Announcements for May 2008

All Friends are invited to our second Consultation on Adult Religious Education, on Thursday, May 8, at 7:30pm in the New Room. There we will plan the fall schedule, considering whether we need programs to supplement existing opportunities (i.e., Reading and Discussion, Seekers Meetings, Bible Study, Worship Sharing, Forums) and if we can better support our First Day School teachers.

What would it be like to give up your home and job, and then see what opportunities for helping others opened to you?  In Reading and Discussion in May, Janice Thorup will describe what happened when she and her husband did just that, three years ago.  All are welcome to come hear Janice’s story – including her practice of discerning leadings, the resulting adventures, and lessons learned – on second and fourth Sundays (May 11 and 25) from 10:05 to 10:55 in Quaker House Living Room.

The discussion group on Walter Wink’s The Powers that Be will meet for the final time on Sunday, May 11 (postponed from April 27) after 11:00 worship, in Quaker House Dining Room. Light lunch will be provided. All are welcome.

The Committee on Ministry and Counsel will host Worship Sharing on our Query on Unity within the Meeting (see under “Readings” at left) on Wednesday, May 21, at 7:30pm, in the New Room. All are welcome.

Our Final Affairs Committee will sponsor a Forum on Life and Death Planning on Sunday, May 25, at 1:00 in the Fireplace Room.  Lander McLoyd will give an informative session on wills and documents you need to protect your family.


PIAG (the Palestine-Israel Action Group, a Sub-Committee of Peace and Social Concerns) will meet on Fridays, May 9 and 23, at noon at the Zweifler home (1706 S University). Please bring your own lunch; drinks provided.  All Friends are invited, and are reminded to park in the driveway, not on the street. PIAG’s convener is Helen Fox (hfox@umich.edu; 995-2954). PIAG maintains its own website and a blog.
PIAG is distributing Palestinian Olive Oil from AFSC.  This delicious olive oil is virgin, organic, and free-trade.  The suggested donation is $18 for 25.4 fl. oz. Please check the lobby table on Sundays or phone Anne Ogren at 741-9450.


Bible Study meets at 8:30am every Wednesday in the New Room. All are welcome.

The Scribblers Writing Circle meets first Thursdays (May 1 and June 5) at 6pm in Quaker House Living Room. Writers, poets, graphic artists, and listeners are invited. Pizza and beverages are provided; other comestibles are welcome.

Monthly Sings take place on fourth Sundays (May 25) in the Meetingroom, between the two meetings for worship. For more information, contact Isabelle Yingling.

Save the Date: On June 1 we will have our last First Day School class for the year. Young Friends, teachers, and parents are invited to gather in the backyard (or the Fellowship Room in case of bad weather) at 11:20. We will sing and share some highlights of the year with one another. At the rise of Meeting we will come into the Meetingroom to recognize our graduating seniors.

Save another date: At a Forum after meeting for worship on Sunday, June 8, Michael McConnell, Director of the AFSC Great Lakes Regional Office in Chicago, and Susan Waltz, current clerk of AFSC’s International Executive Committee (and guest at our recent Forum on U.S. Use of Torture), will speak on The Costs of War. Friends attending the Forum are invited to a catered lunch of Indonesian food at 12:30 in the Fellowship Room; the Forum will begin about 1:30 in the Meetingroom.

Copies of the Meeting Handbook are available in the lobby. A contribution of $4 to cover printing costs is requested.

The Meeting’s wheelchair is stored in the outer lobby for the lift. Friends may borrow it for use between the parking lot and the lift or inside the Meetinghouse and Quaker House.

The Chelsea Worship Group has Meeting for Worship at Michigan Friends Center on most second Sundays (May 11) at 10am. The contact is John Deikis (475-0942); check with him before attending to be sure that worship is taking place that day.

Spring Quarterly Meeting: Friends are invited to the Spring Gathering of Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting, on Saturday, May 17, at Michigan Friends Center. Meet Friends from other meetings throughout Michigan! Lonnie Valentine, Professor of Peace and Justice Studies at the Earlham School of Religion, will speak on "Peace Within, Peace Without." Lunch will be provided. The usual schedule is registration starting at 9:00, meeting for worship at 9:30; talk by the guest speaker (about 10:30); and business meeting, after lunch. Friends are encouraged to carpool.  


Friends are invited to attend Lake Erie Yearly Meeting, held June 12-15 on the campus of Bluffton University, in Bluffton, Ohio. For program details and registration materials, visit the LEYM website; on the home page click on “The Bulletin,” and then find the spring 2008 issue. Copies of the spring Bulletin are also available on the lobby table. The registration deadline for children and their families is May 24. LEYM’s Earthcare Committee strongly encourages Friends to carpool to Yearly Meeting.

Lake Erie Yearly Meeting encourages all Friends to complete a survey of LEYM households on the Annual Meeting. One purpose of the survey is to explore whether the time and/or location of the Yearly Meeting should be changed. (It is currently the weekend leading up to the third Sunday in June, at Bluffton University.) Another purpose is to learn what might attract more Friends to Annual Meeting. To make the survey quick and easy, it is offered online. Open the LEYM home page and find “Click to take the LEYM Survey.” Most of the questions are answered by clicking a box; some are open-ended and invite you to type in your ideas. Completion takes from under 5 to about 15 minutes, depending on the length of your answers. The survey will remain on the LEYM site until June 1. Only one representative of each household needs to answer the survey. Please answer it, even if no one from your household has ever attended Yearly Meeting.


Program at Michigan Friends Center
See www.michiganfriendscenter.org/current-programs.html for details.
Phone 475-1892 to register.

Rev. Bob Brown speaks on his friendship with Arun Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, Saturday, May 3, 1:30 – 3:30pm. $10 suggested donation. Brown will share what he has learned from Gandhi of his grandfather's understanding of the nature of violence, and how we might move toward a culture of nonviolence.