THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022, 4 pm, Third Sunday after Epiphany. 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!
As I write this newsletter, I’m looking out at a blue sky. It is in the 50s. We had rain last night. I know we need even more rain in this part of the country, especially in other parts of the Pacific NW, where drought conditions continue. Part of my daily prayer aims at global climate change, and that we do whatever we can do to at least slow the rate of change.
The focus Scripture this week is Luke 4:14-21. I like how this gentle “unfolding” of who Jesus is in this season of Epiphany with these readings. A few weeks ago, we had Jesus quietly going to the River Jordan to be baptized by his cousin John, with the voice of God saying, “This is my Beloved,” and the Spirit descending as a bodily form as a dove. The Spirit of God continues to be with Jesus in last week’s reading, in which Jesus performs a miracle, changing water into wine, the first sign of who Jesus is in John’s Gospel. This week, the Spirit is acknowledged in the reading from Luke 4:18,19, 21: “(Reading from Isaiah 61:1)The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of God’s favor (the year of Jubilee)…Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Note how the Spirit is the connection with the readings so far in Epiphany. Luke acknowledges God’s active presence in this world through these texts. Next, there is no hesitancy or stutter in Jesus’ reading of the text from Isaiah. Jesus is doing what other young men would do when asked to read in the synagogue: he read the text and then sat down. The suspenseful moment and the unexpected happen at the conclusion of his reading the text of the Prophet: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Wow! Imagine being another rabbi or another hearer in that room, in that synagogue, and someone saying that the reading of a future prophecy and events is today, at this very time, in this reading, fulfilled. There was silence in the room, no doubt. And there, sitting among them, was the embodied Word. The living, breathing, God, sitting among the learned people of that day. Join us this Sunday as we consider what it means to have such an active Spirit in our world today as we follow the embodied Spirit of God, namely Jesus, the Pilgrim God.
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Events!
Jan. 23, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
Jan. 30, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
Feb. 6, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
Feb. 13, 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 that Parker finished his week of isolation in Barbados and is back in London.
· Friend Philip, who suffers from kidney failure, to be able to live the rest of his life in peace.
· Friend Sherry who lost her husband Tom unexpectedly when they were preparing their home for sale.
· Support to the Texas synagogue following the hostage situation and an end to anti-Semitism.
· Proper health care for Rosanne's foster nephew Jason who has been denied services by insurance.
· Friend Marlene in North Dakota who needs further surgery but her health is too fragile.
· For Linda, Helena, Seyer, and Marissa who had to put their 14-year-old family dog down yesterday.
· Celebrations for Chuck's birthday on January 20.
· Earl's two grandchildren who have COVID.
· People in Myanmar where deforestation is a major environmental problem, dictators backed by the military are waging war against their own civilians, and Rohingya refugees are fleeing persecution.
· People in Afghanistan where humanitarian aid has dried up after Taliban takeover.
· Passage of voting rights legislation on the eve of Martin Luther King Day.
· An end to continuing violence in Portland.
· An end to gun violence as shootings increase worldwide.
· People in Tonga who were slammed by a tsunami after an underwater volcano erupted and created waves felt as far away as Oregon.
· Counties in Africa, Central Asia, and other parts of the world without adequate vaccines.
· Ukraine threatened by Russian invasion.
· Kazakhstan where anti-government protestors tried to reject authoritarianism and corruption, and were beaten back, just like Belarus.
· Healthcare workers facing burnout as Omicron cases rise.
· Help for refugees and their families trying to survive in a foreign country.
· Homelessness and houselessness in Portland and Seattle.
· Racial justice and LGBTQIA+ equality in the US.
“God, in your love, attend our prayers…”
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Poem
MakeBelieve, by Padraig O Tuama
And on the first day
god made
something up.
Then everything came along:
seconds, sex and
beasts and breaths and rabies;
hunger, healing,
lust and lust's rejections;
swarming things that swarm
inside the dirt;
girth and grind
and grit and sh*t and all sh*t's functions;
rings inside the tree trunk
and branches broken by the snow;
pigs' hearts and stars,
mystery, suspense and stingrays;
insects, blood
and interests and death;
eventually, us,
with all our viruses, laments and curiosities;
all our songs and made-up stories;
and our songs about the stories we've forgotten;
and all that we've forgotten we've forgotten;
and to hold it all together god made time
and those rhyming seasons
that display decay.
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Buen Camino! Pastors Brett & Karen Cornwell Fortlander.