress to create a Truth and Healing Commission regarding Native American children having been forcibly sent to boarding schools with deleterious consequences. Meeting approved this late in the year.

In December, the Meeting agreed to give $1000 to match contributions to Thee Quaker Project. This is a film project focusing on young Friends. The proposal for the Winter Gift was moved forward to January when the Clerk did not sense unity. Subsequently, the committee recommended sending the gift to the Division of Indian Works for support of Native youth and families, and this was accepted.

2022 saw the return of some fun activities put on pause. Very gratifying events of the last year include the late summer ice cream social outdoors; the fall picnic at Fish Lake; Family Fun Day visits to the Minneapolis Art Institute and a local theater; meeting the crew of the Golden Rule Peace Boat; and our participation in the Friends for a Nonviolent World (FNVW) Holiday Fair at the Friends School of Minnesota. Potluck returned, in an abbreviated form due to Covid.

Care and Counsel had many requests for prayer and pastoral care last year. The Meeting’s Covid Fund provided needed help for attendees/members of our community, and 2022 was its last year. Care and Counsel Clerk noted, “with our aging community we are all challenged to be wounded healers.” The committee has been working to find members from the whole Meeting who can work with those requesting help.

Several groups continued to gather last year. The group The Right Relationship with Indigenous People met monthly as did the Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice. Lectio Divina continues to meet weekly. Experiment With Light groups meet on Zoom and in person. This is just a few of the small groups flourishing, augmented by new ones.

The Minneapolis Friends Meeting has many volunteers. Loaves and Fishes has continued through Covid to provide meals. The Mid-Morning program committee continues to have informative programs and must choose among proposals. Our finances continue in good order. The Nominating Committee has brought forward a slate for the new year. Many of our volunteer jobs have not been mentioned because of the brevity of this report but we value the service of all these members and attenders.

One member summed up the broad experience of last year for our Meeting:
“Friends seem hungry for connection, evidenced by the addition of the reading group, the dance, spirituality and movement group, and the expanded participation in informal and organized small groups. Just as in the large society, we are learning to live with each other again, finding our way difficult as we explore changing out masking protocols and our worship schedule. We are called to be caring and gentle with each other as we discern a way forward. We continue to do our best to be faithful.”