Friends for a NonViolent World Holiday Fair is happening today (Friday) and tomorrow, at Friends School of Minnesota, 1365 Englewood Ave. in St. Paul! Until 9 PM on Friday and 10 AM – 4 PM on Saturday. Be sure to invite friends and relatives to meet you there for shopping and eating! Hot lunch both days and hot supper on Friday evening. This is an important fund-raiser for FNVW and a lovely opportunity for community. Put your holiday dollars to work for peace and justice! Information at https://fnvw.org/holidayfair. THERE’S STILL TIME TO VOLUNTEER AND HELP MAKE THE FAIR A SUCCESS: sign up genius.

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December 15, 2024

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

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

10:15 – 11:00 Beyond Land Acknowledgement: A Case Study. Jan Wiersma will speak of her work with Apache Stronghold in their opposition to the destruction of their sacred land by international mining interests. Learn how you can take an active role in restoring land, language, and culture of Indigenous people while working for structural change. Zoom host – John K.

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Tom Wells – speaker; Dave Bostrom – musician; care of meeting, Marilyn Johnson; Zoom host – John K.

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

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

Those who are suffering from injustice, persecution, conflict, racism, colonialism, displacement, loss, and the climate crisis, and all those who are aiding victims and the dispossessed.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Feeling stressed? Discouraged? Fearful? Come to mid-week worship, Wed nights, 7PM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84938257185; ID: 849 3825 7185; by phone: +1-651-372-8299.

Mid-Morning Program next Sunday at 10:15: Celebrate Together! Come enjoy singing carol favorites, and savoring tasty potluck treats of the season! Instruments and players welcome, as well as dancers, and eaters!

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.

Winter Gift: Each winter, Minneapolis Meeting chooses an organization, separate from our approved budget, to be the recipient of designated contributions. This year’s Winter Gift will go to Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Founded in 1991 by concerned humanitarians in the US to provide free medical care to thousands of injured and ill children who lack local access to care, over the years, they have sent over 2,000 affected children abroad for free medical care, sent thousands of international doctors and nurses to provide tens of thousands of children free medical care in local hospitals, and provided tens of thousands of children humanitarian aid and support. They provide relief collectively and individually to children in the Middle East, regardless of nationality or religion. To give, make checks out to Minneapolis Meeting and put Winter Gift in the memo line. For automatic deposits, instruct your financial institution to indicate Winter Gift on the electronic check.

Care and Counsel Committee is starting a list of people who can provide rides when needed for community members. Please contact John S. or Ellen S. if you are willing to be on this list.

The asylum hearing for John D.’s housemate will be Fri, Dec. 27, at 8:30AM at the Whipple Building, 1 Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, MN 55111. He has waited almost six years for this court appearance, in which he will present his case for obtaining asylum in the United States. The presence of observers sometimes tilts cases toward positive outcomes. Friends are invited / encouraged to attend. Feel free to contact John D. with questions.

Loaves and Fishes, Dec 30: Join other metro-area Friends and neighbors 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!

Contributions update: Thank you, Friends, for your generous financial support. Income from the first two quarters of the year, April 1 to November 30 totaled $73,594.00. General funds contributions so far in December are $10,733. As of Nov 30, contributions of $14,685.25 are needed per month, through March, to meet the curtailed budget ($132,335); contributions of $19,181.50 are needed per month, through March, to fund the aspirational budget ($150,320). If you would like to set up automatic contributions to the meeting, contact Mike F. or Carolyn V, co-clerks, Stewardship and Finance Committee.

SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES AT MINNEAPOLIS MEETING

Come to thirty minutes of Lectio Divina, Divine Reading, followed by worship sharing on ZOOM, Tuesdays at noon. Hold a very brief reading from the Bible, Quaker, or other spiritual text to see how it might speak to us today: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84178190647?pwd=bD2CyakraDGxNudS4QgzEeeNQlYFRx.1; ID: 841 7819 0647; passcode: 657826 .

