THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, March 20, 2022, 4 pm, Third Sunday of Lent. 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!
Happy Purim! And Happy St. Patrick’s Day! What is Purim? It is the celebration of the people of Israel who, in the 5th century (BCE), were marked for death by their Persian rulers, in which they were saved by Queen Esther, as related to the biblical Book of Esther. As for St. Patrick’s Day, this is the feast day of St. Patrick of Ireland in the Roman Catholic Church. It commemorates St. Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and in the US celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general in grand parades and all kinds of shenanigans, like what color to wear on this day, food and drink choices, and music choices.
This week’s Scripture focus is on Luke 13:1-9. The specific focus for us this Sunday is going to be on a lonely fig tree that has not produced in three full years. Luke’s Jesus talks about fruit in Luke 3:7-14 with interpersonal dealings as the “fruit of repentance.” In the Beatitudes, Jesus states that a good tree produces good fruit, like a good person produces goodness in their heart (Luke 6:43-45). And in Luke 8:4-15, Jesus explains that those with good hearts hear the word of God, hold fast to it, and patiently produce fruit. Clearly, the fig tree represents the human heart. In this passage, the owner of the fig tree wants to cut it down, but the gardener wants to give it another year, tending to it carefully. The owner gives the tree one more year to bear fruit. Jesus’ message is clear. Do not be like the fruitless tree. Rather than focus on the gravity of others’ transgressions, make sure you are producing good. Instead of assigning causality to others misfortune, ensure that you are not ignoring your own missing fruit. Jesus’ words suggest that tending to one’s own life and positively changing one’s mind is often the best strategy to prevent or even persevere through unexpected misfortune. If one refuses to do that kind of work, they are slated to have a hard time in life. Join us this Sunday for fruits on trees and hearts of love.
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Service Project
Our Lenten/Easter Service Project. From Kathy Fukuyama:
For the past several years, the Community of Pilgrims has donated to Human Solutions and SnowCap in East Multnomah County. We will continue to support these organizations and also support HomePlate Youth Services for this year's Lenten/Easter Donation. Please check out their website https://www.homeplateyouth.org. They operate two centers, one in Beaverton and one in Hillsboro, and they are Washington County's only non-profit provider of drop-in centers and street outreach for young people experiencing homelessness. Their immediate needs include:
· Athletic shoes, boots, and long-sleeve t shirts - new or gently-used
· Men's boxer shorts - new
· 2-person tents and tarps - new or gently-used
· High-protein snacks, individually wrapped
· Applesauce and fruit snacks, individually wrapped
We ask everyone to collect items from this list starting Ash Wednesday March 2nd and to drop them off at Kathy Fukuyama's house before Thursday April 14th. We hope to deliver everything to the Beaverton drop-in center on Good Friday, April 15th or the following week. Please contact Kathy if you have any questions and thank you for your support.
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We will have a “Holy Holiday” on Sunday, March 27!
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Events!
March 20, Third Sunday of Lent, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
March 27, Holy Holiday! Fourth Sunday of Lent.
April 3, Fifth Sunday of Lent, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
April 10, Palm Sunday, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
April 17, Easter Sunday, 10 am, Portsmouth Trinity Lutheran Church!
April 24, 2 pm, Bobby Jo Valentine, Portsmouth Trinity Lutheran Church!
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
We pray to the Creator of all creation:
Thanks, that Covid-19 infection rate has declined in this nation and other parts of this world, yet prayers for places where a new variant of Omicron and Deltar variants are surging but does not seem to mean hospitalization for those vaccinated and boosted.
Roberta: Kay Hope Gold, long time member of Valley, whose husband died of cancer recently.
Ukraine
Roxanne’s daughter graduates with a masters' degree this year!
Christian had a good trip to the Netherlands.
For Christian’s sister Yarrow who is fighting cancer.
Karen: For college students in spring break, and in upcoming college exams.
Linda: Safety for college students and others in time when mask requirement discontinues.
Churches: for providing care in their respective communities.
City of Portland, and the increase violence in city streets.
Grateful for all who are healthy.
Thankful CoP members have not gotten Covid-19. But members’ family members have gotten Covid-19. Prayers for those with illness.
Prayers for “brooding hens” who protect others.
Deborah: For a friend who has had a rough time after heart ablation.
Deborah: For a friend who identifies as transgender, after gender-affirming surgery.
For LGBTQIA2S+ people in states discriminating against them/us, especially in ID, FL, TX.
Protection against voter suppression laws.
Protection against abortion suppression laws.
Prayers for the first black woman as an Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court.
Roberta: For friend Barbara living in Hamburg Germany, daughters in Kenya and Australia, concern about proximity to Ukraine conflict.
God in your love, attend our prayers. Amen.
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Poem
Welcoming Blessing, by Jan Richardson
When you are lost
In your own life.
When the landscape
You have known
Falls away.
When your familiar path
Becomes foreign
And you find yourself
A stranger
In the story you had held
Most dear.
Then let yourself
Be lost.
Let yourself leave
For a place
Whose contours
You do not already know
Whose cadences
You have not learned
By heart.
Let yourself land
On a threshold
That mirrors the mystery
Of your own bewildered soul.
It will come
As a surprise,
What arrives
To welcome you
Through the door,
Making a place for you
At the table
And calling you
By your name.
Let what comes,
Come.
Let the glass be filled.
Let the light be tended.
Let the hands
Lay before you
What will meet you
In your hunger.
Let the laughter.
Let the sweetness
That enters
The sorrows.
Let the solace
That comes as sustenance
And sudden, unbidden,
grace.
For what comes,
Offer gladness.
For what greets you
With kindly welcome,
Offer thanks.
Offer blessing
For those
Who gathered you in
And will not
Be forgotten—
Those who,
Where you were
A stranger,
Made a place for you
At the table
And called you
By your name.
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Buen Camino! Pastors Brett & Karen Cornwell Fortlander.