May 5, 2024

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

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

10:15 – 11:00 Alternatives to Violence Program (AVP). Leah Robshaw Robinson (Friends for a NonViolent World) and Cynthia Bartoo (Prospect Hill Worship Group) will talk about the exciting new initiative, working with Hennepin County youth; the impact of AVP on individual lives; and the use of AVP in conflict zones around the world. Sponsored by the Welcoming and Outreach Committee. Zoom host – Bill H.

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

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

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

TODAY: Stay and visit with Friends and celebrate the work and attention Scott W. has given the meetinghouse grounds for over two decades! All are welcome, even if you didn’t bring a dish to share. Potlucks are do-it-ourselves affairs. Look for ways to help the effort: clearing and washing tables, washing and drying dishes, putting away chairs. Many hands make light work for everybody!

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Next Sunday, 9:45-11:15, monthly meeting for business. On the agenda: the 2024-25 budget; the Trustees annual report; an invitation from International Friends Church; and more!

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.

There will be an all-clerks meeting in the conference room at the rise of semi-programmed worship on May 12th. If you, as clerk, cannot attend, please ask someone else from your committee to be present. Help orient and support new clerks and create an opportunity to make working together easier! Contact Stephen S. for more.

SIGN UP to help with first day programming for children and youth! A sign-up sheet is on the elevator table.

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 needs you! The Tech Committee will offer regular AV training and refresher sessions through this summer. Running the AV system is not about technology, it’s more like following a recipe. We’re the process easy with step by step ‘recipe cards’ to operate the system. This is a call to a ministry of making connections – helping connect people remotely with the meetinghouse and back again. Willing to help? Contact Marilyn J. or Roger M.

HEADS UP: the summer schedule begins on May 27th with one worship at 10AM.

Seems like next autumn is forever away – but mark your calendars now for Fall Together October 26th! Make time to gather with Friends at beautiful Fish Lake Park to rest, relax, renew, re-connect and RELISH time together in the great outdoors!

MFM young adults are gathering for card games and pizza on Thurs, May 9 from 6-9PM a the meetinghouse. RSVP to Elizabeth S. with any dietary needs.

Muffin Day! Calling all bakers, those able to stir a muffin mix, and those willing to buy and donate muffins: Welcoming and Outreach Committee will sell coffee and muffins at the Linden Hills Garage sale on Sat, May 11th. Fifteen dozen muffins are sought. Be part of this successful outreach to the neighborhood! Proceeds benefit Friends for a Nonviolent World. Contact Jane D. or Sue K. if you are able to donate muffins.

Come to a soup and sundry simple potluck with American Friends Service Committee’s Brian Blackmore, Director of Quaker Engagement, at the meetinghouse on Sat, May 11, 5PM. Bring soup, bread, crackers, raw veggies or dessert to share as well as your curiosity about AFSC’s initiatives and connections to monthly meetings across the country.

Join the Fun with Friends Bird Walk, one of the favorite Fun with Friends activities in the past, 10AM on Thurs, May 16th at Veterans Park in Richfield! Migratory birds like warblers and herons should be at their peak. We’ll most likely see and hear at least twenty different kinds of birds. Bag lunch in the picnic shelter after. Use West entrance off Portland. Meet at the picnic shelter by the playground. Bring binoculars if you have them! Veterans Park, 6335 Portland Ave, 55423. Rain date May 23.

Come to the meetinghouse for an optimistic, upbeat evening on the topics of racism, organizing strategy, and how to work in coalitions and solidarity – 7PM, May 23rd. Author Garrett Bucks, a Milwaukee Meeting Quaker and Earlham College alumnus, will be discussing his new book, “The Right Kind of White”, as well as ‘The Barnraisers Project,’ an organization he founded which has trained nearly one thousand participants to organize majority-white communities for racial and social justice. As we approach the fourth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, we must continue to reckon with race and what role we play in dismantling systems of oppression. Sponsored by Southwest Alliance for Equity (SWAE), and co-hosted by MFM, FNVW, and Comma Bookshop. If you are able to help out with chairs, greeting folks, setting up a few tables, or just being available, please contact Roger M. For a sneak peak at the book, see: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Right-Kind-of-White/Garrett-Bucks/9781982197209

