Community
Multnomah Friends is a very active Meeting, with events throughout the week and many ways to get involved. Below are some current events and news about the life of the Meeting. We also publish a weekly bulletin highlighting upcoming programs and announcements, and a monthly newsletter with articles of interest to our community. Sign up with your email address below.
Within our community, we are guided by our testimonies, especially Simplicity, Integrity, and Equality with the goal of being a welcoming space for everyone seeking a spiritual home with us.
Events
Scheduled Gatherings in May and June
Chronologically listed
- City of Roses Death Cafe Sunday, May 10, 4:30-6:30pm (Mtghs.) & Thursday May 14, 6:30–8:30pm (Peace House)
- Meet Friends from the Kendal Corp.Wednesday, May 13, 2pm (Meeting Room) Quaker guided senior living community. www.kendal.org All interested Friends are invited.
- Willamette Quarterly Meeting May 15-17, 2026 “Lead With Love: Create possibilities, Discern leadings of the Spirit; Act with the power of love.” Online registration closes Wednesday April 29. Go to www.willamette.npym.org.
- Goodbye and Thank You Party for Pat Schweibert, Saturday, May 16, 12-2 pm Social Hall
- Basic Conflict Deescalation Training Saturday, May 30, 1:30-4:30pm (Mtg. Rm.) contact Ron Braithwaite at peaceteam.pdx@gmail.com
with your name, email address, and phone#. - Newcomers’ Gathering Sunday, May 31, Noon (Room 12) Please RSVP to worship-ministry.clerk@multnomahfriends.org.
- “Vocal Ministry: Speaking out of the Silence” Sunday, May 31, 12:15-2 pm (Mtg. Rm.) (A.R.E. event) Facilitator: Liz Jenkins
- Celebrating Pride at Multnomah Friends Meeting. Sunday, June 7, 12–2pm (Mtg. Rm.) www.ourboldvoices.com
- Quaker Committees & You: Scaffolding the Life of the Meeting Sunday, June 14, 12:15–2pm Room 12, blended , Facilitator Ray Jenkins
- Advanced Conflict Deescalation Training Saturday, June 20, 1:30-4:30pm (Mtg. Rm.) contact Ron Braithwaite at peaceteam.pdx@gmail.com
with your name, email address, and phone#.
Regular Recurring Events
Alphabetically listed
- Amigas del Señor Bible Study (online)Wednesdays, 8-9am
- Bible Study (blended)Mondays, 7-8am.
- City of Roses Death Cafe Second Sundays at the meeitnghouse and Second Thursdays at Peace House. Reservations www.tickettailor.com/events/cityofrosesdeathcafe
- Community Qigong (online)Mondays, 9:30-10:30 am
- Film Discussion Group (online)Tuesdays, 6-7 pm
- Friendly Readers Book Discussion Second Tuesdays, 7-8:30pm (Zoom link:bit.ly/3nYFCSH)Third Tuesdays, 12-2pm at the Meetinghouse . For May we are discussing the novel This is Happiness by Nial Williams
- Friends for Racial Justice (online) • Second Mondays 4 pm.
- FWCC Online Meeting to Pray for PeaceTuesdays, 5:30-6am The Friends World Committee for Consultation: Europe and Middle East Section hosts a 30-minute online meeting for worship to pray for peace. Register at fwccemes.org/calendar/peace-worship.
- Hold in the Light Worship Wednesday (Zoom) 6-7pm, The Friendly Care Committee invites Friends to join in a weekly gathering. Zoom link: mfmeet.ing/hitl
- Meeting for Worship for Business (blended) Third Sunday, 12:15 pm Zoom link: mfmeet.ing/mfb
- MMM Friendship Group (Room 12) Third Thursdays, 11-1 pm
- Monthly Quaker Buddhist Meditation. Fourth Monday, 7-8 pm (Zoom)Zoom link: tinyurl.com/2w9fc3ee
- Quaker Palestine Israel Network, Second Sunday, 12 noon, meeting room. zoom https://tinyurl.com/27ncsxse
- Second Sunday Potluck Social Hall 11:15am Second Sundays Bring a dish to share.