LGBTQAI+ Group will meet Wed, Dec 18, 7PM. This group meets monthly at the meetinghouse, and for those who can’t make in person, you can join us via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83894939409?pwd=xDf2dSF20v7Sls3NaORiP6nEJjkXbU.1; ID: 838 9493 9409; passcode: 562310. The group requests that attendance be limited to those who are part of the LGBTQAI+ community at this time. For more, you can contact Bill H.

Small group line-up: Lectio Divina – every Tuesday noon; Writing Group – first Monday night; Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice Group – second Tuesday night; LGBTQIA+ Support Group – third Wednesday night; Reading Group – fourth Tuesday night; Conflict Soiree – last Tuesday afternoon.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER WORLD OF FRIENDS

Join the Right Sharing of World Resources Conversation Series. This month’s focus is on our relationship with giving and receiving – 6:30PM (CT,) Tues, Dec. 17. Register at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1NEPEZpR3z39mzLqAV3DdcnGe_Z5Iy1hSV0r1kSkdECaz4Q/viewform?pli=1

Northern Yearly Meeting’s ad hoc Committee on How We Do Business will facilitate an exploration into the proposed new bylaws for NYM on Sat, Jan. 18th, 10-11:30AM. The Jan. session will elaborate on this overview and also walk through the proposed changes to see how we are addressing the problems identified with the 1995 bylaws. This session will season the proposal and will help identify necessary modifications in advance of bringing the bylaws for initial review at Spring Interim Session.

Friends General Conference Annual Gathering, A Spring Whose Waters Never Fail, will be February 1-9, online only. As of 2024, on-site Gatherings occur in even years while online Gatherings are held in odd years. Smaller, Young Adult & Youth (YAY) events are also held during odd years to offer continuity of programming for younger friends. Everyone – newborns to nonagenarians; life-long Friends to Quaker newcomers – are welcome to attend the Gathering of Friends. In structure, it’s part conference and part family camp. In content, it provides an abundance of opportunities to learn about Quakerism, foster spiritual life, and have fun. More at https://www.fgcquaker.org/fgcprograms/the-gathering/

School of the Spirit Quaker Ministry, God’s Promise Fulfilled: Encountering and Embodying Grace in the Shadow of Empire, begins May, 2025 and lasts two year. Find a description at https://www.schoolofthespirit.org/gpf/. Both in-person and online options. Register by Dec 31.

The Middle East
* FCNL Advocacy Teams will lobby Congress in 2025 to return funding to the UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians. The US cut off funding after reports that some of its employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israelis. Those employees were dismissed. Of all nations that dropped funding, all but the United States have restarted funding UNRWA. UNRWA at this point is the only agency capable of providing relief in Gaza as displacement, hunger, and disease continue to worsen. Friends are encouraged to thank Senator Amy Klobuchar for co-sponsoring a resolution to return US funding to UNRWA: klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-amy
* join Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) in calling for a ceasefire, de-escalation, and humanitarian access in Gaza. More at https://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
* Charlie U. (Twin Cities Meeting) has put together a googledoc of activities and opportunities to educate yourself about and to support the ongoing struggle for Palestinian rights and peace. Find it here.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

MN Peace Action Coalition will sponsor a protest, “All We Want for Christmas: End the Genocide!” Dec 21 (Sat), 3PM, Nicolett Mall and S 12th St, Mpls. Info at https://womenagainstmilitarymadness.org/events/all-we-want-for-christmas-end-the-genocide/

MN Council of Churches Refugee Services will welcome nearly 1,000 newly arrived refugees to the Twin Cities over the next 12 months. Your support is necessary now more than ever to ensure that refugees in Minnesota are welcomed, supported, and given everything they need to thrive in the U. S. Particularly needed: donations of dish soap, shampoo, all-purpose cleaner, deodorant, and toilet paper. Contact Noah at noah.wilkerson(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)mnchurches.org or 651-724-0944, or drop off donations off between 8AM and 6PM weekdays at 122 Franklin Avenue W, Suite 100, Minneapolis MN, 55406.

OFFICE HOURS

The Meeting Coordinator will be in the office Wed – Fri afternoons. 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).

The Children and Families Coordinator will be available: Mon and Wed. 2:30-5PM via phone/computer; Thurs 3:30-5PM at the meetinghouse; Sun: 9AM-2PM at the meetinghouse.