Sunday, April 19, 2026

TODAY’S WORSHIP AND PROGRAM

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

9:00 AM Unprogrammed Meeting for Worship
Closer: Mike Finley
Zoom host: Lavender

10:15 AM “Let Your Life Speak”: Quaker Testimonies and Taking Action In The World
Two meeting members, Rick and Terry, will speak about their social activism and how it is related to their Quaker faith. Then we’ll break into small groups to reflect on how we are challenged to follow the lead of the Spirit in our own chosen roles in the world.
Zoom host: Marilyn

11:15 AM Semi-programmed Meeting for Worship
Speaker: Rick VandenDolder, Care of meeting: Diane Barrett, Musician: Dave Bostrom
Zoom host: Marilyn

Children’s First Day School takes place every week in the lower level during 11:15 AM meeting for worship.

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. Join on Zoom; you can use ID 859 3925 1575, passcode 251345; or paste the following into your browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85939251575?pwd=1aHrNcUclfw3o99kyDnc9nAwzwkYGU.1

HOLD IN THE LIGHT

The memorial service for Kate W will be held at the meetinghouse on Saturday, April 25 at 1:00 PM. She was a beloved member of Meeting and will be missed by many. A reception will follow the service.

Preparing for her hip replacement surgery on April 29, Nettie S welcomes prayers.

MFM ANNOUNCEMENTS

Your perspective is needed about Minneapolis Friends Meeting’s website. The Web Design Committee seeks feedback in order to make the site welcoming, accessible, and useful for both newcomers and long-time members. Whether you use the website occasionally or regularly — or not at all — we’d love your input. Complete the survey online or take a printed survey from the meetinghouse. (The committee prefers online responses, but also welcomes handwritten responses.) Deadline: Sunday, April 26, midnight. Email office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org for the survey link.

Paid job opportunity: Substitute office manager. Occasionally, the office manager takes time off. The Liaison & Review Committee seeks a person within the Meeting who has a flexible schedule and is willing to cover essential duties in the office as need arises. Compensation is $20/hour. Contact Rae C to express interest. Find details in the job description on the info table.

Nearly fifty years ago, Roland and Zephyra Shepherd established a fund to help future Meeting folks with their education costs. The deadline to apply to the Shepherd Scholarship this year is June 1, 2026. Please apply for this scholarship if you’ve been active and contributing to Minneapolis Friends Meeting for five or more years, or your parents have been. Contact Allen G with questions.

April 1 marks the start of the new fiscal year for Minneapolis Meeting. The approved budget is just under $139,000; $11,583 per month in contributions is needed to meet our budgeted obligations. Thank, Friends, for your financial support of the meeting. You can donate on the MFM website, find the offering boxes inside the main doors of the meetingroom, or mail a check. If you would like to set up automatic contributions to the meeting, contact John K, clerk of Stewardship and Finance Committee.

May we take your photo? Sue K, the Meeting photographer, is taking photos of individuals and families so that Welcoming and Outreach Committee can update the community portraits on the meetinghouse bulletin board. Please meet Sue in the south hall immediately after semi-programmed meeting for worship this Sunday, and she’ll take your photo. We’d love to include newcomers who are attending regularly, as well as members and long-time attenders.

Joining the MFM Google Group is an easy way to engage with the Meeting – to share and see articles of interest, participate in informal discussion, to receive reminders from other Friends about upcoming events. To sign up, simply send an email request to Roland B. Find guidelines for the Google Group on the Meeting’s website. Also, to keep abreast of Meeting news, you can find bulletins, events, and monthly meeting minutes on the MFM website.

