Last night at our Wednesday evening Vine Time prayer/study gathering we welcomed Claudia, a counselor at our neighborhood Sacramento Elementary School, for some conversation about kids and families she sees every day. She talked about the 68% of the kids that receive free or reduced-price lunches. She shared the struggle of the couple dozen children in her school who have no permanent address. The school calls them their Gateway Kids after the name of the Parkrose School District program that identifies kids of homeless families. Identifies, yes, but for whom the District has no internal resources to help fill empty tummies on weekends, or to outfit the kids with shoes or clothes that have worn out or outgrown. We already partner with Sacramento in our summer reading program and are looking for other ways to connect with families in our area. Sacramento is looking for connections in the same way. It seems like a great fit.

Marcus Borg says that to ‘believe’ is an act of dedication of the heart. Whatever you dedicate your heart to is in a real sense what you ‘believe’.  We have a creed in the United Methodist Church that weaves believing with ‘rejoicing’, ‘confessing’, and ‘committing ourselves’ in a tapestry of faith. Check this out -http://www.worldmethodistcouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=9

While ‘dedicating our hearts’ to ministry with low-income families in the neighborhood is a step in the right direction, dedications of the heart might still be a little vague. If you want to see where your heart is, try looking at your calendar and/or at your bank account. How do you spend your time and money? “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

Believing is a Verb. Moving into action and relationship is something we do. Because we believe.  We have options: Community Garden, after school support, food/clothes pantry for Gateway kids/families, late-in-the-month dinner together with invitation, prayer, health mentoring,…

What are your thoughts, challenges and blessings on this?

Peace – Bill

“Starting the Seeds for your Garden” – a free workshop for parents and children, presented by Growing Gardens and sponsored by PUMC’s Parkrose Heights Community Garden – April 17, 2010.

Space is VERY limited – first round of information and registration is this Sunday at the garden, PUMC 111th and NE Knott St.

Join us 3 p.m. this Sunday, Feb 28

• register for the free workshop “Starting the Seeds…”
• find out what’s happening at the garden this year…
• sign up for a raised garden bed or in-ground plot…
• join us for snacks and an informal presentation

Growing Gardens -http://www.growing-gardens.org/

Wilderness, in the ancient Hebrew consciousness was a mixed bag — a place of threat: bandits, predators, and scarcity. A place of chaos and alienation. But, at the same time, it was much, much more.

So when it was Jesus’ time, time to rise from obscurity, time to step up and live into that which God had for him to be and do from the very beginning, when it was God’s time,… Jesus headed to the wilderness.

At first, the silence drove him crazy. The voices of his family, friends, and colleagues were so sharp and clear… and the gentle but insistent push from God was more than a little annoying, “Get to it. Get on with it. What are you waiting for?” seemed to rattle through the far reaches of his being. Yes, wilderness was threatening, chaotic and remote… but the longer he was there, the silence, the hunger, the solitude… things started to change… He started to change.

No McDonalds, No Starbucks, No breakfast burritos. It was chaos. Wilderness is a place of discarding schedules, meetings and appointments, but also shedding the most basic of our routines… like eating and sleeping. A few days into the wilderness experience, with the absence of food and the abundance of cool, cleansing water, his body began to recover from the shock. As water cleansed the toxins from his blood stream, not only was his body cleansed but his soul began to shed the toxic addiction to schedule. Life is more than consumption. What brings order to the chaos? Relationships… of integrity, respect, dignity, and diversity.

There was silence and solitude. Silence in the Wilderness is deafening, shutting down the assaulting voices of the everyday. As the ears begin to heal in the silence, soft sounds of life emerge everywhere! The soft brush of the breeze caressing shoots of new life on branches and buds that soon would flower, the gentle scurrying of life seemingly out of earshot and sight: mice and lizards and birds and insects… life emerges into focus. There is life in the Wilderness. And suddenly you become keenly aware of the beauty of solitude, the realization that you are not alone. For God, creation and creatures emerge in full spectrum.

In the Wilderness, solitude leads to stillness, betraying the false sense of order shaped by schedules, meetings and communications. There is stillness. To be still means to be vulnerable: sitting duck, so to speak, to passing bandits and hungry predators lurking in the shadows. The fear of stillness plays deepest into our fear of our own failings, our own humanity. But Wilderness solitude is not about isolation. As the heart of Jesus becomes settled with wilderness’ stillness, the presence of the Divine within gains clarity in a way that is tactile.  So close.  So near… you can taste, smell, feel God’s presence.

