September 8, 2024

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

10:00 – 11:00 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Ellen Swanson – speaker; Lavender Jeffries or Jacque Weirsma – musician; care of meeting – Mary Bosserman; Zoom host – Sandy O.

11:00 – 12:30 monthly meeting for business: John Stuart – acting clerk; Jeannette Raymond – recording clerk; Zoom host – Sandy O.

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

Friends are encouraged to turn off your cell phone before entering the meetingroom. At the least, please silence it.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Heads up: the school year schedule starts NEXT SUNDAY, Sept 15th: 9AM worship (unprogrammed); 10:15AM mid-morning program; 11:15AM worship (semi-programmed).
Mid-morning program on September 15th will include some intergenerational fun, music, treats, and information on how we are building a youth program at MFM!

Sun, Sept 22nd, at mid-morning program at 10:15: guest speaker Paula Palmer will talk about her ground-breaking research into Quakers’ role in Indigenous boarding schools, telling the more complete story of colonization in the US and Quakers’ role in it. For a taste of the work Paula has done, check out The Quaker Indian Boarding Schools: Facing Our History and Ourselves, a presentation by Paula , at https://friendspeaceteams.org/trr/#trrcalendar (you have to scroll down a little.)

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.

The Shepherd Scholarship, created in 1977 by Roland and Zephra Shepherd, offers educational scholarships for members of a Quaker Meeting of at least five years standing, or their children. Interested adults and young adults can apply by filling out an application (available on the long table in the hall or from the website: https://minneapolisfriends.org/shepherd-scholarship-fund/) Application deadline, Sept 15. Return applications to the Shepherd Scholarship file in the blue box (on the long table) or email to Betsy S.

Meetinghouse Clean-up Day! Windows, cobwebs and lights –Oh my! Just a few of the things that need cleaning each year. Add chairs, elevator, smudges, fingerprints on walls, and any dust where you least suspect. You know, kind of like Spring cleaning. Stay and help with this important annual task at the rise of worship Sun, Sept 29th. Property Committee will provide all the cleaning supplies and post cleaning lists. We’ll arrange for some snacks to help get us through.

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.

What a difference a warm smile and welcoming hello can make to someone arriving at the meetinghouse for the first time! Be the one to offer that first gesture of hospitality by volunteering to be a greeter before worship – both early and later. Contact Mary G.

Welcome the newest Minneapolis/St. Paul Quaker Voluntary Service Fellows on Sat, Sept. 28th! Ice cream sundaes along with live music and visiting on the front yard of Twin Cities Friends Meeting (1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul) at 3PM. At 5PM, move inside to have some Q & A with the new Fellows and the Local Support Committee. Come be part of the joy and excitement of another QVS year!

Autumn is in the air! Mark your calendars 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!

Northern Yearly Meeting (NYM) Fall Interim Session will be Fri, Oct 25 (7-9PM) and Sat, Oct 26 (9AM-3PM) and held at Twin Cities Meeting, 1725 Grand Ave. Consider how you might participate in some of NYM, despite devoting Saturday to Fall Together! Interim sessions will be hybrid. Hospitality is needed for the folks who come here in person. If you can offer an overnight stay on Friday Oct. 25 and breakfast Sat. morning, contact Twin Cities Meeting Office Coordinator, Mindy Keskinen, 651-699-6995 / office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)tcfm.org.

Please remember to schedule committee meetings, events, and visits to the meetinghouse with the office to help avoid conflicts: 612-926-6159; office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org .

Contributions update: Contributions from April 1 to August 31 totaled $44,870.50. Thank you, Friends, for your generous financial support. Contributions of $10,933 per month, through March, are needed to meet the curtailed budget. Contributions of $13,181 per month, through March, are needed to fund the aspirational budget. If you would like to set up automatic contributions to the meeting, contact Mike F.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

The Getting to Know You Storytelling Group will meet this Tues at 1PM. The prompt: Have you had a spiritual opening / moment / or relationship that has changed the way you understand or live your life? https://zoom.us/j/96998647924?pwd=OXNLMGEyRERjRWxDUGRycGtUa0RwQT09. Kate, who has been faithfully facilitating this group, needs to step back after this gathering. It is unknown if the group will continue. So take part while you can!

The Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice group meets every second Tues night, 7-8:30 and is practicing the inner and outer work of direct action using Resmaa Menakem’s book The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating our Nation’s Upheaval and Racial Reckoning. There is a core group; visitors / newcomers are warmly welcome. Contact Nettie S. for more and the link.

