Sunday, July 6, 2025

TODAY’S WORSHIP AND PROGRAM
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Meeting for Worship – unprogrammed (hybrid)
Care of meeting: Lindy Venustus, Zoom host: Bill H
Please silence your cellphone before entering the meetingroom.

For the Zoom link to worship this Sunday, email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org.

Following the closing handshake, we take time for introductions and there are a few moments for worship sharing and joys and concerns, followed by pre-arranged announcements. Preferred practice is to put announcements in the bulletin. After-worship announcements, when needed, should be brief so Friends can be released.

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM All-Meeting Potluck (in person)
Attenders, members, visitors, and families are welcome. Potlucks are do-it-ourselves affairs. Thank you for helping! Make sure to clear your dishes and put away your chair. Please help with other tasks as you’re able: clear tables; scrap, wash, dry and put away dishes; replenish cutlery; remove serving dishes when empty; wipe tables; and put table and chairs away.

MORE WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AT MFM
Sharing the Spirit, held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, is a brief centering time that is open to everyone. We gather at approximately 8:57 AM for ten-minute worship (online, cameras off) beginning at 9:02 AM. Click here for zoom link; use ID 859 3925 1575, passcode 251345; or paste the following into your browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85939251575?pwd=1aHrNcUclfw3o99kyDnc9nAwzwkYGU.1.

Mid-week worship is on summer break in July and August. Watch the bulletin in September for an announcement of the date it will restart.

HOLD IN THE LIGHT
People who are grieving or suffering from injustice, conflict, racism, colonialism, displacement, loss, and the climate crisis, and all those who are aiding victims and the dispossessed.

MFM ANNOUNCEMENTS
From the Clerk: Next Sunday’s business meeting (July 13) will include several reports including the 1st quarter financial report. The clerk will provide an update on the changes to the Minnesota marriage statutes. Additionally, Ministry and Counsel is considering several action items that may be added to the agenda. Hope to see you there.

A memorial service for Jim Lorenz will be held on Saturday, July 12 at 3:00 PM at the Minneapolis Friends Meeting. Jim was married to Kate Coon, a long-time member of our Meeting. The service will be Zoomed (click here for zoom link, or use ID 876 8908 0132, passcode 135701, or copy and paste the following into your browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87689080132?pwd=naMwyyzpx6KsQVMbSOUEtTZ1Hej1QF.1).

Do you feel called to walk alongside others in a spirit of deep listening and mutual growth? Hennepin Connections is looking for dedicated mentors to accompany Minneapolis College (MCTC) students during the next school year as they grow personally and professionally. Your experience and guidance can have a lasting impact. Learn more and sign up on the website of Hennepin Connections’ partner organization The Basilica of St. Mary (click here). Whether you’re rooted in a particular faith tradition or simply led by a spirit of service, all are welcome. You can also contact Lynda G for more information.

Contributions update: $11,500 in monthly contributions is needed to meet this year’s budget. Contributions to general funds in April totaled $12,390; in May (sans EFTs), $8527. Thank you, Friends, for your generous support of the meeting! There is now a donate tab on MFM’s website (click here). If you would like to set up automatic contributions to the meeting, contact Carolyn V, clerk of Stewardship and Finance Committee.

UPCOMING MFM EVENTS
July 7 (online). Writing Group: Established writers and dabblers will have an informal writing session on Monday, July 7, 7:00 – 9:00 PM. This is a chance to connect with one another, writing with prompts and sharing what we write. Serious, whimsical, beautiful and quirky – we enjoy it all! You are welcome to come laugh, ponder, and create together, whether or not you have participated before. Contact Jane D with questions. Click here for zoom link or use ID 882 1594 6063, passcode 573695.

July 8 (online). Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice group meets every second Tuesday night, 7:00 – 8:30 PM and is exploring and 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 the link.

July 12 (in person). MFM youth ages 10-18 are getting together with the International Friends Church youth for a Challenge celebration that also discusses how peer pressure is handled. Lunch, snacks, and T shirts provided for this all-day event on Sunday, July 12, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM. The location is 7733 West River Road, Brooklyn Park, MN. Contact Cathy Nagler with questions (canagler(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com).

July 15 (in person). LGBTQ Group meets monthly, every third Wednesday, in person. The group requests that attendance be limited to those who are part of the LGBTQ community at this time. You can text or email Bill H for more information. We hope to see you there!

July 18 (in person). Joyful Aging is having coffee hour on Friday, July 18 at 10:00 AM at Turtle Bakery (W 44th Street & Chowen Ave S, Minneapolis). Come see all your friends AND people you don’t know yet. Contact John S for more.

July 27 (hybrid). Peace and Social Concerns Committee invites you to a letter-writing / postcard gathering on Sunday, July 27 at 11:15 AM in the conference room at the meeting house. All are welcome! It will be a hybrid meeting so you can join us from home. We will write letters and postcards to legislators, congress members, and letters to the editor. The Friends Committee on National Legislation has provided some recommendations; you can also write a letter to a recipient of your choosing. Questions? Contact Jim H or Nettie S.