- Short Story Discussion Group (online) Fridays, 6-7 pm 2nd & 4th
- Singalong Sundays 1st & 3rd Sundays, 9:15 am Room 12 We end in time to join worship. We choose from Rise Up Singing or the FGC hymnal, Worship in Song. New voices, tunes, and instruments welcome.
- Sunday Morning Adult Discussion(in person, blended on request) in person in Room 12 at 8:30am on the 2nd, 4th, & 5th Sundays. 1st and 3rd Sundays are Zoom only. Zoom link: mfmeet.ing/smad
- Women’s Circle of Friends (online) 2nd & 4th Thursdays, 6:30-8 pm.
- Worship Sharing with Movement Saturdays 10-11 am in the meeting room
Saturday, May 2, 10:00-11:30am, Meeting Room
Every first Saturday, from 10:00-11:30am at the Meetinghouse, we invite you to explore using movement as part of your spiritual practice. In Worship Sharing with Movement, we will share the experience of pausing, grounding and listening, with curiosity and care, moving as we are led. We will move in solitude, in dyads, and in community. We will open and close with movement to a song. Please feel free to join us even if this is a very new direction for you. If you have questions, you’re welcome to talk with one of us. Betsey Kenworthy, Lynn Kitajima, Ann Marie Marriott, Kepper Petzing, and Art Okada.
Every first Saturday, from 10:00-11:30am at the Meetinghouse, we invite you to explore using movement as part of your spiritual practice. In Worship Sharing with Movement, we will share the experience of pausing, grounding and listening, with curiosity and care, moving as we are led. We will move in solitude, in dyads, and in community. We will open and close with movement to a song. Please feel free to join us even if this is a very new direction for you. If you have questions, you’re welcome to talk with one of us. Betsey Kenworthy, Lynn Kitajima, Ann Marie Marriott, Kepper Petzing, and Art Okada.
Saturday, May 16, noon-2:00 pm, Social Hall
Pat Schwiebert, who founded the Peace House Lunch Program and related meals over 40 years ago, and provides the food for the Lunch Program that serves at MFM, is moving to Salem. We are having a goodbye party and everyone is invited. Many at MFM know Pat because of the Lunch Program, but some of us know her from her peace work, grief work, hospice, Peace House, Metanoia Peace Community United Methodist Church, and other work that supports life in our community. Please join us. For questions contact Ellen Simmons, ellenpsimmons@gmail.com, or 610-400-7549. We are serving simple hors d'oeuvre and cake. We want those who attend to be able to take home a sack lunch, if needed. We are asking for 50 sack lunches on May 16. Can you provide some? Contact Kepper Petzing, karenpetzing@gmail.com or 503-284-2068 with questions or to let me know how many you will bring.
Pat Schwiebert, who founded the Peace House Lunch Program and related meals over 40 years ago, and provides the food for the Lunch Program that serves at MFM, is moving to Salem. We are having a goodbye party and everyone is invited. Many at MFM know Pat because of the Lunch Program, but some of us know her from her peace work, grief work, hospice, Peace House, Metanoia Peace Community United Methodist Church, and other work that supports life in our community. Please join us. For questions contact Ellen Simmons, ellenpsimmons@gmail.com, or 610-400-7549. We are serving simple hors d'oeuvre and cake. We want those who attend to be able to take home a sack lunch, if needed. We are asking for 50 sack lunches on May 16. Can you provide some? Contact Kepper Petzing, karenpetzing@gmail.com or 503-284-2068 with questions or to let me know how many you will bring.
Sunday, April 26, noon, Meeting Room, Blended
Join the Peace & Justice Committee Sunday, April 26, for our monthly noon meeting in the worship room. Please email any agenda requests to peace-justice.clerk@multnomahfriends.org. If you need childcare to attend, you will be reimbursed for the expense.