MFM EVENTS

Below you’ll find special events held by Minneapolis Friends Meeting. Pick up a flyer about these ongoing groups from the information table in the meetinghouse hallway, or email the office to request a copy. Ongoing groups’ meetings include:
Peace & Social Concerns Committee (online), 4th Mondays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM. Next: April 27
Watson Reading Group (hybrid), 4th Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM. Next: April 28
Writing Group (online), 1st Mondays, 7:00 – 9:00 PM. Next: May 4
Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice (online), 2nd Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM. Next: May 12
Joyful Aging coffee hour (in person), 3rd Fridays, 10:00 AM – noon. Next: May 15
LGBTQ+ Potluck (in person), 3rd Wednesdays, 7:00 – 9:00 PM. Next: May 20

TODAY! April 19 (in person, offsite location). Movie night series with Mayim Rabim continues on Sunday, April 19. Join us for a free screening of “Annie Hall,” the next film in a series organized by the Joyful Aging group (a social collaboration between Minneapolis Friends and Mayim Rabim). The event is open to all ages, but please use parental discretion because the movie is rated R. We’ll start the evening at 6:00 PM with a vegetarian potluck meal and show the movie around 7:00 PM. Come for food, film, or both. Please RSVP to Jeff N.

April 26 (hybrid). The Stories of Jewish Holidays. You are invited to participate in this mid-morning program (Sunday, April 19 at 10:15 AM) either in person at the meeting house or on Zoom.

NEW DATE: Sunday April 26 (in person). Joyful Aging visit to Pretti and Good memorials. The group will leave from the meetinghouse at 12:45 PM, go directly to Renee Good’s memorial, and from there to Alex Pretti’s memorial. Bring a candle if you wish. After the vigil, the group will have lunch together on Eat Street. Questions? Call Jimbo.

May 3 (hybrid). We’ll welcome three new members at MMP. Join us at the meetinghouse or virtually to officially welcome Mike F, Jeffrey B, and Lynda G. This is a social event, and finger treats are gratefully welcomed to this mid-morning program as well!

WIDER COMMUNITY

Northern Yearly Meeting is for families! NYM gathers regional Quakers over Memorial Day weekend, May 22 – 25. There is a lot of Quaker activity for grown-ups, but for kids, NYM is typically a romping good time. Children generally love the magic of campfires, boating, swimming, lively games, and programs where they learn to treat each other respectfully while having fun and living out Quaker values. Teens hold their own business meeting to make decisions and rules, and friendships often develop as they share both serious and frivolous time together. For parents, a support group explores parenting challenges generally, and parenting as Quakers. It will be led by a seasoned Friend who has been facilitating Quaker parent support groups online for years now. You can read a description of what happens at NYM, and find more details and registration links in the 2026 brochure. If you have trouble with the links, go to https://NorthernYearlyMeeting.org.

Friends’ Mystery Association invites all of us to join. This is the easiest book club you will ever hear of.  It has nothing you have to read. No dues. No meetings. It is a Googlegroup where, if you read a good mystery or a spy novel, you send a message like, “I read a good one by John Doe.  Title is _____.” So others get to read the book you liked. And you get to read the books others like. But you don’t have to. To join, email John S.

Volunteer signup now underway: Friends School Plant Sale. The Plant Sale is almost entirely volunteer-run. It’s held at the Minnesota State Fair grounds, Friday through Sunday of Mother’s Day weekend (May 8-10). There are still volunteer shifts open for roles during the sale, and to clean up afterwards. If you take part in at least one shift (typically 4 hours), you’ll have the opportunity to shop at the volunteers’ pre-sale on Thursday, May 7, and get a discount for Sunday shopping. Sign up to volunteer on the Friends School Plant Sale website.

April 19 (in person). Documentary screening, “There is Another Way,” a free public event on Sunday, April 19, 12:30 PM at Minneapolis Central Library. In this film, through the lives of former Israeli and Palestinian combatants — members of Combatants for Peace — we consider questions: Will we choose connection over division? Will we prioritize humanity, safety, and dignity for all? The film will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Stephen Apkon and Combatants for Peace co-founders Sulaiman Khatib and Chen Alon, who will be joining us via Zoom. Registration is encouraged but not required. This event is hosted by zAmya Theater Project.

April 21 (in person). Tuesday lunch. Join friends from Twin Cities Friends Meeting and MFM to support our immigrant business community along the Lake Street corridor in Minneapolis. This week, lunch is at 12:30 PM at Salsa La Salsa (inside Midtown Global Market, 920 E Lake Street #155). Questions? Contact Becky F.