October 11 (in person). Save the date for Fall Together, an annual retreat held by MFM. This is a wonderful opportunity to gather with Friends and rest, relax, renew, re-connect and relish time together in the great outdoors. This year’s retreat will be at Fish Lake Regional Park in Plymouth, MN, a beautiful setting familiar to those who have attended Fall Together in recent years.

Mark your calendar for other upcoming MFM interest groups / smaller gatherings: Writing Group meets first Monday night at 7:00 PM. Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice Group meets second Tuesday night at 7:00 PM. LGBTQ Support Group meets third Wednesday night at 7:30 PM. Reading Group meets fourth Tuesday night at 7:00 PM. Conflict Soiree and Lectio Divina are on summer break.

QUAKER RESOURCES
July 14 (online). A monthly worship for Newcomers and Seekers, offered by Friends General Conference (FGC), introduces Quaker worship practices as well as allowing for questions and reflection. Every second Monday evening from 5:30 – 6:30 PM; next meeting on July 14. Click here to register on FGC’s website.

July 20 (online). A monthly worship for Friends of Color, offered by Friends General Conference (FGC), is held on third Sundays at 7:00 PM (next July 20). These worships offer a place for Friends of Color to come together in community and worship. Click here to go to FGC’s website for more and to request the link.

July 17 (online). Becoming the Quakers the World Needs is a monthly worship-sharing opportunity offered by Northern Yearly Meeting for Friends seeking community, spiritual guidance, and nurture in this time of social, climate, and political instability. Come every third Thursday, starting on June 19, 7:00 – 8:00 PM. To join by zoom, click here or use ID 824 8501 6662, passcode 929041.

August 10 – 16 (in person). People Camp is a week-long transformative experience of cooperation, community living, peacemaking, and the exploration of ideas and issues. This year’s camp will be held in Park Rapids, MN on the theme How We WIN! Non-violent, direct action campaign planning. Author and activist George Lakey will share his experiences. You can find more on Friends for a NonViolent World’s website (click here). MFM’s Peace and Social Concerns Committee has funds for nonviolence resistance training. Contact Nettie S about P&SC helping finance your participation.

From the Twin Cities Friends Meeting (TCFM) newsletter for June 2025: “After 13 years in the metro area, AFSC’s Twin Cities Healing Justice program will be laid down on July 31. The decision was reached after numerous discussions with local and organizational stakeholders, who ultimately agreed that this was the best course of action. TCFM has been a longtime supporter of AFSC and the program.” Sharon Goens-Bradley, Regional Director of the Midwest Region, shared information about the closure and answered questions at TCFM’s June 14 Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business.

FCNL continues to advocate for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza to allow adequate relief to enter all areas. The so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is failing to deliver sufficient food. The people of Gaza also lack fuel, water, and medical care. There are credible reports of children starving to death. Senators Smith and Klobuchar and Representatives McCollum and Omar are co-sponsoring bills to allow for a surge of relief. The FCNL Twin Cities Advocacy Team asks Quakers to thank these members of Congress and to urge others to speak out.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY
July 12 (in person). Cutting through the Noise, an initiative of Minnesota MultiFaith Network, has its last event of the series this Saturday, July 12, 10:30 – 11:30 AM, at George Floyd Square (38th Street & Chicago Avenue, Minneapolis). Attendees will be invited to pray, reflect, meditate according to their own faith tradition, or simply rest in the present moment. Suggested donation of $10; no one turned away.

July 10 (online). Liz Oppenheimer, a Minneapolis resident and member of Bear Creek Friends Meeting, Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative carries a concern for how recent changes in Minnesota’s marriage statutes might impact how Friends conduct marriages. Minnesota Friends are invited to join a conversation about this concern on Zoom on Thursday, July 10 from 6:30-8:00 PM. Click here for the zoom link to join the meeting.

July 16 (in person). The documentary film Zurawski vs Texas will be screened by AAUW (think Rae C and Sue K) on Wednesday, July 16 at 3:30 PM and 7:00 PM. Women denied abortions under Texas’ abortion bans come together with a fearless attorney to sue Texas. While battling in court against the state and its immovable Attorney General, they wrestle to regain their reproductive futures. Tickets are available on Women Foundation of Minnesota’s Website (click here).

OFFICE HOURS
The Office Manager will be in the office Thursday and Friday afternoons. Bulletin deadline: noon Thursday. Phone items in to the office (612-926-6159) or email (office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org).

Cathy Nagler, Children and Families Coordinator, can be reached: Mondays and Wednesdays 2:30 – 5 PM; Thursdays 3:30 – 5:00 PM; Sundays 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM at the meetinghouse.