November 26, 2023

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

DUE TO A COVID EXPOSURE AT A MEETING EVENT, anyone exposed to Covid and experiencing symptoms should stay home and worship on Zoom. Anyone exposed but not experiencing symptoms should mask to attend worship at the meeting house. Others who have not been knowingly exposed to Covid should consider wearing masks to protect themselves and others from possible exposure.

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Mary Bosserman; Zoom host – Bill H.

10:15 – 11:00 Friends for a NonViolent World: Quaker Values in Action. Created by members of the local Quaker community over 40 years ago, FNVW continues to put Quaker testimonies into action in our community today. FNVW’s Executive Director, Leah Robshaw Robinson, will share updates on FNVW’s current violence prevention and peace-building work, including a new Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) youth program! Zoom host – Lolly L.

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Jim Lovestar – speaker; no planned music; care of meeting, Benton Randolph; Zoom host – Lolly L.

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

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

Those for whom the time from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day brings feelings of isolation or loneliness.

Those living in the midst of violence and the threat of violence, those who fear for the safety of loved ones, and all those who lack the ease and comforts common around us.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: Holding Each Other in the Light. Three Friends will talk briefly about how they hold others in the Light. Then small groups will discuss their experiences with this important practice. Facilitated by John Stuart and the Care and Counsel Committee.

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 Winter Gift is an annual, special collection Minneapolis Meeting makes in the winter months. The Peace and Social Concerns Committee is tasked with recommending the recipients of the gift. If you have an organization you would like to nominate as a recipient, please send an email, with information about and the address of the organization, to the P&SC Committee clerk Deborah J. by MON, NOV 27.

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.

Want to practice your A/V Tech skills? Sign up to observe or to operate the system with guidance during December! Contact Marilyn J.

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.

Plan to VOLUNTEER and SHOP the Friends for a Nonviolent World Holiday Fair, NEXT WEEKEND, Dec 1, 1 – 9PM, and Dec 2, 10AM – 4PM at the Friends School of Minnesota, 1365 Englewood Ave, St Paul. Event Website: fnvw.org/holidayfair. Purchase crafts and other gifts; listen to festive holiday music; hang out with local Quakers! Dinner from the café available 4-9 on Friday; lunch available 10-3 on Saturday.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

The Watson Reading Group will meet on Tues, Nov 28th, and the fourth Tues of each month, 7-8:30PM via Zoom. We are taking turns reading aloud from Ranae Hanson’s Watershed with time for discussion. Most participants have a copy of the book available to them, but it is not mandatory. If you have interest in joining, please let John D. know.

The Spirituality in Dance and Movement group will gather at the meetinghouse this Tues, Nov 28th, at 10:45AM (and the last Tuesday of any odd month). Those interested in moving and those who are interested but uncomfortable with movement are welcome. A CD player and scarves provided. Bring music that gets your toes tapping and your body swaying! Contact Ellen S. for more.

NEW: Please join a monthly “Conflict Soiree,” meeting on Zoom , Wed, Dec 6th, 1PM. This is an ongoing group and drop-in’s are always welcome! We explore conflict and difference in our individual lives and in the meeting. We propose that becoming more skillful and comfortable with difference might cause us to be more authentic peacemakers everywhere we go. Contact Nettie S. for a Zoom link. Questions: Ask John S, Kate W-J, or Nettie.

Small group line-up: Writing Group, first Monday night; Conflict Soiree, first Wednesday afternoon; Getting to Know You Group, second Tuesday afternoon; Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice Group, second Tuesday night; Right Relationship with Indigenous People, third Tuesday night; Reading Group, fourth Tuesday night; Spirituality of Dance Group, last Tuesday morning in odd months.