And it was in this moment that the voice of a 1,000 years of history floods his soul and reminds the wilderness sojourner of God’s mighty hand ushering those who would follow, to freedom and respite, to home, to family/community, and to God who is persistent, present, and ultimately capable.

It may have been in this Wilderness experience that Jesus noticed that this was a place with no boundaries, no borders. There were no fences, no barbed wire, no check points, no border patrols, no lines in the sand. Just rolling sand and rock and stream and oasis, and life in abundance. No “us vs. them” in the wilderness. Just a sometimes-gentle, sometimes-not-so-gentle symbiotic relationship of God’s creation somehow working, living, thriving together. Could this have been the source of Spirit that would drive him toward expansion of the understanding of God’s “chosen”? Could it have been this place where he, with confidence and commitment, dedicates himself to a life of peace-making, and the conviction that evil and war would not rule but rather love, compassion and justice?

Yes, Wilderness is threatening. It is chaotic. But Jesus would come to know Wilderness as friend. For him, Wilderness was about living life beyond the ordinary. Its silence and solitude were not about isolation, but rather clarity. For God and self become crystal clear, as does purpose and direction. So he knew he couldn’t stay there. Because the work of God: healing, beckoning, transforming, strengthening, affirming was to be taken to the streets, homes, parks, schools and neighborhoods.

This is not the last time Jesus w0uld retreat to the wilderness. Throughout his public life of faith he would retreat to wilderness and invite his followers to join him.

So, is it your time? Is it time for you to rise from obscurity of purpose and direction? Is it time to step up and live into that which God has for you to be and do? Is it God’s time for you? When it was his time, Jesus headed to the wilderness — will you follow?

Peace – Bill

It is a well-known fact in faith circles today that women hold a significant majority in spiritual participation and leadership. At Parkrose UMC that is certainly true. Growth in leadership and passion for ministry among women of our church is impressive. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity I have as a pastor to be in relationship with women on the rise and on the move. But where are the men?

Listening to our men in their 7th and 8th decades of life, I hear much consternation. The physical activities of hammering, lifting, moving heavy objects that gave them meaning and status are to many of our men, simply a distant memory. It seems they have lost their purpose.

Matthew Fox, maverick theologian and Christian mystic, wrote a book a couple of years ago, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, that challenges today’s men to reclaim their spiritual roots and join women on the rise and on the move in spiritual participation and leadership within family, community and church. Here is a statement from the book’s overleaf:

“IT IS NO SECRET that men are in trouble today. From war to ecological collapse, most of the world’s critical problems stem from a distorted masculinity out of control. Yet our culture rewards the very dysfunctions responsible for those problems. To Matthew Fox, our crucial task is to open our minds to a deeper understanding of the healthy masculine than we receive from our media, culture, and religions. To awaken what Fox calls ‘the sacred masculine’, he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, to inspire men to pursue their higher calling to reinvent the world.”

Pastor Don Frueh, of Parkrose Community United Church of Christ, and I are inviting men to join us for a 5-week exploration of these metaphors. Beginning Tuesday February 23, 2010, 6:45 a.m to 7:30 a.m. (you got it – 45 minutes), at Parkrose UMC, corner of 111th and NE Knott St.

I make strong coffee. You bring your best.

Peace – Bill

February 2010, Volume 3, Issue 2
http://www.parkroseumc.org/ welcome@parkroseumc.org.

Thoughts from Someone in a Pew

My thoughts to members who do not regularly attend Sunday Services. — Riley Montgomery
First let me assure you that just because I took it upon myself to write this little “reminder” I am not a religious zealot!
I was raised in a home where religion was more or less taken for granted. It consisted mainly of bible reading/study one night each week at the dining room table by the light of a kerosene lamp. The four of us-my younger sister, my parents and myself would take turns reading a chapter then take a few minutes to discuss it and ask questions. So you see the basics of religion are not new to me, although I learn a lot by listening to our minister-Pastor Bill.
I moved to Portland after WWII and married a young lady who was a member of the First United Methodist Church and joined it. After we were married I bought my first home at 12041 NE Knott Street. The street from 111th was a mass of chuckholes and the acreage where the school is was a forest of 10 feet tall brush. I learned that the school district had purchased that property so I expected both the street and the land would be improved.
My job at that time consisted of covering eight NW states plus Alaska and Hawaii, but I managed to salvage enough time to join the men’s club, and share in the once-a-month pot lucks. When the contractors completed the shell of the church I joined with folks who donated their time and expertise to finish the interior of the building. I have a host of good memories of those times and the good folks I associated with. Perhaps this is part of the reason I always get a good feeling when I attend Sunday Services.
I have always felt the primary responsibility of a Pastor is to teach. Perhaps that is why I am so aware of our small attendance. I know from personal experience how it feels to prepare a program expecting a crowd and be disappointed by a half empty room.
I have a poem at home in my desk entitled “Are you a member or do you just belong?” It is too long to quote here but I’m sure you get the idea. I believe the time spent with fellow “members” at worship and after service having a cup of coffee and a cookie or two is well worth the effort. Give it a try; I’m certain you’ll enjoy it! SEE YOU IN CHURCH-Riley

