March 24, 2024

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Mary Bosserman; Zoom host – John K

10:15 – 11:00 Conflict Among Friends: Then and Now. Learn about the historical differences among Friends and how they may affect Minneapolis Meeting today, followed by small group discussions. Offered by the Conflict Soiree Group; Zoom host – John K

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Keitha Herron – planned speaker; care of meeting, Clifford Goltz; Zoom host – John K

Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the link to worship and mid-morning program on March 24th.

Friends are reminded to silence your cell phone before entering the meetingroom.

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

Those who are lonely, feel misunderstood, and who are searching for community.

Our dear mother Earth and those affected by / concerned about climate change as we finally receive some precipitation. There are 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water today.

Those in Gaza, those who have loved ones in Gaza, those who are held against their will, and all who suffer from want, fear, and violence.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: A Lesson in Deep Listening. Mark Helpsmeet of Northern Spirit Radio will present a lesson in deep listening. This will include an interview with Terry Hokenson.

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 (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.

Come DANCE Sat, March 23rd! Come as early as 6:45 – dancing starts at 7, runs til 9 PM; Twin Cities Meeting, 1725 Grand Ave. in St. Paul. Live music, contra dance callers, refreshments. Meet the Quaker Voluntary Service local volunteers and maybe the new coordinator for the upcoming program year. Families and children are welcome! We will ask for a donation to cover costs of refreshments. Questions: cynthiabartoo(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com. Find out more about QVS at QuakerVoluntaryService.org.

March 31 marks the end of the meeting’s fiscal year. If you have an outstanding reimbursement, please fill out a request for payment form, attach related receipts, and get your committee clerk signature so we can disburse funds in this fiscal year. Forms to fill out and the reimbursement file where you can place requests are in the blue box on the table in the long hall. Questions, call or email the office, or speak with the Meeting Coordinator.

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.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

The Watson Reading Group will meet this Tuesday, (and on 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.

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.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER WORLD OF FRIENDS

LOCAL / REGIONAL

The Northern Yearly Meeting Anti-Racism Working Group will next meet on March 28th: ID: 829 9676 7618; https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82996767618?pwd=RXBRV3BvTnpwUG9tSU9YYUlDdTFOZz09; passcode: 116200. All are welcome at this regional exploration of structural racism and strategies and opportunities to dismantle it.

Volunteer registration for the 2024 Friends School of MN Plant Sale (May 10-12) has begun. You can get a sense of the different tasks to be done here. If you’d like to be part of the energy and life that is the plant sale, plan to volunteer! (And volunteers get to be first in line to shop!)

For all Friends who like to sing! The Nightingales, a Friendly group of singers from across Northern Yearly Meeting, will meet April 26-28 at Wisconsin Badger Camp, near Prairie du Chien, WI. Bunk beds and with some private rooms available; children welcome. Food is potluck. For more info, email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org to be put in touch with the coordinator.

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 campwoodbrooke.org/dates-fees. Apply to be part of the summer staff at this link. More at campwoodbrooke.org.

Friends for a NonViolent World 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.

NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL

* American Friends Service Committee – Over the past five months, more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, at least a third of them, children. More than 90% of people in Gaza have been displaced from their homes. To learn more about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, see this Al Jazeera interview with AFSC’s Joyce Ajlouny. Please join AFSC every Friday at 11AM for an Action Hour for a Cease-fire Now.
* American Friends Service Committee invites you to a worship with attention to peace in Palestine and Israel with Friends across the U.S. every Thurs, online, at 4:30PM. Sign up to get the link at https://afsc.org/events/meeting-worship-attention-peace-palestine-israel. AFSC has an easy way for you to urge Congress to call for a permanent cease-fire, an end to U.S. military funding for Israel, a release of hostages held in Gaza and prisoners held in Israeli jails, and greater humanitarian access to Gaza at https://afsc.org/action/call-cease-fire-and-humanitarian-access-gaza-now.

Quaker Urgent Call to Action will gather Friends, nation-wide, in a Zoom conversation on Thurs, April 4, 7-8:30(CT). Hear where this group has been, share some comments on the current political climate, and take stock of what short-term actions you will be taking in the run-up to the November elections. There will also be small worship-sharing groups. Register here to get the link; click here to take an online poll asking for your top two pre-election actions so Quaker Call leadership can discern how to best support Friends.

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? Find out more here. Register by April 10.

Plan to attend Friends General Conference Gathering, Rooted in Story, this summer over the 4th of July weekend at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. An advance programs can be found here. Look for more information at https://www.fgcquaker.org/fgcprograms/the-gathering/. Work grants are available to make the program go and to help with costs. First-time attenders are encouraged to request scholarship assistance instead of workgrants. More at fgcquaker.org/fgcprograms. Read of one person’s experience with the Gathering here.

The most recent Thee Quaker Podcast, Quakers in the Civil Rights Movement, Stories of Peaceful Persistence can be heard at https://quakerpodcast.com/quakers-in-the-civil-rights-movement-stories-of-peaceful-persistence/.

The White Privilege Conference will be held Tulsa, OK, April 3-6. Friends General Conference’s Ministry on Racism provides a 20% group discount for Quakers attending this annual conference. Background info here. FGC typically plans some Quaker-centered programming in conjunction with the conference including a prayer space, daily lunch gatherings and/or a dinner with fellow Quakers, and more. The 20% off discount code is provided once you pre-register for the conference using this form. Then, after you have received the discount code, you need to register for the conference on the White Privilege Conference website. More information about the conference and the WPC registration link is here. For questions, contact FGC Ministry on Racism, Shaina Robinson, shainar(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)fgcquaker.org.

Read about Friends’ efforts to return the Sierra Friends Center to the Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, illegally terminated in 1964. The land Sierra Friends Center has operated from is the site of an ancestral Nisenan village called Yulica. Learn more at quakerearthcare.org/civicrm/mailing/

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

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 at mnchurches.

Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage, a global network of Christian groups who are engaging in a peaceful and prayerful show of solidarity with the people of Gaza by walking the length of the Gaza strip in cities around the world during Lent, will host a twenty-two-mile pilgrimage along the Mississippi River, protesting what is happening in Gaza and praying for a lasting ceasefire, the return of all hostages, immediate humanitarian aid, and an end to the occupation on Sat, March 23rd. Learn more about the local walk and register here: https://www.peacecatalyst.org/gcpilgrimage

The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition’s Multi-faith Day of Prayer and Action will be on April 18th, 8-11:15AM a Christ on Capitol Hill Church, 105 University Ave W, Saint Paul. More and register at https://jrlc.org/day-of-prayer-and-action-registration.

Save a Life, Sponsor a Family from Ukraine – Though the conflict has faded from the top headlines, millions of Ukrainians still face the daily threat of violence as well as freezing temperatures, inadequate shelter, heat and lack of other supplies. Thousands of families have been forced to leave everything behind in search of safety and tens of thousands more are waiting for the opportunity. North America for Ukraine (NA4U) is a volunteer-led organization that works to help Ukrainians seeking refuge connect with approved Americans who can sponsor them in one of two ways:
1. A paper-sponsor is someone who only submits the paperwork to USCIS while the refugee lives with a verified host, usually a family member or friend.
2. A hosting sponsor provides accommodations and assistance with travel and filing necessary paperwork. Ukrainians are eligible to work immediately upon arrival and realistically may need housing support for 3-6 months while they establish themselves.
Learn more at https://na4ukraine.org/; connect to someone at Info(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)NA4Ukraine.org.

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)