Milwaukee Friends Meeting

Coming up, Northern Yearly Meeting: still time to register to attend via Zoom.

NYM 2024 Annual Session – May 24-27
Updated on
April 11, 2024
NYM Annual Session is a 3-day gathering of regional Quakers, held over Memorial Day weekend at the Wisconsin Lions Camp in central Wisconsin, with options for people to attend virtually on Zoom during business meetings and the plenary. Learn more about our Annual Sessions.

More information here: https://northernyearlymeeting.org/

Send a message to learn more

What skills do we need to live well together? David Brooks looks to Howard Thurman's "Jesus and the Disinherited" for guidance. We may not have the same ideologies or support the same political candidates, but can we get to a place of common underlying values and behaviors? Brooks' thinking on a subject many of us consider deeply.

"To be a good citizen, it is necessary to be warmhearted, but it is also necessary to master the disciplines, methods and techniques required to live well together: how to listen well, how to ask for and offer forgiveness, how not to misunderstand one another, how to converse in a way that reduces inequalities of respect. In a society with so much loneliness and distrust, we are failing at these social and moral disciplines."

Opinion | How to Create a Society That Prizes Decency (Gift Article) It starts with keeping our humanity and recognizing it in others.

Set free from holding tightly: an Episcopal priest's reflection on true simplicity.

Set Free from Holding Tightly Episcopal priest and spiritual director Margaret Guenther (1929–2016) reflects upon the challenge of “true” simplicity:   Simplicity is not one

How do we reclaim true faith and rebuild democracy? "All of you are going to be needed in Milwaukee!" Hear what Jim Wallis had to say April 6 at the United Methodist Church of Whitefish Bay. (Wallis speaking begins about 26 minutes in if you're impatient.)

Christian Nationalism: The False White Gospel with Jim Wallis United Methodist Church of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin

“You can listen to silence, Reuven. I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own. It talks to me sometimes. I feel myself alive in it. It talks. And I can hear it...
You have to want to listen to it, and then you can hear it. It has a strange, beautiful texture. It doesn't always talk. Sometimes - sometimes it cries, and you can hear the pain of the world in it. It hurts to listen to it then. But you have to.”

― Chaim Potok, The Chosen (playing at the Milwakee Rep for another week)

Did you know that in Wisconsin, inmates who “earn” between 12 – 42 cents per hour are charged $3.60 per hour to make a
phone call? The price for emails, video services and tablet services are also prohibitive and they are rising. And yet we know that the best way to return to a mature and productive life is to stay connected with loved ones.

We also know that the commercial enterprises managing communications provide poor services and lack oversight for good use of taxpayer dollars.

You can join Friends of Peace and justice and other Friends in calling or writing Governor Evers to request an audit of the finances and performance of the two for profit companies providing services to those incarcerated in Wisconsin prisons.

More information below.

Contact:
Governor Tony Evers
(608) 266-1212 https://evers.wi.gov/Pages/connect.aspx - ("request assistance" link for written request)

Wendy Monfils, Director Office of Management and Budget Wi DOC
(608) 240-5000

Connect with the administration Connect with the administration or request a meeting

For podcast listening friends...

Quakers in the Civil Rights Movement: Stories of Peaceful Persistence Quakers have a long history of peacefully fighting for racial equality, and there is a lot to explore about their work during the Civil Rights Movement. In this episode, we share first-hand stories of Friends whose spiritual courage led them into the heart of the movement, even when they were beaten...

Democracy matters! Just a reminder that if you live in Wisconsin and want to vote by absentee ballot you need to make a request every calendar year.

Request An Absentee Ballot My Vote

It's increasingly hard for incarcerated people to maintain contact with their loved ones, their place in a world to which they might return. If you'd like to learn more about the problems and ways to solve them, please join us.

(The Zoom link in the flier here is not active but you are welcome to attend in person. Lena Taylor will not be present but her social justice staffer will.)

Dinner with all kind of friends...

We had great conversations last night and you can now register for this month's on February 28. https://www.interfaithconference.org/amazing-faiths-project

The Work of Christmas
Howard Thurman

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

Friends, Gift Shop's now a grateful memory. The holidays are upon us, and holy days: all holy. You can read reflections of Milwaukee Friends in Shareletter, a quarterly publication.

Here's an excerpt from Mike Soika's "Every day is holy. Or not.":

"Holiness does not mean an absence of death, or disease, or greed, or cruelty. Holiness simply means that in the midst of it all there is still the presence of God. It is we who are holy and it is we who must shine the light of the Divine onto the profane.

"In the words of the Eastern Mystic Rumi: 'If everything around seems dark, look again, you may be the light.'"

https://shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org/

Friends, Gift Shop's now a grateful memory. The holidays are upon us, and other holy days: all our days are holy. You can read reflections of Milwaukee Friends in Shareletter, our quarterly publication.

Here's an excerpt from Mike Soika's "Every day is holy. Or not.":

"Holiness does not mean an absence of death, or disease, or greed, or cruelty. Holiness simply means that in the midst of it all there is still the presence of God. It is we who are holy and it is we who must shine the light of the Divine onto the profane.

"In the words of the Eastern Mystic Rumi: 'If everything around seems dark, look again, you may be the light.'"

Shareletter – A Quarterly Publication – Sharing the Spiritual Leadings From Individual Members of the Milwaukee Friends Meeting The Price of Love in Wisconsin Prisons Love between prisoners and their families and friends is what is being exploited. Photo by Pixabay

Are you new to Quaker spaces? Are you a seeker finding your spiritual home? Join FGC at a Meeting for Worship specifically for newcomers. This Spiritual Deepening program is free.