Lenten Sunday School Class to begin February 14, 2010-

 No other 24 hour event in human history has had more impact than the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life. Join Adam Hamilton as he guides you from the Last Supper, to Gethsemane, to the trial, to the Crucifixion in: 24 Hours that Changed the World. Experience and understand the significance of Jesus’ final hours in ways you never have before. Becky Creech will be facilitating this DVD series that will continue for seven weeks. Please consider participating in this Sunday School class during the special season of Lent. The class will meet in the McKinnon Education Wing at 9:00 a.m., room to be determined by how many of you plan to attend. Please contact Becky Creech if you will be attending 503-255-6466

Thank You, Thank You 

To Kathy Nicholas who has a painting business and lives in our neighborhood. Kathy donated her time and the paint to cover our recently applied graffiti on Miller Hall.

Ash Wednesday Service-

February 17, 2010 7:00 p.m.-

 Enter into a time of reflection and journey as the spirit leads us toward God’s promise. We plan to gather with several congregations here at PUMC.

Lesotho, “Kingdom in the Sky”-

Do you know where Lesotho is? I didn’t until we were asked by a good friend to join with an UMVIM team (United Methodist Volunteers in Mission) that he was leading. Lesotho pronounced (Le-sue-too) is surrounded and ignored by her big brother South Africa. With the lowest elevation of 4,300 ft. and the highest of 12,000 ft. this mountain kingdom provides water and diamonds for South Africa. It also has the distinction of being the poorest nation in the southern hemisphere and with the highest rate of HIV/Aids in Africa; this small country is overwhelmed with Aids orphans and not enough orphanages to care for them.

We will be traveling to Roma, where a community center has been started by the villagers to provide a safe and nourishing place for the 157 orphans who live in the area.The orphans in this village remain in their own homes and become the “head of their household”. Village members do look in on them, however they are not being taught the life skills that parents would normally pass down to children.

 Our team of 20 members from around the USA (five from Rose City Park UMC) will be adding on to the one-car garage sized center and teaching life skills such as sewing, knitting, crocheting, drafting, computer skills and spending time playing games, dancing and sports with the children.
The Leratong Center (which means “where there is love”) was started so that these children would have a place to go after school and on weekends where they would be exposed to caring adults.

 I will be departing with my husband, Tom on Feb. 19, 2010 and returning to the church office on March 15, 2010. I am so thankful for Pastor Bill and the congregation at PUMC who understand my passion for mission and give blessings to my time away. You can follow our mission by visiting http://klipspringerstudios.com  While I’m in Africa the church office will not have regular operating hours- “Sala hantle” (Goodbye in Sesotho)-Corinne

We’ve Lost a Friend…

 
A memorial service celebrating the life of Jim Wakefield will be held at PUMC on Friday, February 5, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.
PUMC lost a good friend and faithful member on January 31, 2010 when Brenda Smith passed away at Hopewell House, surrounded by family and friends. Her thoughts were never far from her church family. She began attending PUMC in the late 1980’s and continued until recently when her health kept her homebound. Brenda was always enthusiastic about greeting, helping with children, and especially music. We will gather as a church family with Brenda’s mother, siblings, relatives and other friends at a memorial service on Saturday, February 6 at 3:00 p.m. in the PUMC Sanctuary. If you wish to remember Brenda with a gift, the family suggests a donation to Shriners, Doernbecher Hospital or Hopewell House.

