THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, May 1, 2022, Third Sunday of Easter. Join us on Zoom at 4 pm. Contact me if you need a 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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Greetings, Community of Pilgrims!
This Sunday is May 1st! May Day! In some countries, May 1st is really the beginning of a proper spring holiday, with a May pole dance, with ribbons and such, along with picnics and parties. In other countries, among some groups, this was a day to celebrate workers as International Workers’ Day, a day to celebrate the common laborers, or who we would call today, “essential workers,” who provide for much of what we depend upon in our daily living.
As we get closer to Pentecost in this season of Eastertide, we have some wonderful stories of the resurrected Christ moving among his friends and associates before his ascension. Today’s reading from John’s Gospel is such a reading. In John 21:1-19, Jesus is just one of the people in this passage from John’s Gospel, even though he is now the resurrected one. Nevertheless, Jesus still has a keen eye as to where to fish in a body of water, as he did before his death. He still gets hungry, just like he did before his death. He set up a fire for them to kick back with him and eat some of the fish they just caught. Jesus took some bread, broke it, gave it to his disciples, along with fish, for a meal, just like he did before his death. Get the idea? Then John’s Jesus starts to ask Simon, son of John, “Do you love me?” in which he answers, “Of course I love you. Jesus replies all three times about tending and caring for the lambs and sheep, which, metaphorically, means us. And John ends this passage with the simple invitation that Jesus makes: “Follow me” (21:19). And so we do, even in 2022: we follow Jesus. Join us this Sunday as we discuss and pray about the ways that Jesus or Christ’s Spirit is still among us, even today.
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From the Presbytery of the Cascades Newsletter, Cascades Connections
CELEBRATING COLLABORATION
Three to four times a year, the Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, based in Portland, collaborates with a local non-profit organization that provides care for those in need of food, housing, clothing, and personal care products. This year, for their Lent/Easter project they focused on providing assistance to houseless young people, aged 12-24 years old, many who are LGBTQIA2S+, working in collaboration with HomePlate, a non-profit in Beaverton. On Good Friday 2022, they took a carload of food, clothes, personal care items, and tarps and stakes for tents to HomePlate. Their focus was to live out the charge of Jesus to the disciples then and now: to love one another. "Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this they will know you are my disciples, if you love one another" John 13:34-35.
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Events!
May 1, Third Sunday in Easter, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
May 8, Fourth Sunday in Easter, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
May 15, Fourth Sunday in Easter, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
May 22, Fifth Sunday in Easter, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
We pray to the Creator of all creation:
Prayers of Thanksgiving:
· Booster shots #2 and for medicines that are fighting COVID 19, not only here, but around the world.
· All children and grandchildren, especially as they enter the last few weeks of school before summer break.
· Our first tastes and sensations of spring, and we are ready for more.
· The human and societal resources to make things better in the world.
· Our communities of faith, that provide support and love.
Along with that, we share prayers of concern for:
We especially pray for good health, comfort, and wholeness for our friend Linda Fuqua-Anderson. We will continue to keep everyone in the “loop” as to continued news of her health. Prayers of love and support are requested at this time by her family.
· Christian's sister Yarrow who has breast cancer. His brother-in-law, Jules, had successful prostate cancer surgery, and our friend Guy is now cancer free.
· For Paula’s family, sister of Laura and Carol Stanfield (Earl’s sister-in-law), who died over a week ago.
· Prayer for Sally Kabat’s grand-niece, Allison, who is ill.
· Roberta's friend Kathryn who is serving with a mission team in Poland.
· A safe trip in Portugal for Roberta and Randy, with friends.
· Countries at war including Ethiopia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, and Russia.
· Transgender youth who are under attack through state legislation limiting health care access, ability to compete in sports, and other restrictions.
· Protection of our voting rights under attack in 19 states which passed laws restricting access to voting through an array of barriers and requirements.
God in your love, attend our prayers. Amen.
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Poem
Earth Day, by Jane Yolen
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.
Each blade of grass,
Each honey tree,
Each bit of mud,
And stick and stone
Is blood and muscle,
Skin and bone.
And just as I
Need every bit
Of me to make
My body fit,
So Earth needs
Grass and stone and tree
And things that grow here
Naturally.
That’s why we
Celebrate this day.
That’s why across
The world we say:
As long as life,
As dear, as free,
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.
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Buen Camino! Pastors Brett & Karen Cornwell Fortlander.