July 2, 2023

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

10:00 – 11:00 AM meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Diane Barrett; Zoom host – John Kraft

Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the link to worship in July.

Bring a bag lunch and drink and / or potluck fingerfood and linger with F(f)riends after worship TODAY! The Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice group will have a table(s) on the patio. Want to know what the group is about? You are welcome to join them. Inside or outside, make space in your schedule to pull up a chair and visit!

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

PASTORAL CARE: The Care and Counsel Committee facilitates pastoral care for Minneapolis Meeting members and attenders, understanding the Quaker tradition that Friends minister to each other. If you are dealing with illness, grief, a major transition, or a stressful personal problem, we would like to be there for you. Contact committee clerk, Sandy O.
~ If a confidential discussion would support you as you make a decision, we will set up a clearness committee with you. Email John S. to explore that opportunity.
~ Other committee members are Connie A, Mary G, and Ellen S.

There is online mid-week worship every Wed night, 7PM. Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Wednesday for the link.

WELCOME to Cathy Nagler (Naw-gler), MFM’s new Family and Children Coordinator! We are so fortunate that Cathy is willing and available to offer her ministry to the MFM community! Introduce yourself to her and consider how you can contribute to a children and families ministry.

If you are on Zoom, please find a place in your home to settle in to worship, as if you were at the meetinghouse. In the meetingroom, you would probably stay in your seat for all of worship. At home, please do not move from place to place with your camera on. If you need to move location, turn your camera off, and back on once you are settled. Thank you!

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 Lolly L. 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.

Minneapolis Meeting is looking for an In-house Audio Visual Operator to support hybrid worship and programming, starting in August. Detailed job description and application information found here. Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for more.

People who are interested and willing to learn / review how to work the meetinghouse AV system, a few sessions after worship are available: July 2, 23, and 30. Please let Terry K. or Roger M. know of your interest.

Plan ahead to participate in Loaves and Fishes on July 31st: Join other metro-area Friends, the Ismaili Community and the Mayim Rabim congregation to provide a nutritious meal at Holy Rosary Church in S Mpls, 2424 – 18th Ave S. There are three shifts to cover the tasks of the meal: meal prep (2-3:30PM); burrito assembly and handing out the meals (4:15-5:30PM,) and clean up (5:15-6:30PM.) Fruit donations, dropped off at Holy Rosary after 2:00, are needed as well. Email Sue K. to sign up for a shift or to arrange to drop off fruit. Masks, gloves, and hats required.

Honoring the holiness of the earth and fostering sustainability is part of MFM’s approved vision of the future. An ad hoc group, in cooperation with the Property Committee, is investigating solar panels as part of minimizing our use of fossil fuels, contributing to healing our planet. Along with the meeting’s sustainability pursuits, individuals are also encouraged to consider subscribing to a community solar garden (CSG) for their personal dwelling electrical needs. Personal dwellings are occupied for a greater portion of time than the meetinghouse and shifting to solar-powered electricity would yield a great impact! Interfaith Power and Light suggests exploring Cooperative Energy Futures and Solar United Neighbors . Rick V. has also been in contact with Sunshare and is willing to set up a Zoom information session for those interested. Contact him with interest and evening availability or to request more information.

Quaker Voluntary Service Program: The Minneapolis / St. Paul house will be inactive this coming year, though the Local Support Committee will be organizing local activities to maintain continued awareness and community building. Volunteer service programs around the country are finding it difficult to attract participants after the last couple of difficult years. QVS staff, board, and local Friends will spend this year, in part, discerning what is the right shape and size of QVS in this new era. The program remains active in Portland, Philadelphia, and Boston.

Due to currently low virus transmission rates, the Trustees have agreed that the downstairs area of the meetinghouse can be used for meals and other activities this summer. This may change if transmission rates begin to rise again. Due to the passive air circulation and close quarters in the kitchen, kitchen use has not been resumed.

Please remember to schedule committee meetings, events, and visits to the meetinghouse with the office to help avoid conflicts: 612-926-6159; office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org .

