January 5, 2025

MEETING SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM

TODAY

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

10:15 – 11:00 Varieties of Meditative Practices: A Panel Discussion. A panel of Friends who have experience in various meditative practices, including Experiment with Light, Centering Prayer, Buddhist meditative practice, and Raja Yoga (from the Hindu tradition,) will briefly describe the meditative practice(s) they have been involved in and their own personal experience of the practice. There will also be time for questions and answers and an opportunity for others to share. Zoom host – Stephen S.

11:15 – 12:15 meeting for worship (semi-programmed): Ilsa Derfus – speaker; Jacque Wiersma – musician; care of meeting, Sandy Olson; Zoom host – Stephen S.

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

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

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

Those in positions of power.

NEWS FOR MINNEAPOLIS MEETING FRIENDS

Plan to linger today at the rise of semi-programmed worship for the monthly potluck! Visitors and regulars, adults and children warmly welcome, even if you didn’t bring anything to share. Potlucks are do-it-ourselves affairs. Look for ways to help the effort: replenish water and silverware, clear empty serving dishes and tables, and help wash, dry and put away dishes, tables, and chairs. For those who brought a dish to share, label it with ingredients so folks can participate with confidence. Please come and enjoy a bite and conversation!

Happy birthday to Sara Hoppe (the 1st) Pat Givens (the 2nd) Jane Downes (the 3rd) Napoleon Steele (the 8th), Kate Wolfe-Jenson (the 12th), Terry Hokenson (the 16th), Suzie Kanemitsu (the 19th), and Mary Gochnauer (the 23rd)! If you would like to have your birthday acknowledged by meeting Friends, please send the month and date of your birth, (no year necessary,) to Judith James at judithmariejames(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com.

Feeling stressed? Discouraged? Fearful? Come to mid-week worship, Wed nights, 7PM. Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org by noon Wed for the link.

Monthly meeting for business is next Sunday, 9:45-11:15. On the agenda: membership requirements for Ministry and Counsel and Care and Counsel Committees; budget check-in; reports from Loaves and Fishes and Quaker Voluntary Service; proposed minute / statement on Palestine; fundraiser for Right Sharing of World Resources.

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.

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.

Need to schedule a Zoom meeting for a committee meeting or Minneapolis Meeting activity? Please send a request, including date, time, and purpose to office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org to have it set up.

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 Mary G, and Jimbo L.

Contributions update: Thank you, Friends, for your generous financial support. Income from April 1 to November 30 totaled $73,594.00. General funds contributions in December are $25,558 (at least $6610 of that will not show in quarter-end reporting.) As of Dec 31, contributions of $11,000 are needed per month, through March, to meet the curtailed budget ($132,335); contributions of $17,000 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

Established writers as well as dabblers will have an informal writing session tomorrow night, Jan 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/87325724605?pwd=BMdZYlimaFkLeeh3ROZ4LY7iCOuWRH.1; ID: 873 2572 4605; passcode: 763965. Contact Jane D. with questions or interest.

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 .

Small group line-up: Writing Group – first Monday night; Lectio Divina – every Tuesday noon; 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

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. A high level overview presented at Fall Interim Session is on the NYM website. The session on the 18th will walk through the specific proposed changes and show how they address 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.

Be Not Afraid: Living into Love at the End of Life, a Pendle Hill first Monday lecture will be offered tomorrow night, via Zoom. Aging and dying are times of paradox: ascent and descent, loss and gain, grief and celebration. Immersing ourselves in love, we can transform the paradoxes. We can find the riches of spiritual opening and deepening. More and register at https://pendlehill.org/events/be-not-afraid-living-into-love-at-the-end-of-life/

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/ Registration is now open!
Plenary speakers from last summer’s FGC Gathering can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpKBI8d8I26tpwkwRTtTr3vkYIpPwkUhH

Head’s up! Nightingales, an informal collection of Northern Yearly Meeting Quakers who love to sing, will have their spring weekend retreat April 4-6 at Wisconsin Badger Camp near Prairie du Chien. Consider making it a new tradition! Curious? Contact Janet for more.

The Middle East
* 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
* Building the anti-apartheid movement: In Dec, AFSC brought together representatives from over 35 communities, convening the Apartheid-Free Coalition. A panel featuring co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement Huwaida Arraf and Rabbi Alissa Wise with pre-recorded remarks from Rep. Cori Bush addressing what we can do in the U.S. to continue building the anti-apartheid movement for Palestinian liberation began the session. Watch the panel recording here.
* Lifelines: Aid Workers in Gaza. AFSC is encouraging Friends to screen this short film that provides a window into the lives and work of AFSC staff members in Gaza. The film follows AFSC’s Firas Ramlawi and Serena Awad as they provide humanitarian relief to Palestinians in Gaza who have been displaced due to relentless attacks from the Israeli military. Despite being displaced themselves and losing dozens of family members and loved ones, AFSC staff in Gaza have provided life-saving aid to over 1.5 million internally displaced people. Watch the film here.

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 can be reached: Mon and Wed, 2:30-5PM; Thurs, 3:30-5PM; Sun, 9AM-2PM at the meetinghouse.