Zoom: bit.ly/3fTiOBY
Meeting ID: 878 6800 7345
Passcode: 661743
Sunday, May 3, noon, Room 12, blended
Join Caitlin Churchill, Editor of Western Friend Magazine, and Lydia Mansfield, Quaker Voluntary Service Alumna, for a presentation about their trip to Bolivia with the Quaker Connections Study tour. The presentation will include images from the trip and stories from Friends in Bolivia. The tour was led by the Bolivian Quaker Education Fund. Their travel was funded by Multnomah's Spiritual Life Fund. Need childcare? Have questions? Please contact Maye Thompson .
https://tinyurl.com/4bvt7chy
Meeting ID: 881 4341 3069
Passcode: 053904
Join Caitlin Churchill, Editor of Western Friend Magazine, and Lydia Mansfield, Quaker Voluntary Service Alumna, for a presentation about their trip to Bolivia with the Quaker Connections Study tour. The presentation will include images from the trip and stories from Friends in Bolivia. The tour was led by the Bolivian Quaker Education Fund. Their travel was funded by Multnomah's Spiritual Life Fund. Need childcare? Have questions? Please contact Maye Thompson .
https://tinyurl.com/4bvt7chy
Meeting ID: 881 4341 3069
Passcode: 053904
Sunday, April 26, noon, Meeting Room, Blended
Join the Peace & Justice Committee Sunday, April 26, for our monthly noon meeting in the worship room. Please email any agenda requests to peace-justice.clerk@multnomahfriends.org. If you need childcare to attend, you will be reimbursed for the expense.
Zoom: bit.ly/3fTiOBY
Meeting ID: 878 6800 7345
Passcode: 661743
News
The lawsuit filed in a federal district court in Maryland states that: “The very threat of that [immigration] enforcement deters congregants from attending services, especially members of immigrant communities.” According to the plaintiffs, attending service is a crucial aspect of the constitutional guarantee to “religious liberty.” Two articles here: https://bit.ly/40AhZ4l.
Multnomah Friends Meeting (MFM) came to unity to be an official sponsor of the Oregon for Human Rights (O4HR) coalition which seeks to have Oregon divest funds from entities that support war, genocide, or ecologic destruction. We have a subcommittee under the Peace & Justice Committee. Please let us know if you would like to join this work. We are especially interested in reaching out to other Faith Communities and would love contacts and ideas. For more info: Peace & Social Concerns Clerk – peace-socialconcerns.clerk@multnomahfriends.org.
The Peace & Justice Committee of the Meeting has found unity on its support for a bill to be introduced in the 2025 Oregon legislative session 1) directing the state Treasurer to report on the environment, social, and governance impact of investments made by the state and 2) prohibiting the Oregon Investment Council from investing in any entity found to have violated international law. A copy of the bill is linked here.
The Committee will be recommending at the January Meeting for Business that the Meeting as a whole support the bill. If you have any questions about the bill, please contact the clerks of the Peace & Justice Committee at peace-justice.clerk@multnomahfriends.org.
The Lunch Program welcomes volunteers 12:30-2:30pm Tuesdays-Saturdays: servers, dishwashers, setup, cleanup, hosts, and someone to be present in the smoking area to keep eyes on the situation. For information about volunteering, contact hearthkeeper@multnomahfriends.org. Feel free to stop by for a “look-see” during lunch hours.
Volunteer committee members are needed to serve on the following Multnomah Friends Meeting committees as soon as possible: Peace & Justice, Care & Counsel, Nominating, Nursery, and Children’s Program. If you’re interested or know someone who might be, please contact the Nominating Committee: nominating@multnomahfriends.org.
Now that winter is here, there is an even greater need for warm clothes (especially pants size 30-32), belts, bedding, unlocked used phones, and USB chargers and cords. Larger donations may be left in the basement or given to anyone involved with the lunch program.