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

There is no Lectio Divina gathering this Tuesdays.

Established writers as well as dabblers will meet for an informal writing session tomorrow night, July 3, and every first Monday, 7-9PM. This is a chance to connect with each other, writing with prompts and sharing what we write. Serious, whimsical, beautiful and quirky – we’ve enjoyed them all! You are welcome to come laugh, ponder, and create together, whether or not you have participated before! Contact Jane D. with questions or interest.

OPPORTUNITIES AMONG FRIENDS

Listen to Thee Quaker Podcast (created by Jon Watts and supported by MFM contributions!) The newest episode: The Grimke Sisters: How Two Southern Slave-Owning Quakers Became America’s Fiercest Abolitionists.

People Camp 2023, Caring for Our Future, offered by Friends for a NonViolent World (August 6-12) is a great summer adventure vacation at a very affordable cost! This is a great experience for parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, couples, and singles. Take a look at a slide show here and an information page and video along with link to registration, here, to get a glimpse!

Friends for a NonViolent World is connecting with new people and communities this summer! Take a look and see if you’d like to join them at any of these events where they will be tabling: FNVW Community Events.

The snow is not yet flying, but it’s never too early to gear up for the Friends for a NonViolent World Holiday Fair!
~ Use those lazy, hazy days of summer to create crafts to be sold or preserve the bounty of your garden! Work on your own or parallel play with a group of friends! Jams, honey and salsa are popular sale items. And of course, it’s always a good time to teach one of your skills to a younger person!
~ Clean up those Quaker Treasures to prepare them for their next life. Items with special meaning and value to the Quaker community are most fun to have.
~ Donate books! (We would also love multi-gallon storage tubs, and a few bookcases!) Contact Caron Moore to donate at 651-308-9842.
~ Have ideas of how to make the Fair even better this year? Be part of the planning team! Email info(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)fnvw.org with questions or to volunteer. Serving on the Holiday Fair Planning Committee is a great way to volunteer with FNVW for a limited period of time.
~ Let us know what you’d like to donate to the sale using this FNVW Holiday Fair Donation Sign Up.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

Living Lightly: Hennepin County Fix-It Clinics are back! Learning how to repair items is an effective way to produce less waste and conserve the resources that go into manufacturing, packaging, transporting and disposing of goods. But repairing something can feel like a daunting task. That’s where Fix-It Clinics come in! Bring your broken item and get paired up with a knowledgeable volunteer who can help you disassemble, troubleshoot, and repair your broken household items. The next clinic is noon-4 (last item accepted at 3:30) on Saturday, July 8th at Westminster Church, 1200 Marquette Ave, Minneapolis. See the full schedule here.

Shifting the Spotlight, a MN Council of Churches event in its Truth and Reparations series, featured Dr. Rev. Otis Moss, III. “When the religion of the State is amnesia, then the simple act of remembering will make you a heretic.” (Paul Caat Smith, Choctaw scholar.) Listen to the address at http://mnchurches.org/blog/2023/06/21/recording-shifting-spotlight-may-25-2023

Feel like it’s difficult to know what to do in the face of continued racial injustice? MN Council of Churches’ ACTION Program (A Commitment to Inclusion in Our Neighborhoods), developed, facilitated by and featuring BIPOC educators, is designed to give MN congregations the same grounding in our current reality (through the stories of experience from MN’s BIPOC); training in community organizing and working effectively with local government; and developing a reparations ministry. Think of what we could do together if our good intentions were systematically informed and directed! Designed for congregations to enroll together, the program is being made available to individuals without a congregational commitment. Learn more here. ACTION Project information opportunities are happening on Mon, July 10th, 7-8PM; and Wed, July 19th, noon-1PM. Zoom link for the sessions here.

OFFICE HOURS

Carolyn VandenDolder, Meeting Coordinator, will be in the office Wed, Thurs and Fri, afternoons. Phone messages checked daily. Bulletin deadline, noon Thur. Phone items in to the office (612-926-6159), email (office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org), or write and put in the bulletin file of the blue box.