Here are a few conduits to the sacred that mystics ancient and contemporary find compelling and operative:

• Taste – “taste and see that God is good”; “savor the goodness of life”…
• Longing – the grace of God beckoning us toward something more whole…
• Community – Rabbi Abraham Heschel, after walking with Dr. King, asked by his young daughter what it was like. He responded, “My feet were praying.”
• Grief – “thin places” between the sacred/secular where the presence of God is palpable.
• Joy – ecstasy
• Silence – in our world of noise pollution, silence allows a journey to recesses of the soul
• Nature – God’s beautiful and awe-inspiring creation
• more…

It was a rainy winter day and cabin fever was grabbing at me. Before long I found myself in the Columbia Gorge on one of our many very accessible trails. Covered head to toe with water-proof gear I approached a noise that sounded like a runaway jet engine. Waterfall, of course. And I had it to myself. More sane seekers were home sitting next to the fireplace with noses in a book.

The beauty of this waterfall, at this moment, for many may have been at the top where water spilled gracefully and somewhat silently over the edge. For me, however, it was the power of that stream of water slamming into the rocks below. The air was filled with spray, the wind it created driving water into everything and at all angles. “But the one who will come after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” said John the Baptizer. I stayed at the base of the waterfall for a few short minutes. It was a mystical experience to be sure.

What conduits work best for you in your pursuit of the Spirit of God? Share a story.

There several ways to weigh in on this:

• Sign in and comment here
• Join Parkrose UMC facebook as a fan and join the conversation there.

Peace – Bill

The tradition of the church has been wrestling with the question for a long, long time. We’ve called it ‘evangelization’. And I think we’ve gotten it wrong.

God is about Good News. And the faith community’s best poets and prophets have been clear about what that means: Hearts transformed to love and compassion, community transformed to justice/righteousness.

What is evangelization? Check this four-part criteria out that I gleaned from Leonardo Boff’s New Evangelization: Good News to the Poor :

Four Meanings of Evangelization -

1) Respect/Accept – Good news first of all is accepting and respecting people where they are. Boff says, “None evangelize without first committing themselves to life, to the productive forces of the culture they seek to reach.” That means listening, and being absorbed into the story of the other.

2) Give Witness – Acknowledge and affirm the work of God already evident in the other and their culture. God is already at work. When the world reacts to disaster in Haiti with love and compassion, God is at work.  When voices cry out about third-world debt, God is at work.

3) Produce Good News – “Human beings want to live, and live endlessly, not as a mere prolongation of life in their mortality, but as the actualization of their potentials…”, says Boff.  John Wesley said if you want to be about good news to the poor you have to be in their midst. Wesley did. As relationships build, opportunities multiply. And darkness become a little lighter, and brokenness becomes a little more whole.

4) Celebrate – “They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion. They will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:12-13).

What’s the Good News? Evangelization is about setting a proper mood for a change of heart, starting with ourselves, and a change in the way we relate to each other in community.

Peace – Bill

Note: New Evangelization: Good News to the Poor was written in response to Boff’s experience of the disaster of empirical missionary efforts in Central America in the 1980’s. It’s an old book but seems to have new relevance in our multi-cultural, globally connected world of the 21st century.

Faith and Taxes: Oregon Measures 66 & 67
The test of our progress is NOT whether we add to the abundance of those who have much.
It is whether we provide enough to those who have little. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Separation of church and state? Yes, I know. Taxes and Faith? Both call on us for choices. How we make those choices depends on how we see our society (and for that matter, how we see our faith): “ME” society or “WE” society. And in choices we make toward a “We” society that boundary between church and state begins to look very permeable.
The Judeo-Christian faith community sprouted into existence with a divine promise of salvation. At the heart of this promise was community; its existence and its place. The promise was put to the test with each wave of empire that swooped through the land, from Egyptian to Syrian to Babylonian to Greek to Roman. As empirical pressure threatened their very existence they drew strength and direction from phrases like giving the “first fruits of our harvest” so the “Levites, the resident aliens, the widows and orphans”… “can celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house”. (Check out Deuteronomy 26 as an example). As Jesus said hundreds of years later, the most important of these community regulations were loving God with every ounce of your heart, soul, mind and passion and loving your neighbor as you love yourself. The ancient regulations connected the love of God and the love of neighbor in symbiotic relationship.
On January 26, we have an opportunity to make a choice. About community (and about faith). Ballot Measures 66 and 67 are efforts to shore up Oregon’s broken tax structure in support of education, health care and public safety. Some parts are temporary and some are permanent. Your mailbox will no doubt be flooded with cries for YES votes and NO votes. Be informed. See who is supporting which side. And make a choice.
I’ve read some from each side. There is a lot to sift through. I find both sides attempting to answering the question, “How will it affect ME?” Who is answering the question, “How will it affect WE?”
Peace, Bill
Congratulations! Thanks to your generous response to the UMW’s annual SnowCap collection, 121 boys and girls have a pair of socks, 5 heads are nice and cozy with a new hat, 117 boys and girls have a new pair of underwear, 13 men have new socks, and 10 hands are now warm. Each one of those numbers represents a person who was in need and you helped them! As you think about each item that was donated, take time to say a prayer for each of the individuals who received them.

