THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022, Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost. On Zoom or at Rise Church,10445 SW Canterbury Ln, Tigard, OR 97224. Contact me if you need a Zoom 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,
Happy 5 Year Anniversary!
This is a wonderful moment in the life of our young community to celebrate our 5-year anniversary.
Everyone has a choice! You can either join us via Zoom (a Zoom link is coming next), or you can join us in the Chapel at Rise Church, 10445 SW Canterbury Ln, Tigard, OR 97224, from 4-6 pm. Entry way into the Chapel is through the very front doors of the Church itself, and one of the Steering Team members will be there to welcome you before 4 pm.
We will have Holy Communion, either in person or via Zoom, as well.
For those who are joining us in person, we will also have a charcuterie board taste-treat at the end of our time together, so bring something for the board! Cheeses, dried fruit, nuts, crackers, pepperoni, salami, sausage, olives, and dark chocolate for dessert!
The Scripture focus is Psalm 84:5: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.” This is from one of the “Pilgrimage Psalms,” of which the Book of Psalms has many such verses. They are all meant to support and be used for those who are on pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem, on the way to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The very practice of pilgrimage is rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, starting with Sarah and Abraham being called by God to go on a holy pilgrimage. Moses led the people of Israel on a pilgrimage to the Promised Land. And Jesus’ entire life ministry was a pilgrimage, in which he spent his last week of life on this earth celebrating Passover, the pilgrimage of the people of Israel to the Promised Land. Join us this Sunday, as we discuss what it means to be a community of pilgrims, following Jesus, the Pilgrim God.
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Events!
Sept. 18, 4 pm Gather and Devotion on Zoom and Rise Church to celebrate our Five-Year Anniversary as a Community of Pilgrims!
Sept. 25, 5 pm Gather and Devotion on Zoom and Rise Church.
Oct. 2, Gather with the members of Portsmouth Trinity Lutheran Church at 10 am for a joint service.
Oct. 9, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion at either Rise Church or on Zoom.
Oct. 16, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion at either Rise Church or on Zoom.
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
We pray to the Creator of all creation:
Thanksgiving:
· We give God thanks for the Community of Pilgrims, and all the people who have been or are part of this community, and have visited this community sometime in the last 5 years;
· We give God thanks for modern medicine, and the chance to take the bi-valent COVID booster shot that will help with Omicron variants;
· We give God thanks for cooler weather.
· We give God thanks for family and friends who enrich our lives.
Concern:
· We pray for global climate change, and ways we can be better at caring for Mother Earth;
· We pray for voting rights;
· We pray for gun control;
· We pray for women’s reproductive rights;
· We pray for transgender youth;
· We pray for peace in Ukraine, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, the Sudan, and Pakistan;
· For those who are selling homes;
· For those whose health has been a struggle of late;
· For those in prison;
· For those facing racism daily;
· We pray for those who advance the cause of white nationalism and Christo-fascism will be open to learning the errors of their ways and confess their sin;
God in your love, attend our prayers. Amen
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Poem
For Those Who Have Far to Travel, by Jan Richardson
The Call
If you could see
The journey whole
You might never
Undertake it,
Might never dare
The first step
That propels you
From the place
You have known
Toward the place
You know not.
Call it
One of the mercies
Of the road;
That we see it
Only by stages
As it opens
Before us
As it comes into
Our keeping
Step by
Single step.
There is nothing
For it
But to go
And by our going
Take the vows
The pilgrim takes;
To be faithful to
The next step;
To rely on more
Than the map;
To heed the sign posts
Of intuition and dream;
To follow the star
That only you
Will recognize;
To keep an open eye
For the wonders that
Attend the path;
To press on
Beyond distractions
Beyond fatigue
Beyond what would
Tempt you
From the way.
There are vows
That only you
Will know;
The secret promises
For your particular path
And the new ones
You will need to make
When the road
Is revealed
By turns
You could not
Have foreseen.
Keep them, break them,
Make them again;
Each promise becomes
Part of the path;
Each choice creates
The road that will take you
To the place
Where at last
You will kneel
To offer the gift
Most needed;
The gift that only you
Can give—
Before turning to go
Home by
Another way.
Buen Camino! Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell and Karen Cornwell Fortlander