THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022, 4 pm, Seventh 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.
_____
Greetings, Community of Pilgrims!
How time flies when we are having fun! Our season of Epiphany will be drawing to a close soon. Next Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday, a “hinge” Sunday, in which we will close the door to Epiphany and open the door to Lent, and soon, Easter. And Spring!
The focus Scripture this week is Luke 6:27-38. In this passage, Jesus gets downright practical in showing the ways we are to love one another, which, of course, includes our enemies. In the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, this section is marked/titled with “Love for Enemies.” It comes with the hard task: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also” (vv. 27-29). And the list goes on. Of course, there is a reason for all of this: there is a reward at the end of it all when we love our enemies, doing good and lending to them, expecting nothing in return: “Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your God is merciful” (vv.35-36). I’ll be the first to admit that this passage is hard. I, like others, have people who have been unkind towards me in the past. I would call them enemies. But this is clearly an example of grace, in which God’s grace is made possible, available, known, to those whom I love, to those we all love, as well as to those I have a hard time loving. I’m just thankful I’m not God. And I’m thankful for hands-on lessons for how we are to live as followers of Jesus, the Pilgrim God. Join us this week as we re-learn the lesson of walking the talk of love, and of our faith.
**
Our Lenten/Easter service project focus will 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.
_____
Events!
Feb. 20, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
Feb. 27, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
March 2, Ash Wednesday, 7:30-8:30 am, Ash and Dash at Portsmouth Trinity Lutheran Church.
March 6, First Sunday of Lent, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
March 13, Second Sunday of Lent, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
____
Prayers of Celebration and Concern
We pray to the Creator of all creation:
· Naomi, granddaughter of a good friend of Lorinda's. She will have serious cancer surgery tomorrow.
· A new place for Community of Pilgrims to meet in SW Portland rather than driving over to SE Portland.
· Celebrations that the omicron variant has dropped significantly in our area.
· Ken and Ann Miller, following Ken's heart attack. Ken is in the hospital and he needs heart valve surgery but he is not fit for surgery. (From Roberta Schlechter to Everyone: Ken’s email: kdmiller44@comcast.net)
· Recovery for the East Woods Presbyterian Church congregation that has been slammed with omicron infections.
· People of Ukraine, Ethiopia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Myanmar.
· Recovery from the drought conditions currently in Oregon.
· Moderation and wisdom in approaches to the tension in this country and in Canada as evidenced by the unrest in Ottawa.
· Smooth recovery for Mariko, Kathy's daughter, following gallbladder surgery tomorrow.
· Belated birthday wishes to Karen.
· The Afghan family hosted by Valley Community Church.
· A relationship with the Sa family.
· All refugee families.
· Cessation of truck blockades.
God in your love, attend our prayers. Amen.
___
Poem
Blessing for the Brokenhearted by Jan Richardson
Let us agree
For now
That we will not say
The breaking
Makes us stronger
Or that it is better
To have this pain
Than to have done
Without this love.
Let us promise
We will not
Tell ourselves
Time will heal
The wound,
When every day
Our waking
Opens it anew.
perhaps for now
it can be enough
to simply marvel
at the mystery
of how a heart
so broken
can go on beating,
as if it were made
for precisely this—
as if it knows
the only cure for love
is more of it,
as if it sees
the heart’s sole remedy
for breaking
is to love still,
as if it trusts
that its own
persistent pulse
is the rhythm
of a blessing
we cannot
begin to fathom
but will save us
nonetheless.
___
Buen Camino! Pastors Brett & Karen Cornwell Fortlander.