February 18, 2024

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

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

10:15 – 11:00 Many Parts, One Body. How does Minneapolis Meeting work? Come hear from a sampling of meeting committees about what they do and how they see themselves in the larger life of the Meeting. We’ll break into small groups and will be asked to consider, What is your usual role in groups? What is your go-to function (using the body parts metaphor)? Have you found a way to contribute in that way at MFM? Are you feeling called to try out a different function? Come explore! Hosted by the Nominating Committee; Zoom host – Rae Beth C.

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Judith James – speaker; Dave Bostrom and Tom Wells – musicians; care of meeting, Lin Butler; Zoom host – Stephen S.

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

“The term prophetic indicates in a single word the basic theory of Quaker Ministry… a ministry which waits until it becomes a vocal expression of the Divine Word spoken immediately in the heart.”
~ Howard Brinton 1950, from Pendle Hill Pamphlet 54

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

From the Clerk: As Meeting considers nominating individuals to serve on committees and prepares the 2024-25 budget, members and attenders are invited to consider this query: Are we are good stewards of our physical, financial, and human resources? Do we contribute time, talents, and money in service to the Meeting according to our ability?

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15 – Friends Committee on National Legislation: Update on the Quaker Lobby for Peace. FCNL has been the “Quaker lobby” for 80 years, advocating for peace and justice. This program reviews the priorities over the last year and seeks the views of MFM members about priorities for the next Congress.

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 is interested in your thoughts about the state of Minneapolis Meeting! The queries posed by Northern Yearly Meeting to consider include: How is the Spirit moving in your meeting? How do you care for one another and nurture connections within your meeting community? What are you doing to deepen the spiritual life of your meeting? How is it working? How do you bear witness to Friends Testimonies in the wider world? What hopes or fears do you have for the future of your meeting? Communicate comments about the state of society report to contact Lolly L, clerk of Ministry and Counsel Committee.

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.

Being a Zoom Host or a substitute A/V Tech is a great way to support the Meeting’s worship. Interested in being trained for either of these positions, or just finding out more? Contact Marilyn J.

Northern Yearly Meeting will host a High School and Middle School Winter Retreat at Duluth-Superior Friends Meeting House (1802 E 1st St, Duluth, MN 55812) the weekend of Feb 23-25th. The theme: Self Care and Practicing Hygge. We will cultivate a time to be in comfort, warmth and coziness during this winter season, including such things as crocheting nose warmers, making candles, and baking with possibly an ice skating outing thrown in! Be ready for some amazing charade games as well as board games and puzzles. Plan to come! If you are able to provide a ride or are in need of a ride, email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org to be put in touch with the volunteer ride coordinator. Also mark your calendars for a potential NYM High School Spring Retreat at Scattergood Friends School, April 19-21.

Quaker Voluntary Service, a program supported by Minneapolis and Twin Cities Meetings, needs your help! Progress is being made toward re-launching the Quaker Voluntary Service program in the Twin Cities, but a few more partner non-profit site organizations are required. Please reach out to friends and family for ideas of possible local non-profits which could provide good professional work experience for a skilled young adult while supporting Quaker values. Contact Jane Fu, Ed S, or Tom W. with ideas.

Plan to attend the Winter NYM Interim Session next Sat, Feb. 24th, 8:30AM – 4:30PM via Zoom. Register here. Sunday afternoon from 1-4 might be used if we have more items than we think we can comfortably accommodate on Saturday.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

The Right Relationship with Indigenous People group will meet this coming Tues night, Feb 20th, at 7PM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84679072882?pwd=NkdJYlVQVTFqM1N0M3MwUFo4Mjkvdz09; ID: 846 7907 2882; Passcode: 742669 . Open to all interested, this group meets every third Tues night.

Fun with Friends: Extra tickets were ordered for “The Moneylender’s Daughter” at Six Point Theater, March 12, 1PM, in case you missed the original invitation and would like to attend. Email Sue K. if you would like to purchase a ticket.