THE WIDER WORLD OF FRIENDS

VOLUNTEER AND SHOP the Friends for a NonViolent World Holiday Fair: Dec 1st, 1-9PM and Dec 2nd, 10AM – 4PM at the Friends School of Minnesota, 1365 Englewood Ave, St Paul.
***Here’s how you can help this important Quaker community event and FNVW funding source:
~ VOLUNTEER! Pick up and deliver books, decorate, take a shift cooking or prepping food for the café, bring desserts, help with set-up, be a cashier, be a welcomer, accept crafts, treasures and food donations, take your pick here.
~ DONATE – books (call Caron 651-308-9842,) crafts, baked goods, Quaker Treasures, home canned goods – sign up at FNVW Holiday Fair Donation Sign Up
~ BE A MUSICIAN! If you would like to play for the Holiday Fair this year, (next weekend!,) please call Tom W. The Fair would love to have you!!
~ SHOP – purchase unique crafts and other gifts – soaps, used books, desserts, Christmas wreaths, Quaker treasures and more; listen to festive holiday music; hang out with folks from local Meetings, eat at the Friendly Café! (open Friday, 4-9PM and Sat, 10AM-3PM.)
Check out the event at https://fnvw.org/holidayfair.

The local Quaker Voluntary Service Program, on hiatus this year, will restart for 2024-2025 and your help is needed! Do you have ideas for possible new sites where the QVS Fellows can work? Progressive, compatible for-profit and non-profit organizations will be considered. Please contact Mary Ellen S. if you have thoughts or contacts with organizations to share, or if you want to explore getting involved with this exciting program, nurturing leaders of today and tomorrow, grounded in Quaker values.

Quaker Theological Discussion Group will host two discussion next weekend – 10AM – noon on Dec 1 (Reconsidering Fox’s Rejection of Rituals) and Dec 2 (A Great People Gathered? Quakers in Global Context.) The discussions this year will be around “Tradition & Transformation: Quakerism 400 Years After the Birth of George Fox” and will culminate with Quakers around the world observing the 400th birthday of George Fox. (Celebration organized by Friends World Committee of Consultation.) Log in on Dec. 1st and 2nd to learn more about the variety of Quakers and Quaker beliefs around the world, hearing directly from Friends in Kenya, Bolivia, the U.S., and England. Register here. More info here.

Community Song Circle, co-hosted by Twin Cities Meeting and MN Interfaith Power and Light, Dec 3, 1:30-3:30 at the St. Paul meetinghouse: 1725 Grand Ave. All are welcome.

Pendle Hill’s first Monday lecture, “Clearness Committees: An Introduction to Spiritual Discernment in Community for Personal and Social Transformation,” offered by Valerie Brown and John Baird will be Dec 4, 6:30-8PM(CT). Register here. The highly-recommended, Awakening the Witness: Convincement and Belonging in Quaker Community is available at: https://www.youtube.com/live/ygHpj5IFCME?si=kXnl1NOpX1qgcGkQ .

The Quaker Call to Action invites concerned friends to a Zoom gathering, Tues, Dec 5th from 7-8:15PM(CT) for a timely update from Steve Wanczyk, Founder and Executive Director of Protect Our Election, on how POE is supporting and protecting local election officials across the country, and practical ways you can help. Register here; you will receive a Zoom link the day before the session.

Watch the most recent QuakerSpeak video about the Quaker participation in the forced assimilation of Indigenous children: quakerspeak.com/video/the-lasting-trauma-of-quaker-indigenous-boarding-schools/

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

The Division of Indian Work staff will have a table and recipe samples (while they last) at Linden Hills Co-op (9AM-noon) through November. “Round up” your purchase during the month to benefit DIW, too!

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is having a Public Meeting to discuss the improvements and enhancements to the Lyndale Park Rose Garden. Meet with the Landscape Architects and see the Rose Garden Plan that they are proposing Mon, Dec 11th, 5:30PM, at the East Harriet Lyndale Farmstead Recreation Center at 3900 Bryant Ave. South.

American Genocide Podcasts: In this series of six excellent podcasts, Crystal Echo Hawk (Pawnee) and Lashay Wesley (Choctaw) dig into the history of Indigenous boarding schools on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Their interviews reveal the compounding intergenerational pain caused by the policy of forced assimilation of Native children. They explore whether it’s possible for a community, Native peoples, and the United States to achieve truth, healing, and reconciliation.

OFFICE HOURS

The Meeting Coordinator is usually 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).