International Friends Church is twelve years old this May! Friends at Minneapolis Meeting supported and encouraged the start of the church, now affiliated with Iowa Yearly Meeting, Friends United Meeting. MFM Friends are warmly invited to give thanks for this community and to see how far it has come at a celebration on June 16th at 11AM, Waycross Evangelical Church, 7733 W.River Rd. Brooklyn Park, 55444. In aid of planning, please RSVP to the office (office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org) by May 13.

CONGRATULATIONS to Ellen Swanson who was recently invited to become an Honorary Holistic Nurse Scholar of the Global Academy of Holistic Nursing! Holistic Nurse Scholars will collaborate with international and national organizations to support sustainable programs that embody attributes of social justice, equity, and diversity. An article Ellen wrote, based on her professional experience and serving on the Care and Counsel Committee, appeared in the American Holistic Nurses Association magazine. A copy is on the elevator table.

CONGRATULATIONS to John Cutler whose new play, Blended (Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters, opened at the MN History Theater May 4th.

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 co-clerks, John S. or Ellen S.
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, Jill F, and Jimbo L.

Northern Yearly Meeting created a worship-based, spirit-led working group in fall of 2019 to look at the work on racism that has been done within our yearly meeting, to consider available resources, and to seek allies and ways forward to further the ongoing anti-racist work of the NYM faith community. That (NYM) Anti-Racism Working Group is encouraging participation in the Friends General Conference Institutional Assessment, an opportunity to reflect on the anti-racism work which has occurred and the areas for growth; sparking further conversation and action. We hope to support sharing and inter-visitation to nourish and cross-fertilize seeds of change. In the future, we also look for a continued and rich dialogue with other Yearly Meetings and with FGC to nurture authentic commitment, accountability, and change. We hope we will have broad participation in this survey. Read more about NYM’s process and available resources at https://northernyearlymeeting.org/anti-racism/

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

Established writers as well as dabblers will have an informal writing session Mon night, May 6, 7-9PM. This is a chance to connect with one another, 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! https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81928610224; Meeting ID: 819 2861 0224.

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

Northern Yearly Meeting’s Annual Session – a great opportunity to meet with Quakers around the region! Come explore the theme Inward Guidance, Outward Action over Memorial Day weekend, May 24-27. Business meeting, time to enjoy the company of old and new Friends, opportunity to rest your mind and spirit, the opportunity for spiritual growth, campfires, walks in the woods, boating, swimming, singing, and much more. Children and youth participate in a lively and popular program. Take a look at the NYM Annual Session Brochure (on the NYM website.) Join virtually or in-person. Register for the weekend.

The Friends School of Minnesota Plant Sale is May 10-12 at the State Fair fairgrounds! Support this important fund-raiser for the benefit of Friends School of MN. Find the catalogue online at friendsschoolplantsale.com/plants.

Friends General Conference Annual Gathering: General registration for the in-person and virtual Gatherings at Haverford has re-opened! Workshop, housing, and program spots are first come, first serve, so please don’t delay in registering. For more and to register, see fgcquaker.org/fgcprograms/the-gathering/registration-and-logistics.

Friends General Conference hosts a monthly worship for Newcomers and Seekers. It introduces Quaker worship practices as well as allowing for questions and reflection. Every second Monday evening, 5:30-6:30; next meeting on May 13th. Register at https://www.fgcquaker.org/event/newcomers-worship/

American Friends Service Committee
* 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.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

World Without Genocide will present a webinar on Tues, May 14th: Genocides on Trial: Israel, Russia, China, Myanmar, and Serbia, examining the apparent impunity of China and charges against Israel, Russia, and Myanmar against a precedent set years ago in a case against Serbia. More and register at: https://worldwithoutgenocide.org/programs/upcoming-events/may-14-genocides-on-trial-israel-russia-china-myanmar-and-serbia

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).