April 7, 2024

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, Keitha Herron; Zoom host – John K.

10:15 – 11:00 Embodied Antiracism. Members of the Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice group will lead a “body practice” and will tell us about their efforts building embodied antiracist community by working through the book The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating Our Nation’s Upheaval and Racial Reckoning by Resmaa Menakem. There will be time for questions and a bit of play. Zoom host – John K.

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): – speaker; – musician; care of meeting, Mary Bosserman; Zoom host – John K.

Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the link to Sunday programming.

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

Stay after semi-programmed worship TODAY for a potluck lunch! Potlucks are do-it-ourselves affairs. Look for ways to help the effort: refresh pitchers of water; replenish plates or silverware; help clear, wash and dry dishes, etc. Remember to label your potluck contribution so everyone can participate fully. And bring lots so we can feed guests!

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

Those participating on committees and those who have shouldered positions of leadership at Minneapolis Meeting. The new committee year starts in April.

All who feel lonely and hopeless, are suffering, and are carrying many concerns.

The loved ones of the thousands of victims of violence in Israel and Palestine and all those suffering a desperate lack of food, water, shelter, and safety.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

The new committee and fiscal year start in April. Any time is a good time to say thank you to one another for the seen and unseen work and ministry Friends do within and on behalf of the Meeting. For your time, your care, the lending of your gifts to committee work, and for your financial support, thank you.

Monthly meeting for business is next Sunday, 9:45-11:15. On the agenda: the budget; the committee slate; and the State of Society report.

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.

Heads up! Quaker Practices, Spoken and Unspoken, the mid-morning program on April 21st, is hoped to be a helpful exploration of the unique workings of the Meeting which may seem mysterious to visitors – and perhaps even to no-longer-new members and attenders. If you find yourself cautious because you don’t know the “rules” at MFM or have questions about practices that seem puzzling, come and talk about it! Offered by Ministry and Counsel Committee.

There will be a memorial meeting for worship for Louise Brown, wife of Peter Brown, on Saturday, April 13, 11:00, here at the meetinghouse. Info for the service is: ID: 810 3846 1442; Passcode: 094461; https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81038461442?pwd=bGsyM1MrdzdwckxicHBLSmpYMVV5Zz09.

The Young Adult Quakers next gathering will be next Sun, April 14th, following the rise of semi-programmed worship. RSVP to Elizabeth for the details. Young Adult Quakers are generally considered to be under 50.

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.

Sign up to be a welcomer, a friendly face for those who are visiting and are unsure of what to do! Particularly needed are welcomers for early worship. Contact Mary G. for more. Remember to extend a warm welcome to newcomers, even if you’re not an official welcomer!

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 Johnson john2053(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)umn.edu or 612-227-5311.

Join an on-call list to support Mayim Rabim. The Welcoming and Outreach Committee is creating an on-call list of people willing to monitor the York Ave door when Mayim Rabim (the congregation who rents the meetinghouse) has special religious ceremonies and/or meals. If you are willing to be on the on-call list, email Jimbo L. or Keitha H.

Loaves and Fishes, April 29th: Join other metro-area Friends, the Ismaili Community and the Mayim Rabim congregation to provide a meal at Holy Rosary Church in S Mpls, 2424 – 18th Ave S. Prepare dinner (2PM); pack up and hand out the meals (4PM) or serve meals and clean up (5:15PM.) Fruit donations needed. Covid-19 has created more need and fewer volunteers (and fruit donations.) Email Sue K. to sign up for a shift to make sure there is sufficient space or to arrange to drop off fruit. Masks, gloves, and hats required. This remains a COVID risk. Sign up to come if you can!

Friends General Conference has reached out to member meetings in Northern Yearly Meeting to ask if NYM can co-host the 2025 winter, virtual Gathering (along with Southeastern Yearly Meeting,) Feb 2-10. Are you drawn to be part of the Planning Committee (5-10 people needed)? Contact Stephen S. and let him know! More information on the planning underway and what is needed can be found at this link.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

The Getting to Know You Storytelling Group will meet this Tues (and every second Tuesday!) at 1PM. This month’s prompt – “What you are concerned about?” Email Kate W-J for the link. Come get better acquainted!

The Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice group will meet this Tues, April 9, 7-8:30PM, via Zoom. VISITORS AND THOSE CONSIDERING JOINING US REGULARLY ARE ALWAYS WELCOME. This month we will be using a discernment process that combines Quaker worship sharing with body awareness as we explore participating together in a social action project. Let Nettie know if you’d like a link.

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

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! (Volunteers get to be first in line to shop!) If you are interested in bringing food to support the sale’s coordinators, email Eleni at bookkeeper(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)fsmn.org.

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 – sign up now! Camp Woodbrooke is a small, unique, residential summer camp for ages 7-15 on 162 acres in southwestern Wisconsin, rooted in Quaker traditions of simplicity, harmony, peace, responsibility, and equality. Campers make cooperative decisions about activities, participate in daily work crews and learn life skills such as independence, accountability, negotiation, and decision-making. See more 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 / GLOBAL

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.
* 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.
* AFSC Action: Urge your Congressperson to vote to Resume U.S. funding for life-saving Palestinian aid. Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation, disease, and ongoing military attacks. The entire population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid. The U.S. has suspended funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the main provider of aid in Gaza, and the FY24 budget has made that cut permanent through this year.
* Friends are invited to the 2024 AFSC Annual Corporation Program, Weaving the Threads of Democracy and Peace in an Age of Conflict. Plenary gathering (hybrid) is Thurs, April 11, 5:30 (CT) with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, Tony-nominated theatrical producer, and a leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, Jose Antonio Vargas (register for the plenary at AFSC.click.everyaction.) Workshops (hybrid) include Quaker Action for Ending Israeli Apartheid; Emerging Leaders: How AFSC is engaging with young activists shaping our future; Working for Global Policy Change in Turbulent Times; and Stop Cop City: Organizing for Democracy, Environmental Justice, and Community Policing. There will also be a film screening and panel discussion (hybrid) of The Movement and the Madman on Sat, April 13, 5PM (CT). More and to register for any or all at: https://afsc.org/afsc-corporation-program-2024

The School of the Spirit will offer a retreat, What We Need is Here, at the Siena Retreat Center in Racine, WI, May 3-5. Are you in need of more grounding as you seek to live out the guidance of Spirit in 2024? Join this contemplative retreat after the manner of Friends in a beautiful space on the shores of Lake Michigan. Register by Apr 15. More and register at https://www.schoolofthespirit.org/contemplative-retreats/wisconsin-retreat/

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. The evening plenaries are rich with people and stories that will draw us in, challenge us, open our hearts, and provide a vision for Quaker action in this troubled world 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.

Right Sharing of World Resources, a Quaker organization that offers seed grants to groups in developing countries who then offer micro-loans to women starting new business ventures, turns your old stamps into funding! For more about the program, see https://rswr.org/stamp-program. Send stamps (sans non-profit or presorted) to: Stamps for Right Sharing c/o Indianapolis First Friends, 3030 Kessler Blvd. East Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46220

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is building a broad and deep national moral movement – rooted in the leadership of poor people-to unite our country from the bottom up. A local organizing meeting for the Minnesota Poor People’s Campaign will convene on April 14th, 4PM, at St. Anthony Park Lutheran (2323 Como, St. Paul). This will be a great chance to keep the momentum as we organize in Minnesota, moving toward the June 15th Poor People’s March on Washington. Anyone interested is welcome to attend. For more information email minnesota(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)poorpeoplescampaign.org.

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.

OFFICE HOURS – 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).