THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, July 24, 2022, Seventh Sunday After Pentecost. 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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Dear Community of Pilgrims,
We find ourselves in the season of “midsummer.” Midsummer can be a period of time centered around the summer solstice, which is between June 21 and June 25, and the preceding evening. In the cultures of Scandinavia, Finland, and the Baltics, midsummer is about now, and is the most celebrated holiday apart from Christmas. Let’s celebrate midsummer, wherever you may live.
The Scripture focus this Sunday is Luke 11:1-13. My Jewish friends always remind me that this is one of the most Jewish prayers that Jesus taught his disciples. And just like Luke’s Jesus speaks the Beatitude right to the point, with the urgency of “now,” so Luke’s Jesus in praying what we, today, call “The Lord’s Prayer,” gets right to the pithy points of the prayer. There is no beating around the bush for this Jesus. How should we pray? Jesus says, “When you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” Amen. What I want to lift out of this passage that is crucial to our understanding of our relationship with God is the request for bread. For sustenance. Bread and water is all we need each and every day. One can also think of bread metaphorically as a daily dose of God. In the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper, I will place in your hand the bread and say these words, “this is the body of Christ, broken for you,” as we remember Christ’s promises made to us on the night of his arrest. Then I, as pastor, will say at the end of the communion meal to go out into the world and be the bread, the body, of Christ in the world, providing where you can the things people need in this world in order to do more than stay alive but to live, day by day. May it be so. See you this Sunday!
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The Community of Pilgrims will celebrate our five-year anniversary on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022! And you all are the Community of Pilgrims. Please 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 neighbor in creative and meaningful ways.
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Events!
July 24, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
July 31, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom or Rise Church.
Aug. 7, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom or Rise Church.
Aug. 11, Holy Holiday.
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
We pray to the Creator of all creation:
Celebrations:
Eternal biblical story of Mary and Martha.
Brett and Christian’s marriage!
Other newlyweds.
Kathy, Shu, Fukuyama family celebrating Kathy’s birthday and wedding anniversary of Kathy and Tamio;
Ellen and Sarah’s upcoming wedding!
Thanks for modern medicine. Christian came down with Covid-19 on Tuesday, and Brett tested positive. Taking medication. And they are both healed!
Thankfulness for health for Chuck and others
Concerns
Earl: Nerve pain in right leg. May physical therapy help;
For those with Covid-19, like President Biden.
For friends and relatives who have passed.
Safe travel for Ron, flying to Indiana.
People of Portugal, France, England, and Spain, heat wave.
Sarah’s mom in hospice;
Linda Fuqua Anderson’s health;
For Presbyterian Church (USA), and the decisions made at the last General Assembly (Brett was a Commissioner), which voted to be sanctuary denomination, divest fossil fuel stocks, and advance the cause of justice among the races and genders;
People in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, mid-East;
In the US, voting rights, gun safety, peace in land, women’s reproductive rights; climate control, same sex marriage.
Michael Barham’s transition to becoming pastor in seminary.
Phil Parshley, Marianne Parshley’s dad, who passed away.
For government officials to serve the needs of people.
Mother Earth;
Those in hospital and in palliative care.
God in your love, attend our prayers. Amen
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Poem
Bath, by Amy Lowell
The day is fresh-washed and fair, and there is a smell of tulips and narcissus in the air.
The sunshine pours in at the bath-room window and bores through the water in the bath-tub in lathes and planes of greenish-white. It cleaves the water into flaws like a jewel, and cracks it to bright light.
Little spots of sunshine lie on the surface of the water and dance, dance, and their reflections wobble deliciously over the ceiling; a stir of my finger sets them whirring, reeling. I move a foot and the planes of light in the water jar. I lie back and laugh, and let the green-white water, the sun-flawed beryl water, flow over me. The day is almost too bright to bear, the green water covers me from the too bright day. I will lie here awhile and play with the water and the sun spots. The sky is blue and high. A crow flaps by the window, and there is a whiff of tulips and narcissus in the air.
Buen Camino! Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell and Karen Cornwell Fortlander