THIS SUNDAY: Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, July 12, 2020, Proper 10, and Zoom and in-person; Contact Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell (919) 444-9111; brettwebbmitchell@gmail.com
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Dear Mid-Summer Pilgrims,
What a joy it is to be almost 30 days into summer, especially for us in the Pacific Northwest. The weather is about pitch perfect here, and we send cool mornings and a gentle glow of the sun in the afternoon into the late evenings, to our friends in California, Virginia, New Mexico, New York, and beyond!
The sower and seeds is the parable this Sunday (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23). It is one of those parables, like the Prodigal Child, in which, every time you read it, depending on the season of one’s life and context, you read and learn something new. As one can well imagine, there are an abundance of biblical commentaries on this passage. For example, there is the patience of the sower, who has sown the seeds and has to wait for the seeds to produce. There are also the conditions of the soil, and the kind of sun that the seed gets. Then there is the question of who is the sower: is it God who is the sower, sowing Jesus, the seed? What amazes me this time that I read it, in this age and day of scarcity, is the amount of seed that is being thrown willy-nilly. And abundance of seed. No end to how much is being thrown out “there,” upon all kinds of soil. What some folk understand is that the seed is grace, and the action of the sower is to liberally throw seeds around even in potentially unfruitful places. In other words, these seeds show that there is an abundance of grace, of forgiveness, of justice, peace, and joy, even in this age which declares such gifts to be scarce and to be hoarded. We shall wait and see what the harvest looks like, and the harvest is an essential mark of the realm of God. After all, the plant is not enough. Join us this Sunday as we explore this parable and how it applies to the world in which we live today!
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For those who would like, we are offering our time together in two ways, simultaneously, this Sunday! One way: we will meet via Zoom on Sunday, July 12th, come rain or shine. And the other, or number two way: For those who want to meet up and wear masks and be socially distant (6 feet apart), we will gather at Lorinda and Ray Moholt’s home. No hymns to be sung. Bring a chair, or Lorinda and Ray will provide a chair. Bring something to drink. Given our numbers each Sunday, there will be, at most, 10 people in the backyard, so we are meeting the Governor's request of "no more than 10 people can gather together." We will still Zoom from their backyard. Their address is 3531 SW 57th Ave., Portland, OR 97221. See you either on Zoom or in person this Sunday.
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Requests and Opportunities
Hold on to your 40 items of clothing from Lent, in which, when the pandemic “shelter in place” order will be lifted, and we will take these items to SnowCap.
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While we are not meeting in person, the Community of Pilgrims will still welcome your financial contribution. Please make a check out to: Community of Pilgrims, and mail it to Brett Webb-Mitchell, 9460 SW Martha St., Tigard, OR 97224. Many thanks!
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For those who want to volunteer some more in the Portland-metro area, here’s a list of volunteer opportunities: https://www.opb.org/…/coronavirus-help-oregon-washington-v…/. And here’s a neat calligraphy project that Lorinda Moholt participated in, with proceeds to Oregon Food Bank: https://give.oregonfoodbank.org/CCC
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The Presbytery of the Cascades chose to give $1,000 to churches and new faith communities to make a change in the world. We are joining up with the folks at Moreland Presbyterian Church, and with our combined stimulus checks, and other donations, we will support four groups: Street Roots, Emerge, Meals on Wheels, and Human Solutions! Let me, Brett, know if you would like to give more to this growing fund, and I will be sure that our funds are included. Currently, we have collected over $4500.
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Events!
July 12, Gather and Devotion, Zoom and in-person at Ray and Lorinda’s home.
July 19, Gather and Devotion, Zoom!
July 26, Gather and Devotion, Zoom!
Aug. 2, Gather and Devotion, Zoom!
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Poem
The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down --
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
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Buen Camino!
Pastors Brett & Karen Cornwell Fortlander.
Rev. Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell (919) 444-9111; brettwebbmitchell@gmail.com