THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, 4 pm, Sixth Sunday after Epiphany. 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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Greetings, Community of Pilgrims!
Prayers and blessings, that your pilgrimage so far, this week, has gone well, and that you are well. Each week I end our time together on Sunday with this line, “Our worship has ended, our pilgrimage continues.” I look forward to being together with everyone on Sunday to hear how the pilgrimage is going on your path.
This Sunday’s focus Scripture is Luke 6:17-26. Luke’s Jesus takes on the Beatitudes is a little bit different than that of Matthew’s Jesus. There is a kind of urgency, or sense of grabbing the moment, and living in the present, with Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. The Blessings. It reminded me of Mary Oliver’s poem (at the end of this newsletter), “Don’t Hesitate,” which opens with this line: “If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it.” For an example of living the Beatitudes without hesitancy, consider Luke 6:21: “Blessed are you who are hungry now (my emphasis), for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now (my emphasis), for you will laugh.” Or consider the “woe” section of this passage: “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep” (v. 25). What a change in this reading with this word “now.” If you put the word, “now,” throughout Luke’ story of the Beatitudes, there is a new, exciting, daring, kind of fierce urgency that is littered throughout this passage, making the Beatitudes not a thing of the future tense, but of the present. Of the possible. Of today. Now. Join us this Sunday as we read and discuss the Beatitudes of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, and be grabbed by the fierce urgency of living out the Gospel story now!
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There are two opportunities that have made themselves available for the Community of Pilgrims! Here’s the first invitation: On Sat., Feb. 12th, from 1-3 pm, we have been invited by Moreland Presbyterian Church to prepare a home for a family from Afghanistan. The address is 7016 SE 19th, Portland, OR. We would work in the kitchen, cleaning cabinets and cabinet hardware (Moreland will provide cleaning supplies and step stools). More information will come!
The second opportunity could be our Lenten/Easter service project focus, and that would be collecting clothes for HomePlate, a place of refuge and sanctuary for houseless young people in Beaverton, OR that Roxanne Ushman works with as a volunteer. Go to www.homeplateyouth.org for more information.
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Events!
Feb. 12, 1-3 pm, House Project, Moreland Presbyterian Church area.
Feb. 13, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
Feb. 20, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
Feb. 27, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
We pray to the Creator of all creation:
· Brett's friend Philip who died yesterday and thanksgiving for his full life.
· Roberta's friend Zeta who has recovered from her accident and is able to return to work.
· Linda's brother Gary who is still not able to have any visitors to his home.
· Thanksgiving the omicron variant is decreasing in Portland.
· Chris's close friend Randy Gracey who died on December 28.
· Brittany Patterson's husband Jessie who needs a heart valve replacement and will have surgery in the next few weeks.
· The family of the off-duty Vancouver police officer killed Saturday night.
· Volunteer firefighters killed in the line of duty.
· Traveling mercies for Karen and her family taking a winter break in Sun River.
· Continued prayers for those with mental illness.
· All people in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Ethiopia.
· All of us to pay attention to the recent interest in banning and burning books.
· Voting rights in this country.
· Programs funded by the Build Back Better Act.
· Portland Public Schools to do a better job educating students in math and reading.
· People to be open to preventing deaths from Covid-19.
· A decrease in Covid-19 variants.
· The Rev. Karen Cornwell Fortlander’s birthday (today).
God in your love, attend our prayers. Amen.
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Poem
Don’t Hesitate, by Mary Oliver
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
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Buen Camino! Pastors Brett & Karen Cornwell Fortlander.