THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, June 5, 2022, Pentecost Sunday. Join us on Zoom at 4 pm. Everyone please wear red. 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 is another juicy, newsie newsletter, so please read it all, carefully, and prayerfully!
It is Pentecost this Sunday! There are two Sundays in the church year that the paraments (altar and table cloths, and stoles) are red: Pentecost and Reformation Sunday (in the fall). Red is the color of festivals! Of celebrations! And this Sunday we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the movement of that very same Spirit in the lives of Christ’s followers who, in time, became the one body of Christ. Woohoo!
The focus Scripture this week is Acts 2:1-21. Like so many other stories in Scripture, like the birth of Jesus, we know this story fairly well, because we keep on coming back to it, year after year. We remember that the Jewish disciples of Jesus (soon-to-be-apostles) were in a locked room when there was the strange sound of rushing wind in and outside of the room, and the appearance of flames descending, and the weird phenomenon of these very same people suddenly able to speak in languages from around the Mediterranean area. In other words, the Holy Spirit delighted in crossing boundaries and borders, in which God chose the least likely people to do amazing things. In light of our current and past politics in this nation, in which there has been people establishing borders and walls, segregating us from one another, God’s Spirit encourages unity, showing us that we worship and follow a God who laughs at such petty boundaries and smites them with a simple gift of language. After all, words create worlds. Amid angry, hate-filled cries from some in support of “Don’t Say Gay” bills, and attempts to shut down educational programs that explore our sordid heritage regarding race and slavery, while denigrating women in attempts to control their bodies, we know that our God created such beautiful diversity of ways of being as part of the human race, as well as all of creation. After all, in the body of Christ there is neither male nor female, slave nor free, Gentile nor Jew, for we are all equals in the presence of God (Galatians 3:28). Let us celebrate and encourage and honor such marvelous displays of life that God created this Pentecost. Join us this Sunday as we all wear red (please), and celebrate the diversity found in the unity of the one body of Christ.
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The latest news from Marissa regarding Linda's health:
My mom had her first immunotherapy on Tuesday and it seemed to go well. She had the gamma knife radiation Wednesday, which was an exhausting and long day with some disappointing news. She has many more lesions on her brain than initially thought, but they are all small and they were able to target 15 of them located in the most vulnerable areas. She's tired, but overall is doing well. We will now be moving into immunotherapy every 3 weeks and hope to hold steady for some period of time. You likely won't hear from me much anymore as I won't have anything to report. I hope to get my mom back to using her phone again so things can return to some measure of normal as far as contact with you all.
I can't thank you enough for all the warmth and care you've sent my mom through cards, texts, emails and calls. It's meant everything.
Warmly,
Marissa
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The Community of Pilgrims will celebrate our five-year anniversary on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022! Mark this in your calendars. More details will be coming. This is a big anniversary for the Community of Pilgrims, and we look forward to celebrating it with one another, and with the world around us as we continue to serve and love God and serve and love one's neighbor in creative and meaningful ways.
** For those members of The Community of Pilgrims in OR, there is a group called “Lift Every Voice Oregon.” Their hope is to get a measure on the state ballot to tighten gun control laws in OR. This is an issue we’ve prayed about a lot. Here is their link:
A group called Lift Every Voice Oregon (https://www.lifteveryvoiceoregon.com/), fortunately, has had an effort in place to get a measure on the state ballot this November that:
1. Requires a permit to purchase a firearm (licensing).
2. The buyer must pass a background check (no more loopholes!).
3. The buyer must pass a classroom and a hands-on firearm training course.
4. Limits magazine capacity to ten rounds (bullets).
5. Stops the sale, transfer, trade, or manufacture of high-capacity magazines in Oregon for civilian use.
Go to their link for more information. One of their actions is to sign a petition to get this on the ballot in November 2022. Let’s consider what we want to do as the Community of Pilgrims.
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Please keep up with your pledges as we hit the mid-year point! Many thanks! The Steering Team!
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Events!
June 5, Pentecost! Plus Holy Communion. 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
June 12, Trinity Sunday, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom and in person.
June 19, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
June 26, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
July 3, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
We pray to the Creator of all creation:
Thanksgiving for
· Little ones. Roxanne received a graduation announcement from her niece who recently graduated from kindergarten.
· That we do strive for a better world.
· The chance to meet with the New Ministries Team to update them on the CoP and ask for financial support.
· Spring, coming soon.
· Rain, a vital resource for us and for our earth.
· Those who are getting treatment for cancer and for other medical advances.
· Don Shaw who is improving and getting stronger after surgery for stomach cancer.
· Lorinda's accident was not any worse.
· Lorinda's positive attitude after her accident.
· Chris's cousins' visit to Greenwich and the time she enjoyed showing them around.
Prayers of concern for
· Those precious children and parents deciding how to carry on following mass killings in Buffalo; Uvalde, Texas; Oregon; OK, and so many other places.
· Ways to bridge differences and to move forward with gun laws and other legislation.
· All that is absent in so many families.
· The Patterson's daughter Brittany who is sick with serious Covid-19.
· Those with long term Covid-19 effects.
· Those who are not vaccinated.
· Those who do not have access to the vaccines and treatment for Covid-19.
· Friends Maggy and Sally who foster animals and whose neighbors have turned against them.
· Mother Earth and global climate change.
· Homelessness, hunger.
· Those who are struggling with mental health issues.
· Young transgender people facing persecution in many states.
· Voter suppression laws in various states against people of color, the elderly, and those who have difficulty getting out to vote.
· Peace in Ukraine, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and Syria.
· Marge Stockwell living in a care facility but not enjoying a great quality of life.
· Linda Fuqua-Anderson starting cancer treatments this coming week.
· Nina’s healing.
· Sarah Olbrantz's mother who is in hospice.
God in your love, attend our prayers. Amen
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Poem
A Blessing for Pentecost Day
This is the blessing
We cannot speak
By ourselves.
This is the blessing
We cannot summon
By our own devices,
Cannot shape
To our purpose,
Cannot bend
To our will.
This is the blessing
That comes
When we leave behind
Our aloneness
When we gather
Together
When we turn
Toward one another.
This is the blessing
That blazes among us
When we speak
The words
Strange to our ears
When we finally listen
Into the chaos
When we breathe together
At last.
Buen Camino! Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell and Karen Cornwell Fortlander