A note from Pastor Bill: It has been a long time since I’ve been back to Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. Each year they sponsor a series of lectures and workshops on topics that help pastors and lay leaders at the cutting edge of congregational ministry. This year, the week of January 25, the Earl Lectures will take on the topic “Spiritual But Not Religious: Chasing the Divine.” I plan to attend. It will be a chance for me to re-connect with my seminary roots and share time with others seeking to connect with those many, many people of our communities who have distanced themselves from the church, but who have a deep hunger for matters of the Spirit. Pam and I plan to take the next week (First week of February) for vacation.

Nuts and Bolts Training- January 16, 2010 Portland First UMC, 1838 SW Jefferson Street 9:00 a.m. to noon. An opportunity to learn more about the what and how of serving on church committees. Early registration date has passed, however you may still register as a walk-in attendee by paying $5.00 at the door on January 16th.

Vine Time Happenings- Vine Time Fellowship continues to meet each Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Over 200 “ Beans of Grace” meals were packaged and delivered from the December Advent Conspiracy Study. Vine Time Fellowship is open to one and all and meets with a time for fellowship and relevant study/discussion each week. Coming Soon- Bob Grovenburg of the Gateway Project at Parkrose High School will be sharing about this special program that was started to help homeless students remain in class and how we at PUMC can be involved.

Town Hall Meeting- PUMC-Sunday, January 24, 2010 3:00 p.m. in the McKinnon Education Wing. You are invited to this time of discussion and approval of our 2010 budget, Safe Sanctuary Policy, and Core Leaders Policy.

Greeters Workshop-have you ever been embarrassed to greet a visitor because you were not sure if they were a church member who seldom attends or truly a visitor? Would you like to learn how to be more effective at welcoming and greeting people who visit PUMC? Plan to attend a two-hour workshop being held at Rose City Park UMC on Saturday, February 13, 2010 from, 10 a.m. to noon. For more information on this dynamic program visit www.mastergreeter.com

Memorial Services
Saturday, January 23, 2010 3 p.m. at PUMC for Brett Leines’ mother, Ruth Leines.
Friday, February 5, 2010 2 p.m. at PUMC for a celebration of Jim Wakefield’s life.

The Judeo-Christian faith community sprouted into existence with a divine promise of salvation. At the heart of this promise  was community; its existence and its place.  The promise was put to the test with each wave of empire that swooped through the land, from Egyptian to Syrian to Babylonian to Greek to Roman. As empirical pressure threatened their very existence they drew strength and direction from phrases like giving the “first fruits of our harvest” so the “Levites, the resident aliens, the widows and orphans”… “can celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house”. (Check out Deuteronomy 26 as an example).  As Jesus said hundreds of years later, the most important of these community regulations were loving God with every ounce of your heart, soul, mind and passion and loving your neighbor as you love yourself. The ancient regulations connected the love of God and the love of neighbor in symbiotic relationship.

On January 26, we have an opportunity to make a choice. About community(… and about faith). Ballot Measures 66 and 67 are efforts to shore up Oregon’s broken tax structure in support of education, health care and public safety. Some parts are temporary and some are permanent. Your mail box will no doubt be flooded with cries for YES votes and NO votes. Be informed. See who is supporting which side. And make a choice.

I’ve read some from each side. There is a lot to sift through. I find both sides attempting to answering the question, “How will it affect ME?” Who is answering the question, “How will it affect WE?”

Peace, Bill

• 7 p.m.
• Thursday, Dec. 24
• Parkrose UMC – NE 111th & Knott St.

Carols of the season, choral music hinting of angels and the prophetic witness of shepherds and magi; the story of Christmas, and candlelight – In celebration of the Kingdom of God come near in Jesus Christ.

Our Christmas offering this year is dedicated to an emerging mission priority: Addressing Poverty in our Neighborhood. From homeless youth to hungry families.  From food boxes and school supplies to tutoring/mentoring/partnering and more. PUMC begins to step toward the struggle and solutions.

Please join us!

Peace – Bill