THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, May 2, 2021, Fifth Sunday of Easter, Gather and Devotion on Zoom. If you have any questions, or are interested in a conversation, contact Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell (919) 444-9111; brettwebbmitchell@gmail.com and visit www.communityofpilgrims.com.
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Dear Nomads of Christ,
On Sunday night, for the second time, I watched the movie “Nomadland,” which would also win the Academy Award for “Best Film,” “Best Director,” and “Best Actress” awards later that night. For those who have not heard or read of the film, in short the film is about Fern, a woman in her sixties who, upon becoming a widow and losing her job when the entire US Gypsum Plant in Empire, Nevada closes, including the dismembering of the town of Empire, during the Great Recession of 2008, embarks on a journey, a pilgrimage, through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad or secular pilgrim. It is a well-made movie, with a tender heart at the center of it. There are lessons galore in this film about being able to pick up and move at a moment’s notice; the importance of relationships and community, as well as time apart; creating rituals that tie us together. Maybe we can watch this movie as a Fellowship this summer, or read the book together. Stay tuned!
This Sunday’s Scripture focus is, once again, John’s Jesus, John 15:1-8, well- or better known as the vine-grower illustration. The line that sticks out to me as we continue to grow as a community of faith is this one: “I (Jesus/God) am the vine, you (all of us) are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (15:5). This metaphor of a vine and branches and fruit is a helpful way for us to think of Christian community. As my friend Pastor Jim Wallace (Rise Church, Tigard) said to me a few weeks ago, one way that some Christian communities think and act is as if they were a collection of marbles in a bowl. While they were all in the same, common, bowl, they weren’t necessarily connected together but bumping into each other, and easily rolling away and out of the bowl. Instead, a Christian community should consider and reach for the metaphor or image of being and becoming more like grapes and branches on a thick, healthy grapevine, connected to one source of life, namely God in Christ, and connected to one another via the small connectors between us, the grapes. Join us this Sunday as we continue to talk about marbles, as well as the vine, branches, and God’s grape harvest!
** Kathy Fukuyama is working with SnowCap on a special summer project that The Community of Pilgrims can participate in as a community of faith. We are going to gather clothes to take to SnowCap on Friday, May 28, 2021. Start gathering or purging clothes from our closets and bureau drawers. More instructions to follow!
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Events!
May 2, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
May 9, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
May 16, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
May 23, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
· Grace and mercies for the family of Angela Darnell, who completed her 15-year battle with cancer this past week.
· People in India where the COVID crisis is out of control and thanks that our country and other countries are giving much needed help and vaccine surpluses.
· Thanksgiving that Brett's brother is more open to moving forward with closing their mother's estate.
· Celebrations that all of Lorinda's family has been vaccinated.
· Celebrations that Chuck's children in Norway have been vaccinated.
· Roxanne who can now return to volunteering with Home Plate Youth Services, working with youth in Washington County.
· Happy Birthday to Shu on April 29.
· The Lake Oswego United Methodist Church's invitation to Brett to preach and share his video "We Are Called To Love One Another" and that the church may become a reconciling congregation.
· Rulyn and Tom as they drive back cross country after delivering a dog to their son in Los Angeles and thanksgiving that they got to visit Chimayo, NM.
· Karen's sermon on the good shepherd.
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Poem
I am the Vine: A Sonnet, by Malcolm Guite
How might it feel to be part of the vine?
Not just to see the vineyard from afar
Or even pluck the clusters, press the wine,
But to be grafted in, to feel the stir
Of inward sap that rises from our root,
Himself deep planted in the ground of Love,
To feel a leaf unfold a tender shoot,
As tendrils curled unfurl, as branches give
A little to the swelling of the grape,
In gradual perfection, round and full,
To bear within oneself the joy and hope
Of God’s good vintage, till it’s ripe and whole.
What might it mean to bide and to abide
In such rich love as makes the poor heart glad?
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Buen Camino!
Pastors Brett & Karen Cornwell Fortlander.