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.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER WORLD OF FRIENDS

Friends for a NonVIolent World news highlights:
~ FNVW People Camp registration is now open! Get Early Bird rates (until May 31) to attend camp this summer – a rich experience of shared community life and work, recreation and connection, social justice learning and action opportunities for children and adults. Find out more and register here.
~ FNVW’s newest Everyday Nonviolence Podcast, Legacy of War, features Danae Henrickson, Chief of Mission Advancement and Communications at Legacies of War, the only US-based educational and advocacy organization dedicated to increasing awareness about the American Secret War in Laos and US involvement in Southeast Asia. Learn more at Legaciesofwar.org. Listen to the podcast here.
~ FNVW Annual Meeting – save the date, Sat, March 2nd, 9-noon at Twin Cities Meeting or via Zoom. Attend to connect with the network of FNVW supporters, celebrate the successes of the past year, and increase the impact in facing coming challenges. Register online for more details (and to be entered in a door prize drawing!) Want to join the FNVW Board of Directors? More and apply by Feb 21 here.
~ FNVW is joining Earth Quaker Action Team’s online Thursday night Direct NonViolent Action training sessions. Find out more here.

The Northern Yearly Meeting Anti-Racism Working Group will next meet on Thurs, Feb 22, 7PM; ID: 829 9676 7618; https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82996767618?pwd=RXBRV3BvTnpwUG9tSU9YYUlDdTFOZz09; Passcode: 116200

Volunteer registration for the 2024 Friends School of MN Plant Sale (May 10-12) is now open. You can get a sense of the different tasks to be done, and sign up, here. If you’d like to be part of the energy and life that is the plant sale, plan to volunteer – and don’t forget, volunteers get to shop first!

The American Friends Service Committee, with The BlackQuaker Project, will offer “The Bayard Rustin Legacy Forum.” Hosted by BlackQuaker Project Director Harold D. Weaver Jr. and moderated by Sa’ed Atshan, Palestinian-American Quaker scholar and chair of Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College. Come explore the remarkable life and contributions of Bayard Rustin, a gay Black Quaker civil rights leader and activist whose brilliance and skillful organizing of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was portrayed in a feature-length film produced by Barack and Michelle Obama. Sat, Feb 24th, noon (CT). Register here.
The BlackQuaker Project gave a Pendle Hill First Monday Lecture earlier this month, The BlackQuaker Project Challenges Quakerism in the 21st Century. Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuxQdWN4RfE

Understanding Our Immigration Process, part of American Friends Service Committee’s webinar series of Protecting Immigrant Rights in an Election Year, will be on Tues, Feb 27, 3PM (CT). Look at what pathways exist for migrants to enter the U.S. lawfully and discuss the challenges that arise. There will be time for conversation about a vision for a process that would ensure that all migrants are treated with dignity and respect. Register here.

The Friends World Committee for Consultation, Americas Section Meeting, Living Ubuntu: Responding with hope to God’s call to cherish creation and one another, will be online March 16th. You can register to attend here. Go to the section website for the schedule, and advance documents and spiritual preparation materials (posted in coming weeks). After you register, you will receive updates when materials are available. Register today!

Friends World Committee for Consultation seeks a new Executive Director. FWCC brings Friends of varying traditions and cultural experiences together in worship, communication, and consultation. The Section of the Americas spans from the Arctic to the Andes. The next Executive Secretary will lead programming, and will promote and maintain the organization in nourishing fellowship among all branches of the Religious Society of Friends. More here.

Friends General Conference Spiritual Deepening Program is offering Encountering Spirit, an online retreat, April 12-14. For seasoned Friends as well as newcomers, explore the fundamental aspect of Quaker spirituality – the direct encounter with God. What can early Friends teach about finding Truth and feeling the principle of God? How do we open ourselves to the gift of direct relationship? One of four Gathering Anew Experiments to explore Friends’ spiritual needs. Find out more here. Register by April 10.

Camp Woodbrooke – Registration for 2024 has started! Camp Woodbrooke is a small summer camp for ages 7-15 on 162 acres in southwestern Wisconsin, rooted in Quaker traditions of simplicity, harmony, peace, responsibility, and equality. Secure your favorite session(s) before it’s too late at this link. Apply to be part of the summer staff at this link. More at campwoodbrooke.org.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

Maym Rabim, our Jewish friends who rent the meetinghouse, are seeking two volunteers to staff the door during their upcoming annual meeting on Feb 25, 3:15-5:45. Contact Jim L if you are available and can help.

Ramadan falls between March 10 and April 9 this year. MN Council of Churches, in partnership with the Muslim American Society, is once again coordinating Taking Heart Ramadan Iftars. Sign up to observe the prayer, share a meal, and get to better know our Muslim neighbors. Check the dates and locations available here.

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).