September 15, 2024

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

9:00 – 10:00 meeting for worship (unprogrammed): care of meeting, John Stuart; Zoom host – Sandy O.

10:15 – 11:00 Intergenerational Fun; Zoom host – Marilyn J.

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Jim Bruener – speaker; Dave Bostrom – musician; care of meeting, Mary Bosserman; Zoom host – Marilyn J.

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

There are those in Meeting who are sensitive to the electromagnetic radiation emitted from cell phones. And there are those who wish to distance and remain masked, especially as COVID once again surges. In a spirit of care, Friends are invited to turn off cell phones rather than just silence them, and to avoid sitting unmasked on the benches in the back row under the windows that are reserved for those who are masked.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: guest speaker Paula Palmer will give an update on the work of Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples (a program of Friends Peace Teams); hear how Friends in Minnesota are building relationships with Indigenous peoples; and share thoughts, concerns, and inspiration for building relationships based on truth, respect, justice, and our shared humanity. 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.)
Paula Palmer will be at Twin Cities Friends Meeting (1725 Grand Ave) at 1PM on Sept 22, for an informal discussion over a bring-your-own bag lunch about what Friends across the U.S. are doing to establish relationships with Indigenous people where they live and worship. All are welcome to attend.

Mid-morning program on Sept 29: a panel discussion on Spirituality Within the Creative Process and Arts.

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 on the website: https://minneapolisfriends.org/shepherd-scholarship-fund/) Application deadline, TODAY. 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.

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.

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 J.

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! If you’re planning to come, please invite another Friend to come along! Personal invitations work best.

Small groups at MFM: Writing Group – first Monday night; Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice Group – second Tuesday night; Conflict Soiree – fourth Tuesday afternoon; Reading Group – fourth Tuesday night.

Loaves and Fishes, Sept 30th: 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 (5:15.) Fruit donations needed. Email Sue K. to sign up for a shift or to arrange to drop off fruit. Volunteers wear hair covering/hats, closed-toe shoes; food is served to-go. Sign up to come if you can!

Care and Counsel: “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 John S. to explore that opportunity.
Other committee members are Connie A, Mary G, Jill F, and Jimbo L.

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, ($132,335.) Contributions of $13,181 per month, through March, are needed to fund the aspirational budget, ($150,320.) If you would like to set up automatic contributions to the meeting, contact Mike F.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER WORLD OF FRIENDS

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 TCFM Office Coordinator Mindy Keskinen, 651-699-6995 / office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)tcfm.org.

Northern Yearly Meeting (NYM) Sept E-News link is here. October newsletter deadline for submissions is Sept 25. The NYM Journal is now available in a new blog format at https://journal.northernyearlymeeting.org/ (an editor is still needed). Three new entries are posted, including Kat Griffith’s plenary presentation from Annual Session, “Inward Guidance, Outward Action.”

Changes happening at Friends for a NonViolent World: See the most recent FNVW E-Letter for news of staffing changes, including hiring Joan Hyman, (former Community Engagement Specialist,) as Interim Executive Director; hiring a part-time Administrative Assistant (more here); and a part-time Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) – MN Youth and Adult Program Coordinator (more here).
Friends for Non Violent World (FNVW), a social justice organization started by Twin Cities Quakers, has been a voice for Quaker concerns and values in the Twin Cities community for decades. Currently, the FNVW board needs greater Quaker participation. If you might consider serving on the board, even for a temporary term (board elections are in March), please email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org to be put in touch with the board chair.

The Water We Swim In, an online presentation by Barry Crossno, General Secretary of Friends General Conference, will be offered on Tues, Sept 24, 7-8:30PM(CT). Barry will speak about the social and economic changes and context affecting our meetings and possible ways to renew our spiritual communities. Register for the link at: https://www.fgcquaker.org/event/water24-fall2/?mc_cid=e4432c95dd&mc_eid=7be0cf1357

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/

Friends General Conference (FGC) offers monthly, virtual, worship for Friends of Color – third Sundays, 7PM – next meeting TODAY. These worships offer a place for Friends of Color to come together in community and worship in an environment with Friends who experience marginalization in their lives and Quaker meetings. For the link and more https://www.fgcquaker.org/event/virtual-worship-for-friends-of-color-monthly-worship
FGC offers online discussion/affinity groups and worship sessions for newcomers, Gen X Quakers, and Neurodivergent Quakers. Details and dates at https://www.fgcquaker.org/fgcprograms/spiritual-deepening-program/spiritual-deepening-eretreats-and-online-offerings/?mc_cid=5d04a7bca1&mc_eid=6fad8530ba (scroll down to on-going events).

Madison Meeting is hosting a screening – in person and online – of Where Olive Trees Weep: No One Is Free Until We Are All Free, Sat, Sept. 21, 7PM. The film offers a searing look at the struggles and resilience of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation, exploring themes of loss, trauma, and the quest for justice, following a Palestinian journalist and therapist Ashira Darwish, grassroots activist Ahed Tamimi, and Israeli journalist Amira Hass. Click “Get Tickets” at https://kinema.com/events/where-olive-trees-weep-hjpxh. Tickets are free. Sponsored by the Interfaith Peace Working Group and the Peace Subcommittee of Madison Meeting.

If you missed the Pendle Hill lecture, Light Within and Light Without – The Personal and Political in the Formation of a Palestinian American Quaker Identity, you can listen to it at: https://www.youtube.com/live/e2lFgBzD7n4

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 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

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

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. More here

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).