To register:
https://www.fgcquaker.org/meeting-for-newcomers-and-seekers

International Gift Shop, December 1 & 2, 2023: fun to attend, more fun to help out!

Some coordinator jobs that need claiming are listed here. There might be others, and teams are welcome, too. Contact Janet Hilliker [email protected] or Sue Pezanoski Browne [email protected] to claim a spot.

Or you can donate handmade items for the Quaker table: talk to Judy Payne [email protected] or (262) 951-5051.

And don't forget to spread the word and the posters. You can download posters from this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dSVQPxHYVLxdrkvAI_01Ans1x2bAtSJd/view

Coordinators/key roles

Teen Cafe Coordinator (½ day — Anne LaWall Shane will do ½ day)

Sign Wrangler

Historian
Teen Cafe Clean-up Clean-up and Resale Coordination

Confidence/Security
Photographer

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dSVQPxHYVLxdrkvAI_01Ans1x2bAtSJd/view

Happy World Quaker Day!

Amid what is sure to be a hectic weekend legislatively. these events offer opportunities for celebration, renewal, education, and unity. Right on time for all the and advocates out there! Take a look at this awesome list of online and hybrid events from groups such as FWCC-Europe and Middle East Section (EMES) - Quaker, Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas, FWCC Africa, Pendle Hill, Quakers in Australia, and The BlackQuaker Project via Friends World Committee for Consultation - FWCC World Office at: https://fwcc.world/worldquakerday/

☮️ 🕊️

September 1-4, celebrate the Golden Rule sailboat as it visits Milwaukee in its journey to remind us of the dangers of nuclear weapons.

Not our event but at our meetinghouse! Welcome!

First Milwaukee Contra Dance of the Fall Season!
Friday, September 8th!
6:30 PM: Lesson/Refresher
7:00 PM: Dancing with Live Music and caller.
Bring a friend!
$10 Adults / $5 Students
MKE Friends Meeting, 3224 N Gordon place.

The joy of peace!...and the work...

Today's the first day of Peacemakers Day Camp 2023! We are holding you all in the light as you sing, draw, play, learn and create while using your weekly “peace treaty” guidelines. (Image from another year's camp.)

Milwaukee Friends have expressed concern about and asked to draw attention to this facility, which will "militarize and expand policing." Here's what American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has to say.

5 things you need to know about Cop City “Cop City” is a police training facility that has been proposed to be built in Atlanta, Georgia at a cost of over $90 million. If built, it will be the largest such facility in the country. The facility faces massive opposition in Atlanta and nationally.  

Anna grew up in Milwaukee Meeting and we've had the joy of continuing contact with her. She'll be touring after this Wednesday Worship for Lament. Click here to see if she'll be near you. https://annafritz.com/shows

UPDATE: Please stand by for a new date/time for this activity.

Tomorrow at Gentle House (not Gentle Dorm): Anna will offer her Spirit-gifted songs to help us touch and lift up the pain we are carrying. There will be music (cello and voice), singing together, and a time for wailing and keening, followed by a return to waiting worship to hold our personal and collective grief in the Light.
[Photo: a woman wearing a necklace and a jacket, holding a cello and gently smiling. The text says: "FGC 2023 Gathering - Wednesday 3:15 p.m. - With our feet on the earth, we will use the music ministry of Friend Anna Fritz and the container of Meeting for Worship to make space for embodied grieving."]

Wishing all a safe and happy Fourth of July. It may seem strange to contemplate on and in quiet today, but may you find some of that happiness, too.

The Work of Happiness
by May Sarton

I thought of happiness, how it is woven
Out of the silence in the empty house each day
And how it is not sudden and it is not given
But is creation itself like the growth of a tree.
No one has seen it happen, but inside the bark
Another circle is growing in the expanding ring.
No one has heard the root go deeper in the dark,
But the tree is lifted by this inward work
And its plumes shine, and its leaves are glittering.

So happiness is woven out of the peace of hours
And strikes its roots deep in the house alone:
The old chest in the corner, cool waxed floors,
White curtains softly and continually blown
As the free air moves quietly about the room;
A shelf of books, a table, and the white-washed wall—
These are the dear familiar gods of home,
And here the work of faith can best be done,
The growing tree is green and musical.

For what is happiness but growth in peace,
The timeless sense of time when furniture
Has stood a life's span in a single place,
And as the air moves, so the old dreams stir
The shining leaves of present happiness?
No one has heard thought or listened to a mind,
But where people have lived in inwardness
The air is charged with blessing and does bless;
Windows look out on mountains and the walls are kind.

The Beauty of Peace: Peacemakers Camp for kids 6-12 (and teens can volunteer)!

Good morning!
There is still a little room for camper sign up for camp this year!
July 17-21 and July 24-28
See peacemakerscamp.org for details
Email to request a registration form
[email protected]
🦋🦋🦋🦋🐛🦋🦋🦋🦋

To worship rightly
is to love each other,
Each smile a hymn,
each kindly deed a prayer.

~ excerpt from a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

"It belongs to the center of the Christian message that children are not properties to own and rule over, but gifts to cherish and care for. Our children are our most important guests, who enter into our home, ask for careful attention, stay for a while, and then leave to follow their own way. Children are strangers whom we have to get to know."

~Henri Nouwen

photo by Jessica Laub

“'Reconnecting with the Divine in One Another'” will build on the rhythm of silence, worship and small group opportunities of prior retreats with some new additional opportunities for sharing, including some meals. Flexible fees. Please register by March 31 to help us plan, the last day to register is April 16.

"Come out for contemplation, come out in joy, and feed your longing for reconnecting!"

Wisconsin Retreat, April 2023 - School of the Spirit Ministry Our next Contemplative Retreat in Wisconsin will be April 16-19, 2020, at the Siena Center in Racine. Registration is now open.