April 22 (in person). Friends of the Boundary Waters Earth Day Rally. In the face of the recent vote in the US Senate stripping the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of its federally-protected status against mining interests, it’s important for Minnesota to protect this vulnerable, valuable area and the water that flows from it. Come learn more and join the chorus of those asking for legal protection from poisonous copper sulfide mining. Water is life. The rally will be held Wednesday, April 22, 10 – 11 AM at the State Capitol.

April 22. Rise and Repair, an Indigenous and ally lobbying group, is hosting a “Mother Earth vs Big Tech Community Hearing” in the Rotunda on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, 1:30 – 3:00 PM, to amplify the voices of impacted Minnesotans across the State. Spread the word by marking yourself “Interested” or “Going” and sharing or inviting friends to the Facebook event, and/or RSVP to Rise and Repair for details.

April 22 (in person). Earth Day Celebration features a planetarium show. On Wednesday, April 22, Minneapolis College is hosting the Bell Museum’s mobile planetarium. Step inside and explore the cosmos. From 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM on the hour, there are 30-minute shows. Sign up in person on the day of the event. Open to everyone, free to attend. Address is 1501 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, and the event will take place in the Technical Building (T-3200) in the 1st floor plaza.

April 24 (hybrid). For the Sake of Joy: Meetings, Pilgrimage, and the Re-Olding of Quakerism is the topic of Noah Bishop Merrill’s lecture at the Earlham School of Religion on Friday, April 24, 7:00 PM. Merrill has served as General Secretary for New England Yearly Meeting of Friends since 2013. Register to attend online.

April 25 (hybrid). Deepening Our Worship During Quaker Meeting. Pendle Hill hosts a hybrid workshop led by Ingrid Lakey, Eileen Flanagan, and Dwight Dunston. You’ll gain tools to support you to ground, and to support the body to stay connected to spirit. Queries include, “When have I experienced spirit in meeting for worship? When have I felt disconnected?” The workshop will take place Saturday, April 25, 8:30 — 11:30 AM Central Time. Free and open to the public; registration required. Register on Pendle Hill’s website.

May 4 (hybrid). “Bands of Humble Prophets”: Radically Faithful Quakers During the Early Cold War, 1946–1956, a Pendle Hill First Monday Lecture with Jim Fussell. Free to attend; registration required. In the tense first decade after World War II, as loyalty oaths spread, nuclear tests thundered in the desert and the Pacific, civil defense drills rehearsed apocalypse, and Jim Crow segregation alongside a lavender scare tightened across much of the nation, small clusters of Friends responded with what Thomas Kelly called “holy obedience.” They refused conscription and war taxes. They risked their livelihoods rather than sign loyalty oaths. They stayed above ground during atomic drills and defied segregation laws. This presentation invites listeners to consider how small communities, grounded in spiritual conviction rather than ideology, can help reshape public life with courage and clarity. This and our other First Monday Lectures are streamed live and available as recordings on Pendle Hill’s YouTube channel. Join live on Monday, May 4, 6:30 8:30 PM – Central.

July 7 – 12, 2026 (in person). FGC Gathering of Friends. The Gathering of Friends is a week of Quaker community for all ages, organized by Friends General Conference. It’s typically in the summer, at varied locations, and every other year is online. In 2026, the event will take place in Burlington VT. Find details on FGC’s website.

OFFICE HOURS

The Children and Families Coordinator has the following schedule:
Wednesdays 2:00 – 5:00 PM available by phone, text or email, working from home.
Thursdays 2:00 – 5:00 PM available by phone, text, or email, working from home. 
Fridays 12:00 – 3:00 PM available by phone or in person at Minneapolis Friends Meetinghouse.
Sundays 9:30 AM – 1:00 PM available in person or by phone at Minneapolis Friends Meetinghouse.

The Office Manager will be in the office on Sunday, April 19, 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM, Thursday, April 16, 10:30 AM – 3:30 PM, and Friday, April 10 from noon – 5:00 PM. Is there something you’d like included in upcoming bulletins? Weekly deadline for bulletin items is noon Thursday. Please call the office (612-926-6159) or send your announcement by email (office(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)minneapolisfriends.org).