THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022, Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost. On Zoom. 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,
Good bye, August, and hello, September! Labor Day weekend is here, and the un-official end of summer and beginning of autumn is upon us.
As summer draws to an end, there's a definite feel of autumn in the air and an accompanying sense of nostalgia and time passing. Yet fall also brings us ripeness and fullness. Students are beginning the new school year, an annual event which speaks of new beginnings, and new beginnings are a time of hope, even if there is some anxiety associated with going into a new class or starting a new school.
This Sunday’s scriptural focus is on the short letter of Philemon. It is a letter that Paul sends to the slave owner, Philemon, in which Paul urges Philemon to take back a slave, Onesimus, who ran away from his household, and treat the slave no longer as a slave, but as an equal of sorts, as a member of the body of Christ. Context matters! And in this case, being part of the context of the body of Christ, matters, in which there is neither “slave nor master.” The question before us, as Christians, is this: how do we move beyond the language and practice of master and slave of the past, or, when in play, unscrupulous or tyrannical employer and beaten down employee of the present, to see one another, first, as sisters and brothers in Christ, regardless of the roles and functions we play with within the economic structure of life? Join us this Sunday as we discuss this issue in our daily lives as members of the body of Christ today.
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The Community of Pilgrims will celebrate our five-year anniversary on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022! The tentative plan, and our hope, is to meet at Rise Church on that day, in person for those in Portland, while also with those who are living in other parts of the country via Zoom. After all, you are all 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. We look forward to announcing the establishment of an endowment to continue the work of the Community of Pilgrims, along with planting a tree, and a service project with Human Solutions’ emergency women’s shelter.
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Events!
Sept. 4, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom.
Sept. 11, Holy Holiday
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
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
We pray to the Creator of all creation:
Prayers of thanksgiving
· Family and friends; our communities which keep us connected; children as they bring us joy and make us laugh.
· Nina wants to remain connected to our community.
· Sara's mother is still alive. Prayers for her health and comfort.
· Safe travels for Karen and her family and for Chris's friend Cathy who is coming to visit.
· From Karen, thanksgiving to be in Chris's community and to have been able to visit her two times in one year.
· Medicines as they come up with a booster for the latest Omicron variant.
· Beautiful summer days.
· Spontaneous conversations with neighbors.
· Roberta's mariners group finding a path to handing off responsibility for decorating the sanctuary at Saint Andrew's for Christmas every year.
· Brett's article coming out and for the opportunity to write about our community.
· The Community of Pilgrims is doing something new and different. The church is strong and vital.
Prayers of concern
· Marily continues to have a rocky time following a simple hernia surgery which has turned into multiple surgeries and health concerns. Keep her family in our prayers.
· Lorinda's friend Bill Lawrence's family following his recent death.
· Marge Stockwell, who passed away this week.
· Granddaughter Anna in Thailand for her safety and good experience.
· Continued prayers for George Doolittle.
· Roxanne's hometown of Laurel, Nebraska, still dealing with the tragedy of the multiple homicides.
· Christian's sister Yarrow whose rheumatoid arthritis is kicking up.
· Linda Fuqua-Anderson, and her brother Gary.
· Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Pakistan, Myanmar, and other parts of the world that are in tension and crisis.
· Voting rights.
· Women's reproductive rights.
· Climate control as parts of Pakistan are inundated with water.
· Gun control.
· Energy crisis in Western Europe.
· The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as fears rise that shelling of the facility could lead to a nuclear disaster.
· Rivers around the world are drying up and the risk of drought is increasing.
God in your love, attend our prayers. Amen
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Poem
From “Three Songs at the End of Summer,” by Jane Kenyon
A second crop of hay lies cut
and turned. Five gleaming crows
search and peck between the rows.
They make a low, companionable squawk,
and like midwives and undertakers
possess a weird authority.
Crickets leap from the stubble,
parting before me like the Red Sea.
The garden sprawls and spoils.
Across the lake the campers have learned
to water ski. They have, or they haven’t.
Sounds of the instructor’s megaphone
suffuse the hazy air. “Relax! Relax!”
Cloud shadows rush over drying hay,
fences, dusty lane, and railroad ravine.
The first yellowing fronds of goldenrod
brighten the margins of the woods.
Schoolbooks, carpools, pleated skirts;
water, silver-still, and a vee of geese.
Buen Camino! Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell and Karen Cornwell Fortlander