May 26, 2024

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

10:00 – 11:00 AM meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Roger Miller – planned speaker; Lavender Jeffries – musician; care of meeting – Barbara Ziegenhagen; Zoom host – Bill H.

To get the link for worship this Sunday, email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org

“In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

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

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

Those living in the midst of violence and the threat of violence, those who fear for the safety of loved ones, those who want for basic necessities.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

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.

We are grateful to be welcoming new children and families and offering relationship, care, and planned programming during worship! The time has come for the next step: additional adults coming forward to get to know the young folks now attending meeting. Ideally, we will develop a rotation of adult volunteers who will help once or twice every eight weeks. Implement a lesson already planned, or be interviewed about your experience of Quakerism! A sign-up sheet is on the elevator table. Questions? Email Cathy N. Haven’t gone through the clearness process to work with children of the meeting? Contact Rae Beth, Child Welfare Coordinator.

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 making 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.

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.

Save the date: Join Southwest Alliance for Equity (SWAE), East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) and MFM for a fundraiser at the meetinghouse Thurs, June 27th at 6:30PM. Help raise some money to support the EPNI Urban Farm and Neighborhood Hub at the old Roof Depot and, just as important, raise awareness of the project! There will be snacks, beverages, social time, and an update directly from EPNI. More to come . . .

For those who missed the evening with Garrett Bucks, speaking about his new book, The Right Kind of White, there is an audio recording of the gathering: passcode: 4zmT+!p$; https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/BYp1qR1oJ5Kvms71bivDqG1ILdXiKWUd3UGOxfPD2OgdRRxmKlpnpolcBfQqSpHYsFSNhv-EBDv0OCn-.qAg_BPAbj7SO7xid

Monthly Meeting approved a curtailed 2024-25 budget. In order to meet the curtailed budget, contributions will need to increase 10% over those of last year, and Meeting will still need to use $25,000 of general fund reserves. If we are to make our usual contributions to other organizations and support MFM programming at the usual level this year, contribution will need to increase by about 24% in addition to using the $25,000 reserves. THANK YOU for your past giving to the meeting. Friends are asked to consider anew what financial support they are able to give to the meeting at this time. As this year progresses, Meeting will convene one or more threshing sessions to discern how we can best balance our vision for the future with our energies and finances.

“The spiritual welfare of the meeting is greatly helped if its social life is vigorous and its members take a warm personal interest in one another’s welfare. The pastoral work of the Society is especially committed to [the Care and Counsel Committee], but our members generally should not allow themselves to feel that they are relieved of the responsibility. In the greater events of life, such as marriage, the birth of a child, illness or death, it is our duty and our privilege to share in one another’s joys and sorrows; and sympathy thus shown is a potent means of binding us in a closer fellowship.” – London Yearly Meeting, 1925
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 stuartjohn032(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com to explore that opportunity.
Other committee members are Connie A, Mary G, Jill F, and Jimbo L.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

The Watson Reading Group meets 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, TBD; Reading Group, fourth Tuesday night.

OPPORTUNITIES AMONG FRIENDS

Cannon Valley Friends invite us to learn about The Taking of Indigenous Lands for What Becomes Northfield May 29, 7PM, Cannon Valley Friends Meetinghouse, 512 Washington Ave in Northfield. What do we mean when we say “This is Dakota Land?” Matt Rohn, retired St. Olaf professor and member of the Beyond Land Acknowledgement, will share what he has learned about the troubling history of land being taken from Indigenous people to make it possible for speculators to found towns, and churches in the area now called Northfield.

Election Violence Prevention: In the Virtue of that Life and Power that Takes Away the Occasion of All Wars, a Pendle Hill’s First Monday lecture, will be offered by Emily Provance on Jun 3, 6:30-8PM via Zoom. More and register at https://pendlehill.org/events/election-violence-prevention-in-the-virtue-of-that-life-and-power-that-takes-away-the-occasion-of-all-wars/

Friends General Conference Annual Gathering, June 30-July 6: 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. FGC – Registration for on-campus housing will close May 31. Only 1/3 of the beds on campus remain available, so please do not wait! Registration for joining plenaries and Bible Half Hour online will be available soon.

Friends for a NonViolent World People Camp registration is now open! Get Early Bird rates (until May 31) to attend camp this summer, August 11-17 – 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.

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.
* urge Congress to resume U.S. funding for life-saving Palestinian aid. Palestinians in Gaza are starving and facing disease, and ongoing military attacks. The entire population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid. But the U.S. has suspended funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the main provider of aid in Gaza. The FY24 budget has made that cut permanent through this year. Stopping these funds deepens the humanitarian crisis.
* AFSC and partner organizations recently released a new resource documenting violations of U.S. and international law committed by Israel. The report highlights Israel’s illegal use of U.S. weapons against Palestinians over the last seven months. Read more.

Quaker Call to Action’s Steering Committee’s offers this List of Priority Actions (HERE,) short-term actions that can be taken in the months leading up to the November elections.

The Coalition of Natives and Allies is composed of three Native women and two non-Native women who have been teaching the truth about our shared history with the Indigenous peoples of this land. We strive to build bridges between Indigenous communities, allies, legislators, faith-based and non-profit organizations, state agencies, school administrators and educators in order to cultivate respect and end racism. They are offering a film screening of “Native Women and Allies Speak: What you weren’t taught in school” and discussion led by Donna Fann-Boyle (Choctaw/Cherokee), Ramona Woods (Mohawk), Kelley Bova (Dakota), Lynne Azarchi, (ally) and Arla Patch (ally), Thurs, June 6, 7-8:30 pm CT. REGISTER for the link here: https://friendspeaceteams.org/native-women-speak-jun-2024/ . Watch the film trailer here.

OFFICE HOURS

The Meeting Coordinator will be in the office Wed, Thurs and Fri, afternoons. Phone messages checked daily. Bulletin deadline, noon Thur. Phone items in to the office (612-926-6159), email (office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org), or write and put in the bulletin file of the blue box.