HIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022, Third Sunday of Advent. Bring three candles! On Zoom or at Rise Church,10445 SW Canterbury Ln, Tigard, OR 97224. Contact me if you need a Zoom link. 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 Community of Pilgrims,
As we turn towards the third Sunday of Advent, our schedules get a little crazier and a little bit fuller as we make our pilgrimage to Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and finally Christmastide. Around our home, a Christmas tree is yet to go up, along with more decorations, but that need will be addressed in good order, and soon.
In our readings for Advent, there has been a strong alternative narrative or story, pitted against the story of our lives, offered up to us in our readings this season. The first Sunday, we focused on the call of Isaiah of the realm of God in which swords would be beaten to plowshares, and spears to pruning hooks. We read this in the time of war between Russia and Ukraine. Second Sunday of Advent was about the prophet John the Baptizer, in the wilderness, calling people to get back to basics, to living life in the way that God intended, like following more closely the Ten Commandments, caring for one another, for neighbor, and loving God with our entire being. We read these words in a world in which white nationalists and Christofascists are loud and brazen. The third Sunday of Advent focuses on the personhood of Mary, mother of Jesus, in what we call “the Magnificat,” Luke 1:46b-55 (see the end of the Newsletter for the Magnificat). While Mary begins with the tender words, “My soul magnifies the Lord,” she soon speaks about a world in which justice reigns. It is, in the purview of many commentators, a radical protest song. Some say it is a song that the enslaved Israelites might have sung in Egypt. It is a song that may have been heard in Babylon, sung by the exiled Judeans. It is a song that countless people of faith throughout the ages have sung in times of resistance, in defiance of empires, slavers, domestic or international terrorists, invaders, and the like. “God has shown strength with God’s arm; has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. Has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. Imagine reading or singing these words in Ukraine today. Or Syria. Ethiopia. Myanmar. Yemen. Afghanistan. May it be so. Join us this Sunday as we focus on the Magnificat as not only Mary’s song to the world, but our song, too.
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Pledge Time! It is that time again in the year for making a church pledge of time, talent, and financial funds to the Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship. Our Community is dependent upon its members to support it, together, as we gather in life and continue to learn how best to love God, love neighbor, do justice, practice loving kindness, and walk humbly with God in the topsy-turvy world in which we live. In the coming days, you will receive a letter and an email from the Community of Pilgrims, asking each one of you to, please, prayerfully consider your support of our Community. And thank you for past gifts of time, talent, and financial gifts. The deadline for the pledges will be Friday, Dec. 16, 2022.
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Advent-Christmas Service Project: We will join with Portsmouth Trinity Lutheran Church in “adopting” two Congolese families, 9 people in total, with the assistance of Lutheran Community Services NW. We are aiming at providing $100 per person of gift cards. Simply write a check to “The Community of Pilgrims,” for whatever amount you choose, and send it to Bill Kinsey (our Treasurer), 1828 SW Terrace Dr., Portland, OR 97201. Bill will collect the money, purchase the gift cards, and get them to Lutheran Community Services NW. Thanks!
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Events!
Dec. 11, 4 pm, 3rd Sunday of Advent; Gather and Devotion on Zoom or at Rise Church.
Dec. 18, 4 pm, 4th Sunday of Advent; Gather and Devotion on Zoom or at Rise Church.
Dec. 24, 5 pm, Christmas Eve worship at Portsmouth Trinity Lutheran Church.
Dec. 25, 2022, and Jan. 1, 2023, Holy Holidays!
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
We pray to the Creator of all creation:
Prayers of Thanksgiving:
· Kathy for serving as Steering Committee secretary, recording weekly prayers requests, leading community service projects, hosting meetings, and as a person.
· Snow that did not stick.
· Brett's former neighbor Eddie who put up an elaborate Christmas display in his yard every year and now after he has moved to a retirement residence, other neighbors continue the tradition.
· Linda Fuqua-Anderson who died this past week.
· Neighbors and neighborhoods we know and they know us.
· Marge Stockwell's 50 years of loving attention and that she got her wish to hear the Hallelujah Chorus.
Prayers of Concern for:
· Paddler Larry Cobb who entered palliative care and paddler Charles Flaum who has been diagnosed with cancer.
· Chris Dungan's new congregation where there have been a number of losses and people are suffering.
· Kathy and her family as she focuses on different priorities.
· Marily Quesnel who faces a long recovery after release from the hospital.
· Ken Miller's long stay in the hospital and doctors still unable to determine how to treat calcification in his legs.
· Christian's barber Todd who is struggling with a cancerous growth on his neck and will start radiation and chemotherapy.
· Brett's daughter Adrianne who is due with her second child in five weeks and is joyful and getting tired.
God in your love, attend our prayers. Amen
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Poem
The Magnificat
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and Sarah and to his descendants forever.
Buen Camino! Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell and Karen Cornwell Fortlander