Small group line-up: Writing Group – first Monday night; Getting to Know You Group – second Tuesday afternoon; Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice Group – second Tuesday night; Conflict Soiree – fourth Tuesday afternoon; Reading Group – fourth Tuesday night.

OPPORTUNITIES AMONG FRIENDS

Palestine
* from American Friends Service Committee – urge Congress to demand a ceasefire and prevent the spread of war in the Middle East. As violence and death invades the West Bank, Quakers need to continue to press for a ceasefire. Friends Committee on National Legislation action link: fcnl.quorum.us/campaign/51886
* 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.

Pendle Hill’s First Monday lecture, Light Within and Light Without ~ The Personal and Political in the Formation of a Palestinian-American Quaker Identity, will be offered by Steve Tamari Mon, Sept 9, 6:30-8PM(CT) via Zoom. This talk examines intersections and contradictions within a faith tradition that strives to balance individual spiritual experience with political activism at a time when this country, including Quaker communities, is divided on how to respond to Israel’s war on Palestinians.More and register at https://pendlehill.org/events/light-within-and-light-without/

American Friends Service Committee invite Friends to a special Zoom update Fri, Sept 13, 1PM(CT). Hear about AFSC’s work around the world including vital emergency response in Gaza and recent Mexico Border work to protect the dignity and rights of migrants at Open Air Detention Centers. Click click.everyaction.com to RSVP and receive the link.

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 Sept 9. Register at https://www.fgcquaker.org/event/newcomers-worship/

Friends Journal’s December issue will be on Spiritual Optimism vs. Spiritual Pessimism and they are looking for submissions! Have some Quakerly insight you’d like to share? Find out more and how to make a submission at: https://www.friendsjournal.org/spiritual-optimism-vs-spiritual-pessimism/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=headline Deadline – Sept 16.

Find support to live out your Quaker faith and practice – attend the Walking in the World as a Friend workshop, Sept 16, Oct 21, and Nov 18, 6:15-800 pm CT. Sponsored by the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC), participants are invited to experiment with listening inwardly to love and conscience working within us, testing discernment, recording, and yielding — and keeping a journal of an experiment with Spirit in our lives. Participants are encouraged to find a companion to meet with every week or two, Sept – Nov. Great if you both attend the sessions, but not required. Sign up for one or all three sessions. More and registration: https://quakerrecollaborative.org/walking-friend-practice-group .

There is still time to register for the month-long, online course, “Friend, Guest, or Family? Deep Hospitality in Quaker Communities,” through Woodbrooke Centre, Tuesday nights, Sept 17 – Oct 15. See a video introduction to the workshop at https://youtu.be/QHYVgNKXF04. Find out more and register at: https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/courses/friend-guest-or-family-deep-hospitality-in-quaker-communities/

Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples – Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change workshop: Experience the history of the colonization of Turtle Island, now known as the United States, told through the words of Indigenous leaders, European/American leaders, and Western historians. Engage with this history through experiential exercises and small group discussion. And participants are invited to consider how we can build relationships with Indigenous peoples based on truth, respect, justice, and our shared humanity. Facilitated by Toward Right Relationship’s Native and non-Native teams. Appropriate for high school students and adults. Sun, Sept 29th, 3-5PM(CT), REGISTER at https://friendspeaceteams.org/trr-workshop-sep-2024/

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

Middle East Peace Now will host Palestinian-American academic, author, and journalist, Rami G. Khouri, speaking on “What Hamas Represents Politically, Why Most Arabs Support It, and How the US and Israel Should Deal with It,” via Zoom, Sat, Sept. 14th, 10AM. Register for the link: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register

The Mendota Mdewakantowan Dakota Wacipi (Pow Wow) will be held Sept 13-15 at St. Peter’s Church Grounds, 1405 Sibley Memorial Hwy 55120. More with details at https://mendotadakota.com/mn/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/POW-WOW-2024-flyer.pdf

Isaiah Highlight from Twin Cities Friends Meeting –
Join ISAIAH’s We Make Our Future: Building Multi-Racial Democracy Together at the Minnesota Islamic Center (12119 16th Ave S, Burnsville, MN 55337) on Sun, Sept. 22nd, 2-5PM. NOTE THE DATE AND LOCATION CHANGE. (Re-registration needed for new date and place.) Get equipped to take action together in the face of rising White Christian Nationalism; talk with top elected officials about how to make Minnesota a place where we all can thrive regardless of skin color, salary, or zip code; talk about the stakes of this election and receive concrete training on how to engage with friends and neighbors in a way that breathes hope and agency into people’s feelings of anxiety and powerlessness: https://secure.everyaction.com/NUFgqW1JF0C6GordweSEww2

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.