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Faith News Update for September 29th, 2016
October 2nd, 2016
9:30am Sunday
Worship with Holy Communion


Signs of Liberation

Gospel Reading for this Sunday:

Exodus 12:1-13; 13:1-8

fall back for autumn
Fall 2016 Church Office Hours:
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9 am - 5 pm

Love [ ] Without Limits:

Reflections on the First Leg of Our Journey…

Loving People of All Abilities Without Limits

As we said goodbye to long days and summer vacations and hello to changing light and the first day of school, we began a yearlong journey called Love Without Limits. The idea behind this theme is to explore how we, who understand ourselves as recipients of God’s limitless love, might in turn live into that way of love as we reach out to our neighbors. In particular, we are challenging ourselves to reach out to those individuals and groups of people for whom the whole Christian church could do a better job of loving. The current climate in our culture promotes division, shaming and blaming, even scapegoating of people who don’t exactly fit into an arbitrary definition of what is normal. There is less and less safe space for people who are ‘different’ because of their ethnicity, faith tradition, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class, age, income, etc. I am reminded of a line from the old camp song (at least that’s where I remember hearing it), “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” And I wonder, is this true today? In this country, in the year 2016, do people know the church by our love? Perhaps it is time for us to rethink our message… can we reclaim the good news that, in Christ, God’s unconditional, limitless love for all people has been revealed?

I am so pleased with the way we began this Love Without Limits journey. The theme for the last three Sundays has been Love People of All Abilities Without Limits. I am so thankful for the wonderful people who joined us for this conversation. Pastor Mike De Witt, ministry consultant for Bethesda Lutheran Communities, along with residents and caregivers from one of the nearby Bethesda Community homes, Pastor Bruce Strade and Cindy Wilkins from the Interfaith Disabilities Network of Oregon, and Pastor Mary Peterson, chaplain for Providence Hospice. When I set out to put this series together, I had no idea I would get three pastors in a row to join us! I think all three of them did an amazing job of connecting the ancient Old Testaments texts with our theme of loving people of all abilities without limits. Their messages were faithful, challenging and relevant to the issues we face in our world today. I am also thankful for all the people that hung around after worship to engage in conversation with our guests about what it meant to be a welcoming church to people who are different from us.

The next leg of the journey will begin on Sunday, October 9thLove Our Muslim Neighbors Without Limits.Combining study resources, written and on DVD, with presentation and interactions with folks from Bilal Masjid mosque in Beaverton, we will spend seven weeks learning about Islam. The majority of this work will take place after worship during our 10:45am Faith Conversation hour. We are also working with leaders at Bilal Masjid to plan additional opportunities for fellowship and community building. This is a work in progress and we will keep you posted as events emerge. I hope all of you will take advantage of this opportunity to gain more understanding about Islam and make some new Muslim friends!

God’s peace,

Pastor David


This afternoon!



Join us this Sunday afternoon at:

Anamchara Stables
21100 NW Coffey Lane. Hillsboro, OR 97124



Coming in October, the next installment of…

MOVIES that MATTER

Join us at Community of ChristChurch on Friday evening, October 28th, beginning at 6:30pm, for the second event in a series entitled, Movies that Matter.

Each month we will gather for a potluck supper and watch a film that matters to one of the group. Then, the person who picked the film will start off the conversation. If all goes well, we’ll talk a little about the film, a little about life, and a lot about what matters. Jason Wilkinson, filmmaker/film buff, and David Eppelsheimer, pastor/nerd will serve as facilitators for the discussion.

In September, we watched Jaws together and talked about the impact this film had on Jason (the guy who chose the film!) as well as the impact it had on our culture, the film industry, and for many of us, our growing up years. This month we will be watching a movie that matters to David. Copyright rules stipulate that we cannot advertise the name of the film in advance, but we don’t see any harm in offering a few hints so you have a sense of what you are in for.

So… this film is in black & white, was released in 1954 and won 8 Academy awards, including best picture! (You might say… this film not only ‘coulda been a contender,’ it certainly was!)

What you’ll need to participate…

  • Be at least 17 years old,
  • A potluck dish to share.
  • A love of movies!

Hope to see you there!

Jason and David

Partner Event Spotlight

Join Pastor David at this event in November. Full brochures are on the Welcome Table in the Open Spirit Gallery.




The Liberty High School Homecoming parade is back!


The theme is Rio Olympics and the parade is this Friday, 9/30 before the high school game vs. Beaverton. Parade start time is 5:30 and leaves FROM Liberty High School (different than previous years).

The route will be going right by the church. Feel free to come by and cheer them on tomorrow!
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5170 NW Five Oaks Drive, Hillsboro, OR, 97124


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