THIS SUNDAY: May 26, 2019, 4:00-6:00 p.m., Chapel, Rose City Park PCUSA, 1907 NE 45thAve., Portland, OR 97213 Questions? Contact Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell (919) 444-9111; brettwebbmitchell@gmail.com
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To the Pilgrims, Missionaries, Engaged Volunteers, and Good Samaritans,
It is May, and the beauty of creation in this part of the world—the Pacific Northwest—abounds. Gardens filled with lilac bushes, gardenias, and roses starting to open up remind us of how the Creator was all about our senses: touch, taste, smell, see, and hear.
This week’s focus Scripture is back to the fascinating tales of the early Christian community of faith, Acts 16:9-15. In Acts 15, Paul teamed up with Timothy on their pilgrimage of faith. This is a reminder that ministry and living life as a Christian is not a solo-activity. What I find fascinating in their pilgrimage of faith—much like my experience with the Community of Pilgrims and my role as the LGBTQ+ Advocacy Coordinator in the United Methodist Church—is that there are so many places, people, and times where the Holy Spirit opens up doors wide and there is easy entry, and times and places and people's hearts that the Spirit seems to forbid entry. The trials and triumphs, joys and disappointments, ebb and flow, of ministry are constant in my work as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament throughout my 35+ years of ordination. I’m sure you, and others in the ministry of the Gospel in our Community, have experienced the same thing. With the Spirit as our guide, we will continue to experience the ebb and flow of our time together as the Community of Pilgrims. Join us this Sunday as we look at the pilgrimage of Paul and Timothy, and how their work of growing the young church reflects our own growing experience as a Community of Pilgrims.
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Portland LGBTQ+ Pride Parade! On the morning of Sunday, June 16, 2019, we are going to be marching in the Portland LGBTQ+ Pride Parade, under the banner of Community of Welcoming Congregations (CWC), which is an interreligious group welcoming all communities of faith to walk together. They need to know how many want to walk with us. Please call, text, or email me only if you are wanting to walk with us by Sunday, May 26, 2019.Wear your Community of Pilgrims (CoP) t-shirt! And I’ll have plenty of flyers for CoP for folks to hand out to people in the parade. If someone wants to make a CoP sign to be carried, that would be great as well.
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Events!
May 26, 2019, 9:30 & 11 am, Pastor Brett, First Presby. Church, Salem, OR;
May 26, 2019, Gathering and Worship, Rose City Park PCUSA;
June 2, 2019, Gathering and Worship, Rose City Park PCUSA;
June 9, 2019, Gathering and Worship, Rose City Park, PCUSA;
June 12-15, Pastor Brett at OR-ID UMC Annual Conference, Eugene, OR;
June 16, 2019: LGBTQ+ Pride Parade, Portland, OR, Time TBD;
June 23, 2019, Gathering and Worship, Rose City Park PCUSA;
June 30, Gathering and Worship, Rose City Park PCUSA;
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Requests
* Regarding the CoP 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.
* Finally, Community and Growthby Jean Vanier will be picked up as a book for us to read together.
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Prayers of Celebrations and Concerns
· Prayers for all those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries in the month of May;
· Prayers for healing for those who are in the hospital or rehabilitation centers;
· Prayers for safe travels for those who are traveling during Memorial Day Weekend;
· Prayers for peace in light of those in power who are threatening war against Iran and Venezuela;
· Prayers for health care for all, especially in light of the anti-abortion bills flooding several state legislatures;
· Prayers for those experiencing flooding and savage storms in the Midwest;
· Prayers for gun control in this country.
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Poem
Spring, by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy pear tree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
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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