THIS SUNDAY: March 17, 2019, Gresham Women’s Emergency Shelter, Portland, OR. Questions? Contact Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell (919) 444-9111; brettwebbmitchell@gmail.com
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Dear Pilgrims of the Mother Hen,
Yes, you read this correctly: The Mother Hen. This week’s Scripture reading’s focus is Luke 13:31-35, in which Jesus laments the situation in Jerusalem, in which Jesus is told by the Pharisees the Herod wants to kill him. In response, Jesus talks about the city that has killed plenty of prophets before him, and shows great empathy for the people of Jerusalem by describing himself as a mother hen who wants to protect the people from the fox: “I (desire) to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” In her book Bread of Angels, writer Barbara Brown Taylor describes Mother Hen Jesus as follows: "The church of Christ is a big fluffed up brooding hen, offering warmth and shelter to all kinds of chicks…planting herself between the foxes of this world and the fragile-boned chicks." This weekend, the Community of Pilgrims gets to play the role of a brooding hen, aiding others as we feed 90 women at the Gresham Women’s Emergency Shelter, as we have advertised for weeks. We will not be meeting at either Rose City Park Presbyterian Church or Colonial Heights Presbyterian Church, but at the Shelter. If you have any questions about it, please do not hesitate to contact me, Pastor Brett, at the phone number and email above. Come and join us, and see what the Fellowship, as a brooding hen, is doing as we follow Jesus, the Pilgrim God.
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Events!
Sunday, March 10, 2019, Gathering and Worship, Rose City Park PCUSA;
Sunday, March 17, 2019, Gresham’s Women’s Emergency Shelter (Times TBA);
Saturday, March 23, 2019, Pastor Brett attending Regional Gathering of Small Intentional Christian Communities in Tacoma, WA;
Sunday, March 24, 2019, Gathering and Worship, Rose City Park PCUSA;
Sunday March 31, 2019, Pastor Brett at 1stPresby. Church Woodburn;
Sunday, March 31, 2019, Gathering and Worship, Rose City Park PCUSA;
Sunday, April 7, 2019, Gathering and Worship, Rose City Park PCUSA;
Sunday, April 14, 2019, Palm Sunday, Rose City Park PCUSA;
Sunday, April 21, 2019, Easter “Sunrise” Service, 8 am at Moholt’s Home.
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Requests
* Regarding the t-shirts: Please pick up your t-shirt this Sunday, and bring cash or a check made out to Community of Pilgrims, in the amount of $8 for adult M, L, and XL, and youth; and $12 for adult 2XL. Thank you!
* We also have plenty of beautiful leather bracelets for each member of the community! Pick one up this Sunday!
* In the coming months, Pastor Chris and I will be quoting from and referencing sections from the book, Wisdom Distilled from the Dailyby Joan Chittister, a Benedictine monk, who, in this book, focuses on the nature of living life in an intentional Christian community, which is our aim as Community of Pilgrims. We can either order books for those interested and sending in a request for so-many copies, or feel free to order it or buy it from your favorite book distributor. Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, Joan Chittister, San Francisco: Harper One.
* Another book for our consideration: The Intentional Christian Community Handbookby David Janzen (Paraclete Press, 2013). We may use this book as we delve deeper into understanding what it means to be an intentional Christian community of faith.
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Poem
Lenten Poem, by Renita Weems
Lent is a time to take time to let the power
of our faith story take hold of us,
a time to let the events get up
and walk around in us,
a time to intensify our living unto Christ,
a time to hover over the thoughts of our hearts,
a time to place our feet in the streets of
Jerusalem or to walk along the sea and
listen to his Word,
a time to touch his robe
and feel the healing surge through us,
a time to ponder and a time to wonder….
Lent is a time to allow
a fresh new taste of God!
Perhaps we’re afraid to have time to think,
for thoughts come unbidden.
Perhaps we’re afraid to face our future
knowing our past.
Give us courage, O God,
to hear your Word
and to read our living into it.
Give us the trust to know we’re forgiven
and give us the faith
to take up our lives and walk.
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Buen Camino!
Pastors Brett & Chris
Rev. Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell (919) 444-9111; brettwebbmitchell@gmail.comRev. Chris Dungan (503) 724-7060; chrisdungan1@msn.com